
Anti-capitalism is a
political ideology and
movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose
capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism with an alternative
economic system.
Characteristics
Anti-capitalism can range from a
reformist position, which aims to limit corporate power and oppose neoliberal policies, to a
radical position, which entirely rejects
capitalism and seeks to replace the existing
social order
The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social orde ...
. Key principles of anti-capitalism, as outlined by the charter of the
World Social Forum, include a committent to
democracy
Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...
and
egalitarianism
Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hum ...
. Anti-capitalists view capitalism either as a
social relation or as a distinct
economic and
political system, and how they view it informs their methods of opposing it. Reformist anti-capitalism places itself in opposition to specific economic practices, including
commodification and
capital accumulation, and seeks to combat the
negative externalities of capitalism without fundamentally altering the economic system; on the other hand, forms of
revolutionary socialism
Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revo ...
see capitalism as a fundamentally flawed social system that needs to be overthrown and replaced. Although the reformist and revolutionary perspectives differ, they are not necessarily distinct, with anti-capitalists often taking aspects of one or the other depending on the material conditions they are faced with.
Various economic systems have been proposed as an alternative to capitalism. American economist
Michael Albert proposed a system of
participatory economics, a kind of
democratic socialism which would involve
social ownership,
workers' self-management,
participatory planning and system of remuneration
based on contribution, among other factors.
Neozapatismo emphasises the
self-determination
Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage.
Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...
of
indigenous peoples
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
and a form of
participatory democracy that stands in contrast to the
centralisation and
vanguardism of
authoritarian socialist tendencies.
History
Early opposition to the rise of capitalism first arose during the 17th century, when
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
landowners first came under threat from the increasing power of
business owners. During the 19th century, the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
gave rise to
mass production, which accelerated the shift away from
mercantilism as the predominant economic system and the
globalization of capitalism. The
division of labour within this industrial capitalist economy led to the rapid growth of the
working class, who were increasingly drawn towards anti-capitalism and organised themselves in
trade union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
s and
socialist parties.
Contemporary anti-capitalist movement
1960s–1980s
Contemporary anti-capitalism finds its roots among the
New Left and the
counterculture of the 1960s, which infused anti-capitalism with a
postmodern tendency by the end of the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. During this period, anti-capitalism began to developed within the
environmental movement, with
green politics
Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy.#Wal10, Wall 2010. p. 12-13. ...
drawing a lot of its influence from the New Left and groups such as
Greenpeace aligning themselves against
economic growth
In economics, economic growth is an increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and Service (economics), services that a society Production (economics), produces. It can be measured as the increase in the inflation-adjusted Outp ...
and pioneering new methods of
direct action which had previously been advocated by
anarchists.
Radical environmentalists such as
Earth First, which infused their green politics with anti-capitalism, used
decentralised clandestine cell systems to carry out large-scale acts of
sabotage; tactics which would later be taken up by the wider anti-capitalist movement. Anti-capitalism was increasingly seen as responsible for
environmental degradation
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...
, leading to the adoption of anti-capitalism by those who aimed to stop it.
1990s
By the 1990s,
neoliberalism had asserted a
hegemonic influence over the
global economy. In reaction against the rise of neoliberalism, a new anti-capitalist movement began to take shape. The contemporary anti-capitalist movement first emerged in January 1994, with the
Zapatista uprising against the implementation of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Zapatista spokesperson
Subcomandante Marcos explicitly expressed
solidarity with
minority groups throughout the world, seeking to make a common cause with others who experienced
oppression under globalized capitalism. The
Zapatista autonomous region in
Chiapas inspired a new generation of anti-capitalists worldwide. Anti-capitalists began to defend
cultural pluralism and stand in solidarity with
indigenous rights movements, breaking from the 20th century's anti-capitalist movement, which had few links with the
decolonial and
anti-racist movements of its period.
In 1995, the establishment of the
World Trade Organization (WTO), which sought to promote a neoliberal policy of
economic globalization, met with opposition from the nascent
anti-globalization movement (also known as the
alter-globalization movement or
global justice movement). Other opponents of neoliberal globalization included
nationalists and
religious fundamentalists, although these tendencies differed widely from anti-capitalism in their principles and objectives. The anti-capitalist movement provided a
militant opposition to the WTO and its
General Agreement on Trade in Services, distinguishing their
progressive politics from the prevailing
liberal democratic politics which upheld these institutions and had resigned to a belief that
no alternative existed. English philosopher
Mark Fisher referred to this phenomenon as
capitalist realism.
Towards the end of the 1990s, the British environmentalist group
Reclaim the Streets sought to build ties with the anti-globalisation movement, culminating with the
Carnival Against Capital on 18 June 1999 in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. Although the protest precipitated a decline in the British anti-capitalist movement, following the rise of
Tony Blair's
New Labour government, it also renewed contacts within the international anti-capitalist movement and accelerated a shift towards revolutionary anti-capitalism. During the late 1990s, confrontations between militant anti-capitalists and the police became commonplace at
G8 summits and
WTO conferences, which were regularly targetted for protests by a diverse and decentralised coalition of organisations. The largest of these were the
1999 Seattle WTO protests, where
anarchists,
environmentalists and
trade unionists caused conference negotiations to collapse; this inspired a new wave of anti-capitalist
activism
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...
in the 21st century, with large protests taking place against the
26th G8 summit in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
and the
27th G8 summit in
Genoa.
2000s
2010s
2020s
See also
*
Accumulation by dispossession
*
Adbusters
*
Anti-Capitalist Convergence
*
Anti-consumerism
*
Anti-system politics
*
Anti-politics
*
Christian views on poverty and wealth
*
Fascist economy
*
Degrowth
*
Distributism
*
Eye of a needle
*
Foundations of Real-World Economics
*
Humanistic economics
*
Islamic views on poverty
*
List of anti-capitalist and communist parties with national parliamentary representation
*
New Anticapitalist Party
*
Post-capitalism
*
Real utopias
*
Real-world economics
*
Religious economy
*
Religious views on capitalism
*
Social democracy
*
Solidarity economy
*
Syndicalism
References
Bibliography
*
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Further reading
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External links
Anti-capitalism: theory and practiceby
Chris Harman, SWP (2000).
Rough Guide to the Anti-Capitalist Movement League for the Fifth International
*
Infoshop.org Anarchists Opposed to Capitalism Infoshop.org
1907 anti-capitalist pamphlet hosted at EconomicDemocracy
* Sam Ashma
''International Socialist Journal'' 2003
Marxists Internet Archive* Dr. Wladyslaw Jan Kowalski
* Aufheben
Anti-Capitalism as an ideology... and as a movement Libcom.org
Studies in Anti-CapitalismHow to Be an Anticapitalist Today Erik Olin Wright for ''
Jacobin.'' December 2, 2015.
Infographic: Where People Are Losing Faith In Capitalism ''
International Business Times
The ''International Business Times'' is an American online newspaper that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on business and ...
.'' January 27, 2020.
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