Capitalism is a system of organized violence

Paul D'Amato is managing editor of the International Socialist Review and author of The Meaning of Marxism, a lively and accessible introduction to the ideas of Karl Marx and the tradition he founded. Paul can be contacted at pdamato@isreview.org.

A system of organized violence

January 27, 2012

War and conquest has accompanied capitalism from the beginning.

CAPITALIST COMPETITION has never been based on peaceful exchange.

In Karl Marx's Capital, he quotes an economist who says that if capital can get 100 percent profit, it will "trample on all human laws; 300 percent, and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run...If turbulence and strife will bring a profit, it will freely encourage both."

It's true that the most powerful states and corporations can often impose their will without resorting to violence. This has certainly been the case, for example, with International Monetary Fund "structural adjustment programs"--where loans are advanced to poor countries on the condition that they privatize, cut public spending and open up the foreign investment.

But where financial coercion fails, the threat--and use--of violence, has always been an important way in which states have promoted the economic interests of their own ruling classes.

For example, the U.S. engaged in what was known as "gunboat diplomacy" in the early part if the 19th century. The U.S. would send the Marines to a Caribbean island that was having payment problems and simply take over the customs house.

War and conquest accompanied capitalism from the beginning. With the world's most powerful naval fleet, Britain seized and plundered India, destroying its indigenous textile industry in order to force British textile products on them.

But even before that, with the emergence of the world's first commercial powers in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, violence was the rule rather than the exception.

In fact, the accumulation of capital necessary to fuel the development of industrial capitalism in Europe came from the plunder of the Americas and Africa--especially from the development of the slave trade.

Marx wrote:

The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the indigenous population of the continent, the beginnings of the conquest and plunder of India, and the conversion of Africa into a preserve for the commercial hunting of black skins are all things that characterize the dawn of the era of capitalist production.

AT THE time Marx wrote about modern industrial capitalism, it had barely developed in Britain and a few European countries. But as the 20th century approached, capitalism became truly global.

Capitalist production burst the bounds of the nation state and was forced to seek outlets overseas. The result was not only economic competition but military competition between the great powers on an international scale.

As early as the 1870s, Frederick Engels could write, "Militarism dominates and is swallowing Europe...Competition among the individual states forces them...to spend more money each year on the army and navy, artillery, etc.?

In the period after Engels wrote this, the most powerful states--Britain, the U.S. Germany and France--scrambled to divide the world. Their new colonies provided raw materials, cheap labor and markets for their goods and investments.

As the earth was carved up into "spheres of influence," competition between the great powers for who would control the biggest markets intensified. A "balance of power" was maintained by each state arming itself to the teeth--a balance continually in danger of being upset by the emergence of a new power eager for a slice of he imperial pie.

Writing at the time of the First World War, Lenin described the new period of capitalism as "imperialism"--a system characterized by the domination of giant capitalist monopolies inside the borders of the great powers and competition among the powers on an international scale.

Lenin's analysis was crucial because it pointed out that imperialism isn't a policy but a new stage in the development of capitalism that grew out of earlier conditions. The logic of imperialism is international economic competition between states--leading to war.

There were people at the time, like the German social democrat Karl Kautsky, who argued that the creation of a world market and economic interdependence of nations would make war obsolete.

Just the opposite was the case.

Tens of millions of people died in the world wars fought to decide which country would, the words of Leon Trotsky, "be transformed from a great power into the world power."

First published in the May 12, 2000, issue of Socialist Worker.

保羅·達馬托有組織的暴力係統

2012 年 1 月 27 日
戰爭和征服從一開始就伴隨著資本主義。

資本主義競爭從來都不是建立在和平交換的基礎上的。

在卡爾·馬克思的《資本論》中，他引用一位經濟學家的話說，如果資本能夠獲得 100% 的利潤，它將“踐踏所有人類法則；300%，無所顧忌的犯罪，無不顧忌的風險” 奔跑……如果動蕩和衝突會帶來利潤，它就會自由地鼓勵雙方。”

的確，最強大的國家和企業通常可以在不訴諸暴力的情況下強加他們的意誌。例如，國際貨幣基金組織的“結構調整計劃”就是這種情況——在窮國私有化、削減公共支出和開放外國投資的條件下，向這些國家提供貸款。

但是，在金融脅迫失敗的情況下，威脅和使用暴力一直是國家促進本國統治階級經濟利益的重要方式。

例如，美國在19世紀初期就搞了所謂的“炮艦外交”。美國會將海軍陸戰隊派往一個存在支付問題的加勒比海島嶼，並直接接管海關。

戰爭和征服從一開始就伴隨著資本主義。英國擁有世界上最強大的海軍艦隊，掠奪和掠奪印度，摧毀其本土紡織業，以將英國的紡織品強加於他們。

但即使在此之前，隨著 15 和 16 世紀歐洲出現世界上第一批商業強國，暴力已成為常態而非例外。

事實上，推動歐洲工業資本主義發展所必需的資本積累來自美洲和非洲的掠奪——尤其是奴隸貿易的發展。

馬克思寫道：

美洲金銀的發現，非洲大陸土著居民的滅絕、奴役和埋葬在礦山中，征服和掠奪印度的開始，以及非洲變成黑皮商業狩獵的保護區都是資本主義生產時代來臨的特征。

在馬克思撰寫關於現代工業資本主義的文章時，它在英國和一些歐洲國家幾乎沒有發展。但隨著 20 世紀的臨近，資本主義變得真正全球化。

資本主義生產衝破了民族國家的界限，被迫在海外尋找出路。其結果不僅是經濟競爭，而且是大國之間在國際範圍內的軍事競爭。

早在 1870 年代，弗雷德裏克·恩格斯 (Frederick Engels) 就寫道：“軍國主義占據主導地位並正在吞噬歐洲……各個國家之間的競爭迫使他們……每年在陸海軍、大炮等方麵花費更多的錢？

在恩格斯寫下這本書之後的時期，最強大的國家——英國、美國、德國和法國——爭先恐後地瓜分世界。他們的新殖民地為他們的商品和投資提供了原材料、廉價勞動力和市場。

隨著地球被劃分為“勢力範圍”，大國之間爭奪誰將控製最大市場的競爭愈演愈烈。每個國家都武裝到牙齒來維持“力量平衡”——這種平衡不斷有被渴望分一杯羹的新力量的出現打破的危險。

列寧在第一次世界大戰期間寫作，將資本主義的新時期描述為“帝國主義”——一個以大國邊界內的巨大資本主義壟斷統治和國際範圍內的大國競爭為特征的製度。

列寧的分析至關重要，因為它指出帝國主義不是一種政策，而是資本主義發展的新階段，它是從早期條件中產生的。帝國主義的邏輯是國家間的國際經濟競爭——導致戰爭。

當時有人，比如德國社會民主黨人卡爾考茨基，認為世界市場的建立和各國經濟上的相互依存將使戰爭過時。

恰恰相反。

數以千萬計的人在世界大戰中喪生，這些戰爭決定了哪個國家將“從一個大國轉變為世界強國”，用列昂·托洛茨基的話來說。

首發於2000年5月12日《社會主義工人》雜誌。

風蕭蕭_Frank

A system of organized violence