Capitalism is not all about KFC as I thought!

   John Maynard Keynes once said, "Capitalism is the astounding belief that the wickedest of men will do the wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."

And also, Karl Liebknecht said, "For Capitalism, war and peace are business and nothing but business."

Definitely, when we come across such statements, the first impression will come out is that there is a probing controversy going on behind which didn't come aimlessly. So, those observers or writers had gone through a protracted observation to the phenomenon they captured analytically to come up with this argument at the end.

In fact, the whole thing I had in my mind is that Capitalism is all about corporations like KFC and other industrious manifestations that made everything consumable, without a sound logic of how the argument and postulates work behind.

The kick start regarding capitalist issues is ascribed to my MA program in American Studies, there was a course with a one-sided narrative about the culture of Capitalism in the U.S.A. and how it is marketed overseas. I learned about a global series of KFC, Hotdog restaurants, Coca-cola …etc. Their ostensible symbols are ingrained in our daily scenes that we grow up with. Furthermore, the copycat process of whatever U.S.-made products encounters a big demand on by foreign consumers, to the degree they became part of a global culture. This is all I had concerning a small part of the capitalist novel in the U.S.A.
Afterward, I haven’t deeply delved into this topic though its significance to be enough aware of.

The last academic journey in Germany at the University of Wuppertal specifically, came out to put some points on a blurry immature knowledge that I had about this issue. Luckily, I was hosted by an expert in capitalist affairs, a professor has profusely published around.

So, I felt at the first glance, it’s time to go through it and share what was learned over the time of the stay that this blog comes to show a simple reaction intersected with probing questions capture the argumentation that being shrewdly published by experts and professors, who are incessantly watching out the phenomenon of Capitalism to prove its repercussion on the human life, and substantiating this by the existing Marxist theories. Also, I would like to bring up a quick review to some facts I went into written in a paper published by my host professor titled, “Capitalism, democratic education (Bildung), and the crisis of Democracy.” It actually starts off showing the event of the Great Depression which is called “the last big crisis in capitalism,” (Heinz Sünker). It’s the topic that my MA thesis revolved around also, but from another angle.

It consequently, caught my attention to come up with the idea of picking this paper out of many other publications that were given to me, due to the Depression Crisis of America which Sünker interpreted in his argument as a crisis entailed by destructive implications later on which represent a conclusive evidence of the frailty of Capitalism.

Therefore, Prof. Sünker claims that, “The last big crisis in capitalism -in the late 20s/early 30s of the last century- became in some nations a crisis of democracy with murderous consequences for many human beings.”

My thesis captured this historical event, with special emphasis on the revolutionary movement “the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA)” that exerted much effort in order to flip the restive situation over aiming at dispatching the class-struggle approach into the U.S.A. and creating a new reality during that dark era.

The Communist experience in the United States is a very interesting narrative to explore though the dream of overthrowing capitalism was faded away. It also, aimed at introducing the vulnerabilities caused by the Depression at the time the people were in dire need, for one thing, is getting out of the misery. Needless to mention, racism exponentially inflamed against black masses who were driven by communist debaters into their revolutionary class-struggle plans. 

The Communist Party ended up facing a firm rejection even violent confrontation within the U.S. society especially after WW II during McCarthyism in the 1950s when the Party’s activities were totally banned. As a result, some communist leaders faced trial like Rosenberg who was executed by an electric chair after had been convicted of an espionage in favor of Russia.

Many factors had played a role in repelling off its influence mostly foreign ones caused by ongoing fluctuations of the grand communist leadership in Russia at that time. So, undoubtedly, the Great Depression was a difficult test for the Communist followers in a capitalist nation especially the environment had a vivid argument in which Communists with their Marxist revolutionary tenets found it a hit point to apply the class-struggle doctrine. This event or “Stock Market Crash of 1929” impacted the world’s economy, it became an adopted evidence for the community of analysts who all the time claim that, the Depression of the U.S.A. proved the crumbliness of the Capitalism resulted by the failure of its economic dogma at that time. On the other hand, contributed to ascending fascism at political landscapes in many countries especially Europe.

As well as, the Depression actually constituted a focal point to prove this argumentatively that, "Capitalism isn’t spotless and transparent, but it’s the trap of elitist wealth that digests human and natural energies and converts them into currency." 

Since then, I haven't had a nominal idea within the theoretical and educational peripheries of Capitalism, whether this topic is just a theory or a well-designed rhetoric is shaped by Marxists in order to gain political dominance by applying a concerted “propaganda,” for this purpose or not.

After having been involved in this debate, I touched upon a fierce intellectual confrontation between Capitalism and Marxism, it’s a crystal clear fact we used to grapple with. For instance, the reality of the Cold War between both Eastern and Western camps that our forefathers experienced left an inheritable legacy, it's simply can be seen in the surroundings of popular culture like the renowned series of James Bond movies is rampant especially among young people who like action movies, it plays a crucial role in keeping the memory of the Cold War viable. Thus, if we go onto the street and ask whoever about that Capitalist-Marxist confrontation, he would probably say, yes, we feel that there is something running around us, it’s touchable, probably many don’t know what’s precisely the argument that this confrontation based on. 

Sünker seemingly means that the "Stock Market Crash of 1929" in the U.S.A. led to an uncontrollable crisis lasted for a decade and harshly impacted the world over, which is one of the main reasons of raising fascist sensation.

Obviously, the peoples felt ideologically disappointed and tried tirelessly to find the alternative to what had plundered their pockets and then ended up saluting fascism that came to fill the vacuums caused by the economic crisis in Europe like Nazism was applauded massively. 

In regard with political mainstream at that era, in their paper "Right-Wing Political Extremism in the Great Depression," Alen de Bromhead and others examined the impact of the Great Depression on the share of votes for right-wing anti-system parties in elections in the 1920s and 1930s, they hypothesized that, 

"While fully 24 European regimes can be considered democratic in 1920, this number had fallen to 11 by 1939. In the tumultuous conditions of the 1930s, National Socialist and Communist parties, both of which fall under the anti-system rubric, along with a number of less well-known anti-system parties gained electoral support at the expense of parties committed to democracy." 

This indicatively shows how the economic crisis played an instrumental role in shattering the whole political sensations apart deviating from political idealism. Hence, Sünker argues, that the repercussions of this event led to a crisis in democracy, “this crisis left murderous consequences for many human beings.” I can argue that when the vicissitudes after WWI synchronized with the impact of the Depression, the world plunged into the slope of anti-trust. It naturally left the court for fascist ascendancy including the heinousness of Nazism. One of the consequences of this crisis was proven in the way Franklin D. Roosevelt applied with his failed New Deal ventures for retrenchment to manage the crisis, he ended up embroiling his nation militarily in WWII in order to push the heavy burden of the Depression out by investing in war machines, and then creating job opportunities, it was the fruit of Pearl Harbor, in 1941. 

Also, Sünker argues that capitalist-based societies are inherently undemocratic,   

"No capitalist society nowadays is able to be properly seen as democratic because this must go hand in hand with the securing of personal freedom and socially responsible and made responsible dealing with power. When looking at "politics" and its constitutional conditions, in the USA and elsewhere, this basic deficiency has not only been remedied, rather it even gained strength after the collapse of the state capitalist systems of Central and Eastern Europe."

 Sünker brings up his argument with a logic requires more simplification to be understandable for readers who are not at the same level of knowledge refers to how capitalist societies are always undemocratic. It's important for us to see how is this theoretical argument linked with the reality. For instance, tangible cases how democracy is eroded within these societies, how do people react stemming from suffocating situation that could be attributable to the impact of Capitalism. Hence, the reader gets drawn into an unfathomable controversy where he ends up understanding nothing.                         

I, indeed, believe that not every democratic entity is really democratic even within the frontiers of the land of freedom the U.S.A., it's far away from impeccability in terms of violating certain liberties that supposedly are protected under the constitutional jurisdiction, they are infringed in some way. However, the U.S.A. is still democratic in comparison to North Korea or other Communist-ruled countries. For example, Homeland Security Act of 2002 was made under the pretext of securing territorial integrity after the terror onslaughts of 11th Sep, 2001, it was warrantless and made American masses grumpy at given to infringement of freedom of expression. But accusing the whole capitalist societies undemocratic is a complicated argument for me to figure out at the moment. 

I, probably, response to this by showing the conventional perspective that doesn't fit into his argument towards what does democracy mean. I, admittedly used to judge on this society or that rule a democratic as long as has principally freedom of expression, free assemblage, rule of law, accountability and so on. Otherwise, the matter necessitates me to apply some measures to make sense how these societies are undemocratic and how collapsed the capitalist systems of central and Eastern Europe.

Sünker continues with a quotation by Chossudovsky in his study "The Globalization of Poverty, Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms," to the descriptive conclusion of how democracy is fragile in these societies, 

"Marked by conflicts of interest and as a consequence of its ambivalent relationship towards private economic and financial interests, the state system in the West is experiencing a crisis. Under these conditions, parliamentary democracy has become a mere ritual. There are no alternatives available for the voters. Neo-liberalism has become an integral part of the political program of all the great political parties. Like in a one party state election outcomes today have practically no effect on the actual path of state economic and social politics."

 Neo-Liberalism, is the dogma of Adam Smith that privatizes wealth off governmental intervention is incontrovertibly a phenomenon of economic unfair that I used to observe how Sünker describing it as a neo-fascism in Germany.
On this track, there are questions overflying my head are, can we say that Danish, Canadian, Scandinavian...etc are undemocratic societies where parliamentary democracy is a mere ritual? Or the way Marxists apply in defining democracy is different than the way I interpret it accordingly? What about Russia, China, North Korea, are they democratic? Was the realm under communist rule before the collapse of Berlin Wall democratic? 
Probably, there is a special criterion is used to interpret democracy in the anti-capitalist point of view. 
The Marxist-Capitalist confrontation has a been central concern that I find it interesting to explore. The world in this millennium faces up new impediments in different spheres, too many still haven't achieved their economic welfare struggling with small pittances, the "Third World" is entirely still suffering poverty, social fragmentation is remarkably deepening, chronic diseases, and organized homicides due to marginalization from governments. Therefore, understanding the root causes behind these contemporary pitfalls is contingent on understanding why the aforementioned confrontation is existent which has the required answers.