Capitalism's Legacy: Protectionism, Racism, Environmental Destruction. The US, a Declining World Power, Will Not Go Quietly

China is becoming an increasing problem for its US competitor through its direct investments and meddling in areas that US imperialism has long considered its territory. But its powerful economy and rapacious appetite for raw materials is giving it tremendous clout on the world stage including with nations that are a little closer to home.

The economies of Brazil, Australia, Malaysia and Peru, a group that is referred to as the "China Club" by Business Week magazine are running hot thanks to Chinese demand.  And it seems that the US neighbor to the north, Canada is eager to join the club too.  Canada's exports to China rose 6% last year making it the third largest export destination for Canadian goods after the US and Britain.  Chinese demand  tripled  the first quarter profits of  Canada's largest base metals producer  and has brought Canada's fastest economic growth in a decade; this will not please US capitalism.

In the midst of this period of historic economic and social crisis, trade tensions appear somewhat mild and are, at the present, overshadowed by more tragic events like the oil disaster in the gulf, the murder of activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid by the Israeli's, not to mention a couple of US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  But protectionist measures linger beneath the surface, are on the increase and, given the integrated nature of the world economy, can and will have an economic impact that can threaten life on the planet as much as the environmental destruction that the market economy brings in its wake.

The capitalist class is deathly afraid of protectionist wars recalling as they do the Smoot/Hawley Tarriffs introduced in the 1930's in an attempt to soften the depression; the legislation was met with retaliation from other countries and led eventually to the second world war. The world economy is far more integrated today, and while the existence of nuclear weapons lessens the possibility of what we used to call World War Three (the US never invaded North Korea)  regional wars are being waged throughout the world at great economic and social cost. I was reading on one website that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have now cost one trillion dollars  You can get an idea of what that figure really means here and here.

Both protectionism, and free trade, are capitalist attempts to overcome the crisis of overproduction/overcapacity that is an inescapable reality of an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and the existence of nation states within a world economy.  The productive forces are too powerful---capitalism produces too much stuff. The value that workers create through the Labor process is greater than the wages paid; we create more value, make more products than our wages can buy back. This is necessary as this "surplus value" is the source of the capitalists profit  but obviously we can't buy back what we make.  Increased efficiency through technology and automation exacerbates this problem until the economy shuts down, workers are thrown out of work and excess production is soaked up.  At the present, US productive capacity has been cut dramatically.  According to the Federal Reserve, only 69% of productive capacity was used in April but even in the best of times only 80% or so of productive capacity is used---an average of 81% over the last 38 years according to the Fed. In a democratically run socialist economy, increased Labor productivity would lead to more leisure time, under capitalism and private ownership it leads it more misery and starvation.

Many of us were surprised by how far the various nation states of Europe were able to integrate in to one entity.  Many critics never expected that the European unity effort would go so far as to institute a European currency.  But we can see the potential for splits with the Greek crisis as German workers and others are not too happy about spending money to bail out Greeks.  It is increasingly likely that the Greek malady can spread and countries like Ireland, Portugal  and Spain will need a bail out.
The world is full of hot spots.  China itself has a huge working class and is also composed of many different minorities; it is inevitable that there will be significant clashes ahead. 

The US is experiencing an economic and political crisis of its own.  I received the online newsletter from the Tea Party folks yesterday that accuses Barak Obama of staffing his cabinet with Marxists. with all the appropriate imagery that associates socialism with fascism. It is an absurd claim but the US is full of absurdities.  It is equally absurd that a group can co-opt a name that is associated with revolutionary history, an event of direct action against a world power and use it to strengthen reactionary forces.  This image (left) accompanying the Tea Party online newsletter should give rise to some concern and cannot be simply laughed away; the brown shirt is not an accident.  The organization even uses the famous image of a working woman displaying her muscles inspired by Rosie the Riveter. With the Union leaders offering no alternative to capitalism, right wing groups like the Tea Party can grow significantly in the absence of a mass movement.

War, economic crises, environmental devastation, unemployment and racism; these are the legacies of capitalism.  This is what the future holds if the working class is unable to enter the global stage and play the role that history has handed it. The future is not guaranteed.  Despite the objective situation being favorable to social change and our numbers great, the elimination of a historically bankrupt economic system is not written in stone.  Without leadership and an alternative to turn to, the working class can temporarily fragment, shatter, as a united way forward seems impossible.

Business Week pointed out in its last issue that "Cheap shirts and sweaters are cold comfort for unemployed people who are sitting at home in their pajamas."  Anti-capitalist activists of all types should take heed. In the US just because there is a certain resignation at the present, we should not be surprised at sudden eruptions against the system.  We are in for a bumpy ride ahead.  While there is a strong tendency for workers to seek class unity as we move in to struggle, this doesn't occur in a straight line and there will be some serious clashes within our ranks in the war to take control of the society in which we live.