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.

保罗·达马托有组织的暴力系统

2012 年 1 月 27 日
战争和征服从一开始就伴随着资本主义。

资本主义竞争从来都不是建立在和平交换的基础上的。

在卡尔·马克思的《资本论》中，他引用一位经济学家的话说，如果资本能够获得 100% 的利润，它将“践踏所有人类法则；300%，无所顾忌的犯罪，无不顾忌的风险” 奔跑……如果动荡和冲突会带来利润，它就会自由地鼓励双方。”

的确，最强大的国家和企业通常可以在不诉诸暴力的情况下强加他们的意志。例如，国际货币基金组织的“结构调整计划”就是这种情况——在穷国私有化、削减公共支出和开放外国投资的条件下，向这些国家提供贷款。

但是，在金融胁迫失败的情况下，威胁和使用暴力一直是国家促进本国统治阶级经济利益的重要方式。

例如，美国在19世纪初期就搞了所谓的“炮舰外交”。美国会将海军陆战队派往一个存在支付问题的加勒比海岛屿，并直接接管海关。

战争和征服从一开始就伴随着资本主义。英国拥有世界上最强大的海军舰队，掠夺和掠夺印度，摧毁其本土纺织业，以将英国的纺织品强加于他们。

但即使在此之前，随着 15 和 16 世纪欧洲出现世界上第一批商业强国，暴力已成为常态而非例外。

事实上，推动欧洲工业资本主义发展所必需的资本积累来自美洲和非洲的掠夺——尤其是奴隶贸易的发展。

马克思写道：

美洲金银的发现，非洲大陆土著居民的灭绝、奴役和埋葬在矿山中，征服和掠夺印度的开始，以及非洲变成黑皮商业狩猎的保护区都是资本主义生产时代来临的特征。

在马克思撰写关于现代工业资本主义的文章时，它在英国和一些欧洲国家几乎没有发展。但随着 20 世纪的临近，资本主义变得真正全球化。

资本主义生产冲破了民族国家的界限，被迫在海外寻找出路。其结果不仅是经济竞争，而且是大国之间在国际范围内的军事竞争。

早在 1870 年代，弗雷德里克·恩格斯 (Frederick Engels) 就写道：“军国主义占据主导地位并正在吞噬欧洲……各个国家之间的竞争迫使他们……每年在陆海军、大炮等方面花费更多的钱？

在恩格斯写下这本书之后的时期，最强大的国家——英国、美国、德国和法国——争先恐后地瓜分世界。他们的新殖民地为他们的商品和投资提供了原材料、廉价劳动力和市场。

随着地球被划分为“势力范围”，大国之间争夺谁将控制最大市场的竞争愈演愈烈。每个国家都武装到牙齿来维持“力量平衡”——这种平衡不断有被渴望分一杯羹的新力量的出现打破的危险。

列宁在第一次世界大战期间写作，将资本主义的新时期描述为“帝国主义”——一个以大国边界内的巨大资本主义垄断统治和国际范围内的大国竞争为特征的制度。

列宁的分析至关重要，因为它指出帝国主义不是一种政策，而是资本主义发展的新阶段，它是从早期条件中产生的。帝国主义的逻辑是国家间的国际经济竞争——导致战争。

当时有人，比如德国社会民主党人卡尔考茨基，认为世界市场的建立和各国经济上的相互依存将使战争过时。

恰恰相反。

数以千万计的人在世界大战中丧生，这些战争决定了哪个国家将“从一个大国转变为世界强国”，用列昂·托洛茨基的话来说。

首发于2000年5月12日《社会主义工人》杂志。

风萧萧_Frank

A system of organized violence