De schuld van het kapitaal. Marx en de mondialisering

Samenvatting

The Fault of Capital. Marx and Globalization. Basic elements of Marxist theory are applied to modern, globalizing societies, drawing comparisons with other developments since the publication of The Communist Manifesto (1848). It is observed that the eras in which Marxism was most popular were those in which class differences decreased and the working class acquired more power (the early 20th century and the 1970s), whereas in periods when the economic, political, and/or social situation would have justified a Marxist revival, the movement has usually been less popular (eg, post-WWII, late 1980s, and 1990s). Since the current situation in Western Europe and the US is characterized by the deterioration of the welfare state and the increasing power of (international) capital due to globalization, resulting in growing inequalities between an underclass of unemployed vs the rest of the population, rather than inequality along traditional class lines, it is argued that reexamination of Karl Marx's theories, especially his views on internationalization and the expansion of bourgeois capital, may be a valid analytical approach. However, it is stressed that the Marxist notion of a class-based revolution is not valid. Adapted from the source document.