Capitalism
UFT Newsletter Saturday, January 01, 2000
I have noticed over my recent six years at University (1994-1999) that a number of students and the occasional lecturer tend to use the word capitalism as a kind of swear-word – summoning up images of evil, cruelty, greed and injustice. Explanation is unnecessary – it is assumed we all know the wickedness of capitalism.
But this is all a bit swift. It is too easy. It is intellectual laziness. It is self-indulgent camp-following. Worst of all we render ourselves irrelevant to the floundering population, who know full well that they live in a capitalist country in a capitalist world.
This precious anti-capitalism comes across as a form of escapism, an impossible dream, an excuse for being ineffective. One can sense that this position is an ivory tower retreat from reality before we even analyse what capitalism is.
But let’s be thorough. Let’s step into the lion’s den, and let’s put the plain question, “What is wrong with capitalism?”
There is a profit motive. Yes, a universal human phenomenon. Some are more talented, some more fortunate, some more ambitious – thus some are richer. All too obvious. Has always been so, and will always be so – under any conceivable regime. Miserable poverty in the presence of wealth is offensive and divisive – yes, but there will never be absolute equality.
Some capitalists make large profits and create whole new enterprises. An early example: having accumulated surplus capital, an ambitious merchant risks it on a fleet of canoes to open up trade with the next tribe, resulting in an exchange of goods, services, and ideas – the very stuff of the march of civilisation. If I may concertina my argument, without capitalism there would be no university!
“Whoa!” you say. “What about the evils: the underpaid workers, damage to the environment, false advertsing, carnivorous monopolies …”
Yes. Capitalism is not necessarily practiced virtuously. It is a drive, an urge, an appetite. It needs to be made caring and humane. But we can not hope to ban it. It is like sex. Sex can degenerate into rape, molestation, exploitation, etc. Society must constantly work to civilise its members to live sexually responsible lives. Similarly we must define good and responsible capitalism.
The morals of sex and profit will always be a headache because human life will last as long as these energies drive it, always finding new forms of expression.
At one stage, we tried to say that sex was inherently bad – that did not work. The answer is sex with caring. To raise our quality of life, we must be prepared to accept sex as a given of human nature and to tread carefully through the sexual minefields, to manage chronic vices like lust and jealousy.
Similarly, we can’t ban profit. The answer is profit with an ethic of sharing. To be relevant, we must be willing and able to accept our profit-seeking nature, and to walk the minefields of enterprise, managing our chronic vices, especially greed and envy.
Philip O'Carroll