Subverting Capitalism
The injustice inherent to capitalism and the state, that has led to the demeaning treatment of nature and humanity, is worth opposing. Regardless of how effective our actions are, capitalism should not be dismantled because a just and free world is possible but because we have a moral duty to oppose immorality. This is required of all of us, but as long as liberation eludes us our survival depends on continuing to create value for the very system that shackles us, poisons us, that robs us of our lives and our children’s lives. Merely undermining capitalism seems deceptively simple. We may attempt to subvert it, we may cry out because we feel that there is little more we can do. Every time we realize that our lives are passing us by because we lack the time, funds, and energy to do anything more than work, and every time we are reminded that to allow capitalism to continue is to surely doom humanity along with most life on Earth, the greatest task of our species makes itself obvious.
As we try to rebel and resist, as many have in the past and in the present, we are reminded consistently of one thing. Capitalism re-routes subversion to serve its ends. Creativity is no longer found in art, subversion is no longer done through subversive acts. Everything can be bought, and subsequently the system is submitted to, because in order to make money one can either cower into wage slavery, exploit others, or litter our society with garbage. Capitalism is not just evil because it is exploitative but because it categorizes people into prey and predator. It is a replication of this predator-prey dynamic found in nature, a remnant of ancient trauma based on the experiences of predation of early humans that has, over the course of thousands of years, gotten wildly out of control.
The historical stages of Marxist theory, the idea that political economies possess a necessary and inevitable evolution, is suspiciously convenient. The mythology of a chronological evolution from slave society to feudalism, then to capitalism, fails to acknowledge the commonalities between the three. Capitalism, characterized by industrialization and the emergence of the merchant class during feudalism, also requires markets and money, which have existed for far longer. There were wages in many ancient societies including Greece and Rome. The society that evolves out of capitalism may merely be a variety of the same economic structures that form it, resulting in something either only slightly better or much worse. There is no reason to believe that socialism will be the inevitable result of our current society directly. That would require that people are not made complacent simply through reformist capitalism, through some social services, some fairer labor practices, and the facade of environmentalism. It requires that people are not pacified until these reforms are once again undone and society collapses again. The end of capitalism does not guarantee that it will not return in a different form. Marxists rely on the idea of progress in which a utopia is always approaching.
While Marxism possesses enough good observations to be useful and prophetic, Marxist organizing, often suffers the same fate that all subversive acts meet under capitalism. It becomes a dead end, a rebel trap. It abides by the same ubiquitous logic that afflicts every project today, that success is achieved by the creation of signs, symbols meant for us aware of but do nothing but reproduce themselves. A project is as valuable as people think it is. These organizations will publish newspapers and magazines, they will show their faces at protests and strikes, they will table and attempt to recruit more people to “join the movement” when nothing of the sort is taking place. This is nearly all advertising for the particular party in question and is seldom a genuine attempt to educate people sparing whatever so-called party line they want to push.
From ancient civilizations to feudalism or capitalism, little has changed. The exploitation of human beings and nature for currency and resources remains a hallmark of human civilization barring a few exceptions, the Incas maintained an empire without money as well as some other indigenous peoples in the Americas. For the most part, human societies have continued to evolve based on the arrogance, anger, and stupidity that is the product of generational abuse. Human beings, as sensitive as we are, struggled to cope with the vulnerability that comes with of being preyed upon. Since early history, we have passed down fear and humiliation. It is responsible for every form of abuse, every political system and every state, every quest for so-called knowledge and every tradition, every social norm and every religion. Every idea you have ever had is, in some way, at least indirectly tied to this. The crazed cycles of our abuse of nature and humanity stem from the ancient generational curse afflicting our species. We do not know what human beings would be like without it. We call the economic dimension of this capitalism and the political dimension, statism.
Under capitalism, you can either be exploited, exploit, or create unenlightened nonsense that appeals to people who have been so marginalized by the system that they lack access to the kind of education that would allow them to enjoy better things. Capitalism results in the proliferation of trash. Things that take time, effort, and intelligence to appreciate are not appreciated by enough people to be profitable. Creative and subversive excellence is seldom found in art, art is seldom subversive because it is itself composed of polished shit, based off the shitty media and sloppy soup of symbols that proliferate as a result of brands, popular media, and other nonsense. Subversion is always subdued to serve the continuation of the capitalizing process. It is disintegration, a killing of whatever is being profited from, a zombifying of experience that leaves behind the puppetiered carcasses of what used to exist. Commodification soils the organic dimension of experience. Once something is commodified its attainment means almost nothing, I say almost because the one thing it does mean is that you were submissive enough to be given the means to buy it.
Subversion is only possible in the absence of monetization. Today, subverting capitalism preserves and explores less mediated experiences. We should aim to drop out of capitalist society by creating alternatives, but this is easier said than done. Subversion cannot be found within the system even if we think we are working outside of it. Some organizations may consider themselves radical in practice while all they are really doing is attempting to gain credibility, but credibility is built through legitimate subversion. The old Marxist Party is a perfect victim for this trap. When all the “party” must do is spread its dogmatic interpretation of socialism (and its oh so convenient inevitability) and look like it is the party to bring about the revolution their neutralization is set. They can either attempt to influence elections or they can merely keep up appearances. When any party left of progressive has a slim chance of gaining power the latter choice is usually what they spend the majority of their time doing. This is not to disparage organizing or even Marxist organizing but how can a group possibly work outside of the system if it either works within it or spends all its time merely looking like it does so? In my time within Marxist organizations I found a persistent opposition toward mutual aid. The common golden line is that we shouldn’t waste time trying to form our own systems when we can take hold of the ones that already exist to bring about the socialist world. When will we seize the means? Who knows but it is inevitable, or so I am told.
It seems that we are doomed to barbarism if we can pretend that it isn’t already here. I suspect the horrific hurricane season in the forecasts paired with Trump’s gutting of FEMA will make for a solid example of that. But why complain about the end of an exploitative system? I will complain about the harm collapse brings to people but I will never complain about it in itself. I have come to the personal conclusion that there is no changing a system that refuses to change, that is structured to only accelerate into nothingness with not a shred of hope of anything better until it is gone. Until capitalism collapses its grip on the world will likely remain at least in parts. I say change your region, your city, street, and your way of life. Tear this civilization down. By the time the dust settles your once small lot may be what is left of the human world.
Don’t get me twisted, a society without money, without the systemic exploitation of nature and human beings is possible but it will not simply come to be. Without a pragmatic, organized movement, people will attempt to recreate the foundations of the system because they know nothing else and socialism will be miscarried or come too late for us to avoid extinction. Capitalism cannot continue indefinitely, but without legitimate subversion the cycle of relapse will continue, trapping the world in limbo.
