Covid Capitalism: A New World Order?

The pandemic is shaking-up the global system. In the first of a two part article, socialist economist George Kerevan asks whether we are heading toward a new type of state capitalism.

[conter.co.uk]

{At this point we may raise an obvious question: why have most of the globe’s various competing imperialisms suddenly decided to close down local production despite its negative economic impact? And why move to disrupt the accumulation process when most capitalist regimes have been much slower in tackling runaway climate change, which threatens to destroy the planet? One factor may be the instantaneous threat to life from Covid-19 in the northern, capitalist hemisphere – previous recent virus threats have been concentrated in the poor southern hemisphere. Then there’s the fact that Covid-19 threatens to kill members of the bourgeoisie itself and (by infecting the Western proletariat) disrupt capital accumulation anyway, if left unchecked.}

One might wonder if there was a sense of confusion within the ruling class and establishment on how to use the virus towards the best means of benefit. This would/might explain the delayed response.

{The quick Western response to this existential threat may have been reinforced by the seeming ease with which China, America’s chief economic competitor, seemed to restrain the spread of the virus.The rhetoric used to meet the threat from the pandemic fits in easily with populist, right-wing nationalist ideology; for example Trump’s branding of the virus as “Chinese”.}

First off, quick is arguable. We know for a fact that all western responses were nearly 2 months behind the China outbreak. And that time line is also arguable. Then we went into it totally unprepared compared to China. Please see above comment and reread.

{However, it is clear that imperialism assumed a relatively quick defeat of Covid-19. Now that is no longer an option, all the pressure is on to restart the accumulation process in the core industries.}

Option? I would imagine he means appropriate? Our representation has in recent years managed to claim success falsely in a number of aspects when it comes to lives. Bush on an aircraft carrier might be a good starting point for this as I'll direct my narrative towards Middle East wars. We've just managed to transfer this type of perception conditioning to the virus. Where the wars are constantly in a state of chaos and perpetual surges, the conditions of the virus remain in chaos and perpetual societal shutdowns to various degrees. Neglecting the only obvious means to confront it being a total shutdown for a substantial period the Chinese properly conducted and moved on from a year ago.

!News flash! The entire Asian hemisphere, especially China, who receives the most demonization, has long ago stifled this virus while we continue to be slaves to the ruling class and establishment whims of destabilizing their already failed capitalist system and our society for their own benefit. Outside a minor outbreak occasionally in which they easily manage now, we're still fucking dieing out in the westernized societies! And we just voted for more of the same because our MSCM is negligent in their duties to bring this awareness to us. !The fucking war going on right now isn't against another country, it's against us! And we're being used to condition the next economic world war! and we're totally ignorant and in a state of bliss as it's happening All the so called 3rd world countries south of us have also banned together in a sense of socialism and beat this virus in comparison. Accept those that are allies of the westernized world. Which they offered to work with us I remind you. Let that sink in if you need a moment.

If we were allied with these countries who hold all the resources required for an enlightened world society rather than the most horrific entities East of us----let that sink in also.

{I am not suggesting that the Covid-19 crisis will provide the ingredients for repeating such a boom, thereby reversing the secular downturn we have seen since the 2008 banking crash. But I am saying that the pandemic opens the prospect – at least at a theoretical level – that a combination of state finance and increased labour exploitation can raise profit rates in core sectors of the imperialist economies, if only temporarily. And that this could influence the future direction of accumulation. The pandemic might also intensify inter-imperialist rivalries, further destabilising the international system. Finally, it can lead to an intensification of the class struggle, domestically and globally. Never forget, it is the outcome of such a titanic global class battle that will determine the future of capitalism, not the one-sided reaction of individual capitalisms to the pandemic itself.}

I added the second part of this series first. So with the fear of running out of room on this post, I encourage you to read on. Feel free to chime in on anything after the above as I continue to read the rest.

Covid Capitalism: Winners and Losers

[conter.co.uk]

{How should the left respond? The crying need in this pandemic era is for the creation of a new, mass anti-capitalist international of workers’ parties, trades unions and peasant organisations. I am not talking about some modest rassemblement of the far left, Marxist organisations though that has its place. Given the extraordinary weakness of the international anti-capitalist movement, we need to start at the most basic level when it comes to international organisation.

We urgently need an organising centre that serves three basic functions: (1) to provide a platform for international debate and socialist education, including an international workers’ and peasants’ university; (2) to provide a mechanism for exchanging information, especially about struggles that are ignored by the corrupt Western media or totalitarian censorship; and above all (3) to act as a centre to mobilise global solidarity actions. This framework would leave significant latitude for ideological differences, much as did the Second International.

The advent of Covid-19 has exposed – if it were needed – all the contradictions of the dying capitalist system. In October 2020, the World Bank warned that by 2021, an extra 88-115 million people will have been pushed into extreme poverty by the pandemic – defined as surviving (sic) on a daily income of $1.90 a day. That would mean nearly 10% of the human race were destitute. At the same time, the rich have gained from the crisis. A report by Swiss bank UBS found that global billionaires increased their wealth by more than a quarter between April and July 2020, benefited from betting on the recovery of global stock markets after the lockdowns. UBS said billionaire wealth had hit “a new high, surpassing the previous peak of $8.9tn reached at the end of 2017”. There are only 2,189 billionaires on the planet today, but they are collectively richer than all the tens of millions of human beings living in extreme poverty.

We began by drawing an analogy between the impact of war on the imperialist system and the way the pandemic is playing out. Both WW1 and WW2 ended with revolutionary challenges to global capitalism. Let us hope that our crisis produces the same result.