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Comment How the Imperialists Misuse the Word "Capital"The imperialists have debased the word "capital." Their aim is to make the parasitism and decay of the imperialist economy appear as normal and capable of producing new value without the working class. The impression is given that the imperialists can create new value or social wealth out of nothing without setting in motion the working class in productive work. The fleecing of others of the already-produced value they possess or the re-division of already-produced value is presented as making money or creating new value. This glamorizes the parasitism of the stock market, other Ponzi schemes, gambling activities and the forcing up (or down) of the market prices of already-produced value such as oil or even land to suit narrow private interests.
The working class faces the issue of who controls the already-produced value with which it can produce new value. Under the imperialist system, the working class does not control the already-produced value and cannot enter into a relation with the value in a manner that suits working people and their families with an aim to meet their needs and that of society. At present, the working class enters into a social relation with an alien class or not-working class (financial oligarchy or imperialist class) that controls the already-produced value. This social relation is called capital. The social relation capital is in crisis and needs to be replaced. The economic base of the social relation continually falls into crisis. Look at Alberta. For years, the imperialists in control of the already-produced value have said that the road to prosperity is for workers to produce more and more oil for shipment to the U.S. and beyond and this would secure their future. The result does not match the hype. Alberta is in crisis and workers face 25 per cent unemployment, businesses face bankruptcy and the people face the wrecking of social programs and public services. The imperialists in control refuse to admit that the direction and aim of the Alberta economy have to change. The energy oligarchs cannot even control the market price of the precious natural resources the workers produce and are giving them away for a song to the U.S. imperialists. The response of those in control cannot be considered serious but only self-serving in the extreme. Firstly because they refuse to admit the imperialist system has failed and is in one crisis after another. They deny that the sellout of resources and their refusal to build a dynamic diverse pro-social Alberta economy are wrong and must be changed. What a joke to suggest the way out of the crisis is more of the same and endless handouts to the self-same energy oligarchs through buyouts of their failed projects such as the Keystone XL and Trans Mountain pipelines, and public payments to clean up the mess they have left behind such as orphaned wells.
Those who currently control already produced value are supposed to buy the capacity to work of the working class and put workers to work producing the new value the people and society need for their existence. The social relation in action can produce new value when workers are engaged in productive work but the working class has no control over how the new value is used and the relationship is in crisis and need of replacement. The aim of those in control for maximum profit is in contradiction with a modern socialized economy that needs cooperation and planning and an aim that favours the working people and social and natural environment not the narrow private interests of the few in control. Already produced value, such as a factory, machine, oil or its representation in money, cannot produce new value on its own outside a social relation with the working class. For the working class to open a path to its emancipation it must seize control of the already produced value and enter into a new social relation with it without the interference and control of the not-working class (financial oligarchy or imperialist class). Use of the Term "Capital"The suggestion is not to use the term "capital" unless it specifically and clearly refers to the social relation between those who control already-produced value, the not-working class (financial oligarchy or imperialist class) and the working class, which sells its capacity to work to the not-working class in control of the already-produced value. Otherwise, as in most cases, the terms value, wealth, money, social wealth, means of production should be used. NoteThe term stock market "capitalization" is meant to give the impression that money or "capital" invested in the stock market can produce new value when the stock price goes up outside of a direct social relation with the working class or even any direct relation with any means of production. Conversely, the impression is given that value is lost when the stock price, its market price or "capitalization," goes down. Even the term human capital is bandied about without any thought as to what it means other than perhaps potential value of some sort under the control of the not-working class (financial oligarchy or imperialist class). This misuse of the word capital debases thinking on pensions as well. The social value within pension and many mutual funds represent the savings of workers of value they have already produced. Instead of that social wealth being put to work in a social relation with workers to produce new value within the home economy, it is mostly invested in the stock market or sent abroad. When the stock price goes up, everyone congratulates the managers of the fund as somehow creating new value. But this hides the truth that the stock price going up does not mean that workers have produced new value corresponding to the higher stock price and the company owns that much more already produced value and the shares represent that new value. When shares are purchased on the stock market, the money goes to the seller of the shares; it does not go to the company listed as being behind the stock. The only time the purchase of stock goes to the company directly for investment is through an initial public offering or when the company issues more stock. When a company buys back stock and delists the amount of stock it purchases, the company in effect disinvests value or drains value from the company, sending it to the sellers of the shares thus reducing or weakening the amount of already-produced value at the company's disposal to enter into a social relation with the working class, possibly to produce new value.
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
The aim of the debasement of the language is to eliminate the
working class in the collective and individual consciousness as
the necessary human factor in the production of new value within
a relation with already-produced value and those who control
it.
The economic meaning of capital describes an unequal social
relation between those who control already produced value and the
working class, and that relation is in crisis and needs to be
overcome with a new relationship of working people directly with
already produced value.