Understanding a Fundamental Marxist Idea

“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This is perhaps the foundational idea of Karl Marx, a famous quote from Marx’s “Critique of the Gotha Program”. The practical, material expression of this Marxist idea is that the the government taxes you what you can afford, and gives to you what you need. To anyone who has paid attention to staggering wealth inequality, particularly in American society, we understand that this principle put into actual practice will invariably mean that the poor need more help to survive, and because of their poverty will end up paying less taxes. Inversely, this means of course that the rich take exponentially less in social or government assistance, and will pay exponentially more in taxes, because realistically they can afford to. It’s a fundamental idea I believe in and agree with, and at one point we did, too.

Around the Second World War, then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was taxing the most rich tax bracket at about 90%. Supporting this idea, I believe as a socialist that American society does need to go back to that, and stay there regardless of who is president. American tax policy debate is invariably not focused upon a fair distribution of wealth to eliminate poverty, homelessness, or hunger in the United States. And in my opinion, neither liberal nor conservative politicians are interested in solving these problems, but would rather allow them to continue to sustain the capitalism that grants both parties their power and sociopolitical legitimacy. Capitalism is, in my opinion (and in the opinion of Marx), killing freedom, both collective and individual liberties.

When we analyze the actual policies that liberals and conservatives are bringing forth, their perspective is focused more upon a politically moderate, acceptable to both sides, reach-across-the-aisle compromise. Conservatives prefer a flat tax, where every bracket would be taxed at somewhere between 10–15%. Fewer taxes in their minds means more liberty. But this robs states and communities of much needed funds, in favor of the conservative ideal of concentration of wealth in the hands of individuals, usually the 1%. Liberals want a progressive tax plan, but it seems that even Bernie Sanders is unwilling to go farther than about 25-30% taxes on the most taxed bracket. In fact, his tax plan seems to reduce taxes overall for everyone. There are plenty of both liberal and conservative politicians who have put forth tax plans that reduce overall taxes on all brackets of American society.

Reduction of taxes makes sense only for the bottom wealth brackets, that as they have less money overall, it would make sense for them to pay less. The wealthy on the other hand have the means to pay, and thus can and should pay more. And yet, some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in American society are the very oligarchs who claim to “represent” us. Their wealth and power is thanks to capitalism, continued by the existence of that economic system. That wealth inequality is inherent to capitalism, and also inherent to American society. Thus, oligarchs know that it is in their best interests to work together, to further their own power and wealth.

American oligarchs understand that as long as they continue capitalism, they continue the concentration of wealth into the 1%, which just so happens to be them. Most of the heads of government agencies, Congress and the Supreme Court make at least $100–200 thousand dollars annually (which is far more than what the overwhelming majority of American workers earn, considering that about 16% of the American population is below the poverty line, and nearly half of the American workforce have lived in poverty), but most importantly, corporate donors to both Democrats and Republicans make hundreds of millions, if not billions annually, and they are more than happy to funnel money into the campaigns of anyone and everyone who will help them deregulate their industries, to garner evenmore wealth. Corruption is inherent to America’s political system, and this corruption is done through capitalism.

American society has been conditioned to believe now in the modern day that bipartisan policy is the best option, and is the only way to achieve progress. Or is it simply that the system exists to be self-sustaining; that this bipartisan cooperation is designed to keep wealth and power in the hands of oligarchs who are control the United States, regardless of party? So they compromise on their ideals, they allow the change that should really come to be delayed in favor of a more “moderate” option, or even prevent such change (in the case of things like overturning net neutrality or implementing Citizens United), which ends up leading to further harm in our society, further erosion of democracy. A fallacy of moderation is being employed here, where proponents of such believe that what are in reality a clearly correct option and a clearly incorrect option are both false because they are “extreme”, and thus the real answer exists squarely in the middle, in all things and in all ways, irrespective of nuance or context. They do this with the argument that this is how things must be, that to do so is more politically expedient. But in my opinion, suffering is being allowed, and most importantly ignored, in favor of moderate compromise.

This dichotomy between liberals and conservatives is a long-standing tradition within American political thought. When we factor in their mutual capitalistic benefit to cooperate to undermine justice for their monetary and power gain, two very dangerous ideas are fed to the American people. These ideas are social capital for liberal consumers, and meritocracy for conservative consumers. Liberals have a moral problem of indirectly loving the rich. Not for simply being rich, which is the definition of the conservative meritocracy idea, of the rich being harder workers and better people, and their wealth being proof of this. But liberals love the rich because of this very Hillary Clinton, very liberal idea of social capital.

Here’s the difference: conservatives would suggest for example, that Jeff Bezos is a good man precisely because he makes $150 billion a year. He must be a harder worker, smarter, more studious, more disciplined, or in a more extreme example, even having better genes. That his wealth would somehow be proof of all of this. Liberals would suggest however, that he’s a good man precisely because of social capital garnered by his cumulative donations of about $60 million in his career, according to Bloomberg. That these donations show the strength of his moral character, his ethical commitment to justice and bettering the world. This is what liberal politicians, and capitalism, have taught liberal voters, just like how conservative Trump voters have ascribed near supernatural levels of morality, humanity, intelligence, justice, and power to the sitting President.

But that’s entirely the problem, Jeff Bezos is not a good man at all, and President Trump is not this Aryan ubermensch figure his supporters believe him to be. Neither man’s wealth justify these beliefs. Their power, their social followings, none of these things make either man remarkable, or better than any other person. These beliefs in meritocracy and social capital are part of the capitalist system, part of the structures that support it, and justify it socially to American voters. Capitalism is designed to be self-sustaining, and the wealthy who control the United States justify this system to justify themselves. Bezos is a prime example of the problems inherent within capitalism, and why it must be done away with. Compared to his annual climbing net worth, Bezos’ charitable donations quite literally amount to something like 4/10 of 1% of his wealth. He’s comparatively donated fractions of pennies, and that’s not even considering the disgusting, inhuman conditions that Amazon workers are forced to work in.

Make no mistake, Bezos is aware of it, and lets it happen. He profits directly off of their very real exploitation. Where even pregnant workers are forced to stand for 10–12 hour shifts, barred from bathroom breaks, forced to wear diapers, their wages are pathetically unfair, and where they’re under guard quite literally. This is in violation of numerous labor laws. What does that remind you of? Indentured servitude at best. He allows this, because such “cost-saving”, labor maximizing policies are designed to minimize worker pay, minimize overhead, and to maximize profit. And why is Amazon allowed to do this? A combination of Citizens United, which allows unlimited corporate palm-greasing to the politicians in exchange for deregulation of industry, Bezos’ sheer wealth, the perception of him as a “job creator” and as a “private citizen” on the right (which is just a new version of the same old segregation,this time under economic lines), and finally, the social protection that is afforded to him under the liberal idea of social capital, that he can donate a few pennies to a charity and all’s forgiven. No, it isn’t.

Liberals and conservatives alike contribute to this. They’re both centrists, and more than liberal or conservative ideas that have no real difference anymore, their common ideology which contributes to their waste, excesses, and their corruption, is capitalism. Capitalism is the centrist economic ideology. The only thing which separates liberals and conservatives anymore is a little disagreement over LGBT people and abortions. This centrist, across the isle handshaking mindset is a symptom of the problem, not the solution. Capitalism is what’s killing us more than the right wing, it just so happens that capitalism is more friendly to the right wing, to this exaltation of the individual over everything else. Man as an island, so to hell with everyone and everything else.

Capitalism moved us rightward. Capitalism is why we had economic dealings with Nazi Germany both before and during the war, and why Henry Ford was exalted at home for it, while receiving the Iron Cross for his donations to the Nazi party. It’s why Neville Chamberlain tried to negotiate and make peace with Hitler. There is so much of American history connected to this. We massacred tens of millions of natives and Africans for land, power, and money. The United States has only been at peace for a combined 14 or so years of its entire history. We’ve done so much harm and evil for more power, more money, to be number one in all things, in all ways, and at all costs. We will screw over the world, and already have, for ourselves, for the nation. For the power and wealth of a few oligarchs. And what’s it gotten us?

A militarized police. A military empire that spans the world over. Thousands dead in the last decade because of police brutality. Expanded war, expanded domestic surveillance, we’ve overthrown democratically elected leaders in dozens of countries, installed puppet dictators with military juntas at the CIA’s behest dozens of times. We supported the Islamic Revolution, we supported the monarchs in Russia in 1917. So many other examples, like operations Ajax and Gladio. Do you see? We’re the bad guys, and we’ve been that way since before the Industrial Revolution, since the invention of capitalism itself.

They became the new aristocrats, the new monarchs. It’s time for us to kill the king. If we don’t, we won’t live to see tomorrow. Automation will kill a majority of labor entirely, and the poorest of us will starve. We need a global revolution to throw off the yolk of exploitation. We’re not separate nations anymore, technology changed that. Now we are all laborers of the world. “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” “If your rights are violated, then so are mine.” I live by words like these. Every exploited worker everywhere is my comrade. This capitalist system we’re in needs to be done away with, and if we don’t stand together, united as one, then we die.