Contradictions

[bricolage]

What do people mean when they talk about the contradictions of capitalism?
Cheers.

[iskrabronstein]

Well first, the distinction must be made that the contradictions under discussion are not simply logical contradictions, but dialectical ones. We are not simply identifying two antithetical aspects in capitalism - as Marxist analysis is systematic, it identifies contradictory groups and social tendencies through the course of their development and interaction. A good deal of what Marxists think about Communist policy derives from Marx's position that the contradictions inherent in capitalism (the thesis and anti-thesis) can only be resolved by a social revolution (synthesis).

Marx identifies multiple contradictory tendencies of development in the systemic logic of capitalism itself, and classes with fundamentally contradictory interests in the social structure resulting from capitalism. For example, take Marx's explanation of the boom-bust cycle: the expansion of capital through increased productivity and profitable commodity exchange causes a concomitant development in the productive infrastructure itself - but developing the infrastructure reduces the cost of production, causing the rate of profit to decline. The only capitalist solution to this - the destruction of capital, creation necessitating destruction.

In a political analysis, the development of capitalism also catalyzes the breakdown of old class forms and increasingly divides humanity into two classes - those who work to create value utilizing the means of production, and those who profit from the ownership of such means. The simple logic of this division, and the respective interests of each class mean that there can be no common interests between them - they form a contradictory relationship that can only be resolved by social revolution and the abolition of class and capitalism alike.

I do find that dialectical analysis can be misused badly, and is often too rigid to accommodate practical political analysis without some modification - but it is a fundamentally important tool, nonetheless.

[Widerstand]

developing the infrastructure reduces the cost of production, causing the rate of profit to decline.

Could you explain this part? Shouldn't decreased costs INCREASE profit?

[iskrabronstein]

Decreased costs of production within a competitive market drive prices down, because competing firms are fighting for market share by attempting to sell their commodities at a lower price than their competitors, and the net result is a higher base level of commodity production. There are two dynamics at work, intra-market competition and supply and demand.

[S.Artesian]

What do people mean when they talk about the contradictions of capitalism?
Cheers.


The critical, necessary, essential, primary contradiction of capital is the contradiction between labor, the ability of human beings to produce for their own welfare and satisfaction of needs, and the conditions of labor where such ability becomes the property of a specific class.

[ContrarianLemming]

Capitalists say that everyone should be allowed to get quite rich, they also say everyone is can make it if they try hard enough.

these ideas contradict, if someone can get quite rich then they can form monopolies easilly, making the second point impossible of very difficult.