Would you ever become a capitalist?

[Philosophos]

Hello once again I have some philosophical questions. Do you believe that if you ever got a big heritage or won the lottery or someone hired you to become the right hand of a great company, you would still stay a communist?

I believe I know the answer to that (I've seen you posting some very anti-capitalist things) but still I believe that all these people out there that talk about a great change in the politics and the rest of the society are not truly humanists or ethical people that actually want it.
They want equality, freedom of speech for everyone, bigger sallaries and so many things more but if they suddenly become the big heads then they will sell their asses for profit and they won't have any values left.

I know it is a silly question but I just want to see your opinion on the subject.

[Ostrinski]

I would create a communist superPAC.

[Let's Get Free]

I'd become one just so I could wear a top hat and a monocle.

[Mass Grave Aesthetics]

I´d love to be able to become an eccentric millionaire. I would travel as much as I could and explore the world. Do all kinds of stuff I´m not able to do now. So yes, I would grab an opportunity like that with both hands. I don´t think it would change much about my politics. Just look at Engels. I would donate a large portion of my profits to communist parties and organisations.

[Zeus the Moose]

I would create a communist superPAC.

WorkersFreedomPAC

[#FF0000]

I thought about it. I think i would have a hard time adjusting, as apparently people often do, to becoming upper class while being working class my whole life. If it was a lottery thing, I'd throw some money in the bank or do an investment thing to make it last so I wouldn't have to work for as long as possible. Then live in a cabin in the woods/mountains forever.

I'd still be a communist but I'd just drop out of life completely.

[l'Enfermé]

Inheriting a large fortune or winning the lottery doesn't make you a capitalist.

[hatzel]

Sometimes when I'm on the train I see a discarded newspaper on a seat and I get all excited until I notice it's City AM or the Financial Times or whatever else and I cry because that shit looks proper boring. But capitalists seem to read them because they care about the economy and market developments and stuff. I don't want to be a capitalist.

[helot]

If i won the lottery i'd bankroll strikes.

[Doflamingo]

I'd become one just so I could wear a top hat and a monocle.

You're forgetting your corncob pipe.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Is this a serious question? Of course I would. I would rather be hoodrich than bougie, but i'd rather be bougie than neither of those.

[Yuppie Grinder]

You're forgetting your corncob pipe.

Corncob pipes are proletarian as fuck.

[hatzel]

...oh and also I know myself too well to think employing somebody like me would be in anybody's best interests, but if I were a capitalist then I'd have to employ somebody like me. This would cause me no end of worry and strife. This is another reason I'd prefer not to be a capitalist...

[GoddessCleoLover]

If it was good enough for Fred Engels it would be good enough for me.

[Conscript]

If i won the lottery i'd bankroll strikes.

This. You could feed them and shit.

[hetz]

Yes, wouldn't think twice about it.

[cynicles]

I'd make my money last, sabotage the process from the inside as long as I could and funnel money too anti-capitalist groups.

[Raúl Duke]

Do you believe that if you ever got a big heritage or won the lottery or someone hired you to become the right hand of a great company, you would still stay a communist?

Strictly speaking, probably not particularly if that involved running a company (i.e. top position/ownership of a business).

although I've been influenced by the left and some of that stuff would probably stick somewhat even if my class position changed.

[Pretty Flaco]

if i had the opportunity or chance to become a businessman, why would i not take it? im looking for my interests. as a worker that means looking for higher pay, better work conditions, fair treatment, etc. but if i had the chance to improve my class status, of course id take it. itd be a step to improve myself, even though it would have to come at the expense of others.

[#FF0000]

tbh i think a lot of people say "WELL OF COURSE" without really thinkin about it. I think a lot of people here would have a difficult time adjusting if they were to suddenly find themselves higher up the social ladder one day.

[Yuppie Grinder]

tbh i think a lot of people say "WELL OF COURSE" without really thinkin about it. I think a lot of people here would have a difficult time adjusting if they were to suddenly find themselves higher up the social ladder one day.

I'm a weirdo the way I am now, I'd be a weirdo as an investment banker. That's not what I'm worrying about.

[Ocean Seal]

I know I'm not supposed to be a lifestylist or a moralist, but I just can't force myself to be such a giant exploiting dickhead. Tis the way of the world.

[Yuppie Grinder]

I know I'm not supposed to be a lifestylist or a moralist, but I just can't force myself to be such a giant exploiting dickhead. Tis the way of the world.
Money can buy things that will make you forget about the guilt. Think about it. Cocaine habit>principles.

[StockholmSyndrome]

I don't need to be a capitalist to drink top shelf liquor every day, so no, I wouldn't be a capitalist. All it takes is a bit of frugality in other areas of life, like rent.

To be honest, I'm shooting for middle management, or a good salaried position where I have relative control over my working day. Being a freelancer/starting my own consulting firm and being full-on petite bourgeois sounds pretty good on paper, but realistically I don't think the petite bourgeoisie has it all that great. In fact, in many ways their position is more precarious than the non-owners.

Anyways, I don't see why you wouldn't want to make the best of your situation. Being a revolutionary is not about what your personal monetary aspirations are. I can choose to throw all of my money away right now and become broke, or I can choose to save it. Either way I will remain proletarian. After all, class is a matter of your relationship to the means of production, not how much money you make.

No one really "chooses" to be anything, despite what the brokers of the American Dream tell you. Sure, I can theoretically save enough money to buy an enterprise and "become a capitalist"; and surely there is great opportunity for upwards (and downwards) mobility in capitalist class relations. However, the liberal doctrine (theoretical) that everyone has an equal shot is just wrong. It completely ignores class and social realities. Also, on the other hand, I think you would be misinterpreting Marx to assume that one necessarily has to be proletarian to have communist consciousness.

Bottom line is, if you are asking people "Would you be a capitalist?" you need to be wary of the lifestylist implications this question has. After all, if it's as simple as "people can choose to be capitalists", does that mean people can choose to be proletarians? If so, then what is your definition of proletarian?

[Flying Purple People Eater]

I couldn't live with myself knowing that I was fucking someone else over to get ahead, so no.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

I know I'm not supposed to be a lifestylist or a moralist
Says who!?

You aren't supposed to be someone who rips off hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of innocent people either!

[Os Cangaceiros]

I'll go one better on these wimps here who say they'd be a capitalist if given the chance: I'm pretty sure that a very liberal dose of cash would bring out my latent sociopathic tendencies. I'd work my proletarians like dogs! My business would make Wal-Mart look like a bastion of working class rights!

moohahaha!

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

If you win the lottery, that doesn't make you a capitalist. Rich, certainly, and possibly a capitalist if you use the money to become one, but not automatically one.

[Rugged Collectivist]

I've thought about this a lot but I still don't know the answer. First I think I would blow it on my relatives. Bye them houses and cars and pay off their debts and shit. I'd probably bye cool shit for myself and give tons of money to leftist causes.

Sometimes I think it would be cool to bye companies that treat their workers particularly terrible and fire the management.

[hetz]

tbh i think a lot of people say "WELL OF COURSE" without really thinkin about it. I think a lot of people here would have a difficult time adjusting if they were to suddenly find themselves higher up the social ladder one day.
I'd still be perfectly fine with being an unrefined nouveau riche, thank you. :laugh:

[Devrim]

Inheriting a large fortune or winning the lottery doesn't make you a capitalist.


If you win the lottery, that doesn't make you a capitalist. Rich, certainly, and possibly a capitalist if you use the money to become one, but not automatically one.

I'd say if you live off your capital then you are a capitalist. If you won, say twenty million on the lottery, and even just put it in the bank, and lived on the interest, I think that would make you a capitalist. This is exactly what finance capital is.

Devrim

[RedAtheist]

The short answer is no.

I don't think capitalists are very happy people. They're probably stressed out all the time, because they're constantly trying to compete with other people and freaking out about their company potentially going bankrupt. Being able to buy cool stuff gets boring after a while and performing labour that contributes positively to society is essential to people's wellbeing (which is why unemployed people become depressed even when they have enough money to survive.)

I'm not saying that it's fun to be a worker under capitalism. I recognise that workers are exploitated. I'd rather be anyone (but an ex-capitalist) in a socialist society than have a privilleged position in a capitalist society.

If I won the lottery in a capitalist society, I'd use the money to meet my needs, by buying a house I could live comfortably in, a car that gets me safely from A to B and a bunch of videogames. Then I put the rest of the money in a bank so I could use to buy food and clothing over time. I wouldn't buy anything fancy and extravagent, because expensive things bore me, what is exactly is so entertaining about a diamond ring, all it does is look pretty? I would then devote my free time to reading novels, trying to become a published writer and working with socialists to bring about political change. I think this would be the most fufiling way to spend my time.

Ideologically speaking I wouldn't come to support capitalism as a result of gaining a higher status in a capitalist society, because the environment capitalism creates is toxic to me. So long as I live in a capitalist society I'll be surrounded by overly competitive, overly masculine, sexist jerks, not to mention a culture which is highly superficial in its values.

[Positivist]

Money can buy things that will make you forget about the guilt. Think about it. Cocaine habit>principles.

Just no.

[hetz]

I would sell my principles for a good living, but no one seems to want them...:laugh:

[Soomie]

I think it's one of those things. You live in a capitalistic society. If you suddenly became rich, you wouldn't give it back or anything. You would use it. That's not to say that if communism or the revolution were to emerge that we would complain and refuse to give up wealth for the greater good. I think it's kind of like the argument against communism some people use: "Well, you have iPods, and laptops, and brand name clothes." Well, yeah, because we live in this society. That's not to say that if we had a choice we would still want those things. If I became rich, I would use the money to better myself, but not to a sickening level. It's a nice opportunity that I wouldn't pass up. But I wouldn't willingly exploit people for more money or be greedy. The way I see it is, I was born into the struggle, and I've lived the struggle as long as I have been alive. Even if my situation were to improve, I wouldn't forget where I came from.

[Ocean Seal]

Says who!?

You aren't supposed to be someone who rips off hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of innocent people either!
Hence the second part of the post yo.

[Philosophos]

Inheriting a large fortune or winning the lottery doesn't make you a capitalist.

What I wanted to say with the lottery thing is that you get money and then you make a companie, after thatyou get more money and you get more workers and then you become a capitalist, day by day.

[Dominant Species]

Never. Capitalism causes greed, jealousy and hatred. It's in the culture, I cannot see how i can ever be happy unless the people are rid of this. Other people make you happy in the end, I would defiantly use such money to sponsor the spread of communism, the world would be a better place and it does work. A communist system is better for everyone.

WORKERS IN CONTROL FOR EVER.