Periodic economic crises with catastrophic economic and social
consequences are an inevitable feature of the capitalist system. These crises
spring essentially from a fundamental contradiction within the accumulation
process itself: while labour is the source of surplus value and profit, the
accumulation process and the inevitable technological progress constantly
diminish the ratio of labour power to means of production. The surplus value
that is produced, even if it grows in absolute terms, cannot normally keep
pace with the growth in the capital advanced. By the material laws of the
accumulation process itself, therefore, the rate of profit has an inevitable tendency to fall. The ceaseless activity to offset this tendency and maintain
the rate of profit, especially through intensifying exploitation and reducing
the share of the working class from the social wealth - paid in the form of
wages, public services, etc. - is the daily business of the capitalist class, its
various governments, and the large corps of bourgeois economists, managers
and experts worldwide.
Nevertheless, the inner contradictions of capital and the tendency of the rate
of profit to fall, assert themselves periodically and throw the whole
economic system into a deep crisis. Periods of stagnation and crisis are not
only signs and symptoms of the intensification of capital's internal
contradictions, but also the practical mechanism for their alleviation and the
reconstruction of capital. Competition among different sections of capital
grows and many are driven to bankruptcy. The weaker capitals are knocked
out, improving the conditions of profitability for those who remain. On the
other hand, the capitalist class and its states embark on a wide-scale
offensive on workers' living standards. The ranks of the unemployed swell
and the exploitation of the whole working class intensifies.
Capital emerges from every crisis more centralised. Thus the next crisis
takes on wider and deeper dimensions and gives rise to a more severe
competition and conflict in the capitalist class. Each new crisis makes an
ever more comprehensive reconstruction of capital necessary. Equally, the
prospects for society each time grow darker and more terrifying.
The consequences of the capitalist system's contradictions and crises are not
confined to the economic sphere. Devastating global and regional wars,
militarism and military aggressions, autocratic and police states, stripping
people, and especially workers, of their civil and political rights, rise of state
terrorism, resurgence of the extreme Right and of religious, nationalist, racist
and anti-woman groups and trends - these are the realities of contemporary
capitalism especially in periods of crisis.
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