Capitalist - who is this? What is capitalism?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Who is called a capitalist? First of all, this is a person who exploits the working class to increase his own prosperity and good. As a rule, this is the one who takes the surplus product and always strives to get rich.

Who is a capitalist?

A capitalist is a representative of the ruling class in bourgeois society, the owner of capital, who exploits and uses wage labor. However, in order to fully understand what a capitalist is, it is necessary to know what “capitalism” in general is.

What is capitalism?

In today's world, the word "capitalism" is quite common. This describes the whole social system in which we now live. In addition, many people think that this system existed hundreds of years ago, successfully functioning for a large amount of time and shaping the world history of mankind.

In fact, capitalism is a relatively new concept that describes a social system. For a brief historical introduction and analysis, you can refer to the book of Marx and Engels ManifestoCommunist Party” and “Capital”.

What exactly does capitalism mean?

Capitalism is a social system that now exists in all countries of the world. Under this system, the means for the production and distribution of goods (as well as land, factories, technologies, transportation systems, etc.) belong to a small percentage of the population, that is, certain people. This group is called the "capitalist class".

Most people sell their physical or mental labor in exchange for wages or remuneration. Representatives of this group are called the "working class". This proletariat must produce goods or services that are subsequently sold for profit. And the latter is controlled by the capitalist class.

In that sense, they are exploiting the working class. Capitalists are those who live off the profits that are made from the exploitation of the working class. As a result, they reinvest it, thereby increasing the next potential profit.

Why is capitalism what every country in the world has?

In today's world there is a clear division of classes. This statement is explained by the realities of the world in which we live. There is an exploiter, there is a hired one, which means that there is also capitalism, because this is its essential feature. Many may say that the current world is divided into many classes (let's say "middle class"), thereby killing all the principles of capitalism.

But far from it! The key to understanding capitalism is when there isdominant and subordinate class. No matter how many classes are created, everyone will still obey the dominant one, and so on in a chain.

Capitalism is a free market?

It is widely believed that capitalism means a free market economy. However, this is not quite true. Capitalism is possible without a free market. The systems that existed in the USSR and exist in China and Cuba fully prove and demonstrate this. They believe that they are building a "socialist" state, but live on the motives of "state capitalism" (in this case, the capitalist is the state itself, namely people occupying high ranks).

In allegedly "socialist" Russia, for example, there is still commodity production, buying and selling, exchange, and so on. "Socialist" Russia continues to trade in accordance with the demands of international capital. This means that the state, like any other capitalist, is ready to go to war to protect its economic interests.

The role of the Soviet state is to act as a functionary of capital and the exploitation of wage labor by setting targets for production and control over them. Therefore, such countries really have nothing to do with socialism.