A New Society: How to evolve beyond capitalism through worldwide cultural revolution

Although many of us are preoccupied, and rightfully so, with the current election cycle and the minutiae of parsing the various candidates and policies to support in the short-term, it is still important to keep a larger view perspective in mind when it comes to positive change for the future. This will help us identify the larger structural problems of society worldwide which will in turn help us identify potential solutions from a larger political, cultural and economic perspective.

The Problem

Runaway capitalism, through the sole motive of accumulating capital without regard to the impact on human suffering, wealth inequality, and environmental consequences, is causing society worldwide to move closer to nuclear apocalypse or environmental disaster or both. Either way this will leave the Earth completely uninhabitable which would likely result in the extinction of the human species. Therefore, it is necessary for us to begin tackling the problem as soon as possible.

The Solution

The economic structure of world society needs to evolve into the next phase beyond capitalism, taking away the motive of profit accumulation and moving into motive based upon the good of humanity as a whole as well as preserving the planet.

Capitalists, industry and the working class

Capitalism functions by industry exchanging people’s labor and time for money. That money is then spent by the working class on goods and services provided by industry which in turn takes that money and reinvests it into better efficiencies of supply chains and production models. Capitalists, seeing the growth potential of industry, also invest money into industry to further those aims with the final goal of obtaining profit via capital gains. These increased efficiencies, with a pure profit motive, spawns advancements in technology and robotization of jobs, leaving more and more of the working class without means of employment and ability to maintain housing for families and put food in mouths.

Imbalances of supply and demand of labor caused by runaway capitalism

Soon the increasing wealth inequality worldwide begins to cause serious social and political unrest and rebellion among the working class. And with the supply of labor steadily increasing while the demand for labor continues to decline due to increasing supply chain efficiencies, it is necessary in a “free market” capitalist system that supply and demand rebalance one way or another. Obviously, industry and capitalists have no incentive to actually decrease efficiencies for the sake of the workers, therefore the only option is to decrease supply, which actually means increasing the rate of death among workers in order to maintain social stability necessary for the market to function and serve the profit motives of the capitalists, industrialists, elites and oligarchs. This results in national systems in which basic healthcare is denied to those without the means to pay, crumbling infrastructure of marginalized communities (i.e. Flint, Michigan) which results in deteriorating health which further speeds up the rate of death. At times, the tension created via the supply/demand imbalance causes outright war and military actions resulting in mass deaths in the name of creating profit for the military-industrial complex, the ultimate tool for quickly rebalancing supply and demand for human labor. Also, supply chain efficiencies without conscience will wreak havoc on the environment, increasing the rate of death.

Eliminating profit motive

As you can see, it really is the profit motive that is the driving engine behind runaway capitalism. Profit motive for workers, capitalists and industry is what propels the market machine which in and of itself has no conscience or morality. Therefore, we must stem the profit motive to the point where profit potential is no longer worth the time and effort in and of itself. People will start to seek other alternative payoffs for the work they do and the investments they make.

These alternative payoffs would be:

• Social impact
• Positive environmental impact
• Self-fulfillment and fulfillment of others
  • Artists, musicians etc
  • Intellectuals, philosophers, scientists, teachers

With these “alternative payoffs” in play and the profit motive eliminated, technological science will continue to create supply chain efficiencies, but only now with the goal of creating positive social and environmental impact to benefit society as a whole. Therefore, technology and robotization wouldn’t result in mass starvation of unemployed workers, it would bring about the liberation of society from the need to work in order to avoid death. However, in order to bring about this massive change in societal attitudes and systems it will require a total evolution of humanity worldwide culturally, philosophically and spiritually in order to accept the steps necessary to bring about this vital change.

Mass mobilization

In order to eliminate the profit motive the masses will need to be educated on the systems underlying their everyday lives. Alternatively, from a propaganda perspective, we can also begin to challenge the very notion of “work as a virtue,” which is pervasive and highly influential in Western civilization as well as many Asian cultures. The millennials have already begun to lay the groundwork for this with their cultural emphasis on consumer products which take social impact into consideration. Millennials also choose investment opportunities based upon social and environmental concerns, probably because they either consciously or subconsciously realize that the zero hour is approaching and the point of no return is near. Therefore, the shift of “work for profit” is now heading towards work for social and environmental impact. We are currently experiencing this shift right now.

“Work as virtue” must be challenged

However, even when this shift fully takes place, “work as a virtue” will still be intact. Therefore, people will continue to find ways to create “work” for themselves and with the profit motive still systemically intact, this will continue the runaway capitalist machine towards eventual dystopian apocalypse, albeit slower than before. At this point, educating the masses regarding the capitalist system becomes much more essential and impactful in that it will seize upon the already existent challenge to “work for profit” and bring about the realization that “work for impact” must necessarily result in the elimination of the profit motive through system changes. People will then realize that political mobilization is required to create this kind of change in policy.

Some of these policy initiatives aimed at eliminating the profit motive will include:

• Universal healthcare for all
• Housing as a right of all humans
• Education as a human right
• Freedom from starvation as a human right

Of course in order to implement these policy initiatives it will require a massive amount of money and resources to be invested. Therefore, a mass redistribution of wealth is required via aggressive and progressive taxation. Capital gains tax and income tax at the highest echelons must eventually reach 99% in order to make the profit-motive, after a certain point, not worth the additional effort, therefore opening the door to the “alternative payoffs” for work and investment. Only a mass movement from the bottom up can strike enough fear into politicians to cause them to break free from the grips of industry, capitalists and oligarchs in order for them to implement the necessary redistributive policies.

Cultural movements, initiatives and actions which help to educate and reveal the inner workings of the capitalist system must be supported by us who understand the broader problems of societal frameworks presented in this writing. Culture, which includes the arts, causes the necessary emotional and visceral appeal to propel the common man to take action. You can see this with the Bernie Sanders campaign of 2016 where not only were his policy ideas heard but his very persona was elevated into cultural iconography. Alternatively, you can also see this with the Donald Trump campaign of the same year which resulted in a regression of society and a regression of the goals stated in this writing. Therefore, it is imperative that leftists engage in the cultural sphere, via art, music, literature and film, in order to capture the hearts and minds of the masses in the long run.