By Bhabani Shankar Nayak
The demonisation of Marx, Marxism, and its emancipatory logic on an everyday basis is not new. All emancipatory philosophies, philosophers and their radical projects of social, cultural, political, and economic change face similar roadblocks.
Despite all propaganda against the emancipatory praxis of Marxism, it continues to exist as a moral compass, political hope, cultural renaissance, economic alternative and a tool of struggle against all the dominant narratives of the capitalist system. Capitalism presents itself as the only alternative, with its stagnant project of profit-making through capitalist accumulation by exploiting human beings and nature.
Capitalism presents itself as dynamic and highly adaptable, but in reality, it is a stagnant social, political, cultural, and economic system. Capitalism is one of the most deceptive systems ever designed by the ruling classes, in collaboration with all lumpen elements in society, politics, culture, and the economy. It destroys the very foundation of life and collective foundations of society in the name of pursuing bourgeois freedom and democracy,
only to uphold the interests of a small capitalist class at the expense of the people. In all stages of capitalism and throughout its history, capitalism is about profit accumulation, inherent crises, stagflation, and a repetitive culture of mass propaganda, mass consumption, and mass manipulation. It sustains itself through hegemonic political, economic, and cultural projects and through the brutality of dictators, authoritarian governments, and imperial military dominance.
The stagnant project of capitalism, devoid of any philosophical outlook on life and society, continues to advocate a fictitious individual freedom by selling the American dream, which destroys all conditions of human freedom by mortgaging life and liberty to debt, destitution, and dictatorship. There is no liberal or democratic past, present, or future of capitalism. Capitalism continues to form illiberal alliances with the most reactionary forces across the world in order to sustain itself and expand its foothold at the cost of people and their basic needs.
Progressive transformation of society, culture, politics, and economy is anathema to capitalism as a system. It adapts itself to all reactionary and authoritarian systems, processes, and policies, but it can never adapt itself to truly radical and emancipatory ideals and individuals. Therefore, when capitalism fails to adapt itself to progressive ideals, it demonises them in various ways.
The demonisation of Marxism is rooted in capitalist propaganda designed to ensure that Marxism never reaches people in its natural form, even as a knowledge tradition. Rewriting history, changing curricula, and banning curricula are three different strategies used by capitalist ruling elites to abandon all forms of ideas and ideals of emancipation. Rather, capitalism produces a compliant culture in education, socialisation, rules, regulations, laws, and judiciaries in order to uphold the interests of ruling elites.
Capitalism is as stagnant as religion and its reactionary practices in the name of culture and tradition, which domesticate people by perpetuating the fear of gods, goddesses, and divine punishment. Similarly, capitalism shapes laws, rules, and regulations in accordance with the requirements of the capitalist system in order to domesticate people through the fear of police and prisons, interventions and wars. There is nothing humane about it, whereas Marxism is about the emancipation of all human beings from conditions of alienation, exploitation, and inequality. It is in this context that Marxism offers a humanistic alternative to barbaric capitalism.
The parasitic system of capitalism survives by producing and reproducing a system based on all forms of exploitation and inequality, and by normalising these conditions as natural. The inhuman idol of the capitalist market only teaches people to pray, consume, and sleep with commodities while separating the organic relationship between producers and consumers.
It not only sells frozen food but also its frozen policies, processes, institutions, and systems. The engines of change in human history reveal that revolutionary forces are always dynamic, whereas capitalist classes are a static bloc that always destroys the collective foundations of society in the name of individual autonomy, only to enslave individuals in reality.
The living dialectics of Marxism and its emancipatory knowledge traditions and its radical consciousness derived from real-life everyday experiences make Marxism a dynamic force, whereas capitalism is a frozen system that continues to find the most brutal and primitive ways of accumulating wealth at the cost of people and planet. The imperialist wars from Iran to Venezuela and from Afghanistan to Algeria for natural resources define the frozen system of capitalism, which pursues its interests with the help of imperialist wars. Profit-making is the only ideology and lone project of capitalism.
To ensure this objective, capitalism enforces it either by changing societies and cultures with the brute force of politics, compliant educational systems or by military means. It inflicts crises to ensure that capitalist domestication succeeds in pursuing its primitive accumulation processes.
Dialectical materialism is not a teleological understanding of history but a dynamic method for understanding capitalist conflicts, inherent contradictions, and crises within the present capitalist system. Marxism is a living flame that can melt the frozen capitalist system, empower people, and sustain the planet for future generations. Marxism is a hope for the masses to change capitalism and establish an egalitarian society free from all forms of exploitation and inequality.
Marxism is a tool of struggle for human emancipation from all forms of bondages of patriarchal and racialised capitalism that governs the contemporary world. Capitalism shapes laws, rules and regulations concomitant with the requirements of capitalist system to domesticate people with the fear of police and prisons, interventions and wars.
There is nothing humane about it whereas Marxism is about emancipation of all human beings from the conditions of alienation, exploitation and inequalities. This is the context, in which Marxism offers humanistic alternative to barbaric capitalism.
The writer teaches at the London Metropolitan University.
