Anti-capitalism
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(Redirected from Anti-capitalist)
Anti-capitalism is any and all opposition to capitalism. Since Anti-Capitalism covers a very wide collection of ideologies (Some of which oppose each other more than they oppose capitalism, like anarchism and fascism), common objections to capitalism have been collected here, while specific objections are in the articles on specific ideologies.
Many different and opposite ideologies fight against capitalism:
- Socialism argues for extensive non-private control of the economy, which may or may not be associated with democratic control by the people over the state (if a nation-state exists in such a system). Philosophies calling themselves socialist may be Libertarian, Authoritarian, or anything in between. Socialism also argues for a high degree of Economic Equality and the eradication of poverty and unemployment. In common usage, the term Socialism tends to be used specifically to denote Social democracy.
- Marxism argues for collective ownership of the means of production, and the eventual abolition of the state, with an intermediate stage in which the state will be used to eliminate the vestiges of capitalism. Marxism is the foundation of several different ideologies, including Communism and certain types of Socialism.
- Anarchist philosophies argue for total abolition of the state, with those schools of anarchism that oppose capitalism (all except anarcho-capitalism) doing so because they believe it entails involuntary relations and coercive hierarchy. Some forms of anarchism oppose capitalism while supporting some essential aspects of capitalism. For example, mutualists (traditional individualist anarchists) support private property (including private ownership of capital), a market economy, and wages, but oppose profit and ownership of untransformed land. Anarcho-capitalists embrace what they define as capitalism (which may differ from other anarchists' definitions of capitalism).
- There are also strands of conservatism that are uncomfortable with liberal capitalism. Particularly in continental Europe, many conservatives have been uncomfortable with the negative impacts of unfettered capitalism (and the egoistic, hedonistic individualism it nurtures) on culture and traditions. The conservative opposition to the French revolution, the Enlightenment, and the development of individualistic liberalism as a political theory and as institutionalised social practices sought to retain traditional social hierarchies, practices and institutions. There is also a significant conservative opposition to certain types of international capitalism, as was highlighted so clearly in the nineteenth century debates over the Corn Laws in the UK (where the question of tarrifs and free trade was raised). Since then, paternalistic or protectionist conservatism, whether in the Christian Democracy of continental Europe, or the One-Nation conservatism of the UK, has continued to call for limits to international free-markets.
Some Anti-Capitalists may argue for a form of Collectivism.
External links
- Anti-Capitalism: Modern Theory and Historical Origins
- ROAD Collective Ontario Anarchist Resource and Links Page.
- Rejection of the label Anti-Capitalism
- Anti-Capitalism : A Guide To The Movement Directory of Groups and Organisations, June 2001.
