The specter that Marx poetically described as haunting Europe is still creeping over the world. This specter is a growing international movement, struggling against global capitalist exploitation. This movement is historically distinct because its activists cross class, race, gender, and most importantly, borders.
We have seen massive mobilizations in Seattle, Davos, Genoa, Washington DC, New York City and elsewhere. The participants include workers, people of color, environmentalists, students, and other broad progressive forces. Each of these constituencies tries to emphasize the issue within globalization that is most important to them. Many in the movement suggest that a complete change in the current economic system is required. What both the single-issue activists and more radical activists lack is a theory that will enable us to build another society out of the old. What the anti-globalization movement lacks is socialism.
The process of "globalization" has further illustrates the inherent conflicts within capitalism between those who exploit and those who are exploited. As capitalism becomes more internationally dominant, the contradictions have been intensified. The United States is now the richest country in the world, due to economic, cultural and military imperialism, yet the impoverishment among working families has increased throughout the world, including right here in the USA. It would seem that with these increasingly obvious contradictions, and the upsurge of protest activity in the past few years, tremendous changes to the world economic system would have already been made. While the World Economic Forum (WEF), World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have all stepped up their security and have been forced to defend their policies, global capitalism continues to expand and dominate. So, why hasn't there been a change to the system?
The answer lies in the theoretical and strategic framework of the current "anti-globalization" movement - a framework whose inadequacy is reflected even in the name of the movement. If many of the protesters were asked whether they are against global capitalism, they would say yes. But many have yet to go from opposing capitalist globalization to believing in radical change to the current economic and social system.
There are certain elements within the current movement that do not disagree with capitalism, but only with Globalism. This is not to say that they are ardent supporters of the current economic system, but rather they are pessimistic about the alternatives. This lack of hope reflects the theoretical weakness of many organizers.
Many activists see themselves as anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, anti-American, anti-state, anti-racist or even anti-imperialist. These catch phrase politics are especially imbedded in the more "radical" segments of the anti-globalization movement. Though I agree with their basic concerns, the failure to propose an alternative economic system that will provide equally for the world's population is frustrating. They are "pro-nothing." If you were to ask what they believed in, answers might range from intense reform to anarchism, to socialism.
The problem with the anarchist proposal is that, in fact, it proposes nothing, thereby leaving us without a picture of what to work for - only what to work against.
The problem with most reformists is that they do not understand how capitalism works. Globalization is not a new phenomenon. Lenin, in his work Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism, built on Marx's concept of expanding capital and added that imperialism was the highest form of capitalism. Globalization is just another term for imperialism. Now this might seem like a petty issue to address, but if we understand globalization or imperialism, from a Marxist perspective we see how globalization is a natural result of capitalist development. Globalization is not a mutated form of honest capitalism, but a natural result of capitalist development. It is impossible to simply reform globalization.
Socialism is the most logical alternative. Under socialism, people have equal access to food, shelter, health care, jobs, and education, racial and gender equality and cultural respect.
Unfortunately, many groups proposing this alternative employ faulty tactics, offending many, and driving people away from a socialist idea. They take the opposite position of the reformers and say that absolutely no reforms are possible under capitalism and therefore we must all struggle for socialism immediately. In the United States, this strategy is particularly incorrect because it lacks proper ideology and a concrete historical understanding of the American working class. The American working class has an interesting history that differs from that of other peoples. It has readily identified itself with the traditional American values of democracy and individual freedom, but it has also been heavily influenced by anti-communist rhetoric since the 1920's.
The only way to end capitalist globalization is through the construction of a socialist society in which factories, transportation, and utilities are controlled by the majority of people in the world - the working class. Such a society would allow us to begin seriously addressing the issues affecting working families.
There are many ways for us here in the United States to achieve this goal. We must first build the broadest coalitions that will allow us to include as much of the population, rather than excluding them from our movement. These coalitions should be centered on unity and the expansion of democracy and civil rights.
We will not convince the American public by merely explaining our perspective, but through actions that reflect our values. This movement needs to stress non-violence because we are not the violent ones; capitalism is the aggressor on a world-wide scale. And yes, we work for reforms and small victories because, though they may seem insignificant, it is the process of reminding people of everything they have to gain. These small victories will ultimately lay the groundwork for building socialism in the USA.
Bio: M. Davis is a student and a member of the YCL National Council
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