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Opinions of Friday, 12 May 2017

Columnist: Yusef Gariba

Why the death of capitalism is eminent with the growing advancement in Technology

The capitalist assumes he is being smart by overseeing rapid technological advancement The capitalist assumes he is being smart by overseeing rapid technological advancement

Why the death of capitalism is eminent with the growing advancement in Technology

Today, after a very long ideological discourse I had with my comrades on the question of the sustainability of the Capitalist society amidst the technological revolution we are witnessing - a discourse longing more than an hour with lots of qualitative analysis - I came up with the following conclusion below.

The capitalist of today assumes he is being smart by overseeing and financing the rapid advancement in technology in that, it will enable him to increase production and in subvention, maximize profits while invariably decreasing expenditure.

Superficially, the Capitalist appears smart and even more ridiculous, he gets applauded for that. This exposes the nature and mindset of the capitalist; the capitalist is so self-centred and does not care for anything beyond profit. He endeavours to make strides in the technological world with little or no regard to the ripple effect it may have on the countless number of people who depend on him for survival by way of selling their labour to him in exchange for peanuts.

He makes no effort at making a damage control to reconcile the repercussions of his technological ambition with the livelihood of the people.

This is quite fathomable that a benevolent gesture by the capitalist would be unconventional to his folks and will in extreme case, tantamount to the betrayal of capitalist values. It will be a defeat to the very purpose he seeks to achieve – the accumulation of profit.

But what befuddles me is the obliviousness of the capitalist to the fact that, considering the current pace at which technology is advancing, it is a matter of time before he gets choked by reality. This will mark the epoch moments of the avalanche that will reduce capitalism to a nonentity and entangle its existence only to the annals of history.

Better explained, the number of people needed at the workplace would be decreasing exponentially therefore, more and more people would be compelled to join what Karl Marx termed, ‘the reserved army of workers’ while robots take over their positions at the workplace. This goes in the short run to worsen the already deteriorating class strata which persists in the capitalist society. The class cleavage gets deepened and will culminate into the decisive action of the exploited which will manifest in a revolutionary combat against the capitalist order for the establishment of a socialist society.

However, one has to be an enemy of progress to be against technological advancement as a socialist, for if socialism shares a certain commonality with capitalism, then it is in no other realm than the realm of technology. Societies of both the former and latter are technologically driven.

The good of technology can only be harnessed fully under a society which is a socialist one. This type of society is egalitarian and production here is for service; the greater good of all is paramount and not for profit, as it persists in capitalist societies.

Technology in a socialist society will inevitably serve as a tool for safeguarding the interest of the masses of the people and not for their exploitation.

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!