• OwenEverbinde@lemmy.myserv.one
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Depends on how you define capitalism.

    According to the modern (very intentionally altered) definition of capitalism,

    “a system allowing the exchange of goods and services for currency, where different skill sets can result in different compensation”

    … everything, including the USSR [1][2] has been capitalism. And even most Marxists are pro-capitalists.

    The definition above encompasses everything that ever was, and everything that ever will be. (And that’s only a slight exaggeration)

    Which – just fyi – makes the word one of the most useless words in the history of language.

    If, however – just hypothetically – you wanted to have a productive dialogue with a self-described anti-capitalist, you would need to carry out the entire conversation pretending the word “capitalism” referred to something a hell of a lot more specific. A single mechanism within market society. A single kind of contractual relationship between worker and company.

    Which is an exercise in imagination and in the algebraic concept of substitution that most people have a rather stubborn aversion to.