Commentary
The Demand for the
Regulation of the Monopolies is a Demand of the Monopoly Capitalists Themselves
Within the movement against neo-liberal globalization many different “solutions” are presented to the problem of a world dominated by monopoly capitalism. Many of these “solutions” are calls for various social democratic reforms, most centering around the need to regulate the way in which monopoly capitalists behave. Whether these are straightforward calls for trade and investment regulations or are disguised as “revolutionary” demands that the monopolies be curbed or that their rights should be restricted, they all amount to the same thing - a demand that governments and international agencies should regulate how the monopolies interact. In this way, an illusion is promoted that the main problem with monopoly capitalism is its arrogance and lack of appreciation for the damage which is done to ordinary people by the investment and trade decisions of the monopoly capitalists. Things would be much better, this position asserts, if only the monopolies could be forced to take into consideration the interests of the people.
Those who present such “solutions” are proposing the reconciliation of irreconcilable interests. They are suggesting that capitalism could be made to work better if only governments would pass legislation forcing the monopoly capitalists to curb their greed or limiting the degree of monopolization in a particular industry. This position is patently absurd; the capitalist system is based on the maximization of capitalist profit, not on the premise of creating a better world for everyone. Monopoly capital cannot and will not accept any restrictions on its right to maximize profits. Furthermore, Marx proved that competition necessarily leads to monopoly, so even if these demands were enacted and a greater degree of competition were achieved through legislation, ultimately this would lead to even greater concentration of capital and decreased competition. This is precisely what happened with the deregulation of the airline and telecommunications industries.
However, this
does not mean that monopoly capitalism rejects government regulation of
competition. Far from it. One of the main reasons for
the subordination of the capitalist state to the most powerful monopolies is
its ability to regulate the relations between the monopolies. The monopoly
capitalists use the state to enact regulations which benefit them and restrict
the rights of their competitors. For example, today the most powerful monopoly
groups in the
In other words, the demand for the restriction of monopoly right is not a revolutionary demand; it is a demand which originates with the monopoly capitalists, themselves, and which emerges out of the inter-capitalist rivalries and competition. This is the case, for example, with the demands that the government bail out the auto and steel industries. Those who are giving such calls are actually asking the working class and people to line up on the side of one group of monopolies against other groups of monopolies. In most cases, it is a demand for bourgeois nationalism.
The main problem with monopoly capitalism is not its monopoly nature. In fact, under socialism monopolies will not be eliminated, but expanded. Nor is the main problem the arrogant and dictatorial way in which the monopoly capitalists behave. This is merely a feature of capitalism and a reflection of the underlying property relations. The main problem with monopoly capitalism is that, while it has socialized the process of production to unprecedented levels, the ownership of the means of production remains private, along with the appropriation of the fruits of production. This problem gives rise to extreme anarchy of production and to large-scale destruction of the productive forces, as well as many other social ills.
What is the solution to this problem? There can be only one solution and that is the expropriation of monopoly capital and the transformation of private ownership into public ownership. However, that is only half of the solution; the other half is the democratization of the political institutions in such a way that the people can actually exercise control over the enormous pool of capital that they collectively own. In other words, the solution to the problems of monopoly capitalism is to replace it with socialism.
Those who are advocating the reform of monopoly capitalism and various restrictions on the rights of the monopoly capitalists are actually suggesting that there is an intermediate stage between capitalism and socialism. They are suggesting that a stage of monopoly capitalism can exist in which the laws governing the economy are partially the laws of capitalism and partially the laws of socialism. The promotion of such nonsensical illusions does serious harm to the revolutionary movement.