“The society which has abolished every kind of adventure makes its own abolition the only possible adventure.” Paris, May 1968


Friday 21 December 2012

Will the proper capitalists please stand up?

A few minutes browsing company websites reveals that: TESCO put community at the heart of everything that they do. BP are all about making a socio/economic contribution to the community. SHELL are justifiably proud of their social investment program. HSBC are committed to a positive contribution to the community as well as a positive environmental impact.Concerns about labour and human rights are never far away from the thoughts of APPLE. All are more committed to sustainability than you would believe possible.
I wonder, are there any proper capitalists left? You know, proper profiteering fuck the lot of you capitalists like in the old days.

2 comments:

Gitanex said...

ALL BUSINESS IS BASED ON TELLING LIES AND FIDDLING THE BOOKS...otherwise it would be called mutualism. Someone has to be exploited somewhere by somebody for "business" to exist. Behind all great fortunes lies a greater tragedy.

Dr Llarregub said...

You raise one of the most important points for anarchists and others to consider. They won't. Its too easy to condemn all capitalists, as I have always done. But reality is very complex. There are many in senior management positions in these capitalist companies whose formative years were spent as student protesters, calling for an alternative society, questioning all authority relations,including Church, family, business, education etc. It is really hard to tell them apart from those who are politically opposed to the companies they work for. There does not seem to be much difference between - for example - managers in the NHS and managers in the private companies. At conferences - which I sometimes attend - both sides share the same commitment, even down to the ethics of what they call consumer care. In healthcare this means 'keeping the smile on the nurse's' face', as one conference topic suggested. But cost containment rules equally for both. For my sins I am regarded as an expert in the ethics and philosophy of management and was invited on to a board of a management journal run mainly by ex-Grosvenor Square 1960s revolutionaries, including former anarchists, trots and hippies. Contributions are refereed and published which emphasise all the values you will recognise in any of the left wing blogs of today. The management of modern capitalist companies share the same discourse as their left opponents. I have a view - its controversial and disliked - that the left of the sixties actually won, they succeeded in their long march through the institutions. Capitalism absorbed them and needs them. As an anarchist - am I the last one? - I believe we need a wide open discussion of where we ought to stand. A merry Christmas to you.