#13

#13

The domination of science according to the contemporary paradigm that necessitates the objective worldview - »weltanschauung« - makes political economy the force-dominant behind the establishment. The colonization of social life by the machinations of power leads to a higher visibility of the commodity within the open market; its global production depends upon mass consumption, which can only be sustained by labour and its division into its associated areas of manufacture, thereby suppressing any volition towards revolution.

There is an essential element of Kapital that remains largely unknowable. Similarly, like the ephemeral nature of power, when Kapital's power becomes greater its sophisticated and ramified qualities retreat from the knower. Kapital is the grand artificer. “Representation recedes directly.”¹ Representation recedes directly into the plenipotentiary, where Kapital assumes full power to act independently; we serve this master apparently through our direct relationship to money, the sum of all its parts, the commodity, the actuality of Kapitalismo-sozjietie.

The manner in which Kapital remains opaquely covert is by its exertion over the economy and its dominion over the commodity to reduce its visibility; the commodity and the economy mask Kapital's true identity. Kapital makes these particular aspects familiar to us, as if they were its conduit, whilst as an entity, by itself and at large standing alone, its complete form can remain relatively unknown. When understood as an independent entity we notice that Kapital moves through all areas of social life. If Kapital's base is material then its role is economical.

“{C}ommodities, money, capital and the state are fetishes,” writes Daniel Bensaïd.² They are illusions that are fabricated and are only necessary because they depend on social relations; abolishing these social relations would abolish these illusions. “{C}apital exists because we create it,” argues John Holloway³, but will it cease to exist if we do not create it tomorrow? “Abolishing the conditions of fetishism in reality means overthrowing the despotism of the market and the power of private property and breaking the state that ensures the conditions of social reproduction.”⁴

If labour is the social relation that produces the commodity then it is labour itself that would have to be abolished to remove the social relations that manufacture the fetishistic illusions. We return to Victor Riesel, writing to us from 1972, who calculates that “American labor now can influence directly and indirectly ... almost $40 billion.”⁵ Citizen Riesel writes to us from a time when American banks were going through the process of being unionized after unions had been kept out of the banking field for so long.

Citizen Riesel tells us that unions begin moving union money into union banks. Sozjietie has the ability to bargain with Kapital – where Kapital is a singular entity, sozjietie is a nebulous and populous body. Sozjietie wants money. Sozjietie knows that Kapital has the exchangeability. If sozjietie has the employability, Kapital sees the opportunity. Profitability. Labour unions give profitability some measure of security.

Citizen Riesel's report is documenting a historical precedent. Social relations are strengthened by the unions. The more labour becomes social, the more it is in the service of Kapital. It would be more insecure without unionization. The two of them can work together to lower inflation. It all depends on the negotiation and type of transaction.

Citizen Riesel describes this transaction as “a flow of multi-colored checks, totalling billions of dollars, pour in futuristic cinematic fashions from union treasuries into the unionized banks.”⁶ Citizen Riesel credits Howard Coughlin, then-president of the Office and Professional Employees International Union, with 'cracking the dike' by fully unionizing the National Bank of Washington. “On Aug. 11,” writes Citizen Riesel, the Union Label Department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, “mailed a $10,000 check to True Davis, National Bank of Washington president. The check was for a certificate of deposit for two years.”⁷ Union label attracted union dollar. “The implications are obvious,” writes Citizen Riesel. “The unions ... can influence the deposits of billions of dollars.”⁸ Here we see a sharp inversion of the orthodoxy of monetary influence. In a quick turnaround, or role reversal, the unionists have become the capitalists and the social interests lie with the one who invests.

1#1.

2Bensaïd, D. (2005) “On a Recent Book by John Holloway.” Historical Materialism, Vol. 13, No. 4; p.188.

3Ibid.

4Ibid., p.189.

5Riesel, V. (1972) “Labor Backing Unionized Bank.” Ludington Daily News, Sep. 11.

6Ibid.

7Ibid.

8Ibid.

©Elijah Nathaniel James