Thread by @IntrovertAncom

From the very beginning, capitalism has always been drenched in exploitation, oppression, suffering, and death.

Story time...

A reading from: The “Innocence” of Early Capitalism is Another Fantastical Myth
by Pete Dolack

#CapitalismKills

1/10
counterpunch.org/2021/04/18/the…

"The all-encompassing pervasiveness of capitalist propaganda, and the relentless dissemination of it across every conceivable media and institutional outlet, still leaves most people with a wistful idealization of some earlier, innocent capitalism"

2/10

"not yet befouled by anti-social behavior and violence or by greed."

"Such an innocent capitalism has never existed, and couldn’t."

"Horrific, state-directed violence in massive doses enabled capitalism to slowly establish itself,"

3/10

"then methodically expand from its northwestern European beginnings."

"English lords wanted to transform arable land into sheep meadows to take advantage of the demand for wool, and began razing peasant cottages to clear the land."

4/10

"These actions became known as the 'enclosure movement'."

"Forced off the land they had farmed and barred from the 'commons' (cleared land on which they grazed cattle and forests in which they foraged), peasants could either"

5/10

"become beggars, risking draconian punishment for doing so, or become laborers in the new factories at pitifully low wages and enduring inhuman conditions and working hours."

"Additional taking of the commons occurred in the early 19th century, when"

6/10

"British industrialists sought to eliminate the remaining portions of any commons left so there would be no alternative to selling one’s labor power to capitalists for a pittance."

"As industrial resistance gathered steam, the British government employed"

7/10

"12,000 troops to repress craft workers, artisans, factory workers, and small farmers who were resisting the introduction of machinery by capitalists, seeing these machines as threats to their freedom and dignity."

8/10

"That represented more troops than Britain was using in its simultaneous fight against Napoleon’s armies in Spain."

...and this is before the article discusses how capitalism thrived/thrives on the 3-evils of slavery (racism), colonialism, and imperialism.

9/10

"Such a long history of systematic violence and brutality speaks for itself as to the 'morality' of capitalism."

From: The “Innocence” of Early Capitalism is Another Fantastical Myth
by Pete Dolack

#CapitalismKills

10/10
counterpunch.org/2021/04/18/the…

P.S. I highly recommend reading the whole article if/when you have time.

CW/ & TW/
because there are some descriptions of violence and death.

unroll @threadreaderapp