INTRODUCTION
Fair warning, this is the chapter that violently presses hard on the reader’s cognitive dissonance. It will change your perspective on economic and political systems. Remember what you identified as from Chapter 2, keep an open mind, but forget everything you thought you knew; it's about to get rocky.
In this chapter, we discuss:
The Great Reset
Marxism
Socialism
Communism
Crony Capitalism
Corporatism
Fascism
Stakeholder Capitalism
Capitalism (Shareholder Capitalism/Free Market Capitalism)
Section 1
Marxism, Socialism and Communism
Many individuals who identify as Marxists are coming from a good place, others from a place of hate and disdain. It depends on what the person wants to achieve and what they think Marxism is.
Google says, “Marxism is a social, political, and economic philosophy named after Karl Marx. It examines the effect of capitalism on labor, productivity, and economic development and argues for a worker revolution to overturn capitalism in favour of communism.” Again, google is right, but missing the rabbit hole definition, which is “Marxism is a philosophy that advocates for class war, between what they term the working class and the capitalist class. Marxists’ doctrine states that the working class must violently take the property of the capitalist class and murder them if necessary.”
Who’s the working class according to Karl Marx? According to the internet, “Karl Marx calls them the proletariat, individuals who sell their labour power for wages and who do not own the means of production. He argued that they were responsible for creating the wealth of a society.” I’ve spoken directly to Marxists and they refer to small business owners as the proletariat, not the capitalist class. So let’s say you own a grocery store or even a retail store and trade on the free market, according to them, you are the working class. As I understand it, from the perspective of the Marxist, so long as you aren’t the person or group that produces the raw materials, you are the working class.
Who’s the capitalist class? Karl Marx refers to the capitalist class as the bourgeoisie. According to the internet, “Marx argues that capitalists are the business owners who organize the process of production and who own the means of production such as factories, tools, and raw material, and who are also entitled to any and all profits.” So from my understanding, if you for example own and operate a factory or manufacturing facility that produces the fabric needed for clothing, you are the bourgeoisie.
So, let’s break this down. If you my reader after reading and absorbing the information in this document decide to build a legacy for your family and start a shoe manufacturing company, where you make shoes for Nike, Adidas and other brands, you moved from a proletariat to becoming the bourgeoisie. Karl Marx and Marxists advocate that your proletariat associates whom you’ve been friends with all your life and the employees you’ve recently hired at your shoe manufacturing company, use any force necessary to take your business away from you and if you resist, to take your life.
I hope you didn’t identify as a Marxist before reading this because Marxism is terrorism. The Marxists however do have a point, the world is very unequal, corrupt and unfair. It’s just that they don’t understand why, but you, my reader, through reading this book, now do. My chapters on Money and Inflation explain this very well. Marxist in their arguments today never mention the corrupt global banking system that continues to steal the wealth of countries and their citizens across the globe. Marxists choose to ignore the negative effect that first-world “charity” has on poorer countries. They often use the plight of people of colour, usually people of African descent to further their cause.
There is this idea that the historical position of Africa was Marxism or socialism. But that’s not true. Marxism hurt African states and any country that tried it. See the video below:
Marxism is simply a form of socialism that advocates for communism. Here’s what google says socialism is, “a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.” This follows Karl Marx’s desire for the working class to own the means of production. But what’s in the rabbit hole? Well, the means of production would be owned by the community, by force, but the Marxists and socialists don’t understand that Government has a monopoly on force and the moment their so-called community owns the means of production, it becomes the Government.
To own and operate the means of production, the community would need leaders and this is where democratic socialists come in; because they say they would elect these leaders. Here’s what the internet says about democratic socialism, “Democratic socialism is defined as having a socialist economy in which the means of production are socially and collectively owned or controlled, alongside a liberal democratic political system of government.” This definition is correct, but no matter what you do, all of these systems will ultimately lead to communism, even if some Democratic Socialists do not support marxism or communism.
Some Marxists advocate for anarchism, no central government, just the community owning and operating the means of production. In practicality, that would not work, because, in every instance of anarchism, a totalitarian system will eventually be formed. But let’s get back to how we get communism.
In socialism, citizens may still own property, but these citizens are usually the wealthier class. When the “community” owns the means of production, it creates leaders to lead them, and those leaders eventually go on to wield great power and become wealthier than the working class. All the Marxists would do then, is simply create a new bourgeoisie class under socialism and subject the proletariat to the whims of the leader. In communism, the Government owns everything, from property to the people, one could say communism is slavery. Here’s how the internet defines communism, “Communism is a system of government where all the property is public and the government owns and controls the manufacturing and transportation industries. People share equally from the benefits of labor and they receive the things they need from the government.” i.e slavery.
But here’s the thing, communism cannot last, it cannot survive and it always eats itself. Why? Because it is impossible for a government to centrally control every aspect of its society while trying to compete in the global market. Innovation and competition is stifled in a communist society; farmers don’t have the incentive to farm, so the people starve, and engineers don’t have the incentive to engineer, so the people have broken roads, a lack of access to clean water and are plagued with intermittent power.
I know what you are about to say, “But China did it, and it’s a world superpower now and in Canada, Indigenous communities don’t have clean water and in some parts of Jamaica, citizens don’t have ANY running water.” Here’s my answer to that:
China is not communist
Indigenous communities in Canada are still under the thumb of the Canadian Government. Canada is not truly a capitalist state
The water distribution system in Jamaica is owned and operated by the Government. Jamaica is not truly a capitalist state
It will also surprise you to know, that the United States of America is also not truly a capitalist state. Sweden is more capitalistic than the United States
“But hold on Devon, what do you mean China isn’t communist?” Let’s move on to the next section, Fascism.
Section 2
Fascism and Corporatism
You’ve already guessed it, yes, China is a Fascist state, however, it does still practise some aspects of Communism in certain parts of the country. China has mastered what is known as corporatism, a key ingredient of fascism.
But, what is fascism? Here’s what the Meridian dictionary had to say, “a political system headed by a dictator in which the government controls business and labor and opposition is not permitted.” This definition is what most people see, but it is very very misleading and unclear; this definition could easily be assigned to socialism or communism. Let me introduce you to what Fascism really is by referencing this excerpt from the Economic Library (econlib.org).
“As an economic system, fascism is socialism with a capitalist veneer. The word derives from fasces, the Roman symbol of collectivism and power: a tied bundle of rods with a protruding ax. In its day (the 1920s and 1930s), fascism was seen as the happy medium between boom-and-bust-prone liberal capitalism, with its alleged class conflict, wasteful competition, and profit-oriented egoism, and revolutionary Marxism, with its violent and socially divisive persecution of the bourgeoisie. Fascism substituted the particularity of nationalism and racialism—“blood and soil”—for the internationalism of both classical liberalism and Marxism.
Where socialism sought totalitarian control of a society’s economic processes through direct state operation of the means of production, fascism sought that control indirectly, through the domination of nominally private owners. Where socialism nationalized property explicitly, fascism did so implicitly, by requiring owners to use their property in the “national interest”—that is, as the autocratic authority conceived it. (Nevertheless, a few industries were operated by the state.) Where socialism abolished all market relations outright, fascism left the appearance of market relations while planning all economic activities. Where socialism abolished money and prices, fascism controlled the monetary system and set all prices and wages politically. In doing all this, fascism denatured the marketplace. Entrepreneurship was abolished. State ministries, rather than consumers, determined what was produced and under what conditions.
Under fascism, the state, through official cartels, controlled all aspects of manufacturing, commerce, finance, and agriculture. Planning boards set product lines, production levels, prices, wages, working conditions, and the size of firms. Licensing was ubiquitous; no economic activity could be undertaken without government permission. Levels of consumption were dictated by the state, and “excess” incomes had to be surrendered as taxes or “loans.”
Fascism embodied corporatism, in which political representation was based on trade and industry rather than on geography. In this, fascism revealed its roots in syndicalism, a form of socialism originating on the left.
To maintain high employment and minimize popular discontent, fascist governments also undertook massive public works projects financed by steep taxes, borrowing, and fiat money creation. While many of these projects were domestic—roads, buildings, stadiums—the largest project of all was militarism, with huge armies and arms production.
The fascist leaders’ antagonism to communism has been misinterpreted as an affinity for capitalism. In fact, fascists’ anticommunism was motivated by a belief that in the collectivist milieu of early-twentieth-century Europe, communism was its closest rival for people’s allegiance. As with communism, under fascism, every citizen was regarded as an employee and tenant of the totalitarian, party-dominated state. Consequently, it was the state’s prerogative to use force, or the threat of it, to suppress even peaceful opposition.”
Does this not remind you of China? Particularly the line that says, “Where socialism abolished all market relations outright, fascism left the appearance of market relations while planning all economic activities.” In China, there is an appearance of free market activity to outsiders, but this activity is conducted for the benefit of the state. The state can at any time nationalize private businesses and steal their property. But there’s something else, in the definition of fascism above, do you see the similarity in how the Governments of Canada, the USA, Jamaica and many other nations operate? This line, for example, “To maintain high employment and minimize popular discontent, fascist governments also undertook massive public-works projects financed by steep taxes, borrowing, and fiat money creation”. Well, reader, this is because, after World War 2, Western Governments liked and implemented some tools of fascism into their own systems of governance.
The key feature of fascism however is not the dictator, it is the indirect control of the free market, corporatism and the collusion between government and corporations. This isn’t to say that China was never communist, it’s to say that they moved from being Marxists to communists to fascists. Hitler and Mussolini before they became fascists, were both once Marxists or admired Marxism. There is a pattern of trajectory with Marxists; here goes:
Step 1 - Identify a problem in society, but misdiagnoses it. Becomes Marxist
Step 2 - Advocate first for socialism in society
Step 3 - Once socialism is achieved and unless stopped by war or economic calamity, it proceeds to become communism
Step 4 - The communist leaders/leader realizes that communism doesn’t work, so they try to re-introduce some level of “free market” activity, which is still indirectly owned and controlled by the state and thus;
Step 5 - Fascism is born
In his 1928 autobiography, Mussolini (the formal architect of fascism) said, “The citizen in the Fascist State is no longer a selfish individual who has the anti-social right of rebelling against any law of the Collectivity. The Fascist State with its corporative conception puts men and their possibilities into productive work and interprets for them the duties they have to fulfill. (p. 280)” Does this not sound like Marxism on steroids? Does it also remind you of how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled? If you do not take a covid-19 vaccine or if you rebel against government mandates requiring it, you are a selfish individual rebelling against the interest of the collective.
Mussolini took what he could from Marxism and created a system that he believed could work and hold its own against his international competitors and enemies, while still maintaining dictatorial control. But why is it so important to discuss fascism in this context? Why spend so much time on it? It's because what the world is experiencing today, is fascism.
Fascism has received an upgrade and is today being perpetuated mostly by Western Governments in lockstep with each other. This new and upgraded form of Fascism is called Stakeholder Capitalism.
Section 3
Stakeholder Capitalism
This is currently the greatest ongoing threat to the freedoms of mankind as an upgraded form of fascism. Here are the varied definitions of stakeholder capitalism that I could find:
World Economic Forum: “Stakeholder capitalism is a form of capitalism in which companies seek long-term value creation by taking into account the needs of all their stakeholders, and society at large.”
Alternate World Economic Forum Definition: “It is a form of capitalism in which companies do not only optimize short-term profits for shareholders, but seek long-term value creation, by taking into account the needs of all their stakeholders, and society at large.”
The World Economic Forum proceeds to state the key stakeholders and objective of stakeholder capitalism: “To ensure that both people and the planet prosper, four key stakeholders play a crucial role. They are governments (of countries, states, and local communities); civil society (from unions to NGOs, from schools and universities to action groups); companies (constituting the private sector, whether freelancers or large multinational companies); and the international community (consisting of international organizations such as the UN as well as regional organizations such as the European Union or ASEAN).”
They further state that. “When the well-being of people and the planet are at the center of business, the four remaining key groups of stakeholders contribute to their betterment. As all of these groups and their goals are interconnected. One cannot succeed if the others fail.”
Below is a graphical representation of stakeholder capitalism:
To most people, particularly Marxists, it seems like a good thing to place people and the planet at the center of business. But they fail to understand what it means for companies, civil society, countries and the international community to “contribute to the betterment of people and the planet”. My understanding of stakeholder capitalism is that companies, civil society, the international community and countries will collude to manage (indirectly) what they deem to be resources (the people and the planet); this is fascism.
At what point in modern human history has the international community, companies, civil society and governments cared about human beings more than they care about money and power? Why would that change all of a sudden based on nice words on the World Economic Forum’s website?
The World Economic Forum and its local and international associates believe overpopulation to be a problem and that the planet lacks the resources to take care of these billions of human beings. What tools are they employing to manage the human population and the resources of the planet? We’ll talk about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals later.
The World Economic Forum considered the covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to reset the globe and abolish shareholder capitalism in favour of stakeholder capitalism. They call this the Great Reset and refer to this period of time as the fourth industrial revolution.
The World Economic Forum stated, and I quote, “COVID-19 lockdowns may be gradually easing, but anxiety about the world’s social and economic prospects is only intensifying. There is good reason to worry: a sharp economic downturn has already begun, and we could be facing the worst depression since the 1930s. But, while this outcome is likely, it is not unavoidable.
To achieve a better outcome, the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a “Great Reset” of capitalism.” Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/now-is-the-time-for-a-great-reset/
There are three components of the Great Reset:
Stakeholder capitalism
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Environmental and Social and Governance (ESG Scores)
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
I will discuss these components in another chapter of this document. Below is a tweet from the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness. Remove his name from the tweet and replace it with the World Economic Forum; is the content of the tweet not eerily familiar to the World Economic Forum’s language
Don’t believe me? Look at the text below from the World Economic Forum’s webpage.
Source: https://www.weforum.org/about/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-by-klaus-schwab
It gets worse. they like to tell us that these are conspiracy theories, but here is the Prime Minister of Jamaica laying it out as plain as day for us. https://twitter.com/AndrewHolnessJM/status/1282736171752316928?s=20
You’ll find many examples of Western leaders repeating after the World Economic Forum, almost like they received a script or a playbook to follow. More on stakeholder capitalism will be discussed in the UNSDG and ESG Score chapters.
Section 4
Capitalism
The World Economic Forum refers to this as shareholder capitalism, the type of capitalism that they want to abolish. Here’s how they define it, "It is the form of capitalism in which the interests of one stakeholder, the shareholder, dominate over all others. Companies operate with the sole purpose of maximizing profits and returning the highest possible dividends to shareholders.”
Here’s how the internet defines capitalism, “an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.”
Strangely enough, the World Economic Forum recognizes State Capitalism (Historically Fascism), Shareholder Capitalism (This topic’s subject) and Stakeholder Capitalism (Modern day fascism proposed by the WEF) as forms of capitalism. Here is the illustration that they present:
There are multiple problems with their illustration, these are:
The social responsibility of a business is not to increase its profits. The responsibility to increase profits is purely economical and based on the demand of the market. There are many corporations that exist today that refer to themselves as social corporations, voluntarily allocating portions of their profits to social causes. Some companies create products that are socially beneficial for society, including ensuring that raw materials and the finished product itself are not made in countries like China that utilize child labour. Stakeholder capitalism therefore cannot stake a claim on increasing the well-being of people and the planet when there are corporations that are actively engaged in social development and environmental protection.
State Capitalism is NOT a form of capitalism, it is fascism in disguise. If you recall the definition of fascism, it is the Government indirectly controlling the free market (economy).
Stakeholder Capitalism is also NOT a form of capitalism as it is modern-day fascism in disguise. The only difference from the above is that stakeholder capitalism results in governments, civil society, companies and the international community colluding to indirectly control the market (economy). In most cases, you’ll find that each of these groups is owned/operated/directed by the same set of people.
Businesses engaged in shareholder capitalism do not simply focus on short-term profit maximization. Successful businesses in a competitive market focus on providing value for their customers and this is what makes them last. Many businesses operate on extremely low-profit margins and thus have to work to ensure that their product has intrinsic value to the consumer. Stakeholder capitalism tries to use ESG scores to force businesses to act in a certain manner, or risk being punished by those who indirectly control the economy, again, fascism. The so-called value created by stakeholder capitalism is designed to force not only companies to act in favour of the global elites, but consumers as well. These values may not be in the best interest of society and due to the force used, consumers will be unable to oppose these values under stakeholder capitalism, compared to a free market that supports shareholder capitalism.
Marxists believe that Capitalism is destroying society and destroying the planet and that it is an evil that needs to be vanquished. But what is it about capitalism that is so scary? Nothing really, people are simply making the grave mistake of conflating free-market capitalism with corporatism (the key ingredient to fascism). Free market capitalism is simply an economic system in which the law of supply and demand is used to determine prices and the production of goods and services without over-regulation by the Government. It simply allows voluntary trade between citizens and/or companies.
One of the problems people have with free market capitalism is its effect on the environment and on people. But they are right to be concerned, however, concerned for the wrong reasons. Let us say that to produce bauxite, a company just randomly digs up a piece of land with no environmental concerns and negatively impacts the health of people living nearby and the people have no recourse for the injuries they suffered. What is the cause of this problem? Is it capitalism? The answer is no, it is the failure of the government to provide equal protection of life, liberty and property of those affected. We spoke about the role of government in Chapter 2.
If a company is aware that they would be sued by the community or even their employees for practices that affect their health and that company executives could face criminal charges for harm caused, companies will operate differently. This is the concept of good governance. In systems where bad governance exists, there is great harm to the environment and people. This is where we now circle back to the importance of having a True Republic, as I’ve shown here how easy it is to solve the problems that the Marxists and associates are concerned with. These issues can be resolved without going full totalitarianism.
As society shifts and decides what’s important to it, companies change along with them. This means that humanity is naturally, without governmental coercion, moving towards good environmental and societal practices. Customers would rather not buy products made from slave labour or from companies that treat their workers horribly. But, because of the theft of purchasing power due to inflation, you will find that many consumers are unable to make purchases according to their values, because those companies who engage in good business, environmental and employment practices, do charge a premium for their products.
So what would you rather buy? A CAD$10 basketball made in China, potentially from slave labour or a CAD$70 basketball made in Canada? The socially conscious person who can afford it will spend $70, but the poorer person has little choice but to buy the made-in-China product. This problem is not a result of capitalism, it is a result of Western countries exporting their productivity to countries like China which utilizes cheap labour and poor environmental practices to produce products meant for Western homes.
How do they export their productivity you ask? It’s something most people love; the minimum wage, which is also a culprit of inflation. With the high minimum wage in countries like Canada, basketball manufacturers in Canada cannot compete in price with the Chinese companies; so many would have to close their doors or rely on wealthy clients to finance their businesses. Just in case you are unaware, the whole reason a minimum wage exists is because of inflation, and the government’s manipulation of the monetary system. So all the problems in society that many attribute to capitalism, are actually problems caused by Government.
Action Summary:
Do not let a single remnant of Marxism or Socialism pass you by. It must be stopped in its tracks because it will grow and fester into either communism or fascism. As these systems oppose individual rights, you have a duty to stand against them
Defend the free market, and let the Marxists, socialists and communists know that they are free to create their own voluntary commune in our society. They just can’t force individuals to join them
Simplify what you want so that your message is clear and not lost in translation based on the varied definitions of these economic systems. What you, the reader wants, are political, economic and social systems where the Government has the least possible involvement in your day-to-day life
Do not be afraid to speak about your values; this fear gives those who are intent on invading your personal space and trampling on your natural born rights, strength.