Capitalism is a social system built on exploitation and domination, prioritising the accumulation and expansion of capital above all else. In this system, there are two main classes: capitalists, who control society's resources; and workers, who must labour for less than the value they produce. Although all class systems are oppressive, capitalism is uniquely destructive, now threatening the very survival of life on Earth.
We seek the abolition of not just capitalism but class society as a whole, fighting for a society based on solidarity, self-management, and free association: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need!"
In any class society, exploited classes produce more value than they consume, and the ruling class takes the "surplus." This is the case for all ruling classes, whether they are capitalists, feudal lords, or slave owners.. Previously, this act of exploitation was overt and direct, implemented through feudal laws (as with serfs) or ownership mechanisms (as with slaves). That same exploitation exists now, but is more obscured.
Class is not a natural phenomenon but a human invention. It emerged alongside the rise of agriculture, animal husbandry, and grain storage. These changes led to surplus accumulation, enabling some to claim ownership of resources and land, leading to a specialised class that used force to control the agricultural system without working the land themselves—the ruling class. Ruling families emerged from this military group, creating dynasties and concentrating power. Along with this, the development of patriarchy facilitated the transfer of wealth and power to male descendants within this class.
The rise of class did not occur uniformly throughout the world, and a single paragraph cannot comprehensively explain the complexities of class development. We detail this process not out of ignorance of other historical social forms, but because it is the origin point that capitalism developed from—the system that now dominates the entire globe.
Capitalism emerged when a rising merchant class shifted from trading to controlling production itself. This required a fundamental shift in social structures, sparking a conflict between the ruling feudal class and the emerging capitalist class, eventually leading to the establishment of parliamentary democracy.
This transformation necessitated widespread displacement and revolutions that demolished the preceding feudal system and replaced it with the capitalist system. The growing accumulation of wealth enabled the capitalist class to leverage their monopoly on capital, rather than relying solely on violence to amass additional riches. This eventually gave rise to the factory system, in which machinery allowed a single worker to perform tasks that previously required multiple.
How Capitalism Functions
Capitalism is fundamentally a social relationship between the working and capitalist classes. It is a relationship that is replicated at every level of society, both within and outside of the workplace. As such, exploitation is hidden in capitalism. All goods and services, including the ability to work, become commodities, items that can be traded on the market.
Capitalists own and control factories, stores, apartment buildings, land, and other important resources. Workers sell their labour capacity to capitalists who own these resources, known as the "means of production," for wages. Their work, however, generates commodities with a higher exchange value than their wages. The difference between what workers produce and what they receive, either directly or indirectly, is referred to as "surplus value," and is taken by the capitalist employer. In exchange for the portions of our lives sacrificed, we are only given a small portion of the value that we create. This is frequently insufficient to access even the barest necessities – food, water, and shelter.
Even beyond the necessities, the working class is deprived of the pleasures of life due to the poverty of capitalism's offerings and our alienation. The ebb and flow of capital's cycles uses up our time and our lives.
Capitalists can extract surplus value in a variety of ways. Owners of buildings may take a portion in rent. Banks may take a portion as interest. The state may take a portion as taxes, only some of which is returned to workers in the form of a "social wage": education, health, welfare, and other needs. Though, this social wage was originally won through working class struggle, and is always under attack by capitalists. The majority of this surplus value goes to the capitalists as profit, some is used for personal use, most is reinvested — to make more profit.
Working in a factory or an office, whether making cabinets, preparing food, or developing software, you still only get back a tiny fraction of the value of the total product you create. If you work in transportation, logistics, or maintenance, your work may be just as important, but it is difficult to determine how much value you individually create. And if you provide a service—from accounting to nursing to research— it is similarly difficult to determine the value your labour facilitates beyond what you are paid, as it may go through several transformations and be realised in a variety of ways.
Contradictions, Control, and Resistance
The process and rate of exploitation under capitalism is not straightforward. It can be determined by how large a surplus the capitalists can extract, and how fast they can do it. Neither of these factors are fixed; they change over time and space. The conflict over these factors is known as class struggle.
Capitalism can only be sustained through the draining of wealth created by the working classes. Capital must, in pursuit of short-term gains, disregard human and environmental devastation due to its inherent profit motive. The system’s insurmountable contradictions are the source of the inescapable cycle of economic downturns and crises. The devastation caused by capitalism is not a flaw but rather a characteristic; these problems are intrinsic and cannot be attributed solely to the personal greed or poor decisions of capitalists; it is impossible to reform capitalism so that it "functions."
In addition to private control over the means of production, capitalism also encompasses the "means of coercion." The efforts of capitalists to increase authority over labour in order to amass more wealth, coupled with the expansion of state power, have resulted in the formation of diverse layers within the economy. These layers of coercion and administration are occupied by elite professionals and managers who staff corporate and institutional hierarchies. Management functions as a mechanism of control and repression within the workplace, pushing us to work harder and faster while ensuring the capitalists' interests are the primary motivator. Capitalist class hegemony is exerted through these functionaries who control social institutions.The working class's subordination to capitalists and their bureaucratic layers of functionaries deprives us of agency and transforms existence into a purposeless pursuit of someone else’s profits.
Roles, Relationships, and Structures
Class is a social relationship determined by the role you play within this larger structure, which means that not all working-class people are necessarily employed in waged labour. Capitalism must exclude some from the workforce to create a class that can only survive by selling its labour power. Some overwhelmingly oppressed peoples are held in near-permanent unemployment or are swallowed up by the prison system. In Australia, First Nations People are grossly overrepresented in this oppressed class. Others, such as housewives, contribute to society's wealth and the reproduction of the labour force but are not compensated for it.
Other exploited classes exist alongside the working class. Many people, particularly in the global south, continue to be exploited for their labour despite not being engaged in waged employment; such as subsistence farmers and street vendors. These classes, along with the working class, are collectively referred to as the exploited classes.
The exploited classes have a natural unity in their struggles against capitalism and the state, but this does not mean that there are no contradictions, enmities, or genuine conflicts between the exploited classes.
Liberation
Class is not a label we can apply to ourselves, nor is it a set of behaviours, consumption patterns, or cultural norms. Working class people frequently hold contradictory beliefs about themselves, their jobs, and their social class. Ideas of the ruling class, such as racism, sexism, and nationalism, are reproduced and transmitted through its institutions. We acknowledge the existence of reactionary and repressive ideologies in the working class alongside progressive and even revolutionary thought.
At the same time, people's struggles, organisations, and experiences as collectives quickly generate and facilitate ideas that challenge ruling class thinking. The battle of ideas is not just about working class versus ruling class ideas; it's about an open and contested field of potential consciousness in which anarchist communists must intervene. Our goal is to help create a conscious united class acting in its own interests from a divided class.
Ultimately, it is the working class who holds the ability to create a free society through its distinct role in the production of society's goods. To strengthen the revolutionary capacity of all, the working class must unite with the other oppressed classes. We aim to struggle based on strategic assessments and social ruptures, rather than on rhetoric, potentials, and aspirations.
We organise to foster class unity through struggle, and to establish a unified working-class movement that seeks the complete abolition of all social classes. The complete eradication of exploitation and oppression is only attainable via the working class's resistance against the state and capital; our success is contingent on the formation of class organisation and direct struggle.