David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles

Please keep an eye out for more episodes from Anti Capitalist Chronicles host David Harvey at an exciting new media organization: Politics in Motion! You can learn more at www.politicsinmotion.org Anti-Capitalist Chronicles will no longer be produced by Democracy at Work. If you want to continue receiving episodes and analysis from David Harvey, please go to www.politicsinmotion.org. We thank Prof. Harvey for all the wisdom and critical analysis he's shared with us over the years.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey reflects on how universities in the US have shifted and evolved under advanced capitalism to function more and more like corporations. The ethos of the academic model is no longer about universities paying professors to teach, but rather that professors earn their keep by making money for the university. We are seeing increased bureaucratization, a push for entrepreneurialism among professors, and a growing corporate managerial structure. This reorganization of education around monetization has left professors disillusioned and despondent and cannot be sustained.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey shares major lessons he learned while studying the housing issue in Baltimore in the late 1960s and asking the questions: Why is housing quality so appalling in low-income areas? Why had past attempts to change that failed? How could the richest nation in the world tolerate this? Harvey explains how he came to learn the importance of looking at the totality of the system—not just the issue itself—as well as leveraging, how social policies often work well for those who need it least, the issue of gentrification, and more. David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is a Democracy at Work production, made possible by audience donations. Consider supporting us on Patreon.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explores the contributions made by Daniel Ellsberg, the political activist known for releasing the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Ellsberg gave the public a look into the ways in which the US government was lying about the Vietnam war with the Pentagon Papers, and offered a look into how the US military thinks about military policy with respect to nuclear weapons in his book The Doomsday Machine. Ellsberg’s contributions are deeply relevant today with the Russian/Ukraine war and the ever-growing number of nuclear weapons around the globe. David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is a Democracy at Work production, made possible by audience donations. Consider supporting us on Patreon.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explains Marx’s analytical techniques of presupposition and posit and applies them to today’s capital circulation system and the crises that may emerge from the ever-growing fictitious capital investments. By looking at the presupposition, or what came before a system, and the posit, what happens as a result of an established system, Harvey takes apart the complex systems and issues today, such as climate change or the instability of fictitious capital investing in itself, and is able to illuminate some possible futures if we continue down these paths.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey focuses on the impact of war on civilians, both today in Ukraine and historically. While it is a war crime to attack civilian populations, there is a long, deadly history of it. From the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the fire bombs in Dresden and Tokyo, the US is far from innocent of civilian attack. Harvey reminds us that the horrors inflicted on Ukrainians today should be judged in a similar manner as we judge those atrocities of the past. Support Anti-Capitalist Chronicles and Democracy at Work on Patreon at www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey focuses on the concept of totality, conceptualized in Marx’s Grundrisse, and the importance of situating theoretical frameworks within on-the-ground struggles. Harvey explains how he’s spent his life’s work attempting to do this, focusing on issues such as housing, climate change, and more. Marx and Engel’s theoretical contributions are critical, but it is in the tangible application of them that the true benefits are realized. Support Anti-Capitalist Chronicles and Democracy at Work on Patreon at www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey uses the diagram of capital’s circulatory processes, shared in the last episode, and applies it to the pressing issue of inflation today. Harvey draws parallels to how inflation was handled during the Reagan and Thatcher administrations, with austerity politics and the resulting reduced standard of living for the working class. These attacks on social expenditures were explained as necessary to curb inflation, yet there is much more to the story. By utilizing the framework of capital’s circulation within a capitalist mode of production, Harvey reveals the many possible causes of inflation and how public policy often has hidden intentions. To download the diagram: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qcd7k6so6v4jhss/capitalism-cycle.pdf?dl=0 Support Anti-Capitalist Chronicles and Democracy at Work on Patreon at www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

Welcome to Season 5! In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey discusses the ever-expanding circulatory systems of capital. He shares a diagram, designed by fellow d@w host Miguel Robles-Duran (Cities After…), which illustrates capital in motion. Like the human body, capital has many circulatory processes that can be analyzed both individually as well as part of the larger structure. This diagram is a useful way to picture the capitalist mode of production and its place in the capitalist social formation in order to make sense of how and where crises and contradictions show up within the system. To download the diagram: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qcd7k6so6v4jhss/capitalism-cycle.pdf?dl=0 Support Anti-Capitalist Chronicles and Democracy at Work on Patreon at www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey considers the hostility and glorification of ignorance—a legacy of McCarthyism—towards the teachings of Marx, especially within academia and the mainstream media. Academia has become a money-making institution and even liberal mainstream media, claiming to be tolerant, espouse repressive tolerance. Harvey draws on his experience writing and teaching about Marxism to reject the need to define the current phase of capital. We are not regressing back towards feudalism and we don’t need to find more adjectives to put in front of capitalism. Rather than trying to fit our current conditions into a preconceived notion, we simply need to consider the qualities of the conditions in order to challenge the power of capitalist institutions and move forward.

As more and more people begin to recognize the pitfalls of the systems we're entrenched in—capitalism, neoliberalism, consumerism, and more—we are often left without clear directions for instilling change. In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey addresses the question he is so often asked, and often asks himself: “What should we do?” Harvey urges us to begin by looking at our individual situation, particularly five aspects: quality of life in the household, nature of the labor market, experience in the workplace, experience as money manager, and experience as buyer in the money market. The pedagogy of the emancipated laborer involves situating ourselves in those five aspects of society, connecting with others on the local level who are situated around us, and building collectively.

Join d@w for virtual event Marxism For This Moment: A Conversation with Richard Wolff & David Harvey on Friday, November 18th at 1pm ET (New York, UTC-4). Buy your tickets here: https://www.democracyatwork.info/marxism_for_this_moment_richard_wolff_david_harvey **If you cannot make the live event but want to support d@w, consider purchasing a ticket anyway and we will send you access to the event recording. In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey considers the role of religion in various political movements with particular attention to the growth and impact of the Evangelical movement in the US today. Religion has often been at the center of political movements, with black churches during the civil rights movement and the Theology of Liberation in Latin America in the 1970s. Harvey explores these histories and considers the importance of theology in building and holding social movements together.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explores the relationship between markets and the state. Drawing on examples such as Britain in the 1970s, France in 1981 under Mitterrand, and Bill Clinton in the 1990s, Harvey argues that, under capitalism, the state is not sovereign and democracy cannot be fully realized, and what you instead have is the eroding of each. As many countries, including the US, move closer to authoritarian democracies, we must first confront this fusion of capital and state and then explore what the socialist response can be.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explores the importance of delineating between metabolic and independent relations. Bourgeois economics believes the process of production, distribution, consumption, realization and exchange are all independently related, yet Marx reveals that they are locked in together through the circular concept of metabolic relations. Metabolic relations, unlike independent relations, are harder to break from. Harvey argues that in order for a transition from capitalism to socialism to take place, you have to break apart these interconnected relations that are unique and render them independent.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey uses Marx’s theory of historical materialism as a means of tackling large societal problems such as climate change. Marx asserts that there are seven distinctive aspects of society which coexist and coevolve in relation to one another. These elements—technology, relationship to nature, labor process of production, reproduction of labor power, mental conceptions of the world, structure of state, and social relations—make up the totality of a society. Historical materialism asks that we not assume one element is a silver bullet answer to a problem, but rather that we look at the ways in which each element would have to shift in order to address the issue.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey considers a looming question: is capitalism too big to fail? He speculates on what approaches may lead to a successful socialist alternative. Is it a reorganization of the productive forces? Or redistribution of wealth? Or both?

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles (ACC), Prof. Harvey reflects on the current Ukraine-Russia conflict and shares his conflicting feelings about the ongoing war.

In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey continues his discussion of Brad DeLong’s new book, "Slouching Towards Utopia," in which DeLong notes the contradiction between an emerging middle class over the last century through technological innovation and stagnant levels of happiness. To explain this dilemma, Harvey looks closer at how these technological advancements shape labor and function under capitalism. He argues that the purpose was never to lighten the load of labor, it was solely to increase profitability. Therein lies the central contradiction of capitalism: capital is great at creating new products, ideas, possibilities, and lifestyles, but it simultaneously produces alienation. It is no wonder that there is a deep dissatisfaction with our society. Alienation is a natural byproduct of capitalism when the ever-growing advancements are designed to produce more surplus rather than improve working people's lives.

In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey discusses the new book by Brad Delong, “Slouching Toward Utopia,” which aims to explain the massive creation of wealth over the last 150 years for the upper and middle class, its effect on the world order and why it’s failed to deliver an increasing sense of happiness among that top 50%. Harvey takes us through the history of the various world powers, from Italian city-states to the rise of the US as the global hegemon and the present shift in power that has emerged with China’s rapid economic growth.

In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey warns that the endless accumulation of capital in a variety of sectors is putting tremendous pressure on our economy, our world, and our very existence. Signs of economic growth—the rising mass of value; centralization of wealth and power in the hands of a small minority; the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere leading to serious climate and biological disruptions; the growing output of plastics; cement production in China; and airline travel and the surplus of liquidity seeking opportunities for investment—are being directed to unproductive activities like military expenditures and the defense industry, ever increasing the threat of nuclear war and mutually assured destruction. Harvey argues that international cooperation is needed and that alternatives must be explored. He discusses the work of Piketty and Ricardian Socialists as a way to address the growing inequality and gross injustices we are living through. He supports Piketty's ideas for the redistribution of income from the top 1% to the bottom 50% of the population and collaborative work models, like those of German and Swedish companies that give power to labor.