Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.
Karl Marx, 1867, Das Kapital
Collapse of Capitalism
As Marx foretold to us, the cake is shrinking,
the ship is sinking, the rodents have come
to the fore, the fat cats feast upon our
shores, feuding and fighting amongst themselves.
The vulnerable seem to be subdued,
repressed, dismissed, their lifelines cast aloft
into some briny deep along with truth
and trust, care and humankind’s compassion.
Only the slightest shreds of verity
remain, almost entirely covered now
by lies and spin as the cake reduces.
The poorest, the meek, the sick and the weak,
the greens and the peacemakers, once were blessed
but are now portrayed as fools or traitors,
burdens or charlatans, benefit scroungers.
The rodent-rich, much richer than before,
step upon the enslaved and the ignorant,
laughing at them as they do, with barely
hidden arrogance, while gnawing at their bones.
Cait O’Connor
Excellent, Cait. I so appreciate seeing poets who speak out.
ReplyDeleteGreat use of language here. As usual, you have expressed yourself to near perfection.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
=)
Very interesting Cait. I've been telling my husband for years that capitalism cannot continue; that it has failed, but what is the answer? I shudder as I remember Russia and China just a few years ago. Don't get me started on taxes and health care.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Marx realised just how fucking determined the capitalists would be to cling on to what they've got.
ReplyDeleteCait things are so bad here! I can't get enough of art against capitalism.....rodents is such a powerful word.......yes I shudder too......
ReplyDeleteVery good, Cait! You tell it like it is...beautifully!
ReplyDeleteGreat truths are sometimes the prerogative of poems. See you on the barricades!
ReplyDeleteYour poem was so eloquent that it should be used in this coming Thursday teachers' strike here in GB.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.