The End of Capitalism in Germany
Dwight Macdonald
I.
AIM OF THIS ARTICLE is Io show
that the present German
economy cannot be called 'capitalistic,' that it is a new and dif–
ferent kind of system (which I call, for lack of a better term,
'bureaucratic collectivism') . This view is, at present, rejected by
most Marxists.
It
is more than a quarrel over terminology. For
if the Nazi economy is still basically capitalistic, then we may
expect
it
to be weakened in future by the classic 'contradictions'
of capitalism, then we may look for future revolutionary move–
ments against fascism to assume the traditional proletariat-vs.–
bourgeoisie form, then this war is essentially a repetition of the
last war and the issue is merely whether Germany
this
time will
be
able to challenge successfully the Anglo-American domination of
the world market.
If,
however, Germany is
not
capitalist, then all
these future developments may be expected to take on quite dif–
ferent forms. I should add that, as I wrote in "National Defense:
the Case for Socialism"
(PARTISAN REVIEW,
July-August, 1940) ,
the non-capitalist nature of German economy, far from being a
reason for supporting the present British and American govern–
ments in this war, seems to me to make more imperative than ever
the establishment
first
of a democratic socialist government
through
the
revolutionary action of the workingclass.
Let me begin with a very brief statement of just what I con·
ceive 'capitalism' to be. (For a more detailed treatment, see my
article, "What Is the Fascist State?" in
The New International
for
February, 1941.) In his introduction to
The Living Thoughts of
Karl Marx,
Trotsky writes (emphasis mine):
198
In contemporary society, man's cardinal tie is exchange.
Any product of labor that enters into the process of exchange
becomes a commodity. Marx began his investigation with the
commodity and deduced from that fundamental cell of capitalist
society those social relations that have objectively shaped them-
