Understanding Capital Vol. 1 (Part 8), by Karl Marx

Welcome to Understanding Capital Vol. 1, where the goal is to analyze all angles of Capital, extract the important points, and summarize as much information as possible. The purpose here is less about inserting opinions on the work or what's said, and more about laying everything out to someone who has never read it, or someone who has a tough time reading it, yet can get a full understanding of the information.

Here we have it, the final section of Capital, a shorter one broken into eight even shorter chapters, which focuses a little more on the historical aspect of capitalism. This is a very important area that I find to be one of the easiest ones to understand and work through. It addresses how the capitalist mode of production was able to form, and the blood on its hands from doing so. As for most of the book, Marx looks at England as the case study, due to it being the most advanced capitalist nation at the time.

Chapter 26: The Secret Of Primitive Accumulation

Possibly the smallest chapter in the book, this essentially just says that capital emerged through breaking the sacred laws of private property by allowing it to accumulate. It was started by splitting people from their means of subsistence, such as land, productive forces, skills, culture, trades, and so forth. This somewhat goes back to the aspect of dehumanizing people by isolating them from their labor, extracting what we hold dear as a mode of private profit; everything eventually becomes commodified as the process advances forward.

Chapter 27: The Expropriation Of The Agricultural Population From The Land

As we discussed before, the biggest difference between capitalism and feudalism is that production is no longer tied to the land with the latter. The theft of land accumulation forced peasants to wage labor as soon as feudal lords were replaced with the conquering and privatization of land. The peasantry previously had the same right to the land as the lord, it's just that a portion of the labor done there went to the lord, as we previously discussed. Now, capital is no longer interested in land, but is interested in money to turn commodities into more money, which relates back to the first section.

Enter legislations role in this; money accumulates in the earliest stages, then acts as the power to lobby and command the state through capital. This also sees the reformation of church, dividing the church and state, which the latter then divided up land for extremely low cost to create the capitalist class. But what of the commons, or in other words, public places that the state couldn't control? The 15th and 16th centuries saw subjected these through acts of violence until they became managed by the state in the 17th century. By now, these lands were granted to landlords as a means of private property, which allowed for evictions of peasants and massive acts of violence to lay the foundations of private capital. Even today, we see this on smaller scales in order to maintain capitalist control. The dissolution of the USSR even saw this process happen again from capitalists reclaiming power, showing serious regression from the public property getting sold and concentrated into private hands. Housing and needs are now in the hands of oligarchs in Russia, and violence was used against those who tried to resist this.

Chapter 28: Bloody Legislation Against The Expropriated Since The End Of The Fifteenth Century; The Forcing Down Of Wages By Acts Of Parliament

What a mouthful! This chapter focuses more on the states new involvement as capitalist society arose. While some tried to argue that the peasant classes were now "freed persons," they were actually forced into becoming wage laborers in the industrial centers. They would be punished for not doing so, or would end up homeless (or both). In other words, peasants were called "voluntary criminals" in order to bring more of them into the new working class. Think again to what we talked about in an earlier section about anti-homeless laws, and the "reserve army of laborers," as if this is simply a choice every person can have. Whipping, branding, and torture were all used as punishment, much like how it was under slavery.

Over time, this will all get worked into the culture of a certain land, which we see in America a lot today. Think about how much propaganda is pumped into your entertainment, news, and general status quo. This takes its origins hundreds of years ago. Capitalism's conditions in education and culture help justify it by showing only how it built itself up from feudalism, while dodging slave society and violence used to prop this up, and the violence it takes in keeping it in place rather than moving to socialism. How many times has someone made the tired "human nature" argument to you, as if that hasn't changed over time? How often do you hear words like "freedom" and "democracy," as if they're exclusive only to the capitalist mode of production and nothing else? The littlest bit of research can disprove this nonsense. And finally, you'll end up with people actually believing that the poor are poor because of bad choices, while the rich are only rich from "saving." Do I really need to go further with this?

Finally, parliament extended working days to create these "reserve army" of workers, and give it a normal degree of dependents. Wages were driven down to create a wage ceiling, once more allowing for higher profit and more power with capital's command via the state. Trade unions were outlawed, said to be an attack on "liberty" (read: private capital), and the only way concessions against this were won in history was through massive resistance by the working class and left movements.

Chapter 29: The Genesis Of The Capitalist Farmer

This was mentioned briefly in chapter 27 and this chapter essentially expands on that just a little bit. As we know, land privatization is what created the capitalist class of farmers, and even some serfs began exploiting other serfs. All they had to do was split capital investment between themselves and the landlord (or larger capitalist) before eventually starting their own stream of capital accumulation. All this is to show the role capitalist farmers played in creating the owning class in the early stages.

Chapter 30: Impact Of The Agricultural Revolution On Industry; The Creation Of The Home Market For Industrial Capital

Another mouthful title nearly as large as the point it makes. This serves to point out how formerly, peasants consumed raw materials and created commodities for themselves and the lord (which we should note is still exploitative in its own way), but those commodities now go to the large, private farmer to sell. Since he has a market of manufacture, it allowed labor power to create the market itself.

Chapter 31: The Genesis Of The Industrial Capitalist

The next step in this forward movement deals in history more recent to Marx's time, as larger industry begins, advancing closer to the next stage of capitalism. The M-C-M step takes high fruition here, lending out money for commodities used to get more money, which is the key reason for labor power and surplus value extraction. Revolution does not work within the law, and this is where breaking sacred laws of private property really ramp up; so think to the industrial revolution, colonialism, or events that lead to the American Revolution. All it took was for Europeans to discover that there was gold in the Americas to aim for conquering foreign land. They could then exploit resources for the growth of capital, enslave others, genocide indigenous populations, and form national debts to force capital to keep flowing from colonies. This is then downplayed as "nature," something that conveniently doesn't fit when advancements to socialism are described, but somehow does for capitalism.

Brute force is now employed by the state power that we discussed growing in chapter 27, but on a far larger scale. National debts are publicized, and people will continue to get worked into the finance capital started by the state without getting any share or say in the production processes; electing a different ruling class president every four years is not democracy, and does not count as "having a voice." Think about even recently (2008, 2020), as the state gave money to banks and what that caused for the working class. Think of the Great Depression. Think about how empires kept colonies in debt with things like the IMF and National Bank. Debt credit and taxation are needed for the capitalist mode to remain in its later stages. Economists will argue that they are what cause poverty with no mention of how they're needed in order to keep our current system. And most importantly, this leads to imperialist wars meant to seize common property and privatize it.

Chapter 32: The Historical Tendency Of Capitalist Accumulation

Everything we've read until this point is meant to show why capitalism leads to revolutionary tendencies; while Marx never saw any huge revolutions in his time, he saw enough blowback to reflect the amount of socialist revolutions that arose in the 20th century. Productive forces were always built on prior arrangements (I.E. slavery, feudalism) that turned to handicraftsman falling into the hands of private owners. Then, these fall into the hands of larger capitalists, which was the main point of part 7 on capital reproduction. The more this centralizes, the more the proletariat class grows and gives way to this type of revolt that we've seen in the past century.

The point is that capitalism digs its own grave because of its conditions to function. Socialism so far has happened heaviest where capitalist chains were the weakest, something Josef Stalin addressed in The Foundations Of Leninism. Think of how weak capitalism was in Russia, China, or colonies dominated by bigger capitalist powers in the 20th century. And worst of all, the competition drive between large corporations causes the protection of research and development that could be for the public. Health, science, engineering, and inventions are privatized for profit, rather than need, and this is why capitalism must go.

Chapter 33: The Modern Theory Of Colonization

Really, chapter 32 could work as a summary of this entire section, but Marx threw in one last small chapter that I think works something like an afterword. This is where he mentions that the contradictions of capitalism get pushed the most by colonialism (and eventually imperialism), which Lenin somewhat takes the horns and drives with from here. It's the basic principle of how nobody can be free if there is slave labor in another colony, as that threat of "it could be worse" will always loom. National chauvinism is a strong weapon of the bourgeoisie, and we see that everywhere today. The way Americans look at those in Africa, Asia, and other nations that were mutilated from colonialism and imperialism should tell you all you need to know.

Understanding Capital Vol. 1 (Part 7), by Karl Marx

Welcome to Understanding Capital Vol. 1, where the goal is to analyze all angles of Capital, extract the important points, and summarize as much information as possible. The purpose here is less about inserting opinions on the work or what's said, and more about laying everything out to someone who has never read it, or someone who has a tough time reading it, yet can get a full understanding of the information.

We're reaching the final areas of Capital, and in my opinion, Part 7 on reproduction can be as much of a slog the beginning of the book. But this is where we wrap things up before finishing off with a shorter, more history oriented section. There are only three chapters to this, but they're dense as hell, so it has a small intro to it that we'll address here; think of it as a mild summary of everything we've read to keep in mind for Part 7. It touches on the three parts of the circulation of production. The first step is taking money to invest in the labor power and the means of production, which the early chapters talked about. Then comes the actual production process, where the variable and constant capital combine to produce values greater than the original capital advanced, aka surplus value. Finally, the commodities enter circulation and are realized in money form. This circuit repeats into continual growth while the workers don't see the true value of their labor power regardless of profit. And if there is no profit, the workers are the first to go. Marx addresses this section assuming there is no interruption in this process in order to scientifically study it properly.

Chapter 23: Simple Reproduction

The biggest takeaway from the intro into this is that all processes of production are inevitably going to become process of their own reproduction, similar to how we talked about the worker reproducing his wage after the necessary labor time, only now on a grander scale. But it isn't only the pieces of capital that are reproduced, but also the material conditions that justify its existence. In a prior chapter, Marx compared how the relationship from worker to owner weren't void in older modes of production, but the conditions themselves are what changed.

This then leads to simple reproduction, which is defined as the capitalist taking some of the surplus value produced to throw back into the reproduction process. If someone owns a pizza shop, and it grows in popularity, the owner might use some of that extra surplus value to invest in another employee to help keep up, and lead to more accumulation. By now, we understand that the worker never gets paid until after his labor power is used, so all wages come from the worker's own labor, which is strictly meant for the reproduction of his labor moving forward. This is hidden, because it appears that the worker has been paid for "all" of his labor, when really, the capitalist wants it to be as little as humanly possible. The worker must spend his wage on other worker-produced commodities in order to survive, and continue labor reproduction.

But what about workers that aren't directly involved in this labor process? Suppose you make your own money some other way, such as the rare case of running your own business by yourself and making enough to live on, or maybe you're a farmer, or something detached from the mass of private property owners; you're still at the mercy of capital. Best hope that you can afford private healthcare, and that the corporate-controlled market doesn't eventually work past your ability. Why does this matter? It's to understand that the entire working class is susceptible to the same pitfalls of those employed by a capitalist. Thus, remaining agricultural workers, or depending on the stage of capitalism, feudal workers, still have the same interests as the working class. Think of the revolutions that occurred in largely agriculturally regions.

Overall, this chapter serves to show that the capitalist state functions to regulate labor in its interests as much as possible, regarding labor power, supply, distribution, and most importantly, reproduction. This relationship of owner and worker is held by suppression of the state and keep it in continuation. Again, I can't recommend reading Lenin enough.

Chapter 24: The Transformation Of Surplus Value Into Capital

For much of this work, we've looked at how surplus value comes from capital, but as the section suggests, we will now look at this equation the other way around. The previous chapter explains why capital rests on continual expansion, needing the reproduction of surplus value to maintain its power. That's not exactly cheap, which is why when businesses can't continue increasing output, they eventually go out (and the owner gets a nice subsidy while the workers are out of income). The more surplus value squeezed out in a year will basically fund grander exploitation the following year, if capital works the way it's intended to. The faster this accumulation happens, the more rapidly exploitation will continue. People not understanding that is why so many believe that inflation is not related to rising profits for owners, but in actuality, that's exactly how capitalism was always meant to function.

So it should go without saying that the more capital the owner gets, the more power he has, as he can buy out smaller, or unsuccessful businesses and over time own more and more of the means of production, and ultimately access to human needs. Think about how Amazon can sell things at such a low price, since they're so big that they can afford it. Once that accumulates, they go and buy out small competitors.

Next, Marx returns to Adam Smith, and his statement on how capitalists will always hire more workers as they make more profit. We now know that this isn't exactly true, especially after the initial start to the process. More workers means needing more raw materials to work with, and eventually, accumulation will allow the owner to invest in machinery to take labor from more workers. Think back to the CNC machine example from before, replacing machinists. The implementation of new technology to lessen the burden is good, until workers are cut and the labor is only for higher profit while fewer people get paid. This leads us to the conclusion that capitalists only care about production for production's sake, not for the well being of people and helping society. This connects to the very beginning of the book, on why capitalists are interested in the exchange value, not the use value. Accumulation of more capital, and more savings leads to billionaires and the rich class controlling virtually everything.

This chapter ends with the use of war in capitalism. A war in another nation not only allows for the exploitation of resources and workers at a potentially cheaper rate, but it lays the groundwork for future investment. The destruction of an area can even enable this very workforce at a cheaper cost. It's also worth mentioning the difference between a population's GDP in a capitalist nation vs. a socialist country. If the U.S. GDP goes up, it's because the owning class is getting richer. If it goes up somewhere like Cuba, it means more needs are being met. This isn't to say that there are no issues that go under the radar, but the ruling class of a socialist nation won't work to only make a few rich. Socialism is interested in use-value, not exchange value. The only reason it may need exchange value is for trading, such as what the USSR was forced to do in the early days, since many western nations sanctioned them and wouldn't accept their money.

Chapter 25: The General Law Of Capitalist Accumulation

And here we reach the densest part of this section, on how this accumulation is based on the ratio between variable capital to constant capital. In other words, this ratio of the two growing (or not) determines the amount of command capital has over the workers.

Let us then talk about constant value composition, which is the growth of both forms of capital at the same rate. If these remain close at all times, the increased demand for labor power will continue, allowing wages to go up for the sake of competition in the labor power market. But the minute this correlation widens, and profits don't get up, capitalists will work to push wages down and remain on top. One might argue that if that's true, a gas station wouldn't offer $17 an hour to fill roles in a time like America's recession in 2021, however people forget that that's still far less than the inflation rate, and is looked at as a concession. In other words, keeping rates lower in comparison with inflation over time allows them to fool workers this way. Regardless, as we keep saying, if the surplus value extraction percentage isn't going up, then the mode of production cannot continue, and it only will by greater exploitation over time.

This brings us to technical composition, which is constant capital growing at a higher rate than variable capital. The means of production then get more investment than the labor power, causing the need for capitalists to increase productivity from fewer workers as a means of competition. Then they can sell commodities at a lower rate than their competitor and still turn the same profit. Thus everyone must either match the new technological investment, or go out of business. Starting to add up yet?

How, then, does a capitalist gain more means of production? A little thing called concentration and centralization. The former is exactly as it sounds; investing in more machines, more buildings, etc. The latter is what we talked about earlier, regarding the bigger guy buying out the littler guys to counter individual capitalists repelling each other. Once a few larger capitalists achieve the concentration step, the door is opened for monopoly as fewer and fewer hands own everything. Now social reproduction is expanded into the hands of even fewer. So how do the few large capitalists accelerate this process? This is where finance capital plays a role, which Marx covers more in the following volumes, as well as Lenin with Imperialism: The Highest Stage Of Capitalism. Joint-stock companies are basically legal monopoly; consider how many brands are owned by bigger brands in America.

But let's talk more about centralization. Isn't that the planning strategy used in socialist examples? Sure, and Marx mentions that even under capitalism it can lead to more rapid production in large-scale examples, such as with the construction of railroads. The difference is the profit motive vs. the need motive, and it then becomes easier to understand why building socialism goes smoother following a developed capitalist state than a feudal, or lower capitalist state. Many would argue even that capitalism is a necessary step regarding separation from a larger empire, or developing industry. The point is, though, that once this step is achieved, it is no longer progressive, and the foundation for socialism should follow, instead of ending with the capitalist mode of production. Transitioning and planning from this stage is far easier. Imagine America, a nation with more resources and riches than any other, distributing what it has based off central planning for needs, not central control for profit.

Next, Marx looks to debunk the myth that poverty arises through workers having too many children. Workers creating technologies that put them out of work, and falling profits are what push wages down and cut people out of work. There's no "law of population," yet capital dictates the workforce as if there is, despite there being enough resources for a growing population. Marx calls this the "reserve army of labor," essentially those imprisoned, homeless, or unemployed to keep those employed in check, with a constant threat of "ending up like them." The "excess" population allows for fewer workers to do more, harder work, at worse wages, a violent tactic that shows how much it would benefit everyone to be involved in work for less time, and still receive what they need.

On the other hand, these "reserve classes" are what Marx refers to as "dangerous" to the bourgeoisie. Since they have less to lose, they're more willing to fight harder against the ruling class, and the ruling class will fight harder to suppress them (think police brutality). Socialist society wouldn't have this "reserve" class, as everyone would be entitled to work for the betterment of society, not profit. Any surplus production is meant for the whole population. But as capital accumulates and reproduces, this population grows due to more being thrown out of work, allowing for capital to form its own enemy. This is known as the Absolute Law, and Marx ends this section by showing how this plays out with pauperism misleading workers.

Preventing workers from being conscious of this is a weapon wielded by the bourgeoisie state and ruling class, often times through gentrification. We see this a lot today; as capital flows into a town or sections of a city, banks and businesses thrive which look great, yet we overlook the way it drives poorer classes into more concentrated areas. This becomes a higher area of crime, and police can easier suppress the poorest "reserve" workers. In other words, capitalism doesn't actually solve housing or the housing crises, it just moves it. If homelessness was more visible to the public and less hidden in smaller quarters, public reaction would allow more room for the working class to fight back and unify. Anti-homeless laws, such as loitering or putting up the center piece on benches would take way more fight from the working class as well.

Conclusion

The biggest takeaway in this part is really centered on how labor plays into its own reproduction for profit, and how workers can actively take part in suppressing their own class without trying. Working class unity is very important, no matter how much the accumulation of capital will try and trick us into working against each other. Looking at the Irish Potato Famine in 1846, one million of the poorest class died, while the capitalist class still profited and did nothing to help it. Racism and national chauvinism further breaks up the working class and pits it against each other, and these are things we as workers must overcome. Without liberation of minorities and other targeted groups, none of us are free.

Album Review: Ancestral - The Unforgotten Years

Ancestral - The Unforgotten Years

Memento Mori - 2022

7.5/10

Ancestral are a Canadian death metal act from the early ‘90s that never made it past the demo stage. They play a style very much rooted in the Florida inspiration, and just last year Memento Mori stepped up to consolidate both demos into one compilation, known as The Unforgotten Years. Bold of them to assume we didn’t forget (just kidding).

The first five tracks of this come from the self-titled Ancestral demo. Despite a very raw production, these tracks still allow the rhythmic integrity and solid use of repetition to shine through, just showcased on a burred and jagged plane. The odd balance between drumwork and guitars taking the forefront oddly has a bit of charm to it; normally I’d complain about this, but I think the amount of focus drawn for each one made it worthwhile enough to overlook the poor structuring. The soft parts are the only areas that break cleaner ground, which are also neat albeit a bit roughly transitioned. Mostly, I’m referring to bits like the end of “Forever An Entity” or the start of “Dead’s Kingdom.” Oh, and that piano ditty to close out the demo is fantastic. Save for some small nitpicks, this portion is incredible.

The final three tracks are the Forgotten Survivor demo from a year later, and amazingly it’s even noisier and more chaotic. There’s also a harsher edge to the delivery, meaning to sound a bit more blunt and menacing than its counterpart. I can’t say that the music itself is better, however. Certainly worthwhile enough, but there’s far fewer layers to dig into, and the gold to dig up on this lies within the first five tracks.

Understanding Capital Vol. 1 (Part 6), by Karl Marx

Welcome to Understanding Capital Vol. 1, where the goal is to analyze all angles of Capital, extract the important points, and summarize as much information as possible. The purpose here is less about inserting opinions on the work or what's said, and more about laying everything out to someone who has never read it, or someone who has a tough time reading it, yet can get a full understanding of the information.

Part 6 is another small section that mostly focuses on wage, as that term has been the centerpiece due to its relation to surplus value and necessary labor time. I recommend that you read parts 5 and 6 together. Find part 5 here.

Chapter 19: The Transformation Of The Value Of Labor Power Into Wages

As we showed in the last section, wage is meant to appear that we've been paid for everything we produce, when we've only actually been paid for the commodity of labor power. Supply and demand is used to explain the changes in prices of things, a tactic we all saw in 2022 in America with the skyrocketing of gas prices despite oil companies seeing record profits. This also fails to explain why some commodities are given a higher value than others, despite the necessary labor time not being any different, which is the true measurement of value. Wage is used to hide the surplus value concept, and as I've said, it truly works on many Americans. Workers who contribute so much to the profit of their masters still struggle to get by.

Marx compares this mode of production to previous modes. First, he observes how slave society did the same thing, in that it appears that the slave only produces for his master, but his work also contributes to the means of his ability to live. Does that suddenly mean this slave has freedom? No. He's given the bare needs for survival and reproduction (which is gone over in Part 7), all of which were work needed for this own survival, and every other bit of his existence goes to the enrichment of his master. Feudal society is like a slightly lesser version of this, where a peasant works part of the year for himself, and part for the lord who's land he works on. With capitalism being the next mode of production, this same relationship between worker and master is represented in wage. Since you're paid by the hour, week, or year, the relation between master and worker appears invisible.

Chapter 20: Time Wages

Time wages are exactly what they sound like; a wage based on certain hours of work instead of a day or week. This irregularity allows for capital to dominate the time of the worker. Figure a bartender that closes for eight hours and then opens the next day, or a store clerk's hours getting cut to save money. It appears that you get paid based on your work, but now the capitalist is controlling the specific parts of the day that you work and when they can extract the most value from your labor power. Overtime comes in play as the worker getting a slight portion of the surplus value that was previously extracted, another small concession won by labor movements.

Essentially, this structures workers to be "on call," more figuratively in these senses but more literally in fields like medical and HVAC or maintenance. A worker's free time is often used to rest and prepare for the next working day, while also juggling taking care of your needs, or possibly kids. In a way, capital colonizes the time of the worker, while the capitalist has all the free time in the world.

Chapter 21: Piece Wages

Again, fairly straightforward, but also worth breaking down the "why" behind it. Instead of being paid by the time, you're paid by the piece of what you produce. This allows for a bit of self-discipline, as producing more commodities will give you more money, and if you can do that in a lesser amount of time by increasing the intensity, you will. It can also lead to competition between workers, and all of this decreases the value of your labor, yet sees higher profit for the capitalist due to more being produced in less time.

The drawback for the capitalist here is that it becomes far more apparent to the worker that the capitalist is taking more from the value of his labor. It's easy to see what the product sells for vs. what you're paid for making it. If you're screen-printing T-shirts, and get paid $5 per shirt, but they sell for $25 per shirt, it doesn't take a mathematician to see what's going on. Or think again to the gig workers, and how much an Uber driver gets to give you a ride vs. how much you pay for the ride. Faster, sloppy work can be an outcome as well, which makes for garbage commodities that break easily.

Chapter 22: National Differences Of Wage

Marx closes this section off by acknowledging the labor power value varying from country to country, and how it plays a role. Material conditions, the state of class struggle, attitude, availability, labor laws (or lack thereof), technology, and many other things can be a reason for these differences. Thus, the same goods will have different values from country to country or region to region. If the average wage in one country is far lower than another, that doesn't always equate to meaning impoverished, if the state of the nation allows for free education, housing, healthcare, etc. To the opposing point, if wages in a nation are higher, that doesn't equate to a high standard of living if those essential things are not provided, and you must go into debt to attain any of them and risk losing them at any time.

This is all why capitalists will push for free trade amongst countries, as outsourcing work to nations where the wages are low means higher profits. This inevitable need is what lead to colonialism and eventually imperialism, something else that Lenin breaks down further in the 20th Century. It's also one of the many reasons why capitalist powers, specifically America, don't like when other nations go socialist (think about Cuba and why they're sanctioned) or at minimum, nationalize their resources (think about the Iraq War). Even China creates a lot of output for America with its current state of private sectors under an overall public sector controlled by the Communist Party of China. Their labor force is cheap, but much of their social needs are met by the planning of the state. Subsidizing lower wages for foreign capital has all sorts of benefits to exchange for.

Conclusion

As Part 5 basically revealed how capitalism is the command of capital over unpaid labor, Part 6 brings forth wages and how that plays the biggest role in masking this core factor. There are different ways wage is used to cover it up; the capitalist's interests are only to meet needs to reproduce labor and labor power, and I truly think these two short parts are the most important section of the entire book.

Understanding Capital Vol. 1 (Part 5), by Karl Marx

Welcome to Understanding Capital Vol. 1, where the goal is to analyze all angles of Capital, extract the important points, and summarize as much information as possible. The purpose here is less about inserting opinions on the work or what's said, and more about laying everything out to someone who has never read it, or someone who has a tough time reading it, yet can get a full understanding of the information.

Parts 1 and 2 of Capital were very fundamental and objective, where 3 and 4 both dove into the science of the exploitative nature involving surplus value and labor power. 5 and 6 are both very short, yet are probably two of the most important, as they bring the entire first half of the work into the most realistic breakdown. So let's jump right into it!

Chapter 16: Absolute And Relative Surplus Value

The two types of surplus value are compared and contrasted here, showing how productive labor narrows and widens as capitalism develops. We observed how the products no longer relate to the individual worker, but are a social aspect of common collective labor. It's all guided by the production of surplus value, and work is done for the interest of the self-expansion of capital, not for creating common goods and needs for human fulfillment. Here Marx mentions that this not only applies to physical labor, but also education, research, knowledge-work, and things that fall under the "intellectual labor" category. Yet, some of these don't generate surplus value directly, but are a means for the production of it in other areas of the workplace. For instance, cashiers don't actually create anything, but they're an essential facet to the sale of the product (although in 2023, we're seeing a new version of machines replacing workers unique to our time that only further proves how relative surplus value uses machines to reduce labor power cost, yet workers who are employed work the same amount). This type of social order is maintained by a state to enforce the social order, which is something that gets touched on far more in the next century by Vladimir Lenin (see how).

What does all of this mean in regards to the two types of surplus value? We've already discussed in Part 4 that relative is capital's strategy for when workers win rights to shorten the working day, thus capitalists must find ways to get more out of less time. Absolute surplus value, however, is dependent on how long the work day is. If it takes two hours to produce your wage, or the necessary labor time, then the longer work day makes for more absolute surplus value. If your workday is ten hours long, then eight of those hours are straight surplus value for the capitalist. Things today such as the gig economy stretch this even further by aiming to eliminate the structure of a workday. If an Uber driver relies on an income for survival, and is technically free to work when they want, they're going to drive as long and often as they can to meet those needs. Thus, the capitalist can extract more and more from the rides they give.

Chapter 17: Changes In The Magnitude In The Price Of Labor Power And Surplus Value

Hell of a long chapter name, I know. This part essentially comes down to three things; length of the working day, intensity of labor in that working day, and productiveness of that intensity. In other words, it's the product of both relative and absolute surplus value. It's noted that the standards of living can improve while exploitation rates goes up, but whether that happens depends entirely on the pressure of capital to force more value from labor based on those three concepts, and the resistance of the workers coming together to win rights. Think of the mass movements in the early 20th century that lead to paid time off, the weekend, the 40 hour week, sick leave, etc. which was especially prominent during the rise of the USSR and other socialist forces threatening the capitalist structure.

So this leads to the big what if; the working day is reduced to only the necessary labor time (or enough work for the value of your work to equal your wage). This means no surplus labor, thus no profit for a capitalist. Therefore, the entire structure of work would change. Instead of working for the profit of one owner that controls the means of production, you're now working for the whole of society and yourself. Does this mean everybody would just work two hours per day? No. But all of the excess labor would become values for society at large, and as technology takes away the need for some jobs, less work is needed to produce more for society. Think about how much has changed since Marx's death, and how much less work we could do as a society thanks to machines, instead of just concentrating the work on fewer people for more profit. Instead, workers aren't free to determine how we utilize time and distribute to more people; that's decided by the capitalist.

Chapter 18: Various Formula For The Rate Of Surplus Value

This part ends on a quick chapter that goes over the three formulas that determine the rate. Surplus value generated in relation to the entire working day, surplus value in relation to the value of the product, and surplus product over the total product. This is how the capitalist economy confuses the term "labor" with "labor power," and it works like a charm on a lot of people who defend the interests of the class exploiting them. They claim that the capitalist buys our labor, thus we're paid in full. But in actuality, the capitalist is buying our labor power, which produces far more actual labor than what we're paid. Thus, we get to what is likely the grandest conclusion in the whole book. Marx references Adam Smith's definition of capital being the command over paid labor, and how it is incorrect. Everything thus far is actually showing us that in fact, capital is the command over unpaid labor. This section will not have a conclusion, as that previous sentence holds enough weight to do that job itself.

Album Review: Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

Nuclear Blast - 1998

8/10

The final Death record would see the longest gap we’ve ever had between albums by the band. An entirely new lineup fed into this gap means one final shift before the end of Chuck’s career, and sadly, life. The Sound Of Perseverance very much finishes off the progressive metal we’ve seen, and more than likely, leans into it the hardest. Individual Thought Patterns brought on the full-scale tactics, and Symbolic let in the proper balance that allowed for standout songwriting.

So what does this one offer? More or less, it’s an extension of 1993’s progressive drowning, but nearly lets go of the death metal aspect entirely. In reality, the only thing about this that even remotely reflects the genre is the fact that it’s fast (in some areas) and has harsh vocals (though even those are very different). Neither of these traits are really specific to the genre, and the riffing itself that took root in the late ‘80s explosion is hardly present. This isn’t to say it’s entirely void, but there’s little in the way of it. For the most part, this is loaded with fancy time signatures, wavy baseline repetition, and wailing, dissonant guitar passages that take airy breaks. Even the short “Bite The Pain” feels like it jumps all over the place.

What matters is if it works, and mostly, it does. This is easily the most jam-packed and hardest to swallow, but I still think it has plenty of notable areas. The musicianship seems to allow more room to work with, and Chuck’s higher shrieks give an entirely new delivery. It matches the structured chaos of the instruments, especially when it reaches slow, nearly doom ridden areas that we see in areas such as the chorus in “Spirit Crusher.” The poetic clarity is still strong, and much of this conjures up sick guitar/bass combos.”Flesh And The Power It Holds” really does this in a somber manner that allows for such a compelling delivery. However, there are times where it feels a bit showy with areas that are unnecessary, or straight up don’t fit the flow, even with the jarring move they’re going for.

I can’t dock The Sound Of Perseverance too many points, though. The good parts are still great, and the less-than parts aren’t bad. “Scavenger Of Human Sorrow” will always be a classic reflective of their final act as a whole, and while it’s somewhat top-heavy, I never don’t enjoy hearing this. As I’ve said before, if one of your worst records is still this great, you’ve had a wonderful career.

Album Review: Death - Symbolic

Death - Symbolic

Roadrunner Records - 1995

10/10

While Individual Thought Patterns saw the complete immersion of Death into the progressive death metal sphere, Symbolic is where the potential with that full immersion was realized to its peak. In a way, this takes the best features of Human, removes the small remnants of the old school sound, and replaces them with what Individual Thought Patterns did right. What does this all mean to the layman? The complexity remains but the memorable songwriting reaches a new level.

Hell, Gene Hoglan alone nails fills even better, and by now he was a fairly seasoned drummer. “Zero Tolerance” has always been the go-to song from this record to summarize all of its tactics. The wailing leads that take a melodic front fused with hard rhythm slams under a groovy guise are the bread and butter, but the explosive and precise drumming between the gaps add a whole second flavor. And yet, the chorus is still catchy amidst all of this, and this collective power is what sells the entire album so high. The anger felt even hints at the ability to channel emotion.

With catchy choruses also comes catchy riffing and verses that almost always match the energy. “Crystal Mountain” was the track that made me fall in love with Chuck and co. many years ago, because its consistency through everything sticks like a powerful adhesive. The opening riff, the bridge, the bounciness of the chorus, and of course that acoustic outro jump all over the place but flow like the smoothest natural spring you’ve ever stumbled upon. Softer tricks like this outro and the bass/drum combo do wonders, seen also on the intro to “Empty Words,” a track that works from gently placing musical layers before reaching the pre-chorus bridge.

And if this isn’t enough, Symbolic wins by sporting the best lyrics of any album. Poetic flow is something that has been increasing for the band since 1990, but as with everything else, the full potential is achieved here. Alongside that, we get clarity with all of them. “Without Judgement,” a faster number, sneaks in the intensity with the subject wonderfully, as does the opening title track with a slower crawl. In fact, “Symbolic” has a masterful shift from that iconic, crushing opening that folds into the speediest vocal/rhythm pattern on the entire disc. Again, the layers man, they push the limits. 

Could we really finish without mentioning more about the bass? While less prominent than in the prior two records, “Sacred Serenity” boasts this not only in its bubbly intro, but the soft break in the wavy middle. Things like this add layers of emotion, which also pokes its head in “1,000 Eyes” due to the melancholic passage between the direct, angrier blows. Closer “Perennial Quest” strategically leaves us with a similar impression, utilizing acoustic dreariness after tailing off the angsty energy of “Misanthrope.”

The magic is in every corner. The down-to-earth ability to relate poetic clarity and striking rhythms with extreme technical precision and emotion reaches a level not matched by a single other extreme metal band. I truly think it took the career background of Chuck Schuldiner’s to master something of this magnitude, considering the constant tweak from album to album before reaching this point. It’s the record that truly makes me wonder how Death would have gone through the 21st Century had we not lost Chuck so early. They had another album, and he did other stuff, but considering that it’s now been nearly twenty-two years since losing the legend, there’s no way to predict how things could have looked now in 2023. Consider this my biggest tribute to the legend.

R.I.P. Charles Michael Schuldiner; May 13th, 1967 - December 13th, 2001

Album Review: Death - Individual Thought Patterns

Death - Individual Thought Patterns

Relativity Records - 1993

8/10

As Death would head into the ‘90s leaning very far into the progressive death realm, their fifth album Individual Thought Patterns would see the full immersion into that style. Being the first of their records to recruit Hoglan on the drums and the second with Digiorgio on bass, it makes sense that the momentum would only continue this way. Here we see no more identification with the first couple albums, alongside a lyrical shift entirely towards life, philosophy, and struggle. Far more in line with the likes of Opeth than that of Obituary, now. 

It should go without saying then that this extends a lot of what made Human seem like such a drastic step. The bass passages and drumlines go all over the place, flexing some serious muscle to back the lead guitars that now focus on tonal shift rather than sheer heaviness. But I must admit, this doesn’t always make for better songwriting. The obvious skill of every musician is on full display, but I think it focuses just a bit too much in showing the playing abilities while neglecting songwriting. I can’t stress enough that a lot of it is still good, but the ability to funnel standout tunes fully through this scope isn’t realized yet.

However, Individual Thought Patterns is still a strong disc that has plenty of noteworthy tracks. The power of a fretless bass (although prog fans exaggerate the hell out of this impact) shows in the bouncy areas of “Jealousy,” a song that also has strength in its chorus. “In Human Form” boasts extremely catchy rhythms that collapse into a frenzy of advanced drumming and jarring shifts in tactic, especially in the solos. The opening of “Trapped In A Corner” is also one of the best lead sequences the band has ever had, so I guess it’s safe to say that things are a little top-heavy on this one.

At the end of the day, if your weakest record is as good as this, then you truly did something right for your entire career. Not a single moment is remotely what I would call bad, but some of these songs teeter on just a little too much for their own good. In comparison with their most masterful work in the way of progressive death metal, Death has yet to fully realize that potential at this point. I understand the appeal this has to many, without a doubt.

Understanding Capital Vol. 1 (Part 4), By Karl Marx

Welcome to Understanding Capital Vol. 1, where the goal is to analyze all angles of Capital, extract the important points, and summarize as much information as possible. The purpose here is less about inserting opinions on the work or what's said, and more about laying everything out to someone who has never read it, or someone who has a tough time reading it, yet can get a full understanding of the information.

Part 4 of Capital is a pretty beefy one, especially with the chapter on covering machinery and large scale industry. It starts off with a couple components that lead up to this, namely a dive into relative surplus value, as well as co-operation and how the capitalist aims to squeeze as much out of each worker as they can. The last of the four chapters covered here is extremely dense with a lot of statistics and analyzations of factory work, so I'll do my best to summarize that in a digestible fashion.

Chapter 12: The Concept Of Relative Surplus Value

Opposite of absolute surplus value, which involves the lengthening of the workday to gain more surplus value (a concept touched on in the next part), relative surplus value comes from the alterations of the limits within the working day to decrease necessary labor time. As we know now, the necessary labor time is the amount of time it takes for the worker to produce the value of his wage. So if the capitalist can find ways to make this difference in relation to the full working day go up, he will. Changing the division of labor, decreasing wages, and other means can achieve this. In other words, cheapening the value of the commodities factored into labor power without cheapening the price to match. 

Marx observes this on an individual level to make it a little more simple. Suppose the necessary labor time to make a pie is two hours, but then you find a way to make that same pie in only one hour. You're now producing twice as many pies as a competitor bakery, yet can sell it close to the social market value of pies. It's an increase in the productivity that allows the cheapening of commodities for a better sale ratio, yet the amount of surplus value still goes up. There are more use values from the same amount of overall value (socially necessary labor time), and that's what is meant by "the cheapening the value of commodities." There is less value in each one.

Chapter 13: Co-operation

Co-operation is exactly how it sounds, the cooperation of more than one worker by applying the relative surplus value we just covered to more workers. Capital truly begins its motion when a capitalist employs a large number of workers to produce a great number of commodities. The system of working is unchanged, just that now you have many people working in this process at the same time to allow for a larger amount of surplus value being generated. This material base at its core is working separately on the common means of production.

It then moves to show the common force of workers and how this amps up productivity even if every worker is not working on their own individual project. Think about four grocery clerks stocking their own pallets of groceries vs. four clerks stocking one massive pallet. Or for a personal case, one person cannot lift a couch themselves, but several people together can. In any case, the productivity increases, as does the surplus value.

Something important to note is that as this working class grows, the collectivity factor is more easily realized, and capitalists don't realize they can dig their own graves. Resistance to the domination of capital will grow as more workers come together and recognize the exploitation of the capitalist. We've seen it all throughout history, and we certainly see it today, even if not every worker is conscious of it. Counter-pressure will be needed from up top to overcome demands of the workers, and this is when you begin seeing strikes, protests, stoppages, and other forms of the contradictory nature in this economic model. Workers are the ones who create everything in the world, and it becomes easy to recognize that a boss is not needed for production once it's in motion. Working as a collective is an engrained human trait, and always has been in history. Capital will just try to force the individualization of everybody to work against each other and protect themselves, even though day after day workers come together to produce. Workers are not paid a higher wage for this higher output, yet it costs the capitalist nothing more than the necessary wages of each worker. In a way, all of the extra value is like a gift to the capitalist. Co-operation preceded capitalism, and it will succeed capitalism, which is really the bread and butter of this whole part. 

The only thing left out is the special kind of wage labor that we know as managers and supervisors. This makes the workforce into an army-like strata, where a small rank of workers are caught between the interest of the workers they oversee and the capitalist. On one hand, at the end of the day, they do not own capital, and are still selling their labor time to the capitalist, so the interests should lie with the workers. On the other, bowing to the capitalist and enforcing his interests are what keep him in good relation and paid higher. Ever notice that in most workplaces, the less work you do, the more money you make?

Chapter 14: The Division Of Labor And Manufacture

Manufacture is a step that comes in between the handicraft production and large industry based on machines. Seizing on the handicraft production and subjecting it to the factory-like setup is how the capitalist subjects it. This can be done in two ways. One of them is bringing in multiple handicrafts to produce one commodity, and the other is bringing in several handicrafts that don't rely on each other to make something.

Skill is the basis here, and more often than not, different skills are needed for the same capitalist's production. With manufacture, workers typically only work on one aspect of a finished product instead of the whole product. In a way, their body is worked into a part of a grander machine for the sake of generating profit, not for the common need for commodities. If the capitalist can't profit from something, it's a no-go. The more a worker does this one task, the better and faster they become, producing innovation through their work. Special tools with precise purposes are produced for labor, skill and knowledge to come together. Production of the instruments of labor themselves are also a part of this process. At the end, somebody focusing on one part of the process may not even know how it will look when it's finished. That's probably less common now than it was in Marx's time.

So how do we break down the two processes of manufacture? Heterogeneous and serial production. Heterogeneous production is when different products are produced under the same roof but not necessarily for the exact same purpose. Nonetheless, it's all still owned by one person. Serial production is when one commodity is produced, but it's broken down to discrete parts. For example, you hire a machinist to make metal parts, and a welder to assemble them together. In both cases, manufacture organizes a space by concentrating workers into that one space to reduce gaps of time between switching trades, tools, tasks, etc. If a handicraft is someone building parts of a car and assembling them, manufacture is having one person per part and then bringing it all together, or having many people each building their own car, depending on the direction seem as most efficient. The car is then sold for a high price, which the workers only see a little bit of. The surplus goes to the capitalist, rinse and repeat.

One last note on this section is that this shows how the worker becomes alienated from the product and process itself, thanks to it all being for the purpose of making someone else rich while they often times only scrape by. Transforming labor power and knowledge into a single motion of a greater process for someone else leaves less to be desired.

Chapter 15: Machinery And Large Scale Industry

And here we have it, all of this in practice. Returning to the cheapening of commodities that was mentioned earlier, machinery plays a large part in that. Yet, somehow the amount of work for the worker isn't decreased. If that sounds like it doesn't make sense, it's because it shouldn't, and that's touched on heavily in the next section on absolute surplus value.

To be a machine, there must be a motor that automates and transmits work into a tool that would have previously been used by a worker. Think of a CNC mill machine taking over the control of a bit that previously would have been done by a person. Collective labor in these technologies changes how we deal with nature, sustain life, form social relations, and mental conceptions (such as going from hand drawing to using AutoCAD). If the productivity in one industry goes this route, it forces another industry to do so in relation or response to this. Again, think back to relative surplus value. This becomes especially true when one mode of production relies on another one in order to advance. Thus, capital moves all over the place, even on a global scale. How many times have you come across something with different parts made in different countries? Furthermore, this is why colonial territory became so important in the days of empire and colonization. Exploiting a raw material in a colony while manufacturing it in the home country maximizes profit, which we saw with emerald mining during Apartheid in South Africa (And endless other examples). 

Marx observes the Factory Act, which was a response to some of the crushingly long working hours, especially those forced upon women and children, as well as the deterioration of one's life that this violent mode of production caused. A state-imposed reduction of working hours on children called for more machines, which gives capitalists even more control over production, pay, and who can get goods that they need (people who can afford them). 

Looking back, we recall that a machine never transfers more value to a product than it initially has. If a machine is good for 10 years, then 1/10th of the value of the machine is transmitted into commodities each year. This caused a decrease in the value of labor power, which shakes the support of family and social lives, as it's now harder for more people to fulfill their needs. With the invention of machinery, you would think it means now the same amount of workers can all do less work, produce the same amount of output, and live easier. Instead, now fewer workers are worked even harder, and others don't work at all and cannot receive an income. Like I said before, this gets touched on more later. A machine not in use is seen as a loss by the capitalist, which is why workday lengths increased, and why shiftwork has become a concession in response to strikes against this.

Next Marx looks at how labor can get domesticated, or in other words, take place in the worker's household. This isn't only addressing the more common practice of working remotely these days, or the gig economy, but also the patriarchal relationship that came about. Wives and children were sold into the work force in order to assist in survival at home, and lasting effects of this still exist today.

Another way to add more value besides more time or more machines is the intensification of the workday. This is carried out by either making everybody speed up, or putting more machinery into the hands of the same amount of workers. Boom and busts occur during these cycles depending on material conditions at the time; the example Marx uses for the most part is with cotton production, and how a market can reach a crises from outside forces (the U.S. Civil War being one thing brought up). As these boom and bust cycles happen, capitalists who are already at the top can buy out others during the bust cycle, now possessing more means to exploit by concentration of everything into fewer and fewer hands. 

Conclusion

Really, this is the part of the book that truly brings to light why capitalism sucks. That was already started in the previous part, but it only goes further into that as we move forward. I think the overall point here is to show how humans are converted into machines for the purpose of producing surplus value for the capitalist to extract. As machinery replaces tools and skills, living labor is almost integrated into the dead labor, and workers become far more replaceable. This is not to say that technology and heavy industry are bad, even though it may sound this way. These things are both good, but when they're used as a means to squeeze out as much profit from workers as possible, the nature of them becomes flipped. Imagine instead of replacing ten workers with ten machines, if you gave each worker a machine to work with, for far less time out of their day and a return of the same wage from the value that they produced.

This section really drives home why capitalism's profit incentive for the capitalist will never allow that, because money matters more than fulfilling needs and getting out commodities to the public. History shows that strikes and stoppages can be a powerful weapon against this, but as long as the capitalist power remains, the workers will only ever win concessions that can be repealed at any time. Sometimes, corporations might even support regulations if they know it will drive out smaller competitors. This individualistic mindset alienates the worker from labor so much, and that's what begins to unfold.

Understanding State And Revolution, by V. I. Lenin

For many who consider themselves a Marxist-Leninist, State And Revolution is often seen as not only one of the most important works written by Vladimir Lenin, but one that's usually a good one to start with. Many believe it can be universally used as a guide to achieving communism. But even works that are an easier read with Lenin's attitude can still be tough to decipher their meanings. This certainly isn't at the levels of Capital, but there's a lot to extract from such a small amount of writing. More importantly, this was written in the context of the first successful socialist revolution on a nationwide scale, and much of it was written during the revolutionary phase. So to make this easy, I'm going to break each chapter down into a few paragraphs to sum up just what the message being conveyed is.

Class Society And The State

The very first part of this section is on basic class antagonism, starting with how the bourgeoisie (the owning, or capitalist class) and opportunists will distort revolutionary thinkers by stripping away that revolutionary component and aiming for some sort of appeal to the proletariat (working, or oppressed class) as someone who was not revolutionary. Figures who were once demonized are now conveniently being praised for the sake of opportunism. An easy modern example would be Martin Luther King. We know Dr. King was hated by the ruling class of the 1960s and many of the workers they successfully held as class traitors. Only decades later, many massive corporations would praise King as a figure for overcoming injustice, without mentioning the fact that his ideals worked completely against their class interests. Lenin is talking about the same thing from a different time period. The reason why this is important is because he is attacking ideologists that think the state is an organ for the reconciliation of the classes. For example, Karl Kautsky believes that the ruling class can be cast away without revolution, and the destruction of the state apparatus. That's false, as the state is actually an organ for the rule of one class over another. This is somewhat the backbone of the entire work, showing that under capitalist society, the bourgeoisie uses the state to suppress the working class.

So how do we define a state? To put it simply in Lenin's terms, it requires a standing army of police and prisons as its chief instrument of enforcing the ruling class's interests. Society is split into antagonistic class interests that would allow for an armed struggle without this instrument. In other words, police and the prison system are needed to prevent workers from rising up against the owning class. In turn, as the ruling class uses this as a means of suppression, the working class will strive to overthrow this apparatus. As an armed population grows strong in the midst of these class antagonisms, and as adjacent states grow stronger, it can give way to imperialist war, such as the first World War. Every soldier in World War I were fighting for the interest of each states ruling classes, thinking they were fighting for their own cause.

The last part of this chapter deals on wealth's indirect control of power, that being an essential ingredient for capitalists to maintain power. Corrupt officials of the state are a first step, something we see no shortage of here in America. Secondly, an alliance between the stock exchange and government sees the indirect power of money over the state. Think of it as a bribe on a massive scale that appeases the interests of the capitalist class and the state that protects it. It's then instilled into the minds of workers that universal suffrage under capitalism is able to reveal the will of the workers. I ask you, dear reader, has voting once every other year on a state candidate, or every four on presidential ever felt representative of your needs? This should be a pretty obvious no, showing quite clearly who's interest the candidates in bourgeoisie elections hold. Different economic periods are what lead to the state in the first place. Thus, it isn't needed for production to function, it's just what came out of the birth of the capitalist class. This leads into Lenin's next section on how to dispose of it without complete chaos.

The "Withering Away" Of The State, And Violent Revolution

A state obviously can't just go away out of thin air, so we're introduced to a concept known as "withering away." Before the state can go away, the proletariat class must first seize power of it through revolution, as no bourgeoisie election candidate will fight for working class interests. In other words, the state must be replaced, rather than immediately done away with the way anarchists think. Since we know the state is an instrument used to suppress one class by another, it is now used by the proletariat to suppress interests of a rising capitalist class. This will only be achieved when the working class has the control of the means of production; such as factories, mines, stores, etc. They're now owned by the people, not a few individual rich hoarders. This is only carried out by violent revolution; after all, the capitalists aren't simply going to hand over the means of production to worker demands without a fight.

Experience Between 1848-1851

These next couple of sections deal more on prior experiments with the aforementioned topics before deep diving into the logistics of the state. It starts with Marx's earlier writings on the proletariat state. This section stresses the proletariats need for the state, and where opportunists will take this unfinished thought and, like I mentioned, distort it. But if the theory is finished and understood, it becomes clear that this need of state control is only used to begin the process of withering away. It's started by organizing the working class into power following violent revolution. Lenin stresses that the Mensheviks, a party opposing the Bolsheviks that won the revolution, believed that both working and owning class could coexist without revolution. But if you look at Marx's writings, it's stressed that the proletariat are the only ones that create and produce in society through their labor. Thus, the dictatorship of the proletariat must prevail over the current dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

By 1852, Marx observed the ties of the capitalist state to the bureaucracy and the standing army. Workers discover this connection through their experience in the workforce, which we see even in America today. Figure how the government caters to businesses and how they reach record profits while poverty and homelessness runs rampant in the streets. Lenin notes however that this specific relationship of the state is what is parasitic, not just the sheer existence of a state, since the proletariat will need the state to suppress the owning class. All of this took place in Europe during prior revolutions that lead from feudal society to the capitalist mode that created the state as we know it. But as time moves on, the working class becomes conscious of this, and as they form movements and awareness, the ruling class must clamp down harder. The highest stage of capitalism, known as imperialism, shows this the most. Capitalism reaches the monopoly stage, growing its military and bureaucracy apparatus for stronger oppressions not only at the homeland, but abroad. Thus, the transformation from capitalism to communism lies in the dictatorship of the proletariat, as a state can only function with one class in power. That class cannot be the bourgeoisie class. 

Experience Of The Paris Commune Of 1871 - Marx's Analysis

Lenin first points out how Marx acknowledges that this revolution did not reach its aim, but held enough historical importance to push an edit to The Communist Manifesto; it introduces the need for rapid development. For revolution to take hold, it will need to destroy the two ties of capitalist bureaucracy and standing army. In the time of the Great Imperialist War (World War I), the great powers, the United States and Great Britain had fully submerged into both of these things in order to subordinate the world for their own gains and suppress opposition. So for a true people's revolution, both of these tools in the state machine need to be destroyed and replaced. Such a movement also must be backed by individual people groups with demands. Workers and peasants have a common trend of being oppressed, and must work together as the whole people.

Because Marx never divulged into utopian ideas, he had to consider the different material conditions of different regions of people. Mensheviks never paid attention to this, which is why they worked with the state rather than against it. An armed proletariat is what would be needed to bring forth revolution. The majority of the entire population must be in on this. Production moved in history from slavery, to serfdom, to wage-slavery, none of which were carried out by interests and demands of a majority population. Once the majority population has control of the state and means of production, the need for suppression of the owning class will go away over time. Marx calls for the abolition of large allowances to state representatives in this stage, who should only make workman wages. The reason for this is that the state is no longer controlled by large capital lobbying. Elected officials are also then subject to recall at any time.

Monarchies and democratic republics alike show bourgeoisie parliamentary to be a means of electing a new member of the ruling class every few years be the main oppressor (think of presidential elections in America and how little change comes for the good of everybody). These types of talking shops are to be converted to working bodies that have true representation of the majority. Representative institutions can still exist, but there is no privilege to them, and no monetary gain can be the reason for them; only carrying out the will of the people. This is the transition needed to begin the disappearance of the state; doing it instantly without a transition is utopian and not scientific. Large scale production can get reorganized from what the capitalist class left, such as factories and railroads. They're now used for the common good instead of private profit. As the new state officials carry out these instructions alongside an armed proletariat, with this function becoming more natural over time, the need for the state will go away.

Supplementary Explanations By Engels

This section deals with some remaining questions of the time and conditions. The housing question is answered by pointing out the fact that vacant housing units to compensate for homeless workers are plentiful. A new proletariat state would order the occupation of empty houses, and that can't be carried out by a capitalist state. Housing would still require payment in this stage, but it would be far more controlled, subsidized, and of course, not profit driven. This is how it was carried out in the USSR following, and in Cuba today, for example. 

Next, Lenin touches on Engels's acknowledgement of anarchists not being different in the overall abolition of the state, but of the method and time needed for that action. Anarchists are "anti-authoritarian" because they don't understand the concept of a state being an organ of suppressing one class by another. So they either fail to see the revolution as a rise and development of tasks, or they actively work against the proletariat. 

Lastly, it's stressed that democratic centralism is needed to be upheld in order for the transitional phase to work, in regards to the national question. What does this mean? It's the principle of carrying out the deeds of what over 50% of the population truly wants in respect to their autonomous region (to overly simplify it). Provincial and regional self-governance allows this to be doable on a local level with representatives relative to the population; not one ruling class puppet to attempt representing an entire state. Any officials picked by the previous state no longer have power. For example, if your city has a far larger population than a neighboring one, then there will be far more representatives of that region.

The Economic Basis Of The Withering Away Of The State

After observing three sections derivative of Marx and Engels, we return to Lenin's initial point of the withering away on an economic level. First and foremost, it's important to note that the rate and speed of this transition cannot be pinpointed to any specific time or place. As we now know, different people and regions have different material conditions. Class in this sense takes its origins in capitalism, since it's what gave birth to the origins of this working class vs. owning class strata. Marx didn't try and pinpoint a definite spot for this very reason. 

So we must observe the transition from capitalism to communism from analyzing the antagonistic interests of these classes. Democracy of the capitalist class is similar to that of Ancient Greek democracy, where the slave owners made the decisions and prevented the majority from taking place in the decisions. Restrictions exist on poor people today indirectly, ranging anywhere from the ruling class controlling the press to exclusions and obstacles the working class must face due to monetary issues. They squeeze poor people out of politics without having to face anything a worker would deal with in life. Wage slavery will not go away without the suppression of the oppressing class, which is why it's necessary in order for the state to start withering away. The state will no longer exist once there are no more classes in regards to a relationships to the means of production.

Lenin refers to socialism as the "lower stage of communism," the phase that nearly half of the world was in part way through the 20th century. In this stage, everybody performing socially necessary work receives a payment in regards to the full value of what they contributed. Deductions are made only to public funding of goods, giving the worker back what they've put in through the whole of society and its needs, as well as direct payment for buying goods, none of which goes to a private capitalist. This stage cannot provide complete equality in payment, contrary to popular belief, due to the differences in social lives and skills. Different people are able to contribute different amounts of work, so differences in wealth will exist. What won't exist is the ability of one man to exploit another through labor, since production won't be private. In other words, this is the stage where "and equal amount of products for an equal amount of labor" is realized. For example, if one person works ten hours at a steel factory, while another only works five due to their living conditions, the former is going to take home more. But this won't be due to a capitalist taking in profit from either of their work, and the state as controlled by the proletariat won't keep vital survival goods as commodities for profit either. 

Lastly, this section touches on the higher stage of communism. The antithesis between mental and physical labor is gone, transferring it to life's natural desire since the worker is no longer isolated from his trade. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" is realized here. How fast any nation would achieve this phase would depend on the rapidity of their development, but society will naturally become accustomed to observing the social rules of life, naturally working to their ability without state or class. To some, this sounds like a "utopia," but that's why the importance of a socialist phase is necessary. It breaks the selfish will of the character that capitalism aims so hard to do every day in society, since survival only comes from money. Human nature outside of that shows the desire to do good and help others, as well as create; it's just very limited depending on ones financial situation. As we can see, human nature changes over time.

The Vulgarization Of Marxism By Opportunists

The final section of the book deals heavily with contradictions in the thought patterns of the aforementioned Karl Kautsky and Georgi Plekhanov. It also mentions anarchist distortion in trying to claim the Paris Commune as "their own" by evading the question of the state and slipping into opportunism. Another philosopher named Eduard Bernstein ran on the social democrat line of thinking andclaimed Marxism was not possible in leading the working class to seizing production. With Kautsky, the big issue was not being able to see the difference between bourgeoisie parliament and proletariat democracy, blaming any form of state as the issue. A lot of libertarians in the United States see it this way today. It's important to note that trade unions were won by the working class, not simply something that developed in absolute freedom from the capitalists. Really, this whole section is to show how poor portrayal of Marxism can be harmful, especially in a time of imperialist war, which was happening when State And Revolution was written. At the time, it came down to war between which finance capital would rule the world; Britain or Germany, and this entire pamphlet shows that the current class relations are what allow that to happen in the first place. It must end, as ownership of needs and commodities have fallen into far fewer hands in the last hundred years.