Capitalism. The Story Behind the Word. By Michael Sonenscher. Princeton University Press. 2022.
This short book – the author calls it an essay – in the field of political and moral philosophy explains that the words ‘capitalist’ and ‘capitalism’ originated in France.
Capitaliste was the name given in the 18th century to those with money – capital – who lent it to the government to pay for its wars. Capitalisme was the name given to this as a system and ideology by royalist opponents of the French Revolution in the early 19th century who didn’t like the power and influence of these financiers. It was later taken up by those on the left such as the reformist Louis Blanc (the person credited with first saying ‘from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs’). Sonenscher quotes him as saying that capitalism was the enemy of capital and advocating the state ownership of capital, a form of state capitalism that would have abolished ‘capitalistes’ and that had a future before it.
Sonenscher remarks that the word ‘capitalism’ does not appear in Marx’s Capital. This is true. Marx uses the term ‘capitalist mode of production’ by which he meant the system where capital was invested in production and which had quite different results than when it was lent to governments and whose abolition would end not only the social role of capitalist but also the whole system of investing money in production for sale on a market with the aim of making a profit.
Sonenscher traces how, in the discussions about the state, economy and society in the late 18th and early 19th centuries amongst some well known (Adam Smith, Ricardo, Hegel) and some less known writers of the period, ‘capitalism’ was contrasted to ‘commercial society’ resulting from the division of labour. Since then, he notes, the two terms have become conflated, with capitalism virtually coming to mean commercial society. This in fact comes nearer to what socialists understand by the word: a property society where everything, including people’s working energies, is subject to being bought and sold. However, in much popular usage, even by ‘anti-capitalists,’ the word still retains its original association with finance and banking.
Towards the end of the book the author reveals that he doesn’t think that either commercial society or lending to governments can be ended. He sees what exists – where the state borrows money to mitigate the worst effects of commercial society – as all that is possible. Despite this, his essay is an interesting discussion of the origin and history of a key word in the socialist vocabulary.
Adam Buick
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