"THE JUNIUS PAMPHLET"
"Business thrives in the ruins. Cities become piles of ruins; villages become cemeteries; countries, deserts; populations are beggared; churches, horse stalls. International law, treaties and alliances, the most sacred words and the highest authority have been torn in shreds. Every sovereign “by the grace of God” is called a rogue and lying scoundrel by his cousin on the other side. Every diplomat is a cunning rascal to his colleagues in the other party. Every government sees every other as dooming its own people and worthy only of universal contempt. There are food riots in Venice, in Lisbon, Moscow, Singapore. There is plague in Russia, and misery and despair everywhere". By Rosa Luxemburg
The meaning of the passage
Luxemburg's criticism of Modern Capitalism and World War I relate to nihilism in the following ways:
First and foremost, she made us aware that the only interest and motivation of businesses in modern capitalism is for profit. In her own words, "Business thrives in the ruins," is a statement I have re-considered. I think these industries that made profit or were gaining during the War were the military industrial firms that were producing weapons; machine-guns, bombs,missiles, and other war-type equipments for the war. It was such a big irony to note that, when people were dying as a result of the war, these companies or businesses were still so concern in making profit out of it. Therefore, Rosa Luxemburg was making the criticism to say that the bourgeoisie interest at the time was his selfish desire for wealth without any concern to the proletariat or any other group of people that would suffer as a result of his desire. Such are the cases in modern capitalism where countries like the United States engaged in war with other countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and every motivation would change from political to economic gains. Industries that produce weapons for these wars never wanted to see the end of it despite the live lost because they would gain their supply of military weapons and would make huge profit out of it.
In addition, we get to picture the drastic effect of the War from her essay. People desperate for food, no respect for international laws, authorities, homelessness, instability, and so forth. This is a universal truth with respect to all wars.
Capitalism lives, it is everywhere whether we want to believe it or not. War is very advantageous because it creates an opportunity to make money or create profit off of someone elses misfortune. That is just the reality of it. It is clear the rich cannot do without the poor and the poor cannot do without the rich. During the war there were many who were selfish and had little concern for the poor. And yes you are so right when you say "Business thrives in the ruins" luxemburg fore saw how the poor is and would be treated during her time. How imbalanced society is, but in reality it is balance. Nothing is perfect.
ReplyDeleteCapitalism will always remain capitalism no matter the generation you find yourself in, the core aspect of capitalism is profit, once this core is achieved, dam every consequences that follow it. In this case we are talking about firms which produce military weapon just to kill other people but these Bourgeois class careless. this kid of act is what Luxemburg describe as "just as stupidity, egotism, and corruption are the moral foundations of capitalist society.”
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