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The Decay of Capitalism
The Decay of Capitalism
The Decay of Capitalism
Class Struggle
Thursday, October 31, 2013
This myth itself is a reflection of the hopelessness and despair that the Haitian slaves must
have felt every daythey saw a reflection of their own existence in zombies. Death was seen
as a release, a time when one doesnt have to toil as a slave anymore. The worst possible
scenario was to die, and yet be enslaved foreverliterally controlled in every way by a slave
master taking over every aspect of the slaves life (or death?). After a long life of servitude,
the slave is still not free from his masters bond as a zombie, deprived even of the thoughts in
his head. This is the nightmare of zombieism that is again resonating through todays society.
The modern concept of zombies, as depicted in countless films, reflects a different kind of
slavery: wage slavery. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels explain how the
capitalist system, as it developed modern industry, created a class that was no longer
isolated, but a class that is brought together in social productionone that constitutes the
vast majority of societythe working class. What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above
all, are its own grave-diggers.
Zombies as portrayed in films like White Zombie (1932)the first of the genreand Revolt
of the Zombies (1936), follow the traditional Haitian folklore where zombies are dead bodies
under the control of a sorcerer. The birth of the modern zombie came with director George
A. Romeros Night of the Living Dead (1968), which was largely influenced by Richard
Mathesons classic horror novel I Am Legend. After Night of the Living Dead, you no longer
see zombies presented as mindless slaves of a sinister foe, but as a mass of undead corpses
which have been reanimated for one reason or anotheroverwhelming the living in their
numbers.
Night of the Living Dead was released in the midst of a period of political radicalization in
the US and this is reflected in the film. It was released just a month before the extremely
polarized 1968 presidential election and the establishment of the MPAAs rating system
allowing millions of young teens throughout the country to see a horror film that was
shocking in its realism.
The film caused an outrage over its graphic content, while the Vietnam War, and all its
associated gore, continued to rage on television sets throughout the country. In Night, the
fight between living and undead is less important than the infighting among the living while
they fend off the zombies besieging the farmhouse theyve taken refuge in.
Ben, the composed protagonist, deals with a hysterical bunch, including the patriarchal and
individualistic Harry Cooper, who seems to represent the narrow-minded conservatism that
was conditioned by two decades of the postwar boom. It is likely not an accident that Ben
was cast as a black manthe film was released only months after the assassination of Martin
Luther King Jr., and the films dramatic ending seems to nod at this.
George Romero is the father of the modern zombie film, but there are many other films that
continued what Romero started. One particular film that relaunched popular interest in
zombies was 2002s 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland,
neither of whom are strangers to social commentary. While much of 28 Days Later borrows
from its predecessors, it distilled a number of new concepts and themes. The films
apocalyptic setting is caused by an outbreak of a man-made infectioncoincidentally, the
film was released around the time of the first major outbreaks of SARS. Released a year after
the events of September 11, 2001, the films subtext is declared from the very beginning with
a montage of footage of riots, protests, police brutality, and other violent scenes.
A character in 28 Days Later describes the new state of affairs: This is what I've seen in the
four weeks since infection. People killing people. Which is much what I saw in the four weeks
before infection, and the four weeks before that, and before that, and as far back as I care to
remember. People killing people. Which to my mind, puts us in a state of normality right
now. This is reminiscent of Henry Fords cynical quip that history is just one damned thing
after another, and the oft-quoted phrase by Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire, that History is indeed little more than the register of crimes, follies,
and misfortunes of mankind.
Marxists approach history differently, but there is no denying that this cynical approach is
shared by many. Todays capitalist society resembles the pre-apocalypse period as portrayed
in the films. A period of war, crumbling infrastructure, hunger, social strife, lack of
resources, and disease is characteristic of today, it is no wonder that there is such a
fascination of apocalyptic themes.
A poll from Reuters led by Chris Michaud pointed out that in 2012 one in seven people
worldwide believe that the end of the world is near. The highest numbers reported came
from Russia and Poland, where the collapse of Stalinism is still being felt. The USSR at least
guaranteed everyone a job and a place to live, with free access to health care and education.
And the latest numbers reveal that sixty percent of Russians today view life in the USSR
more favorably than Russia after the restoration of capitalism. The crisis of capitalism has
added fuel to this firetwenty-two percent of Americans truly believed the world was going
to end in 2012.
As those that create it are living and breathing in the real world, art does not exist in a
vacuum, rather, it is in many ways a reflection of the world we are living in. Culture must
speak to us on some level and must say something about about the times we are living in, if it
is going to resonate in society. Art and culture are influenced by the forces all around us,
social, political, and economic.
Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch (14501516) made paintings that depicted terrifying scenes
of the "end times," and the end times were indeed upon himthe decay of feudal society and
with it the breakdown of morality, of religion, and of all the existing institutions and
traditions. Today there are reflections of these apocalyptic themes even in music. Groups like
Godspeed You! Black Emperor [sic] have albums riddled with samples conjuring apocalyptic
imagesit is no accident one of their songs is featured in a memorable scene from 28 Days
Later.
Boards of Canadas Mike Sandison, while speaking on their latest album, Tomorrows
Harvest, which is full of nods at old zombie film scores, had the following to say: "Being a
father fills you with a healthy understanding of your own mortality, and on a bigger scale
that responsibility highlights the fragility of our society, or the problems with it. We've
become a lot more nihilistic over the years. In a way we're really celebrating an idea of
collapse rather than resisting it. It's probably quite a bleak album, depending on your
perspective." Significantly, the most uplifting track on Tomorrows Harvest is
entitled Nothing is Real.
The future appears bleaker and bleaker, particularly for todays youth. Tuition costs have
gone up nearly 600% since 1980, combined with stagnating wages which puts us into a dark
hole where the idea of a good job is too good to be true. According to a CNBC article in 2011,
Perhaps discouraged by the weak job market, fewer are actively trying to do something to
improve their financial situation: 25 percent of Gen Yers surveyed by Scottrade said they
were looking for a higher-paying job, down from 49 percent in [pre-recession] 2007. This
joyless outlook on the future continues to intensify as the crisis of capitalism wears on. The
prospect of a bright future seems like pie in the sky, and as a result, some even look favorably
towards the end of this world and all its associated horrors.
Link http://socialistappeal.org/history-theory/102-theory/1209-the-decay-of-capitalism-
zombies-and-the-class-struggle.html