The Death Toll of Capitalism by Ryan
Table of Contents
A Definiton of Capitalism
I like this definition of capitalism. It talks about all the stages of capitalism, what capitalism actually is, the historical development of capitalism, and more. Now that we understand capitalism, we can move further into this page.
How are Deaths Attributed to Capitalism?
We now have the knowledge as to what capitalism is, so then we need to figure out how are deaths actually attributed to an economic system? The answer is quite simple, actually. In order to associate deaths to a certain economic system, we need to understand if these deaths are in pursue of the economic system. As we know, the exploitation of wage labour is a basis of capitalism which is quite literally just prioritizing profit over people. This means that, if there were deaths under a capitalist society because of inhumane working conditions, we can connect this as a death of capitalism.
Another thing to consider, is imperialism. Why? Well as our definition states, "The competition between millions of small-scale producers which was characteristic of the early days of capitalism, leads to the concentration of capital in the hands of just a few as a more efficient means of production. At a certain point (the beginning of the 20th-century), the entire globe had been divided up between a few great powers. Thus begins the final stage in the development of capitalism, imperialism, characterised by the domination of the banks, the formation of large multi-national corporations, by war and revolution."
This means that imperialism (something many capitalist nations partake in to this day) is part of the development of capitalism. I am not going to calculate the death toll from imperialism just yet, but I will quite shortly.
One more thing to speak on is, preventable deaths. From our reading so far, we found that the exploitation of wage labour, imperialism, and are inevitable to happen under this system. Now, what do I mean by preventable deaths? Well, it should be quite clear to all now that capitalism prioritizes profit over people. And as we can see, there are many deaths that can be prevented if the bourgeisie decided to step up. But based on historical records, we cannot be delusional and think that the bourgeisie will really step up and help those in need.
Caluclation of Deaths Caused by Capitalism
First, we will calculate deaths from unsafe working conditions:
- Ludlow Massacre killed around 25 people, including 11 children
- 2.3 million deaths a year
Secondly, we will discuss preventable deaths:
- 9 million deaths a year from starvation
- 6.2 million a year from poverty
- 1.5 million a year from vaccine-preventable deaths
- Average of 600,000 malaria deaths
On average, 19 million deaths a year. We quite literally have the resources and money to aid to this. We spent 877 billion on national defense in 2022. These deaths are very preventable, it is so saddening to know this.
Now, we'll talk about imperialism. This is such a vast topic as so many countries partake and were victim of this. Let's begin:
- U.S Regime has killed more than 20-30 million since WW2 Of course, there are most definitely more deaths than 20-30 million from the U.S regime since WW2, but it is quite hard to calculate every single death from imperialism.
- 45 trillion stolen and 1.8 billion dead
I think its safe to say, the death toll of capitalism is much over 2 billion.
Conclusion
Capitalism is not a viable economic system. Only very few benefit from capitalism, but the masses (proletariat) get absolutely ruined by capitalism. This is from imperialism, dangerous work spaces, and preventable deaths. The solution? Marxism. I recommend for everyone to check out my library. Thank you for reading