The New Class Conflict and Economic Theory

The following text was published in its original Czech version on 2 November, a few days before the US presidential election.

The whole world is watching the American elections with suspense. But the most interesting thing has already happened. The shape of class conflict has shifted. It is no longer what we have known in recent decades. That is, the heroic struggle of exceptional individuals or small groups with the deep-state (which is a poetic term for the tacit alliance of bureaucrats at various levels). When the ruling class was an alliance of the corporate and supra-statist bureaucracy with professional intellectuals. And when this layer had no rivals because the lower classes were divided into lots of bubble. By the end of 2024, that rival already exists. It is the alliance of the industrial magnates and the working class.

It also shows another dimension of the dispute that is being waged in America. Trump's intention to bring manufacturing back to America would strengthen the alliance of workers and business owners. And Kamala Harris's globalist intention would, of course, do the opposite.

As Sumantra Maitra so aptly put it, "The conflict between labor and capital is no longer the key. The key conflict is between national and international capital."

However, it is worth adding that financial capital is by its nature international. It moves freely to where it is most profitable. Productive capital likes to settle in one place. Manufacturing needs tradition and stability.

Moreover, the world of real production has begun to realise that American hegemony is not to its advantage. British hegemony in the 19th century brought enormous opportunities to British factories, and eventually this was reflected in the wages of British workers. The current American hegemony brings nothing of the sort. 'The real victim of liberalism and globalism is the American people', as former Trump chief ideologue Steve Bannon put it.

And within the alliance, what is bad for the working class is bad for the tycoons. That's what alliances are all about. The magnates support measures that will lead to the worker earning a decent wage, being able to pay for housing, health insurance, clothes for his wife and still be able to go to the pub occasionally. And the worker understands that it is better that those huge profits go into the pocket of the local rich man than to an anonymous corporation.

The best period of Western civilization is characterized by the phrase "the truce between labor and capital." Could a new truce be on the horizon? Or even a lasting peace?