Everything that exists has a germ of its own destruction in its very birth (Eastern wisdom)
Summary:
• Capitalism as an intermediate link between economic formations within itself brings the reason to move to another formation.
• The success of capitalism accelerates its "final" (move to other formation), but not a crisis, as Marx thought.
• The next formation after capitalism is the cooperative (‘employee-owned companies’) economy, not the communism, as Marx thought.
• The driving force of the transition is the creative class, created by capitalism itself, and not the working class, as Marx thought.
• The creative class cannot satisfy higher-level needs of Maslow’s Pyramid within the capitalist corporations and needs new motivation, that can be provided by employee-owned companies.
Full statement:
1. How is the development performed by Hegel
• There is a certain phenomenon - thesis.
• Thesis’ activities generates its opposite - antithesis.
• The struggle of thesis and antithesis.
• Solution of this struggle is in the new phenomenon - synthesis of thesis and antithesis, which combines the properties of both.
• The synthesis becomes the new thesis, and the cycle begins again.
2. Thesis: perfect competition and individual producers
• A new branch begins with the perfect competition of individual producers.
• Each producer is both the worker and the owner of his business.
• Production takes place without the use of hired labor.
• Individual producer is not a "capitalist" because he receives income only from his own labor, not the capital.
3. Antithesis: Successful producers hire workers and become "capitalists"
• More talented individual producers displace competitors and hire labor.
• Prior to the stage of hiring workers, individual producer does not know what a "capital" is.
• "Capitalist" begins to generate income not only from his own work, but also from the work of others on his "capital".
• Individual worker-owner forks on the individual owner and the collective worker within the same firm.
4. The struggle of thesis and antithesis: "holy war" of trade unions and shareholders
Trade unions:
• Hatred of the "capitalists" and the desire for revenge for the exploitation.
• Objective: to get more "freebies" of the social package, even at the expense of the company.
• Opposition to innovation and increased productivity.
• In case of victory: unprofitable business and society of dependents.
Capitalists:
• Neglecting to workers and the desire to use them.
• Objective: to use cheap labor to maximize profits.
• Opposition to improve working conditions and social security.
• In case of victory: increase of wealth inequality and social protests.
5. Institutional framework for the synthesis: successes of postindustrial capitalism
• Capitalism meets the basic needs of the people (physiological and safety)
• Capitalism creates conditions for the personal development of the general population:
• 1. The quality of education. Capitalism is the "customer" of the highly educated workforce, which service high-tech means of production.
• 2. Availability of information. Capitalism has started mass production of Internet, television, radio, paving the way for self-education.
• 3. Development of сommunications. Mass production of vehicles and devices to communicate at a distance promotes personal development.
6. Maslow’s Pyramid: capitalism offers not enough motivation for the creative class
Intangible needs are not met because:
• Alienation from the profits and overall success of the company (belonging to a company);
• Non-involvement in the decision-making process (belonging to a company, the need for respect and self-realization).
Result: The creative class, working in corporations, does not consider these corporations as its own, do not identify with corporations’ successes and sees them as antagonists.
7. Definition of the Creative class
• Creative class is part of post-industrial society as its intellectual and cultural level formed on the basis of success of capitalism in the fields of education, information technologies and communications, but it cannot fully succeed in capitalist system due to lack of motivation of higher level: ability to satisfy needs of belonging, respect and creativity within capitalist corporations.
• The more capitalism reaches success, the more growing the share of the creative class, which becomes a "foreign body" for capitalism and makes new demands to the economic system.
• Reaching the critical number of the creative class (which previously was the proletariat) leads to a qualitative change in the economic system.
8. In order to meet the higher level needs the ownership is needed
• The alienation of the worker from the company overcome by giving him the ownership of it.
• Worker-owner, along with the ownership, gets a voting right in issues of the company’s activities, a voting right to elect the top-management of the company and has a guaranteed share of the profits.
• The voting right on the company's activity is the right to self-realization, that is creativity. Everyone can express his opinion and offer new ideas as an equal partner.
• The work in such an atmosphere becomes interesting, it starts to bring pleasure, and motivation is restored.
9. The worker-owner is a synthesis of thesis and antithesis of capitalism
• Confrontation of collective employee and individual owner-shareholder ends in the face of the collective worker-owner of the company.
• Worker-owner cannot complain about the owner, because he is the owner, and cannot exploit workers, because he is the worker.
• Absolute power of the individual owner is distributed to the members having equal rights.
• Instead of economic authoritarianism comes economic democracy.
10. Example: Mondragon Corporation – the world leader of cooperation (http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/eng/)
• More than 12.5 billion. Euros gross income;
• Offices in 41 countries;
• Sales in more than 150 countries;
• 15 technology centers;
• 74 thousand workers (84% are the members and real owners);
• 103 cooperatives;
• Co-operative Bank;
• University of Mondragon: 11 master's and 3 doctoral programs.