For a worldwide struggle to capture the surplus-value there is always a choice.
One can give priority to short-term gains. Or one can give priority to middle turn gains. One cannot do both.
Whoever seeks short-term gains will always win out in the short-run. It is the road of apparent selfishness. Pursue one’s own gains, no matter what happens to the others.
However, after a few years, the short-turn gains are exhausted. Preferences shift. Suddenly, it is middle term gains as a result of class struggle that matters.
Now, the selfish are the losers, the sacrifices rewarded.
Because we are in the structural crisis of the capitalist world-economy, there are constant fluctuations. We go back and forth between the short-term and the middle-run as the only thing that matters.
At the moment, a major actor, President Trump, has opted for a short-run priority. It looks good for him.
But he and others will soon have to shift for a middle-run emphasis.
It will soon look bad for him.
Since what he cares about is re-election in 2020, the timing of the shifts is crucial, but also unpredictable.
Those interested in winning the class struggle should concentrate on that struggle as the only sensible option.
Immanuel Wallerstein, Senior Research Scholar at Yale University, is the author of The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World (New Press).
Copyright ©2019 Immanuel Wallerstein — distributed by Agence Global
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Released: 01 April 2019
Word Count: 204
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