Noam Chomsky Quotes About Capitalism

• Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are, in principle, under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist, that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level. [...] Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I am opposed to economic fascism. I think that until the major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy.

  Noam Chomsky

  Thinking, Community, Political

  "One Man’s View". Interview, chomsky.info. May, 1973.

• A basic principle of modern state capitalism is that costs and risks are socialized to the extent possible, while profit is privatized.

  Noam Chomsky

  Risk, Principles, Cost

• Under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control.

  Noam Chomsky

  Democracy, Principles, Definitions

  Noam Chomsky (2004). “Language and Politics”, p.138, AK Press

• Anarcho-capitalism, in my opinion, is a doctrinal system which, if ever implemented, would lead to forms of tyranny and oppression that have few counterparts in human history. There isn't the slightest possibility that its (in my view, horrendous) ideas would be implemented, because they would quickly destroy any society that made this colossal error. The idea of 'free contract' between the potentate and his starving subject is a sick joke, perhaps worth some moments in an academic seminar exploring the consequences of (in my view, absurd) ideas, but nowhere else.

  Noam Chomsky

  Errors, Views, Ideas

  "On Anarchism". Interview with Tom Lane, chomsky.info. December 23, 1996.

• What is called 'capitalism'is basically a system of corporate mercantilism, with huge and largely unaccountable private tyrannies exercising vast control over the economy, political systems, and social and cultural life, operating in close cooperation with powerful states that intervene massively in the domestic economy and international society.

  Noam Chomsky

  Powerful, Exercise, Accountability

  Noam Chomsky (2004). “Language and Politics”, p.784, AK Press

• In the moral calculus of currently prevailing state capitalism, profits and bonuses in the next quarter greatly outweigh concern for the welfare of one’s grandchildren, and since these are institutional maladies, they will not be easy to overcome. While much remains uncertain, we can assure ourselves, with fair confidence, that future generations will not forgive us our silence and apathy.

  Noam Chomsky

  Grandchildren, Silence, Forgiving

• Capitalism’s concept of competitive man who seeks only to maximize wealth and power, who subjects himself to market relationships, to exploitation and external authority, is anti-human and intolerable in the deepest sense

  Noam Chomsky

  Men, Wealth, Authority

  Noam Chomsky (2013). “On Anarchism”, p.139, New Press, The

• The Bolshevik revolution was a counter-revolution. Its first moves were to destroy and eliminate every socialist tendency that had developed in the pre-revolutionary period. Their goal was as they said; it wasn't a big secret. They regarded the Soviet Union as sort a backwater. They were orthodox Marxists, expecting a revolution in Germany. They moved toward what they themselves called "state capitalism," then they moved on to Stalinism. They called it democracy and called it socialism. The one claim was as ludicrous as the other.

  Noam Chomsky

  Moving, Goal, Secret

• Capitalism denies the right to live. You have only the right to remain on the labour market.

  Noam Chomsky

  Deny, Capitalism, Labour

• Predatory capitalism created a complex industrial system and an advanced technology; it permitted a considerable extension of democratic practice and fostered certain liberal values, but within limits that are now being pressed and must be overcome. It is not a fit system for the mid-twentieth century.

  Noam Chomsky

  Technology, Practice, Political

  Noam Chomsky (2010). “The Chomsky Reader”, p.153, Pantheon

• Half the population hold that the government is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves, as polls regularly show.

  Noam Chomsky

  Running, Government, Population

• In the pre-capitalist world, everyone had a place. It might not have been a very nice place, even maybe a horrible place, but at least they had some place in the spectrum of the society and they had some kind of a right to live in the place. Now that's inconsistent with capitalism, which denies the right to live. You have only the right to remain on the labour market.

  Noam Chomsky

  Nice, World, Might

• Borders are semiporous. Capital flows more freely than people across them. on C Span.

  Noam Chomsky

  People, Borders, Flow

• Bear in mind that capitalism is a tiny period of human society. You never really had capitalism, you always had one or another variant of state capitalism.

  Noam Chomsky

  Mind, Tiny, Bears

  Source: pennpoliticalreview.org

• Capitalism would self-destruct in no time. So the business classes have always demanded strong, straight intervention to protect the society from the destructive effects of market forces because they don't want everything destroyed.

  Noam Chomsky

  Strong, Self, Class

  Source: pennpoliticalreview.org

• We had one or another form of state capitalism during an extremely brief period of human history, which tells us essentially nothing about human nature. If you look at human societies and human interactions, you can find anything. You find selfishness, you find altruism, you find sympathy.

  Noam Chomsky

  Selfishness, Looks, Human Nature

  Source: pennpoliticalreview.org

• With the development of industrial capitalism, a new and unanticipated system of injustice, it is libertarian socialism that has preserved and extended the radical humanist message of the Enlightenment and the classical liberal ideals that were perverted into an ideology to sustain the emerging social order.

  Noam Chomsky

  Order, Enlightenment, Development

  Noam Chomsky (2013). “The Essential Chomsky”, p.114, The New Press

• Let's take Adam Smith, the patron-saint of capitalism, what did he think? He thought the main human instinct was sympathy. In fact, take a look at the word "invisible hand." Which, of course, you learned about, or you think you've learned about. Take a look at the actual way in which he used the phrase. There is almost no relation to what is claimed.

  Noam Chomsky

  Thinking, Invisible Hand, Hands

  Source: pennpoliticalreview.org

• As far as Marx's analysis of capitalism, there's a lot of very useful ideas in it, but he's developing an abstract model of 19th century capitalism. It's abstract and it's changed.

  Noam Chomsky

  Ideas, Analysis, Abstract

  "Chomsky: "The Business Elites ... Are Instinctive Marxists"". Interview with Keane Bhatt, www.truth-out.org. November 19, 2010.

• Capitalism is based on the principle that everything has to be privately owned; it can't be held in common. There is even a dogma, which is today called, the "tragedy of the commons" which holds that if things are held in common they are going to be destroyed. If they're privatized, like you give them to Bechtel or Monsanto or ExxonMobil, then they'll be preserved because that's the capitalist's religion.

  Noam Chomsky

  Giving, Tragedy, Principles

  Source: www.truth-out.org

• There was a time traditionally - say, GM in the 1950s - it was trying to develop a consumer base that would be loyal and lasting and they were thinking in terms of an institution that would remain and grow and thrive in the society. By now, a lot of the investment firms - bankers, hedge funds - are perfectly happy to destroy what they're in and come out with huge, tremendous benefits. That's a new stage of capitalism.

  Noam Chomsky

  Thinking, Trying, Bankers

  "Chomsky: "The Business Elites... Are Instinctive Marxists"". Interview with Keane Bhatt, truth-out.org. November 19, 2010.

• Through much of its history, the US did not have high inequality as compared with Europe. Less so, in fact. That began to change in the industrial age, reaching a peak in 1928, after the forceful destruction of the labor movement and crushing of independent thought. Largely as a result of labor mobilization, inequality declined during the Great Depression, a tendency continuing through the great growth period of regulated capitalism in the early postwar decades.

  Noam Chomsky

  Crush, Independent, Growth

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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