Capital's Malthusian moment

In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .

- DEEPAK K

THE ANXIETY OF THE INDIAN BOURGEOISIE and its articulation are writ large in the slew of actions and reforms that the Central and State governments have announced to overcome the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is obvious from the crude coercive expression of intent by Karnataka which, at the behest of the builders’ syndicate, cancelled special trains from Bengaluru meant to ferry stranded migrant workers to their homes, and from the Central government’s “economic package”. These point to a consciously conceived path to recovery from the current economic crisis by Indian capital in its characteristic moribund manner.

In a world that is starting to build anew, fully conscious that the new may not resemble the old, Indian capital has made a renewed and aggressive push for a decadent neoliberalism it hopes will help overcome the current crisis. This path to recovery will not only devastate the livelihoods of a large section of the Indian population but undermine capital itself. It is increasingly evident that the Indian bourgeoisie lacks an enlightened articulation of its self-interest. Overcoming this crisis will have to be a case of saving capitalism from itself.

CRISIS OF CAPITAL

Much of the world economy was already in chronic slowdown when the COVID-19 shock pushed it into an unprecedented crisis. Suspension of economic activity to limit the contagion by physical distancing, though imperative for mitigating pandemic-driven mortality, has led to a complete breakdown of the usual course of production and exchange. This has been detrimental to both capital and labour, though its repercussions are differentiated in form and severity contingent on their respective role in the reproduction of the social order.