0:00:00.269,0:00:01.042
Hi, I’m John Green;

0:00:01.042,0:00:02.679
this is Crash Course World History

0:00:02.679,0:00:04.045
and today we’re going to talk about

0:00:04.045,0:00:05.042
capitalism.[br][off we go then!]

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Yeah, Mr. Green,

0:00:06.009,0:00:07.058
capitalism just turns men into wolves.

0:00:07.058,0:00:10.098
Your purportedly free markets[br]only make slaves of us all.

0:00:10.098,0:00:11.789
Oh, God, Stan,

0:00:11.789,0:00:12.076
it’s Me from College.

0:00:12.076,0:00:13.032
Me from the Past

0:00:13.032,0:00:14.549
has become Me from College.

0:00:14.549,0:00:15.057
This is a disaster.

0:00:15.057,0:00:16.061
The reason he’s so unbearable,

0:00:16.061,0:00:16.099
Stan,

0:00:16.099,0:00:19.012
is that he refuses to[br]recognize the legitimacy

0:00:19.012,0:00:20.036
of other people’s narratives

0:00:20.036,0:00:21.032
and that means that he will

0:00:21.032,0:00:22.039
never, ever

0:00:22.039,0:00:26.003
be able to have a productive conversation[br]with another human in his entire life.

0:00:26.003,0:00:26.039
[harsh much, Mr. Green?]

0:00:26.039,0:00:27.002
So, listen, Me from the Past,

0:00:27.002,0:00:29.008
I’m going to disappoint you[br]by being too capitalist.

0:00:29.008,0:00:30.057
And I’m going to disappoint[br]a lot of other people

0:00:30.057,0:00:32.128
by not being capitalist enough.[br][100% guaranteed]

0:00:32.128,0:00:32.219
And,

0:00:32.219,0:00:33.046
I’m going to disappoint the historians

0:00:33.046,0:00:35.019
by not using enough jargon.[br][and Stan. Stan loves jargon]

0:00:35.019,0:00:35.084
But, what can I do?

0:00:35.084,0:00:37.004
We only have 12 minutes. [ish]

0:00:37.004,0:00:37.037
Fortunately

0:00:37.037,0:00:40.000
capitalism is all about efficiency[br]so let’s do this,

0:00:40.000,0:00:40.078
Me from College.

0:00:40.078,0:00:42.042
Randy Riggs becomes a bestselling author;[br][I love pictures & the word peculiar]

0:00:42.042,0:00:43.007
Josh Radnor stars in a great sitcom;[br][Ted Mosby is super Rad(nor), Josh]

0:00:43.007,0:00:46.005
it is NOT GOING TO WORK OUT with Emily,

0:00:46.005,0:00:49.073
and DO NOT go to Alaska with[br]a girl you’ve known for 10 days.

0:00:49.073,0:00:50.025
[Shenanigans?]

0:00:50.025,0:00:52.329
OKAY, LET’S TALK CAPITALISM.

0:00:52.329,0:00:53.037
[Intro music]

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[intro music]

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[intro music]

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[intro music]

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[intro music]

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[intro music]

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[intro music]

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So, capitalism is an economic system,

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but it’s also a cultural system.

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It’s characterized by innovation[br]and investment to increase wealth.

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But today we’re going[br]to focus on production and

0:01:07.003,0:01:09.039
how industrial capitalism changed it.

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Stan,

0:01:09.209,0:01:10.088
I can’t wear these emblems[br]of the bourgeoisie

0:01:10.088,0:01:14.081
while Karl Marx himself is looking at me.

0:01:14.081,0:01:16.092
It’s ridiculous.

0:01:16.092,0:01:19.039
I’m changing.

0:01:19.039,0:01:20.085
Very hard to take off a shirt dramatically.

0:01:20.085,0:01:21.045
[or unsuggestively]

0:01:21.045,0:01:24.549
So let’s say it’s 1,200 CE[br]and you’re a rug merchant.

0:01:24.549,0:01:25.369
Just like merchants today,

0:01:25.369,0:01:28.119
you sometimes need to borrow money[br]in order to buy the rugs

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you want to resell at a profit,

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and then you pay that money back,

0:01:31.039,0:01:32.034
often with interest,

0:01:32.034,0:01:33.067
once you’ve resold the rugs.

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This is called mercantile capitalism,

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and it was a global phenomenon,

0:01:36.289,0:01:37.024
from the Chinese to

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the Indian Ocean trade network

0:01:38.399,0:01:41.789
to Muslim merchants who would sponsor trade[br]caravans across the Sahara.

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But by the 17th century,

0:01:43.002,0:01:44.429
merchants in the Netherlands[br]and in Britain

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had expanded upon this idea[br]to create joint stock companies.

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Those companies could finance[br]bigger trade missions and

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also spread the risk of[br]international trade.

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But the thing about international trade

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is sometimes boats sink

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or they get taken by pirates,[br][Aaarrr!]

0:01:56.289,0:01:58.369
and while that’s bad[br]if you’re a sailor because,

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you know,

0:01:58.819,0:01:59.729
you lose your life,

0:01:59.729,0:02:01.889
it’s really bad if you’re a[br]mercantile capitalist

0:02:01.889,0:02:03.219
because you lost all your money.

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But if you own one tenth of ten boats,[br]your risk is much better managed.

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[but is mischief managed?]

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That kind of investment[br]definitely increased wealth,

0:02:09.038,0:02:11.079
but it only affected[br]a sliver of the population,

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and it didn’t create[br]a culture of capitalism.

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Industrial Capitalism was[br]something altogether different,

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both in scale and in practice.

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Let’s use Joyce Appleby’s[br]definition of industrial capitalism:

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"An economic system that relies on[br]investment of capital in machines and

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technology that are used to increase[br]production of marketable goods.”

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So,

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imagine that someone made a Stan Machine.[br][lots of Stantastic possibilities there]

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By the way, Stan,

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this is a remarkable likeness.

0:02:32.025,0:02:35.069
And that Stan Machine could produce[br]and direct ten times more episodes

0:02:35.069,0:02:37.096
of Crash Course than a human Stan.[br][not super sure Stan's not a robot, btw]

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Well, of course,

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even if there are[br]significant upfront costs,

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I’m going to invest in a Stan Machine,

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so I can start cranking out[br]ten times the knowledge.

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Stan,

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are you focusing on the robot[br]instead of me?

0:02:46.006,0:02:47.084
I am the star of the show![br][sounds like unemployment, Stanimal]

0:02:47.084,0:02:48.024
Stan Bot,

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you’re going behind the globe.

0:02:49.025,0:02:49.045
So,

0:02:49.045,0:02:51.021
when most of us think of capitalism,

0:02:51.021,0:02:52.079
especially when we think[br]about its downsides

0:02:52.079,0:02:55.097
(long hours, low wages,[br]miserable working conditions,

0:02:55.097,0:02:58.055
child labor, unemployed Stans)[br][doing yo-yo tricks on the Indy streets]

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that’s what we’re thinking about.

0:02:59.005,0:03:00.012
Now admittedly

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this is just one definition of[br]industrial capitalism among many,

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but it’s the definition we’re going with.

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Alright,

0:03:04.092,0:03:06.034
let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

0:03:06.034,0:03:09.045
Industrial capitalism developed first[br]in Britain in the 19th century.

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Britain had a bunch of advantages:

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It was the dominant power on the seas

0:03:12.044,0:03:15.011
and it was making good money off of[br]trade with its colonies,

0:03:15.011,0:03:16.035
including the slave trade.

0:03:16.035,0:03:16.076
Also,

0:03:16.076,0:03:19.049
the growth of capitalism was helped[br]by the half-century of

0:03:19.049,0:03:23.034
civil unrest that resulted from the[br]17th century English Civil War.

0:03:23.034,0:03:23.078
Now,

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I’m not advocating for civil wars or[br]anything, but in this particular case

0:03:27.042,0:03:28.048
it was useful,

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because before the war

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the British crown had put a lot[br]of regulations on the economy—

0:03:32.097,0:03:35.044
complicated licenses,[br]royal monopolies, etc.

0:03:35.044,0:03:38.022
—but during the turmoil,[br]it couldn’t enforce them,

0:03:38.022,0:03:40.031
which made for freer markets.

0:03:40.031,0:03:43.044
Another factor was a remarkable increase[br]in agricultural productivity

0:03:43.044,0:03:44.099
in the 16th century.

0:03:44.099,0:03:46.064
As food prices started to rise,

0:03:46.064,0:03:48.319
it became profitable for farmers,

0:03:48.319,0:03:49.065
both large and small,

0:03:49.065,0:03:53.075
to invest in agricultural technologies[br]that would improve crop yields.

0:03:53.075,0:03:57.319
Those higher prices for grain probably[br]resulted from population growth,

0:03:57.319,0:04:00.029
which in turn was encouraged by[br]increased production of food crops.

0:04:00.029,0:04:03.008
A number of these agricultural[br]improvements came from the Dutch,

0:04:03.008,0:04:05.033
who had chronic problems feeding[br]themselves and discovered

0:04:05.033,0:04:07.029
that planting different kinds of crops,

0:04:07.029,0:04:10.015
like clover that added nitrogen[br]to the soil and could be used

0:04:10.015,0:04:12.069
to feed livestock at the same time,

0:04:12.069,0:04:14.044
meant that more fields could[br]be used at once.

0:04:14.044,0:04:16.798
This increased productivity[br]eventually brought down prices,

0:04:16.798,0:04:18.459
and this encouraged further innovation

0:04:18.459,0:04:21.488
in order to increase yield to[br]make up for the drop in prices.

0:04:21.488,0:04:23.006
Lower food prices had an added benefit –

0:04:23.006,0:04:26.031
since food cost less and[br]wages in England remained high,

0:04:26.031,0:04:28.002
workers would have more[br]disposable income,

0:04:28.002,0:04:29.949
which meant that if there[br]were consumer goods available,

0:04:29.949,0:04:31.052
they would be consumed,

0:04:31.052,0:04:34.081
which incentivized people to make[br]consumer goods more efficiently,

0:04:34.081,0:04:36.015
and therefore more cheaply.

0:04:36.015,0:04:36.569
You can see how

0:04:36.569,0:04:40.036
this positive feedback loop[br]leads to more food and more stuff,

0:04:40.036,0:04:42.086
culminating in a world where people[br]have so much stuff

0:04:42.086,0:04:45.037
that we must rent space to store it,

0:04:45.037,0:04:46.068
and so much food

0:04:46.068,0:04:49.229
that obesity has become a bigger[br]killer than starvation.

0:04:49.229,0:04:50.037
Thanks, Thought Bubble.

0:04:50.037,0:04:53.289
So this increased productivity also meant[br]that fewer people needed to

0:04:53.289,0:04:56.008
work in agriculture in order[br]to feed the population.

0:04:56.008,0:04:57.034
To put this in perspective,

0:04:57.034,0:05:01.002
in 1520, 80% of the English[br]population worked the land.

0:05:01.002,0:05:06.139
By 1800, only 36% of adult male[br]laborers were working in agriculture,

0:05:06.139,0:05:09.289
and by 1850,[br]that percentage had dropped to 25.

0:05:09.289,0:05:11.069
This meant that when[br]the factories started humming,

0:05:11.069,0:05:13.055
there were plenty of workers[br]to hum along with them.

0:05:13.055,0:05:14.159
[humming < obnoxious than whistling]

0:05:14.159,0:05:18.005
Especially child laborers.

0:05:18.005,0:05:19.259
So far all this sounds pretty good,

0:05:19.259,0:05:19.043
right?

0:05:19.043,0:05:20.087
I mean, except for the child labor.

0:05:20.087,0:05:23.569
Who wouldn’t want more, cheaper food?

0:05:23.569,0:05:25.169
Yeah, well, not so fast.

0:05:25.169,0:05:28.529
One of the ways the British achieved[br]all this agricultural productivity

0:05:28.529,0:05:30.052
was through the process of enclosure.

0:05:30.052,0:05:33.005
Whereby landlords would re-claim[br]and privatize fields

0:05:33.005,0:05:35.009
that for centuries had been held[br]in common by multiple tenants.

0:05:35.009,0:05:36.479
[they busted up hippie communes?]

0:05:36.479,0:05:37.087
This increased agricultural productivity,

0:05:37.087,0:05:40.018
but it also impoverished[br]many tenant farmers,

0:05:40.018,0:05:41.639
many of whom lost their livelihoods.

0:05:41.639,0:05:43.036
Okay, for our purposes,

0:05:43.036,0:05:44.969
capitalism is also a cultural system,

0:05:44.969,0:05:48.009
rooted in the need of[br]private investors to turn a profit.

0:05:48.009,0:05:51.449
So the real change needed here[br]was a change of mind.

0:05:51.449,0:05:53.077
People had to develop[br]the capitalist values of

0:05:53.077,0:05:56.002
taking risks and appreciating innovation.

0:05:56.002,0:05:58.096
And they had to come to believe that[br]making an upfront investment in something

0:05:58.096,0:05:59.096
like a Stan Machine[br][silent mode not optional]

0:05:59.096,0:06:01.629
could pay for itself and then some.

0:06:01.629,0:06:04.349
One of the reasons that these[br]values developed in Britain was

0:06:04.349,0:06:08.139
that the people who initially held them[br]were really good at publicizing them.

0:06:08.139,0:06:09.002
Writers like Thomas Mun,

0:06:09.002,0:06:10.083
who worked for the[br]English East India Company,

0:06:10.083,0:06:13.689
exposed people to the idea that the[br]economy was controlled by markets.

0:06:13.689,0:06:13.809
And,

0:06:13.809,0:06:16.309
other writers popularized the idea[br]that it was human nature

0:06:16.309,0:06:19.068
for individuals to participate[br]in markets as rational actors.

0:06:19.068,0:06:21.021
Even our language changed:

0:06:21.021,0:06:22.052
the word “individuals”

0:06:22.052,0:06:25.749
did not apply to persons until[br]the 17th century.

0:06:25.749,0:06:25.099
And in the 18th century,

0:06:25.099,0:06:30.039
a “career” still referred only[br]to horses’ racing lives.

0:06:30.039,0:06:32.849
Perhaps the most important idea[br]that was popularized in England

0:06:32.849,0:06:32.849
[other than safety pin accessories later)

0:06:32.849,0:06:36.689
was that men and women were consumers[br]as well as producers

0:06:36.689,0:06:38.055
and that this was actually a good thing

0:06:38.055,0:06:41.071
because the desire to[br]consume manufactured goods

0:06:41.071,0:06:43.389
could spur economic growth.

0:06:43.389,0:06:47.099
“The main spur to trade,[br]or rather to industry and ingenuity,

0:06:47.099,0:06:51.289
is the exorbitant appetite of men,[br]which they will take pain to gratify,”

0:06:51.289,0:06:52.629
So wrote John Cary,

0:06:52.629,0:06:55.379
one of capitalism’s cheerleaders,[br]in 1695.

0:06:55.379,0:06:56.086
And in talking about our appetite,

0:06:56.086,0:06:59.036
he wasn’t just talking about food.

0:06:59.036,0:07:02.009
That doesn’t seem radical now,[br]but it sure did back then.

0:07:02.009,0:07:03.219
So here in the 21st century,

0:07:03.219,0:07:05.039
it’s clear that industrial capitalism—

0:07:05.039,0:07:06.689
at least for now—

0:07:06.689,0:07:07.619
has won.

0:07:07.619,0:07:08.499
Sorry, buddy.

0:07:08.499,0:07:10.759
But, you know, you gave it a good run.

0:07:10.759,0:07:12.719
You didn’t know about Stalin.[br][or the bright future of manscaping]

0:07:12.719,0:07:14.027
But capitalism isn’t[br]without its problems,

0:07:14.027,0:07:15.029
or its critics,[br]["haters" in the parlance of our times]

0:07:15.029,0:07:16.749
and there were certainly[br]lots of shortcomings to

0:07:16.749,0:07:19.129
industrial capitalism[br]in the 19th century.

0:07:19.129,0:07:20.509
Working conditions were awful.

0:07:20.509,0:07:23.249
Days were long, arduous, and monotonous.

0:07:23.249,0:07:25.069
Workers lived in conditions[br]that people living

0:07:25.069,0:07:28.619
in the developed world today[br]would associate with abject poverty.

0:07:28.619,0:07:30.249
One way that workers responded[br]to these conditions

0:07:30.249,0:07:32.169
was by organizing into labor unions.

0:07:32.169,0:07:33.919
Another response was in many cases[br]purely theoretical:

0:07:33.919,0:07:35.339
socialism,[br][gasp, clutch the pearls]

0:07:35.339,0:07:37.018
most famously Marxian socialism.

0:07:37.018,0:07:38.169
I should probably point out here

0:07:38.169,0:07:41.002
that socialism is an[br]imperfect opposite to capitalism,

0:07:41.002,0:07:43.099
even though the two are often juxtaposed.[br][consider that before commenting maybe?]

0:07:43.099,0:07:45.249
Capitalism’s defenders like to[br]point out that it’s “natural,”

0:07:45.249,0:07:47.043
meaning that if left to our own devices,

0:07:47.043,0:07:51.009
humans would construct economic[br]relationships that resemble capitalism.

0:07:51.009,0:07:52.999
Socialism,[br]at least in its modern incarnations,

0:07:52.999,0:07:55.849
makes fewer pretenses towards being[br]an expression of human nature;

0:07:55.849,0:07:58.619
it’s the result of human choice[br]and human planning.

0:07:58.619,0:08:01.008
So, socialism,[br]as an intellectual construct,

0:08:01.008,0:08:03.849
began in France.[br][he spins the whole world in his hand]

0:08:03.849,0:08:05.043
How’d I do, Stan?

0:08:05.043,0:08:07.027
Mm, in the border between

0:08:07.027,0:08:08.229
Egypt and Libya.

0:08:08.229,0:08:10.479
There were two branches[br]of socialism in France,

0:08:10.479,0:08:11.999
utopian and revolutionary.

0:08:11.999,0:08:13.024
Utopian socialism is often associated

0:08:13.024,0:08:15.479
with Comte de Saint Simon[br]and Charles Fourier,

0:08:15.479,0:08:17.669
both of whom rejected[br]revolutionary action

0:08:17.669,0:08:20.589
after having seen the disaster[br]of the French Revolution.

0:08:20.589,0:08:21.759
Both were critical of capitalism

0:08:21.759,0:08:24.033
and while Fourier is usually a[br]punchline in history classes

0:08:24.033,0:08:26.909
because he believed that,[br]in his ideal socialist world,

0:08:26.909,0:08:28.419
the seas would turn to lemonade,[br][wut]

0:08:28.419,0:08:30.409
he was right that[br]human beings have desires

0:08:30.409,0:08:32.010
that go beyond basic self interest,

0:08:32.010,0:08:34.008
and that we aren’t always[br]economically rational actors.

0:08:34.008,0:08:34.097
[truth]

0:08:34.097,0:08:37.001
The other French socialists[br]were the revolutionaries,

0:08:37.001,0:08:39.539
and they saw the French Revolution,[br]even its violence,

0:08:39.539,0:08:40.919
in a much more positive light.[br][Vive Goddard!]

0:08:40.919,0:08:43.729
The most important of these revolutionaries[br]was Auguste Blanqui,

0:08:43.729,0:08:47.071
and we associate a lot of his ideas with[br]communism, which is a term that he used.

0:08:47.071,0:08:49.085
Like the utopians,[br]he criticized capitalism,

0:08:49.085,0:08:51.007
but he believed that[br]it could only be overthrown

0:08:51.007,0:08:54.039
through violent revolution[br]by the working classes.

0:08:54.039,0:08:54.085
However,

0:08:54.085,0:08:58.028
while Blanqui thought that the workers[br]would come to dominate a communist world,

0:08:58.028,0:08:59.041
he was an elitist.[br][by which you mean an arugula eater?]

0:08:59.041,0:09:01.066
And he believed that workers on their own[br]could never, on their own,

0:09:01.066,0:09:04.048
overcome their superstitions and[br]their prejudices in order to

0:09:04.048,0:09:06.002
throw off bourgeois oppression.[br][interesting]

0:09:06.002,0:09:07.008
And that brings us to Karl Marx,

0:09:07.008,0:09:11.052
whose ideas and beard cast a shadow[br]over most of the 20th century.

0:09:11.052,0:09:13.017
Oh, it’s time for the Open Letter?

0:09:13.017,0:09:15.092
[roll all you want, i'm not looking]

0:09:15.092,0:09:18.006
[aloha miss hand][br]An Open Letter to Karl Marx’s Beard.

0:09:18.006,0:09:19.013
But, first,

0:09:19.013,0:09:21.082
let’s see what’s in[br]the secret compartment today.

0:09:21.082,0:09:24.000
Oh, robots.

0:09:24.000,0:09:24.091
Stan Bots!

0:09:24.091,0:09:26.024
Two Stan Bots,

0:09:26.024,0:09:27.077
one of them female![br][a featured female, on Crash Course? ha]

0:09:27.077,0:09:30.002
now I own all the means of production.[br][no evil laugh and/or mustache twisting?]

0:09:30.002,0:09:31.041
You’re officially useless to me, Stan.

0:09:31.041,0:09:33.001
Now, turn the camera off.

0:09:33.001,0:09:33.039
Turn the ca--

0:09:33.039,0:09:37.002
I’m going to have to get up[br]and turn the camera off?

0:09:37.002,0:09:37.052
Stan Bot,

0:09:37.052,0:09:38.083
go turn the camera off.

0:09:38.083,0:09:40.063
Hey there, Karl Marx’s beard.

0:09:40.063,0:09:42.094
Wow, you are intense.[br][and probably pretty grody]

0:09:42.094,0:09:43.003
Karl Marx,

0:09:43.003,0:09:44.089
these days there are a lot of young men

0:09:44.089,0:09:46.009
who think beards are cool.

0:09:46.009,0:09:47.013
Beard lovers, if you will.[br][beardos]

0:09:47.013,0:09:47.006
Those aren’t beards,

0:09:47.006,0:09:49.001
those are glorified milk mustaches.

0:09:49.001,0:09:49.039
I mean,

0:09:49.039,0:09:50.089
I haven’t shaved for a couple weeks,[br]Karl Marx,

0:09:50.089,0:09:52.004
but I’m not claiming a beard.[br][nothing a solid scrubbing couldn't fix?]

0:09:52.004,0:09:53.007
You don’t get a beard by being lazy,

0:09:53.007,0:09:55.099
you get a beard[br]by being a committed revolutionary.

0:09:55.099,0:09:59.068
That’s why hardcore Marxists are literally[br]known as

0:09:59.068,0:10:01.097
“Bearded Marxists.” [not to be confused[br]w/ "Mulleted Marxists" from the 80's]

0:10:01.097,0:10:02.044
These days, that’s an insult.

0:10:02.044,0:10:03.022
But you know what, Karl Marx,

0:10:03.022,0:10:06.077
when I look back at history,[br]I prefer the bearded communists.

0:10:06.077,0:10:09.026
Let’s talk about some communists[br]who didn’t have beards:

0:10:09.026,0:10:10.021
Mao Zedong,

0:10:10.021,0:10:11.016
Pol Pot,

0:10:11.016,0:10:12.011
Kim Jong-il,

0:10:12.011,0:10:14.092
Joseph freakin’ Stalin[br]with his face caterpillar.

0:10:14.092,0:10:15.097
So, yeah, Karl Marx’s beard,

0:10:15.097,0:10:17.043
it’s my great regret to inform you

0:10:17.043,0:10:22.024
that there are some paltry beards trying[br]to take up the class struggle these days.

0:10:22.024,0:10:23.058
Best Wishes,[br]John Green

0:10:23.058,0:10:25.068
Although he’s often considered[br]the father of communism,

0:10:25.068,0:10:27.009
because he co-wrote[br]The Communist Manifesto,

0:10:27.009,0:10:30.005
Marx was above all a philosopher[br]and a historian.

0:10:30.005,0:10:33.013
It’s just that,[br]unlike many philosophers and historians,

0:10:33.013,0:10:34.009
he advocated for revolution.

0:10:34.009,0:10:36.035
His greatest work, Das Kapital,

0:10:36.035,0:10:38.007
sets out to explain the world[br]of the 19th century

0:10:38.007,0:10:40.095
in historical and philosophical terms.

0:10:40.095,0:10:42.058
Marx’s thinking is deep and dense

0:10:42.058,0:10:45.019
and we’re low on time,[br]but I want to introduce one of his ideas,

0:10:45.019,0:10:45.097
that of class struggle.

0:10:45.097,0:10:46.059
[yeah buddy, here we go]

0:10:46.059,0:10:47.015
So, for Marx,

0:10:47.015,0:10:49.091
the focus isn’t on the class,[br]it’s on the struggle.

0:10:49.091,0:10:53.006
Basically Marx believed that classes[br]don’t only struggle to make history,

0:10:53.006,0:10:56.035
but that the struggle is what[br]makes classes into themselves.

0:10:56.035,0:10:59.071
The idea is that through conflict,[br]classes develop a sense of themselves,

0:10:59.071,0:11:01.019
and without conflict,

0:11:01.019,0:11:03.035
there is no such thing[br]as class consciousness.

0:11:03.035,0:11:03.085
So,

0:11:03.085,0:11:07.032
Marx was writing in 19th century England[br]and there were two classes that mattered:

0:11:07.032,0:11:09.041
the workers and the capitalists.

0:11:09.041,0:11:12.005
The capitalists owned most[br]of the factors of production

0:11:12.005,0:11:15.069
(in this case, land and[br]the capital to invest in factories).

0:11:15.069,0:11:17.085
The workers just had their labor.

0:11:17.085,0:11:20.034
So, the class struggle here[br]is between capitalists,

0:11:20.034,0:11:22.058
who want labor at[br]the lowest possible price,

0:11:22.058,0:11:25.083
and the workers who want to be paid[br]as much as possible for their work.

0:11:25.083,0:11:28.048
There are two key ideas that underlie[br]this theory of class struggle.

0:11:28.048,0:11:28.099
First,

0:11:28.099,0:11:31.011
Marx believed that “production,” or work,

0:11:31.011,0:11:34.017
was the thing that gave[br]life material meaning.

0:11:34.017,0:11:34.047
Second,

0:11:34.047,0:11:36.078
is that we are by nature[br]social [St]animals.

0:11:36.078,0:11:38.088
We work together, we collaborate,

0:11:38.088,0:11:41.096
we are more efficient when[br]we share resources.

0:11:41.096,0:11:43.063
Marx’s criticism of capitalism is

0:11:43.063,0:11:48.072
that capitalism replaces this[br]egalitarian collaboration with conflict.

0:11:48.072,0:11:52.002
And that means that it isn’t[br]a natural system after all.

0:11:52.002,0:11:55.033
And by arguing that capitalism actually[br]isn’t consistent with human nature,

0:11:55.033,0:11:56.095
Marx sought to empower the workers.

0:11:56.095,0:12:00.021
That’s a lot more attractive[br]than Blanqui’s elitist socialism,

0:12:00.021,0:12:01.098
and while purportedly Marxist states

0:12:01.098,0:12:02.095
like the USSR

0:12:02.095,0:12:05.076
usually abandon worker empowerment[br]pretty quickly,

0:12:05.076,0:12:09.025
the idea of protecting our[br]collective interest remains powerful.

0:12:09.025,0:12:10.086
That’s where we’ll have to[br]leave it for now,

0:12:10.086,0:12:12.064
lest I start reading from[br]The Communist Manifesto.

0:12:12.064,0:12:13.000
[noooooo!]

0:12:13.000,0:12:16.035
But, ultimately socialism has not[br]succeeded in supplanting capitalism,

0:12:16.035,0:12:17.007
as its proponents had hoped.

0:12:17.007,0:12:18.084
In the United States, at least,

0:12:18.084,0:12:21.008
“socialism” has become something[br]of a dirty word.

0:12:21.008,0:12:21.051
So,

0:12:21.051,0:12:23.057
industrial capitalism certainly[br]seems to have won out,

0:12:23.057,0:12:25.028
and in terms of material well being

0:12:25.028,0:12:28.063
and access to goods and services for[br]people around the world,

0:12:28.063,0:12:29.085
that’s probably a good thing.

0:12:29.085,0:12:30.018
Ugh,

0:12:30.018,0:12:31.042
you keep falling over.

0:12:31.042,0:12:32.052
You’re a great bit,

0:12:32.052,0:12:33.071
but a very flimsy one.

0:12:33.071,0:12:34.048
Actually, come to think of it,

0:12:34.048,0:12:35.041
you’re more of an 8-bit.[br][haha… um, crickets]

0:12:35.041,0:12:36.047
But how and to what extent

0:12:36.047,0:12:41.028
we use socialist principles to regulate[br]free markets remains an open question,

0:12:41.028,0:12:43.063
and one that is answered[br]very differently in, say,

0:12:43.063,0:12:45.037
Sweden than in the United States.[br][lingonberries & Skarsgards pwn]

0:12:45.037,0:12:46.019
And this, I would argue,

0:12:46.019,0:12:48.045
is where Marx still matters.

0:12:48.045,0:12:50.068
Is capitalist competition[br]natural and good,

0:12:50.068,0:12:52.012
or should there be systems in place

0:12:52.012,0:12:54.088
to check it for the sake of[br]our collective well-being?

0:12:54.088,0:12:57.002
Should we band together to[br]provide health care for the sick,

0:12:57.002,0:12:57.038
[and that's Jenga]

0:12:57.038,0:12:58.079
or pensions for the old?

0:12:58.079,0:13:00.019
Should government run businesses,

0:13:00.019,0:13:01.042
and if so, which ones?

0:13:01.042,0:13:02.073
The mail delivery business?[br][stamps are awesome.<3 you USPS]

0:13:02.073,0:13:04.043
The airport security business?

0:13:04.043,0:13:05.088
The education business?

0:13:05.088,0:13:06.063
Those are the places where

0:13:06.063,0:13:09.009
industrial capitalism and socialism[br]are still competing.

0:13:09.009,0:13:12.048
And in that sense, at least,[br]the struggle continues.

0:13:12.048,0:13:12.093
Thanks for watching,

0:13:12.093,0:13:14.013
I’ll see you next week.

0:13:14.013,0:13:14.086
Crash Course is

0:13:14.086,0:13:16.001
produced and directed by[br]Stan Muller.

0:13:16.001,0:13:17.088
Our script supervisor is[br]Danica Johnson.

0:13:17.088,0:13:20.019
The show is written by[br]my high school history teacher,

0:13:20.019,0:13:21.041
Raoul Meyer and myself.

0:13:21.041,0:13:23.048
We’re ably interned by[br]Meredith Danko.

0:13:23.048,0:13:25.044
And our graphics team is[br]Thought Bubble.

0:13:25.044,0:13:26.087
Last week’s phrase of the week was

0:13:26.087,0:13:27.011
“the TARDIS,”

0:13:27.011,0:13:29.005
so you can stop suggesting that now!

0:13:29.005,0:13:30.081
If you want to suggest[br]future phrases of the week

0:13:30.081,0:13:31.073
or guess at this week’s,

0:13:31.073,0:13:32.085
you can do so in comments,

0:13:32.085,0:13:34.072
where you can also ask questions[br]about today’s video

0:13:34.072,0:13:36.055
that will be answered by[br]our team of historians.

0:13:36.055,0:13:37.065
Thanks for watching Crash Course,

0:13:37.065,0:13:38.078
and as we say in my hometown,

0:13:38.078,0:13:40.064
don’t forget You are my density.

0:13:40.064,0:13:41.026
Alright, Stan,

0:13:41.026,0:13:42.072
bring the movie magic...

0:13:42.072,0:13:42.082
Yes!

0:13:42.082,0:13:42.093
[outro]

0:13:42.093,9:59:59.000
[outro]