Capitalism

n. an economic system where the means of production (also known as capital or private (not personal) property) is owned for profit rather than democratically for the good of the public.

Important to know that private property is not personal property. Most people do not own private property, everyone owns personal property.

Personal Property is anything you own and use personally, whether or not you profit off it. For example, your house, car, tools, computer, all personal property.

Private Property is anything you own and profit from but other people work to make that profit. Profit is what's supposedly left over after the cost of keeping a business running - the rent, the supplies, and the cost of labor of all employees (including the salary of the capital owner, if they work). In this way, profit is just money workers earned, but that is kept from them because the simple act of owning the factory or farmland others work on gives capitalist the power to withhold these wages as "profit". The capitalist owner will then give that profit to themselves and other stockholders, people who did nothing to earn that money while paying the workers as little as possible to maximize this profit.

So for example, a factory owner can work at the factory, may earn a salary, but does not have to work in order to take money made from workers, and does not have to pay them or himself fairly. He can make money simply because he owns the factory, just as a stockholder (another capitalist) could. Other forms of private property include "owning" natural resources such as water ways, mountains, and forests, vast swathes of farmland, apartment complexes owned by landlords, etc.

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