For their debut event, the New Political Society (NPS) hosted radical economist Dr. Richard Wolff for a talk entitled “Understanding American Capitalism” on Tuesday in Mudd Hall.
Wolff is a professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and he is currently working as a visiting professor at the New School University’s graduate program in International Affairs. He is best known for his work on Marxist economics, class analysis and critical perspective of American capitalism.
Wolff delivered a passionate speech about what he believed to be the issues inherent in today’s American capitalist society, along with possible alternatives to the system.
He spoke in a sharply satirical and sarcastic tone, pointedly directing the audience’s attention to moments in history when the American capitalist system had failed to properly support the nation’s people.
“Capitalism’s claim to ebullience... where has it led?” Wolff asked the audience.
He then went on to describe the huge gap in income inequality to which capitalism has led. Wolff alleged that after initially taking advantage of domestic workers in the U.S., the American capitalist system was moved to a larger, global and international platform.
“The U.S. likes to call itself a democracy, but when you cross the threshold into the workplace, you leave democracy behind and enter an autocracy,” Wolff said. “It’s funny to call yourself a democracy when the workplace, the place most adults spend the majority of their lives, is in itself a negation of the democratic system.”
Throughout his talk, Wolff emphasized the importance of getting both sides of the story to American capitalism instead of blindly embracing the ideals imposed upon us by society. Wolff, who holds degrees from Harvard College and Yale University, complained that he was never exposed to a critical perspective on capitalism.
“My professors had no courage,” he said. “Because of the education system today, an entire generation wouldn’t know a critique of capitalism if it hit them over the head.”
In response to the issues associated with capitalism, Wolff proposed an alternative system of socialism to be incorporated into American society. He argued that socialism is not just a method pushed forward by communist parties and that it can be a system that will bring about a betterment of American society as a whole when properly instituted.
“We need to reform by democratization of the enterprises — change the way enterprises are organized,” he said.
Wolff’s recent work focuses on analyzing the causes of and alternative solutions to the global economic crisis. In addition to writing books that criticize the American capitalist system, he hosts a weekly radio program on WBAI 99.5 FM called “Economic Update.”
He also makes regular appearances on television, including recent guest spots on Real Time with Bill Maher, Moyers & Company, Charlie Rose, Up with Chris Hayes and Democracy Now!
His book Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism inspired the creation of a nonprofit organization dedicated to showing how and why democratic workplaces must be made real.
The NPS, which was founded last spring, will continue to bring speakers to campus with compelling and controversial political stances.
“[Our mission is] to foster a strong political consciousness on campus by facilitating dialogues among students on the key political problems that not only face our nation but also affect the global as well as local community,” NPS’s website states. “[We hope to] transcend the restrictive dichotomies that tend to plague modern political dialogue in order to discover the elemental aspects of a topic... A contentious discourse between a diverse set of individuals who bring forth differing perspectives is the prime catalyst for a progressive furthering of society.”
NPS President junior Sarallah Salehi said that the group’s upcoming events will tackle current issues and spotlight critical standpoints.
“We are trying to expose a different set of ideas to people that we think deserve more attention,” Salehi said.
Salehi said he is a strong proponent of embracing both sides of the political dialogue in contemporary issues.
“I can’t say I have one set of political views, right or left or anything in between,” Salehi said. “I’m always open to hearing new ideas because they’re so insightful and new ways to look at a major issue.”
Upcoming speakers in NPS’s Fall 2014 Speaker Series include a variety of famous names: Robert Johnson, the president of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and former executive fund manager at Soros Fund; Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, a four-time Academy Award-winning film director and professor of history at American University; James Rickards, a New York Times best-selling author; and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff under Secretary of State Colin Powell.
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