Capitalism as an economic system has been around in various forms for over a thousand years and according to our featured guest this week, it keeps evolving. Join us for a lively and challenging discussion between Ralph and Harvard history professor, Sven Beckert, as they discuss his book “Capitalism: A Global History.”

Sven Beckert is the Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University. He has written widely on the economic, social, and political history of capitalism. His book Empire of Cotton won the Bancroft Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His latest book is Capitalism: A Global History.

Capitalism has existed within a whole range of political systems of organizing political power. And this includes authoritarian regimes; this includes fascist regimes; and this includes also liberal democratic regimes such as Great Britain and the United States. And you see this kind of tension emerging today within the United States in which there is a kind of concern, I think, among some capital-owning elites about liberal democracy. They see that as being limiting to some of their business interests.

Sven Beckert

In a way, the book tries to not make us to be just powerless cogs in a machine and not powerless cogs in the unfolding of history. But the book very much emphasizes that the particular shape that capitalism has taken at any particular moment in time has a lot to do also with questions of the state. It has a lot to do with questions of political power. It has a lot to do with questions of social contestation. And sometimes capitalism has been reshaped drastically by the actions of people with very little power. And I show that in particular when I look at the end of the slave-based plantation economy in the Americas, which is very much driven by the collective mobilization of some of the poorest and most exploited people on planet Earth—namely the enslaved workers who grow all that sugar and all that cotton or that tobacco in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Sven Beckert

I think markets and market activities have existed in all human societies. That is not particular to capitalism. And the few efforts in world history in which people have tried to get rid of the market in its entirety have been pretty much economic disasters. So there is a place for the market. There has been a place for the market in all human societies. But in capitalism, the market takes on an importance that it didn’t take on in other forms of economic life… I think it is so important to think about this, because, as I said earlier, capitalism is not natural. It’s not the only form of economic life on planet Earth. Indeed, it’s the opposite. It’s a revolutionary departure from older forms of the organization of economic life.

Sven Beckert

Trump seems really concerned about impeachment because it’s beyond his control. And he sees if (with inflation) the economy starts going down more, unemployment up, prices up, all these campaign promises bogus, polls going down—he fears impeachment. And I’ve yet to hear him say if he was impeached and removed from office, he wouldn’t leave the White House—while he’s defied all other federal laws, constitutional provisions, and foreign treaties.

Ralph Nader

News 1/30/26

* Following the murders of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renée Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis – along with the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, the abduction of 5-year-old Liam Ramos along with his father, and the arrest of an estimated 3,000 people – the Minnesota AFL-CIO called a General Strike for workers to demand ICE leave the state. This one-day general strike, staged during temperatures of -20°F, drew as many as 100,000 workers into the streets, according to Labor Notes. Participating unions included the SEIU, AFT, and the CWA, along with UNITE HERE Local 17, OPEIU Local 12, IATSE Local 13, and AFSCME Council 5, among many others. Minneapolis has been the site of major labor actions before, perhaps most famously the 1934 General Strike, and it remains a relatively union-dense hub today. It was also the locus of the 2020 George Floyd protests, which many see as a reason why the Trump administration has been so hostile towards the locals.

* With the spiraling situation in Minnesota, the Trump administration has finally moved to deescalate somewhat. Per POLITICO, “DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, has…been sidelined,” and border czar Tom Homan has been dispatched to the state to take over operations there. Moreover, the Atlantic reports “Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol ‘commander at large’ and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon.” While hardly an adequate response to the crisis, these moves do show that Trump sees how badly his lieutenants have bungled their mission. It remains to be seen whether this will mark the end of the high-lawlessness period of ICE activity or if the agency will simply shift its primary theater of operation.

* For Minnesota Republicans meanwhile, the situation is nothing short of catastrophic. While the party’s fortunes had looked promising just weeks ago, some, like Republican attorney Chris Madel, now say “National Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota.” Madel had been a candidate for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, but dropped out abruptly this week, citing national Republicans’ “stated retribution on the citizens of our state,” per the Star Tribune. While the election is still 10 months away – “a lifetime in politics,” as one person quoted in the story puts it – it is hard to imagine Minnesotans forgetting about the murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti and delivering a statewide victory for Republicans for the first time since 2006.

* Speaking of dropping out, the New York Times reports Eleanor Holmes Norton, the 18-term incumbent delegate representing Washington, D.C. in Congress, has filed a termination notice for her re-election campaign. Norton, a civil rights activist and law professor, was elected D.C. delegate in 1991 and earned a reputation as D.C.’s “warrior on the Hill.” Today, she is the oldest person serving in the House at 88 years old. Norton has shown signs of cognitive decline but insisted she would seek reelection and even after her campaign filed this termination paperwork Norton did not make a public statement for days, raising questions about how aware she even was of this decision – a disgraceful end to a towering career. If any silver lining is to be found, one hopes this will serve as a cautionary tale for other members of Congress not to cling to their seats to the bitter end.

* In more congressional news, Axios reports, “Nearly half of the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee broke with their party’s leadership in stunning fashion…by voting to hold former President Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress,” for his refusal to testify in the committee’s probe related to Jeffrey Epstein. While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries whipped votes against the motion, Ranking Member Robert Garcia gave committee members permission to “vote their conscience.” With the defections, the vote to hold former President Clinton in contempt was a lopsided 34-8. Nine Democrats voted yes, eight no, and two present. On a separate vote to hold Hillary Clinton in contempt, far fewer Democrats broke ranks. In that vote, Democrats Rashida Tlaib, Summer Lee and Melanie Stansbury voted yes, Dave Min voted present, and the rest voted no. The contempt measure will now move to the House floor and Jeffries must decide whether or not to formally whip votes against the measure there. If it passes a full house vote, the Clintons could be held in jail on contempt charges until they agree to testify, as Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro were during the January 6th investigation.

* In more news out of D.C., legendary modern classical composer Philip Glass has pulled the world premiere of his Lincoln Symphony from the Kennedy Center in protest of the venue’s takeover by Trump and his cronies. In a statement, Glass wrote “After thoughtful consideration , I have decided to withdraw my Symphony No. 15” because the symphony is “a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center [and its current leadership] today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony.” Just days after this embarrass...

The History of Capitalism

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