Anti-Capitalism: A Political History

Where does the real history of anti-capitalism begin? Not with Karl Marx. Anti-capitalism has many dimensions and differs across national cultures and historiographies. From before the French Revolution to the skeptics of Twentieth Century globalization, I argue we should not see anti-capitalism as a monolithic idea but one of many different ideas, varying according to political circumstances and social environments. Given the rise of radical politics in our day, we should trace discontent with contemporary economic policy to its very roots, find what alternatives were proposed, the responses from their critics, and issuing our own. Anti-capitalism is not just speaking of alternative states or business models as so much of a different character altogether.