"CAPITALISM REMAINS A FORMIDABLE DESIRING MACHINE. THE MONETARY FLUX, THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION, OF MANPOWER, OF NEW MARKETS, ARE ALL THE FLOW OF DESIRE. IT'S ENOUGH TO CONSIDER THE SUM OF CONTINGENCIES AT THE ORIGIN OF CAPITALISM TO SEE TO WHAT DEGREE IT HAS BEEN A CROSSROADS OF DESIRE, AND THAT ITS INFRASTRUCTURE, EVEN ITS ECONOMY, HAS BEEN INSEPARABLE FROM THE PHENOMENON OF DESIRE. AND FASCISM TOO - ONE MUST SAY THAT IT HAS 'ASSUMED THE SOCIAL DESIRES,' INCLUDING THE DESIRE OF REPRESSION AND DEATH. PEOPLE GET HARD-ONS FOR HITLER, FOR THE BEAUTIFUL FASCIST MACHINE. BUT WAS CAPITALISM REVOLUTIONARY IN ITS BEGINNINGS, HAS THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION EVER COINCIDED WITH SOCIAL REVOLUTION? NO, I DON'T THINK SO. CAPITALISM HAS BEEN TIED FROM BIRTH TO A SAVAGE REPRESSIVENESS; IT HAD ITS ORGANISATION OF POWER AND ITS STATE APPARATUS FROM THE START. DID CAPITALISM IMPLY DISSOLUTION OF THE PREVIOUS SOCIAL CODES AND POWERS? CERTAINLY. BUT IT HAS ALREADY ESTABLISHED ITS WHEELS OF POWER, INCLUDING ITS POWER OF CLASS IN THE FISSURES OF PREVIOUS REGIMES. IT IS ALWAYS THE SAME: THINGS ARE NOT SO PROGRESSIVE; EVEN BEFORE A SOCIAL FORMATION IS ESTABLISHED, ITS INSTRUMENTS OF EXPLOITATION AND REPRESSION ARE ALREADY THERE, STILL TURNING IN A VACUUM, READY TO WORK FULL CAPACITY. THE FIRST CAPITALISTS ARE LIKE WAITING BIRDS OF PREY. THEY WAIT FOR THEIR MEETING WITH THE WORKER, WITH THE ONE WHO DROPS THROUGH THE CRACKS OF THE PRECEDING SYSTEM. IN EVERY SENSE THIS IS WHAT ONE CALLS PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION."
- Felix Guattari (excerpt from Capitalism: A Very Special Delirium, 'Hatred of Capitalism/A Semiotext(e) Reader' 2001) -
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