The Impacts on the Working Class in the Current Scenario of Capitalism and Imperialism in the World

Brazil: The Anti-Imperialist Labour Seminar brought together workers and international delegations to discuss the impacts of imperialism on living and working conditions around the world.

Nara Cladera and David Blanco, coordinators of the International Labour Network of Solidarity and Struggles, and Rita Souza, from the National Executive Secretariat of CSP-Conlutas, welcomed Gustavo Machado, from ILAESE (Latin American Institute of Socioeconomic Studies), for a presentation on the current scenario of capitalism and imperialism in the world.

Data on Imperialism

The presentation included data produced by ILAESE on the world's largest companies and the international concentration of capital. According to Machado, approximately 700 companies were cataloged over 25 years of research, with the aim of analyzing exploitation and profit rates in contemporary capitalism.

According to the data presented, companies based in just 10 countries concentrate more than 80% of the world's capital and control about 70% of the global GDP. Machado cited large transnational corporations such as GM, Volkswagen, and Toyota as examples, highlighting that, although they operate in different parts of the world, they remain under the control of capital from their respective countries of origin.

The presentation also addressed the process of stagnation in global capitalism since 2012. According to Machado, despite the constant pursuit of increased production and capital accumulation, technological development itself has generated unemployment, precarious work, and a reduction in the population's purchasing power, hindering the expansion of consumption on a global scale. The automotive sector was cited as an example of a sector that has remained stagnant for more than 30 years.

Digital Production and AI

Another point discussed was the growing economic concentration in sectors linked to the digital industry, high-end electronics, operating systems, geolocation, semiconductor production, smartphones, and artificial intelligence. According to the presentation, these sectors have begun operating at unprecedented levels of monopoly in the history of capitalism, concentrating high profit rates, while traditional sectors face declining profitability.

Machado also highlighted China's role in recent transformations of the global economy. According to him, the country has expanded its presence in strategic sectors such as technology, the chemical industry, energy, infrastructure, and the large-scale production of means of production. The Chinese state's ability to control prices and reorganize private capital was cited as one of the factors that allowed this expansion.

The presentation also addressed changes in the international division of labor and the impacts on the old world economic order, marked by the free flow of goods and capital under the hegemony of the United States. According to Machado, this model no longer fully favors the US, while China has begun to occupy spaces previously dominated by historical US allies, such as Japan and European countries.

The debate also mentioned trade disputes, the role of the dollar in the international economy, and the increase in geopolitical tensions amidst the transformations of global capitalism. According to the analysis presented, the current scenario is marked by larger-scale conflicts and a growing dispute over control of new strategic branches of global production.

At the end of the presentation, participants debated the impacts of these transformations on the working class in different countries, relating the processes of economic concentration, precarious work, and intensification of imperialist disputes to the current international political and social landscape.