There’s no alternative to socialism: class struggle and its limits under digital capitalism

Abstract

This work departs from a critical approach of the monopoly theory, be it neoclassical or Marxist, in order to present a reading of digitalisation focused, not on the performance of the firms, but on the structural patterns of capitalism. As in any other stage of this mode of production, the need of individual capital is to increase the long-term profitability of its business operations. In this sense, the strategy in the fight against the working class is directed to the working time extension and intensity. It is argued that while Silicon Valley firms have highly developed technologies to reproduce new Taylorist models, the structural dynamics of capitalism are the same as when Marx wrote ‘Das Kapital’. Therefore, it becomes more necessary than ever to analyze not only the strategies of workers who carry out their activity in internet companies but also to present the limits of the class struggle. The article concludes that fighting against capitalism needs to consider specific demands of digital socialism.