Life After the Pandemic /w Christoph Hermann

From Production for Profit to Provision for Need Perhaps the greatest flaw revealed by the COVID-19 crisis is capitalism’s addiction to profit. The main goal of capitalist production is the maximization of profit; the satisfaction of needs is only a by-product in the endless process of accumulation. This means that the economy cannot simply pause during a lockdown and continue when the pandemic is under control. The insecurity of future profits instantly pushed the economy into an existential crisis. As a result, the crisis was not characterized by a lack of urgently needed supply, as one may expect during a period of large-scale economic inactivity. Christoph Hermann is a Lecturer in History at University of California, Berkeley. Part of the Socialist Register series “Beyond Digital Capitalism.” Recorded online, 27 April 2021.