Published in 1862, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo is "the novel of the century" according to David Bellos, professor of French and comparative literature at Princeton University. When asked on The Great Books podcast what qualifies this novel to be on the show Bellos responded, "It tackles a huge range of human experience, with an enormous amount of passion. If there ever was a great book, it must be Les Misérables."
The story focuses on 'the suffering ones', 'the humiliated'. It's set in the social, political and economic upheaval of early-nineteenth century France. 'The poor people who are worthy of our pity' were caught up in the consequences of what Jeff Snider calls the first modern business cycle. Michael Pettis, in his 2001 book The Volatility Machine, identifies it as the first modern deglobalization. And Friedrich Engels called it "the first general crisis".
Engels is, of course, the co-author of the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848 in response to the shocking, worldwide disorder. Karl Marx and Engels are said to suggest that capitalism has an expiration date; that capitalism was an ahistorical phenomenon which would burn up the limited fuel of labor and then sputter. And at that point communism would take over and redistribute the existing wealth equitably because there was a limit to human wealth creation.
This, over the long sweep of history, is a pessimistic view of human character and potential. But humans don't live across history, they have a handful of decades. And when capitalism does find itself in a cul-de-sac as it did during the first general crisis, and the Long Depression, and the Great Depression and now this -- Year 13 of the Silent Depression, well then terminal capitalism sounds perfectly reasonable.
In this the 15th episode of Making Sense, Jeff Snider discusses the barricades and autonomous zones of Les Misérables, Marx and Engles' thesis, late-stage capitalism, the Soviet Union, and present-day China; but all in defense of capitalism without denying that it's going down the wrong road -- toward the barricades.
----------WHERE----------
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----------WHAT----------
The Economic Boom You Heard About Never Really Was
A Massive Problem That Has Them Searching For One
----------WHO----------
Jeff Snider, Head of Global Investment Research for Alhambra Investments with Emil Kalinowski, manning the barricades in the CHAZ (Cayman Highball Armorik Zone). Artwork by David Parkins, a modern-day Émile-Antoine Bayard. Music track "The Ministry" by Howard Harper-Barnes at Epidemic Sound.
