Political contestation under capitalism cannot challenge the economic system itself

Evidence

The superstructures of civil society are like the trench-systems of modern warfare. In war it would sometimes happen that a fierce artillery attack seemed to have destroyed the enemy’s entire defensive system, whereas in fact it had only destroyed the outer perimeter; and at the moment of their advance and attack the assailants would find themselves confronted by a line of defence which was still effective. The same thing happens in politics, during the great economic crises. A crisis cannot give the attacking forces the ability to organise with lightning speed in time and in space; still less can it endow them with fighting spirit. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 892 (#expands, via linked claim)

These four anticapitalist tactics all contribute to a grand strategy Wright calls eroding capitalism, to which he adds a fifth action: escaping capitalism. Maybe capitalism is a complex, flexible system that is at this point too large and powerful to successfully tame, resist, dismantle, or smash; it always manages to co-opt its opposition. Or maybe it’s failing because of its own contradictions and will end because of its inability to produce new forms of accumulation. Either way, our organizational capacities against it might be wasted. There is still the option to escape capitalism. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 468 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: State welfare cannot challenge market dependence without undermining capitalism itself — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 78; Capitalism functionally requires excluding citizens from economic decisions. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 372; Political freedom is impossible without economic freedom — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 407 (+7 more)

Related

• Economic crises cannot by themselves overthrow advanced capitalist states. (similarity 0.90)
• Economic crises alone cannot topple advanced capitalist states because civil society resists (similarity 0.84)
• Capitalism is constitutive crisis, so depression and unemployment do not threaten it. (similarity 0.82)
• Crises of liberalism are not deducible from crises of capitalism. (similarity 0.80)
• Post-Cold-War capitalism faces no organized-labor or systemic-other challenge (similarity 0.79)
• Capitalism co-opts opposition and must be escaped rather than confronted (similarity 0.79)
• Capitalism functionally requires excluding citizens from economic decisions. (similarity 0.79)
• Capitalism confines political contestation to demands that leave wage labor intact (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Economic crises cannot by themselves overthrow advanced capitalist states. #expands (0.85) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 892
• Economic crises alone cannot topple advanced capitalist states because civil society resists #expands (0.85)
• Capitalism co-opts opposition and must be escaped rather than confronted #qualifies (0.80) — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 468