Finance capital

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The financial capital primarily comprises of banks and other institutional investors such as insurance companies , building societies and investment companies held capital .

Marxist usage

The term was coined by the Austromarxist Rudolf Hilferding . In his book Das Finanzkapital (1910) he describes a stage of development of capitalism in which concentration within banking is an important engine for reaching the highest stage of capitalist concentration in the form of trusts and cartels . This increases the industry's dependence on banks. An ever larger share of the required investment capital is made available by the banks, into whose possession a growing share of industrial capital passes. There is a process of concentration of bank capital, at the end of which a bank or banking group is given access to the entire money capital . “Such a 'central bank' would then exercise control over the entire social production.” Hilferding associated this with the idea of ​​the alleviation of crises through the financial capitalist mega-socialization of industrial and banking agglomerations.

The term finance capital became important for the social democratic theory of organized capitalism and the Leninist theory of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism. However, this use of the term is controversial within Marxism. In state monopoly capitalism , according to the Marxist view, the state is taken over by finance capital, which leads to the development of a financial oligarchy .

Anti-Semitic use

The distinction between "creating" industrial capital and "drawing" finance capital goes back to the social scientist Werner Sombart and the National Socialist economic politician Gottfried Feder , whereby the drawing finance capital was identified with "Jewish international high finance". In Mein Kampf , Adolf Hitler , referring to Gottfried Feder, differentiates between “the two types of capital”, “pure capital as the ultimate result of creative labor” and “capital whose existence is based exclusively on speculation”.

Even today, the word finance capital can have anti-Semitic connotations . (see also Structural Anti-Semitism ).

Financial market capitalism

→ Main article: Financial market capitalism

Terms such as “financial market capitalism” or “financial capitalism” describe a dominance of the financial market institutions over the real economy .

literature

  • Peter Decker, Konrad Hecker, Joseph Patrick: The finance capital. GegenStandpunkt Verlag, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-929211-16-0 .
  • Vladimir Ilyich Lenin : Imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism . Dietz, Berlin.
  • Guenther Sandleben: Political Economy & State. On the criticism of the theory of finance capital. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-89965-030-1 .
  • Wilhelm Smaldone: Rudolf Hilferding. Tragedy of a German Social Democrat (= Political and Social History series. Vol. 55). Dietz, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-8012-4113-0 .
  • Alexander Stein: Rudolf Hilferding and the German labor movement. Memorial sheets. Hamburg printer and publishing house Auerdruck, Hamburg 1946.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism. Volume 4. Argument, Hamburg 1999, Sp. 516f. - Hilferding quote from Das Finanzkapital. Berlin 1947, p. 234.
  2. ^ A b Robert Kurz : The pitfalls of finance capital. Inner limits of accumulation, condensed criticism of capitalism and anti-Semitic syndrome . In: trend online newspaper. No. 12/03
  3. ^ Friedemann Schmoll: The defense of organic orders. Conservation of nature and anti-Semitism between the German Empire and National Socialism. In: Joachim Radkau & Frank Uekötter (Hrsg.): Nature protection and National Socialism. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / New York 2003, ISBN 3-593-37354-8 , p. 176.
  4. ↑ Werner Sombart : The Jews and the economic life. Berlin 1911, p. 337 ff.
  5. ↑ Rainer Hank : “I'm speculating. So what? ”What the anger at speculators has in common with anti-Semitism. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . March 14, 2010, p. 49.
  6. ^ Avraham Barkai : The economic system of National Socialism. Ideology, theory, politics. 1933-1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, ISBN 3-596-24401-3 , p. 29
  7. ↑ Pia Gerber: Employment participation of German and foreign women 1933-1945 in Germany: Lines of development and aspects of political control of women's employment under National Socialism. Lang, Frankfurt [a. a.] 1996, ISBN 3-631-50030-0
  8. ↑ My struggle. 8th chapter
  9. ^ Siegfried Jäger & Margarete Jäger : Medienbild Israel. Between solidarity and anti-Semitism. Lit, Münster / Hamburg / London 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6446-4 , p. 25
  10. ↑ Norbert Blüm : Honest work. An attack on financial capitalism and its greed. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2011, ISBN 978-3-579-06746-9