hi! I was discussing with a few different people about how the american working class relates to the means of production in the context of imperialism
so my setup is that in the context of imperialism, production of people’s needs mainly happens outside of america, and it seems that americans’ primary source of wealth and well-being comes from those superprofits
so then americans as a whole seem to have power in maintaining this system, from protecting it via participating in the military, working in jobs that manage this imperial system (e.g. finance, defense, etc.), selecting the american candidates that pursue their favorite imperialist policies (i.e the policies that give them a larger share of the super profits). in turn, the domestic capitalists in america need the support of the americans, so they and the americans come to an agreement on how to divide the superprofits from the factories abroad among them
so, in the broader sense of imperialism, it seems to me that american capitalists and the group of average americans share ownership in the means of production. what are everyone’s thoughts?
(I edited the post to make the context clearer, originally I had asked an abstract question about ownership that didn’t get at the imperialism context)
If you want a deeper understanding of what means of production mean, first you need to understand what is capital. Capital is a process, where money is transformed into commodities (hiring people, buying machines, software licenses, inputs, services and then producing the commodities that are going to be sold), where these commodities are sold and transformed into money again. So, when we say we take control of the means of production is actually taking control over this process.
Let’s get to the most obvious example, which is a factory. A cookie factory needs machines and inputs (flour, sugar, butter, baking soda) in order to make cookies. But this is not all for this process to take place. This factory needs financial assets such as savings and a working capital to buy the inputs. In order for the factory to operate, it also needs a lease of the terrain it operates. This factory also needs people, both to produce and store the cookies (the productive workers), but also dedicated people to manage, to hire, to secure the factory, to assess quality, to sell and market the cookies, etc (the unproductive workers). So taking ownership of the means of production mean owning all physical and intangible assets and stabilishing a system to manage all these workers. All of those are part of what it takes to own the means of production.
Why is this important? Because means of production aren’t just physical objects, they are all the means of producing and re-producing the circuit of capital.
Now going to the less obvious example. Let’s say we have Uber, which not only has its employees (developers, product managers, marketing etc), but also drivers who aren’t directly employed by Uber, as well as their vehicles. So the circuit of capital involves all these actors.
There are other actors involved in this circuit, since many drivers take loans to buy their cars, or may even rent them, so owning those actors (banks and financial institutions) are also an important part of this process.
So owning the means of production is creating a system where not only the Uber workers own the assets, but also where the drivers participate in the decision making. And this whole circuit also depend on third actors (financial institutions) which are vital for borrowing and financing the assets involved in the operation of Uber.
So, to answer the question, owning the means of production is stablishing a system that organizes these many levels of production and distribution. This is why in the USSR we had the GOSPLAN and other institutions to intermediate the production process. In Yugoslavia we had cooperatives and state-owned companies that operated in a competitive market. In China, we have a system where the state plans the economy and controls access to credit and financial instruments that are necessary to carry out those plans, control some key state-owned companies in critical areas, but maintains a market economy similar to what we have in capitalist countries.