Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

by Yanis Varoufakis

By restricting access to land, the enclosures helped capital to transcend its original productivity-enhancing role and to grow exponentially in commanding power. Before long, the worldwide commodification of previously common lands had enabled capital to achieve supremacy in all corners of the globe. With the magnification of capital’s commanding power over labour, capital’s owners amassed great wealth. As their wealth accumulated, their social power proliferated. They graduated from being employers to agenda setters wherever big decisions were being made. Soon, capitalists could boss everyone around, including the landed gentry – even the royals. Indeed, the only way the aristocracy managed to hang on in some countries was by joining the capitalist class or, at least, deferring to it.