So Called Capitalism

So Called Capitalism

Freedom and the right to choose is the essence of capitalism. Capitalism instills the freedom of making a person’s well being and lifestyle as they wish it to be through the facility of choice. Though both industries are deemed capitalist because America is the “great capitalist nation”, they really run on feudalistic systems; Matewan in more respects than the textile industry Norma Rae works for. The only capitalistic element is that the workers got to choose their employers, but how much choice did they really have? If they chose to work for an industry, each industry would be a feudalistic enterprise no matter where they turned. There was no reason why they shouldn’t be so exploitive because for years the voice of the people went unheard until it was virtually muted. Some were too afraid to have a voice, some had a voice and were punished or manipulated, and most just felt it was hopeless. Industries, with their huge bank vaults, were too powerful for the workers to overpower alone. They had all the money on their side and therefore all the power. The way the industrial system was formatted was in effect the same as a feudalistic system. The owner was synonymous to the lord of the manner, the owners’ right-hand men acted as the knights, and the workers of course played the parts of the overworked serfs. As serfs, as workers in Matewan and the textile industry, the choice of living in a socially acceptable way was just not within grasp. Lives in both instances were regulated by the industry or the feudal lord. Freedom was nonexistent and therefore so was capitalism.

The industry became engrained in the workers’ lives; they lived and breathed in the manner the industry saw fit. Not only did the industry own the actual factory or mine, it owned the town, it owned the education, it owned the people. It gave the people a way to survive and a well being good enough so that they could keep working. Capitalism revolves around the idea of a labor market; the workers are able to choose their employer and sell their units of lifetime, but in the instances of the coal mine and the textile factory, the people were virtually forced into selling their entire life.