ALTERNATIVES INTERNATIONAL
Interview with Gus Massiah by Catherine Tricot was published in Revue Regards on February 6, 2025
Catherine Tricot: How do you understand these tumultuous times?
Gustave Massiah: We are in a moment of structural crisis in the capitalist mode of production, a change in historical period that goes far beyond the election of Donald Trump. Even if Trump’s election dramatically changes the situation and introduces new uncertainties. Social, ecological, and democratic issues are being challenged and disrupted, and are being redefined at different levels: local, national, regional, and global. We are in a period of rupture, of structural crisis in the capitalist mode of production, but this does not mean an end to capitalism.
What are these disruptions that allow you to talk about a rupture?
I would say: decolonization and the rise of the South; ecology; democracy; and finally, new social relationships, particularly with regard to digital technology.
One initial consequence is that social classes are changing, starting with the financial bourgeoisie. Trump, Milei, and Musk have lost all sense of proportion, and this is the first time we have seen such a violent assertion of the power of billionaires. The productive class is also in turmoil with the transformation of work and skills. And, on a global scale and in every society, the rise of the working poor and the middle class.
A second consequence, linked to ecology, is the crisis of productivism. Class changes and the crisis of productivism are reflected in the rise of social movements that are both complementary and alternative to social classes: the women’s movement, ecology, anti-racism, immigration, indigenous peoples, housing and the city, and education.
These factors lead me to say that we are in a period of historic change, of crisis in the mode of production.
Is the rise of the far right around the world a reaction to these changes?
Yes, in part. But not only that. The rise of the far right is partly due to fear and rejection of social movements that are disrupting the dominant ideology. When Trump attacks women and trans people, he is violently expressing his fear of these changes.
To understand the rise of the far right, I asked myself what had happened in previous changes and crises in the capitalist mode of production. I realized that all the structural crises of the capitalist mode of production began with a rise of the far right, followed by responses from the left and then by a transformation of capitalism. This timing of crises is very striking.
To identify the crises of the capitalist mode of production, we can start with the structural financial crises of 1873, 1929, 1976, and 2008. Each financial crisis marks a rupture; it is the culmination of a period of crisis lasting twenty to forty years, with its social, ideological, and cultural struggles, often accompanied by wars.
The crisis of 1873 was followed by the Long Depression, which lasted from 1873 to 1896. It marked the transition from liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism with the emergence of large industrial groups, significant intervention by banks, and the development of financial capitalism. The period began with the extreme right (and with Patrice de MacMahon in France) and continued, till around 1890, with the emergence of the new extreme right (with Charles Maurras in France). However, it was during this crisis that the First International was created in London in 1864 and the Paris Commune in 1871. These were the left-wing responses to this crisis of capitalism. This crisis continued with the second industrial revolution, from 1880 to 1914, which saw the rise of electricity, oil, and chemicals.
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