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2 - Aporias of “Political Capitalism” between World War I and the Depression

from Part I - Debating Capitalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2022

Moritz Föllmer
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Pamela E. Swett
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Ontario
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Summary

Did capitalism, including the ethics of some of its leaders, go astray as a result of the upheavals of World War I and democratic politics? Did one witness a new phase of “political capitalism,” a term sociologist Max Weber coined originally with respect to ancient and premodern forms of capitalism? These questions not only reflected anticapitalist resentments but were a way to describe the close cooperation of political and economic interests and some of the more excessive forms of “booty” and “adventure capitalism,” including political and economic corruption. They also addressed certain enterprises, social groups, and individuals. Although not outright antisemitic, “political capitalism” always provided a springboard for antisemitic agendas. With the onset of the Great Depression, the latter was to become crucially important in the context of efforts not just to restore forms of a “rational” neoliberal economic order but also to purge the excesses of the previous years, including the persons who appeared to represent this “political capitalism.” These purges lasted well into the National Socialist period, which at the same time witnessed new and excessive forms of booty capitalism directed against the “enemies” of the Volksgemeinschaft and later also the occupied countries.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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