In light of the nearing of MLK day, I'd like to share this.
www.huffpost.com
I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic... [Capitalism] started out with a noble and high motive... but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has out-lived its usefulness. (Letter to Coretta Scott, July 18, 1952)
One day we must ask the question, "Why are there forty million poor people in America?" ... When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.
(Final speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1967)
I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic. And yet I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to see its relative merits. It started out with a noble and high motive, to block the trade monopolies of nobles, but like most human system it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has outlived its usefulness. It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.... Our economic system is going through a radical change, and certainly this change is needed. I would certainly welcome the day to come when there will be a nationalization of industry. Let us continue to hope, work, and pray that in the future we will live to see a warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brotherhood that transcends race or color. This is the gospel that I will preach to the world. 18
We have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifices. The fact is that capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad. ...The way to end poverty is to end the exploitation of the poor. Insure them a fair share of the government's services and the nation's resources. We must recognize that the problems of neither racial nor economic justice can be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power."
I am always amazed when I go there [Sweden], they don't have any poverty. No unemployment, nobody needing health services who can't get them. They don't have any slums. The question comes to us, why?... something is wrong with capitalism... there must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a Democratic Socialism."
The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr.
The factor that most powerfully fueled King's opposition to capitalism is the imperative of his biblical faith to bridge the gulf between abject poverty and superfluous wealth. In this sense he considered capitalism an insult to his faith.
I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic... [Capitalism] started out with a noble and high motive... but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has out-lived its usefulness. (Letter to Coretta Scott, July 18, 1952)
One day we must ask the question, "Why are there forty million poor people in America?" ... When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.
(Final speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1967)
King and the Other America
Shortly before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. called for a radical redistribution of economic and political power to transform the whole of society. In 1967, he envisioned and designed the Poor People’s Campaign, an interracial effort that was carried out after his death. This...
books.google.com
I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic. And yet I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to see its relative merits. It started out with a noble and high motive, to block the trade monopolies of nobles, but like most human system it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has outlived its usefulness. It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.... Our economic system is going through a radical change, and certainly this change is needed. I would certainly welcome the day to come when there will be a nationalization of industry. Let us continue to hope, work, and pray that in the future we will live to see a warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brotherhood that transcends race or color. This is the gospel that I will preach to the world. 18
Liberating Visions
The four men spotlighted in this book, together with other black religious and political leaders and communities, have developed distinctive and significant traditions of moral thinking and social criticism. . Although the principal concern of these thinkers was social justice entailing...
books.google.com
We have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifices. The fact is that capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad. ...The way to end poverty is to end the exploitation of the poor. Insure them a fair share of the government's services and the nation's resources. We must recognize that the problems of neither racial nor economic justice can be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power."
I am always amazed when I go there [Sweden], they don't have any poverty. No unemployment, nobody needing health services who can't get them. They don't have any slums. The question comes to us, why?... something is wrong with capitalism... there must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a Democratic Socialism."
