New Explorations of the Capitalist Crisis by Western Left-Wing Media in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although after the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe the socialist movement and the left-wing movement fell to a low point worldwide, the revolutionary "spark" of pursuing justice and criticizing capitalism was not completely extinguished. In recent years, as capitalist countries have once again entered a period of crisis, left-wing forces have gradually shown a trend of continuous growth. Especially with the development of media technology, the left in Europe and the United States have gained broader channels of communication, enabling them to transmit their political propositions and theories to a wider mass stratum. Overall, the rapid development and popularization of online new media and self-media have provided better conditions for the Western left to spread revolutionary propositions and political ideas and to organize more people to participate in struggle.

尽管苏东剧变后，社会主义运动和左翼运动在世界范围内跌入低谷，但追求正义和批判资本主义的革命“火种”并未完全熄灭。近些年，随着资本主义国家再一次陷入危机期，左翼力量逐渐呈现出不断壮大的趋势，尤其是随着传媒技术的发展，欧美左翼有了更广的传播渠道，可以将自己的政治主张和理论传递给更多的大众阶层。总体来看，网络新媒体和自媒体的快速发展与普及，对西方左翼传播革命主张与政治理念、组织更多民众参与斗争提供了更好的条件。

I. Current Status and Categories of Western Left-Wing Media Development

一、西方左翼媒体发展现状及类别

In recent years, Western left-wing media have developed rapidly. Relative to mainstream capitalist media such as the BBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Fox News, left-wing media are undoubtedly "marginal media" in the West. However, Western left-wing media actively disseminate their political ideas and viewpoints, express opinions on social hot-button issues concerning the working class and ordinary people, awaken the class consciousness of more people, and play an important role in the struggle for the interests of the broad masses.

近些年，西方左翼媒体快速发展起来，相对于BBC、CNN、《纽约时报》、《华尔街日报》和《福克斯新闻》等资本主流媒体，左翼媒体在西方无疑属于“边缘媒体”。但是，西方左翼媒体积极传播自己的政治理念和观点，对关乎工人阶级和普通大众的社会热点事件发表见解，启发更多民众阶级意识的觉醒，在为广大民众利益的斗争中发挥了重要作用。

Overall, Western left-wing media can be divided into three major types: The first is the websites and electronic editions of newspapers run by Marxist political parties that are currently relatively strong, influential, and active, such as the Communist Party USA's "People's World" (www.peoplesworld.org), the official website of the US "Party for Socialism and Liberation," "Liberation News" (www.liberationnews.org), the official website of the US Workers World Party, "Workers World" (www.workers.org), the journal of the Communist Party of Australia, The Guardian (www.cpa.org.au/guardian), the official website of the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), "The Communists" (thecommunists.org), the "Socialist Voice" of the Communist Party of Ireland (socialistvoice.ie), the official website of the Communist Party of Canada (peoplesvoice.ca), and the website of the Communist Party of Italy, "21st Century Marx" (21stcenturymarx.org), among others.

总体而言，可以将西方左翼媒体分为三大类型：第一是目前实力和影响都比较大、比较活跃的马克思主义政党主办的网站及报纸的电子版，如美国共产党的“人民世界”网（www.peoplesworld.org）、美国“争取社会主义和解放党”的官网“自由新闻”（www.liberationnews.org）、美国工人世界党官网“工人阶级”（www.workers.org）、澳大利亚共产党的党刊《卫报（The Guardian)》(www.cpa.org.au/guardian）、英国共产党（马列）的官网“共产主义者”（thecommunists.org）、爱尔兰共产党的“社会主义之声”（socialistvoice.ie）、加拿大共产党官网（peoplesvoice.ca）及意大利共产党网站“21世纪马克思”（21stcenturymarx.org）等。

The second type is comprehensive left-wing websites, such as "Solidnet" (www.solidnet.org), "Peoples Dispatch" (peoplesdispatch.org), the US left-wing commentary website "Monthly Review Online" (mronline.org), "Jacobin" (www.jacobinmag.com), and "Defend Communism," among others.

第二是综合性的左翼网站，如“团结网（Solidnet）”(www.solidnet.org）、“人民调度（Peoples Dispatch）”(peoplesdispatch.org）、美国左翼评论网站“每月评论在线（Monthly Review Online）”(mronline.org）、“雅各宾（Jacobin）”(www.jacobinmag.com）及“保卫共产主义（Defend Communism）”等。

The third type includes the personal websites, blogs, and Twitter accounts of some left-wing activists and theorists, such as David Harvey's personal website (http://davidharvey.org), the personal website of revolutionary activist and left-wing historian Max Elbaum (organizingupgrade.com), and the blog of left-wing activist Carlos Martinez (www.invent-the-future.org), all of which belong to this category.

第三是一些左翼活动家、理论家的个人网站和博客、推特账号等，如大卫·哈维的个人网站（http://davidharvey.org）、革命活动家和左翼历史学家马克斯·埃尔鲍姆（Max Elbaum）的个人网站（organizingupgrade.com）及左翼活动家卡洛斯·马丁内斯（Carlos Martinez）的博客（www.invent-the-future.org）等都属于这一类型。

II. Western Left-Wing Views and Debates on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Capitalist Crisis

二、西方左翼关于新冠疫情对资本主义危机影响的观点和争论

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Western left-wing theorists, leveraging the new media technologies of the contemporary world, first loudly called for workers to unite to oppose and condemn the racism and xenophobia exposed by the pandemic and to be vigilant against the contemporary revival of neo-fascism. Subsequently, as the pandemic spread and deepened globally, more and more articles and reports in Western left-wing media began to reflect on the impact of the pandemic on the capitalist crisis. Focusing on the issue of the capitalist crisis, a key concern in theoretical circles, active left-wing theorists such as David Harvey, Slavoj Žižek, and Alain Badiou have put forward some new viewpoints.

新冠疫情爆发后，西方左翼理论家借助当今世界传媒新技术，先是大声呼吁工人联合起来反对、谴责疫情暴露出的种族主义和仇外情绪，警惕新法西斯主义在当代的复辟。之后，随着疫情在全球的蔓延和深化，西方左翼媒体上越来越多的文章和报道开始反思疫情对资本主义危机的影响。围绕资本主义危机这个理论界重点关注的问题，大卫·哈维、齐泽克、巴迪欧等活跃的左翼理论家提出了一些新观点。

(I) The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Intensified the Capitalist Crisis

（一）新冠疫情加剧了资本主义危机

1. Žižek: The Virus Has Dealt a Fatal Blow to Capitalism, Evoking an Implicit Communism

1. 齐泽克：病毒给资本主义带来了致命打击，将唤起了一种隐含的共产主义

In his article "Is Barbarism With A Human Face Our Fate?" [1]1 Slavoj Žižek, "Is Barbarism With A Human Face Our Fate?", 2020., Žižek argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the operation of our familiar world to a halt, and "a radical change has already occurred," whereas before, in the consciousness of most people, a public health crisis like COVID-19 was considered "something that was thought to be impossible." The pandemic seems to force people to reflect on past social orders and values, and also to move humanity beyond the satisfaction and comfort brought by material consumption. He also believes that, under the threat of death and the pressure of inequality and uncertainty for survival, people have regained their imagination for a future order. Among the conceptions and calls for a new order reflected in left-wing media, "socialism" and "communism" appear frequently. Žižek believes this shows that once a crisis occurs, everyone is a socialist, even Trump is no exception; only measures with a socialist hue can stop the rapid collapse of capitalism. Trump's $2 trillion fiscal stimulus package and his invocation of the Defense Production Act to allow the government to direct private industry to respond to the pandemic are all "socializing" the US economy, though not calling it "socialism." Just a few weeks ago, Žižek himself was ridiculed for using the word "communism," but now headlines like "Trump proposes taking over private industry" appear directly in the news, which is quite ironic.

齐泽克在《温情脉脉的野蛮行径乃是我们的宿命？（Is Barbarism With A Human Face Our Fate?)》[1]一文中认为，新冠疫情使我们熟悉的世界停止运行，“彻底的变革已经发生”，而在此之前，在大多数人的意识中，新冠疫情这样的公共卫生危机被认为“本以为不可能发生的事”。新冠大流行似乎迫使人们反思以往的社会秩序和价值观，也使人类走出物质消费带来的满足和舒适。他还认为，人们在面对死亡的威胁和不平等、不确定的生存压力下重新拾起对未来秩序的想象力，其中，左翼媒体上反映出来的对新秩序的构想和呼吁中，“社会主义”和“共产主义”频频出现。齐泽克认为，这说明一旦发生危机，每个人都是社会主义者，连特朗普也不例外，只有社会主义色彩的措施才能制止资本主义快速崩塌。特朗普采取的2万亿美元的财政刺激方案、援引《国防生产法案》允许政府指导私营产业以应对疫情等，都是在对美国经济进行“社会主义化”，只不过不称其为“社会主义”而已。就在几周前，齐泽克自己使用“共产主义”一词还遭到嘲笑，而现在“特朗普提议接管私营产业”的标题直接出现在新闻之上，颇具讽刺意味。

In fact, the call for a new order has become a key topic of discussion in Western intellectual circles through various media. For example, Judith Butler believes that the high frequency of the word "socialism" indicates that the pandemic has "revived a socialist imaginary" in the Western world, and people's "collective desire for radical equality" has been strongly awakened again. [2]2 Judith Butler, "Capitalism Has Its Limits," 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the enormous inequalities in healthcare under the existing capitalist order, inequalities that involve almost all aspects of class, region, gender, and race. Moreover, this inequality is also manifested in the strict control over people's basic right to survival. Money and a series of social identities constitute the standard of "survival of the fittest" in the 21st century, dividing people into "those not worth protecting from disease and death" and "those who should be protected from death at all costs," "grievable lives" and "ungrievable lives." [3]3 The phrase "grievable lives" is a concept from Judith Butler's work on precarity and mourning.

事实上，对新秩序的呼吁成为西方思想界借助各类媒介重点讨论的问题。如朱迪斯·巴特勒认为，“社会主义”成为高频词说明疫情在西方世界“重振了一个社会主义的想象”，人们“对激进平等的集体渴望”再次被强烈地唤醒。[2]新冠疫情让人们看到了现存资本主义秩序在医疗卫生方面的巨大不平等，这种不平等几乎涉及到阶层、地域、性别和种族等各方面，而且，这种不平等还表现为对人的基本生存权的严格控制，金钱和一系列社会身份组成了21世纪“适者生存”的标准，划分出了“不值得保护免于疾病和死亡的人”与“应该不惜一切代价保护他们免于死亡的人”“可哀悼的生命”与“不可哀悼的生命”。[1]

2. Harvey: The Crisis of Consumerism and the Crisis of Neoliberalism

2. 哈维：消费主义危机和新自由主义危机

David Harvey, as the most radical critic of capitalism in the West over the past two to three decades, has not ceased his reflection on real social issues during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In "Anti-Capitalist Politics in the Time of COVID-19" [4]4 David Harvey, "Anti-Capitalist Politics in the Time of COVID-19," 2020., Harvey points out that in recent years capitalism has been sustained by consumerism, and now the pandemic has led to a decline in the driving force of consumerism, which could very likely cause an economic collapse. In Harvey's view, events such as the US stock market circuit breakers four times in ten days, the widespread shutdown of the catering and tourism industries in various places, and the disruption of supermarket supply chains have caused economic recessions in various countries to show a trend of "rapidly spiraling out of control." This will not only lead to a decrease in market demand and an increase in unemployment but, more importantly, the weakening of the driving force of consumerism could lead to the internal collapse of capitalism's "spiral of endless capital accumulation" model.

大卫·哈维作为近二三十年西方最激进的资本主义批判者，新冠疫情危机期间也没有停止对社会现实问题的思考。哈维在《新冠时期的反资本主义政治（Anti-Capitalist Politics in the Time of COVID-19)》[4]中指出，近些年资本主义一直靠消费主义维系运行，现在疫情导致消费主义驱动力衰退，极有可能使经济崩溃。在哈维看来，美股十天四次熔断、各地餐饮业和旅游业大范围停摆、超市货品供应链断裂等使各国经济衰退呈现出“急剧失控”的态势，这不仅会导致市场需求减少和失业人数增加，更有可能因消费主义驱动力的减弱导致资本主义“螺旋式无尽资本积累”模式的内在崩溃。

Harvey points out that since the outbreak of the 2008 US financial crisis, consumerism as capitalism’s “life-saving straw” has experienced explosive growth. For example, international tourism expanded rapidly between 2010 and 2018, with the number of international travel visits increasing from 800 million to 1.4 billion, while attracting large capital inflows that drove the development of hotels, restaurants, and airport-adjacent transportation. Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of this came to a halt. Major capital-generating events such as the Super Bowl, art exhibitions, and film festivals were successively cancelled, plunging the hotel and restaurant industries into unprecedented depression. Harvey also cites a New York Times report on the Tokyo Olympics as an example to illustrate the enormous impact of the loss of consumerist driving force on Japan, which was already on the verge of economic recession. The cancellation of the Olympics due to the pandemic would likely plunge Japan into an even deeper “economic catastrophe.” Harvey defines consumption types such as international tourism and sports events as “event-based” experiential consumption. When “events” are cancelled one after another under the impact of the pandemic, these consumerist models are forced to cool down. At the same time, the desire for large-scale “compensatory consumption” among the working class rapidly diminishes due to pay cuts, unemployment, or inflation. Under such circumstances, the consumption-driven economy no longer faces small-scale, short-term fluctuations in consumption levels caused by a volcanic eruption or earthquake somewhere, but rather the festering of the consumerist capitalist economy.

哈维指出，自2008年美国金融危机爆发之后，消费主义作为资本主义的“救命稻草”经历了爆炸式增长，如国际旅游业在2010年至2018年间快速扩张，国际旅行访问次数从8亿增加至14亿，同时吸引大量资本流入带动酒店、餐饮和机场周边交通的发展。而在新冠大流行的冲击下，这一切都停止了，包括能带来大量资本收入的“超级碗”体育赛事、艺术展、电影节都相继停办，使酒店和餐饮行业陷入前所未有的萧条。哈维还以《纽约时报》上一篇关于东京奥运会的报道为例，来说明消费主义驱动力的丧失给早已身处经济衰退边缘的日本造成的巨大影响，即受疫情影响取消奥运会，将使日本可能陷入一场更深的“经济灾难”。哈维将国际旅游、体育赛事等类型的消费形式界定为“基于事件”的体验型消费，当“事件”在疫情的冲击下被逐一取消时，这些消费主义模式也被迫降温。同时，大量属于工薪阶级的“补偿性消费”渴望因减薪、失业或通货膨胀快速减退。如此形势下，消费驱动的经济面临的不再是由某地火山爆发或地震导致的小范围、短期性消费水平波动，而是消费主义资本经济的溃烂。

Harvey also points out that, in addition to consumerism, the neoliberalism that has prevailed in European and American countries for many years has led public health issues into a darker abyss, revealing the crisis of contemporary capitalism from another angle. He argues that, with Western mainstream media holding global discursive power, European and American countries are endowed with the meaning of “civilization.” However, the tax cuts and subsidies provided by their governments’ fiscal stimulus policies often flow into the pockets of large corporations and the wealthy, while the public is directly thrown into the crisis with nothing to rely on. This demonstrates that “the virus does not discriminate” is an illusion, and the pandemic has exacerbated the neoliberal crisis.

哈维还指出，除了消费主义，盛行于欧美国家多年的新自由主义将公共卫生问题引入更晦暗的深渊，从另一个角度揭示了当代资本主义的危机。他认为，在西方主流媒体掌握全球话语权的情况下，欧美国家被赋予“文明”的意义，但其政府的财政刺激政策提供的减税和补贴资金往往流向了大企业和富人的口袋，公众被直接抛入危机之中，无所依靠，这说明“病毒面前人人平等”是一种假象，疫情加剧了新自由主义危机。

(II) The COVID-19 Pandemic Will Not Fundamentally Change Capitalism

（二）新冠疫情不会使资本主义发生根本性改变

Contrary to the views of Harvey, Žižek, and others, some other theorists do not believe that the COVID-19 pandemic will bring about fundamental changes in capitalism.

与哈维、齐泽克等人的观点不同，另外一些理论家并不认为新冠疫情将会使资本主义发生根本性的改变。

French radical philosopher Alain Badiou argues that this pandemic, like any previous epidemic, lies at the intersection of the natural and social dimensions and will not spontaneously bring about a political revolution. If we compare the ecological crisis that has existed for decades with this public health crisis, we find factual basis for Badiou’s statement. Global warming and environmental pollution, driven by the pursuit of economic interests and consumerism, have also long threatened human survival and development, yet capitalism has not voluntarily slowed its greedy pace of wealth accumulation to protect the ecology. Without the struggles of victims and environmental movements, the global ecological problem might be far worse than it is today. Badiou believes that, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the so-called “return of the welfare state” is merely a strategic tool for integrating the interests of the bourgeoisie and the masses during a special period, once again exposing the principal contradiction between politics and economics in the current capitalist world.[5]5 Badiou, Alain. “On the Epidemic Situation.” Verso Blog, March 23, 2020.

法国激进哲学家阿兰·巴迪欧认为，这场瘟疫与此前发生的任何一场流行病一样，处于自然维度和社会维度的交界处，它不会自行带来政治革命。如果我们把已经存在几十年的生态危机与这场公共卫生危机做对比，就会发现巴迪欧的说法是有事实依据的。追求经济利益和消费主义导致的全球变暖、环境污染也一直威胁着人类的生存和发展，却并未见资本主义为保护生态而主动放慢贪婪敛财的步伐，如果不是受害者和环境运动的斗争，全球生态问题也许远比现在还严重。巴迪欧认为，面对新冠疫情，所谓的“福利国家的回归”只不过是特殊时期整合资产阶级利益和大众利益的战略性工具，它再次暴露出当前资本主义世界中政治和经济的主要矛盾。[5]

Regarding Žižek’s claim that the COVID-19 pandemic will fundamentally change the world, Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han offers a sharply opposing opinion: “Žižek claims that this virus will deliver a fatal blow to capitalism and evoke an implicit communism. Žižek is wrong. None of this will happen… Digital surveillance will now be promoted as a successful model for combating the pandemic. It will take this opportunity to display its system more proudly. After the epidemic, capitalism will advance with even greater force.”[6]6 Han, Byung-Chul. “The Return of the Virus.” Interview with Der Spiegel, April 10, 2020.

对于齐泽克提出的新冠疫情将根本上改变世界的观点，韩裔德国哲学家韩炳哲提出了针锋相对的不同意见：“齐泽克声称这次病毒会给资本主义带来了致命打击，并唤起了一种隐含的共产主义。齐泽克错了。这些都不会发生……数字监控现在将会被作为对抗疫情的成功模式宣传。它将借此机会更加自豪地展示它的系统。传染病过后，资本主义将以更大的力量向前推进。[6]”

Sociologist Karl Polanyi, in his article “Is the Pandemic the Fault of Globalization?”, argues that facts have proven that the laissez-faire market cannot truly become self-regulating in real life and deliver its proclaimed “prosperity, equality, and individual dignity.” Under the neoliberal context, the embedding of the laissez-faire market and social relations has only a monotonous “consumption” face. Individuals appearing in the labor market in an “atomized” form—especially those at the bottom—have to sacrifice individual rights to adapt to capital, being hastily swept into the “Satanic mill.”[7]7 Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation (1944). Polanyi’s phrase “Satanic mill” refers to the destructive, self-regulating market system that subordinates society to its logic. Thus, we see that底层劳动者 are in a dilemma: going out to work exposes them to the virus, with the risk of infection and death; not going out to work means they cannot pay their bills and will starve. Polanyi particularly points out that those exposed to the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic are not the elite class, not the billionaires and industrialists; these wealthy privileged classes can take their private jets to relatively safe private territories. It is precisely this reality that exposes the illusion that “the virus does not discriminate.”

社会学家卡尔·波兰尼在《疫情大流行是全球化的错吗》一文中认为，事实证明，自由放任的市场在现实生活中无法真正走向自律带来其所宣称的“繁荣、平等和个体的尊严”。在新自由主义背景下，主张自由放任的市场和社会关系的嵌套只有一副单调的“消费”面孔，以“原子化”面貌出现在劳动市场中的个人——尤其是底层人群——不得不以牺牲个体权利为代价来适应资本，被仓皇卷入“撒旦的机器”。[7]于是我们看到，底层劳动者处于两难困境：出去工作将暴露在病毒面前，可能感染并死亡；不出去工作，则会因为没钱支付账单而饿死。波兰尼尤其指出，暴露于新冠大流行危险中的不是精英阶层，不是亿万富翁和实业家们，这些富人特权阶层可以坐着他们的私人飞机奔向相对安全的私人领地。正是这样的现实道破了“病毒面前人人平等”的假象。

Although the virus does not discriminate among humans, the many existing inequalities in the world shaped by capital cause significant differences in infection and mortality rates among different groups. As American urban theorist Mike Davis points out in “In a Plague Year,” the plague directly exposes global geographical inequality and class inequality within societies; poorer people are more likely to be deprived of health. According to Davis’s research on Indian data, 60% of those who died in the 1918 “Spanish Flu” pandemic lived in Punjab, Mumbai, and other parts of western India, because these slum-ridden areas suffered severe food shortages, chronic malnutrition, poor living sanitation, lack of clean drinking water, and backward medical care. Davis argues that without effective measures, the historical tragedy of the 1918 flu pandemic is likely to recur in today’s slums of Africa and South Asia. The infectious disease vividly demonstrates global inequality; slogans like “We are with you” can never bridge the chasms between regions; on the contrary, they reveal a kind of hypocrisy.[8]8 Davis, Mike. “In a Plague Year.” Jacobin, April 2020.

尽管病毒不会区别对待人类，但资本所塑造的世界中既有的诸多不平等因素使病毒感染和死亡率在不同群体中差异明显。正如美国城市理论学者迈克·戴维斯的《在瘟疫年（In a Plague Year）》中所指出的，瘟疫把全球地域间不平等及社会内部的阶级不平等问题直接暴露出来，更贫穷的人更容易被剥夺健康。根据戴维斯对印度数据的研究表明，60%死于1918年“西班牙大流感”的人口居住在旁遮普、孟买和印度西部其他地区，因为这些遍布贫民窟的地区食物严重短缺，长期营养不良、居住环境卫生条件差、缺乏清洁饮用水及医疗落后。戴维斯认为，如不采取有效措施，1918年大流感的历史悲剧很有可能在当今非洲和南亚的贫民窟重演。传染病让世界范围的不平等淋漓尽致地表现出来，“我们与你同在”之类的口号永远不可能弥合地区之间的鸿沟，相反，它透露出一种虚伪。[8]

III. Left-Wing Media Have Issued the Protests and Calls for Help of the Working Class

三、左翼媒体发出了工人阶级的抗议和求救呼声

While discussing whether a fundamental crisis has arrived, some left-wing media and scholars have begun to analyze the strategies and subjects of struggle, because people in peril have been forced to start real struggles. As Italian left-wing thinker Antonio Negri points out, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted capitalism. It (the virus) is accompanied by a series of anti-neoliberal struggles, such as those in France and Britain, whose intensity is hard to imagine. The limitations of neoliberal politics have been fully exposed, not only in terms of nature, pollution, and all the consequences of the pandemic, but also manifested as excessive attacks on reproduction and the commune (comune), among other things.[9]9 Negri, Antonio. “The Virus and the Crisis of Neoliberalism.” Interview with Common Dreams, April 2020. Unlike Badiou, who believes “there is nothing we can do except try to self-isolate at home like everyone else; there is nothing we can say except encourage others to do the same,”[5]5 Badiou, Alain. “On the Epidemic Situation.” Verso Blog, March 23, 2020. Negri calls for “we must take this path, enter the battle,” and he proposes that the Marxist abstraction of labor and society can become a core element in the struggle of the general intellect—that is, in the struggle within the sphere of communication.

在讨论根本性危机是否到来的同时，一些左翼媒体和学者已经开始分析斗争的策略与主体问题，因为身处险境的民众已被迫开始了现实的斗争，正如意大利左翼思想家安东尼奥·奈格里指出的，新冠疫情对资本主义造成了严重冲击，它（病毒）伴随着一系列反新自由主义的斗争，比如在法国和英国的斗争，其暴烈程度让人难以想象。新自由主义政治的局限性已经完全暴露，不仅表现在自然、污染、以及大流行的所有后果方面，而且还表现为对再生产和公社（comune）等的过度攻击方面。[9]与巴迪欧认为“除了尝试像其他所有人一样，在家自我隔离之外，我们没有什么可做的；除了鼓励其他人做同样的事情外，我们也没有什么可说的”[5]不同，奈格里号召“我们要踏上这条路，进入战斗”，并且他提出，马克思主义对劳动与社会的抽象化可以在一般智力的斗争中——也就是在传播领域的斗争中——成为核心要素。

However, “the virus will not defeat capitalism.”[6]6 Han, Byung-Chul. “The Return of the Virus.” Interview with Der Spiegel, April 10, 2020. Whether capitalism will change depends not only on the pandemic itself and the economic crisis it has caused, but more decisively on the struggles and revolutions launched by the working class in the sphere of capitalist production—that is, united worker struggles may defeat capitalism. For this reason, a statement initiated by the Communist Party of Greece in March 2020 and jointly issued by over 60 communist and workers’ parties on the left-wing website “Solidnet” (www.solidnet.org) proposed: “Governments serving big capital focus their fiscal measures on supporting monopoly groups and once again seek to shift the burden of the crisis onto workers and other popular strata. Workers and the people should not and must not pay for the crisis again!”[12]

然而，“病毒不会打败资本主义”[6]，资本主义是否将发生改变不单取决于疫情本身及疫情导致的经济危机，更主要的决定性因素是工人阶级在资本主义生产领域所发动的斗争与革命，即团结起来的工人斗争可能打败资本主义。正因如此，2020年3月由希腊共产党发起、60多国的共产党和工人党联合在左翼网站“团结网”（www.solidnet.org）发表的声明中就提出，“为大资本服务的政府将其财政措施的重点放在支持垄断集团上，并再次寻求把危机的负担推给工人和其他大众阶层。工人和人民不应该也绝不能再为危机买单了！”[12]

The working class, which bears the catastrophic consequences of the capitalist crisis, will be the subject of struggle for the thorough transformation of the social system. Marx and Engels pointed out that when disasters such as plagues occur, it is the working class that suffers first: their health conditions are not guaranteed, their means of production are further lost, thereby causing the impoverishment of workers and a relative surplus population. Therefore, when workers’ health and lives are threatened, the proletariat will inevitably engage in unremitting resistance. For example, the potato blight in Britain and Ireland in 1845 led to three years of agricultural failure and the pan-European economic crisis of 1847, which became the trigger for the European revolutions of 1848. As Engels pointed out in *Principles of Communism*: “All the poverty and misery of the present day are entirely caused by a social system that is no longer suited to the conditions of the times” and “the means to completely eradicate all this poverty through the establishment of a new social system are already at hand,” thus “a complete transformation of our existing mode of production, and with it of our entire existing social system, is required.”[13]

承担资本主义危机灾难性后果的工人阶级，将是实现社会制度彻底变革的斗争主体。马克思恩格斯曾指出，瘟疫等灾害的发生，首先遭殃的是工人阶级，他们的健康状况得不到保障，生产资料进一步丧失，从而造成工人的赤贫和人口的相对过剩。因此在工人的健康和生命安全受到威胁时，无产阶级必将不懈的抗争，如发生于1845年英国和爱尔兰的马铃薯病灾，导致3年的农业歉收和1847年全欧经济危机，成为1848年欧洲革命的导火索。正如恩格斯在《共产主义原理》中所指出的：“现今的一切贫困灾难，完全是由已不适合于时间条件的社会制度造成的”“用建立新社会制度的办法来彻底铲除这一切贫困的手段已经具备”，（这就）“需要对我们的直到目前为止的生产方式，以及同这种生产方式一起对我们的现今的整个社会制度实行完全的变革”。[13]

Overall, in the face of the COVID-19 public health crisis, Western left-wing media, combining existing social problems and institutional defects of capitalism, further analyzed whether the capitalist crisis has deepened under the pandemic context. Discussions on whether the COVID-19 pandemic will change the capitalist system and how to effectively organize workers for struggle help us understand the new changes occurring in the capitalist world.

总体而言，西方左翼媒体面对新冠病毒公共卫生危机，结合资本主义已有的社会问题和制度弊端，进一步分析了疫情背景下资本主义危机的是否深化的问题。对新冠疫情是否将改变资本主义制度以及如何有效地组织工人进行斗争等问题的探讨，有助于我们认识资本主义世界发生的新变化。

References

参考文献

[1]1 Slavoj Žižek, "Is Barbarism With A Human Face Our Fate?", 2020.[3]3 The phrase "grievable lives" is a concept from Judith Butler's work on precarity and mourning.Slavoj Žižek, “Is Barbarism With A Human Face Our Fate?” March 18, 2020, https://critinq.wordpress.com/2020/03/18/is-barbarism-with-a-human-face-our-fate/.

[1][3]Slavoj zizek,“Is Barbarism With A Human Face Our Fate?”Mrach 18,2020,https://critinq.wordpress.com/2020/03/18/is-barbarism-with-a-human-face-our-fate/.

[2]2 Judith Butler, "Capitalism Has Its Limits," 2020.Judith Butler, “Capitalism Has its Limits”, March 30, 2020, https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4603-capitalism-has-its-limits.

[2]Judith Butler,“Capitalism Has its Limits”,March30,2020,https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4603-capitalism-has-its-limits.

[4]4 David Harvey, "Anti-Capitalist Politics in the Time of COVID-19," 2020.David Harvey, “Anti-Capitalist Politics in the Time of COVID-19”, March 19, 2020, http://davidharvey.org/2020/03/anti-capitalist-politics-in-the-time-of-covid-19/.

[4]David Harvey,“Anti-Capitalist Politics in the Time of COVID-19”,Mrach 19,2020,http://davidharvey.org/2020/03/anti-capitalist-politics-in-the-time-of-covid-19/.

[5]5 Badiou, Alain. “On the Epidemic Situation.” Verso Blog, March 23, 2020.[10]Alain Badiou, “On the Epidemic Situation”, March 23, 2020, https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4608-on-theepidemic-situation.

[5][10]Alain Badiou,“On the Epidemic Situation”,March 23,2020,https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4608-on-theepidemic-situation.

[6]6 Han, Byung-Chul. “The Return of the Virus.” Interview with Der Spiegel, April 10, 2020.[11]Byung-Chul Han, “We cannot surrender reason to the virus”, March 23, 2020, https://write.as/0hwmokmqr13vm2fw.md?fbclid=Iw AR3Xwjnxo Ta7Qik-c F85o W0i0msz Ncw7NI_c8y Pq3EYp0x9CXa JYq9pbz U&from=timeline.

[6][11]Byung-Chul Han,“We cannot surrender reason to the virus”,March 23,2020,https://write.as/0hwmokmqr13vm2fw.md?fbclid=Iw AR3Xwjnxo Ta7Qik-c F85o W0i0msz Ncw7NI_c8y Pq3EYp0x9CXa JYq9pbz U&from=timeline.

[7]7 Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation (1944). Polanyi’s phrase “Satanic mill” refers to the destructive, self-regulating market system that subordinates society to its logic.Karl Polanyi, “Is the Pandemic the fault of Globalization?” March 17, 2020, https://jacobinmag.com/issue/pandemic-politics/is-the-pandemic-the-fault-of-globalization.

[7]Karl Polanyi,"Is the Pandemic the fault of Globalization?"March 17,2020,https://jacobinmag.com/issue/pandemic-politics/is-the-pandemic-the-fault-of-globalization.

[8]8 Davis, Mike. “In a Plague Year.” Jacobin, April 2020.Mike Davis, “In a Plague Year”, March 14, 2020, https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/mike-davis-coronavirus-outbreak-capitalism-left-international-solidarity.

[8]Mike Davis,“In a Plague Year”,March 14,2020,https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/mike-davis-coronavirus-outbreak-capitalism-left-international-solidarity.

[9]9 Negri, Antonio. “The Virus and the Crisis of Neoliberalism.” Interview with Common Dreams, April 2020.Antonio Negri, Coronavirus, La fase attuale ed il futuro, March 23, 2020, https://www.radiondadurto.org/2020/03/21/coro navirus-la-fase-attuale-ed-il-futuro-lintervista-a-toni-negri/.

[9]Antonio Negri,Coronavirus,La fase attuale ed il futuro,March 23,2020,https://www.radiondadurto.org/2020/03/21/coro navirus-la-fase-attuale-ed-il-futuro-lintervista-a-toni-negri/.

[12]“CP of Greece, We demand immediate measures to protect people's health and support workers”, March 12, 2020, www.solidnet.org/article/CP-of-Greece-We-demandimmediate-measures-to-protect-peoples-he.

[12]“CP of Greece,We demand immediate measures to protect people's health and support workers”,March 12,2020,www.solidnet.org/article/CP-of-Greece-We-demandimmediate-measures-to-protect-peoples-he.

[13] *Selected Works of Marx and Engels* (Vol. 4) [M]. Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1995 edition, p. 385.

[13] 马克思恩格斯选集（第4卷）[M].北京：人民出版，1995年版，第385页.

(Author’s bio: Xing Caili, doctoral student at the School of Marxism, Fudan University, and teacher at the School of Marxism, Hexi University)

（作者简介： 邢彩丽，复旦大学马克思主义学院博士生，河西学院马克思主义学院教师）

Online editor: Zhang Jian

网络编辑：张剑