Capitalism in History Class
This letter to the editor appeared in The New York Times (online) on April 14, 2013.
To the Editor:
“In History Class, Capitalism Sees Its Stock Soar” (front page, April 7) creates the mistaken impression that this development represents a departure “after decades of ‘history from below,’ focusing on women, minorities and other marginalized people.” The subject matter may be new, but the partisan, left-wing perspective is the same.
I’m sure that some valuable insights and historical linkages will emerge from this round of scholarship. But I doubt that these college courses will describe how, along with the rise of monopoly, the American market system also provided openings for tens of thousands of people with few resources — including ethnic minorities and women — to create businesses, offer needed services and commodities to their communities, and provide a route for themselves and their families into the middle class.
Capitalism entered world history at roughly the same time that individual freedom caught on as a widespread goal, and this linkage was not accidental. Any fair-minded historical treatment of capitalism would have to explain why this economic system has proved so popular, despite its many failings.
TONY FELS
San Francisco, April 7, 2013