Part of the international ruling class myth making is that we did not have time to prepare adequately for this pandemic. When it suits the purpose of Capitalism, they can prepare for anything. China, with its State capitalist model, could easily build two hospitals in ten days. History also attests to this. During the Second World War, the United States government established what was known as the War Production Board (WPB). This was the most powerful of all war-time organisations whose task was to control the economy. Established by President Roosevelt on January 16, 1942 by executive order, its purpose was to regulate the production of goods during World War II in the United States. The WPB converted and expanded peacetime industries to meet war needs, allocated scarce materials vital to war production, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, and prohibited nonessential production.
The WPB and the nation’s factories effected a great turnaround. Military aircraft production, which totalled 6,000 in 1940, jumped to 85,000 in 1943. Factories that made silk ribbons now produced parachutes, automobile factories built tanks, typewriter companies converted to machine guns, undergarment manufacturers sewed mosquito netting, and a roller coaster manufacturer converted to the production of bomber repair platforms. The WPB ensured that each factory received the materials it needed to produce the most war goods in the shortest time. Commercial institutions that had bought billions of dollars of bonds and other treasury paper during the war years were estimated to be holding more than $24 billion at the war’s end.
What is clear from the above is that the war served the interests of Capitalism and extreme measures were taken to prepare for this aim. The question remains: Why could industries not be commissioned to produce the basic medically required necessities for COVID-19? Worsening matters is the fact that instead of investing in the building of humanity globally, war has become a major global industry. It amounts to 1822 billion US Dollars with the USA spending $649 billion in 2018 alone! [Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 29 April 2019]
What the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted is that a Capitalist economy, based on the whims and fancies of the invisible hand of the market, is not designed for the needs of humanity. It prioritizes amongst others (and as demonstrated above) the industry of death and destruction, from which it profits. More importantly, it uses its superior military complex to maintain its dominance over the world. It has no place for the basic needs of humanity. This has been seen with the dismal treatment of the working class all over the world with the outbreak of COVID-19.
The working class should actively fight for socialism with its planned economy; an economy based on the needs of humanity. This is a system that can effectively address pandemics like COVID-19.