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Davos false promise of a Great Reset reveals fear of revolution

Marxist Analysis · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The article argues that the World Economic Forum's "Great Reset" agenda is not a genuine reform programme but a desperate ruling-class manoeuvre to stabilise a political situation that has become dangerously unstable. The central thesis is that the capitalist class, having spent decades dismantling the welfare state and attacking working-class living standards under the banner of monetarism, now finds itself forced to adopt Keynesian-style state intervention — not out of conviction, but out of fear. The pandemic merely accelerated a crisis of legitimacy that was already visible in the wave of global protests culminating in 2019. The "Great Reset" is therefore an attempt to restore faith in capitalism by offering concessions, but it is fundamentally unsustainable: it postpones the economic reckoning while simultaneously encouraging workers to fight for more, creating a contradiction that will eventually force the ruling class back to austerity. The article concludes that there is no way out for workers under capitalism, and that the growing dependence of capital on the state is itself evidence that the productive forces have outgrown the system.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis is rooted in the classical Marxist tradition, drawing explicitly on Lenin's theory of revolutionary situations. The article quotes Lenin's 1915 formulation of the conditions under which ruling classes can no longer maintain their rule without change, and applies it directly to the present conjuncture. This is not a mechanical application but a careful mapping: the crisis among the upper classes, the fissure through which discontent bursts forth, the instability of governments, the call for mass initiative — all are identified in contemporary form.

The article also deploys Ted Grant's prediction that the drive towards privatisation would reach its limits and that the tendency towards statisation would reassert itself. This situates the analysis within the Trotskyist tradition's understanding of the state's role under decaying capitalism, where the productive forces increasingly conflict with the profit motive. The concept of overaccumulation is implicit in the discussion of overcapacity and the inability of massive investment to resolve the crisis. The treatment of debt and money-printing gestures towards the theory of fictitious capital, though it does not develop the concept fully.

The critique of reformism runs throughout: the article treats Sanders and other left Democrats as fundamentally mistaken in believing they have "won the argument", when in reality the ruling class is making tactical concessions under duress. This is consistent with the tradition's rejection of the idea that capitalism can be reformed from within.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article was written in February 2021, at a moment when the pandemic response was still unfolding and the Biden administration had just taken office. It identifies several specific conjunctural features:

  • The IMF's protest index, which showed 2019 as the culmination of the biggest wave of global protests since the 1980s, with only the Arab Spring approaching similar levels. The IMF itself warned that unrest would likely re-emerge as the pandemic receded.
  • The Edelman trust barometer showing 56% of respondents believing capitalism does more harm than good, and 50% of employed workers more likely to engage in workplace protest.
  • The unprecedented scale of state spending: more than double the 2008-9 crisis, with government debt reaching record highs even above post-WWII levels.
  • The US Capitol insurrection and the fact that two-fifths of Congress voted not to recognise the election outcome, which the article compares to the period leading up to the US Civil War.
  • Specific figures: Biden's proposed $1.9tn stimulus, the $2,000bn green investment plan, the EU's €1,800bn recovery fund, Johnson's £12bn "Green Industrial Revolution".
  • The warnings from Larry Summers and Oliver Blanchard about inflationary pressures, and the admission from Janet Yellen that 100% debt-to-GDP is sustainable but 200% probably is not.

The article correctly identifies that the exceptional has become the new normal: quantitative easing has been running for 12 years, and the "black swan" framing is a cover for what is now a permanent feature of the system.

Where the Argument Continues

The article leaves several questions open that are developed elsewhere in the IDOM corpus and the broader Marxist tradition:

  • The limits of MMT and debt sustainability: The article notes that no one knows the absolute limit, and that it varies by country depending on relative imperialist strength. This is taken up in later IDOM articles on inflation, debt crises, and the dollar's reserve currency status.
  • The relationship between economic and political equilibrium: The article argues that the "Great Reset" attempts to restore political equilibrium at the expense of economic equilibrium, but does not fully develop the mechanism by which this contradiction will play out. This connects to broader Marxist debates on the relationship between the economic base and the political superstructure in periods of crisis.
  • The role of the state: The article draws on Ted Grant's analysis of statisation but does not fully explore the implications for the theory of the state under capitalism. This is developed in other IDOM texts on state capitalism and the permanent arms economy.
  • The green transition: The article treats green investment as another form of capitalist crisis-management, but does not analyse the specific contradictions of green capitalism — the tension between decarbonisation and profitability, the role of carbon markets, the geopolitics of renewable energy supply chains. These are taken up in later articles on climate and capitalism.
  • The working-class response: The article notes the rising willingness to protest but does not analyse the concrete forms of organisation, the role of trade unions, or the political consciousness of the class. This is a gap that is addressed in other IDOM articles on strike waves, labour militancy, and the need for revolutionary leadership.

Connections

  • Lenin, "The Collapse of the Second International" (1915): The direct source for the revolutionary situation criteria quoted in the article.
  • Ted Grant, "The Collapse of Stalinism and the Class Nature of the Russian State": The source for the prediction that statisation would reassert itself.
  • Marx, Capital Volume 3: The tendency of the rate of profit to fall and the theory of overaccumulation are the underlying economic logic, though not explicitly developed here.
  • Hilferding, Finance Capital: The analysis of the fusion of industrial and banking capital, and the role of the state in managing crises, is relevant to the discussion of central bank intervention.
  • Against the Stream episodes on the pandemic and the crisis: The podcast has covered the conjuncture in real time, developing the analysis of state spending, debt, and the political instability of the ruling class.
  • Other IDOM articles on the "Great Reset": The journal has published follow-up pieces examining the implementation of Schwab's agenda, the response of different national bourgeoisies, and the limits of stakeholder capitalism.

Key Quotes

  1. "The warning they give is that it is a question of change or be changed: 'Failing to address and fix the deep-rooted ills of our societies and economies could heighten the risk that, as throughout history, ultimately a reset will be imposed by violent shocks like conflicts and even revolutions.'"

  2. "In Marxist terms what was taking place was the following. Capitalist society was severely shaken by the crisis of 2008, starting with the economy. In order to try to patch up the economic situation, companies and governments launched an assault on workers' conditions and the welfare state. This then led to waves of mass protests and great electoral instability... Thus, the old political order was being destroyed. In other words, the attempt to restore the economic equilibrium upset the political and social equilibrium."

  3. "The question that engaged Davos this year was not so much how to deal with the immediate situation, but how to continue along the same lines after the pandemic. 'Build Back Better', as Joe Biden's presidential campaign put it."

  4. "How can we expect somebody to embrace democracy when they don't think the system is working for them? ... We as businesses do have an obligation to step up, to work with the public sector, to work with all the communities that we serve." — Dan Schulman, President of Paypal. The article comments: "What he means is: how can the bourgeois expect the masses to avoid revolution when the present economic system just provides misery for them?"

  5. "The 'Great Reset' is an attempt to restore the political equilibrium at the expense of the economic equilibrium. In the end, government expenditure cannot resolve the crisis, but merely postpone it."

  6. "Ironically, the attempt to use the state to keep the economy going is evidence of precisely the failure of capitalism. Far from modern capitalism being hemmed in by the state, as the monetarists imagine, it is rather more dependent on the state than ever. As Ted Grant pointed out, this statisation shows that the productive forces have outgrown the capitalist system, and only by eliminating the profit motive can humanity progress."