Critical Study Of Srnicek’s Platform Capitalist Theory

With the wide application of digital technology,human beings from the industrial age into the digital age,Internet platform enterprises around the data,nodes and users launched a fierce competition,and replaced the traditional industrial factories to become the tide of the digital age.From the technical dimension,Srnicek,a left-wing accelerationist scholar,analyzed and criticized the new stage of contemporary capitalism--platform capitalism.Starting from the formation background of platform capitalism,this paper deeply studies the content of Srnicek’s platform capitalism theory,then evaluates its significance and limitations with an objective attitude as far as possible,and critically reflects on the platform capitalism theory from the perspective of Marxist political economy.And the enlightenment of the theory of platform capitalism on platform nationalization and platform enterprise governance in the context of the current development of the platform.The transformation of production mode and the development of financial capital made material preparations for Srnicek ’s theory.On the basis of Marx’s "Fragments of Machine Theory",Srnicek discussed the motive force of social development from the left accelerationist theory,and advocated the purpose of breaking the capitalist relations of production by accelerating the development of productive forces.Facing the new changes of the digital age,Srnicek criticizes capitalism by analyzing platform capital.Srnicek believes that platform capitalism is a new economic model of data extraction,analysis,possession and use,a centralized manifestation of information,digitization and intelligence,and a new business model of capital operation on the platform.Compared with the traditional business model,platform capitalism realizes the optimal allocation of resources through the aggregation of various resources.Srnicek divides platforms into five categories: the advertising platform,the cloud platform,the industrial platform,the product platform and the lean platform.These digital platform competition mainly revolves around the "data,nodes,users" these three elements to carry out.The emergence of digital platforms has made the proletariat more marginalized,trapped in mobility and dispersion,and the stability of salary and work has been declining.Srnicek,starting from the platform itself,predicted that platform capitalism would be unable to break through in the contradiction of integration and fragmentation,and the platform itself would also go into financialization and decay.He hopes to break out of capitalism’s endogenous problems by "speeding up" productivity.To evaluate the theory of platform capitalism objectively and accurately,we must return to Marxist political economy.From the perspective of traditional Marxism,Srnicek’s platform capitalism theory restores Marxist critical method of production relations and defends the basic view of political economy.However,Srnicek ’s Sima view,limited by technological determinism and the extinction of class struggle,does not complete the thorough historical materialist analysis of platform capitalism.Naturally,we cannot find the real source of power to break out of the predicament of platform capitalism--the proletarian revolution.After the completion of the evaluation of platform capitalism theory,the author tries to continue the critical study of platform capitalism on the basis of Srnicek,the productive analysis of digital labor,and discusses several forms of platform capital and platform exploitation.As the representative of modern advanced productive forces,platform is a kind of digital infrastructure.Theoretically,it can greatly improve the socialization degree of production and lay a solid foundation for overcoming the anarchy of production.However,as the capitalist application of the platform enhances the monopoly degree of capital and the situation of overproduction,it actually aggravates the anarchy of social production.Therefore,what we resist is not the platform itself,but the capitalist application of the platform.Only under the socialist system can the platform play its maximum role,improve the productive forces and liberate the relations of production.This also suggests that the platform economy should adhere to the nationalization of platform enterprises,strengthen the governance of platform enterprises,adhere to the people-centered value orientation,prevent the financialization of platform enterprises,support the orderly expansion of public platforms,and establish and perfect labor security system,so as to promote the healthy development of the standard of platform economy in our country.