Socialist Undertones in the Harry Potter series

[Fool_of_a_Took]

Last spring, I had to choose a "seminar" course to fulfill my political science degree requirement and I ended up selecting a seminar called "Socialist Futures", the final grade for which was to be a paper illustrating the socialist ideals that occur in our everyday lives, all around us. Being a MASSIVE fan of HP, I jumped at the chance to write about the socialist themes within HP.

I am aware that JK is involved in the worker's party in the UK and have heard rumors that she has rather socialist tendencies. However, I seem to have alienated myself from a rather popular HP fan site by posting my paper. It seems that people were bothered by the idea that HP could possibly be highlighting the fact that socialism isn't terrible.

Any thoughts on socialist themes within HP? If anyone is interested, let me know and I would be happy to post my paper, which I titled "Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Capitalism"- hey, I couldn't resist the word play.

[GrayMouser]

I, for one, would be very interested- don't know about the ettiquette of posting a piece like that- how long is it? You should maybe check with a moderator.

[barrelrider110]

I would be interested as well.

[Tessar]

Well so long as it's your own work (which you say it is, so.... hey, step one is covered ), I don't see any problem at all with posting it.

[Fool_of_a_Took]

Okay, as you guys have requested (I'm very pleased/flattered) here is the term paper that I wrote on the socialist themes within the HP series. Let me know if you guys have noticed any others



Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Capitalism
When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit the shelves in September of 1998, it was hailed as genius children’s novel, a new way to get children to read and become interested in literature. However, as the series progressed and the characters, themes and the writer herself evolved, the books took a noticeably mature turn. The second novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, introduced the topic of master and slave, along with racism, class structure and desire for material wealth. Book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and book six, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, dealt heavily with the ideas of governmental control over its people. When the final installment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published, just as many, if not more adults, were interested in the series than children. The novels of J.K. Rowling were loved by all, young and old. However, thinly veiled beneath the guise of wands, owls, potions and Professor Dumbledore are some subtle points made about the current state of the world, with hints as to what may come should one path be chosen over another. Through her colorful characters, imaginative scenery and her innate ability to cause the reader to feel as if she has fallen into the story itself, Rowling demonstrates deftly many of the ideas germane to socialism. She applauds those in her story who demonstrate a selflessness and willingness to better society and rewards them with happiness. The characters in her novel that stumble into the pitfalls of selfishness, racism and an ironclad class system suffer gruesome fates. Through her Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling has subtlety suggested to her millions of fans that perhaps, capitalism is not the way to go. Woven throughout her works are many examples of socialist ideals.


The Master and the Slave
While the master/servant or master/slave relationship appears many times throughout the works of Rowling, none is so telling as the relationship between house elf and master. In the world of Harry Potter, a house elf is a non-human creature that, in the words of Dobby the house elf, is “bound to serve one house and one family forever”. (Rowling, Chamber 16) House elves, as explained by Ron Weasly, best friend to Harry Potter, are inherited through one generation of wealthy family to the next, and “only ever come with mansions and manors.” The house elf is bound to do the family’s household chores- cooking, cleaning and looking after the estate. While some house elves, such as Winky, the house elf to a wealthy political family, enjoy looking after their masters, many are abused and mistreated.

Dobby belongs to the Malfoy family, a well to do, snobby couple that live with their son Draco in an English manor. While in the service of the Malfoy family, Dobby is often subjected to brutal punishments for rule breaking. In the Chamber of Secrets, Dobby mentions that he will have to iron his hands for breaking the rules, and tells Harry that the Malfoys often remind him to “do extra punishments”. Dobby visibly cowers in the presence of his master, Lucius Malfoy, and has come to assume, knowing only the cruel Malfoys and their friends, that all wizards are malicious and abusive. Dobby mentions just how bad life had been for house elves when dark wizards such as the Malfoys and Lord Voldemort, darkest wizard of all, ruled. “Dobby remembers how it was when He Who Must Not Be Named was at the height of his powers, sir! We house elves were treated like vermin, sir! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, sir,’ he admitted, drying his face on the pillowcase. ‘But mostly, sir, life has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He Who Must Not Be Named…’ (Rowling, Chamber 133-134). Dobby is shocked and greatly pleased that Harry Potter is very much unlike the family he serves.

As seen in the writings of Hegel, the relationship between Dobby and the Malfoys is a true master-slave relationship. The slave, while forced physically into menial labor, still takes pride in his work and holds hope for freedom. The master, however, gains no happiness from controlling his slave. He is incapable of doing or creating anything for himself. In the end of the Chamber of Secrets, Harry tricks Mr. Malfoy into freeing Dobby. Dobby is jubilant to receive his freedom, but Mr. Malfoy is yet again disappointed. There is no longer a human to resist, no longer a way to assert himself. According to Hegel, Mr. Malfoy just lost the only thing that he could glean from his position in the master-slave relationship. It is here that Rowling points out to her readers that this abusive, parasitic relationship is beneficial to no one, not even the parasite.


Blood and Class
A common theme throughout the works of Rowling is the idea of blood. In the case of Harry Potter, this term refers to the ancestry of a particular wizard- just how many of his or her ancestors were of magical blood. Someone who is of four magical grandparents (meaning two magical parents as well) is referred to as a pure blood. For some wizards, this is a badge of honor, something to lord over those the some pure bloods find to be of “less fortunate” birth. Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasly are both pure bloods- Draco brags frequently about his blood status and feels that he is entitled because of it. Ron, on the other hand, couldn’t care less. A half blood is someone of only one magical parent (only two magical grandparents) and a muggle (non-magic person) or a magical parent and a mudblood (explained below). To those who are proud of their pure blood status, half bloods are do not garner nearly the amount of respect that their fellow pure-bloods do, yet they are not view as poorly as a mudblood. Harry Potter is a half blood, with a magical father and a mudblood mother. A squibb is someone of two magical parents (and possibly four magical grandparents) who is incapable of practicing magic. This is something shameful- the squibb is allowed to live within magical society but is shunned by his or her family and often tries to hide their non-magical status. While a squibb is seen as something shameful to pure bloods, it is nothing compared to being of mudblood status. The term mudblood is a derogatory term used in the Harry Potter series to refer to someone as having dirty blood- they are of two muggle parents. Hermione Granger is a mudblood- she mentions that her parents are dentists, a strictly muggle profession.

Harry understands little about this system until he meets his godfather, Sirius Black, who is a pure blood. Sirius descends from “The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black”. His family prides itself on being able to trace its magical ancestors for hundreds of years. Sirius explains that those who respect their status as a pure blood are the only ones accepted in the family. “There’s Phineas Nigellus…my great-great-grandfather, see? Least popular headmaster Hogwarts ever had…and Araminta Meliflua…cousin of my mother’s…tried to force through a ministry bill to make muggle hunting legal…of course, anytime the family produced someone halfway decent they were disowned.”(Rowling, Phoenix 113). The members of the Black family who were most revered by later generations were those who looked out only for the advancement of their own race, the pure bloods.

The ideal of putting great emphasis on one’s blood status became a tradition of “dark” wizards- those who favored the torture and killing of muggles (non magic people) and mudbloods, those who had the potential to sully the clean blood of their race. The pure bloods that befriended, married and defended the muggles and mudbloods came to be referred to as blood traitors, turning away from their noble heritage. This was seen as an obscenity, a crime against one’s family for which the punishment was banishment from the upper crust of wizard society. Herbert Marcuse, in his Essay on Liberation would find this idea of traitorous activity as an obscenity to be horribly incorrect. “Obscene is not a picture of a naked woman who exposes her pubic hair but that of a fully clad general who exposes his medals awarded in a war of aggression…” (Marcuse 8). In examining this racism within the works of Rowling, Marcuse would comment that it is not those who ignore the rules of birth and class who are obscene and perverted, but those who go against human nature to destroy those who are different who show true obscene behavior and perversion. Rowling seems to agree with Marcuse, as she sees to it that, in the end, all of those who participate in what Marcuse would call obscenities meet a sticky fate- the Malfoy family falls from grace, is nearly killed and is forced to see the error of their ways. Lord Voldemort, perpetrator of all of these ideals, meets, in his mind, the worst possible fate- death.

On this topic of race based class and racial discrimination, Marcuse would comment that those who wish for a world free from blood traitors, mudbloods and muggles will never be happy or free- they have forgotten that freedom must be a social practice, practiced by all. Humans are social being who can only prosper when they work together. Rowling again agrees with a socialist ideal- she makes sure that those in the stories who are willing to work together for the good of all have a happy ending- Harry gets to marry his sweetheart, as does Ron. Mr. and Mrs. Weasly get, to them, the greatest gift of all- they get to have and know grandchildren.


The Malfoys- True Prisoners of Capitalism
Upon first glance, the Malfoy family seems quite idealistic- Lucuis Malfoy, head of the Malfoy household, inherited great sums of wizard gold, a beautiful English manor, a house elf, and much respect. His wife, Narcissa Malfoy, was born of the house of Black, and is well respected within wizard society. Her outward beauty is mentioned several times throughout the novels. Draco Malfoy is a child of privilege. He has never wonted for anything, as everything is handed to him. The Malfoys are the picture-perfect capitalist dream- Lucuis and Narcissa are free to spend their wealth on whatever they please (such as expensive tickets to sporting matches and political bribes) and have little trivial worries. Draco was accepted to a prestigious academy on his parentage alone. Yet dig a little deeper, and the Malfoy’s beautiful façade begins to crack. While the Malfoys are politically powerful, none of them possess superior magical skill. When a powerful wizard emerges that favors the Malfoy’s kind, they immediately begin to buy the favor of Lord Voldemort. Lucuis allows Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, to use their Manor as a meeting place and pays off politicians within the magical community who are in a position to pass laws favorable to Voldemort. Still, the Malfoys are the picture of capitalism- doing anything they can to buy and keep their power and wealth. They look out only for the welfare of themselves and those who can help them. They are the embodiment of capitalistic private property.


Karl Marx notes that private property is beneficial to none- it creates envy and greed. To Marx, it is private property and the wont of it keeps society from working together as a whole. Marx notes that as humans, this is the only way anything can be achieved. Private property is a trap of capitalism- those within it, even those who prosper from it, such as the Malfoys, are bound to the system, the cycle of gain and, inevitably, loss. Marx believes that there is a better way to be. The return of “us” to our true self can take many forms, but capitalism and private property is not one. In the end of the series, the Malfoys lose all that was important to them- their home, their wealth and their status. They fall victim to the system that they had fed into. The Malfoys became prisoners of capitalism.


The Hegemony of the Ministry of Magic
Within the magical world of Harry Potter exists a clearly structured, well-organized system of government called the Ministry of Magic. At the head of this government sits the Minister of Magic, who, through most of the books in the series, is Cornelius Fudge. On the surface, the Ministry seems to be a benevolent, balanced government that protects and regulates the wizarding community in Britain. However, the re-emergence of Lord Voldemort, the most dark, feared wizard of all time, changes the ministry’s role. A fearful man, Cornelius Fudge is ignores the evidence and facts to suggest Voldemort’s return, leading him to restrict the press on the topic, attempting to discredit both Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore who have tried to alert the community about Voldemort’s return to power. “Well, they’re writing about you as though you’re this deluded, attention seeking person who thinks he’s a great tragic hero or something…they want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it…”(Rowling, Phoenix 74). The Ministry and its minister had thrived on the capitalist, everyone out for himself system that had existed prior to the rise of Voldemort. The return of the dark wizard would mean all wizards would have to band together and throw out the old rules to overcome the evil- the ministry would lose its power. According to Laclau and Mouffe, this is clear-cut hegemony. “…the concept of ‘hegemony’ already alludes to a kind of contingent intervention required by the crisis or collapse of that would have been a ‘normal’ historical development.” (Laclau and Mouffe 7). Fudge is in crisis mode. He knows that if he cannot contain this movement for wizards to band together and throw out the rules in order to defeat Voldemort, he will lose all power. In order to keep this from happening, his first step is to deny that the crisis even exists. He must keep the public in the dark about what is happening, or he will certainly lose power. “…if the bourgeoisie is incapable of fulfilling ‘its’ tasks, these necessarily pass to the proletariat…”(Laclau and Mouffe 50). If the public, the proletariat, is not kept unaware of these goings-on, they will certainly rise up to defend themselves, taking the power that had belonged to the hegemonic Ministry.


Fudge and his Ministry take further steps to keep wizards from working together. Fudge fears that Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Britain’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is using his position to alert young people to what is going on and to prepare them to fight. To keep this from happening, he places Dolores Jane Umbridge, his senior undersecretary, in the position of “Defense Against the Dark Arts” teacher at Hogwarts. Umbridge is racist, delusional, cruel and worships Cornelius Fudge. Her classes do not reach students how to defend themselves, but reflect the doctrine of the ministry that they will never have to defend themselves because no danger exists. When Harry attempts to alert the other students in her class to the return of Lord Voldemort, she forces him to carve the words ‘I must not tell lies’ repeatedly into the back of his hand (Rowling, Phoenix 244-270). She is made High Inquisitor of Hogwarts by Fudge, giving her the power to create and enforce new school rules, including a rule that states that students may not meet in groups of three or more without her permission. “No student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.” (Rowling, Phoenix 351). In his attempt to keep the proletariat from banding together, Fudge makes it illegal for young people to meet in groups without his express permission. According to Marcuse, the young people will rise up regardless of rules and restrictions. “…this opposition is directed against the totality of a well-functioning, prosperous society- a protest against its Form- the commodity of men and things, against the imposition of false values and false morality.” (Marcuse 51). While Fudge, Umbridge, and the Ministry attempt to beat young people into ignorant submission in order to hold on to their hegemony, the informed young and old alike have banded together to form an “us”, to battle the witlessness of their government and the evil that approaches.


The Order of The Phoenix- A Socialist’s Dream
Created by Albus Dumbledore, the Order of the Phoenix is a secret society made up of intelligent and talented wizards for the purpose of fighting the Dark Lord Voldemort. First founded during Voldemort’s original rise to power several years before the birth of Harry Potter, many of its members (including James and Lily Potter, Harry’s parents), were killed. Upon his rebirth in the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore reformed the Order, with its remaining members and several new ones. Each member has a different skill or talent to offer the group- Arthur Weasly works for the Ministry of Magic and can pass information off to the Order. Remus Lupin is a werewolf, giving him credibility and access to the werewolf community so that they may be persuaded not to join forces with Voldemort. Sirius Black is an animagi- can change into an animal at will, and offers his family’s sizable mansion as headquarters. Molly Weasly is herself a skilled witch, but prefers to act as the mother of the group, preparing meals and coordinating shifts on “guard duty”. This group functions as a true socialist society- all goods are property of everyone, the workload is shared by all and each individual’s skills are put to work for the good of the group.

According to Marx, this group has done away with the capitalist system. They do not rely on private property and individual wealth; they are a community. The Order was able to effectively come together, do things in common, and solve problems together. They are not estranged from their creativity- they are in true human form when working together and caring for each other as a group. Marx notes that it is in the union of the masses that the greatest capacity for creativity can be found. “The real fruit of their battles lies, not in the immediate result, but in the ever expanding union…” (Marx 46). The wizards involved in the Order know what the dark wizards do not. They fight not only to defeat evil, but also to unite all magical people, regardless of blood status, wealth or skill. The Order of the Phoenix is the ultimate union of the proletariat wizards. While downtrodden by the bourgeoisie, dark wizards and hegemonic politicians, they are successful when they can bond together to form a unified front.


Voldemort, Purveyor of Capitalism, versus Harry, Champion of Socialism
The ultimate depiction of J.K. Rowling’s feelings about socialism resides within the ongoing battle between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Harry Potter has been, without realizing, a socialist his entire life. At the age of one, capitalism, in the form of Lord Voldemort, murdered his parents. Adopted by his abusive aunt and uncle, Harry was an unloved, underprivileged orphan until he discovered that he was a wizard at age eleven. Throughout his young life, Harry has never questioned that things are best accomplished when everyone’s gifts and talents are shared. When congratulated for his extraordinary accomplishments, Harry is quick to highlight that he did not act alone. “Look…I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to be modest or anything, but…I had a lot of help with all that stuff…”(Rowling, Phoenix 343). He, along with his close friends Ron and Hermione, create a group, called “Dumbledore’s Army”, in which students share knowledge and experience so that everyone can benefit. “…people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts…took matters into our own hands…And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but real spells.” (Rowling, Phoenix 339). This is an exact definition of what Marx believes education should be. “And your education! Is not that also social, and determined by the social conditions under which you educate, by the intervention direct or indirect of society, by means of schools, etc?…The Communists…do but seek to alter the character of that intervention, and to rescue education from the influence of the ruling class.” (Marx 56). Never selfish with his inherited fortune and later, mansion, Harry is quick to share his material wealth with his friends for the good of the group. “Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that it does is deprive him if the power to subjugate the labor of others by means of such appropriation.”(Marx 55). Within Dumbledore’s Army, Harry has instituted a sharing of knowledge. Knowledge, to Marx and Harry, is a commodity. When it is shared amongst the group, it cannot be used against another. Harry, without knowing it, has been a true socialist his entire life.

Lord Voldemort, born Tom Marvolo Riddle, grew up a poor orphan, not unlike Harry Potter. Young Tom Riddle found things were best accomplished when he influenced people to do his bidding. He trusted no one but himself and used his power as a wizard to frighten others into his service, even from a very young age, as he once admitted to Professor Dumbledore, “I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to.” (Rowling, Prince 271). As he amassed wealth and power, Voldemort sought to destroy others whose skills could rival his. “…Classes that got the upper hand, sought to fortify their already acquired status by subjecting society at large to their conditions of appropriation…They have nothing for their own to secure and fortify; their mission is to destroy all previous securities…” (Marx 48-49). Voldemort is a capitalist, constantly stepping on and destroying others to clear his path to the top.

In order to hold onto his power, Voldemort created “blood status” racism to promote the power of his few followers and discredit and objectify the masses that opposed him. “…every form of society has been based, as we have already seen, on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes.” (Marx 49). Voldemort created the bourgeoisie class of wizards, those of supposed “pure” blood. He is the ultimate capitalist.

The struggle between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort is described most clearly by the prophecy made that Voldemort used as a basis to attempt to murder baby Harry- “…either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.” (Rowling, Phoenix 841). The same is ultimately true for capitalism and socialism. Neither can exist in its true form when the other is present. It is the struggle of good and evil, utilitarianism and tyranny. In capitalism, humans are fundamentally estranged from themselves, even the true capitalist is bound to the system. Through portrayal of the battle between Harry and Voldemort, and Harry’s ultimate victory, Rowling hints to readers what the winning form of society will be.

Throughout the much loved works of J.K. Rowling, socialism peeks through the spells and cauldrons to whisper to its readers that there is another way to live. Rowling, a known supporter of a socialist leaning party in Great Britain (who recently publicly declared her views in a column entitled “The Single Mother’s Manifesto”, published in Britain’s The Times newspaper) seems to have written a children’s novel. Yet to the scholarly eye, it is clear that Rowling has not only studied the works of Marx and other supporters, but feels that they just may be right about society and the current structure of government and the economy. While some themes of the book, such as the master/slave relationships and the issue of race or “blood status” are rather blatant jabs at what she finds to be immoral and wrong within society, others are hidden deeper. The members of the Malfoy family are the true prisoners of capitalism; they are trapped within it and follow it to its ultimate defeat. The Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army represent socialist societies in which all are equal and all wealth- whether material or intellectual- as well as work are shared. The epic battle between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort is often described away as a fight between good and evil, but it is a representation of the eternal struggle between two ever-opposing forces- capitalism and socialism. Rowling suggests ever so subtlety to her readers that when the reader cheers for Harry, he is cheering for socialism, a way of life that her novels demonstrate will bring the most satisfactory results possible to all involved.

[BeardofPants]

You should probably format that so it has paragraphs, otherwise nobody's going to bother reading it.

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

You should probably format that so it has paragraphs, otherwise nobody's going to bother reading it.

Agreed- though I did read it.

While JK Rowling is certainly a leftist- after all she did give a million pounds to the Labour Party last election- i'm not so sure that many of the examples you cited are specifically capitalism vs socialism.

Take the Mallefoys for example- with their insistence on blood purity and noble inheritance they would seem to be more feudalist i.e. pre-capitalist.

After all the capitalist ideal is not someone who owes their privilege to their forefathers but the 'self-made man'- someone who creates something new and makes a fortune off of it.

Again with the house-elves. While some capitalist societies have thrived on slave labor- notably the pre-Civil War South- most capitalist theories insist on a free market in labor as well as capital.

As for racism and pure-blood doctrines, again this is inimical to most capitalists- in fact the earliest theorists like Adam Smith celebrated capitalism for its internationalism and the fact that it took no notice of anyone's race, creed or nationality.

A lot of the stuff you mention is broadly correct on general "left vs right" scale, but could be just as acceptable to liberal supporters of capitalism or mixed economies as socialists- and indeed to many libertarian inclined conservatives as well.

[Fool_of_a_Took]

GreyMouser, I appreciate your critiques. To be honest, I should have pointed out that in this class, the Capitalism discussed was very much American capitalism instead of the idea of pure capitalism.

My comparison to the slave-master system described by Marx, the house elf predicament in HP and the (near) slave labor that capitalism literally lives on was more a reference to sweat shop and child labor than actual slaves.

A have to admit, I agree with your critique about the Malfoys not being pure capitalists, I fear that in my attempts to back up my thesis, I may not have fleshed out that thought well enough.


Any thoughts on why my submission of this paper to a Harry Potter fansite seems to have gotten me alienated? Maybe they're just not as open minded there as we are here on Entmoot. Hehehe

[Fool_of_a_Took]

Also, I hope that my re-formatting of the paper has made it a bit easier to read. A big thanks to those of you who read it anyway (while it was a hot mess) before the reformatting took place.

[barrelrider110]

Any thoughts on why my submission of this paper to a Harry Potter fansite seems to have gotten me alienated? Maybe they're just not as open minded there as we are here on Entmoot. Hehehe[/QUOTE]

Capitalism in the form of free enterprise was championed by our founding fathers as a cornerstone to "freedom." Although the US system of government is actually a mixture of Captialist/Socialism, we tend to think of ourselves as a capitalist society.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) was so devoted to the concept of socialism that he believed the movement would and should become worldwide, leading to the fear in the West that the Soviet Union's true aim was world domination. (BTW - "The Soviet" was to be the elected body that the 1917 revolutionaries supposed would rule Russia. Little did the revolutionaries know that Lenin knew only one style to lead--dictatorship). Why not be afraid? Russia was a huge country, much more populous than any country in the West and blessed with more resources. Stalin made the Soviet Union into a military dictatorship and world power. The bellicose Kruschev lead to the Cold War, a time of great fear that I personally remember. When I was growing up, the threat of nuclear war was so on the mind that I didnt think I would reach my 17th birthday. The USSR ("The Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics") was understandably demonized. "Socialism" was synoymous with Soviet Communism which, as we all were taught, was pure evil. I suspect your detractors were from the US (and probably worship Sarah Palin ) -- Europe is much more open-minded about socialism than the US. Even so, as you well know, people can get very emotional about their politics.

Well done, Fool_of_a_Took.

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by Fool_of_a_Took

GreyMouser, I appreciate your critiques. To be honest, I should have pointed out that in this class, the Capitalism discussed was very much American capitalism instead of the idea of pure capitalism.

My comparison to the slave-master system described by Marx, the house elf predicament in HP and the (near) slave labor that capitalism literally lives on was more a reference to sweat shop and child labor than actual slaves.

A have to admit, I agree with your critique about the Malfoys not being pure capitalists, I fear that in my attempts to back up my thesis, I may not have fleshed out that thought well enough.

Should have added I thought it was good but also that I'm not an HP fan and have only read through Book 4, so I probably missed a lot of the more serious developments in the later books.

OTOH, when you consider my comments, remember I'm the guy who thinks not only the 'Scouring of the Shire' but also the Dwarfs in "The Last Battle" were attacks on the Labour Party/Socialism.

Any thoughts on why my submission of this paper to a Harry Potter fansite seems to have gotten me alienated? Maybe they're just not as open minded there as we are here on Entmoot. Hehehe

Agree with barrelrider- probably a lot of people just think "socialism" = "bad", and yes, particularly Americans.