[Marxism-Thaxis] Marx vs. Roemer
Though I could be wrong, my understanding is that Roemer would have accepted Marx's story (of capitalist exploitation as based on structural coercion) when he developed his own story, but saw the structural coercion as unnecessary to the existence of exploitation. That is exactly correct. jks ^ Charles: On this Roemer makes the understanding of capitalism less exact than Marx's, yet he crtiques Marx under the rubric of making him more exact. Marx developed nice empirically based differentia specifica for capitalist exploitation; Roemer seeks to make the understanding more blunt, less sharp. The mass of consumers have to be free enough to receive wages and buy the great mass of commodities for capitalism to function. This status is not compatible with being coerced as slaves or serfs were in exploitation. So, the structural coercion of being also free of ownership of the means of production _is_ necessary for capitalist relations of production. Jim Devine has often discussed the doubly free complex. Marx was aware that within capitalism , slavery is constantly being reproduced as a minor division of labor as a historical tendency of capitalist accumulation ( see below), but wage-labor is its characteristic form of exploitation. The paradox of coercion and voluntariness is captured in the slang expression wage-slave for wage-labor. The notion that structural coercion is unnecessary to the existence of exploitation is evidence of an ahistorical approach in Roemer's method. The overthrow of capitalism is not aided by dumbing down from Marx's insights. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch32.htm As soon as this process of transformation has sufficiently decomposed the old society from top to bottom, as soon as the laborers are turned into proletarians, their means of labor into capital, as soon as the capitalist mode of production stands on its own feet, then the further socialization of labor and further transformation of the land and other means of production into socially exploited and, therefore, common means of production, as well as the further expropriation of private proprietors, takes a new form. That which is now to be expropriated is no longer the laborer working for himself, but the capitalist exploiting many laborers. This expropriation is accomplished by the action of the immanent laws of capitalistic production itself, by the centralization of capital. One capitalist always kills many. Hand in hand with this centralization, or this expropriation of many capitalists by few, develop, on an ever-extending scale, the co-operative form of the labor-process, the conscious technical application of science, the methodical cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the instruments of labor into instruments of labor only usable in common, the economizing of all means of production by their use as means of production of combined, socialized labor, the entanglement of all peoples in the net of the world-market, and with this, the international character of the capitalistic regime. Along with the constantly diminishing number of the magnates of capital, who usurp and monopolize all advantages of this process of transformation, grows the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, exploitation; but with this too grows the revolt of the working-class, a class always increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organized by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself. The monopoly of capital becomes a fetter upon the mode of production, which has sprung up and flourished along with, and under it. Centralization of the means of production and socialization of labor at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist integument. Thus integument is burst asunder. The knell of capitalist private property sounds. The expropriators are expropriated. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] ***CALL TO HIP-HOP ARTISTS AGAINST INFINITE WAR***
***CALL TO HIP-HOP ARTISTS AGAINST INFINITE WAR*** *IN THE NAME OF THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM, the Bush administration continues to expand its own campaigns of terror around the world; from Iraq, where sanctions have killed over half a million children, to Colombia, where US arms are deployed in genocidal massacres of civilians by right-wing militia and government forces. *IN THE NAME OF THE WAR ON DRUGS, the Bush administration continues to expand its own war against the poor within the borders of the USA; from welfare 'reforms' that are pushing thousands more families onto the street, to a privatized prison system that grows fatter and fatter by feeding on young black and latin@ men and women. *IN THE NAME OF US OIL INTERESTS, the Bush administration continues to support oppressive fundamentalist states in the Middle East; from Israel, where an apartheid system of oppression against Palestinians is propped up by millions of dollars of US military aid, to Saudi Arabia, where US 'allies' brutally suppress free speech and where women are not even allowed to drive. LATELY, IT'S BEEN LOOKING LIKE HIP-HOP IS DOWN WITH ALL THAT. If you are Hip-Hop and you don't think so, it's time to represent. Big Noise Tactical Media Collective (NYC), Critical Breakdown (Boston), Nuevo Tumbao (San Juan PR), AWOL (Philly) and Bush Radio (South Africa) are calling on all conscious artists to help bring the noise and DROWN OUT THE CLAMOR FOR INFINITE WAR. The first project of this TRANSNATIONAL CONSCIOUS HIP-HOP NETWORK will be a collaboration with Big Noise Films, producers of Zapatista, Black and Gold, This Is What Democracy Looks Like, Storm From the Mountain, and coproducers of 9.11 (www.bignoisefilms.com). Big Noise is working with footage shot by video activists and independent media from all over Planet Earth to create a documentary on the growing global movement for social justice. Hip Hop Against Infinite War will create the soundtrack: an album by artist/activists from around the globe, breaking down track by track what INFINITE WAR really means to all those who stand on ground that is infinitely under fire - and demanding that we move together towards another world that we know is possible. Graf artists against Infinite War will also be lacing the film with photos and video clips of relevant pieces in their neighborhoods, barrios, favelas and townships. IF YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE lyrics, beats, completed tracks, cuts, graphics, or want to help with the project in any way, CONTACT US BY MARCH 29, 2002: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] call 215.243.0815 THE STRUGGLE FOR INFINITE PEACE CONTINUES . . . Big Noise AWOL Bush Radio Critical Breakdown Nuevo Tumbao ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Nash: A Beautiful Mind
At 03/03/02 15:12 -0500, you wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/03/02 02:31PM It should be noted that game theory that the Analytic Marxists, especially the economist John Roemer and the social scientist Jon Elster have attempted to use game theory for the purpose of elucidating certain Marxian concepts. For example, Roemer has sought to develop a theory of exploitation based on game theoretic concepts that would replace Marx's labor theory of value. Analytic Marxists have attempted to use game theory for understanding how and under what conditions class solidarity and class consciousness can develop. Even those Marxists of a more orthodox inclination (than the Analytic Marxists) have found game theory to be useful for such things as elucidating Marx's law of falling profit rates. Jim F. ^^ Charles: Game theory sounds like a heuristic. If I understand the term correctly, it would certainly better be treated as a heuristic. I think the paradox of game theory is that it started off as a highly reductionist model. But as soon as it starts to get elaborated, other connections have to be taken into account. Nash's insight into economic came from giving a mathematical analysis to the problem of how four young male friends could all get a girl friend. In essence mathematical models that are at least little bit sensitive have to address the reality that economic activity is a complex social activity, whatever the private ownership of the means of production. It also appears from the remark I quoted, that he has a sense of the changing nature of reality, and also its layered complex structure, which is in essence a dialectical and materialist approach. His weakness and his strength was that instead of a flexible intelligence about emotional human interaction, he imposed simplistic rules which alienated him from the rest of the human capital. around him, and perpetuated his isolation. Chris Burford ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
