Chris wrote
> I think I agree with much of the thrust of the posts by John and Simon. If
> I understand them correctly they are both criticising the social and
> psychological effects of capitalism. I think this is a very important area
> of criticism of late capitalist society, and is essential for the battle
> for ideological hegemony of socialist ideas.
Oh dear! I am personally (and politically) horrified that this is
what you think I (or Simon) was arguing. I cannot find a single part
of the above that I would ever say.
I was criticising the economic effects of capitalism. The social and
especially the psychological effects I was trying to avoid
completely. The idea of late capitalism smacks of Mandel and Sweezy
and the Trotskites which I would want to distance myself from and
'the battle for ideological hegemony of socialist ideas' is the
mumbo-jumbo of Gramskism which I am equally uninfluenced by.
> To be consistent with Marx's terminology I would not say "private
> production" here. I would say "outside the realm of commodity production".
Domestic work was always outside the realm of commdoity production
the point about domestic work under captialism is it moves from being
'a public, socially necessary industry' to being separated from
social production. Under capitalism the concrete labour of an
individual becomes directly social only so far as the product ofthat
labour aquires an exchange value.
> This is all part of the "social life process" of our species. Only a subset of these
> activities are organised through commodity exchange, and only a subset of this
> subset are organised for the production of surplus value by capital
Yes, I have pointed out that there is a limited scope for indirectly
sociallising domesic work as Marx points out when discussing
unproductive labour. But domestic labour in the home does not even
fall into this category as it is not even exchanged for revenue as
the work of a cook or laundress is.
> No the distinction is not that capitalism is about the material, and
> socialists are about the spiritual.
Who said it was? Or is this just a rhetorical flourish on a different
topic. I don't know about Simon but I am not sure your reply to the
same conversation.
How spiritual is WORLD SOCIALISM for you Simon? :-)
John (who is look forward to a material communism)
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