In this quote, Marx is not talking about revolutionary transformation necessarily, but rather about the regular crises within capitalism still.
Such crises may be involved in a revolutionary transformation as a sort of trigger, but Marx is not claiming that underconsumption is the ultimate cause of revolution. Of course, poverty does contribute to revolution, but that's not the point in this particular quote. >>> <waistli...@aol.com> 01/20/2009 4:45 PM >>> In a message dated 1/20/2009 11:02:19 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, _charl...@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us_ (mailto:charl...@cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us) writes: "The ultimate reason for all real crises always remains the poverty and restricted consumption of the masses as opposed to the drive of captialist production to develop the productive forces as though only the absolute consuming power of society constituted their outer limit " (Capital vol. III, Moscow, 1959, pp. 472-73) ; quoted in The Development of Capitalism in Russia. WL Capital can never employed all the proletarians, all the time or (ALL OF THE PROLETARIAN) most of the time, and this is a built in restriction on consumption, even during period of expanding consumption. This mass of non-producing consumers allows the capitalist to set wages. (Non-producing classes is what Marx calls it is the top portion of the material quoted above). Reply Sorry, but the first sentence needed correction. Why can the capitalists (bourgeois property) NOT employ all the proletarians all of the time or all of the proletarian most of the time? The answer cannot be because of the restricted consumption of the masses. What brings our society to revolution (the ultimate crisis of all crisis) is not the restricted consumption of the masses, but rather bourgeois private property, or rather revolution in the mode of production, beginning with a revolution in the productive forces of society. New classes are formed by the introduction of new productive equipment, that compels society to reorganize itself around the expanding new means of production. The productive forces come into conflict with the existing social relations of production, then a period of revolution unfolds. Here is the ultimate source of all crisis, in all societies founded on the private property form. Stated another way, crisis of overproduction or the crisis embodied in the falling rate of production as a tendency of capitalist production are simply the face - an expression of something else. That something else is the meaning of bourgeois private property. All crisis have as their ultimate source property; private ownership of the means of production, not the restricted consumption of the masses. This statement runs counter to the quote above. Anyone familiar with Marx knows that his outline of the science of society states in no uncertain terms that revolution is always the result of change - qualitative changes, in the means of production. However, one cannot explain any crisis on the basic "changes in the means of production." One has to study the peculiar crisis one is addressing. The ultimate cause of crisis is not the restricted consumption of the masses. Is this statement proof of anti-communism and anti-Marxism? Of course not. WL This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from _http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm_ (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De cemailfooterNO62) _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
