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Nobody's perfect, Lou. You think Angelus isn't interested in the "transition period," while you yourself apparently see no connection between Marx's critique of capitalism, his labor theory of value, analysis of expanded reproduction, limits to capitalist accumulation, and class struggle. Hey, even me,...not even I'm perfect when it comes to making all the connections between Marx's analysis and the concrete tasks ahead of us. The Paris Commune might have been a dictatorship of the proletariat in one city, but the Commune never conquered capitalism where it counts-- in the relations between city and countryside. Marx writes somewhere [Grundrisse?] that all economics is the economics of relations between city and countryside. The abolition of capitalism, the TRANSITION, has to likewise conquer, transform those relations between city and countryside-- something the Russian Revolution struggled with and failed to revolutionize; something the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1940 struggled with and failed to revolutionize; something that the Chinese Revolution has also failed to revolutionize. So as great a moment as the Paris Commune was, forgive me for not thinking that neither it, nor Marx's analysis of it, nor Lenin's State and Revolution or the ultimate issue of the practical critique of capitalism we call class struggle. You are, IMO, simply reproducing the criticism you would like to make of Angelus-- "abtract theorizing," and "theoretical abstraction"-- in your own "anti-theory." Angelus was making a point about the logic of capitalism, and the logic of its abolition-- logic meaning reason, its internal relations that make it, capitalism, capitalism. In reality, Angelus is making a very modest, and basic, point about Marx's work. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Louis Proyect" <[email protected]> ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
