hari kumar asked: > But it seems that you are not referring to the famous 'Preface' outlining > some key notions of historical materialism.
That is *precisely* the famous 'Preface' I am referring to. "From forms of development of the productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters." In notebook IV of the *Grundrisse* Marx defined what he saw as the fetters specific to capital. That appears on page 415 of the English translation by Martin Nicolaus. Incidentally, toward the end of his 1968 NLR essay, "The Unknown Marx," Nicolaus described the passage as "expos[ing] the basis of overproduction, the fundamental contradiction of developed capital." With overproduction referring not simply to an excess of inventory, but "excess productive power more generally." In the Forward to his translation of the* Grundrisse*, Nicolaus described the notebooks as "one long extended commentary upon [the 1859 Preface]; inversely, the 1859 formulation is a summary, in a word, of the *Grundrisse*." I would amend that last part to say the 1859 Preface is an *ambiguous** and incomplete* summary of the argument in two of the *Grundrisse *notebooks -- specifically notebooks IV and VII. Notebooks IV and VII examine in detail the different aspects of the contradiction between the forces and relations of production and their relationship to the creation of disposable time and its appropriation by capital in the form of surplus labour. The two notebooks also quote the 1821 pamphlet, *The Source and Remedy of the National Difficulties *in some of the most dramatic passages of Marx's analysis clearly indicating that Marx has adopted the concept of disposable time from the pamphlet. But what an adoption! Unless one is familiar with *The Source and Remedy, *one cannot understand how far beyond the pamphlet Marx went with his analysis of the key relationship between disposable time and surplus value. Disposable time was not just some Utopian speculation for Marx. It is both the raw material of surplus value and the substance that can be "turned on its head" to form the basis of emancipation from wage labour. Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#34318): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/34318 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/110224367/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
