----- Original Message ----- From: "sartesian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 1:51 PM Subject: Re: [PEN-L] absolute general law of capitalist accumulation
> Chris Burford states at the beginning of his post that the general law exists only to conclude, in his "remedy," that Marx expresses the law upside down:< I do not accept this is a correct summary of what I wrote, but others can judge for themselves, preferably by going to the whole text. Chris Burford > Chris argues that the result of this law is the relative > privilege and well being of the workers in the "metropolitan countries", and > that the only solution is a "halt" in the "wealth" (living standards?) of > those workers in favor a radical redistribution of use values.. > > In theory, the general law argues that the 'reserve army' does not function > to enhance the 'wealth' of the employed workers, but rather to pressure > against relative and absolute improvements. > > In fact the bourgeoisie do not redistribute the extracted values from > "imperialized" countries to their own workers. Careful examination of the > facts regarding capital import/export, proportions of profit from overseas > operations, "rentier" instruments etc, show that none of the notions so > often vulgarized from Lenin's polemic about imperialism actually describe > the functioning of the advanced capitalism. > > Any number of "radicals," of left or right, can and will argue that the > workers in the advanced countries must sacrifice their "wealth" for reasons > of right and left-- like the national good, the international good, the > moral good, and for the sake of the soul. But such "sacrifice" has nothing > in common with Marx's analysis. > > Believe me, before the workers of the advanced countries begin their > revolutionary struggle, they will have sacrificed plenty, without benefit to > the workers of the less advance countries. The bourgeoisie will see to > that. When the advanced workers begin their revolutionary struggle, they > will be sacrificing more. The civil war will see to that. But to propose > that the outcome of that process, which liberates the means of production > from the obsolete, destructive relations of production, requires further > declines in living standards is to make the revolution at heart a > "zero-sum" at best, and a negative in practice. > ________________________________ > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chris Burford" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 12:16 AM > Subject: Re: [PEN-L] absolute general law of capitalist accumulation
