michael a. lebowitz wrote:
Ralph Johansen wrote:
I apologize to Mike Lebowitz for mistakenly referring to him as Daniel
Lebowitz. I have read his Build it Now, where he discusses Chavez's
appreciation of Meszaros's Archimedian Point, having to do with the
necessity to realize the significance of focusing on the concept of
exchange of activities, determined by communal needs and
purposes - rather than on exchange of things, commodities - as the
fulcrum of fundamental change. I haven't yet read Lebowitz's Beyond
Capital.
If you've made your way through Meszaros' 'Beyond Capital' ('mas alla
del Capital'), you'll find my 'Beyond CAPITAL' (mas alla de El
Capital') a snap! BTW, a mindblower but Chavez has really been into
the former (and gave Fidel a copy).
m
How can I express directly to Hugo Chavez how astounding and hopeful I
find the fact that he, with all the challenges he faces and the time
they occupy, has managed to find the space and the needed concentration
to absorb Meszaros's book and to have seen how it bears on what he is
trying to do? And of course, I can understand how much your input must
have on what is taking place there. The task seems almost insuperable,
and I fervently hope that you will all stay the course. By the way, I
once several years ago wrote a note to Lou's list saying that I had
found the translation I had read years before of Marta Harnecker's
summary of Marx's work "catechetical" or words to that effect. You wrote
me, asking who the hell I was, and I didn't at the time connect you with
Marta. While I couldn't change what I said, I certainly appreciate what
both you and Marta have been doing, over many years unflaggingly, and
certainly I greatly respect your dedication and the range of your
intellectual and practical comprehension.
My wife Michele Driscoll (a "red diaper baby") has just said to me - I
paraphrase roughly - that she's not surprised when I say that the only
responses I received to my remarks about Meszaros were from you and an
economist at a college founded by the Society of Jesus. I mean, in the
elapsed thirteen years, as far as I've been able to locate, not even so
much as a colorable critique! She says that I am fortunate in that I was
born 84 years ago, somewhat before the accelerating blight, and that I
had as a career the practice of law and what that entails in being
forced to concentrate on the abstract and its relation to the concrete;
that anyone who came of age in the past number of years, with all the
numbing distraction and cognitive dissonance in their lives, would not
be likely to find either the time or the interest or the comprehension
to stay with Meszaros's work. Or the works of Marx. She recounted how
incomprehensible her students found extracts she had given to her class
on Marx's concept of alienation. And that I should not blame her or
them. She thinks that Meszaros may be viewed historically as too dense
and arcane for his time and not sufficiently appreciative of how opaque
his works as he has presented them must seem to his contemporaries.
While I am not sure how universal that condition is, especially given
what other efforts I see being made, the understanding shown by you and
Chavez and a few others on the left, I see her point.
I would like to put out a readable appreciation of Beyond Capital soon,
in both of its manifestations. Although my background may not equip me
for the task, it's badly needed and I am going to try. I look forward to
Meszaros's coming book, as well as whatever you and Marta produce.
Best wishes,
Ralph
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