On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 7:02 AM, Max Sawicky <[email protected]> wrote: > Not the usual first paragraph in a New Republic article: > > One of the most important lessons of Karl Marx's Capital is that > capitalism is not a self-regulating mechanism (with which the > government interferes at its own peril), but a set of > government-enforced social relations that structure the production and > distribution of wealth. These relationships--depicted in Economics 101 > textbooks as "natural" rather than "man-made"--are largely invisible > except in times of economic crisis, when they can become key factors > in shaping the government's response.
That's not exactly what CAPITAL said, though it agrees with Marx's view in general. The state does not show up very much at all, except in the last section of volume I, where he writes about how capitalism was created via state coercion. Of course, the state is absolutely necessary to the _preservation_ of capitalist social relations after that, but that doesn't show up much in CAPITAL.Though there is some discussion of monetary policy in volume III, the book is mostly about how capitalism works in "normal" times and how those workings lead to the end of normality (conflict, crises). It's also about how the system of production for markets (commodity production), which seems "natural" to many or most of its participants, is hiding a system of artificial social relations which are "invisible except in times of economic crisis" -- or during overt class struggles (mass strikes, inside factories, etc.), something that Judis forgets. Capitalist social relations are largely invisible to those who only look at markets (like NC economists) but not so to those inside work-places (especially toward the bottom of the hierarchy). -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
