This we already know: 1. horse 2. cart. But there is also the question of how does one ATTACH the cart to the horse so that when the horse moves forward, the cart does too. We are lectured, repeatedly, on the irrelevance of the cart in the absence of the horse. But what happens when the horse suddenly arrives and we have no cart? We are told that the horse is here we have no time to dally and build a cart.
No, it doesn't all reduce to the "magic inherent in Chapman's theory of hours." The reason I harp on Chapman's theory is because it offers a practical, technical implementation of principles that Herr Karl Marx heralded as essential to the emancipatory struggle but only offered slogans and resolutions for their implementation. The parallel I would offer (and in fact have) is the matter of double-entry book-keeping and capitalist accumulation. Werner Sombart argued that the concept of capital as "that amount of wealth which is used in making profits and which enters into the accounts... did not exist before double-entry book-keeping." This is not to say that proto-capitalist activists said, "hey, kids, let's develop double-entry book-keeping so that we can have a concept of capital as self-increasing value!" Nevertheless, such accounting techniques did indeed develop historically and solidified and 'automated' capital's domination over the labor process. With that historical example, we are today in the position that we could, if we wanted to, advance a counter-technique to D.E.B. that regards social production and consumption, rather than the accumulation of capital, as the motivating principle. We could do that -- or we could say that it would be pointless to do such a thing because first we must have a People's Party and full employment achieved by means of public investment. Ah, yes! And what a waste all that astronomy nonsense was when we should have just waited until we had space ships that were millions of times more effective in collecting data! On Sat, Jul 23, 2011 at 7:56 AM, Shane Mage <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Jul 23, 2011, at 10:25 AM, Sandwichman wrote: > > My recall of events is slightly different, Jim: > > 1. gene: let's cut work hours > 2. Jim: good idea, but how do we keep employers from cutting wages? > 3. Sandwichman: by doing our own hours accounting based on Chapman's theory > of hours. see link to power point presentation or manuscript chapter > detailing how this can be done. > > This has to be the most pointless discussion since the mice discussed and > concluded that a bell had to be put around the cat's neck--but when one of > them asked "Now, how do we bell the cat?" the only answer was > > 4. silence > > because none of them had grasped the magic inherent in Chapman's Theory of > Hours. > > Reduction of the legal work week is a *political* issue, ie., a matter of > class struggle, not a question of theory. Until a mass "People's" (ie., > left-populist) Party is formed and the Dumbocrats have gone with the Whigs, > cutting work hours without cutting incomes will never be on anybody's > agenda. And if popular disgust with Obama keeps mounting to the point where > a People's Party is formed to contest the 2012 elections, it will still have > no place on that party's agenda because the central need of the people is > vastly increased public investment with the concomitant establishment of > full employment (~3% of the potential labor force temporarily unemployed). > Then and only then, with full employment a reality and the Labor Movement > reborn, and with the official work-week actually enforced on the whole > economy, could we begin to talk meaningfully about reducing the official > work-week. > > > Shane Mage > > "scientific discovery is basically recognition of obvious realities > that self-interest or ideology have kept everybody from paying attention > to" > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > -- Sandwichman
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
