From: Sandwichman Answer: "but with this too grows the revolt of the working class, a class always increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organised by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself." Maybe not "dialectical rubbish" but perhaps wishful thinking as to the logical inevitability of the "very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself" disciplining, uniting and organizing the working class for the revolt to expropriate the expropriators.
^^^^^^^^ CB: Yup :>( . Unfortunately, Jay Gould's dictum that he could hire half the working class to kill the other half has played as much a role in capitalist history since 1867 as Marx's dictum. This has been by both out right murderous forms as in the US wars on Korea and Vietnam and, "civil" forms as in relatively high living standards afforded masses of workers in Western nations that beget opportunism. The capitalists have learned from Marx. They have taken measures that very precisely counter the processes Marx drew attention to. For example, with so-called globalization they have scattered the point of production physically and geographically significantly reversing what Marx termed "cooperation" - putting large numbers of workers in one plant or factory , and in industrially concentrated regions. Marx used the term "cooperation" in an earlier chapter ( from the above quoted passage) in which he defines industry as the combination of cooperation and machinery. The number of workers necessary to do a job is reduced in general by the constant revolution of the instruments of production ( see _Manifesto of the Communist Party). More efficient machinery or instruments of production is defined by fewer person hours necessary to do the same amount of work. The revolutions in science and technology which allows more specifically automation, and major advances in communication and transportation have made this possible. Cooperation is a major aspect of how Marx sees that workers are "disciplined, united, organised by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself". Significantly negating cooperation or partially negating it undermines Marx's prediction substantially. The negation of cooperation was through the greater development of machinery ( computers, automation , containerization, trucks, et al). So, this is dialectical in that one aspect of this unity and struggle of opposites negates the other aspect. But it is not a happy dialectic from the standpoint of the working class burying capitalism. boo hoo ! -- _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
