Yes, indeed. And Silvia Federici, in Caliban and the Witch and elsewhere has discussed at length the role of witch burnings in the creation of divisions within the working class. "Primitive accumulation, then, was not simply an accumulation and concentration of exploitable workers and capital. It was also an accumulation of differences and divisions within the working class, whereby hierarchies built upon gender, as well as 'race' and age, became constitutive of class rule and formation of the modern proletariat." (Pp. 63-64) It is indeed a very interesting passage to have left out of Chapter 31, p. 920 of Ben Fowkes, on primitive accumulation, in English translations of Volume One. Thanks for pointing it out, Angelus. -Conrad
From: Sandwichman <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Reply-To: Progressive Economics <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:56:24 -0800 To: Angelus Novus <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, Progressive Economics <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Missing Passage in English Versions of Capital I cant' answer the question but it is an extremely interesting sentence to be missing. Carl Wennerlind in Casualties of Credit cites capital punishment for counterfeiters as one of the key elements in the establishment of the English financial revolution, along with war and the slave trade. Isaac Newton was appointed Warden of the Royal Mint and went after counterfeiters zealously -- visiting jails and taverns in disguise to get evidence against them. On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 5:36 AM, Angelus Novus <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: In the German original text, when Marx writes about the historical role of the Bank of England, there is the following passage: "Allmählich wurde sie der unvermeidliche Behälter der Metallschätze des Landes und das Gravitationszentrum des gesamten Handelskredits. Um dieselbe Zeit, wo man in England aufhörte, Hexen zu verbrennen, fing man dort an, Banknotenfälscher zu hängen." The first sentence is reproduced both in the Ben Fowkes and Edward Aveling translations. In the Aveling translation at the MIA, it reads as follows: "Gradually it became inevitably the receptacle of the metallic hoard of the country, and the centre of gravity of all commercial credit." The second sentence is **missing from both English translations**. It means: "In England, at the same time that the burning of witches ceased, counterfeiters of bank notes were starting to be hanged." So I checked the Spanish edition, translated by Wenceslao Roces, and the missing sentence is there: "Por los años en que Inglaterra dejaba de quemar brujas, comenzaba a colgar falsificadores de billetes de banco." Does anybody know what the story is as to why this passage is missing from **both** English translations? Can you all confirm its absence or presence in other languages? _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[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
