I think you are in danger of replicating the good old time religion of your youth there Louis.
There is a serious crisis in Western capitalism, but the mode of production categorically has not yet reached its absolute limits. The crisis in the West does not necessarily imply a general crisis of capitalism world wide, though they do offer the opportunity - given a concrete economic alternative - for socialist parties to potentially gain power. The problem is that in general neither the ultra left nor the social democracats have the conceptual framework to formulate such policies. ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, August 27, 2012 10:03 PM To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition; Progressive Economics Subject: [Pen-l] Capitalism and the ‘undeniable’ rise in living standards Two days ago I received an email from Ed Leahy, a Marxmail subscriber: I am a nascent Marxist and am now almost continually struggling against the general Capitalist ideological current that seems to have been internalized by pretty much everybody I know. I have found that the main argument they make for Capitalism is the ‘undeniable’ rise in living standards that has been engendered under a capitalist economy. I have been finding this a hard point to interrogate, as my own narrative is the same as theirs, i.e. the capitalist West has the highest standard of living, newly capitalist China is now lifting itself out of poverty etc. As a Marxist, how would you respond such a defense of Capitalism? my reply to Ed: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/capitalism-and-the-undeniable-rise-in-living-standards/ _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
