This is from Ch 23 on Simple Reproduction. The Roman slave was held by fetters: the wage-labourer is bound to his owner by invisible threads. The appearance of independence is kept up by means of a constant change of employers, and by the fictio juris of a contract.
The method that Jim mentions was to make the invisible threads clear. Both factors, his & mine, were at play. On Mon, Dec 18, 2006 at 09:28:34AM -0800, Jim Devine wrote: > On 12/18/06, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Marx put > > primitive accumulation in the back of volume 1 because he wanted to > > emphasize that > > the crux of capitalism was the "fair" exploitation by way of markets. > > This is not to deny the importance of primitive accumulation. > > I disagree (though not completely). I think the reason why PA appears > at the end of volume I is primarily that he organized the book > starting with the abstract (the most general phenomenon of capitalism, > the commodity) and worked toward the concrete. [Frankly, I think his > mode of presentation may have been a mistake, since it deters a lot of > readers and encourages misinterpretations.] > -- > Jim Devine / "The human being is in the most literal sense a political > animal, not merely a gregarious animal, but an animal which can > individuate itself only in the midst of society." -- Karl Marx. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
