The big positive of capitalism -- Marx wrote of its "historic mission" was to prepare the way for communism. Slavery and fuedalism also helped to promote this progress, but like capitalism, they became an outmoded form.
On Fri, Mar 30, 2007 at 11:32:30AM -0700, Jim Devine wrote: > > Marx's "positives" about capitalism are hardly pure positives. > Capitalism destroys established jobs, established communities, etc. > But then it creates new jobs that are purely under the capitalist > thumb. There's a switch from (perhaps primitive) autonomy of human > life to non-autonomous life in work capitalist iron cage. If we > extrapolate this, it ends up with the Frankfurt School's somewhat > Weberian vision of totalitarian capitalism. Sure, there may be > something like "full employment" (as usually defined), but there was > something like that in Huxley's _Brave New World_. > -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
