On 5/27/07, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Jim Devine wrote:
> it's a mistake to generalize from one plantation to conclude anything
> about the Southern slave-plantation cotton & sugar complex. Jefferson
> introduced improvements because he was in love with the
> Englightenment.
An idealistic intepretation from the get go.
well, an idealistic interpretation can apply for a single individual
with lots and lots of resources. It doesn't apply to larger social
processes. In simple terms, historical materialism applies
statistically. (In fact, in the GERMAN IDEOLOGY, M & E talk about
this.)
> But most plantation-owners accumulated land and slaves
> rather than improving technology (which they thought wouldn't mix with
> slavery) and rejected the Enlightenment, clinging instead to
> paternalistic & nostalgic visions equating themselves to the Greek
> and/or Roman slave-owners. (for some reason, Eugene Genovese fell in
> love with these ideologies.)
What kind of technology could you possibly be talking about in the 1770s
and 1780s? Computers? Diesel tractors? Fuel-injected frammuses?
I won't answer questions from people who are playing the fool.
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your
own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
