In _The World's Wasted Wealth 2_ by J.W. Smith, p. 337, the
author gives an explanation of the concept of *superproprietors*
as follows:
QUOTE:
... The changes in the past two hundred years
make it difficult to understand the eighteenth-century
conception of liberty embodied in the Constitutiion. For the
founders, private property was the best guarantee of the
public good, because the richest members of society were the
ones with the strongest interest in its prosperity. The
richest merchants in New York would have the most public
spirit when it came to improving the harbor. The largest
planters would care the most about improving communications
and agriculture. And the rich of all kinds would have the
greatest interest in governing society in such a way as to
avoid provoking rebellion by excessive laxity or severity
in law and administration....The independent producer in a
free market was the centerpiece of the Jeffersonian system
in his incarnation as a farmer; in his mercantile form this
producer was the center of Hamilton's system. This figure
has been driven to the fringes of American life, but not by
the rabble. Instead a new class of *superproprietors* has
338 THE WORLD'S WASTED WEALTH 2
grown up and eclipsed the farmer, merchant, and laborer
altogether. 15 (emphasis added)
With the marginalization of the farmer, merchant, and
laborer, a money aristocracy has claimed superior rights. The
elimination of the excessive rights the powerful have structured
into the law would leave true free-enterprise capitalism which,
in turn, would create a wealthier society. ...
END QUOTE
Footnote 15 is as follows:
15 Walter Russell Mead, _Mortal Splendor_ (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1987), pp. 120-21.
Admittedly this is not a Marxist reference, but I happened to be
reading this material when your post arrived.
_The World's Wasted Wealth 2_ (1994) by J.W. Smith can be
obtained from: The Institute for Economic Democracy, Box 303,
Cambria, CA 93428. The author's chapter 18 "Subtly Monopolizing
Money, Money Capital, and Banks" goes into the details of
*superexploitation*. I.e., it fills out the concept.
Smith now has a web page at http://www.slonet.org/~jwsmith/
Curtis Moore, facilitator of the conference <econ.democracy> on
PeaceNet.
Original message: ----------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 12:58:00 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Walter Daum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [PEN-L:6180] query: superexploitation
Does anyone recall the original (or any) use of the term
"superexploitation" in Marxist literature?
Thanks,
Walter Daum
