From: "Greg Schofield" <g_schofield-AT-dingoblue.net.au>
Subject: Re: AUT: highest form of capitalism
Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2002 07:45:11 +0800


Nate thanks for your perspetive questions.

Never feel apologetic for not having read something, or not being overly familiar with it (how much can anyone read and be familiar with).

Actually your question arises from my clumsy expression. My statements about never being able to run history backwards stem from a general understanding, not anything specific with capital and its socialisation.

Of course attempts to run history backwards are common (witness neo-liberalism) however, even when the form appears to resemble the past, it is never really the same thing. A bit like Hitler dressing up Nazism in ancient teutonic dress (fastidious period costumes ruined by Swastikas), the effect is usually more farcical then serious.

In the sense that history accumulates, creates multitudes of contigences and lurches about like a drunk, actually pushing things back into a previous form is a rather hopeless task (like having all the broken pieces of a jar reassemeble themselves - it can be done but requires a lot of energy and the end product can never really be the same as it was).

Sorry Nate I don't really disagree with you, in fact, I would say that capital all the times reaches back to its previous forms and remakes itself to fit how it use to be (how many paid managers pose as capitalists which they are not, why do monopolies believe they are competing when they are dictating terms, why do work contracts appear as free associations when they are in fact treaties imposed by superior force - the list is endless), but it is mostly illusion.

Theoretically, though it would be very hard, some forms could be resurrected but I think it is a bit like Jurrasic Park - that is, to do it well it would have to be something of an isolated theme park.

In short Nate your observation is correct, the only caveat is that you must also take on the spagetti-like complexity of historical reality into account as well. The annoying part of history is that it constantly reaches back for old clothes precisely when it is doing something new, and often dresses up the old issues in new clothes. Sorry that I cannot be of any more help on this.

Greg


--- Message Received ---
From: Nate Holdren <nateholdren-AT-hotmail.com>
To: aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 18:24:03 -0500
Subject: Re: AUT: highest form of capitalism

Greg-
I'm not really that familiar with Lenin, so I apologize if this is a dumb 
question. You said that Lenin "puts forward imperialism as being a product 
of the self-socialisation of capital and in the final chapter specifies 
greater socialization to follow (post-imperialism)". I think I remember you 
saying elsewhere with regard to the former Soviet Union that much of capital 
was still socialized and that socialization of capital was either 
irreversible or tremendously difficult to reverse.
That it should be tremendously difficult to reverse makes sense to me, as 
the process of socialization is also a difficult and painful process, but 
why would the process be irreversible? Is it true that capital can never 
turn back the clock, reconfiguring to look something like a previous era? I 
can see why capital would not want to do this, generally, but is it 
genuinely impossible for capital to do so?
Thanks.
Nate


Greg Schofield
Perth Australia
g_schofield-AT-dingoblue.net.au
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