File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-01-19.123, message 48


Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 06:59:39 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: M-I: Reply to Paul Zarembka (RE: Research in Political Economy)


It was Ajit actually. What the workshop was on, I can't remember. All I
know was that it was a rather microscopic exegesis of a chapter in vol. 2
or 3 of Capital. Crisis theory? OK, probably not. It could have been on
the FROP or the LTV, for all I know. I am not a Marxologist. 

More to the point, I am describing a *problem* for the left that you seem
to be uncomfortable with. This has to do with the rather arcane nature of
much of what PEN-L, your journal, Jerry Levy's list and URPE deal with on
a day to day basis. This is examination of the logical consistency of
Marx's writings on the circulation of capital. It tries to either
"complete" Marx's work, or defend it against people like Sraffa. That's
fine. There's nothing wrong with that. 

Just realize that for the organized left, these discussions have very
little significance. Just as I spent 28 years as a socialist activist
without having a clue who G.A. Cohen was, I was also in the position of
never having heard of Sraffa, Bohm-Bawerk, Grossman, etc. 

Why would I, in fact? I like the American novel, especially depression era
writers such as James T. Farrell. Does this mean that I am familiar with
the secondary literature like Alan Wald, a professional critic, is? Of
course not.

The problem with academic Marxism is that it really doesn't have the kind
of self-awareness that it should. When URPE or Rethinking Marxism puts ads
in the Nation talking about how their conferences will be discussing
socialist issues, these are issues that only exist *within* the framework
of the academy. I only got something out of the recent Amherst conference
because I've been on these Spoons lists for the last couple of years and
have gotten up to speed on Althusser, etc. On the economics front, I read
Marx and Ernest Mandel in the early 70s and that's the long and short of
it. 

I would like to catch up on the literature, but I simply don't have time. 
I would like to find out what all the controversy is with Bohm-Bawerk,
Grossman, etc. But I don't have time and maybe never will. The truth is
that unless you have this kind of background, an URPE conference and Jerry
Levy's list will be as meaningful to you as one of the Unix manuals I have
on my desk. It is just technical literature for the insider. 

Lou




On Fri, 17 Jan 1997, Paul Zarembka wrote:

> Initially, when I read Louis' comment below, I took his word for it that
> the person he was referring to was accurate--that Ajit Sinha had indeed
> spoken at a URPE conference on Crisis Theory.  Sinha now reports to me
> that altho there are many "rather thin" people with glasses, he was NOT
> the one at that conference as he has never spoken at an URPE conference on
> Crisis Theory.
> 
> Louis, may I suggest you try to be a bit more careful about people, as I'd
> rather not have to post just to keep the record clear on an issue like
> this.
> 
> Thanks, Paul
> 



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