Date: 30 Jan 97 03:29:04 EST From: Chris Burford <100423.2040-AT-CompuServe.COM> Subject: M-I: simple questions I agree of course with Jerry, that marxism-intro was designed for the discussion of basic questions about marxism for people who want to use that forum. But I think sometimes the apparently simple questions are not so simple. I was interested in reading all the replies to Anthony's question as well as accepting the challenge to reply myself. It seems that the sort of cross-fertilization that the internet can bring between generations, positions, practice and theory can sometimes be very creative. I concede that the historical record over 18 months proves that Jerry (and others) were right that we needed moderated lists (marxism- international is now approaching double the volume of marxism-general and has a much wider range of contributors, while marxism-thaxis also has a large number of subscribers). Tit for tat is an option open to any contributor on these lists if they think it in their interest, but I would caution Jerry against what some might see as escalation. The moderators of marxism-international appear to be willing to be seen as stricter than those of some other lists, even if they know they may be accused of being in the wrong, or worse. The allegation about Doug's assistant on the LBO, IMO, was far more than adequately ventilated on thaxis. 90% of the population in capitalist society are potential wage slaves in that they have nothing to sell but their labour power. That is where the slavery comes in, whatever choice they then make in selling their labour power, or indeed accepting self-employment under unfavourable conditions. It is well known that left wingers are not influenced by material incentives alone and some volunteer to work with projects out of interest even though their remuneration is less than the price of their labour power in comparison to the social average for their level of skill. But the same thing goes for self-employed left-wingers who like many small shopkeepers in capitalist society, have one or two people working with them, but in a sense exploit themselves, in that a trade unionist could advise them they could try to sell their labour power at a higher rate if they concentrated on material incentives alone. But as Anthony's indignant question illustrated, the idea that the height of democracy is the reduction of human beings to the narrowest but perfectly equal pursuit of material incentives, is a crime against both truth and humanity. Regards, Chris Burford London --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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