Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 07:34:46 BST From: Chris Burford <cburford-AT-gn.apc.org> Subject: Re: Ron Press' observation On 3rd April Rakesh wrote > In his analysis of what he calls the treadmill of capitalist production, > Moishe Postone also demonstrates at a high level of abstraction why > increased labor productivity in itself does not increase wealth in its > capitalist form--value. Hello Rakesh, Did not Marx do the same - in that the labour theory of value argues that the sum total of exchange value - at whatever level of productivity - cannot be larger than the total number of hours of labour time engaged in producing commodities according to what is socially necessary with the prevailing customs and technology? I am not trying to make a clever quibble to suggest that Postone is irrelevant. On the contrary I increasingly feel that unless Marxists have a coherent way of criticising what I think we would better call the triumphant advance of commodity exchange [I believe Marx never used the word capitalism?] then we will not get our ideas over to the 'masses'. I also believe deeply that the labour theory of value is one of the pillars of marxism, and eminently comprehensible by non-academic folk, who sell their labour power. I just can't upload my file drawing the attention of this list to the very interesting article by Paul Cockshott in the Spring issue of Capital and Class reporting on a successful empirical testing of the ltv in the British economy. Regards, Chris Burford --- from list marxism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- ------------------
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005