On 12/18/09, Matthew Birkhold <birkh...@gmail.com> wrote: > CB, > Thanks for sending that. I know I owe you some thoughts on Fordism, > Leninism, and Marx's general law and they're coming. > > In your estimation, how important is cyclical unemployment to Marx's general > law? Or, in other words, does permanent unemployment require us to move > beyond Marx's general law because the industrial reserve army will never be > hired back and, consequently, the great mass of proletarianiazed people no > longer have any power at the point of production?
On this point, I usually think of the general law of capitalist accumulation as a "secular" trend, in the economists' sense of "permanent", continuous or not cyclical. So, permanent unemployment is one of the central features of the general law of continous immiseration of some mass of people. > > An Argentinian marxist named Jose Nun wrote a piece in 1964 where he argued > that, in Latin AMerica, there existed a marginal mass of people who, unlike > the IRA, were afunctional. They would never be hired into production > because the technological revolution taking place during that time (i.e. > automation) meant that the industrial working class was no longer constantly > growing, as Marx had argued in chapter 32 of Capital but instead was growing > smaller. reserve army and "relative surplus population", yes. Is the industrial working class, worldwide, growing smaller absolutely or relatively ? I imagine there are more industrial workers today in absolute number than in 1867. > > Hope you're well. > > Peace, Matt Same to you , comrade. > > On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 9:35 AM, c b <cb31...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > At one pole increased wealth , 11or 12 trillion dollars or so goes to > > Wallstreet; at the proletarian pole a mass reserve army of the > > relative surplus population, lazurus layers of immiseration , > > concentrated geographically in places like Detroit. > > > > CB > > > > > > Nearly half of Detroit's workers are unemployed > > > > > > http://detnews.com/article/20091216/METRO01/912160374/Nearly-half-of-Detroit-s-workers-are-unemployed > > > > > > "The greater the social wealth, the functioning capital, the extent > > and energy of its growth, and, therefore, also the absolute mass of > > the proletariat and the productiveness of its labour, the greater is > > the industrial reserve army. The same causes which develop the > > expansive power of capital, develop also the labour-power at its > > disposal. The relative mass of the industrial reserve army increases > > therefore with the potential energy of wealth. But the greater this > > reserve army in proportion to the active labour-army, the greater is > > the mass of a consolidated surplus-population, whose misery is in > > inverse ratio to its torment of labour. The more extensive, finally, > > the lazarus-layers of the working-class, and the industrial reserve > > army, the greater is official pauperism. This is the absolute general > > law of capitalist accumulation. Like all other laws it is modified in > > its working by many circumstances, the analysis of which does not > > concern us here. " > > > > > > http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch25.htm#S4 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > > Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu > > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > > > > > > -- > If one needs a community to resist, interdependence must be seen as a moral > obligation. > > "Men don't need to show our manhood, we need to show our humanity" -- James > Boggs, 1990 > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
