Jim Devine:
>To say that each case must be examined only in its own terms (is this what
>you're really saying?) is totally anti-theoretic, leaning heavily toward
>stereotypes of post-modernism, full of sound and rhetorical fury but
>signifying nothing.
No, rather I am saying that Marxists should apply the historical
materialist method to Latin America in the 16th through 18th century. Marx
himself never did this. If you are serious about doing this, you have to
roll up your sleeves and engage with scholarly material. Although Wood
makes frequent references to the region, she never bothers with a concrete
analysis of concrete class relations. For that you have to look elsewhere.
At least with Brenner, you don't even get an inkling that the New World
even existed.
>But you said in the previous message it was capitalism (since work was done
>by PROLETARIANS)? that means that it was _like Russia_ in many ways! Thus,
>Latin America wasn't a unique case that should be analyzed solely in its
>own terms. Or did the oobleck mode of production prevail, one that was
>completely different from those of other countries, times, and places?
There was capitalism in Russia, capitalism in Latin America and capitalism
in Western Europe. Each region has its specific class relations and
dynamics. Trotsky and Lenin analyzed Russia. Marx and Engels analyzed
Western Europe. People like Celso Furtado, A.G. Frank, Mariategui, and
Adolfo Gilly analyzed Latin America. My analysis rests on their work, not
what Marx and Engels did not write.
>summary of the issues:
>
>(1) the oppression of Peru involved markets and merchant capital, within
>the context of the Spanish Empire. -- Both Blaut & Brenner would agree.
I just talked to Jim's ghost who is standing above my left shoulder and he
disagrees with you.
>(2) the oppression of Peru involved proletarianized labor (Louis' previous
>message) or it involved forced gang labor (Louis' current message). or
>maybe a combination of both (semi-proletarization)?
I am not interested in identifying the forms of labor. I am interested in
identifying the specific nature of the way in which capital was created.
Krupp used slave labor throughout WWII. It remained capitalist.
Louis Proyect
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