Lakshmi Rhone wrote: > Regarding the purpose of accumulation Marx tells us that the aim of the > entire process ‘does not by any means exclude increasing consumption on the > part of the capitalist as his surplus value ... increases; on the contrary, > it emphatically includes it’ (1956, p. 70). Marx also writes: "we find that > certain exponents of the mercantile system ... deliver lengthy sermons to > the effect that the individual capitalist should consume only as much as the > labourer, that the nation of capitalists should leave the consumption of > their own commodities, and the consumption process in general, to the other, > less intelligent nations. (Marx, 1956, p. 60) The quotes are from Capital > vol II > > Capitalists could consume surplus value, but then their consumption fund > would be extinguished. Only by renovating enterprise through the > capitalization of surplus value and accumulation of capital, can the > capitalists hope to enjoy an infinite series of sums for their own > consumption. In this way the capitalists both personify capital and indulge > themselves. And that is how what you think is a contradiction is resolved. > Note again the accumulation process emphatically includes not only > capitalist consumption but--as long as it is proceeding well--increasing > sums for capitalist consumption. > It is wholly misleading to characterize capitalists as ascetic social > servants. Weber took some lines in Marx to create a whole theory of the > worldly asceticism of the bourgeoisie. But this is a mischaracterization > .... At any rate, > capitalists do not sit idly by once the accumulation process begins eating > into the size of their sums for capitalist consumption, and historically > they have reduced accumulation to maintain their consumption.
besides Weber, who thinks that Marx ignores capitalist consumption or assumes it away? In volume I, chapter 24, section 3, he discusses this issue. To some degree, the rate of accumulation (or the ratio of accumulation to surplus-value) is a subjective decision. Capitalists face a "Faustian conflict between the passion of accumulation, and the desire for enjoyment." (NC stories of saving being a voluntary matter apply best to those with social power.) He sees "accumulate, accumulate!" as the "Moses and the prophets" to the capitalists, but points to the way that capitalists often violate their own moral principles. By the way, we should reject the myth that for Marx, workers never save. The assumption that workers have a zero MPC only works as a first approximation, since Marx refers to them having savings. -- Jim Devine / If you're going to support the lesser of two evils, you should at least know the nature of that evil. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
