"zero workers"? you mean proletarians (waged, non-slave, non-serf)? I think Brenner's point is that the process he describes _produced_ the proletarians as a class.
Yes, but that is after the fact. It is the commercial leasing of land under the whip of competition that he characterizes as the beginning of capitalism. This is a capitalism that only includes big farmers who rent land and small farmers who they exploit (not in the technical sense of the word.) No workers here at all. A capitalism without workers? Unlikely, to say the least.
I think the point is that the existence of proletarians there (who were free of the bonds of serfdom and slavery) was totally dependent on the existence of an industry (mining) that depended entirely on the existence of non-proletarian labor.
What is the source of your information about Bolivia? Who would you recommend as the primary authority on class relations in 17th century Latin American mining? -- www.marxmail.org
