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Hi,
Sorry, I'm new to this, so I'm not sure if I'm emailing this right, or, indeed,
if I know what I'm talking about at all.
I don't quite follow the article.
I thought that Marxists believe there is a distinction to be made between the
progress of capitalism and the progress of the human race.
Goldner seems to argue that this cannot be a genuine capitalist boom, because
there has been such a growth of exploitation, poverty and general nastiness in
the world. I thought Marx argued precisely that capitalist growth was
exploitation! On the world stage, hasn't capitalist progress always been marked
by crisis, colonialism (developing into imperialism proper) and war? Didn't the
progress of that great capitalist nation, the USA, in the progressive age of
capitalism involve 'net retrogression' for the Indians, say?
But, at the same time, by developing production (however brutally), capitalism
lays the foundation for a fair society where there is plenty for all. A lot of
Goldner's statistics seem to deal with the distribution of wealth rather than
its production. Hasn't the productive capacity of the world increased over the
past decades (in China, India, etc.), even if it is not being distributed
fairly to all (as he details)? And isn't it the ability to keep *producing*
profitably that is the foundation of capitalist stability (or otherwise) at any
time (even if problems of distribution - e.g. poverty leading to
under-consumption - can obviously cause secondary problems)?
Is the latest crisis therefore a secondary crisis of distribution rather than
of productive overaccumulation (although that's where its roots obviously lie,
back in the crisis of Western industry in the 1970s)? I mean of distributing
surplus value from exploitation in China, etc., back to capitalism in the West.
I really don't know enough to say.
Thanks, hope there's some kind of sense in there somewhere.
_
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