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--- en:the-commodity-and-communism [2022/09/11 09:09]
eaustreum
+++ en:the-commodity-and-communism [2022/12/27 22:05]
eaustreum 1 Introduction: adjust some formulations
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 ===== 1 Introduction =====
-Capital is self-expanding value, dead labour that enslaves the living. It is therefore close at hand to make value and abstract labour the main target of social critique. If abstract labour is the root out of which the categories of capital grow up -- wage labour, profit, modern land rent, accumulation, etc. -- then it must be abolished for a classless state of things to be established. This could conceivably take place in a revolution where the means of existence are made available to all without restriction (gratis), since the compulsion to work for a wage then falls away. A social reorganisation that, on the contrary, relies on abstract labour, or //work// as a distinct social activity, would then constitute a dead-end. At least that was formerly the opinion of the undersigned.((See e.g. Peter Åström, “Crisis and communisation", //Sic// no. 1, 2011.))
+Capital is self-expanding value, dead labour that enslaves the living. It is therefore close at hand to make value and abstract labour the main target of social critique. If abstract labour is the root out of which the categories of capital spring -- wage labour, profit, modern land rent, accumulation, etc. -- then it must be abolished for a classless state of things to be established. This could conceivably take place in a revolution where the means of existence are made available to all without restriction (gratis), since the compulsion to work for a wage then falls away. A social reorganisation that, on the contrary, relies on abstract labour, or //work// as a distinct social activity, would then necessarily constitute a dead-end. At least that was formerly the opinion of the undersigned.((See e.g. Peter Åström, “Crisis and communisation", //Sic// no. 1, 2011.))
 Under the influence of the Arab Winter((That is the counter-revolution in the Middle East and North Africa that began in 2012. See
- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Winter|Arab Winter]], //Wikipedia//.)), I came to abandon this perspective which emphasises the radically anti-capitalist side of the revolution.((As Henriksson mentions, I took issue with “The suspended step of communisation”, //Sic// no. 1, 2011; see especially pp. 152ff and 164. The author of that article saw the introduction of communism as dependant on the immediate abolition of value, which he assumed require combating all //measuring of labour time//, any distinction between production and consumption as well as the notion of a //product//.)) I became convinced that the positive side must also be emphasised, not dismissed as mere speculation. Despite being completely unsustainable in the long term, the dynamic of the capitalist mode of production does in fact, in the normal case, satisfy basic human needs such as food, water and shelter. For communism to constitute a real alternative, it must therefore take seriously the question of how to secure material reproduction. If not, one or the other reactionary perspective will surely be put forward instead, for example nationalism or religious fanaticism.
+ [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Winter|Arab Winter]], //Wikipedia//.)), I came to abandon this perspective which emphasises the radically anti-capitalist side of the revolution.((As Henriksson mentions, I took issue with “The suspended step of communisation”, //Sic// no. 1, 2011; see especially pp. 152ff and 164. The author of that article saw the introduction of communism as dependent on the immediate abolition of value, which he assumed requires combating all //measuring of labour time//, any distinction between production and consumption as well as the //notion of a product//.)) I became convinced that the positive side must also be emphasised, not dismissed as mere speculation. Despite being completely unsustainable in the long term, the dynamic of the capitalist mode of production does in fact, in the normal case, satisfy basic human needs such as food, water and shelter. For communism to constitute a real alternative, it must therefore take seriously the question of how to secure material reproduction. If not, in the event of a social crisis, one or the other reactionary perspective will surely be put forward instead, for example nationalism or religious fanaticism.
-When, in the light of this revaluation, I returned to //Capital// and other canonical writings, I made a discovery that should have been obvious from the very beginning: Marx does not take //value// as his point of departure but //the commodity//, which puts the question of the former in a very different light. This text, taking the commodity form as its point of departure, is an attempt to summarise important parts of Marx's analysis of capital so as to answer
+When, in the light of this revaluation, I returned to //Capital// and other canonical writings, I made a discovery that should have been obvious from the very beginning: Marx does not take //value// as his point of departure but //the commodity//, which puts the question of the former in a very different light. This text, taking the //commodity form// as its point of departure, is an attempt to summarise important parts of Marx's analysis of capital so as to answer
    * what is value;
    * what does the abolition of capital imply; and
-   * how can a communist reorganization of social reproduction be envisaged?
+   * how can a communist reorganisation of social reproduction be envisaged?
 ===== 2 The commodity =====