[OPE-L:4735] Re: captal scarcity

From: Paul Cockshott (paul@cockshott.com)
Date: Fri Dec 22 2000 - 05:30:15 EST


On Fri, 22 Dec 2000, you wrote:
> Gil writes [#4729]:
> 
> ... D)  As noted before, the key systemic basis for surplus value is capital
> sscarcity. ... capitalist exploitation can be eliminated simply through
> sufficient wealth redistribution.
> 
> I don't get it: if the cause of capitalism is capital scarcity, how does
> re-distributing what is already insufficient abolish it?
> 
> Julian

Focus on scarcity is misleading.

One should look instead at the physical form of the means of production.
They are such that they 
1. require operation by a collective operative
2. their labour content per capita represents of the order of years of work
These circumstances inhibit personal private ownership of the means
of production and necessitate their ownership by either rich individuals,
firms or some form of collective ownership.
-- 
Paul Cockshott, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland
0141 330 3125  mobile:07946 476966
paul@cockshott.com
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/people/personal/wpc/
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc/reports/index.html



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