Re: [OPE-L] glossary for V1 of _Capital

From: Paul Zarembka (zarembka@BUFFALO.EDU)
Date: Wed Jan 09 2008 - 08:38:34 EST


--On 1/9/2008 10:30 AM +0100 Dave Zachariah wrote:

> I agree with Paul Z that the concept of "accumulation of capital" is
> ambiguous. However, it is not 'accumulation' that is hard to conceptualize
> but 'capital'. In the most general use 'capital' is a sum of money that is
> employed to obtain more money.

Marx's four volume work is called "Capital".  Is it about a sum of money?
I don't think so.  It is about the social relationship of capitalists to
wage-laborers.

I would argue that Dave's comment is an example of classical/neoclassical
conception penetrating marxist political economy (Marx himself had certain
ambiguous formulations -- but they were not a dominant tendency in his
work).

Of course my argument cannot be reduced in a few emails, but consider the
first couple of pages in the chapter "General Law of Capitalist
Accumulation".  It summarizes the prior chapter "Conversion of Surplus
Value into Capital".

Paul Z.

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