I want to add just a brief comment that I agree with the "historical
specificity" side (Duncan, Ted, Mike W., Andrew, Murray) of the current
debate on abstract labor. This is of course consistent with the view that I
have expressed before that all the key concepts of Marx's theory are
historically specific to capitalist production.
In response to Paul, who called Rubin's analysis ambiguous, I would urge
Paul (and others interested) to reread Rubin's Chapter 14 on "Abstract
Labor", already quoted by Murray. It seems to me that Rubin clearly and
consistently distinguished between "abstract labor" in a capitalist economy
and "socially equalized labor" in a socialist planned economy.
Comradely,
Fred