"Drewk" <Andrew_Kliman@msn.com> said, on 02/19/01: >The issue is whether the growth of Dept. I can outstrip the growth of >Dept. II, i.e., overcome the supposed "limits" set by demand for consumer >goods. It was obvious to Luxemburg and it is obvious to Paul that the >answer is "no." It is obvious to me and to others that the answer is >"yes." As somewhat put it at the AHE conference last year (where I posed >my question to Paul), capitalism *is* production for production's sake. >In fact, I consider the schemes of expanded reproduction in >_Capital_ II as *proof* that the answer is "yes." But neither Luxemburg >nor Paul accept the proof. So my motivation in posing my question to >Paul is to move beyond, to avoid rehashing, the debates of the past. >Thus my question was: how would you test this issue? Andrew, I think you mean that the schemes are a BASIS of a proof, not the proof itself. The schemes hold the organic composition within each department fixed as surplus value is converted into additional labor power and means of production; furthermore, technological change is not included in the schemes. In Marx's illustration, growth of Dept. I does NOT outstrip the growth of Dept. II (see last chapter of Vol. 2, end of the secton: Marx's "First" illustration -- the more complicated illustration in which the organic compositions differ between the departments -- grows 10% annually for Dept. I, ditto for Dept. II, and ditto for the total). Are you thinking of Otto Bauer's schemes as offering the required proof? Or can you refer to some "other" (your word) who has offered the proof or cites the proof? In sum, where do I look for the actual proof you cite in circumstances of growth of Dept. 1 exceeding Dept. II? Your question to me is similar to your question to Fred, as I see it, in that you are looking for a criterion outside of two positions to settle an issue. If we get past the above, who decides (a la third thesis on Feuerbach)? Paul Z.
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