Re Nicky's [OPE-L:5168]: > Surely, whether Marx was an 'economist' depends on the > meaning given to the term, and whether the terms > 'economist' and 'revolutionary'/'communist' are taken > to be mutually exclusive?? My point was a simple one: i.e. that Marx's perspectives on political economy have to be understood within the context of his politics. Moreover, _he_ rejected the mantle of "economist" (this is part of why he subtitled _Capital_ "A CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY"). Furthermore, this emphasis on comprehending Marx's life, material conditions, and activism as a way of understanding his thought is simply an extension of the materialist method to the history of political economy, imo. Should we, for example, just read _The Wealth of Nations_ to understand Smith's perspectives or do we have to put that book in the context of Smith's life work (including other works like "The Theory of Moral Sentiments") and participation in the Scottish Enlightenment? A related point: the reason I made those points about Marx's life to Steve is because he comes to a discussion about Marx's theories from the perspective of being a professional economist who is not a Marxist. Thus, what Marxists might take for granted might not be so understood by someone from a very different personal and political and intellectual background. > Doesn't this depend upon > the relationship of knowledge to praxis, as well as > the role of intellectuals in revolution? Both could be > understood in a variety of ways by different people. > Imo, theoretical input is likely to be *more* crucial > in a time of revolution than at any other time, to the > extent that purposive action will always seek a > guiding principle; the barricades are not just on the > streets/working places - they are everywhere. If this > argument is granted, how/why is it shameful to be > struggling with 'economic' problems while a revolution > is in the making? Of course, it would be a shame if > the 'economic' problem under discussion were > meaningless in the context of the main event. It depends on the 'economic' problem that is being discussed. I will stand by my previous accessment that it would be shameful for many of the best Marxist minds on political economy to be engaged in a debate on the "transformation problem" during a truly revolutionary period. If workers are fighting and dying in the streets, then either we should be fighting alongside our sisters and brother in the street or *at least* our discussions on theory must be less abstract and more related to the immediate crisis. This doesn't mean that discussions on very abstract topics aren't appropriate *now*. That's because, alas, we are not exactly on the eve of the Revolution. What one is doing, whether it is theoretical work or political activism, must change with changing conditions (a point Marx understood well: note how what he was doing, in terms of his allocation of time for political activism and theoretical work, changed after the Paris Commune of 1871). > Surely we should be less concerned with Marx's > convictions than with the question of whether his > analysis is correct/relevant. Even if that were the case, it still doesn't mean that we can dismiss the convictions (and life's work including political activism) of the author as irrelevant for comprehending the analysis. What an author wants to do in a given work and what that author claims about what a given work shows are important as a way of accessing the work itself. E.g. it can help establish 'successs criteria' on which the work can be judged. > (snip, JL) > In the *Results* Marx (1976a, [Penguin/ Vintage ed. of Volume 1, JL] p.1056; cited Arthur, > C&C, 73, p.26) writes very clearly his views on > the productivity of capital: > "Thus capital is productive: What is written is, rather, that: "Thus capital appears *productive*:" This is not an insignificant difference. It's no longer as 'clear', in terms of whether Marx thought that capital is productive, is it? In solidarity, Jerry
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