Re Rakesh's [6321]: Previously I wrote: >A historical note: Marx was a dedicated revolutionary who believed >in the revolutionary role of the working class -- from a materialist >'scientific socialist' perspective -- long before he developed his >critique of political economy. Rakesh asked: > Please elaborate on significance of this important point. Marx was a revolutionary decades before he developed his critique of political economy and M&E's historical materialist explanation of the revolutionary role of the proletariat was presented in the _Manifesto of the Communist Party_ (1848). This is not to suggest that his later critique of political economy and attempt to lay bare the 'economic law of motion of modern society' did not _add_ something to that understanding -- but it was there long before. Let us consider your point further: you argued that the 'labor theory of value' and the FROP are required to develop the 'Marxist' perspective on the revolutionary role of the working class. If that were the case -- given the historical detail suggested above -- then we would have to conclude by your standards that Marx was not a Marxist _until_ he developed his critique of political economy. Thus, you would arrive at a very curious result: you would be asserting with the Althusserians that there is a 'Young Marx' and an 'Old Marx'. This is a very unusual source of agreement that you would have with a perspective that does not share your view on the centrality of the law of value. Have you become a 'reverse Althusserian'? In solidarity, Jerry
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