Re David Y's [7289]:
> I think that the discussion of this issue has been settled,
in so far as the antagonists have taken sides. Nevertheless
Fred's articles are important for understanding Marx's position
and I value them and assume future students of Marx will do as
well. The point, as I keep on saying, is to change the world and
develop and extend Marx's standpoint to make this possible.
Some people think that this means first to criticise Marx and more
often than not end up destroying the revolutionary core of Marx's
writings. My position is contrary to this - it is to apply and extend
that revolutionary core to today's conditions. That is the real test
of Marx's standpoint. <
A question: from *your* perspective, how does the *continuing*
exploration of and debate about the transformation of values into
prices of production help, in the year 2002, to change the world?
A comment: at the core of Marx's revolutionary perspective was his
profoundly anti-authoritarian stance towards all that went before him.
*No one* was spared critique, even those he in many ways identified with
and learned from philosophically and politically. Thus, his favorite
motto: 'De omnibus dubitandum' ('doubt everything'). This was Marx's
standpoint -- without which a thorough-going critique of political economy
would not have been possible -- but is it the standpoint of Marxists? I
would say that the Marxists who follow Marx's *example* of being _critical
to all_ are in a distinct minority. Those who insist that Marx's writings --
like the writings of all other authors that are relevant to understanding the
subject matter (capitalism) -- must be subject to *critique*, rather than merely
being applied, are operating from a tradition that is inspired by the
example of Marx and many other revolutionaries in thought and praxis.
If we do not 'apply' this revolutionary anti-authoritarian stance, then we
can not 'apply' his revolutionary perspective to today's conditions.
In solidarity, Jerry
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