From: Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM
Date: Wed Oct 05 2005 - 09:31:13 EDT
Re: [OPE-L] vampire blues> the problem are not capitalists, but value, money, and capital. the > issue here is a ghost turning into a vampire, passing through possession > or incarnation, and needing a fluid of some other living entity made > internal. Riccardo: If value is blood and -- as some claim -- value is congealed labour, then value _ipso facto_ is congealed blood. If the value-form is a necessary form of appearance of value and money is a necessary form of appearance of the value-form then value must exist in a _non_- congealed state. In any event, isn't congealed blood worthless and hence any link to use-value and the value-form is severed? (Or, perhaps, it requires heat to uncongeal it? : again the analogy fails if taken too literally). You suggest that here is a ghost turning into a vampire. Yet, to the extent that money and commodities are required for capitalist production, couldn't it be said that vampires require the expanded reproduction of ghosts for accumulation? If one (contra Chris) believes in the transfer of value does that mean that through the process of competition, the "hostile brothers" are actually feeding on each other? There are some mixed metaphors in _Capital_. E.g. the interpretation of money as ghost is clearly not the same as the image of money (in the form of gold) as prostitute (reference to _Timon of Athens_ famous quote). > but, as we say in Italy, amici come prima (friends as before). Of course: why let Dracula come between two friends? In solidarity, Jerry PS: while on the topic of the imagery of value and money, in a course on "Capitalism & Socialism" that I teach at Pratt, we just finished using Katy Siegel's and (your friend) Paul Mattick's book _Art Works: Money_. From an instructional perspective it was quite a challenge, but the students -- who are primarily studying art and architecture -- really liked it. It was an interesting experiment trying to get students to comprehend a radical critique of capitalism by reference to visual images. There was some text, but not much. Once again, I want to recommend this book to listmembers -- it would make an excellent and handsome and educational and radical gift for a special friend. (btw, hi Michael W!)
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