Re: [OPE-L] The HM [Haunted and Mysterious] Conference

From: Ian Hunt (ian.hunt@FLINDERS.EDU.AU)
Date: Wed Oct 26 2005 - 00:52:28 EDT

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OK. You might well be right,
Cheers,
Ian
On 26/10/2005, at 2:00 PM, Jerry Levy wrote:

>> Marx was clearly referring to vampire bats, who live off other
>> animals by sucking their blood: the analogy was intended to imply
>> that capitalists were parasites.
>>
>
> Hi Ian:
>
> While I agree that the analogy was intended to suggest that
> capitalists are parasites [NB: one could claim that in _any_
> class society, the ruling class is parasitic], I do not agree with
> your suggested interpretation -- especially the assertion that
> Marx was "clearly" referring to vampire bats.
>
> Against that interpretation, I offer the following:
>
>
> 1.  Even during Marx's time and culture, the meaning of  "vampires"
> and "vampire bats" had two quite different meanings.
>
>
> 2.  As far as I can determine, Marx never referred to vampire
> bats.
>
>
> 3.  Let us recall that Marx used the vampire analogy _repeatedly_
> throughout his life.   A  listing of  the works where he referred to
> vampires includes:
>
> -- Justification of the Correspondent from the Mosel (1843)
>
> -- The German Ideology (1845)
>
> -- The Holy Family (1845)
>
> -- Neue Rheinsiche Zeitung, No. 297 (May, 1849)
>
> -- Class Struggles in France (1850)
>
> -- 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1852)
>
> -- Letter to Engels (6/22/1867)
>
> -- The Civil War in France (1871)
>
> If you read these other instances in which he referred to vampires,
> I think it's pretty clear that he was referring to vampires,
> not vampire bats.
>
>
> 4.   The analogy that he was making regarding capitalists and
> workers was of a member of one _species_ preying upon
> members of the _same species_.  Even though vampires are
> undead, they were once living human beings, not an altogether
> different species.  In this sense, the vampire bat analogy would
> not work as well for what Marx was trying to convey.
>
>
> 5.  The analogy to vampires  has a lot more literary flair and
> meaning within the culture of Marx's time than the more
> mundane analogy to vampire bats.
>
>
> Would you care to re-consider?
>
>
> In solidarity, Jerry
>

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