From: ajit sinha (sinha_a99@YAHOO.COM)
Date: Mon Sep 11 2006 - 10:12:43 EDT
Mike, I don't have access to either the book or the journal right now. But I would love to read your Deutscher Lecture, if you could send me an electronic copy--may be that could provide some food for thought for further discussion on this topic. ajit --- "michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@SFU.CA> wrote: > At 07:01 11/09/2006, Ajit wrote: > Hi Ajit, > Good to hear your 'voice' again. > >__________________ > >Mike L and I had a long debate on this question on > >pen-l way back in 1991-92 (if my memory serves me > >right). I think Lapides' book on Marx's Wage > Theory--a > >book I was quite critical of in my review in > >RRPE--makes some good points against the 6 book > plan > >thesis. Now I'm not interested in Marxological > debate > >on this question. > > I'm not either these days, Ajit. Far more > interesting to me > is the question of possible implications of missing > books--- whether > or not Marx planned them. In the 2nd edition of > Beyond CAPITAL, I end > my chapter on the question of the missing book on > wage-labour with > the explicit statement, 'The central issue is not at > all whether Marx > intended to write a book on wage-labour. If he had > not mentioned it, > we would still need to write it' (50). > > (I have not seen the 2nd edition and don't know > >if there has been any substantial changes). > However, I > >don't think CAPITAL could be written from any other > >point of view. > > The changes are very substantial, and I'd like to > recall all existing > copies of the 1st edition. In particular, there are > several new > chapters, and the new Chapter 6, 'Wages', is > particularly significant > and introduces important points from the 1861-63 > Economic > Manuscripts. On the question of the implication of > the assumption in > CAPITAL (and particularly Ch 12 on the concept of > relative surplus > value) of a given standard of necessity, you should > see now my 'The > Politics of Assumption, the Assumption of Politics', > my Deutscher > Lecture now published in the latest Historical > Materialism; I > consider this an important piece, which develops > substantially my > argument 'about the inadequacy of Marx's formulation > of relative > surplus value' which Tony Smith (or his evil twin > John) called 'a > major contribution to Marxian thought.' (I think you > would agree that > this raises significant questions about CAPITAL > itself.) As for the > political implications, developed further in the two > new concluding > chapters, you'll be able to see them set out in my > forthcoming > response to points raised in the Historical > Materialism symposium on > Beyond CAPITAL also in the current issue. > in solidarity, > michael > > Michael A. Lebowitz > Professor Emeritus > Economics Department > Simon Fraser University > Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 > > Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at > Residencias Anauco Suites > Departamento 601 > Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1 > Caracas, Venezuela > (58-212) 573-4111 > fax: (58-212) 573-7724 > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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