Paul B:
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How do we get things going? Should we just start talking about the
outlines (individually or in terms of their development over time)?
Presumably we want to do more than continue the debate about whether Marx
himself viewed his project as embodying the earlier-projected book on
wage labour (even though this is an important issue of interpretation
and extension as Mike has been demonstrating for some time now). Or
should we begin by raising certain issues that we believe to represent a
gap in Marx's outlines or that perhaps were located or treated in some
questionable fashion by Marx (or by subsequent Marxists)?
Jerry:
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Paul B. has raised the million dollar question: "Where do we get things
going?"
Here's a suggestion for "Step One."
A. Prelude:
1) discuss this question
2) suggestions for readings from Marx and others on Marx's plans
B. Review Marx's plans:
Object: try to identify the logic behind the plans and see what
initial modifications and additions there should be.
C. List outstanding issues related to understanding capitalism:
Object: identify those aspects of capitalist reality that need further
investigation.
D. Reconsider the major divisions:
Object: Consider whether "B" needs to be modified as a result of "C".
Make modifications as required.
If we do the above, that should keep us busy for a while. Afterwards, we
get to the sequencing stage, IMO, where we take the product produced by
the above process and try to place the outstanding issues in a logical
sequence. In any event, we can worry about "Step Two" later.
The above needs more discussion. They represent my initial thoughts. What
do you think?