Mike L. writes: >>I still think there are unanswered questions
about Ch 25 but am sure we will get to them at the appropriate
point.<<
I think that Mike is right that there's a wierd switch when Marx
turns to ch. 25 of K1, the switch from talking about simply
capital in general to bringing in competition (and the
concentration & centralization of capital).
But there is an overall theme to K1 (after the first three
chapters) that suggests that ch. 25 belongs there: the critique
of capitalist "private" property. In ch. 25 and after, Marx
focusses on the issue of how capitalist "private" property has an
immanent tendency to turn into socialized property, just as there
was an immanent tendency for petty property (which more closely
approximates the idea of "private property") to turn into "its
opposite," capitalist property (which is not truly private) once
workers are separated from the means of subsistence and
production. (see K1, ch. 32)
BTW, I think that in SOCIALISM: UTOPIAN AND SCIENTIFIC, Engels
had a good formula for understanding CAPITAL: he describes the
contradiction under capitalism between the socialized production
of products and profits and the individualized appropriation of
products and profits.
in ope-l solidarity,
Jim Devine jdevine@lmumail.lmu.edu
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.