Riccardo wrote in [OPE-L:3407]:
> I don't think it was immaterial to Marx the fact that wage workers were
> "free" for the endless drive to accumulation, which is rather strengthened
> by the consideration of an increase in the real wage (and even reduction of
> the length of the working day) more than matched by an increase in the
> productive power of labour which leads to a decrease of v. It is THIS which
> stresses the role of labour at the point of production.
I agree with what you wrote in your post, but I want to add a question:
what does the "endless drive to accumulate" mean? If it is taken to mean
the *continuous* (never-ending) drive to accumulate, then no more be said
at this point. However, *if* it *also* means that the drive to accumulate
is endless in so far as it knows no limits, then a few words of
qualification are necessary. The "no limits" belief rests on an
*assumption* -- productive consumption of s equals 100%. This
assumption is itself based on the simplifying assumption that capitalists
are "capital personified" and are mere "character masks." It would seem
to me that, at a more concrete level of investigation, this assumption
should be relaxed.
In Solidarity,
Jerry