[OPE-L:4684] RE: Where is it? in Marx's Work(s)

Michael_A._Lebowit (mlebowit@sfu.ca)
Wed, 9 Apr 1997 03:13:28 -0700 (PDT)

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In message Wed, 9 Apr 1997 00:32:16 -0700 (PDT),
John Ernst <ernst@pipeline.com> writes:

> A friend asked me for a reference to Marx's statements about
> one trading one's "birthright(s) for a mass of potage."
>
>
> Anyone know?
>
>
> Thanks,
> John
>

John,
Here's one:

"It is clear, therefore, that the worker cannot become *rich* in this
exchange, since,in exchange for his labour capacity as a fixed, available
magnitude, he surrenders its *creative power*, like Esau his birthright
for a mess of pottage. Rather, he necessarily impoverishes himself, as we
shall see further on, because the creative power of his labour establishes
itself as the power pf capital, as an *alien power* confronting him."

Grundrisse, Vintage/Penguin,p. 307.

in solidarity,
mike
-----------------------
Michael A. Lebowitz
Economics Department, Simon Fraser University
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