interview with Istvan Meszaros

[Michael Yates]

There is an interesting interview with Istvan Meszaros in the latest
issue of "Science and Society."  If there are people on these lists
familiar with his latest book, "Beyond Capital," (I have not read this
book, though I found his book on Alienation to be very good, even
brilliant in parts) I have a question.  Meszaros appears to see
capitalism as more or less the logical culmination of all class
societies.  He speaks of the capital system, of which capitalism proper
is just the final end (he seems to think that the Soviet-type systems
are part of this capital system though not capitalist and not able to
stand up to capitalism proper).  He seems to say that prior class
societies such as feudalism and slavery are just rather primitive forms
of the capital system, but that their logic leads ultimately to
capitalism which is the most refined form of exploitation ever devised.
His conclusion is that the capital system must be thoroughly rooted out
if humanity is to have any chance to survive.

What do others make of Meszaros's ideas?  Notions of progress and stages
don't seem to enter into his theory, just the inevitability of
increasingly refined and impersonal forms of exploitation until we
decide to make the long struggle to end it and create an egalitarian
society of associated producers.

michael yates