<<<To sum up, to think of Desire as a dialectical twin of Scarcity and to reject Desire as an abstraction is not the same as denying desireS. In fact, the emancipation of desireS depends upon the abolition of Desire, and this both Marx and Foucault understood very well. Yoshie [ MBS:] . . . Sounds like this means we should be emancipated from the goods and services produced under capitalism that make a modern standard of living possible (tho far from inevitable).>>>
Not at all. Marx is no primitivist, as you know. Human beings have labored through Desire, and in the process we have historically developed needs & desires as well as powers to satisfy them. However, the world of Desire & Scarcity doesn't allow us to make use of our powers without producing & reproducing deprivation. In other words, Desire & Scarcity negate the satisfaction of desires for each and every human being, for under capitalism:
***** _Demand_ also exists for those who have no money, but their demand is simply a figment of the imagination. For me or for any other third party it has no effect, no existence. For me it therefore remains _unreal_ and _without an object_. The difference between effective demand based on money and ineffective demand based on my need, my passion, my desire, etc. is the difference between _being_ and _thinking_, between a representation which merely _exists_ within me and one which exists outside me as a _real object_. (Marx, _Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts_) *****
The abolition of the world ruled by Desire & Scarcity removes "the mystical character of commodities," leaving us free to make use of our powers (historically developed under the whip of the cruel Master of Desire) to meet our existing needs and desires and develop new ones through "an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all."
And we'll have sex and sensually enjoy bodies (our own & others') without gender & "sexuality" (conceived in our modern fashion as the Truth of the Self). The end of Platonic Love, the beginning of pleasant surprises & lasting friendships.
Yoshie