Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> [bounced bec of an attachment - by the way, my pal Dan Lazare,
> Marxist critic of the U.S. constitutional system, is a Hamilton fan
> who hates Jefferson]
> > [clip]
> Whatever happened to the strain of leftism that sees
> capitalism as an improvement on what existed before,
> and as a nessessary precursor to socialism?
>
There are two propositions here, which have no necessary connection:
1. Capitalism was an improvement over pre-capitalist regimes
2. Capitalism was/is a necessary precursor of socialism.
I don't know any basis, except perhaps a religious belief in the Doctrine of Progress, for the first proposition. The second proposition is about as certain as any historical proposition can be. (Note: I'm not affirming the opposite of [1], for that would be equally metaphysical.)
Carrol