>>> furuhashi.1 at osu.edu 07/09/01 04:50PM >>>
>
>It boils down to questions concerning the division of labor. I think
>the division of labor is here to stay even if we get around to
>establishing socialism, though that is a thought unacceptable to some
>LBO-talkers.
>
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>CB: I agree a division of labor there must continue to be. But does
>the division between predominantly mental and predominantly physical
>labor , and its gradations have to be the divide ?
Even under capitalism it seems to me that differences in social power among the working class are not necessarily rooted in the divide between mental and physical. Compare secretaries, journalists, etc. with plumbers, carpenters, & others in skilled trades that demand a lot of physical labor.
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CB: Yea, I should have said "a divide" instead of "the divide". There is still some privilege and status associated with predominantly mental labor, though the generalization is not absolute. Also, very few members of the ruling class are predominantly physical laborers.
In communism , won't everybody be both an intellectual and a physically active comrade in a manner that is socially productive ? Writing music in the morning and whistling it while they collectively build geodesic domes in the afternoon, nude swimming and fishing in the afternoon, and making astronomic observation at night.