>Excellent points all, Nathan. You're right, nostalgia's a
>deathtrap. But I still think human cultural potential would be
>better served by moving on from capitalism -- whatever its
>legitimate past achievements -- to some form of socialist society.
>I certainly hope that's true.
I'm with you on this. But I think the evaluation of capitalism's contribution over the centuries is relevant to the Jeff Greenfieldish question, "Where do we go from here?" Federici's miserabilism implies a nostalgia for a pre-industrial idyll, with smiling peasants rootedly tilling the soil, cultures all local and organic, etc. No nasty, brutish, and short lives here. I don't that's a very good guide to the past or the future. You can't build a socialist society without the technology and social organization that capitalism has produced. In fact, you couldn't even imagine one.
Doug