Todd Archer wrote:
>
> Wojtek said:
>
> >a truly capitalist system
> >can reproduce itself (which is not to sya that it does not exploit >those
> >who provide labour power for that reproduction) - and that makes all >the
> >difference vis a vis quasi-feudal systems such as tsarist Russia.
>
> Yes, but it can't reproduce itself perfectly or indefinitely. Business
> cycles show that, as well as the appearances of bubbles, gluts, and crashes
> (productive capitl and paper), no?
It depends on what you mean by indefinitely. Left to itself the capitalist system can recover from about anything except the sun's going nova. It is inherently expansive, and economic collapse and destructive war merely give it more room to begin further expansion. For all practical purposes it can go on forever, becoming ever more destructive.
It may become so destructive that it returns us to something worse than the stone age, but that would be the only "natural" end to it.
Socialism (the alternative to barbarism & death) has to be created by collective struggle.
Carrol