>For eg, it is possible for me to, in a whole range of ways,
>negotiate myself out of (b) and to variously reconfigure what (a) is or
>implies. I have to say, any version of Marxism that wanted to pretend my
>current work had the same relation to "capital" or "profit" as making
>sandwiches for a living would be a pretty useless political perspective.
I don't see how you can reasonably arrive at that conclusion. Your relationship to capital is that you don't own it. Are you saying that you profit from capital in some sense, because your conditions of employment afford you the privilege of some control over how you can best make money for your employer?
To me, that seems merely to be a necessary element of the job. Obviously if you made sandwiches for a living, the same degree of flexibility would not be necessary to maximise your efficiency. Presumably there is something about your job that makes it useful to arrange it thus?
But to assert that it changes your relationship to capital goes a bit far.
>Last week my train was cut four times by fire, and the skies are orange most
>every night. The ocean, right now, looks and feels so good. I have the fan on,
>but am too hot to sleep. Have to be in Sydney by 10 to see a real estate agent.
>That's not much motivation for a sleepless night. I'm animal-free right now,
>except for a cat (they're people any way), so I don't have to negotiate that
>kind of mute distress. Unless it's immanent in the cockroaches or something (ah
>NSW).
I'm afraid I don't regard cats as people. I have a cat-trap set up out back, trying to catch another one of the little killers. When I catch it, it will be history. I don't mind the owls and the quolls and what-not killing my guinea pigs, but cats are a menace. I used to have wild quail out in the side paddock, but people's damn cats have eliminated them.
>See, there's a thing. My houses have had airconditioning for some years now.
>Right now I'm in my mother's house and no such thing has ever been on the
>cards. Airconditioning is an alien thing in these suburbs. I could say that
>kind of thing is just an element of class mobility, yes, but if there is no
>class stratification then how the hell do I explain mobility between them?
Sounds like a riddle. Not very good at riddles. Air-conditioning in a new fangled idea. It probably doesn't occur to your mother to install it. But of course I was exaggerating, the technology is permeating all levels of society. Ownership of an air-conditioner isn't a useful definition of class, neither is the exercise of management skills and discretion as part of one's employment. Some people need and can afford air-conditioners. Some jobs need and can afford the people doing them to exercise discretion. Some jobs command higher remuneration in the market-place. Sometimes these factors can lead to workers clawing their way out of the working class.
> Or
>the relative power I have over my "work" conditions compared to everyone here.
>I sure as fuck don't own anything that generates profit and nor do I
>(comparatively) make much money, so it's not about that.
Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think your work conditions would have to be somewhat related to the necessities of the work. Maybe ordinary market forces play some part too. You tell me. But as I see it, relationship to the means of production might sound very complex, but is really simple. How many different kinds of relationship can there be, in an objective sense? You either own it or you don't. Can you think of any other possibilities?
Of course there are all sorts of possibilities in the subjective sense of how you relate to the means of production. How it impacts on you emotionally, socially, etc. But that's another story. Stop feeling guilty because you enjoy your work, if that's where you're coming from.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas