[lbo-talk] Change [was: Kees van der Pijl]

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 4:16 PM -0400 6/27/03, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>>According to the OED, the word "stagnate" made its first appearance 
>>in 1669; the word "stagnant," in 1666; "stagnancy," in 1665.  The 
>>world had began to change in capital's image, and it was no longer 
>>good enough to do as well as before.
>
>I think the world started to change (at least from the human 
>perspective) when one of our prehistoric ancestors picked up a stick 
>(Strauss's _Also Sprach Zarathustra_ playing in the background) and 
>hit his compatriot over the head with it to get ahead of him in the 
>pecking order.  Everything else that followed has been just an 
>ever-escalating cycle of actions and reactions to that first hit. 
>Capital was just one actor in that development, and often did not 
>get what it wanted, as the European welfare state and US New deal 
>illustrate.

Capital changed the nature and place of change in the world:

Pre-capitalist & Pre-modern:
No systemic compulsion to innovate ceaselessly and grow economically
Capitalist & Modern:
Systemic compulsion (dictated by market competition) to innovate 
ceaselessly and grow economically

Pre-capitalist & Pre-modern:
The dominant view of "history" (be it secular or spiritual) = cyclical
Capitalist & Modern:
The dominant view of history = linear, secular, and "progressive"

Pre-capitalist & Pre-modern:
Presumably more "barbaric" nomads often conquered presumably more 
"civilized" sedentary peoples
Capitalist & Modern:
Presumably more "civilized" sedentary peoples generally conquered 
presumably more "barbaric" nomads and made them sedentary or pushed 
them to the margins of existence or both

Pre-capitalist & Pre-modern:
Military conquerors often adopted culture of the conquered
Capitalist & Modern:
Military conquerors generally impose their culture on the conquered

Pre-capitalist & Pre-modern:
Radically different relations of production and cultures can and did 
coexist within and between empires
Capitalist & Modern:
One relation of production -- i.e. capitalist relations of production 
-- and culture that goes with it become hegemonic _worldwide_, modify 
the other relations of production and cultures, and subordinate them 
to itself
-- 
Yoshie

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