[lbo-talk] law of value

[Rakesh Bhandari]

>On Nov 27, 2007, at 10:52 AM, Rakesh Bhandari wrote:
>
>  > Capitalism contradicts itself. It is required to do
>  > incompatible things.
>
>Compared to what? Is there anything in human life that isn't 
>contradictory? A socialist economy would require a high level of 
>productivity without the rewards and punishments provided by 
>capitalism? A problem, or a contradiction? If a contradiction, a 
>manageable one or a fatal one? I want to indulge Ivan and make him 
>happy, but I have to say "no" to him sometimes, which makes him 
>unhappy. That's a contradiction too. I could come up with 50 more 
>examples, but you get the idea.
>
>Doug

Doug, what you say may be all true but that still leaves the task of 
understanding the specific ways in which capitalism as a mode of 
production works at cross purposes. This is a different kind of claim 
than saying that there is a conflict over the distribution of the net 
product. That's not an immanent contradiction as say capitalism 
requiring both the ossification of the personality for the 
performance of detailed labor and the fluidity of labor given the 
constant disruption of the division of labor as a result of firms 
revolutionizing their techno-organizational bases and firms and 
branches dying and new ones arising.

Rakesh