Carrol Cox wrote:
> Marx showed a great deal of
> interest in freedom and none at all in equality, which he thought
> quite
> absurd.
^^^ CB:
Marx would, of course, say that it is obviously false ( absurd) to claim that all individuals have identical abilities and needs. But that type of identity is not the same thing as equality. We are all equivalent in our species-being
His interest in anti-exploitation implicitly means he was interested in equality. "Exploitative" is not the correct term to describe a relationship between two unequal beings. And so, Marx would not have used "exploitation" to describe relationships between human beings if they were not equal. If humans were not equal as individuals, the history of civilization would not be a history of class struggles. Exploited classes would just accept their status as unequal and therefore exploitable - like horses or oxen.
Freedom and equality are seen as united in the way the US 13th (outlawing slavery; requiring slaves to be freed) and 14th (requiring equal treatment of all) Constitutional amendments come out of the same struggle against US slavery.
And from another logical angle, as Marx said of US slavery/racism, labor in white skin cannot be free while labor in black skin is branded (as unequal).
Ted might say that there is a concept of equality underlying Marx's idea of mutual recognition.
Freedom and equality are like two sides of a coin in Marx's thinking.
This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com