[lbo-talk] An Orgy of Speculation?

[Somebody Somebody]

CB: Yes, Marx places the historical task of abolition of capitalism on the working class as its gravediggers. It is working class conscious and socialist conscious mass action that abolishes capitalism, not some automatic law or tendency of the system. There is a tendency for crises and problems and immiseration that motivate the working class to abolish it. But the capitalists going through their characteristic activities don't abolish their own system , according to Marx. 

Somebody: In all likelihood, capitalism will be replaced not by the working class, which scarcely exists as a class-for-itself, and is organically incapable of ruling a society without immediately raising before it a new bureaucratic caste, but by new technology. Capitalism without the industrial revolution would have led to a Malthusian cul-de-sac. 

We can't expect socialism without a massive technological revolution to provide the foundation for universal abundance. Things like desktop manufacturing and 3D printing, nanotechnology, and regenerative medicine are more likely to foster a transition from capitalism than reading the Grundrisse or starting worker's councils.