[lbo-talk] Wherein Krugman laments his cribbing of Henwood has come to naught

c b cb31450 at gmail.com
Wed Sep 28 07:16:23 PDT 2011


Gar Lipow

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 1:29 PM, c b <cb31450 at gmail.com> wrote:
> The most horrible slump conceivable would not, in itself, be any
> threat to capitalist production relations.
>
> Carrol

I think this is a case where you are being far too optimistic, as in the "it won't fall without being pushed trope." While it is quite true that capitalism won't fall without being pushed in a way that leads to anything better, or even to anything only a little worse, it is quite possible in for capitalism to fall due to the causing the extinction of the human race, or a catastrophe that leads to the great die-off Derek Jensen cheers for. The social relation that followed even the latter would be unlikely to be capitalism, but would be unlikely to be anything very pleasant either.

^^^^^ CB: I agree with you , Gar. ; and Carrol does , too. Carrol has often spoken on this issue in Luxembourgian terms, socialism or barbarism and all that. Yes, capitalism could end in the common ruin of the contending classes ( a la the _Manifesto_), and "barbarism".



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list