: 1:Marx did not invent the idea of socialism - that is an important fact.HERE DAMN HERE!!
: 2:Productive relations are social relations, you cannot change the social relations of production without changing productive relations.
HERE DAMN HERE!!!
: 3:If, as in 'Wage Labour and Capital', Marx is correct in assigning our labour as being our life activity, then we cannot claim socialism to be about freedom if it involves forced labour.
Once again correct!!
: 4:I do agree though, that if a vital task is so universally unpopular as to not get done, then indeeed aquitable rotation might have to be considered, but again, I consider that a fall back plan, rather than a first principle.
No, through scientific assessment it is very easy to discern why it is so disagreeable then it can be remedied and I think empowerment, the consideration of others and self-management are 9/10's of the problem solved.
: 5:Dictatorship of the Proletariate, simply means the dreaded old tyranny of the majority, i.e. fully functioning democracy - we outnumber them vastly, we have no need to inhibit their voting or speaking rights.
Dictatorship of the proletariat was invented by blanqui to describe his idea of a armed proletariat defending itself during a process of trial and error to destroy all the disagreeable tasks and effect self-organisation and cheap and feeble government.
It is a bad term we should drop it..
: 6:Capitalist social relations are highly developed, with virtually no peasants or petit bourgois to contend with, so the DOP could last a very short time indeed, enough time to expropriate the means of production, basically.
Why not never bother with it in the first place, Gorz Book 'Farewell to the Workingclass' dispells any notion of actually needing one.
None.
