- Capitalism and Alternatives -

I know the bit...

Posted by: Stoller on November 05, 1999 at 16:11:21:

In Reply to: When life is your standard of values, then every action that perpetuates it is considered moral. posted by David on November 04, 1999 at 19:04:51:


: Please see the follow up to Lark's post.

I think you meant SDF's post. There are a few theoretical errors in your understanding of his explanations of C-M-C and M-C-M, which I shall let him respond to. You are a fast study, however, which will reward further discussions.

: Laws aside.

No, there is no such thing as 'laws aside.' Laws are markers of expected consequences; there are consequences for every behavior. Each set of property relations produces consequences arising from the respect or lack of respect regarding the property in any epoch.

: Allow me to clarify. When life is your standard of values, then every action that perpetuates it is considered moral.

This is Rand's tribute to Nietzsche, of course...

: If the action is adversely related to life and the continuation thereof, then it is immoral.

This says nothing about the property relations of any epoch. Nor does it address the question of who owns the property or what happens to those who do not.

I could easilyclaim that the monopoly ownership of the means of production by the capitalist elite was 'adversely related to life and the continuation thereof,' pointing out starvation diets, lack of medical care, army conscription, etc. as they affected those who do not own property (the proletariat).

But that would only lead us back to my asseveration that each epoch, each property relation, each class has its own perspective on what---and what does not---'adversely relate to life and the continuation thereof.'

But I don't want to make the postmodernist's case.

I just want to make the proletariat's case.

When it comes to what 'adversely relates to life and the continuation thereof' FOR THE BOURGEOISIE, they've had enough air time. It's time to hear about what 'adversely relates to life and the continuation thereof' for the PROLETARIAT.

A class that owns (all the) property and another that doesn't own (any) property have GOT to look at property in different ways, eh?

: Starvation is not a force instituted by the bourgeois, it is a consequence of not producing for yourself (specifically, food).

That tells us nothing about HOW to food is actually produced.

Again, a minority owns all the food-producing property and another does not---they have to work the land. Starvation, in this case, has everything to do with how those two class will RELATE. And, as it is now, those who own the property DICTATE their terms to those who do not.

Communists aim to change that.



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