the state as capital : was arms production + Dept III

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

In reply to some of what Jerry said :

Labour produces use-values , at all times, places and modes
of production. I would also contend that it produces surplus
value, at all times, place and modes of production ( with only
the irrelevant exception that this surplus could for a short while
in circumstances actually be negative; and of course, for subsistence
farmers, which for most of antiquity most people were involved in,
produces no surplus value ). The question for any particular ruling
class is to extract the surplus value.

Capitalism is a particular social system which extracts surplus
value in a particular way. So statements along the lines that
certain types of Labour produce no surplus because of the type
of use values they produce are inherently nonsense ( IMHO ! ).

What does advertising give coca cola ? Sure, it doesn't give
Coca Cola more cans of coke. It doesn't contribute directly
to the quantity of commodities it produces. The particular use-value
of this Labour is to capture market share. It provides the conditions
in which capital accumulation can take place. The surplus value is
realised even though it is not realised by the physical exchange of
commodities; or perhaps more precisely a little bit of advertising
workers labour is in every can of coke, and is congealed in the
capital of coca cola as a whole.

The capital used to produce the adverts does not produce capital
( ie it is not like a machine tool factory ) nor does it produce
things which can be consummed ( like coca cola itself ). So it
doesn't belong in either Dept I or Dept II.


The modern capitalist state is a capitalist in its own right.
For a start, it is an employer which is responsible for the
extraction of surplus value from a large number of workers.
By and large, these workers produce use values and not commodoties
( although some nationalised industries are simply state owned
commercial companies ). The use values it provides are everything
that modern capitalism requires to run : a state machine, to keep
workers in line and defend the interests of "its" capital against
other states and companies, educated workers, social security and
health care ( sometimes ) , a legal framework to regulate competing
capitalists etc etc. How are these use values "realised" ? The state
as a capitalist is successful insofar as the capital within its
territory ( and also perhaps controlled by capitalists within its
territory in other states ) accumulates. This is what bourgeois
economists are attempting to measure when they measure growth rates.

What role does arms production play in all this ? I would argue
that it plays exactly the same role as advertising in relation to
coca cola - it helps that state compete with other states effectively
in order to be able to accumulate capital.

Incidentally, the British National Lottery is quite an interesting
example of private companies buying lumps of "state capital" or
"political capital".

First, GTec, a US company, offered the regulator ( ie the guy who
decideds who gets the tender ) subtle bribes in the form of free
air travel round the US. But GTec had to go into a consortium
with "British" companies that had close links with the British
state : British Telecom and ICL.

The interesting thing ( to me, anyway ! ) is that ICL is owned by
my previous employer, the Japanese company Fujitsu. When Fujitsu
bought ICL they got a certain amount of physical capital -
property, plant - some financial property ( amogst other things,
a healthy and raidable pension fund ) , some intellectul
property ( patents , designs etc ) - and equally importantly,
some "political" or "state" capital. That is, the got the links
to the British state that came with ICL, and which mean they have
a secure entry into and protection within the European Union. A
profitable side effect of this was being able to rake in
profits from the national lottery.

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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