Re: marxism & (under)development

[dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx (Doug Henwood)]

At 11:28 AM 4/10/96, Louis N Proyect wrote:

>Semi-literate? Many of the most illiterate campesinos I met in
>Nicaragua had a better understanding of world politics than the Columbia
>undergraduates I am surrounded by.

The Columbia students that surround you are the future ruling class; they
need not know much about politics to ascend to that glorious status.

But I'm not talking just about politics - I'm talking about the technical
and managerial skills required to run an advancing economy. Marx spoke of
the socialization of production under capitalism as the prefiguration of a
socialist future, and also spoke of the material abundance and labor
productivity characteristic of advanced capitalism as prerequisites for the
overcoming of private appropriation of the social surplus. While his word
certainly isn't the last on the matter, historical experience suggests that
it's worth thinking about.

Doug

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Doug Henwood
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