Re: [Marxism] Downloading: communism is the future

[Waistline2@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 12/20/03 12:19:23 AM Pacific Standard Time,
djnesbit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

>If free downloading can
in any way be related to communism, it should only be seen as an
example of how we can efficiently communicate on a global level, while
simultaneously reducing labour demands for shipping, record-pressing,
printing, etc and freeing it up for other industries.<


Reply

Not downloading in itself but the technological regime on which sits -
downloading. The technological regime as an evolving totality representing a
qualitative reconfiguration of the productive process or material power of 
productive
forces.

full at:http://www.lrna.org/texts/doc.3/polres.3.html

Electronics is labor-replacing technology. Virtually all of the functions of
the worker can be recorded, stored outside of the worker, and replicated in
the machinery of production. These functions can be played back over and over by
self-activating machinery, in the absence of the worker. The microchip is the
cheap, light, versatile device that activates the production process, and
brings to life, as it were, dead labor -- the knowledge and skills of past
workers that has been encoded into the instruments of production.

Production without labor is production without surplus value; it also is
production without wages, and hence production with no means of purchasing use
values. With no means of purchase, circulation of commodities is impossible. The
capitalist cannot realize the value in commodities.

The process of transforming production from value-generating industrial-based
production to value-less electronics-based production is, like all processes,
uneven. It began in advanced sections of the economy, and has been introduced
in definite stages throughout the economy. However, it may temporarily be
cheaper to deploy monstrously-exploited labor in place of more expensive
technology. Profits may surge at times, or in specific industries. Employment 
may
temporarily jump. But the introduction of electronics undermines the basic
foundations of capitalism by dissolving the cornerstone of the system -- the
exploitation of human labor. Eventually, the economy must come in line with the
underlying destruction of value. (End of Quote)

The first series of articles examining this process as it unfolded appeared
in 1991 - almost 13 years ago.

Also see http://www.lrna.org/2-pt/rc.html

Also excellent concerning the "line of march" of revolutionaries and when
Karl Marx first deployed the concept "line of march" see:
http://www.lrna.org/league/Rally/15.04/rc.15.04.program.html

"Program of the dispossessed is key to victory of revolution

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--


"We should spend a little time talking about this question of the line of
march because we have been using the term over and over again, and after a while
in the revolutionary movement terms begin taking the place of concepts. But
this phrase is so fundamental, we keep going back to it to try and understand
what is meant.

The term "line of march" originated in the military. It looks at conceptually
how do we get to our target, how strategically do we achieve what we are
trying to achieve.

I want to make a distinction between what we mean by line of march in the
military sense and what we mean by line of march in the political sense. When
revolutionaries talk about line of march, we mean the general progression of
revolutionary development and transformation, something that is entirely 
objective.

The term was first used in the political sense by Marx and Engels when they
stated in The Manifesto: "The communists therefore, are on the one hand,
practically, the most advanced and resolute section of the working class 
parties of
every country, that section which pushes forward all others; on the other
hand, theoretically, they have over the great mass of the proletariat the
advantage of clearly understanding the line of march, the conditions and the 
ultimate
general results of the proletarian movement."


Melvin P.



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