Re: [Marxism] two questions on Marx

["Jesse Jack" <jjack99645@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 8/11/06, Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Cite the passage where he "defines" the working class. In practical
> terms _at that time_ the only members of the working class in motion
> were industrial workers. But I don't think Marx ever gave a formal
> definition of "working class."

This is the correct answer, in my opinion. In Marx's day, the proletariat
mainly existed in factories, mines, mills, etc. On the other hand, feudalism
and slavery were the typical agrarian modes of production at that time.

Which leads to what a lot of authors have said about Marx, that he was ahead
of his time. In the mid-nineteenth century the proletariat was far from the
most populous class. Today, in the industrialized world anyway, capitalist
property relations dominate not only in factories and mills but in the
countryside and in the service industry, which wasn't the case until maybe
fifty years ago.
________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism