[OPE-L:5165] Re: RE: Re: Japan and the capital-form and the state

["Gerald_A_Levy" <Gerald_A_Levy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Re Rakesh's [5135], [5140], [5147]:

What exactly was your point?  In two of your
posts [5135; 5140] you reproduce articles from
the popular press on the crisis in Japan. What
connection do you think this has to the subject of
"the capital-form and the state"?  In [5140]
you reproduce an article about stun and related
technologies. You suggest a connection to arms
production and export (which was discussed in
the context of a thread on wether arms production
is productive of surplus value). Again -- what
exactly are you asking us to discuss? (btw, I think
that the value of the stun technologies that are
described in that article represent a *very, very*
small proportion of the value produced by
arms-producing capitalists).

Are you suggesting, perhaps, that instead of
disicussing relatively abstract questions such as
"the capital-form and the state", we should be
discussing the current world economic situation?

Or are you perhaps suggesting that *in addition to*
discussing relatively abstract questions, we also
need to discuss more concrete and immediate
and politically important issues of concern for
the working class?

If the latter is your position, then I have a lot of
sympathy with it. Yet, it seems to me that a
necessary prelude to a meaningful discussion of
more concrete questions is for someone (perhaps
yourself) to pose those questions in a form that
is suitable for discussion (i.e. where everybody
on the list knows *precisely* what it is that we
are discussing).

I would hate to think that when the revolution
comes we will be on the Internet discussing
the transformation of values into prices of
production (and the "inverse" problem). It
would be a kind of Marxist equivalent to Nero's
playing the fiddle while Rome was burning (or at
least that's the way the story goes).

So, do you or others have any more concrete
subjects that you think that we *should be*
discussing now?

In solidarity, Jerry