[OPE-L:5713] Re: Re: why are we on this list?

[Allin Cottrell <cottrell@xxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 31 May 2001, Rakesh Narpat Bhandari wrote:

> I think they have effectively derailed what was supposed to be the
> point of this list--to extend Marx's unfinished project into a
> theory of the world market, the state, central bank policy, etc.
> As Steve said, the point of his interventions has been to handicap
> the Marxian theoretical project.

I'm not quite sure who the "they" above is supposed to denote, though
from the context it seems to refer to Steve Keen, Gil Skillman and
others who are not actually self-described Marxists.

This seems a tendentious if not fantastical claim.  I'm afraid that,
most of the time, the "core" self-described Marxists on the list are
much more inclined to debate the interpretation of Marx's writings and
logical/philosophical issues relating to the consistency or otherwise
of Marx's theories, than to go forth and extend/apply Marxism to
issues such as the state and central banking.  There have been threads
on such topics, but they tend to peter out, while the hardy perennials
are the transformation problem, VFT vs LTV, TSS (which seems to be
almost exclusively concerned with Marx-interpretation) and similar.
We can't blame Steve and Gil for this.

Allin Cottrell.