Re: (OPE-L) on money, capital, and the state

[glevy@xxxxxxxxx]

Hi Costas.

> The state is surely not exogenous to 'capitalism'. But I take it that
> the capitalist mode of production is a structured whole in which the
> sphere of the economy is analytically prior to the state and politics.
> It is in that sense that I prefer endogenous (to the process of
> exchange) explanations of money's emergence. That does not preclude the
> state playing an important economic role in general.

The issue, though, of the emergence of money (from both a
historical _and_ logical standpoint) presumes an analysis of
The State.  I.e. even if we could make a claim at one level
of analysis that the emergence of money stems from the nature
of market activity (and hence is tied to the commodity-form),
one would _still_ have to explain at a more concrete level
how this is modified by the state.  Perhaps it would have
been easier for us if Marx had written a footnote which
read something like: "The further analysis of this subject
presumes an analysis of The State which will be addressed in
Book IV."  Alas, no such footnote exists.

In solidarity, Jerry