Re: [OPE-L] Marx on Harrington

[Jerry Levy <Gerald_A_Levy@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Paul Z,

I can't answer your question, but Engels was certainly aware of
Harrington.  In _On Marx's Capital_,  Section III, in the article
"Law of Value and Rate of Profit", see footnote #1 (in Progress
ed., pp. 102-103).  According to Engels, Loria made the charge
that is suggested below ("And now he bravely declares that Marx
is not at all the originator of this theory; if Aristotle had not already
suggested it, Harrington undoubtedly proclaimed it as early as 1656,
and it had been developed by a Pleiad of historians, politicians, jurists
and economists long before Marx.", Ibid, p. 102) and Engels
dismisses it contemptuously.  A subject, perhaps, for a Marx Myth
and Legend?

In solidarity, Jerry



Anybody know if Marx did anything on the 17th century J. Harrington?

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

I cannot believe that Marx was not aware of what Harrington did, just
about every political writer was, and, moreover, there are so many
points in common between the two --- the principal one being
Harrington's insistence on the economic foundation of political systems....