Re: [OPE-L] Bloody Capital and Dead Labour Cultural Studies or the Critique of Political Economy? By Mark Neocleous

[Jerry Levy <Gerald_A_Levy@xxxxxxx>]

Title: Re: [OPE-L] Bloody Capital and Dead Labour Cultural Studie

> I think this is making too much of the metaphor which

> is not meant to throw light on the nature of workers but

> the nature of capital!

 

Rakesh,

 

My point simply was that if capital is undead then so is labor.

Anyone who has a little knowledge about vampire lore knows

that those who are bitten by the undead vampires become

undead themselves.

 

> But I am wondering when you began to describe not labor

> but capital as undead.

 

I don't recall when I first did so, but it is _clearly_ suggested by the

very post from 1996 which you asked about since I was pursuing the

vampire metaphor then and _labor could not be conceived as undead

unless capital also was undead_.  The two points, from my perspective,

are simply flip sides of the same metaphorical coin.

 

> And he did publish that idea in 2003.

 

Yes.

 

> It seems to have been circulated in an academic conference, a major

> journal and on the web before it was discussed on OPE-L

 

1996 came before 2003.

 

> It is surprising that no reference was made to it in the course of a

> lengthy discussion. No one did a google search on marx and

> vampires?

 

I don't know.  I can't recall doing it, but I might have.  (All I really recall

doing was an MIA search.) *If you do such a search now you will find

843,000 references!*  I can't imagine any listmember having the patience

to look through all of them! 

 

> Did people really not know about his work on Marx and vampires?

 

I can't answer for others.  But, I had no knowledge of any of his writings

before I received a post sent to the 'mps' (marx and philosophy society) list

by Andrew Chitty about MN's book  in November which I posted on

OPE-L that same day. 

 

It's hardly surprising that OPE-L members wouldn't be familiar with an

article published in the _History of Political Thought_ journal, is it?

 

> If so, I wish someone would have cited it.

 

You can't cite what you don't know about it.

 

You wrote on in the vampire thread, didn't you?  (If I recall correctly,

you lead it in the direction of a discussion of Derrida's specters.)

You didn't cite Neocleous's article at the time.  I think it's reasonable

to assume simply that you didn't know about it at the time. Indeed,

that's what _must_ be assumed about anyone in the absence of proof

to the contrary.

 

Had I known about his working paper ("Bloody Capital and Dead

Labour") in October  then I would have lost no time letting the

list know about it.  Of that you can be sure.  (I love a scoop!) Just as

the very day in November I heard about his book I let OPE-L know

about it.

 

In solidarity, Jerry