[PEN-L:11682] Re: RE: binary passions

["Max B. Sawicky" <sawicky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Charles: Maybe if we substitute the word "exploited surplus value" for
"plundered", you can see how a scientific Marxist understanding of this
factor enters in. The gold was not snatched by the hands of the Spanish from
the ground. It used Indian miners to do the labor, and then extracted
surplus value from those workers
>>>>

This doesn't change the argument.  If Portugal and Spain
enjoyed extraordinary rates of s.v. extraction, but countries
like Germany became industrial powers, then the case for
gold plunder as the key force in the latter is weakened.
Any special advantage gained by virtue of plunder is
dissipated when the "way-station" trades with the
nations that are destined to become the big economic
powers.

My dim recollection of Marx is that primitive accumulation
is most consequential in later stages of capitalism and helps
to head off crises in the industrial countries by providing pliant
markets for capitalist output.  It is not a 'ground floor'
factor, relatively speaking.  But I'll defer to others on
this question.

mbs