Re: Precapitalist South Africa?

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 16/06/01 18:04 -0400, Louis Proyect wrote:

> From the standpoint of class relations, contemporary South Africa and
> colonial Spain have much in common. Capitalism is not about advanced
> technology. Until relatively recent times, a miner worked with a pick and a
> shovel. Nor is capitalism about "freedom". It is about producing surplus
> value. If a work force is not available to work for a wage, then the
> capitalist state will pass laws ensuring that various forms of unfree labor
> keep the system going. It is our job as Marxists to develop a class
> analysis that can maximize the power of the laboring classes politically.
> Quibbling over whether the worker is really a worker or not based on the
> peculiarities of a given country's history not only constitutes a form of
> pedantic quibbling, it is a detour from our task as revolutionaries.


I think this last point is exactly incorrect. It appears to fuel the
impatience with detailed concrete discussion and the expressions of sarcasm.

In order to build a successful united front it is important to understand
the different positions of different sections of the working people.

I have given the example of South Africa. Whether you agree with the SACP
1962 formulation of "colonialism of a special type" it is surprising to
write about South Africa without mentioning colonialism. The particular
development of colonialism in South Africa and in Latin America may be
relevant for the similarities between the two areas.

Marx's last unfinished chapter in Capital Vol III refers to

"the infinite fragmentation of interests and positions into which the
division of social labour splits ... workers."

We need to analyse them and take them into account in practice. That is not
a form of pedantic quibbling that invites a detour as we stride along our
revolutionary path. "There is no royal road to science, and only those who
do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths ...."


Chris Burford

London