The market [Socialism Now}

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 19/11/01 09:10 +0800, you wrote:

> PS hand in hand with socialisation the market has become all but extinct,
> though its form remains especially at the consumer end of things. The
> speculative market is perhaps the last hold out of market mechanisms,
> which of course is a parody of their former function (speculative
> exchanges are very much removed from the exchanges of actual value - the
> historical purpose of real markets).
>
> Greg Schofield
> Perth Australia

Greg, can you expand in what sense you mean this?

Certainly it is clear in Marx that he described an essentially social
process that appeared to be privately owned, and was treated legally as
privately owned, thereby permitting the extraction of surplus value and the
dynamics of uneven capitalist accumulation.

He is clear that commodities existed long before the capitalist mode of
production became dominant.

So in what sense has the market *now* become all but extinct? Do you just
mean that giant oligopolies have so much influence on demand and
distribution that they effectively control it?

Regards

Chris