[PEN-L:27401] Re: Re: Re: Capitalist thievery inhibits capitalist recovery

["Justin Schwartz" <jkschw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> At 08:35 AM 06/29/2002 +0100, Chris wrote:
> > Capital is not theft in marxist terms.
>
> But, doesn't it start out with "primitive capitalist accumulation" -- that 
> is, theft? And, when we look at more recent capitalist formations: eastern 
> europe, FSU, as well as the global privatization of social "capital"., does 
> it not also look like theft?

In a sense, but it's not useful to look it it that way. With ordinary theft, 
you restore the property to its owner. With primitive accumulation, that 
means what? Going back to precapitalist production relations? What's wrong 
with capitalism is not that it is based on theft but that it is based on 
exploitation, which involves unnecessary unfreedom (coercion and domination 
and alienation at work), injustice (unnecessary inequality), and general bad 
effects in terms of unnecessary suffering due to unemployment and poverty. 
jks

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