Re: hardt&negri's "empire"

RKM-

In simple terms, Samir Amin says that Marx was wrong in his projection of
capitalism on a world scale, because he failed to understand that capital
would be mobile globally while labor would not be.  That fact allows for
the systematic exploitation (or, if you wish, the qualitative deepening of
the already existing core/periphery exploitation that Gunder Frank says is
5000 years old) of the peripheral peasants and proletariat by core
capital.

According to Amin, then, any attempt to revise and update Marxist theory
that fails to take this basic structural divide into account repeats
Marx's original error.  (This would, perhaps needless to say, apply to
most Marxists in the core, of what few are left these days, including
Negri.)

RH
 



On Wed, 10 Jan 2001, Richard K. Moore wrote:

> 
> 1/10/2001, Richard N Hutchinson wrote:
>     > But I don't expect to find anything to challenge any
>     variant of world-system theory for one simple reason --
>     Negri has never incorporated the "polarization of actually
>     existing capitalism" (Amin's term) into his theory.
> 
> 
> Dear Richard H,
> 
> Would you be so kind as to articulate in simple terms the
> principle of the "polarization of actually existing capitalism"?
> I don't suppose an anecdotal example would go amiss either.
> 
> I've trudged through some of 'Empire' and found it refreshing, much 
> like a cryptic crossword is refreshing.  If someone could articulate 
> the essential thesis, it would be read with appreciation.
> 
> grateful,
> rkm
>