Re: Nationalism as the Enemy of Human Liberation

It is unwise to say that "most people ... dont work for wages". Capitalism,
in essence, is about the waged labour and its exploitation.

Also, the Globalism is what the Capital has always presupposed. It is
inherent in the movement of capital right from the beginning. That is to say
that the Globalism is something like the "force of gravity" in physics. One
may not like it but has to live with it, and more importantly, adapt
himself/his struggle to it.

At this level of globalism, it is becoming more and more absurd to talk
about the "national" capital. In my opinion, the "national" interests of
national bourgeoisie are long gone, became history. However, we still have
to witness the political narrowmindedness of different sections of
bourgeoisie and also their intentions to stupefy the working class with the
"national", the "patriotic", etc. Most of the American society seems to be
(although temporarily) a good product of this stupefying process. However,
what may be grotesque but historically understandable for the backward
societies becomes really tragic for the American society in an objective
world of "global production" under which "the working men have no country".
It is a development which becomes more and more everyday reality. It is the
capitalism which makes (and MUST MAKE) any borders and boundaries (which
were drawn during an earlier phase of capitalism) obsolete. It is therefore
the capital which makes the working men "without any country" a reality.

The emancipation of working class, or waged labour, however, will not be an
easygoing process. Marx points to the conditions under which the
emancipation of waged labour will become a possibility, as follows:

"The historical vocation of capital is fulfilled as soon as, on the one
hand, demand has developed to the point where there is a general need for
surplus labour beyond what is necessary, and surplus labour itself arises
from individual needs; and on the other, general industriousness has
developed (under the strict discipline of capital) and has been passed on to
succeeding generations, until it has become the property of the new
generations, until it has become the property of the new generation; and
finally when the productive forces of labour, which capital spurs on in its
unrestricted desire for wealth and the conditions in which alone capital can
achive this, have developed to the point where the possession and
maintenance of general wealth requires, on the one hand, shorter working
hours for the whole of society, and working society conducts itself
scientifically towards the progressive reproduction of wealth, its
reproduction in even greater profusion; so that the sort of labour in which
the activities of men can be replaced by those of machines will have
ceased." (from Marx's Grundrisse)

Marx's undeniable greatness! He is deeply scientific, and you can feel it
when you compare his comments with the present daily life out there.

It would also be wise to have a look at Capital Vol III Part III ("The law
of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall") at the mention of the
massive investments to China and India. Any further comments?

Ismail

----- Original Message -----
From: <Threehegemons@aol.com>
To: <wwagar@binghamton.edu>
Cc: <spectors@netnitco.net>; <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2003 12:13 AM
Subject: Re: Nationalism as the Enemy of Human Liberation


> In a message dated 3/15/2003 6:18:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
wwagar@binghamton.edu writes:
>
> >    Meanwhile, the task of liberation falls, in a capitalist society,
> > to all those who work for a living as opposed to all those who exploit
> > workers for a living.  Work cannot be unthought until we have unthought
> > and replaced the system that has converted most of us into
> > workers.
>
> A couple of points--first, most people in the world don't work for wages.
As a result of huge structural unemployment and the high mobility of
capital, workplace organizing is generally ineffectual these days, except
where (ahem) national governments remain unusually strong.
>
> If I were to try to capture the 'essence' of the problem with capitalism
today, I'd say its the private control of wealth and land, which makes
creating a bountiful society for everyone impossible (Notably, the most
vital struggles these days are mostly around land issues (MST, Zapatistas,
Palestinians, etc) rather than workplace confrontations.  Its not a question
of dividing up the working day into A (work done for reproduction) B(work
appropriated by capitalists).
>
> Steve