RE: Marx and the capitalist world economy

But the "whole discussion" isn't about the origins of capitalism.  All 
these non "capitalistic modes of production" were part of the transition, 
but they continue on to the present.

Andy Austin's contribution is evidence supporting the point that Marx 
doesn't seem to have argued that modern slavery, etc., is a form of 
capitalist production, but rather that slavery, etc. are earlier forms 
recalled into existence, and their content (surplus-value creation) 
transformed, as they were "drawn into the whirlpool of an international 
market dominated by the capitalistic mode of production."

Anyhow, people get too bogged down in the formalistic "modes" stuff and 
seem to neglect another key point, found in the German Ideology" which is 
to explain "ways of life."  Ways of life, for Marxists and 
world-systemists, are fundamentally shaped by the commodity form of social 
reproduction but are also shaped by and shape experience and agency.
elson

On Monday, November 01, 1999 1:37 PM, Ricardo Duchesne 
[SMTP:RDUCHESN@admin1.csd.unbsj.ca] wrote:
>
> Elson Boles Wrote:
>
> > I think this oversimplifies Marx's views.  Certainly he noted that 
slavery
> > was necessary for the modern factory.  But he doesn't seem to have 
argued
> > that modern slavery is a form of capitalist production.  This is where 
Marx
> > did not push the analysis of historical capitalism as far as
> > world-systemists have.
>
> This whole discussion has oversimplified Marx's views on the origins
> of capitalism. Textual evidence can certainly be adduced showing
> that, for Marx, gains from slave-based agriculture and colonial trade
> were an important part of the process of primitive accumulation. But
> so can other textual evidence be found on 1) the so-called 'peasant
> road' to capitalism, involving peasant differentiation and the rise
> of the yeomen (as Rodney Hilton has insisted); 2) the growth of
> merchant capital and the putting out system (as Dobb and others have
> emphasized; 3) the enclosure movement led by landowners (as Brenner
> has argued). *Capital* has extensive sections, if not full chapters,
> on these other aspects of  primitive accumulation.
>
>