marx on universal and collective labor nov 5 2010

8/6/2019 Marx on Universal and Collective Labor Nov 5 2010

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Marxs Concepts of

Universal andCollective Labor

John Stachel

Center for Einstein Studies

Boston University

Congrs

International Marx VI


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arl Marx


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,arx e t t e r s t ou g e l m a n n[ ]he vulgar economist thinkse has made a great discovery,hen as against the

isclosure of the inner,onnection he proudlyroclaims that in appearance. ,hings look different In facte is boasting that he holds,ast to the appearances and .akes this for the last wordhy then any science at all?


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Capital, Vol. 3

The three cardinal features ofcapitalist production: 1. Theconcentration of the means of

production in a few hands,whereby they cease to appear asthe property of the immediateworkers and on the contrary are

transformed into social powersof production, even if at first asprivate property of the

capitalists. They are trustees of


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Capital, Vol. 3

(contd)

2. Organization of labor itselfas social labor: throughcooperation, division of labor,and the union of labor withnatural science.

On both these counts, thecapitalist mode of production

abolishes private property andprivate labor, even if inantagonistic forms.

3. Establishment of the worldmarket.


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Capital: Manuscript of

1861-63 In fact, it happenedhistorically that capital, at thebeginning of its formation, not

only takes the labor process as awhole under its control(subsumes it), but also the

particular real labor processes asit finds them technologicallyready, as they have beendeveloped on the basis of non-capitalist relations of production.


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Capital: Manuscript of

1861-63 It encounters the real processof production the determinatemode of production and initially

only formallysubsumes it underitself without altering anythingin its technological character.Only in the course of its

development does capitalsubsume the labor process underitselfnot only formally, but alsotransforms it, shapes anew themode of production itself, and


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Capital, Vol. 3 We must distinguish here

between universal labor andcollective labor. They both play

their part in the productionprocess, and merge into oneanother, but they are eachdifferent as well. Universal labor is

all scientific work, all discoveryand invention. It is brought aboutin. part by cooperation among theliving, in part by utili-zation of the

labor of those who came before.Collective labor, however, sim l


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Results of the ImmediateProcess of Production

(Chapter VI, 1863-65) The transposition of the social

productivity of labor into the

material attributes of capital isso firmly entrenched in peoplesminds that the advantages ofmachinery, the use of science,invention, etc., are necessarilyconceived in this alienatedform,so that all these things are

deemed to be the attributes of


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(Chapter VI) The basis for this is (1) the

form in which objects appear in

the framework of capitalistproduction and hence in theminds of those caught up in that

mode of production; (2) thehistorical fact that thisdevelopment first occurs incapitalism, in contrast to earlier

modes of production, and so its


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(Chapter VI) The same transformation may be

observed in the forces of natureand in science, the product of the

general development of history inits abstract quintessence. They tooconfront the workers as thepowersof capital. They become effectivelyseparated from the skill andknowledge of the individualworker; and even thought they arethemselves ultimately the productof labor, they appear as an integral

part of capital wherever they


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(Chapter VI) The capitalist who puts the

machinery to work does not needto understand it. But the sciencerealized in the machine becomesmanifest to the workers in the formofcapital. And in fact, all theseapplications of science, of the

forces of nature, and of theproducts of labor on a grand scale,all based upon socialized labor,indeed even appear as only meansfor the exploitation of labor, as

means of appropriating surplus


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(Chapter VI) And so the development of the

socialproductive powers of

labor, and the conditions of itsdevelopment, appear as theachievement of capital, anachievement to which theindividual worker only relatespassively, and which progressesat his expense.


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s Marxism Outmoded by IT?

here are however independentranches of industry in which theroduct of the production process isot a new concrete product[ e ge ns t nd li ch es P ro du kt ] , o.ommodity The only one of these thats economically important is heommuni catio n in dustry , e it the

,ransportation industry proper for,ommodities and people be it heransmission solely of information--, , . (etters telegrams etc C a p i t a l , .ol, . )p 60


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rogramme lectoral des ,ravailleurs Socialistes( )rambule Marx 1880,onsiderantue l mancipation e a classeroductive st celle de tous tresumains sans distinction de sexe ni de;ace

ue les producteurs e sauraient ibres qu autant qu ils seront enpossession es oyens de production; u il n ya que deux formes sousaquelles les oyens de production:euvent leur appartenir e La forme individuelle qui n a jamaisxist l tat de fait gnral et quist limine de plus en plus par le;rogs indus triele a forme collective on t leslemnts matriels t ntellectuels ontonstitus par le dveloppement mme de


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lavoj i ek he most dangerous philosopher inhe west


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,i r s t a s T r a g e d y T h e ns F a r c e ( , )erso 2009[ ]hose who preach the needor a return from financial

peculation to the realconomy of producing goods to ,atisfy real people s needsiss the very point of:apitalism -elf propelling and-elf augmenting financialirculation is its onlyimension of the Real , n

ontrast to the reality of


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,i r s t a s T r a g e d y T h e ns F a r c e he populist slogan Save, ain Street not Wall Street- ,s thus totally mislead ing aorm of ideology at its:urest it overlooks that facthat under capitalism hateeps Main Street going sall Street! he paradox ofapitalism is that you annothrow out the dirty water ofinancial speculation hile

eeping the health baby ofeal economy .


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,i r s t a s T r a g e d y T h e ns F a r c e t is as if the hreeomponents of the productionprocess ntellectuallanning and marketing ,

aterial production , herovision of materialresources re increasinglyautonomized , merging as hreeeparate spheres . n its,ocial consequences thiseparation appears in theuise of the hree main

classes f today s developed


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First as Tragedy, Then asFarce

which are precisely notclasses but three fractions ofthe working class:intellectual laborers,

the old manual working

class, and the outcasts (the

unemployed, those living in

slums and other interstices


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Antonio Gramsci: PrisonNotebooks

When one distinguishesbetween intellectuals, and non-intellectuals one has in mind

the direction in which theirspecific professional activity isweighted, whether towardintellectual elaboration or

towards muscular-nervouseffort. There is no form ofhuman activity from which everyform of intellectual participationcan be excluded: homo faber

Pi P l


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Pier Paulo

Frasinelli

A Note on Intellectual


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A Note on IntellectualLabor,Workplace: A Journalfor Academic Labor (2003)

Among the effects of the presentphase of global economicrestructuring tendency to theunification of the world market,automation of control in industrialproduction and reorganization oflabor and machines, redefinition ofthe international division of labor,new regulation of public spending,including cuts in State expenditure oneducation, and so on -we can

definitely include, for many sectors oftraditional intellectuals the material


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First as Tragedy, Then as

Farce [E]ach part [is] being played

off against the others:

intellectual laborers full ofcultural prejudices againstredneck workers; workers whodisplay a populist hatred ofintellectuals and outcasts;outcasts who are antagonistic tosociety as such.


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,irs t a s Tra g e d y T h e ns Fa rc e:h e o ld cry , ! roletarians unite is

h u s m o re p e rtin e n t th a n:v e r in th e n e w co n d itio n s - f p o s t in d u stria l,a p ita lism h e u n ity o f th eh re e fra c tio n s f t h eo rk in g c la s s is lready


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a rx o n S c ie n c e a n dC a p ita lis m e g m e n ta tio n o f th e w o rk in gclass , ,y color by gender by, , .a tio n a lity b y a g e e tc h a slw a y s b e e n n e o f th e m o stffe ctiv e to o ls f th e ca p ita list,la ss stra te g y a n d a y s to

o re e ffe ctiv e ly co m b a t th e sep e re n n ia l ut continuallye n o v a t e d e th o d s o fe g m e n ta tio n u st co n tin u a lly


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a rx o n S c ie n c e a n dC a p ita lis m h e a n a ly sis p re se n te d h e reu g g e sts th e ru cia l co n te m p o ra ryo le f a n o th e r tra d itio n a l fo rm o f,e g m e n ta tio n th a t b e tw e e n e n t a ln d m a n u a l la b o r. any who havee e n d ra w n in to th e ca p ita list la b o rro c e s s a s b ra in w o rk e rs fa il e v e no re c o g n ize th e ir e w ro le s s;e m b e rs o f th e w o rk in g cla ssh ile m a n y m e m b e rs o f th e m o re,ra d itio n a l stra ta w e ll a w a re o f

,h e ir p o sitio n a s w o rk e rs a il toe c o n ize o te n tia l a llie s n su ch


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a rx o n S c ie n c e a n dC a p ita lis ma y s o f s u cce s sfu llyo p in g w ith th e cu rre n tcissio n b e tw e e n m e n ta ln d m a n u a l w o rk e rs w ill b e ita l c o m p o n e n t f a

u cce ssfu l co n te m p o ra rytrategy .o r la b o r


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a rx o n S c ie n c e a n dC a p ita lis m,n p a rticu la r su ch a n a llia n ceo u ld co n trib u te a g re a t d e a l tov e rco m in g th e fe e lin g s o f

o w e rle s sn e s s s o e ffe c tiv e ly ,n cu lca te d in to m a n y w o rk e rs b o th,a n u a l a n d m e n ta l fe e lin g s th a tn h ib it m a n y se cto rs o f th e la b o ro v e m e n t fro m w a g in g e ffe ctiv ee fe n siv e a ctio n s a g a in st th e,u rre n t o n sla u g h t o f ca p ita l n o tn ly o n w a g e s b u t o n co n d itio n s o f

a b o r ta k e n fo r g ra n te d in th e


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a rx o n S c ie n c e a n dC a p ita lis m o re o v e r th e y p o w e rfu llyn h ib it th e w o rk in g cla s s fro m

:a isin g issu e o f p o w e r th eo w e r o f w o rk e rs w ith in th ea cto rie s to co n tro l th e ir la b o r;ro ce ss a n d th e p o w e r o f th en tire cla ss to h e lp sh a p e th en s w e rs to th e u rg e n t so cia l .ssu e s fa c in g o u r so c ie ty to d a y


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The Roadmap to a High-


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The Roadmap to a High-Speed Recovery (New

Republic, Aug 12) Our transition from a Fordist

mass produc-tion economy,based on the assembly line, to aknowledge economy, in whichthe driving force is creativity andtechnological innova-tion, hasbeen under way for some time;the evidence can be seen in the

physical decline of the oldmanufacturing cities and theboom in high-tech centers likeSilicon Valley, government

boomtowns like Washington DC,


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The Great Reset : How New


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The Great Reset: How NewWays of Living and Working

Drive Post-Crash Prosperity

We tend to view prolongedeconomic downturns, like the GreatDepression of the 1930s and the LongDepression of the late 19th century, in

terms of the crisis and pain they cause,rather than as the opportunities theyinvariably represent. But historyteaches us that these great crises areopportunities to remake our economy

and society and generate whole newepochs of economic growth andprosperity. These periods of creativedestruction have been some of themost fertile, in terms ofinnovation,

invention and energetic risk-taking inhistor , and this is what sets the sta e


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o w C h i n a i s D e a l i n g w i t h t h e G l o b a l*i n a n c i a l C r i s i s LIU YUNSHAN

.r Liu is theDirector f theropaganda Department of the Communist Party of Chin. e is one of 24embers of thePolitburo, he mostnfluential group ofoliticians in the.ommunist Party *Qiushi [ ournal of theommunist Party of] , . , .hina No 1 2010 h eM a r x i s t , , XVI 1 January(arch 2010 Journal of the-ommunist Party of India)arxist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Department_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China_Central_Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Department_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China_Central_Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Department_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China_Central_Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Department_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China_Central_Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_of_the_Communist_Party_of_Chinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_of_the_Communist_Party_of_Chinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Department_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China_Central_Committee


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e are energetically promotingnnovation in science andtechnologynnovation in science and technologyrovides the breakthroughs and is aowerful weapon for addressing a financial.risis xperience has shown that a major

conomic crisis is often following by acientific and technological revolution .istory has shown that hoever p os se ss eshe edge in scientific and technologicalnnovation lso olds the initiative indevelopment nd akes the lead in recoverynd becoming prosperous . e are following aath using innovation as the driving forcend depending on our own strengths for .rowth to promote economic development


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Rick WolffTruthout/Op-Ed, 21 August 2010

H i C i i S t
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://a.images.blip.tv/Kazembe-RickWolffOnTheEconomicCrisisAndSocialism169-937.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.channels.com/episodes/show/4865521/Frank-Wilderson-at-the-Brecht-Forum-discussing-his-new-book-Incognegro&usg=__hYNyGH-lqW4Ixsr1oacmyrn2XLI=&h=240&w=361&sz=16&hl=en&start=14&zoom=1&tbnid=x37Y2Ej_EyNFeM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=121&prev=/images?q=Rick+Wolff&hl=en&sa=G&biw=1024&bih=604&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&itbs=1


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Housing Crisis, SystemFailure

The unspoken ideological tabooin most public discussion of theeconomic crisis prohibits seeing ortreating the problem as systemic,as a problem of capitalism as asystem. Instead, our political,journalistic, and academic leadersmostly see only symptoms and"develop policies" only for thosesymptoms. Alarms about onesymptom -- and contested effortsto address it -- soon shift toanother s m tom and " olic

H i C i i S t


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Housing Crisis, SystemFailure

Often such policies for onesymptom actually worsenanother symptom. For example,

when stock markets collapsedearly in 2000 (symptom), theFederal Reserve drastically cut

interest rates (policy response);that move facilitated the excesslending that collapsed the entireeconomy in 2007.

James Petras


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James PetrasAl-Jazeerah: Cross-Cultural Understanding Opinion

Editorials, August 2010

Crisis What


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Crisis. WhatCrisis? Profits Soar!

The failed diagnosis of capitalist crisesby the left and progressives has been aperennial problem since the end of WorldWar II, when we were told capitalism wasstagnant and heading for a final collapse.

Recent prophets of the apocalypse saw inthe 2008-2009 recession the definitive andtotal crash of the world capitalist system.Blinded by Euro-American ethnocentrism,they failed to note that Asian capital neverentered the final crises and Latin America

had a mild and transient version (FinancialTimes June 9, 2010, p. 9). The falseprophets failed to recognize that differentkinds of capitalism are more or lesssusceptible to crises and that some

variants tend to experience rapid recoveries(Asia-Latin America- Germany) while others

Crisis What


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The progressives failed predictions ofcapitalisms demise are a result of theirunderestimation of the extent to whichthe White House and Congress wouldplunder the public treasury to resuscitate

capital. They underestimated the degreeto which capital had been freed to shiftthe entire burden of profit recovery ontothe backs of labor. In that regard,progressive rhetoric about labor

resistance and the trade unionmovement reflected a lack ofunderstanding that there has beenvirtually no resistance to the roll back ofsocial and money wages because there isno labor organization. What passes for it

is totally ossified and at the service of the

Crisis What


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What the current unequal anduneven impact of the capitalistsystem tells us is that capitalistscan overcome crises only by

heightening exploitation and rollingback decades ofsocial gains. Thecurrent process of profit recovery,however, is highly precariousbecause it is based on exploiting

current inventories, low interestrates and cutting labor costs(Financial Times August 10, 2010, p7). It is not based on dynamic new

private investments and increasedroductive ca acit .

Crisis What


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In other words, these are windfallgains - not profits derived fromincreased sales revenues andexpanding consumer markets. How

could they be if wages are decliningandunemployment/underemployment/andlost labor is over 22%? Clearly, thisshort-term profit boom, based onpolitical and social advantages andprivileged power, is not sustainable.There are limits to the massive layoffsof public employees and productiongains from the intensified exploitationof labor something has to give. Onething is certain: The capitalist system


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( -n to n io G ra m sci 1 8 9 1)9 3 7 h e crisis co n sistsre c is e ly in th ea ct th a t th e o ld isy in g a n d th e n e w

;a n n o t b e b o rn inh is in te rre g n u m are a t v a rie ty o fo rb id sy m p to m sp p e a r r i s o nN o t e b o o k s essimism of the,ntellectptimism of the

marx on universal and collective labor nov 5 2010

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