Introduction to Marx and Engels: A Critical Reconstruction by Richard Schmitt

Author:Richard Schmitt [Schmitt, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Philosophy, Politics, Marxism, Socialism, Communism, Political Philosophy
ISBN: 9780429974779
Google: WlwEAQAAIAAJ
Goodreads: 3739001
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1987-08-31T23:00:00+00:00

For Further Reading

David Schweickart, “A Democratic Theory of Exploitation Dialectically Developed, ” in Roger Gottlieb, ed., Radical Philosophy (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993).

Notes

1. Even if you are fortunate enough to be able to make your choices from among desirable alternatives, you cannot always take pride in your good fortune and ascribe, say, your wealth to your hard work or intelligence: The person who can choose between working in a thriving family business or live off the proceeds of his trust fund is very fortunate. But he has no reason for attributing his good fortune to his own intelligence or hard work. Nor is he justified in ascribing the poverty of others to their laziness or stupidity.

2. For an interesting critique of this standard interpretation of Marx’s conception of feudalism, see John E. Martin, Feudalism to Capitalism (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1983).

3. Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (New York: International Publishers, 1970), p. 56.

4. This formulation leaves out an important qualification: The value of a commodity corresponds to the “socially necessary labor time.” Commodities are sold in the market where prices are determined by supply and demand. If a certain commodity is generally produced with a particular technology, the people who employ a less efficient technique of production cannot therefore charge more than the producers operating at the prevailing level of technological or organizational efficiency. This means, for instance, that small producers who cannot avail themselves of “economies of scale” must nevertheless sell at the prices asked by large producers. The effect is often that small producers are put out of business.

5. Helpful criticisms of Marx’s labor theory of value, including his theory of exploitation, may be found in N. Scott Arnold, Marx’s Radical Critique of Capitalist Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), chapter 3, and Jon Elster, Making Sense of Marx (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 127–141.

6. David Schweickart, “A Democratic Theory of Exploitation Dialectically Developed,” in Roger Gottlieb, ed., Radical Philosophy (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993).

7. Arnold, Marx’s Radical Critique, pp. 101ff.

8. This argument is developed in detail in chapter 1 of David Schweickart, Against Capitalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

9. A different sort of defense of capitalism and the return of interest to the owners of capital is often given at this point of the argument: Capitalists may not have contributed anything to merit interest, but the capitalist system is, as a whole, the most productive, most innovative, and hence most desirable economic system known to humankind. If giving the interest to the owner of capital is part of that system, so be it. For an elaborate rebuttal of that claim, see Schweickart, Against Capitalism.

10. See John Roemer, “New Directions in the Marxian Theory of Class and Exploitation,” in John Roemer, ed., Analytic Marxism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 81–113.

11. John Roemer, “Second Thoughts on Property Relations and Exploitation,” in Robert Ware and Kai Nielsen, eds., Analyzing Marxism, supplementary vol. 15, Canadian Journal of Philosophy (Calgary: Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 1989), pp.

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