[A-List] J. M. Blaut on Imperialism

[Waistline2 at aol.com]

in transition to a new mode of production and this is expressed in its 
primary mode of accumulation as well as the material impact of computers, 
advanced robotics and digitalized production process. The bankers who 
constituted the finance part of financial-industrial capital no longer 
dominate the mode of capital accumulation called finance capital. Uuggh . . 
.wait a minute . . .. Rather, speculators dominate the banking sector or 
speculative capital has arisen to the helm of the world total social capital. 


This domination on the part of speculative capital expresses a complex social 
process whose salient features are a proletariat that can no longer sell its 
labor power because it is not needed to engage the process of production. Its 
direct counter part is speculative capital, which accumulates profits outside 
of engaging the means of production. Capitalist who do not engage production 
for profits expresses a social process embracing a proletariat that cannot 
engage the production process as the basis for exchange. 

Lenin's Popular Outline on Imperialism remains a historical tour de force as 
a brilliant political doctrine, although somewhere in his writings he kicked 
himself and congratulated Bukharin on his brilliant economic writings on 
Imperialism. I forget the exact article because the wife and I have been 
partying and having a great time and went to the movie to see "Recruit" and 
watched "Minority Report" again on DVD. 

The connection: Minority Report has a very good seen of Tom Cruise being 
chased into an automobile plant of the future - 2054, and there are no people 
in the plant. The cars are assembled entirely by robots and the criticism of 
the movie by many Marxist was all the advertisements! The damn Marxist - and 
this includes me, miss the point and get stuck on the mode of accumulation. 
Lenin's popular outline is about a mode of accumulation but damn; he did 
rivet things to the railway system and something real. 

Hey the last sentence was said poorly. All of it is real. 

Isn't "Minority Report" about concepts of Justice under conditions where 
products are made without human beings? And cognitive functions acquire a 
primary social function? 

Imperialism is the eve of the social revolution of the proletariat. In 
America - depending on your historic social relations, this ain't our wedding 
night - "the eve."  Now "I" know Eve through my social and personal relations 
- and history. But on a world scale it might be your wedding night.  I got 
married a few years ago. 

Peace. War with Iraq is wrong and will not improve the living circumstances 
of one person on earth. 

    
Melvin P. 
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