Summary: Rosa Luxemburg carried an intense study of pre-capitalist societies, partly to trace out the content of an alternative socialist society, thus challenging the orthodox Marxist notion of progress and modernity — Editors
LEAVE A REPLY
2 Comments
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LEAVE A REPLY
2 Comments
Karel on December 3, 2018 at 11:34 amAs an addition to note 4 I refer for the German text of “The Introduction to Political Economy” to Rosa Luxemburg, Gesammelte Werke (GW) 5 and of “The manuscripts and lecture notes on non-Western societies” to GW, 7/2.
Reply- Peta on December 5, 2018 at 11:08 am
I agree there are limits to Capitalism’s relentless pursuit of abstract self-expansion through collective resistance. Rosa’s intense study of pre-capialist forms of communal production is fascinating and enlightening of future ant-capialist modes in that qualities of humane subject reason dominates over unthinking material relations of quantity. The question is – who makes the plan and does the overall organisation decideing who does what? Does muscular might decide? Does intellectual prowess benefit some at other’s expense? In hunter-gatherer societies, did the men work co-operatively armed returning to the female home base for rest and pampering with women focused on the care and reproduction of their own blood clan line at the cost of less powerful families? Capitalism in contact with such a society would promote selfish interests pushing modern medicine, machines and science aswell as devaluing notions of mutual collective survival of all. Gender inequality and the division between mental and manual labour are like fault lines for invasive dominating exploitation. The public sphere is still male and resistant to female equality. Wider sisterhood collectives are undermined by clan loyalty which the men are based on. Co-operative male hunting can include slave capture, gang rape and just intimidating sport against any unprotected female. An excellent article as ever. In solidarity and, All the Best.
Reply
As an addition to note 4 I refer for the German text of “The Introduction to Political Economy” to Rosa Luxemburg, Gesammelte Werke (GW) 5 and of “The manuscripts and lecture notes on non-Western societies” to GW, 7/2.
I agree there are limits to Capitalism’s relentless pursuit of abstract self-expansion through collective resistance. Rosa’s intense study of pre-capialist forms of communal production is fascinating and enlightening of future ant-capialist modes in that qualities of humane subject reason dominates over unthinking material relations of quantity. The question is – who makes the plan and does the overall organisation decideing who does what? Does muscular might decide? Does intellectual prowess benefit some at other’s expense? In hunter-gatherer societies, did the men work co-operatively armed returning to the female home base for rest and pampering with women focused on the care and reproduction of their own blood clan line at the cost of less powerful families? Capitalism in contact with such a society would promote selfish interests pushing modern medicine, machines and science aswell as devaluing notions of mutual collective survival of all. Gender inequality and the division between mental and manual labour are like fault lines for invasive dominating exploitation. The public sphere is still male and resistant to female equality. Wider sisterhood collectives are undermined by clan loyalty which the men are based on. Co-operative male hunting can include slave capture, gang rape and just intimidating sport against any unprotected female. An excellent article as ever. In solidarity and, All the Best.