Karl Marx's "Capital" Vol. 1 (Part 3/4)

[@anlaroja]

Chapter 12 1:16 Chapter 13 7:43 Chapter 14 13:23 Chapter 15 21:49

[@MandelTräd]

You should read The Great Transformation by Polanyi. It's a great work of Marxist analysis of anthropology which describes the creation of capitalism and how it appropriates, destroys and is eventually appropriated by what Habermas calls Civil Society.

[@MandelTräd]

In Sweden (where I live and study economic history) we have always been a bit behind on the whole capitalism thing. Even at the middle of the 19th century we still had so called proto-capitalist industries in most of the rural parts of Sweden. In these organizations there where seldom supervisors or administrative positions. People just moved around in the industry and you where put at the jobs which you were good at. There are records showing workers listed as treasurer, metalworker, and cleaner within the same company. With the onset of state expansion into the rural however these companies were forced into a hierarchal structure, locking the worker into only one posistion. Basically, capitalism and the statehood require each other. Or, as we say in Sweden. "STATEN O KAPITALET, DE SITTER I SAMMA BÅT!"

[@upsotsebastian3476]

Amazing work. Did you ever talk about your methodology for making these videos? Do you read these works in their entirety and then summarize them based on your reading? That feels like it requires so much effort that you should have at least x10 the patreons that you currently have.

[@pranavwalvekar1974]

The capitalist society we live in today won’t allow the video to reach the general public 🤣

[@markbirmingham6011]

Thanks for posting these, these are excellent. By my lights Marx got so many things wrong but a lot can be gleaned from his perspective. In terms of where I think history proved him incorrect by my lights: 1. When capital is added to labor and productivity increases, real wages tend to rise long term. Yes, capital and labor can be substitute inputs in the short run, but in the long run they are complements in production. The example I gave in class was of tomato pickers being replaced by a machine combine. Say there were 10 tomato pickers now you’ve got say 3: 1 driving the combine 1 servicing it & 1 producing it. For the 3 remaining workers their productivity increases as does their real wage. The question is what happens to the other 7. Marx said they’d join the army of the unemployed, but that’s not what’s happened. Over the long run workers have been reallocated to more productive industries and occupations. 2. Meanwhile the rapid increase in production and technology greatly improved living conditions in the industrialized world. Rising productivity, firms competing for labor, and workers increasing their skills all resulted in Massive wealth creation and rising real wages. Wages dont always resort to subsistence levels. 3. The rise in real wages Coupled with the emergence of government regulation, the redistributive welfare state, improvements in technology, & cheap consumer goods results in the rising living standards of the modern world. For example Although brutal in its process, and I don’t know if it’s a necessary developmental step, we’ve seen wages and living standards rise considerably in china over the past 4 decades or so. More than 1 billion lifted out of extreme poverty. Just my thoughts

[@khwaac]

Very interesting, thanks.