Abstract
This chapter discusses the idea that post-capitalist societies will out-produce capitalist societies through the development of greater forces of production, an idea that obscures the centrality of issues of freedom for Marx. It also infects ideas about the future inspired by Marx’s work. The mistake comes mostly from neglect and misinterpretations of what Marx actually said. The claim is that the emphasis on development and distribution has corrupted socialist practice and hobbled our imaginations about the future. It is more sympathetic to, and accurate about, Marx to see possibilities of emancipation in socialism because of the way that people in associated labour would use the means of production and disposable time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Karl Marx, “Preface to a Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy” (1859). Marx did not use the term “historical materialism ,” but no one doubts its appropriateness. (Some of the ideas in this chapter were discussed earlier in a paper published in Chinese, entitled “Freeing the Forces of Production”, Teaching and Research, No. 2 (2010), pp. 48–53, with special reference to China.)
- 2.
Cohen, Karl Marx’s Theory of History, 2001. Henceforth I will refer to Cohen’s book as KMTH, followed by the page numbers.
- 3.
The Preface is the canonical text for the view being investigated here and the one on which Cohen focuses. Similar remarks are made in the Manifesto, where Marx and Engels wrote: “The productive forces at the disposal of [late capitalist] society no longer tend to further the development of the conditions of bourgeois property; on the contrary, they have become too powerful for these conditions, by which they are fettered [or hemmed in].” The German is hemmen (MECW 6, p. 490).
- 4.
See MECW 29, p. 263, where Gesellschaftsformation is translated as “development of society,” which is about the formation of society and not about its growth.
- 5.
At that time, they also said that “this development takes place spontaneously” (MECW 5, p. 83), suggesting a continuous autonomous development of productive forces.
- 6.
Earlier in the same letter, Engels mentioned Marx’s frustration over the French who disingenuously claimed to be Marxists. Marx retorted, then, “I’m not a Marxist” (MECW 49, p. 7).
- 7.
This is the way Cohen (KMTH, p. 150) puts what he calls the development thesis.
- 8.
The passage continues with important specific points: “[b]y means of machinery , chemical processes and other methods, it is continually causing changes in not only the technical basis of production but also in the functions of the labourer and in the social combinations of the labour process.”
- 9.
G. A. Cohen writes of an ambiguity of “develop” (and entwicklen) between improving and actualizing (KMTH, p. 332). Perhaps there is a minor role for the actualization of known techniques into real forces.
- 10.
- 11.
He added: “only then will human progress cease to resemble that hideous, pagan idol, who would not drink the nectar but from the skulls of the slain” (MECW 12, p. 222). Contrary to many interpreters, I take this to mean that India will be saved not by developing capitalism itself but by a social revolution in Britain.
References
Note: References to the work of Frederick Engels and Karl Marx are from Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Collected Works. 50 Volumes, 1975–2004. New York, NY: International Publishers. (Referred to in text as “MECW” with volume and page).
Cohen, G.A. 2001 [1978]. Karl Marx’s Theory of History: A Defence. Expanded ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Published in 1978 by Oxford University Press. Referred to in text as “KMTH” and page).
Elster, Jon. 1985. Making Sense of Marx. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Graham, Keith. 1992. Karl Marx, Our Contemporary: Social Theory for a Post-Leninist World. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Lebowitz, Michael A. 2003. Beyond Capital: Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mandel, Ernest. 1981. Introduction. In Capital, ed. Karl Marx, vol. III, 9–90. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ware, R.X. (2019). Fettered Forces and New Found Freedom. In: Marx on Emancipation and Socialist Goals. Marx, Engels, and Marxisms. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97716-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97716-4_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97715-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97716-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)