Prof. Rubenstein wrote two things which I'd like to comment on:
... "private ownership of the means of production" is the "Marxist" definition of capitalism, and now insists that I provide my own "marxist" definition! This list serve is not the place for this discussion, which has already occurred on the Capitalism talk pages. Suffice to say, "private ownership of the means of production" is simply not, in no way, the marxist or "a" marxist definition of capitalism.
Googling the quoted definition easily shows that several sources regard "private ownership of the means of production" as an essential part of the "Marxist definition" of Capitalism.
And this mailing list *is* the right place to bring something like this up. I, for one, would never have noticed this issue if it hadn't been brought up here.
However, it's tricky, because the exact quoted phrase is not used by a Marxist writer, but by an American college professor PARAPHRASING the Marxists. The first reference below is some lecture notes for a college course. It interprets "individual ownership" as "private ownership of the means of production".
So the source for this would go something like:
* Professor Windbag of Westwind University at Turbyne, Indiana, interprets Marxist writings as assailing "private ownership of the means of production" as one of the chief evils of Capitalism.
This provides the source: the ol' Windbag.
This clarifies that it's HIS interpretation.
http://faculty.washington.edu/wtalbott/phil332/trmarxII.htm
Oh, and his name is
WILLIAM J. TALBOTT
Associate Professor Department of Philosophy Box 353350 University of Washington
Ed Poor (That wasn't so hard, now, was it? ;-)