steven l. rubenstein wrote:
Ed Poor wrote,
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.
Alas, sometimes the Web is not the best place to do research. I think
if Wikipedia wants to establish itself as an outstanding on-line
encyclopedia, its editors sometimes have to do some off-line research.
Absolutely. Do we want quantity or quality? It's the difference
between a rose and the pile of shit that it grows in ... and the rose
still manages to have thorns. The Web is a good place to start
research, but a terrible place to end it. If I encounter an idea on the
Web I like to look for verification elsewhere.
In most of the cases Ed is referring to, people are
taking sentences
by Marx and Engels out of context. Abolishing the private ownership
of capital is but one element of the communist program -- but that
doesn't mean that they defined capitalism as ownership of the means of
production. Another part of their program was free education for
children -- certainly we don't think that the "Marxist" definition of
capitalism is a system where children are uneducated! Moreover, in
the Communist Manifesto they actually argue that capitalism is
destroying private property! And in various other books by Marx, Marx
and Engels, and their followers, they define capitalism quite
differently.
In any event, Ed at least provided an actual source. Now we can have
hopefully fruitful discussion of the usefulness of this source, if
there are better sources, etc. In short, what Ed wrote was verifiable.
Ed is Ed. His ideas may be way off in <s>left</s> right field but there
is a certain honesty about his expression that you would hope would be
learned by others with similar ideas.
Ec