Bromo > wrote in
:

> On 2/16/04 9:58 AM, in article
> , "Michel Boucher"
> > wrote:
>
>> Marx argued that capitalism was not possible if people could not
>> be constrained to work. This was the problem of most colonies
>> where the natives could live freely off the land. Private
>> ownership of all subsistence resources was capitalism's answer.
>> Obviously, if only two hours a day of not particularly gruelling
>> labour is necessary to produce subsistence level resources and
>> that these resources are available without the obligation of
>> binding agreements to work 12 hours to earn 6 hour's worth of
>> wealth, then no one could be constrained to work for a pittance
>> in unsanitary and unsafe conditions.
>
> Marx had an explanation for everything, didn't he?

Actually, he was remarkably terse on many topics that have been
widely attributed to him, and cogent on many topics that are ignored.

> I don't buy
> his explanations very much, because there was no capitalism to
> speak of when the first farms were created

Marx was writing about the 19th century. I think you will find that
by that time mercantilism and its ******* child capitalism had
already spread their oleaginous presence throughout the planet.

Why do you think he spoke (once) of ownership of land as theft?

--

"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003