[p2p-research] Life after capitalism (was: Re: labour, capital and p2p)

[Michel Bauwens]

Hi Christian,

I'm intrigued by your notion of the closing and then the re-opening of the
commons as critical for overcoming capitalism.

I had never specifically thought about it that way, and I find it a powerful
concept and idea.

I wonder if you could not write a blog entry about it, for publication in
our p2p blog?

Michel

On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 8:26 PM, Christian Siefkes <christian at siefkes.net>wrote:

> Ryan,
>
> Ryan Lanham wrote:
> > Tell me what you think some of Marx's great and relevant insights on the
> > present are?  Why don't we discuss his ideas rather than his iconic
> > status.
> >
> > Your ideas on defining capital and labor are a bit broad.  I would
>
> They seem broad only for current society, since nowadays almost all labor
> is
> capitalistic. But historically they are quite specific: capitalism requires
> what Marx called the "doppelt freie Lohnarbeiter" ("doubly free worker" --
> not sure what is the correct English translation), i.e. people who are
> "free" in a double sense: "free" human beings who are allowed to sell their
> labor power (not slaves or serfs), but also "free" of the means of
> production, i.e. without access to tools and resources what would allow
> them
> to produce for themselves, without having to sell their labor power.
>
> Today, almost everybody is a "doubly free worker", but that was not always
> the case. Creating the doubly free worker was a historical process that
> comprised, on the one hand, the liberation of slaves/serfs and, on the
> other
> hand, the "enclosure of the commons"
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure>, the privatization of land and
> other resources which had formerly belonged to all. That historical process
> is described by Marx in his chapter(s) on the "so-called primitive
> accumulation" in Capital I, starting here:
> http://marxists.catbull.com/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch26.htm .
>
> While capitalism became possible only through the "enclosure of the
> commons"
> that separated people from direct access to the means of production, the
> transition to a post-capitalist will require a "reopening of the commons,"
> which reverses that historical process. And indeed we see such a reopening
> already taking place, as new commons are created (free software, Wikipedia
> etc.) and struggles for old, or former commons (land, water etc.) are
> increasing.
>
> > encourage you to point me and others to a portrait of what such a system
> > would look like...say on an island...or a sea stead.  How would it
> > work?  Would interest and investment be forbidden?  What if most people
> > didn't like those rules?
>
> Marx has only left sparse notes about how a post-capitalist society might
> look like, as I mentioned--that was not his topic, and he considered any
> detailed descriptions of such a society as premature and utopian. I guess
> he
> considered it impossible to really imagine such a society in his times, and
> he was probably right, but I also think that has changed since we're now
> seeing the beginnings of a possible post-capitalist way of production
> emerging around us: commons-based peer production.
>
> Of course, we're still far away from a fully fledged commons-based peer
> economy, but I think we can get there. As Stan already mentioned, I've
> written about how such a society might look like. For a short overview, you
> might want to check my recent article, "The Commons of the Future"
> <http://www.commoner.org.uk/?p=78>.
>
> A more detailed explanation is available in a 5-part blog series, starting
> here:
>
> http://www.keimform.de/2008/01/21/material-peer-production-part-0-traits-of-peer-production/
> . And, of course, there is my book, "From Exchange to Contributions:
> Generalizing Peer Production into the Physical World"
> <http://peerconomy.org/wiki/Main_Page#The_Book>
> (available for downloading and as a printed book).
>
> Best regards
>        Christian
>
> --
> |-------- Dr. Christian Siefkes --------- christian at siefkes.net ---------
> |   Homepage: http://www.siefkes.net/   |   Blog: http://www.keimform.de/
> |   Better Bayesian Analysis:           |   Peer Production Everywhere:
> |   http://bart-project.com/            |   http://peerconomy.org/wiki/
> |------------------------------------------ OpenPGP Key ID: 0x346452D8 --
> Copyright, having turned from a regulation into a subsidy of publishing
> industries, is the 21st century equivalent of drug legislation. Everyone
> knows that it is obsolete, dysfunctional, and depriving people of
> their rights; absurd wars are fought in its name. The simple fix is to
> abolish it.
>        -- Florian Cramer
>
>
>
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