ideas about the nature of capitalism. Those who oppose the struggle of the working class for power like to present such discussion on the revolutionary left as quibbling and hair-splitting. But those engaged in the class struggle know how necessary and how difficult it is to continually fight the ideas of the ruling class. The purpose of this column is to assist that struggle.
1. What is Capital?
By PAUL. MOREL One hundred years after Marx wrote Capital socialists still frequently-show that they do not understand what Marx was referring to in the title of his great book, For example, a recent pamphlet called Students and the Class Struggle says this: "Under capitalism the means of production takes the form of capital, that is factories, machine-tools, tractors, etc." (page 6), is not the sum of the material and produced This is the 'common sense" definition of capital", means of production. Capital.... is the means and is also the way that bourgeois economists define it: as a stock of productive wealth, as machinery or factories, or the money that can be used to buy them. What is wrong with this?
In the first place, this makes capital a 'thing or a In other words, Marx argues that capital can collection of "things'. And it is clear that machinery is necessary for production under socialism as well as capitalism. Also, if capital is machinery and factories then the capitalists surely fulfil a useful function, indeed a vital one in making these things available to workers.
Similarly, the workers 'deserve' a certain share of the social product because of the productivity the capitalists and produce surplus value in of their labour. Bourgeois economists have attempted to construct a theory of "fair shares' on precisely this basis.
The second objection to the bourgeois concept of relationship between two classes. capital is that it does not distinguish between capital as property and capital as means of production. If the means of production were either control the means of production and where they communally owned by the working class, or were owned on a private basis by the labourers themselves, then the property rights to such capital would not seem to deserve a reward in the form of profit. If there was communal The Red Mole 8 January 1973 Page 6 ownership there would be no social class to claim such a share and the entire product would return to the working class. If the means of production were owned by individual labourers then the returns would go to them.
SOCIAL RELATION Marx was absolutely clear what he meant by capital: "Capital is not a thing, but rather a definite social production relation belonging to a definite historical formation of society.... Capital of production monopolised by a certain section of society, confronting living labour power..." (Capital, Volume 3, Moscow 1962 edition, pages 794-5).
take the form of money, machinery, factories, etc. But it takes all these forms only under certain definite historical and social conditions: namely, that the means of production are owned by one class - the bourgeoisie - which confronts another class - propertyless workers who are forced to sell their labour power to order to acquire their means of subsistence. Capital therefore is capital not by virtue of the material form it takes, but because of this social Capital, then, is not a thing but a certain social relation where the labourers do not own or are forced to sell their labour-power as a commodity to the capitalists. The correct definition of capital is therefore bound up with a correct understanding of what the worker does when he goes on the labour market. Unfortunately, this is also not understood in the student pamphlet which we quoted above. It says this: "The working class or proletariat possess only their labour power (apart from their personal possessions), but it is this which creates the wealth of society." There are two serious errors here. Firstly, labour power is the capacity to work, it is a commodity and as such it creates nothing. Only labour itself, which is the consumption of labour power, creates value. To confuse labour power with labour is to confuse something which is prevalent only under capitalism (a commodity form) with labour itself, which is witnessed in all forms of human society. Marx rebuked an earlier economist Ricardo for making this confusion and asserted that unless the distinction between labour power and labour was understood, capital could not be revealed as a definite social relationship. The second error in this quotation is that not all wealth is produced by labour. A great part of wealth is produced by nature (see Marx's Critique of the Gotha Programme). NOT ACCIDENTAL The misconceptions in this student pamphlet on th nature of capital are not accidental. The group which published the pamphlet, the International Socialists, hold that the USSR and China are 'state capitalist. Such a mistaken view of these workers' states flows from their inability to define the essential nature of capItalist society: they have fallen into an error of bourgeois social science which regards all societies as having the same basic social relations. It is only with Marxist categories that the true nature of the USSR and China can be revealed as post capitalist transitional societ jes between capitalism and socialism. From the British Derry Commemoration Committee, 37 Middle Lane, London N.8. On Sunday, January 28th, 1973, the people of Northern Ireland will be commemorating BLOODY SUNDAY 1972, when highly trained soldiers of the British Army. under official orders, shot and killed 13 unarmed civilians peacefully marching for their civil rights. English, Scots and Welsh people of many different political opinions will be visiting Derry on Saturday, January 27th, to hold an ALL-NIGHT VIGIL at Free Derry Corner in order to disassociate ourselves from the outrage that was committed by "our" Government in "our" name. NICRA (the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association) welcome this action. It is important that a large body of Scots, English and Welsh participate - both as individuals and as delegates from organisations. WHAT ABOUT YOU? Participants will going from all parts of Britain. There is a HeyshamBelfast boat Friday night returning Sunday night (£6.60 return). BEA flies London-Belfast Saturday, returning Sunday evening (after the Commemoration Ceremony) at E13.20 retur. It is hoped to organise cheap coaches from Belfast to Derry. Please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in joining the Vigil.
SPONSORS Fenner Brockway Ernie Roberts Joan Gabriel Gwynfor Evans Joan Mavnard Chris Farley Donald Soper Bill Jones Tony Smy the broon MeLelan Brian Nicholson Malcolm Caldwell Digby Jacks Stan Newens John Berger Ken COater Adrian Mitchell LOUIS BAKS Colin Sweet Mary Holland Pat Arrowsmith CEYLON AND THE HEALY SCHOOL OF FALSIFICATION B y Jaya Vithana IMG Publications, 5p. This pamphlet takes up and answers in detail the slanders and falsifications made by the SLL and others regarding the role of our comrade Bala Tampoe and the LSSP (R), Ceylon section of the Fourth International. Order now from: IMG Publications, 182 Pentonville Road. London N.1
Ed Wyatt looks at the reasons for the success in America of
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Derry Bloody Sunday Commemoration Vigil