Jeffrey Fisher on 25 Jul 2000 22:11:49 -0000


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Re: <nettime> Terror in Tune Town


McKenzie Wark wrote:

> "'intellectual property' is really little more than the bourgeoisie's
> attempt to distinguish itself from the working classes by claiming
> that there's a qualitative difference between its own labors and
> that of its economic lessers. but that's not where things are headed,
> historically speaking--quite the opposite."
>
> -- this is the part i'm not sure about. marx talks about the alienation
> of the worker's property -- the worker's labour. But its still property.
> Is the goal to abolish the property, or its alienation? Not the same
> thing.

this is kind of a strange thing to say. marx says workers under capitalism are
alienated from the fruits of their labor, not their property. one presumes he
does not consider these to be the same thing, particularly given that he calls
for the abolition of private property.

from the communist manifesto:
"You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in
your existing society, private property is already done away with  for
nine-tenths of the population; its existence for the few is solely due to its
non-existence in the hands of those nine-tenths. You reproach us, therefore,
with intending to do away with a form of property, the necessary condition for
whose existence is the non-existence of any property  for the immense majority
of society.

"In one word, you reproach us with intending to do away with your property.
Precisely so; that is just what we intend."

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