| This question <1755|1829> overall <1823|1828> SueGirl: <1661|1919>. graded A |
| Term Paper 833: Comments about Essay about Chapter Thirty-Three: Modern Theory of Colonization |
| [1827] SueGirl: Admittedly, reading Chapter 33 of Marx's Capital was an arduous task. However, the term paper [1624] written by Diggity, BBQ and Manchu helped to clear up many difficult concepts. Their paper was a successful attempt to illustrate Marx and Wakefield's opinions on labour, land and primitive accumulation in a simple, reader-friendly manner. |
| In addition to their comments, I would like to add more about Edward Wakefield. Through research, I have found that Wakefield was a kidnapper, ex-con and an English political economist (what a combination). I don't believe that Marx looked at Wakefield or his writings in a “positive” light necessarily (as written in this term paper), but I think Wakefield's honesty in his analysis was an opportunity for Marx to reveal the strategies of the capitalists to the working class. |
| Marx discusses Wakefield's view of the need to deprive people of the possibility of being independent. Wakefield's solution to this was to put an artificial price on the land and force the immigrants to work for the capitalists (which in turn would eventually pay to import more workers in what Wakefield considered an understocked labor market). |
| Wakefield suggests that the government do the following in order to correct the understocked labor market and the turnover in jobs: 1.) control all land in the new settlements; 2.) artificially set high prices for their sale; and 3.) break the land to be sold into smaller less usable plots. Having accomplished this, the workers would again be forced to labor for the capitalist, and then by necessity save extra long to purchase their own soil at an inflated price (Yenom, [2004fa:532]). |
| In the term paper, the writers indicated that “There is an innate desire to be able to obtain more possessions than our neighbor or the capitalists.” I don't believe Marx or Wakefield believed this innate desire existed. Instead, Wakefield said that if everyone in a society had equal portions of capital, “no man would have a motive for accumulating more capital than he could use with his own hands.” |
| Other than the above additions and slight corrections, I was really impressed by the term paper [1624] and consider it an excellent summary of Marx's chapter. |
| Final Grading Note by Hans: I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all your contributions which really enriched this class. |
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