Round three years in the past I made a pop-up e-book titled Three Fragments on Machines, that contained a group of quotes from the Grundrisse that illustrated among the analysis I had been doing associated to disposable time in Marx’s idea. Final spring, I began work on one other pop-up e-book displaying the connection between the Grundrisse and Marx’s extra well-known reference to forces of manufacturing, relations of manufacturing, and fetters from his Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Financial system. I deserted that venture when the designs began to get too sophisticated.
Now I’m coming again to that second venture however with a much less ambitions design and extra sparing textual method — what I contemplate now as a “second version” of Three Fragments. Central to this new version is a mash-up of texts from the 1859 Preface and from pocket book VII of the Grundrisse. Marx wrote the Preface in January, 1859; pocket book VII was written between February and June of 1858. The Preface clearly reiterates arguments contained within the Grundrisse however leaves out essential particulars that may be fleshed out by consideration to related phrasing within the latter work.
I’ve completed the “flat” draft of my pop-up e-book, “Fetters on the Creation of Disposable Time.” Now I transfer on to the mock up stage during which these photographs attain their third dimension — 3-D! I’ve been questioning about how you can get this venture out to a wider public and this morning thought concerning the “thousand cranes” legend and Sadako Sasaki’s enactment of the legend for peace. Each origami and pop-up books are made by folding paper. Masohiro Chatani wrote a sequence of pop-up how-to books that he referred to as “origamic structure.” I’ll make 1000 copies of this e-book (which is a tall order).
Because the venture unfolds, I hope to recruit collaborators to chop, fold and paste the books and even automate components of the method with die reducing and its personal high-quality printer. I want to give talks about what the e-book is making an attempt to say and the way it took place.
I’ve been working with the texts used within the e-book for over twenty years and with photo-montage pop-ups for over 4 a long time. The strategy of this work comes from Walter Benjamin’s “N [Theoretics of Knowledge;Theory of Progress]” from his unfinished Arcades Undertaking, the primary thesis of which is “Within the fields with which we’re involved, data comes solely in flashes. The textual content is the thunder rolling lengthy afterward.”
What Benjamin referred to as the “pedogigic facet of this venture” was, quoting Rudolf Borchardt, “‘To coach our image-making school to look stereoscopically into the depths of the shadows of historical past.'”
Yet another thesis from N: “The work should increase to the very highest stage the artwork of quoting with out citation marks. Its idea is intimately linked to that of montage.”
In my pop-up e-book, I’m stereoscopically studying two texts by Marx — written a couple of months aside in 1859 — that I’ve mixed into one. The “first” is from Marx’s Preface to his Contribution to the Critique of Political Financial system (it’s really the later traditionally). This quick abstract by Marx of the ideas that guided his analysis by means of the 1850s turned the canonical assertion of “historic materialism” in its “classical”, “conventional”, or “orthodox” formulation of the 2nd and third Internationals.
The second textual content — written round six months earlier — is from Marx’s manuscript pocket book VII, revealed posthumously because the Grundrisse. Placing the 2 texts facet by facet reveals that they current, in truth, one steady picture with a depth of area that has been excluded from the canonical interpretation of historic materialism. Lacking from that classical view is Marx’s emphasis on disposable time, which was central to the Grundrisse textual content. I’ve added “footnotes” from pocket book IV of the Grundrisse that emphasize the significance of disposable time and that specify what the “fetters on the event of the productive forces” are, particular to capital.
Marx’s imaginative and prescient of “the realm of freedom,” outlined in his 1864-65 draft for quantity III of Capital, returned decisively to disposable time (with out mentioning the phrase) in prescribing “The discount of the working day [as] the fundamental prerequisite” for attaining the realm of freedom.
The textual content in black under is from the 1859 Preface. The textual content in pink is from the Grundrisse.
Within the social manufacturing of their existence, males inevitably enter into particular relations, that are unbiased of their will, specifically relations of manufacturing acceptable to a given stage within the improvement of their materials forces of manufacturing. The totality of those relations of manufacturing constitutes the financial construction of society, the true basis, on which arises a authorized and political superstructure and to which correspond particular types of social consciousness.
Forces of manufacturing and social relations – two completely different sides of the event of the social particular person – seem to capital as mere means, and are merely means for it to provide on its restricted basis. Actually, nonetheless, they’re the fabric situations to blow this basis sky-high. ‘Really rich a nation, when the working day is 6 slightly than 12 hours. Wealth just isn’t command over surplus labour time’ (actual wealth), ‘however slightly, disposable time outdoors that wanted in direct manufacturing, for each particular person and the entire society.’ (The Supply and Treatment and many others. 1821, p. 6.)
The mode of manufacturing of fabric life situations the overall strategy of social, political and mental life. It isn’t the consciousness of males that determines their existence, however their social existence that determines their consciousness. At a sure stage of improvement, the fabric productive forces of society come into battle with the present relations of manufacturing or – this merely expresses the identical factor in authorized phrases – with the property relations inside the framework of which they’ve operated hitherto. From types of improvement of the productive forces these relations flip into their fetters.
The extra this contradiction develops, the extra does it turn into evident that the expansion of the forces of manufacturing can now not be certain up with the appropriation of alien labour, however that the mass of employees should themselves acceptable their very own surplus labour. As soon as they’ve executed so – and disposable time thereby ceases to have an antithetical existence – then, on one facet, obligatory labour time can be measured by the wants of the social particular person, and, on the opposite, the event of the facility of social manufacturing will develop so quickly that, although manufacturing is now calculated for the wealth of all, disposable time will develop for all. For actual wealth is the developed productive energy of all people. The measure of wealth is then not any longer, in any method, labour time, however slightly disposable time
Then begins an period of social revolution. . The modifications within the financial basis lead eventually to the transformation of the entire immense superstructure.
My plan is to even have two “footnotes” from pocket book IV of the Grundrisse elaborating on “fetters” and “disposable time.” These two mixed are nearly so long as the principle textual content, which is why I’m subordinating them as footnotes.
Footnote 1, “fetters”
From the attitude of capital, the levels of manufacturing that precede it may be seen as imposing so many fetters upon the productive forces. However appropriately understood, capital itself operates because the situation for the event of the forces of manufacturing solely as long as they require an exterior spur, which, nonetheless, on the identical time acts as their bridle. It’s a self-discipline over them that turns into superfluous and burdensome at a sure stage of their improvement, similar to the guilds and many others. These inherent limits coincide with the character of capital, with the important character of its very idea. These obligatory limits are:
- Essential labour as restrict on the change worth of dwelling labour capability or of the wages of the economic inhabitants;
- Surplus worth as restrict on surplus labour time; and, in regard to relative surplus labour time, as barrier to the event of the forces of manufacturing;
- What’s the identical, the transformation into cash, change worth as such, as restrict of manufacturing; or change based on worth, or worth based on change, as restrict of manufacturing. That is:
- once more the identical as restriction of the manufacturing of use values by change worth; or that actual wealth has to tackle a selected type distinct from itself, a type not completely similar with it, in an effort to turn into an object of manufacturing in any respect.
Nonetheless, these limits come up towards the overall tendency of capital to neglect and summary from: (1) obligatory labour as restrict of the change worth of dwelling labour capability; (2) surplus worth because the restrict of surplus labour and improvement of the forces of manufacturing; (3) cash because the restrict of manufacturing; (4) the restriction of the manufacturing of use values by change worth.
Footnote 2, “disposable time”
The entire improvement of wealth rests on the creation of disposable time. … In manufacturing resting on capital, the existence of obligatory labour time is conditional on the creation of superfluous labour time.
In the long run papers, I may even be quoting the passage from quantity III of Capital that addresses the “true realm of freedom” and prescribes discount of the working day because the prerequisite.