: SO, from what I gather, you advocate the centralization of the shoe making industry so that it can be more efficient and thus sell shoes for less.Yes---except the shoes should be so abundant that they are provided to people free. After all, I'm a communist...
Stoller: Of course, if your living comes from petty proprietorship, then capital's inexorable drive toward centralization (one capitalist kills many) will seem like a very destructive force, not a progressive one at all...
: However, for a socialist, one must look at something as being progressive for society or not progressive at all, no?
The progressive thing about industrialization, centralization, and rationalization is that it creates the material conditions for abundance for all. This implies a lot of personal liberty for the individual, EVERY individual.
Your question above is framed so I might be tempted to defend society 'over' the individual----and that would be deductionism. Marxism is quite concerned about the individual. Marx, you might say, wants everyone to have shoes. Capital does not share this concern at all; it only wants shoes for those who can afford them.
None.
