T h e M i c r o - P o l i t i c s o f C a p i t a l T h e M i c r o - P o l i t i c s o f C a p i t a l Marx and the Prehistory of the Present Jason Read State University of Ne w York Press Cover art: “Rapture,” by Jon Read. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2003 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207 Production by Kelli Williams Marketing by Patrick Durocher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Read, Jason. The micro-politics of capital : Marx and the prehistory of the present / Jason Read. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5843-1 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5844-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Marxian economics. 2. Philosophy, Marxist. 3. Economics— Philosophy. 4. Capitalism—Political aspects. 5. Intellectual capital. 6. Production (Economic theory). 7. Post-communism. 8. Postmodernism. 9. Subjectivity. 10. Marx, Karl, 1818–1883. 11. Althusser, Louis. I. Title. HB97.5.R42 2003 335.4'12—dc21 2003050530 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my parents, Robert Read and Deborah C. Arntz, for their constant support. Contents Introduction: There Is No Time Like the Present 1 1. The Use and Disadvantage of Prehistory for Life: Marx’s “Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations” and the Constitution of the Subject of Labor Primitive Accumulation 19 Immanent Causality 26 The Prehistory of Capitalism 37 Production 48 Antagonistic Logic (Part One) 56 2. What Is Living and What is Dead in the Philosophy of Karl Marx: The Politics and Ontology of Living Labor Abstract Labor 61 Living Labor 76 Disciplinary Power 83 Antagonistic Logic (Part Two) 90 The Production of Subjectivity 98 3. The Real Subsumption of Subjectivity by Capital Real Subsumption 103 The Fragment on Machines 114 Immaterial Labor 122 Subjectivity: From Reproduction to Production 135 The Common 149 Conclusion 153 Notes 163 Bibliography 199 Index 209 Acknowledgments I thank Meredith Michaels and Bill Haver for helping me develop my questions and research at an early stage and, more important, for giving me at least the image of what it might mean to live a life dedicated to the practice of interrogation and reflection. I thank explicitly all of those who read and reread sections of this pro- ject in its many guises—from dissertation and manuscript to book—and provided criticism, commentary, and suggestions: Kira Brunner, Christopher Fynsk, Bill Haver, Michael Hardt, Lily Jacobs, Fouad Kalouche, Warren Montag, Robert Read, Stephen David Ross, and Hasana Sharp. I thank Ophelia Selam for helping me with my forays into the world of translation; “The Materialist Workshop” at State University of New York–Binghamton and all of the people who have been as- sociated with that infamous title at one time or another (Peter Carlo, Alejandro de Acosta, Mark Frezzo, Pete Morse, Diana Taylor, Chad Wilson, Soenke Zehle, to name but a few), for providing fertile soil for the development of many of these ideas; Stefano Harney, Bill Martin, Gabrielle Soldatenko, Paul Zarembka, Laurie Ousley, The Brecht Forum, and The Graduate Group for Marxist Studies at the University of Buffalo for inviting me to present parts of my research. A special thank you to the students in my course on Marxism at the University of Southern Maine for their excitement, energy, and curiosity. Carol Varney provided a great deal of support, encouragement, and advice during the final days of preparing the manuscript, and I am eternally grateful for all of her help. Finally, I am very grate- ful for the patience and support of Jane Bunker and Kelli Williams at State Uni- versity of New York Press. ix