Six theses on waste,value, and commons

The origins of capitalist value theory lie in transformations of property through enclosure of ‘commons-as-waste’ and practices of ‘commoning’ that supported these. These processes, repeated with difference, remain with us. Capitalist value production becomes a structure of necessity in societies that are profit seeking rather than needs oriented; the history of capitalist value is one of the unrelenting attempts to subordinate needs-oriented forms of value production to its accumulative logic. In the process, it continuously casts certain people, places, and conducts as wasteful, superfluous, or residual. In short, capitalist value constantly battles to assert its normative superiority over and autonomy from other forms of value production that interweaves with it. Waste, immanent to capital's becoming-being, poses a jeopardy to capital accumulation: it is, on the one hand, capitalist value-in-waiting and on the other hand, it is an omnipresent logic of dissipation that evades or exceeds capital's dialectic, threatening its legitimacy and existence.     

Some theses completed in the United Kingdom, 1974

The North Atlantic World in the Seventeenth Century by K. G. Davies. Empire to Nations: Expansion in America 1713–1824 by Max Savelle. (Volumes IV and V of Europe and the World in the Age of Expansion, edited by Boyd C. Shafer) Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press and Oxford University Press, 1974. Pp. xiv+366, xxi+335. £5.75 each.

The Royal Navy and North America: The Warren Papers, 1736–1752 edited by Julian Gwyn. London: Navy Records Society, 1975. Pp. 463; £6.00

Empire or Independence by I. R. Christie and B. W. Labaree. Phaidon Press, 1976. Pp. ix + 322; £5.95.

The Spirit of ‘76: The Growth of American Patriotism Before Independence by Carl Bridenbaugh. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975. Pp. xiv+ 162; £5.25.

Kingston, Jamaica: Urban Development and Social Change, 1692–1962 by Colin G. Clarke. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1975. Pp. xi+270; £15.00.

Convicts and Colonial Society 1788–1853 edited by Lloyd Evans and Paul Nicholls. Stanmore, N.S.W.: Cassell Australia, 1976. Pp. viii+250; $5.95.

Religion in Early Australia edited by Jean Woolmington. Stanmore, N.S.W.: Cassell Australia, 1976. Pp. xiii + 174; $5.95.

The North‐West Mounted Police and Law Enforcement 1873–1905 by R. C. Macleod. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976. Pp. xi+218; £10.50.

The Round Table and Imperial Union by John Kendle. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1975. Pp. xvi + 306; £8.75.

The Lion's Share: A Short History of British Imperialism 1850–1970 by Bernard Porter. London: Longman, 1975. Pp. xiii+408. £6.95 hard cover; £3.75 paper back.     

舜的神话及舜历史形象的的演变

舜是一个神,但同时他又是中国历史上的圣君典范,本文拟就综合各家所述,加之自己浅见,对舜神话及舜在中国历史上的贡献作一个综合阐释。     

Excavations at the Quaker Burial Ground,Kingston-upon-Thames,London

Abstract

Excavations in a Quaker burial ground at Kingston-upon-Thames uncovered the remains of 360 individuals buried between 1664 and 1814. Historical records combined with the evidence from the excavations have provided an insight into burial rites and undertaking practices of an early Nonconformist community. The archaeological evidence suggests that the simplicity and plainness of Quaker lifestyle were to a large extent reflected in burial. A detailed osteological analysis indicated a healthy, thriving community.     

马克思、恩格斯与伦敦世界博览会

1851年的伦敦世界博览会是历史上首次大规模的人类文明交流,引发了无产阶级革命导师的新思考,产生了一些新思想、新观念。马克思、恩格斯以敏锐的眼光看到了伦敦世博会的重要意义、所蕴藏的历史启示以及对人类文明的引领功能。他们坚决反对维利希、金克尔等为代表的极端政治流亡者以革命为儿戏,鼓吹暗杀与暴动。伦敦世博会后,马克思、恩格斯实现了从准备再次发动革命到为未来革命积蓄力量的策略转变。马克思认识到,当资产阶级社会的生产力正在蓬勃发展的时候,谈不到什么真正的革命。新的革命只有在新的危机之后才可能发生。     

Work,Poverty and Modernity in Mayhew's London

Mayhew's understanding of work in London has not been considered a great success. His accounts of workers were sentimental and erratic and his ambivalence to political economy prevented him from fully understanding the relationship between work and poverty. As the century progressed, it was Marx and Booth who provided systematic and sustained studies of the labour question. However, as this article argues, the circulation of facts, moral judgements and guesswork that filled the pages of London Labour and the London Poor offers a fair representation of a metropolitan manufacturing economy that was characterized by uncertainty, speculation and shifting boundaries of capital and labour. In particular, Mayhew's demonization of small masters, the working poor who set up as independent producers and whom he blamed for over-competition, drew out a contradiction in contemporary understandings of capitalism: large-scale capital and well-organized labour were seen as progressive and modern but small businesses were flexible and adaptable and were for many the only hope of escaping poverty and breaking out of the ranks of labour. As such, it is Mayhew rather than Marx or Booth that best exposes the tensions between the aspirations of the working poor and the paradigms of social investigators that insisted on distinguishing capital from labour.