Holloway - Crack Capitalism.pdf - Libcom

23
Abstraction is not just a past
but also a present process.
We are enclosed, locked in, entrapped. Enclosed by money,
locked in by violence, entrapped by the logic of the social
cohesion of capitalism.
It is we ourselves who create the prison. It is the product
of abstract labour. Abstract labour is the labour we perform
as a result of 'the transition to capitalism', those centuries of
historical struggle that brought about a transformation of the
way in which humans act and think.
The fact that we build our own prison is a source both of
hope and of profound depression. The fact that we make the
world that holds us entrapped means that we can unmake it.
This is why it was so important for Marx to show that the
apparently eternal facts of life like money, capital, or state, are
historically specific forms of social relations, moments of the
way in which our activity is organised. On the other hand, if
we make our own prison, then clearly there is something wrong
with us. This is perhaps why critical theory is sometimes linked
to a deep pessimism: we are so profoundly crippled by abstract
labour and all that it implies that there seems no hope at all for
radical change.
The focus on abstract labour is a great leap forward compared
with the simple assumption of a unitary labour. It allows us to
see that the enemy is in the first place the abstract labour that
creates capital, rather than some external force, and also allows
us to open up a much richer picture of capitalist domination,
as we have seen. But the very richness of the picture encloses
us: as we explore this process of prison-building, we become
aware of its immense complexity and force. The fact that our
activity is organised in a certain way (the fact that we perform
abstract labour) creates a complex weave of identity, sexuality,
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