Editorial Note, Jan-Feb, 2012

There is widespread belief that even though capitalism in its initial phase may bring much misery to the people through unleashing a process of primitive accumulation of capital that leads to dispossession and pauperization of petty producers, it makes up for it over time as the dispossessed get absorbed into the proletariat, and that too at wages that increase over time to levels far higher than what they earned prior to their dispossession. The example of today’s advanced capitalist countries is cited in this context: they were characterized in the early years of capitalism by significant immiserization of their working population, but subsequently witnessed dramatic improvements in the material living conditions of the people. The same story, it is claimed, will be repeated elsewhere as well.