Political Economy: Modern Industry as Self. Xxxx argues that political economy, of the type which recognises labour as its principle, such as that practised by Xxxx Xxxxx, is the “independent movement of private property become conscious for itself” [EW, p.341]. It is, he suggests, “modern industry as self” [EW, p.341]. We can see immediately from this definition that modern industry and political economy are closely linked for Xxxx. Political economy appears in the Manuscripts both as a subject, “modern industry as self”, and as a body of theory. It is both a “product of modern industry”, and a “factor which has accelerated and glorified the energy and development of this industry and transformed it into a power belonging to consciousness” [EW, p.341-342]. The active role of political economy, Xxxx seems to argue, is to excite greed and encourage competition: “the war of the avaricious” [EW, p.322]. But despite setting these wheels in motion, it does not fully control them. Political economy formulates “abstract formulae which it then takes as laws” which reflect the real material process through which private property passes [EW, p.322]. It could be argued that political economy is the expression of the consciousness of private property as a subject. This independent movement of private property includes a non-human element of subjectivity. If modern industry is intimately linked with capital, as we have argued in the previous section, this raises the question of the relationship between capital and this non-human subjectivity. At the same time however, political economy, as the theorisation and scientific existence of the interests of industry and its advocates, still requires the capitalists, as the masters of industry, to put it into practice. Political economy therefore seems also to express a human element of subjectivity. It seems therefore that these two elements are inextricably intertwined, and that Xxxx'x dynamic understanding of political economy suggests that they are involved in a process of development.
