1. Kayetakin argues that sharecropping in the post-civil war South was based on feudal class processes. First, define the feudal class process. Second, describe what legal and cultural conditions in the South support Kayetakin’s position. Finally, discuss whether you think all sharecropping production should be defined as feudal.
 
 

2. Compare and contrast the situation of a feudal sharecropper in the post-bellum South with a wage-laborer who participates in the capitalist fundamental class process in the United States today. First, define each fundamental class process in purely theoretical terms. Second, distinguish feudal sharecropping from wage-labor based on these categories. Finally, discuss why it is important to make these distinctions.
 
 

3. In the conclusion to “Ambiguous Capital II” Gabriel suggests that, “firms in the ‘West’ and ‘East’ should look at the problems in the SOE sector in China and count their blessings.”  Reflect on this statement by summarizing the difficulties of transforming the SOE sector in China (from one variant of capitalism to a different variant). In what ways might the competitive success of the TVEs create crisis in China?
 
 

4. How might the communal class process encourage more democratic political processes and equitable social outcomes? In the overdeterminist Marxian approach, why is it important to conceptually de-link class, cultural, political and natural processes from each other?
 
 

5. Are communal social formations subject to crisis? Use a post-structural Marxist interpretation of either Cahokian or Chakoan society, or farm collectives in the USSR, to answer this question.
 
 

6. Even though the USSR was characterized by 1) state ownership of property, and 2) a political system controlled by the revolutionary workers’ party, Wolff & Resnick argue that the USSR cannot be broadly considered a social experiment in communism. How do they make this argument? Revolve your essay around a discussion of Soviet agriculture, industry, or households (or any combination of these).
 
 

7. In what ways has the trend toward the “creation of a local market for management control” among town-village enterprises in China threatened the survival of the state-owned enterprises? What can this teach us about the way in which changes in the owner-management relationship can affect the competitiveness of firms?