Suchergebnisse

Considers Leon Trotsky's writings on Stalinism to recover the revolutionary, internationalist, & democratic traditions of classical Marxism that are indispensable to the social Left at the end of the millennium. It is shown that Trotsky was able to predict the dilemma that Soviet communism would find itself in through the 20th century, largely due to its Stalinist bureaucratic structure. In a reading of Ralph Miliband's Socialism for a Sceptical Age (1994), it is suggested that contemporary socialists have inappropriately ignored or misread Trotsky. While it is conceded that Trotsky's core ideas are unwieldy & illusive, making it easy for contemporary socialists to ridicule or ignore him, it is argued that Trotsky represents a reservoir of theory & practice that ought to be mined in the present. Socialists of all stripes are encouraged to recognize their differences, but come together on the basis of their common quest for a worker-led political practice. 48 References. D. M. Smith

A neo-Marxist humanist school of thought has recently emerged which seeks to revive the notion of a fundamental cleavage between Marx as a philosopher of praxis and as a political economist. This paper defends the proposition that Marx's "mature" theories of value and exploitation are fully consistent with the "humanist materialism" which Marx enunciated in his youthful writings. Indeed, a proper specification of the key postulates of Marx's "economics" must take account of the distinctive world view and method which Marx embraced in the course of his critical appropriation and transcendence of the philosophies of Hegel and Feuerbach.

A theoretical justification is presented of the specification proposed by S. Mage ("The Law of the Falling Tendency of the Rate of Profit: Its Place in the Marxian Theoretical System and Relevance to the US Economy," PhD dissertation, Columbia U, 1963). However, refinements to the specification are suggested, & its relevance to an assessment of Karl Marx's own crisis theory is considered. Contradictory results from three groups of empirical studies based on Marxist value-theoretical categories are examined: the first emphasizes that a rising rate of exploitation is the most salient feature of modern capitalist development; the second (& largest) attributes the crisis of profitability to a decline in the rate of surplus value or a wage push/profit squeeze; & the third shows results that support Marx's expectations concerning dynamics & trends of capitalist accumulation. Arguments are advanced for a specification of Marx's value categories that limits the category of variable capital to the income of productive workers, & treats the income of socially necessary unproductive workers as a component of the constant capital flow. Implications of this specification are noted. 7 Figures. V. Wagener

Published also as Studies in history, economics and public law, edited by the Faculty of political science of Columbia University. Vol. XXXIX, no. 1. Whole no. 102. ; Vita. ; Thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University. ; Bibliography: p. 195-199. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Published also as Studies in history, economics and public law, edited by the Faculty of political science of Columbia University. Vol. XXXIX, no. 1. Whole no. 102. ; Vita. ; Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. ; Bibliography: p. 195-199. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Abstract
The relevance of Marx's theory of value and his 'law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall' to the analysis of the financial crisis of 2007–8 and the ensuing global slump is affirmed. The hypertrophic growth of unproductive constant capital, including the wages of 'socially necessary' unproductive labour and tax revenues, is identified as an important manifestation of an historical-structural crisis of capitalism, alongside the increasing weight of fictitious capital and the proliferation of fictitious profits in the lead-up to the financial crisis. These phenomena have obscured the deepest roots of the global slump in the long-term profitability problems of productive capital – that is, in a crisis of surplus-value production. With these considerations taken into account, a better empirical assessment of trends in the composition of capital becomes possible, and with it a more accurate understanding of the impact of the ongoing displacement of living labour from production on the average rate of profit and the future of US and global capitalism.