Capitalism's Contradictions: Studies of Economic Thought Before and After Marx

by Henryk Grossman, Rick Kuhn (Editor)

Overview

Henryk Grossman was one of the best-known and most influential Marxist economists of the 20th century, and yet most of his work remains unavailable to English-speaking audiences. His most famous book, The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System—written while Grossman was a member of the illustrious Frankfurt School—has been a point of reference for several generations of revolutionaries discontent with both Keynesian and Stalinist claims about Capitalism’s stability.

This volume, collected and introduced by Deutscher Prize winning Grossman biographer Rick Kuhn, assembles several of the Galician Marxist’s most important essays, and serves as an accessible introduction to his project of ‘recovering’ Marx. Throughout the collection, Grossman highlights distinctive features of Marx’s economic theory by contrasting it with the views of his forerunners, from Adam Smith to Jean Charles Sismondi. He then moves on to show how many Marxist economists import faulty assumptions from mainstream economics into their analyses, and in the process provides a unique overview of the major debates among Marxists over politics and economics between Marx’s death and the rise of Fascism in Germany.

Rick Kuhn’s invaluable introduction provides vital context for understanding the development of Grossman’s ideas and makes the case for their continued relevance to contemporary activists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608467792
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Henryk Grossman (1881–1950) was the most important Marxist economist of the Twentith Century. He was a founding leader of the Jewish Social Democratic Party of Galicia and later a member of the Polish Communist Workers Party. After holding posts as a senior public servant and professor in Poland, he was a member of the Institute for Social Research in Germany and, following the Nazi takeover, in exile.

Dr Rick Kuhn is an honorary associate professor in Sociology at the Australian National Universityand long term socialist activist, who has written extensively on Marxist theory as well as Australian politics and political economy. His Henryk Grossman and the Recovery of Marxism won the 2007 Deutscher Prize.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements iii
Introduction by Rick Kuhn 1
Simonde de Sismondi and his economic theories 25
Fifty years of struggle over Marxism 1883–1932 71
Marx, classical political economy and the problem of dynamics 111
The evolutionist revolt against classical economics 163
W. Playfair, the earliest theorist of capitalist development 197
References 215
Index 239

Editorial Reviews

Grossman was an invaluable contributor to the development of Marxist political economy since Marx’s death in 1883. An activist in the Polish Social Democrat party and later in the Communist party in Germany, Grossman, in my view, made major contributions in explaining and developing Marx’s theory of value and crises under capitalism.”
—Michael Roberts, author of The Long Depression

“Henryk Grossman (1881-1950) was one of the most significant Marxist theoreticians in the fields of political economy and the history of scientific thought in the first half of the twentieth century. . .the publication of this collection of five long essays or ‘monographs’, mostly devoted to the history and development of economic theory, is very welcome."
—Pete Green, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

From the Publisher