Archivo
“Confesiones de un marxista errático”: Yanis Varoufakis
Cuando hice mi tesis doctoral, conscientemente elegí concentrarme en un método, conforme al cual no sólo andaba Marx lisa y llanamente errado, sino que era irrelevante. Cuando conseguí mi primer puesto como lector en teoría económica en Gran Bretaña, el contrato implícito entre mi universidad y yo era que el tipo de teoría económica que enseñaría a nuestros estudiantes estaría tan alejado del marxismo como fuera humanamente posible. Cuando me trasladé a Australia en 1988, y sin yo saberlo, fui reclutado por el sector derechista del Departamento de Teoría Económica de la Universidad de Sidney, a fin de cerrarle el paso a otro candidato, cuyo director de tesis tenía (¡fundadisima!) fama de ser un peligroso marxista. Luego me traslade a Grecia, en donde, de la forma más insensata, llegué a ser, más o menos oficialmente, asesor de George Papandreu, el hombre cuyo gobierno habría de ser el intermediario en la transición hacia el infierno unos años después. Cuando dimití de ese cargo en 2006, consciente del desastre que se avecinaba, pasé a enseñar en la Universidad de Atenas, y a enseñar -lo admito- asuntos tan vulgarmente burgueses como Teoría de los Juegos y Microeconomía a un gran número de estudiantes griegos de primer ciclo, quienes (a diferencia de nuestros bravos y excelentemente informados estudiantes de posgrado) permanecían conmovedoramente ciegos ante la catástrofe que se les venía encima. Antes, en 2002, Joseph Halevi y yo habíamos tratado de hacer sonar una alarma, pero no conseguimos resonancia. Aun cuando en 2006 hice lo que en mi mano estaba para alertar a la sociedad griega -y a cualquiera que quisiera escuchar- del desastre en ciernes, seguí formando parte vergonzosamente de la “sociedad respetable” en Europa, y no me eché a la calle ni una sola vez.
“Lliçons sobre el capítol sisè (inèdit) de Marx de Claudio Napoleoni”: Ivan Gordillo
“El capital, llibre I, capítol VI (inèdit). Resultats del procés immediat de producció”1 més conegut amb el nom d’Inèdit és un text escrit per Marx als voltants de 1865 que finalment no va incloure en la versió definitiva del llibre I de El capital que va aparèixer per primera vegada el 1867. Aquest text es pot trobar individualment en edicions en format llibre que no superen les 150 pàgines. És, per tant, un text de reduïdes dimensions si ho comparem amb altres obres del pensador alemany.
Tot i el caràcter de treball previ no definitiu, l’Inèdit és d’especial interès perquè conté gran part del contingut teòric essencial del llibre I de El capital. A més, està escrit en un estil força menys farragós que d’altres obres de l’autor pel que creiem pot ser de gran utilitat als lectors novells en el pensament de Marx o aquells que volen iniciar-se en la lectura de El capital.
¿Para qué sirve El Capital?: Iñaki Gil de San Vicente
Texto escrito para el 2do Encuentro de Escuela de Cuadros que se llevará a cabo en la Fundación Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Rómulo Gallegos (CELARG), Caracas, del 30 de mayo al 1 de junio del 2013.
Estamos reunidos aquí para reflexionar sobre una interrogante ¿Para qué sirve El Capital? La respuesta es simple e inmediata: para avanzar al comunismo mediante la revolución socialista. El Capital fue escrito para ser la obra cumbre de toda la impresionante praxis revolucionaria de Marx, pero también de Engels. Será esta respuesta inmediata la que oriente este texto. Sin la perspectiva práctica revolucionaria, sin la perspectiva política en suma, nada del marxismo es comprensible, y por tanto El Capital es ininteligible. Ahora bien, como iremos viendo, la política marxista no se reduce a la politiquería parlamentarista por muy de izquierdas y de masas que diga ser, y menos todavía burguesa y reformista, sino que en sí misma, la política revolucionaria es la síntesis del resto de prácticas económicas.
“Simón Bolívar y nuestra Independencia” : Conferencia de Néstor Kohan
Conferencia de Néstor Kohan “Simón Bolívar y nuestra Independencia” pronunciada en el marco del Seminario del Partido de los Trabajadores de Méjico, 2013, dónde Kohan presenta las principales tesis de su último libro “Simón Bolívar y nuestra Independencia. Una mirada latinoamericana” publicado en abril de 2013 por la Editorial Yulca. más info. www.editorialyulca.com
“Things Fall Apart: Cosmovision under Capitalism”: Chris Gilbert
Capitalism has the dubious honor of being the first civilization lacking in a cosmovision. From original communitarianism forward, we encounter societies that see man as part of a more or less inviolable socio-natural order: these ordering systems range from the totemic structures of original communitary societies to medieval conceptions such as the “great chain of being.”
The best explanation for this nearly universal characteristic is that in all previous societies human beings were in the dominated pole of the society-nature dyad. As a consequence, there evolved rich mythological apparatuses. Myth served to mediate the relation to a natural world that could not be controlled or dominated.
Socio-natural ideas of order even informed practices of governance in as much as rulers inevitably sought to maintain – and were responsible for – a harmonious relation with nature. The classical scholar George Derwent Thomson refers to how Chinese emperors of the Zhou Dynasty were charged with maintaining a correct relation with the elements:
“If the emperor did not govern in harmony with the celestial movements – Thomson writes – bad omens would appear and society would fall into disorder. At the same time, the society’s good government was a necessary condition for maintaining the natural order.” [1]
In the modern world this type of relation is relegated to literature. For example, in the Elizabethan drama King Lear, the political crisis is linked to an environmental one. A real tempest runs parallel (with its “fretful elements”) to the political and social disorder unleashed in the kingdom.
“Marx, Ricardo e Smith: sobre a teoria do valor trabalho”: Reinaldo Carcanholo
“O marxismo são marxismos – e os marxistas estão hoje plenamente conscientes desse fato, além de estarem, também, plenamente satisfeitos com essa pluralidade. Como se sabe, o marxismo não é propriamente uma ilha, mas vem a ser um arquipélago formando por um grande número de ilhas, mais ou menos próximas entre si. É nessa perspectiva que se deve enxergar o livro Marx, Ricardo e Smith, do prof. Reinaldo Carcanholo – livro este em que ele procurou retomar criticamente os três clássicos do pensamento econômico. Justamente por respeitar essa pluralidade, ele pode ser bem enfático na defesa de suas posições sobre as teorias do valor dos três autores mencionados. Marx dentre os três, como ele próprio deixa claro, é o mais profundo.
Os ensaios reunidos nesse livro são resultados de um prolongado esforço de compreensão desses três autores, nenhum deles fácil de ler e de compreender como os manuais de economia matemática (cuja dificuldade eventual é meramente técnica). Eles se debruçaram com denodo sobre a complexidade do mundo real para revelá-la em sua verdade e isto está refletido na riqueza conceitual – e certa obscuridade constitutiva – de seus escritos. Pois, aquilo que é contraditório não se deixa conhecer por um discurso claro, sem contradições. Em toda a sua vida intelectual, o prof. Reinaldo Carcanholo se dedicou com paixão à compreensão dos autores que, agora, ele ousa expor e criticar. Trata-se, pois, de um livro que vem contribuir para o desenvolvimento de uma cultura econômica de esquerda no Brasil.” (Eleutério Prado)
“Primitive Accumulation: From Adam Smith to Angela Merkel”: Michael Perelman
The barbaric wave of austerity crashing across Europe and much of the rest of the world both resembles and differs from the classical period of primitive accumulation which deprived masses of people of their means of production. Although landgrabs continue in this modern version of primitive accumulation, the central thrust is the destruction of all public wealth in the interest of capital. Another difference is that classical political accumulation reflected the optimism associated with a new form of making wealth, while viciousness of modern primitive accumulation seems to be an attempt to recapture the vitality of early capitalism. However, despite the short-term benefits of such cannibalistic policies for capital, in the end the result will be detrimental to the capitalists, as well as the rest of society.
Michael Perelman is a Marxist economist and economic historian and a professor of economics at California State University, Chico. He has has written numerous books and academic articles on the topic of primitive accumulation, including The Invention of Capitalism: The Secret History of Primitive Accumulation (2000).
“Primitive Accumulation, Migrant Workers and Social Reproduction in the Age of Austerity”: David McNally
The Age of Austerity ushered in by the global crisis of 2008-9 centrally involves cheapening the reproduction of labour-power by means of reducing both private wages and the social wage administered by the state. These policies have decided class, gender, racial and generational dimensions. To properly elucidate these dimensions, however, requires that we also grasp ongoing primitive accumulation as a crucial ‘moment’ in the austerity agenda. To accomplish this means addressing the role of the reproduction of the global reserve army of labour, and of precarious migrant workers, in the restructuring of labour-power on a world scale.
In order to develop the theory of primitive accumulation in these directions, this paper returns to tensions in Marx’s account of the social reproduction of labour-power. Here I argue that not only does Marx’s conceptualization require a gender analysis, but that it also needs to be developed with respect to the problematic of labour migration. I show where Marx points to ways in which we might do this. The analysis presented underlines the decisive importance of an anti-racist defence of migrant workers for any effective working class politics in the Age of Austerity.
David McNally is Professor of Political Science at York University and a leading member of the New Socialist Group (www.newsocialist.org). He has written extensively on the critique of political economy. His publications include Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance and Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism.
Leer más…
“Crisis capitalista, política económica y tendencias de reconfiguración del orden mundial”: Claudio Katz
Crisis capitalista, política económica y tendencias de reconfiguración del orden mundial.
Segunda sesión temática Economía mundial, economías nacionales y crisis capitalista.
Conferencia Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Ciencias Sociales.
Miércoles 7 de noviembre de 2012 en el Aula magna de la Casa de la Primera Imprenta de América.
“Eurozone. A Crisis of Financialised Capitalism”: Costas Lapavitsas
Keynote Lecture by Professor Costas Lapavitsas.
Dictatorship of Failure: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the European Political and Economic Crisis. Symposium organised at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, 15 November 2012.
Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
“Las causas de la crisis: las finanzas y la tasa de ganancia”: Alan Freeman
En los últimos meses hemos visto un creciente debate entre los marxistas en torno a la tasa de ganancia de EE UU y su relación con la presente crisis. Resulta paradójico, ya que en su mayor parte los marxistas rechazan el propio relato de Marx sobre la relación entre la acumulación y la tasa de rentabilidad; de hecho, recientemente, Michael Heinrich ha argumentado que Marx no tenía ninguna teoría de la crisis y que no hay ninguna base para suponer que la acumulación capitalista conduzca a una caída de la tasa de ganancia. Sin embargo, existe un amplio acuerdo con Duménil y Lévy que después del descenso prolongado de posguerra, la tasa de beneficio en EEUU comenzó a aumentar en la década de 1980, recuperándose al final de los años 1990 y marcando el comienzo de una nueva fase de expansión en EEUU.
Andrew Kliman, en Una crisis de la producción capitalista/1, ha provocado una controversia considerable con la afirmación contraria, basada en un razonamiento coherente y con una amplia evidencia empírica, según la cual la tasa de ganancia en EEUU ha continuado su tendencia a la baja.
“The four laws of ecology and the four anti-ecological laws of capitalism”: John Bellamy Foster
Climate & Capitalism is pleased to publish, with permission from John Bellamy Foster and Monthly Review Press, this excerpt from Chapter 6 of The Vulnerable Planet.
In the first part of the chapter, Foster discusses the “qualitative transformation in the level of human destructiveness” that characterized capitalist production after World War II. This transformation included massive increases in the use of synthetics that could not be readily reabsorbed by nature, accompanied by a radical expansion in the use of all forms of energy, particularly fossil fuels. These changes in the patterns of production, he writes, are “the chief reason for the rapid acceleration of the ecological crisis in the postwar period.”
In the rest of the chapter, published here, he discusses the factors that underlie capitalism’s ever-growing conflict with nature.
“From the Oil Crisis to the Great Recession: Five crises of the world economy”: J. A. Tapia Granados
ABSTRACT — This article makes the case that the global economy has gone through five crises since the 1970s to the present. This implies not only that the world economy is a real entity, but also that the usual view that poses national economies as units of economic analysis is an approach with major limitations. The paper discusses the concept of “economic crisis” and provides data indicating that the world economy, not national economies, is the major unit to be analysed when trying to understand the economic reality of our time, and particularly the reality of crises. These crises are discrete, countable phenomena, distinctive states of an entity that can be properly called world economy, or world capitalism. Data on capital formation, on growth of the world output, of monetary aggregates, of unemployment rates and on industrial activity indicate five major “dips” of the global economy, i.e., world recessions, in (i) the mid 1970s, (ii) the early 1980s, (iii) the early 1990s, (iv) the early 2000s, and (v) the Great Recession that provisionally can be dated 2007-2009. To a large extent business cycle chronologies of national economies such as those produced by the NBER, the OECD, or other institutions are largely consistent with these five crises of the world economy which, obviously, had different manifestations in different nations and economic regions.
“Alternatives al model de societat capitalista”: Josep Manel Busqueta
Josep Manel Busqueta, Miembro de
Seminario Taifa de Economía Crítica
Lugar: Salón de Actos de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales
Carrer De Albalat dels Tarongers, Campus dels Tarongers. 46021 Valencia
Seminario 2013: Caminando por otra senda (apuntes para la transformación social)
“Primitive accumulation versus contested reproduction”: Michael A. Lebowitz
May 4, 2013 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — If we don’t understand a system as it is fully developed [its "being"] and thus its critical characteristics, we cannot investigate the “becoming” of those characteristics.
This is why Marx discussed primitive (or original) accumulation of capital only at the end of volume 1 of Capital. Exclusive focus upon the emergence of the new elements, however, is not real history. “Becoming” is two sided: it is both a coming into being and a passing away. The concept of primitive accumulation explores only the former; it considers the new being born but not the old struggling to remain alive. It is, in short, one-sided. Not only does it fail to explore on its own the struggle of the old for its reproduction but it also does not consider the interaction, the morbid symptoms and dysfunction when two sets of productive relations are engaged in contested reproduction with respect to their control of the elements of production.
What is lost? The centrality of class struggle — the struggle of two sides and the conditions thereby in which history is made. The paper considers various historical phenomena using the concept of contested reproduction.
Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey
La Rosa Blindada
Revista Laberinto
Setmanari de comunicació Directa
