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Historical Materialism: research in critical marxist theory
"Historical Materialism is already among the most highly regarded journals in Marxian theory published in any language. In an age of increasing specialization, it is committed to high quality articles from across a broad range of disciplines. If a resurgence of Marxian thinking occurs in the twenty-first century, Historical Materialism will deserve a good part of the credit." - Tony Smith (author, Dialectical Social Theory and its Critics, 1993)
"The birth of Historical Materialism was a major event, not only because it provides a unique forum for non-sectarian Marxist debate but also because it represents a change in the wind, a really promising sign of socialist renewal."
- Ellen Meiksins Wood (author, Democracy Against Capitalism,1995)
Historical Materialism demonstrates that Marxist analysis is not merely alive, but thriving again as the contradictions of globalisation generate economic, social and cultural tensions which mainstream analysis cannot account for."
- John Weeks (author, A Critique of Neoclassical Economics, 1989)
Issue 5 of Historical Materialism is now available. It contains major new contributions to the debate over Robert Brenner's analysis of the international economy from Werner Bonefeld, Alan Freeman, Michel Husson, Anwar Shaikh, Tony Smith, Richard Walker and John Weeks. Taken together with the papers in Historical Materialism 4, this unique symposium presents an essential guide to the current state of Marxist political economy, as writers from a full cross-section of intellectual and political currents interrogate the global trajectories of contemporary capitalism.
Also in Historical Materialism 5 you will find important new work by Craig Brandist on Bakhtin and socialist ethics and Geoffrey Kay on abstract labour and capital. Sean Sayers writes on late developments in Marx's thought, Jon Gubbay assesses Erik Olin Wright's researches into class, Gregor Gall analyses the contemporary predicament of organised labour and Alan Johnson explores the Third Camp socialist tradition. Also discussed are E. San Juan's new critique of postcolonial theory and Andrew Collier's critical realist moral theory.
Historical Materialism 5 costs £8 or US$12.50 plus postage. For just a little more you can take a two-issue subscription and also receive Historical Materialism 4, which includes contributions to the Brenner debate by Alex Callinicos, Guglielmo Carchedi, Simon Clarke, Gérard Duménil & Dominique Lévy, Chris Harman, David Laibman, Michael Lebowitz, Fred Moseley, Murray Smith and Ellen Meiksins Wood, as well as a hitherto unpublished article by Hal Draper, a response to John Rosenthal's critique of dialectic by Tony Smith, and reviews discussing British Communism, American pragmatism, and Australian trade unionism.
Or you could take a subscription from Issue 5 onwards. Lined up for our next couple of issues we have pieces by Patrick Murray on practical abstraction, Andrew Kliman on value theory, Wal Suchting on late Althusser, Michael Cowen on development theory, Tony Burns on Greek philosophy, and an interview with Slavoj Zizek.
For more information please contact the editors by emailing hm at lse.ac.uk
Contents: Historical Materialism 5 SYMPOSIUM* ROBERT BRENNER AND THE WORLD CRISIS: PART 2 Werner Bonefeld: 'Notes on Competition, Capitalism, Crises and Class' Alan Freeman: 'Crisis and the Poverty of Nations' Michel Husson: 'Riding the Long Wave' Anwar Shaikh: 'Explaining the Global Economic Crisis' Tony Smith: 'Brenner and Crisis Theory' Richard Walker: 'Capitalism's Recurrent Self-Criticism' John Weeks: 'Surfing the Troubled Waters of Global Turbulence' PLUS Craig Brandist: 'Ethics, Politics and the Potential of Dialogism' Geoff Kay: 'Abstract Labour and Capital' REVIEWS Sean Sayers on James D. White Jon Gubbay on Erik Olin Wright Gregor Gall on John Kelly Alan Johnson on the Third Camp Greg Dawes on E. San Juan Adrian Haddock on Andrew Collier
Contents: Historical Materialism 4 Symposium: Robert Brenner and the World Crisis (Part 1) Alex Callinicos: 'Capitalism, Competition and Profits: A Critique of Robert Brenner's Theory of Crisis' Gugliemlo Carchedi: 'A Missed Opportunity: Orthodox Versus Marxist Crises Theories' Simon Clarke: 'Capitalist Competition and the Tendency to Overproduction: Comments on Brenner's "Uneven Development and the Long Downturn"' Gerard Dumenil and Dominique Levy: 'Brenner on Distribution' Chris Harman: 'Footnotes and Fallacies: A Comment on Robert Brenner's "The Economics of Global Turbulence"' David Laibman: 'Perspectives on Brenner' Michael A. Lebowitz: 'In Brenner, Everything is Reversed' Fred Moseley: 'The Decline of the Rate of Profit in the Post-war United States Economy: Due to Increased Competition or Increased Unproductive Labour?' Murray Smith: 'The Necessity of Value Theory: Brenner's Analysis of the "Long Downturn" and Marx's Theory of Crisis' Ellen Meiksins Wood: 'Horizontal Relations: A Note on Brenner's Heresy'
Article Alan Johnson: 'Introduction: Hal Draper: A Biographical Sketch' Hal Draper: 'The Myth of Lenin's "Concept of Party":Or What They Did to "What Is To Be Done"'
Intervention Tony Smith: 'The Relevance of Systematic Dialetics to Marxism Thought: A Reply to Rosenthal'
Reviews Matthew Worley on Recent British Communist History Edwin A. Roberts on Praxis American Style Charles Post on Terence J. Byres Alan Wald on Michael Lowy Rick Kuhn on David Peetz
Conference Report Emma Bircham on 'Historical Materialism and Globalisation' at Warwick, 1999
"Historical Materialism is an excellent journal, providing a unique forum for serious intellectual work about every aspect of Marxism. The quality of the first issues surpassed expectations. The journal is essential reading for anyone with an interest in this field."
- Sean Sayers (author Marxism and Human Nature, 1998)
SUBSCRIPTION RATES Personal: UK£15, Europe £16, Worldwide Surface £16/US$25 (surface) or £20/US$32 (airmail) Student/low income: UK£10, Europe £13, Worldwide £13/US$20 (surface) or £16/US$25 (airmail) Institutional: UK£40, Europe £48, Worldwide £48/US$79 (surface) or £55/US$90 (airmail)
The Editors Historical Materialism London School of Economics Houghton Street London WC2A 2AE UK email: hm at lse.ac.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Historical Materialism: research in critical marxist theory http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/hm/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~