[lbo-talk] Marx on the transience of crises

Patrick Bond pbond at mail.ngo.za
Sat Jun 7 22:04:07 PDT 2008


Sorry for delay...

Doug Henwood wrote:
> On Jun 5, 2008, at 7:40 AM, Angelus Novus wrote:
>
>
> "However the present crisis might develop - a detailed
> observation of it is admittedly of paramount
> importance for the investigator of capitalist
> production and the professional theoretician - it
> will, likes its predecessors, blow over and usher in a
> new "industrial cycle" with all of its various phases
> of prosperity, etc."
>

If citing this in, say, 1932, was done to pooh-pooh the Great Depression, it would have been just as out-of-context as it is now. Of course all crises 'blow over' - but what is crucial is the destruction and rearrangement that occurs inbetween: of social relations, of geopolitics, of accumulation paths, of ideologies, of the balance of class forces, etc.


> ... its crisis-ness looks to be receding. Patrick
> Bond, how do you respond, aside from quoting Mike Whitney?
> Doug

Receding? Not if The Economist and WSJ (which Whitney cites) have any insights.

Look, we all know that devalorization of overaccumulated capital happens in intense spurts of destruction, and that this is followed by a new round of accumulation. We also know that this is when the left project of defensive maneuvers to shift costs back to capital and building a welfare state buffer becomes all the more crucial. But more broadly, the left project should also always insist that the capitalist system regularly brings on these terribly painful bouts of crisis, and that this cyclical character is one reason for the system to be done away with. I don't know why this simple insight from Marx gets lost in the happy-faced spin you keep putting on these matters, Doug.

.



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