> This may be of interest.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Julio Huato <juliohuato at gmail.com>
> Date: Jan 30, 5:35 pm
> Subject: S&S Call for Papers
> To: Marxist Debate
> http://groups.google.com/group/marxist-debate
>
> Science & Society
> http://www.scienceandsociety.com/
>
> CALL FOR PAPERS
> MARXISM AND CRISIS IN 21ST-CENTURY CAPITALISM
>
> The recent collapse of financial markets, housing, commodity prices,
> and employment has shattered the myths of neoliberalism and market
> fundamentalism. But conventional accounts of the crisis, focused on
> the role of subprime mortgage lending, complex mortgage-backed
> securities, derivatives, "shadow" banking, deleveraging, and
> widespread fraud leaves the deeper structural issues of capital
> accumulation, class relations, and systemic evolution out of the
> picture. How should the current crisis be understood in light of
> Marxist theoretical conceptions of capitalist dynamics?
>
> The current economic collapse has brought forth many questions. Is the
> ongoing crisis an event that is bringing about a new phase of
> capitalism? Will the crisis, and the responses to it, shift or
> disperse the geographic foci of capitalism? How do current theories of
> accumulation and the stages of capitalism hold up under recent events?
> How will the crisis affect the globalization of capitalist power; will
> it reinforce or damage it? What specific role will the state play in
> attempting to preserve capitalist accumulation? Is a new round of
> nationalization and decommodification on the agenda? If so, how
> extensive is this likely to be? What are the probable effects of the
> crisis, and of governmental responses to the crisis, on the working
> and living conditions of workers and on their political self-
> organization? How will women and minorities be affected? What is the
> future of relations among different sectors of the international
> working class, particularly between richer and poorer countries? As
> financial markets recoil, what direction will the economy take when a
> system that appeared to be invulnerable has failed? What will be the
> policy direction of the new rising economic powers, in particular the
> BRIC countries? What can be said about the current potential for
> revolutionary change? How will the recent attempts at social change in
> Latin America weather the international crisis? What are the
> consequences of the crisis for imperialism? Environmental crisis and
> capitalist accumulation are intertwined; in what new ways must
> existing theories of capitalist dynamics be altered to understand
> environmental degradation along with economic crisis?
>
> Science & Society encourages a diversity of views, and we do not
> expect any sort of convergence to settled conclusions. We are,
> however, hoping to focus on fundamental aspects of capital
> accumulation and crises in 21st-century capitalism from a Marxist
> standpoint, rather than on current developments and reportage
> belonging in publications that appear more frequently. Papers should
> not exceed 4,500 words in length. We will ask contributors to comment
> on each other's work, with eventual responses to the comments, in what
> will emerge as a dialog format. The deadline for the first-round
> papers is September 1, 2009.
>
> The Guest Editors for the issue are Dr. Julio Huato (Department of
> Economics, St. Francis College), and Dr. Justin Holt (The Gallatin
> School, New York University), both of whom are members of the Science
> & Society Editorial Board. Potential contributors should contact, and
> contributions sent directly to, the Guest Editors at
> juliohuato at gmail.com, and jh129 at nyu.edu.
>
> ___________________________________
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>
Would I be wrong in saying that the predominant (if not singular) Marxist interpretation of the crisis is one of overproduction/overaccumulation?
Specifically that the credit system has been over-inflated in order to accommodate both accumulation through speculation and mass consumption by a population on low wages which makes up for up for a crisis in both "real" production and the drop off in any labour union movement actually trying to collect a sustainable wage for the lower strata of the population.