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Theories for Radical Change
Key Texts from the Political Economy of Marx and Lenin
Series: - Studies in Critical Social Sciences, Volume: 323
Author:
This book is focused on production and its relations. It argues for the primacy of economic over extra-economic processes, and of production and production relations over other aspects of the economic realm. It explores how production relations of capitalism and imperialism fetter the development of the productive forces of nature and wage-labour and hinder stateâs ability to solve the problems produced by capitalism. It covers a wide range of political-economic issues including commodity production, class differentiation, fundamental traits of capitalist production (including its uneven and combined development), capitalist state, and the impoverishment of common people and their struggle against the capitalist mode of production.
Raju Das (Ph.D., The Ohio State University) is Professor at York University, Toronto. His research interests include Marxist political economy. His recent books include: Marxist Class Theory for a Skeptical World (Brill, 2017) and Marxâs Capital, Capitalism and Limits to the State (Routledge, 2022).
"Raju J Das has produced the much-needed book all Marxists hoped one of their number would someday provide, uniting in a well-argued and theoretically rigorous manner two positions that have tended to drift apart: what in political and economic terms Marxism is currently seen to involve, and what Marx and Lenin themselves said it must be. By doing so, Das confirms two things: both the resilience of Marxist scholarship, and also that he himself is in the vanguard of this process." â Tom Brass, formerly of SPS, Cambridge University, and Editor of The Journal of Peasant Studies.
"Raju Das has produced an excellent and wide-ranging conspectus of Marxist political economy, one based on a careful and incisive reading of the âclassicalâ works of Karl Marx and V.I. Lenin on the subject as well as a critical survey of the ideas of more recent Marxist thinkers. As Das explains so well, Marx and Lenin didnât answer all the questions currently posed about our centuryâs decaying capitalist order; but they did lay an imperishable foundation for answering them." â Murray Smith, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Brock University, Canada.
"Raju Das has produced an excellent and wide-ranging conspectus of Marxist political economy, one based on a careful and incisive reading of the âclassicalâ works of Karl Marx and V.I. Lenin on the subject as well as a critical survey of the ideas of more recent Marxist thinkers. As Das explains so well, Marx and Lenin didnât answer all the questions currently posed about our centuryâs decaying capitalist order; but they did lay an imperishable foundation for answering them." â Murray Smith, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Brock University, Canada.
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
1 Introduction
â1âThe Political Context
â2âThe Theoretical Context
â3âOverview
2 Marx and Engelsâ The Communist Manifesto: Class Relations, Global Capitalism, Workersâ Conditions and Revolutionary Politics
â1âClass Relations and the State across Class Societies
â2âCapitalist Economic System and World Market
â3âCapitalism, Culture and the State
â4âWorkersâ Experience of Exploitation and Its Effects
â5âWorkersâ Struggle within and against Capitalism
â6âConclusion
3 Marxâs Introduction to Grundrisse: Primacy of Production over Distribution, Exchange and Consumption
â1âProduction as a Moment of the Economic Realm
â2âDistribution, Exchange and Consumption as Moments of the Economic Realm
â3âProductionâs Primacy over Other Moments of the Economic Realm
â4âImplications of the Primacy of Production for Contemporary Debates in Political Economy
â5âConclusion
4 Marxâs Introduction to Grundrisse: the Relation of the Economic Realm to the Political and the Cultural Realms
â1âConception of the Producing Individual in Relation to Society
â2âThe Relation of the Economic to the Political
â3âThe Relation of the Economic to the Cultural
â4âConclusion
5 Marxâs 1859 Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Fettering of Productive Forces by Social Relations, and Questions of Labour and Nature
â1âMarx (and Engels) on Fettering of Productive Forces by Production Relations
â2âExisting Interpretations of Marxâs Concept of Fettering
â3âA Partial Critique of Existing Interpretations of Marxâs Concept of Fettering
â4âTowards an Integrative Perspective on Fettering for Todayâs World
â5âConclusion
6 Marxâs Capital Volume 1: Relations of Property, Commodity and Value, and the State
â1âProperty Relations of Class Society, and the State
â2âProperty Relations of Capitalist Class Society, and the State
â3âCapitalist Commodity and Value Relations, and the State
â4âConclusion
7 Marxâs Capital Volume 1: Capital Circuit, Capitalist Accumulation, and the State
â1âThe MâC (MP + LP) and the Câ²âMâ² Phases of the Capital Circuit, and the State
â2âThe âPâ Phase of Capital Circuit, and the State
â3âThe Crisis-Ridden Capitalist Accumulation and the State
â4âConclusion
8 Marxâs Capital Volume 1: Labour Circuit, Class Struggle, Economic Reforms, and the State
â1âThe Labour Circuit (CâMâCâ²âRâC) and the Stateâs Pro-worker Interventions
â2âDriving Forces behind the Stateâs Pro-worker Measures
â3âLimits to Stateâs Pro-worker Interventions, and Why?
â4âConclusion
9 Leninâs Development of Capitalism in Russia and Other Economic Writings: Commodity Production, Class Differentiation, Capitalism, and Imperialism
â1âWhat Is Political Economy, and How to Study It?
â2âCommodity Production and Class Differentiation
â3âCapitalism as the Highest Form of Commodity Production, and Its Social and Spatial Forms and Effects
â4âCapitalism as a Transient Progressive Social Form Production
â5âCapitalist (Super-)Exploitation, Economic Inequality, and Impoverishment
â6âImperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism, and National Exploitation
â7âWorkersâ Struggle for Improvements within Capitalism, and for Socialism
â8âConclusion
10 Theoretical and Practical Implications of Marxist Political Economy
â1âA General Map of Marxâs and Leninâs Political Economy as a Field of Study
â2âPolitical Economy of the Relation between the Economic and the Extra Economic
â3âPolitical Economy of Class Society
â4âPolitical Economy of Capitalist Class Society
â5âPolitical Economy of Imperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism
â6âPolitical Economy of the Progressive and Dark Sides of Capitalism/Imperialism
â7âPolitical Economy of the Capitalist State
â8âPolitical Economy of the Conditions of Workers and Petty Producers
â9âPolitical Economy as a Guide to Peopleâs Struggle against Capitalism
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures and Tables
1 Introduction
â1âThe Political Context
â2âThe Theoretical Context
â3âOverview
2 Marx and Engelsâ The Communist Manifesto: Class Relations, Global Capitalism, Workersâ Conditions and Revolutionary Politics
â1âClass Relations and the State across Class Societies
â2âCapitalist Economic System and World Market
â3âCapitalism, Culture and the State
â4âWorkersâ Experience of Exploitation and Its Effects
â5âWorkersâ Struggle within and against Capitalism
â6âConclusion
3 Marxâs Introduction to Grundrisse: Primacy of Production over Distribution, Exchange and Consumption
â1âProduction as a Moment of the Economic Realm
â2âDistribution, Exchange and Consumption as Moments of the Economic Realm
â3âProductionâs Primacy over Other Moments of the Economic Realm
â4âImplications of the Primacy of Production for Contemporary Debates in Political Economy
â5âConclusion
4 Marxâs Introduction to Grundrisse: the Relation of the Economic Realm to the Political and the Cultural Realms
â1âConception of the Producing Individual in Relation to Society
â2âThe Relation of the Economic to the Political
â3âThe Relation of the Economic to the Cultural
â4âConclusion
5 Marxâs 1859 Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Fettering of Productive Forces by Social Relations, and Questions of Labour and Nature
â1âMarx (and Engels) on Fettering of Productive Forces by Production Relations
â2âExisting Interpretations of Marxâs Concept of Fettering
â3âA Partial Critique of Existing Interpretations of Marxâs Concept of Fettering
â4âTowards an Integrative Perspective on Fettering for Todayâs World
â5âConclusion
6 Marxâs Capital Volume 1: Relations of Property, Commodity and Value, and the State
â1âProperty Relations of Class Society, and the State
â2âProperty Relations of Capitalist Class Society, and the State
â3âCapitalist Commodity and Value Relations, and the State
â4âConclusion
7 Marxâs Capital Volume 1: Capital Circuit, Capitalist Accumulation, and the State
â1âThe MâC (MP + LP) and the Câ²âMâ² Phases of the Capital Circuit, and the State
â2âThe âPâ Phase of Capital Circuit, and the State
â3âThe Crisis-Ridden Capitalist Accumulation and the State
â4âConclusion
8 Marxâs Capital Volume 1: Labour Circuit, Class Struggle, Economic Reforms, and the State
â1âThe Labour Circuit (CâMâCâ²âRâC) and the Stateâs Pro-worker Interventions
â2âDriving Forces behind the Stateâs Pro-worker Measures
â3âLimits to Stateâs Pro-worker Interventions, and Why?
â4âConclusion
9 Leninâs Development of Capitalism in Russia and Other Economic Writings: Commodity Production, Class Differentiation, Capitalism, and Imperialism
â1âWhat Is Political Economy, and How to Study It?
â2âCommodity Production and Class Differentiation
â3âCapitalism as the Highest Form of Commodity Production, and Its Social and Spatial Forms and Effects
â4âCapitalism as a Transient Progressive Social Form Production
â5âCapitalist (Super-)Exploitation, Economic Inequality, and Impoverishment
â6âImperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism, and National Exploitation
â7âWorkersâ Struggle for Improvements within Capitalism, and for Socialism
â8âConclusion
10 Theoretical and Practical Implications of Marxist Political Economy
â1âA General Map of Marxâs and Leninâs Political Economy as a Field of Study
â2âPolitical Economy of the Relation between the Economic and the Extra Economic
â3âPolitical Economy of Class Society
â4âPolitical Economy of Capitalist Class Society
â5âPolitical Economy of Imperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism
â6âPolitical Economy of the Progressive and Dark Sides of Capitalism/Imperialism
â7âPolitical Economy of the Capitalist State
â8âPolitical Economy of the Conditions of Workers and Petty Producers
â9âPolitical Economy as a Guide to Peopleâs Struggle against Capitalism
Bibliography
Index
This book will be useful to college/university students and teachers and to intellectuals in trade unions, Left groups, and ecological movements, with a theoretical interest in economy and economic aspects of public policy.