The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System

Foreword by Tony Kennedy ix Henryk Grossmann and the Theory of Capitalist Collapse Tony Kennedy 1 Introduction by Henryk Grossmann 29 1. The Downfall of Capitalism in the Existing Literature 35 The point at issue 35 The conception of breakdown in the existing literature 42 How Kautsky finally abandoned Marx's theory of accumulation and of breakdown 53 Notes 2. The Law of Capitalist Breakdown Is there a theory of breakdown in Marx? 59 Preliminary methodological remarks 60 The equilibrium theory of the neo-harmonists 67 The conditions and tasks of schematic analysis 69 Why was classical economy alarmed by the fall in the rate of Profit despite an expanding mass of profit? 71 The views of classical economists on the future of capitalism 72 The Marxist theory of accumulation and breakdown 74 Marx's theory of breakdown is also a theory of crises 83 An anti-critical interlude 85 The logical and mathematical basis of the law of breakdown 96 Why the Marxist theory of accumulation and breakdown Was misunderstood 101 The factors of the breakdown and the business cycle 103 Crises and the theory of underconsumption 111 The elasticity of accumulation 117 The restricted development of productive forces under Capitalism 119 The Marxist theory of imperfect valorization 124 Notes 127 3. Modifying Countertendencies Introduction 130 Part 1: Countertendencies Internal to the Mechanism of Capital 134 Increases in the rate of profit through the expansion of Productivity 134 Reducing the costs of variable capital through increases in Productivity 139 Shortening the turnover time and its impact on the rate of Surplus value 140 The additional money capital required for an expanded scale Of production 142 The conflict between use value and exchange value 144 The emergence of new spheres of production with a lower Organic composition of capital 147 The struggle to abolish groundrent 149 The struggle to eliminate the commercial profit 150 The economic function of 'third persons' 153 Expanding the scale of production on the existing technological Basis: simple accumulation 154 The periodic devaluation of capital on the accumulation 155 Process The expansion of share capital 158 The accumulation of capital and the problem of population 159 Part 2: Restoring Profitability through World Market 163 Domination Introduction: The economic function of imperialism 163 The function of foreign trade under capitalism 165 Foreign trade and world monopolies 174 The function of capital exports under capitalism 179 Notes 201 Bibliography 202 Index 206