The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System, livre ebook

Henryk Grossmann's influential work provides the key to a fuller understanding of Marx's theory of crisis.
Foreword by Tony Kennedy

Henryk Grossmann and the Theory of Capitalist Collapse

Tony Kennedy

Introduction by Henryk Grossmann

1. The Downfall of Capitalism in the Existing Literature

The point at issue

The conception of breakdown in the existing literature

How Kautsky finally abandoned Marx’s theory of accumulation and of breakdown

Notes

2. The Law of Capitalist Breakdown

Is there a theory of breakdown in Marx?

Preliminary methodological remarks

The equilibrium theory of the neo-harmonists

The conditions and tasks of schematic analysis

Why was classical economy alarmed by the fall in the rate of

Profit despite an expanding mass of profit?

The views of classical economists on the future of capitalism

The Marxist theory of accumulation and breakdown

Marx’s theory of breakdown is also a theory of crises

An anti-critical interlude

The logical and mathematical basis of the law of breakdown

Why the Marxist theory of accumulation and breakdown was misunderstood

The factors of the breakdown and the business cycle

Crises and the theory of underconsumption

The elasticity of accumulation

The restricted development of productive forces under Capitalism

The Marxist theory of imperfect valorisation

Notes

3. Modifying Countertendencies

Introduction

Part 1: Countertendencies Internal to the Mechanism of Capital

Increases in the rate of profit through the expansion of productivity

Reducing the costs of variable capital through increases in productivity

Shortening the turnover time and its impact on the rate of surplus value

The additional money capital required for an expanded scale of production

The conflict between use value and exchange value

The emergence of new spheres of production with a lower Organic composition of capital

The struggle to abolish groundrent

The struggle to eliminate the commercial profit

The economic function of ‘third persons’

Expanding the scale of production on the existing technological basis: simple accumulation

The periodic devaluation of capital on the accumulation process

The expansion of share capital

The accumulation of capital and the problem of population

Part 2: Restoring Profitability through World Market Domination

Introduction: The economic function of imperialism

The function of foreign trade under capitalism

Foreign trade and world monopolies

The function of capital exports under capitalism

Notes

Bibliography

Index