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Pluto Press - Henry Heller

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321 pages

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Description

In the light of the deepening crisis of capitalism and continued non-Western capitalist accumulation, Henry Heller re-examines the debates surrounding the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe and elsewhere.

Focusing on arguments about the origin, nature and sustainability of capitalism, Heller offers a new reading of the historical evidence and a critical interrogation of the transition debate. He advances the idea that capitalism must be understood as a political as well as an economic entity. This book breathes new life into the scholarship, taking issue with the excessively economistic approach of Robert Brenner, which has gained increasing support over the last ten years. It concludes that the future of capitalism is more threatened than ever before.

The new insights in this book make it essential reading for engaged students and scholars of political economy and history.
Preface and acknowledgements

Introduction: problems and methods

1. The Decline of feudalism

2. Experiments in capitalism: Italy, Germany, France

3. English capitalism

4. Bourgeois revolution

5. Political capitalism

6. The Industrial Revolution: Marxist perspectives

7. Capitalism and world history

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

Economic Disparity

Social Classes

Social Science

Sociologie, société et politique

Political economy

Social class

Capitalism

Informations

Publié par	Pluto Press
Date de parution	04 août 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781849646130
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,6250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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THE BIRTH OF CAPITALISM

The Future of World Capitalism Series editors: Radhika Desai and Alan Freeman

The world is undergoing a major realignment. The 2008 financial crash and ensuing recession, China’s unremitting economic advance, and the uprisings in the Middle East, are laying to rest all dreams of an ‘American Century’. This key moment in history makes weightyintellectual demands on all who wish to understand and shape the future. Theoretical debate has been derailed, and critical thinking stifled, by apologetic and superficial ideas with almost no explanatory value, ‘globalization’ being only the best known. Academic political economy has failed to anticipate the key events now shaping the world, and offers few useful insights on how to react to them. The Future of World Capitalism series will foster intellectual renewal, restoring the radical heritage that gave us the international labour movement, the women’s movement, classical Marxism, and the great revolutions of the twentieth century. It will unite them with new thinking inspired by modern struggles for civil rights, social justice, sustainability, and peace, giving theoretical expression to the voices of change of the twentyfirst century. Drawing on an international set of authors, and a worldwide reader ship, combining rigour with accessibility and relevance, this series will set a reference standard for critical publishing.

Also available:

Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy Costas Panayotakis

The Birth of Capitalism

A TwentyFirstCentury Perspective

Henry Heller

Fernwood Publishing HALIFAX & WINNIPEG www.fernwoodpublishing.ca

First published 2011 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA www.plutobooks.com

Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin's Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010

Published in Canada by Fernwood Publishing 32 Oceanvista Lane, Black Point, Nova Scotia, B0J 1B0 and 748 Broadway Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3G 0X3 www.fernwoodpublishing.ca

Fernwood Publishing Company Limited gratefully acknowledges the ﬁnancial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture and the Province of Manitoba, through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, for our publishing program.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Heller, Henry, 1938 The birth of capitalism : a twentyﬁrst century perspective / Henry Heller. (The future of world capitalism) ISBN 9781552664520 1. CapitalismHistory. I. Title. II. Series: Future of world capitalism (Winnipeg, Man.) HB501.H439 2011 330.12'2 C20119023717

The right of Henry Heller to be identiﬁed as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN ISBN ISBN

978 0 7453 2960 4 978 0 7453 2959 8 978 1 55266 452 0

Hardback Paperback (Pluto Press) Paperback (Fernwood)

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Curran Publishing Services, Norwich, UK Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK and Edwards Bros in the United States of America

For Rebecca and David

CONTENTS

Preface and acknowledgements

Introduction: problems and methods Capitalist origins and crises Economism and Eurocentrism An alternative reading Plan of the book The argument The unity of the Marxist method Alternatives to Marxism Marxism and history Capitalism and world history

1 The decline of feudalism Dobb’s opening gambit Dobb versus Sweezy Takahashi and Hilton Class struggle The role of towns Uneven development The New Left takes over Japanese feudalism The last rampart of feudalism Brenner and the late medieval crisis The East–West divide The logic of accumulation Bois objects Harman’s riposte The role of social differentiation Dialectics of social relations

2 Experiments in capitalism: Italy, Germany, France Renaissance Italy

vii

1 3 4 5 7 9 11 13 15 20

23 24 27 28 30 31 32 34 35 38 40 41 42 43 45 47 50

52 54

V I I I

C O N T E N T S

The dominance of merchant capital The failure of Italian capitalism The predatory citystate German capitalism Engels and early bourgeois revolution History in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) Revolution of the common people Tom Scott’s structural adjustment France Brenner’s other Capitalism in France Conclusion

3 English capitalism Dobb versus Sweezy Primitive accumulation The really revolutionary way Wallerstein’s world system Brenner’s attack on ‘neoSmithian Marxism’ The problems with Brenner The nonEuropean contribution to European capitalism The causes of underdevelopment Primitive accumulation in the periphery Markets and history The capitalist farmer Salvaging Brenner? The birth of value Conclusion

4 Bourgeois revolution Holland Dutch merchant capitalism Agrarian capitalism The Political Marxists England The capitalist farmers in Marx The middle sort France Rural capitalism The rise of political economy Wage labour in France The revolutionary crisis Conclusion

57 57 59 61 62 65 67 68 71 71 72 74

76 77 79 80 81 83 87 89 91 92 94 97 99 102 103

104 105 108 111 115 118 121 123 127 128 129 131 133 133

C O N T E N T S

5 Political capitalism Lords in the making of the modern world The American and Prussian paths Combined and uneven development in Scotland Japanese capitalism The mercantilism of free trade Colonialism Slavery Conclusion

6 The Industrial Revolution: Marxist perspectives Hobsbawm and the overseas market Marx on manufacture and industry Dobb and the proletariat The labour process Technological determinism Thompson and the working class making its own history … … but not in circumstances of its own choosing The human cost Protoindustrialization The industrious revolution The Scientific Revolution The effacement of the bourgeoisie Conclusion 7 Capitalism and world history The attack on Eurocentrism Postcolonial histories The Great Divergence The Asian industrious revolution A nonEurocentric history Harvey’s spatial fix Capitalism versus humanity and nature

Conclusion

Notes Bibliography Index

I X

135 137 141 145 149 152 162 168 174

176 179 181 185 186 188

190 193 196 199 202 206 210 213

215 217 221 228 233 238 239 240

243

252 274 297

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