If Marx’s theory of surplus-value is his most revolutionary contribution to economic science, his discovery of the basic long-term ‘laws of motion’ (development trends) of the capitalist mode of production constitutes undoubtedly his most impressive scientific achievement.
read article...
Home > Features
Features
Latest update : 25 October.
This section contains articles on theoretical, analytical and historical themes usually longer than articles published in the news magazine section.
Articles in this section
-
The Basic Theories of Karl Marx
The Laws of Motion of the Capitalist Mode of Production
30 December 2003, by -
The Basic Theories of Karl Marx
Marx’s Theory of Crises
30 December 2003, byMarx did not write a systematic treatise on capitalist crises. His major comments on the subject are spread around his major economic writings, as well as his articles for the New York Daily Tribune. The longest treatment of the subject is in his Theorien über den Mehrwert, subpart on Ricardo.
read article... -
The Basic Theories of Karl Marx
Marx and Engels on the Economy of Post-Capitalist Societies
30 December 2003, byMarx was disinclined to comment at length about how a socialist or communist economy would operate. He thought such comments to be essentially speculative. Nevertheless, in his major works, especially the Grundrisse and Das Kapital, there are some sparse comments on the subject.
read article... -
The end of history?
Revolutions and Counter-revolutions
30 December 2003, byWhile revolutions are historical facts of life, counter-revolutions are likewise undeniable realities. Indeed, counter-revolutions seem regularly to follow revolutions as night follows day. Etymology confirms this paradox. The very concept of “revolution” originates from the sciences of astronomy. The movements of planets evolve in an orbital manner, returning to the point of departure.
read article... -
The end of history?
The Possibility of Revolution in the West
30 December 2003, byRevolutions and counter-revolutions, being real historical processes, always occur in really existing social-economic formations which are always specific. No two countries in the world are exactly alike, if only because their basic social classes and the major fractions of these classes are products of the specific history of each of these countries.
read article... -
The end of history?
The Lessons of Third World Revolutions
30 December 2003, byThe revolutionary processes in the Third World since World War II have confirmed the validity of the strategy of permanent revolution. Wherever these processes have climaxed in a full break with the old ruling classes and with international capital the historical tasks of the national-democratic revolution (national unification, independence from imperialism) have been realized.
read article... -
The end of history?
Political Revolution in So-called Socialist Societies
30 December 2003, byThe concept of political (anti-bureaucratic) revolution in the bureaucratized societies in transition between capitalism and socialism (bureaucratized workers states) was first launched by Trotsky in 1933. It resulted from the diagnosis of the growing contradictions of Soviet society and from the prediction that these contradictions could no longer be removed through reforms; and it was related, therefore to the prediction that a self-reform of the bureaucracy was impossible.
read article... -
The end of history?
World Revolution Today
30 December 2003, byThe concept of the three sectors of the world revolution refers to the different strategic-historical tasks with which the revolutionary process is confronted today. But this only represents the first step towards a concretization of the concept of world revolution today. The question of these sectors and their interaction, and hence their growing unity, has also to be raised.
read article... -
The End of History?
What Is A Revolution?
30 December 2003, byRevolutions are historical facts of life. Almost all major states in today’s world are born from revolutions. Whether one likes it or not, our century has seen something like three dozen revolutions-some victorious, others defeated-and there is no sign that we have come to the end of the revolutionary experience.
read article... -
Basic Theories of Karl Marx
Life and Work
30 December 2003, byKarl Marx was born on 5 May 1818, the son of the lawyer Heinrich Marx and Henriette Pressburg. His father was descended from an old family of Jewish rabbis, but was himself a liberal admirer of the Enlightenment and not religious. He converted to Protestantism a few years before Karl was born to escape restrictions still imposed upon Jews in Prussia. His mother was of Dutch-Jewish origin.
read article...
