| Abstrakt: |
Every generation of Marxists since Karl Marx's death has managed to come up with a new account of Marxism in the attempt to deal with the specific social and political problems of the time. Given the historical character of Marxism, this process of theoretical re-constitution is predicated by the theory itself. To the extent that it articulates conceptually the dynamic of the socio economic totality, Marxism must continually re-evaluate its fundamental tenets in light of new developments, while at the same time explain the old from the viewpoint of the new: it is human anatomy that contains a key to the anatomy of the appeal and not vice-versa. Thus, major tenets such as the law of the falling rate of profits, which may have been valid in the nineteenth century when almost every economic downturn was prefaced by a rapid deflation of prices, no longer apply in the stage of oligopolistic capitalism where competition is minimal and, as a result, prices and profits always tend to increase. Far from constituting a fatal blow to Marxism, such a change is readily explained by the theory in terms of the very logic of late-capitalist development. The same can be said for the labor theory of value, the meaning of revolution, the analysis of classes, etc. |
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