A Marxist Political Economy Site

[www.massline.org/PolitEcon]

Economics pamphlets, essays, articles and reviews from the Marxist perspective

This is a site devoted to Marxist political economy. It is still under development and a lot more material will be added later. To begin with, many of the materials have been written by the host of this web site, Scott H.   To make suggestions, comments or criticisms, contact:   scotth@massline.org   or   webmaster@massline.org

Note: Some of the documents and essays below are fairly long and are much easier to read if you print them out first. That will also give you the margins you’ll need to write down your criticisms!

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Political Economy - General

• The Definition of ‘Capitalism’ [S.H.] (March 2003) — A letter to friends.
• “The Myth of the Tragedy of the Commons”, by Ian Angus. (8/24/08)

Capitalist Imperialism

• “Lenin on Imperialism” [S.H.] (2007) [PDF: 237 KB] — A 10-page discussion of Lenin’s views on imperialism in light of the new evidence and changes since his day.

The Marxist Theory of Capitalist Economic Crises

• An Introductory Explanation of Capitalist Economic Crises, by Scott H. (2008) — This pamphlet discusses both the underlying and surface contradictions involved in capitalist crises. [The first 5 chapters are now available. More will be added later.]
  • Introduction
  • Chapter I: The Basic Contradictions Underlying Capitalist Economic Crises
  • Chapter II: The Surface Layer of Contradictions
  • Chapter III: How Are Capitalist Economic Crises Overcome?
  • Chapter IV: Capitalist Economic Crises in the Imperialist Era (8/9/08)
  • Chapter V: The Industrial Cycle Has Split in Two! (8/19/08)
• “False Lessons from the Great Depression” [S.H.] (7/14/03) — A criticism of two main points in Peter Temin’s book, Lessons from the Great Depression.
• “Comments on Sison’s ‘Contradictions in the World Capitalist System and the Necessity of Socialist Revolution’” [S.H.] (1/23/02) — Discussion of Jose Maria Sison’s view of the world economic and political situation, as well as a critique of the “General Crisis of Capitalism” thesis.
• Letter to Bob Avakian on Imperialist War and Capitalist Economic Cycles [S.H.] (12/2/79)
• “The ‘Capital Shortage’ Myth: A Dangerous Error in Political Economy” [S.H.] (Jan. 1977)

Commentary on the Developing Economic Crisis

• “Is the Current Economic Crisis a Crisis of Overproduction?” [S.H.] (7/11/08) — This letter responds to a question about the nature of the currently developing crisis, and also addresses the issue of the means that imperialist powers use to dump the effects of their own crises onto the backs of people of the countries they exploit.
• “Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In” (7/14/08), an article from the satirical publication The Onion.
  • “The Onion is More Correct Than They Realize!” [S.H.] (7/24/08) — A serious commentary on the above article which argues that bubbles really are absolutely necessary under capitalism!
• “Is It Socialism?” (Sept. 25-27, 2008) — An email discussion between Scott H. and his friend Kirby about whether the bailouts and partial nationalization of several banks and financial institutions by the U.S. government should be considered “socialism”.
• “The Worst is Yet to Come” (11/22/08) — A Reuters article about the top IMF economist predicting the worst of the current financial/economic crisis is yet to come, together with a brief commentary by Scott H.

The Labor Theory of Value

• “Steve Keen on Marxist Economics & a Mini Essay on the Labor Theory of Value” [S.H.] (9/3/03) — A very one-sided review of Steve Keen’s Debunking Economics, focusing on the single chapter on Marxist economics, and the labor theory of value in particular. Puts forward the theory that past labor (in the form of tools and machines) can also contribute to surplus value.
  • Letter to Frank S. about the labor theory of value [S.H.] (12/08/03) — Scott’s friend Frank criticized his theory about machines being able to contribute to surplus value and his comments about Say’s “Law”. This is Scott’s response.
  • “Additional Comments on Say’s ‘Law’—and the Consequences of Failing to Recognize Its Fallaciousness” [S.H.] (1/15/04) — A continuation of the above, after a discussion with Frank.

The Monthly Review School

• “In Remembrance of Paul M. Sweezy”, by Dr. Gupta. This article is taken from People’s March, the revolutionary magazine from India, Vol. 5, No. 6, June 2004.
• “Working-Class Households and the Burden of Debt”, by the Editors of Monthly Review magazine. This important article appeared in MR in May 2000. It demonstrates quite convincingly, and with a lot of statistical support, that the long U.S. boom of the 1990s is to be explained largely by the tremendous increase in working-class debt over that decade, and not by the repeal of the laws of capitalism or through some “New Economy” magic.

Economic Statistics & Demographics

• “Economist Challenges Government Data”, by Sam Zuckerman, San Francisco Chronicle, May 25, 2008, [PDF: 74 KB] — This article, from the bourgeois media, describes (and subtly tries to discredit) the work of the renegade bourgeois economist John Williams who runs a web site showing many of the distortions and lies in U.S. economic statistics.
• “Humanity Today and Demographics” [S.H.] (12/10/08) [PDF: 326 KB] — An 11-page summary of the U.S. and world population growth, fertility, ageing, urbanization, immigration, etc.
• The Real U.S. Unemployment Rate in 2006 [S.H.] [PDF: 203 KB] — Explains why the real unemployment rate is well over twice as great as the government and media claim.

Other Topics in Political Economy

• “Notes on Notes on Political Economy” [S.H.] (2/25/00) — A critique of an RCP document about the errors they made in their “1980s analysis” and their current views on the world economic situation.
• “First Notes Towards a Critique of America in Decline” [S.H.] (2/12/99) — A review, of sorts, of a major 1984 RCP book on political economy.
• “The Many Types of Capitalist Economic Anarchy” [S.H.] (02/23/83)

(More to be added later.)

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