Marxian Political Economy: An outline

337 Pages·1977·15.288 MB·English

by  James F. Becker

MARXIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY
An outline

MARXIAN
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
An outline
JAMES F. BECKER
Professor of Economics
New York University
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 1977
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no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1977
Reprinted 1979
This digitally printed version 2008
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Becker, James F. 1921-
Marxian political economy.
1. Marxian economics. I. Title.
HB97.5.B329 1976 335.4 76-9172
ISBN 978-0-521-21349-3 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-06873-4 paperback
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Scientific inquiry and the materialist standpoint 1
Interpretation and misinterpretation: first principles 4
A sketch of the outline 10
PART ONE: THE REPRODUCTION SCHEMES
1 Methodological glasses for the longer view 19
An approach to historical processes 19
Technique and the division of labor 23
The theory of simple reproduction 26
Some general remarks on the theory of simple reproduction 31
A note on modes of production 34
2 Simple and complex accumulation: the productive
consumption of capital 39
The capitalist mode as an analytical problem 39
Definitions and postulates: surplus value once more 42
A comment on definitions and postulates 44
Simple accumulation 46
Population and economic growth 49
The value ratios and the rate of profit (growth) 51
Complex accumulation: a sketch of the argument of Capital I 56
Technical change and the tendency for the rate of profit to fall 58
The general law of capitalist accumulation 63
vi Contents
3 Unproductive consumption: its historical and
theoretical relevance 67
The scientific issue 67
The Breasted interpretation 68
The decay of feudalism and the rise of capitalism 71
The circulatory establishment of capitalism 73
The rate of unproductive consumption, U/V 79
The nature of economic regression 83
A hypothesis 86
PART TWO: THE LABOR THEORY OF VALUE
4 The meaning and measurement of value within the
context of the labor theory 93
Value theory as a scientific imperative 93
Subjective and objective (reproductive) utilities 95
Simple and socially necessary labor 100
The par and the equation 102
National-income measures and value categories 106
5 Value accounting, prices, and socialist planning 111
Input-output and value accounting 111
Value flows in the matrix of social labor 116
Labor value accounts in history and theory 121
Price, value, and the economist 126
6 The transformation of values into prices of
production 131
What is an explanation of prices? 131
The equalization tendency and terms of exchange 134
The historical transformation 138
Prices of production and the new terms of exchange 142
Conclusion 149
Appendix to Chapter 6: a note on the logic of transformation 153
PART THREE: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
PRICES AND VALUES
7 Unequal exchange: price-value relations,
irregularity, and instability 161
The development of economic interdependencies 161
Uneven development: industry and agriculture 163
Value interrelations and the general instability of exchange 164
Uneven development: international trade 168
Uneven development: social labor 171
Class interrelations and unequal exchange 176
Contents vii
8 Accumulation in the advanced capitalism:
the nature of the crisis 181
The developmental sequence: the first and second phases 181
The developmental sequence: the third to the fourth phase 184
The developmental sequence: the fourth phase 187
The naiure of stagflation: its relation to the crisis 191
The place of stagflation in the advanced crisis 195
The laws of motion and the analysis of development 199
9 Marx's first and second approximations to the
evolution of class structure 203
To avoid caricature . . . 203
Historical relations between mercantile and industrial capitals:
the middle classes 206
Circulatory labor as unproductive labor 209
Clerical labor in circulatory employment 212
Concentration and centralization: official labor 215
The rise of the middle classes 219
PART FOUR: THE DEVELOPMENT OF CLASS
STRUCTURE AND RELATIONSHIPS
10 Class structure and conflict in the
managerial phase I 225
Approaches to the study of power 225
A note on methodology 227
The administrative capitals and the circulatory system 229
Administrative labor and the managers 232
Organic changes and accumulation: the general law 234
The realization problem and the rise of the social value
composition of capital 236
Terms of exchange and the rise of unproductive labor 239
The triumph of the middle classes 241
11 Class structure and conflict in the
managerial phase II 245
The dual accumulation and breakup of the middle class 245
Managerial traits 246
Administrative labor proper 249
The wastage of productive labor 252
The second approximation and the value conflict 255
The fetters placed 259
12 Rotational employment and the transition
to socialism 263
Socialist theory and the advanced capitalism 263
viii Contents
The meaning of rotational employment 264
Toward a socialist full employment 269
A note on the economics 273
The theory as ideology 278
Notes 281
Index
Acknowledgments
It is conventional to acknowledge one's indebtedness to individuals
whose influence has been appreciable. My creditors are numerous,
so much so that I would not know where to begin or where to end an
enumeration. Certainly my students have been indispensable; three
generations have listened to and criticized my views as they assumed
gradually their present form. Similarly, my colleagues at New York
University have been helpful, especially with their tolerance and
forbearance, qualities not at all common in academia and in any
event remarkable on the scale of my experience. Among my Marxist
friends, comment over the years has taken a heavy toll of my
misconceptions. Friends and relatives have helped, often more than
they realize, sometimes by saying nothing and sometimes by being
their faithful and critical selves. For particular aid I owe much to
Doug Dowd, Russ Nixon, Ed Nell, Arthur Felberbaum, and Ed
Tonna. My gratitude to all of you is very great.
Above all, whether one knows it or not, admits it or not, one owes
a debt to circumstances more powerful than one's own devotion to
foibles. For some decades the tide of protest literature has been ris-
ing, and this is part of that stream. Having myself come to maturity
in a troubled epoch —of depression, World War II and its noxious
aftermath, the cold war, of the new imperialism —a mounting
anger at first afflicted both mind and spirit. Unaware at first that
this feeling had any connection with matters of social class, my early
endeavors to understand the chaos, to find law if not order within
it, were pounded and beaten by events until I was forced to admit
that the theories of the standard repertoire could only be brought
into agreement with the main facts by twisting them beyond all
ix