Capitalism in the UK: A Perspective from Marxist Political Economy

207 Pages·2023·32.463 MB·English

by  Mike Campbell

Routledge Revivals
Capitalism in the UK
First published in 1981, Capitalism in the UK clearly states the Marxist
position arguing that capitalism dominates the world economy, and that the
world’s trade and multinational enterprises favour the capitalist system. It
shows how orthodox economics is not value-free and how orthodox econom-
ics implicitly assumes that capitalism is the only possible form of economic
organisation for society. Designed for students on Political Economy and
Marxists Economics courses, this comprehensive and concise volume provides
an important counterweight to traditional first- and second-year introductory
textbooks.

Capitalism in the UK
A Perspective from Marxist Political Economy
Mike Campbell
Firstpublishedin1981
ByCroomHelm
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2022byRoutledge
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andbyRoutledge
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©1981MikeCampbell
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilisedin
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
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The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes
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ALibraryofCongressrecordexistsunderISBN:0709900899
ISBN:978-1-032-42212-1(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-003-36174-9(ebk)
ISBN:978-1-032-42215-2(pbk)
BookDOI10.4324/9781003361749
Capitalism in th e UK
A Perspective from Marxist Political Economy
Mike Campbell
CROOM HELM LONDON
© 1981 Mike Campbell
Croom Helm Ltd, 2-10 St John’s Road, London SW11
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Campbell Mike
Capitalism in the UK.
1. Capitalism
I. Title
330.12’2’0941
ISBN 0-7099-0089-9
ISBN 0-7099-0090-2 (Pbk)
Printed in Great Britain by Photobooks (Bristol) Ltd,
and bound by Redwood Burn, Esher
CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgements
1. A Critique of Orthodox Economics 9
1. Introduction 9
2. Apologetics and Ideology 12
3. Appearance and Reality 15
4. Methodology 17
5. Behaviour and Motivation 19
6. Individualism 20
7. Social Harmony 23
8. The State 25
9. Conclusion — Can We Assume Reality Away? 29
Further Reading 30
2. Marxist Political Economy: An Introduction 32
1. Introduction 32
2. Historical Materialism — Economic Change and Class Structure 33
3. The Nature of Capitalism - Capital and Labour Opposed 36
4. How Capitalism Works (1) — Surplus Value and Profit 39
5. How Capitalism Works (2) - The Capital Accumulation
Process 45
6: The Breakdown of Capitalism — Theories of Economic
Development and Crisis 49
7. Conclusions 55
Further Reading 56
3. Big Business 59
1. Introduction 59
2. The Growth of Market Concentration in the UK 60
3. The Growth of Aggregate Concentrationin the UK 66
4. Mergers and Concentration 69
5. The Concentration and Centralisation of Capital 72
6. Ownership and Control of Capital 75
Further Reading 78
4. Inequality — The Distribution of Wealth, Income and Power 81
1. Introduction 81
2. Class and Inequality — Elements of a Theory 81
3. The Distribution of Wealth 84
4. The Distribution of Income 90
5. The Impact of the State on Inequality 97
6. The Distribution of Power 100
7. Further Aspects of Inequality 102
Further Reading 104
5. Economic Crises, Unemployment and Inflation 108
1. Introduction 108
2. Unemployment: The UK Experience 109
3. The Nature of Capitalist Crises - Accumulation, 113
Restructuring and the Demand for Labour Power
4. Inflation in the UK 132
Further Reading 137
6. International Perspectives — Trade, Multinational Corporations
and the EEC 141
1. Introduction 141
2. International Trade and the UK Balance of Payments 143
3. The Multinational Corporation 147
4. The European Economic Community 155
Further Reading 161
7. The State 164
1. Introduction 164
2. The Market System and State Intervention 165
3. The State in Capitalist Society: A Marxist Perspective 170
4. The Growth of the State: Capital Accumulation and the 173
Class Struggle
5. The State and Capital: Contradictions and Responses 179
6. Capital and the Welfare State 183
Further Reading 189
Bibliography 193
Index 201
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is intended to provide a relatively self-contained and
intelligible analysis and critique of capitalism in the United Kingdom
from a marxist perspective. It begins with a critique of orthodox
economics and an introduction to marxist political economy. These
are followed by five chapters that relate and apply marxist political
economy to contemporary ‘economic’ problems and issues in the UK,
thus linking theory to the concrete analysis of problems and offering
an ‘alternative’ to orthodox treatment of these problems.
This book has been designed with two groups of people in mind.
Students and lecturers in polytechnics, universities and colleges should
find it useful in their studies, particularly on degree courses in economics
and the social sciences, wherever ‘alternative’ views and perspectives are
considered. It should also be relevant for individual courses in areas
such as applied economics, economic systems, marxist political
economy, and for the increasing number of multi/interdisciplinary
‘issue’ or ‘problem’ based courses. I also hope it will be valuable to
activists and groups in the labour movement and communities, in
providing a context for their struggles and an analysis of the economic
system which generates them. As such, trade union, political, WEA
and Adult Education groups will, I hope, find it useful.
I am grateful to a number of people who have typed various drafts
and chapters of the book, usually under severe time constraints —
Barbara Stirk, Anne Lock, V.P. Rex and especially to Phyllis
Campbell who typed most of the final draft. My thanks are also due to
several friends, colleagues and students on the Economics and Public
Policy degree at Leeds Polytechnic who make teaching and writing
seem, after all, worth while. For helpful comments on this book I
would like in particular to thank Richard Stead, John Sutherland, Reg
Chapman and Tom Burden. Thanks are also due to the Leeds WEA
‘Political Economy and Everyday Life’ group and to Nick Foster of
Sheffield City Polytechnic.
The singlemindedness required to write this book has meant that it
has been an essentially selfish endeavour. Thanks then to all my friends
who have had to put up with me during the writing of it, and apologies
for my neglect of them; thanks especially to Liz for her help and sup-
port and thanks, finally, to T.R.B.
Mike Campbell