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> > > What would make it a crisis of capitalism? Was the Great Depression a > crisis of capitalism? > > This is a good question and one that is rather difficult to answer. I did a bit of work on this issue for my MA thesis using Gramsci. He conceives of both economic crisis- crisis in capitalism- and what he calls an 'organic crisis'- a crisis of legitimacy of the whole system or the social relations (classes) as they currently are. That is to say, that it is a political or ideological question. This is what I think Carrol was getting on about: that an economic crisis does not necessarily lead to a crisis of legitimacy for the ruling class, or a crisis of the ideology of capitalist social property relations. Unlike Carrol, I think these economic crisis hold the potential to agitate and create a crisis of legitimacy for the ruling class and the ideology of the system of class relations. I think the idea that only during 'good times' do people have the space, security and courage to push for change, is fundamentally and historically wrong. For under these 'good times', unlike during crises, any changes sought will not challenge the dominant form of social relations because it is not seen as the problem. Rather, these 'good time' movements will seek to enhance their position within capitalism, not challenge it, as they are still locked in capitalist ideological understandings of the problems (this is the basis of a strong critique of the movements of the 1960s, which I don't want to get into). I would argue, and this is just a matter of how you slice up the matter, that the great depression was a crisis of capitalism- organic crisis- due to the many who actually began to question the very class bifurcated basis of our society as the root of their problems. Of course, the class ideology was reasserted by the active intervention of the state and its ideological apparatuses, and/or the failure of the left to seize the moment and push it further and spread the ideological breakdown across society. This same reassertion seems to be at work again and I think the starting point of the left versus the ruling class was at a much greater disadvantage, or level of development, during this economic crisis than that one. But, when the second wave of the crisis hits, if the left is up to it, there will be further openings that could be grasped. Sol, Brad ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
