It was good to see this reference. As someone who barely deserves the description "Marxist" because I skipped Vols II and III of CAPITAL and went right the THE THEORY OF CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT, THEPOLITICAL ECONOMY OF GROWTH and MONOPOLY CAPITAL, I was very glad to see this reference. I kinda assumed that was the key to Marxist macroeconomics about "crises" (as they were called in the 19th century --- not sure when the term "business cycle" became the way to describe capitalist instability) -- but having it briefly spelled out here was very valuable for me:
they [M and E] came to view crises as periods where capitalism re-invigorated itself by capital devaluation, destruction of some parts of the capitalist class, and a period of immiseration for large sectors of the working class. We then have to add, that the big expansion of the reserve army during the "crisis" (now we'd say :"downturn") permitted the next expansion to roar ahead because there were so many potential workers ready to meet the expanded demand --- THe key (in my opinion) to the changing macro-dynamics of Monopoly Capitalism lies in the failure for there to be "capital destruction" --- Giant firms did not disappear in the 20th century business cycle --- they limped along with excess capacity WAITING for a new jolt of demand to put all that excess capital back to work. That explains periods of what Baran and Sweezy (following Josef Steindl as well) called secular stagnation. (which is only countered by surges in new investments or wars) Hell, even a mainstream guy like Larry Summers revisited the secular stagnation idea in the last decade --- but of course he never mentioned Baran or Sweezy! On Sun, Nov 16, 2025 at 9:34 AM Mark Baugher via groups.io <mark= [email protected]> wrote: > > > On Nov 15, 2025, at 17:14, hari kumar via groups.io <hari6.kumar= > [email protected]> wrote: > > apropos an earlier conversation, another example where M & E trimmed sail. > > > Thanks. This is another distinction between a young Marx and mature Marx. > I just read Ståle Holgersen's book "Against the Crisis" where he noted that > in the 1840s through the 1860s M&E viewed capitalist crises as events that > can cause the capitalist system to collapse; in later years, they came to > view crises as periods where capitalism re-invigorated itself by capital > devaluation, destruction of some parts of the capitalist class, and a > period of immiseration for large sectors of the working class. > > Mark > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39288): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39288 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116301050/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
