>>> Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 02/15/00 11:37AM >>>
Though many "orthodox" Marxists simply dismiss underconsumptionism as
somehow being heresy, I think that this is an invalid generalization of
Marx's valid critiques of what I called "an earlier generation of
underconsumptionists" above and the similar critiques of Baran & Sweezy.
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CB: In support of Jim's argument below ,here are a couple of classical Marxists (
Lenin and Marx) on this issue. Marx says the restricted consumption of the masses is
the ultimate cause of crises. Seems to me Jim D. updates this basic argument on the
role of underconsumption's role in capitalist crisis.
"For capitalism, therefore, the growth of the home
market is to a certain extent "independent" of the
growth of personal consumption, and takes place
mostly on account of productive consumption.
BUT IT WOULD BE A MISTAKE TO UNDERSTAND
THIS "INDEPENDENCE" AS MEANING THAT
PRODUCTIVE CONSUMPTION IS ENTIRELY
DIVORCED FROM PERSONAL CONSUMPTION:
THE FORMER CAN AND MUST INCREASE
FASTER THAN THE LATTER (AND THERE
ITS "INDEPENDENCE" ENDS), BUT IT GOES
WITHOUT SAYING THAT, IN THE LAST
ANALYSIS, PRDUCTIVE CONSUMPTION IS
ALWAYS BOUND UP WITH PERSONAL
CONSUMPTION. MARX SAYS IN THIS
CONNECTION: "...WE HAVE SEEN
(BOOK II, PART III) THAT CONTINUOUS
CIRCULATION TAKES PLACE BETWEEN
CONSTANT CAPITAL AND CONSTANT
CAPITAL..."(MARX HAS IN MIND
CONSTANT CAPITAL IN MEANS
OF PRODUCTION , WHICH IS REALISED
BY EXCHANGE AMONG CAPITALISTS
IN THE SAME DEPARTMENT). "IT IS AT
FIRST INDEPENDENT OF INDIVIDUAL
CONSUMPTION BECAUSE IT NEVER
ENTERS THE LATTER. BUT THIS
CONSUMPTION DEFINITELY LIMITS IT
NEVERTHELESS, SINCE CONSTANT
CAPITAL IS NEVER PRODUCED FOR ITS
OWN SAKE BUT SOLELY BECAUSE MORE OF
IT IS NEEDED IN SPHERES OF PRODUCTION
WHOSE PRODUCTS GO INTO INDIVIDUAL
CONSUMPTION " (DAS KAPITAL, III,
1, 289, RUSS. TRANS., P242; OR MOSCOW
1959 P.299-300)
emphasis added by Charles.
Also, on the cause of crises, later
on in this section on Marx's theory
of realisation, Lenin quotes Marx:
"The ultimate reason for all
real crises always remains the
poverty and restricted consumption
of the masses as opposed to the
drive of captialist production to develop
the productive forces as though only
the absolute consuming power of
society constituted their outer limit "
(Capital vol. III, Moscow, 1959, pp.
472-73) ; quoted in The Development
of Capitalism in Russia.
CB
