Neither Lenin nor Marx were underconsumptionists solely. They are dialecticians and
attribute crises to both the FROP and underconsumption. a contradictory unity. See
article "Did Marx Have a Theory of the Business Cycle" by Rudy Fictenbaum, Nature ,
Society and Thought ( I have the issue if you want it). I cited what I did to
demonstrate that Marx did not claim ONLY the FROP as a cause.
The references to Marx and Lenin is because I was replying to a comment on "orthodox"
Marxists as follows:
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.
&&&&&&&&&
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.
***********
See what I mean ? References to Marx and Lenin are a good reply when somebody brings
up "orthodox" Marxists.
To Rod's comment, Lenin gets his "underconsumption" statement ( which by the way is in
the context of an argument that generally goes the other way in _The Development of
Capitalism in Russia_) from Marx, not Hobson. Lenin's use of Hobson is on the
imperialist aspects of his period, not on basic understandings of capitalism, which he
gets from Marx. In general, as I say, Marx and Lenin discuss both underconsumption and
FROP. They are dialecticians, which many people ignore in "using" Marx.
Sorry about the caps. I had that from an old argument on another list. And I was too
lazy to retype it.
CB
>>> Rod Hay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 02/15/00 07:25PM >>>
It is not surprising that Lenin adopted an underconsumptionist approach, since
he took so much of his economic theory from Hobson, who was an
underconsumptionist.
Jim Devine wrote:
> I don't think quoting Marx & Lenin really settles the debate here, since
> one can easily find quotes from both against the role of (personal)
> consumption in causing crises. Among other things, Marx left his crisis
> theory in incomplete form, with no clear conclusion. (For Lenin, if I
> remember correctly, his book on the development of capitalism in Russia was
> anti-underconsumptionist.) And I find that QUOTING IN ALL CAPS is obnoxious
> and hard to read.
>
--
Rod Hay
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The History of Economic Thought Archive
http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/index.html
Batoche Books
http://home.golden.net/~rodhay
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