The Structural Crisis of Capital

by Meszaros, Istvan

• ISBN13: 9781583672082
• ISBN10: 1583672087
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-01
• Publisher: Monthly Review Pr

Summary

In this collection of trenchant essays and interviews, Istvn Mszros, the world's preeminent Marxist philosopher and winner of the Libertador Award for Critical Though (the Bolivar Prize) for 2008, lays bare the exploitative structure of modern capitalism. He argues with great power that the world's economies are on a social and ecological precipice, and that unless we take decisive action to radically transform our societies we will find ourselves thrust headfirst into barbarism and environmental catastrophe.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 9
Introduction: The Substance of the Crisis	p. 13
The unfolding crisis and the relevance of marx	p. 23
"Confidence" and its Disappearance	p. 24
A Pseudo-Hegelian Triad	p. 25
The Nationalization of Capitalist Bankruptcy	p. 29
U.S. Default is by No Means "Unthinkable"	p. 34
The present crisis	p. 39
Surprising Admissions	p. 39
The Assertion of U.S. Hegemony	p. 41
"Extra-Territoriality"	p. 42
Industrial Advantage from Military Secrecy	p. 43
Direct Trade Pressures Applied by the U.S. Legislative and Executive	p. 44
The Real Debt Problem	p. 44
Political Antagonism Arising from U.S. Economic Penetration	p. 46
Wishful Thinking about the "Decline of the U.S. as a Hegemonic Power"	p. 49
The Official View of "Healthy Expansion"	p. 51
Postscript 1995: The Meaning of "Black Mondays" (and Wednesdays)	p. 52
The necessity of social control	p. 59
The Counterfactual Conditionals of Apologetic Ideology	p. 60
Capitalism and Ecological Destruction	p. 63
The Crisis of Domination	p. 67
From "Repressive Tolerance" to the Liberal Advocacy of Repression	p. 76
"War if the Normal Methods of Expansion Fail"	p. 79
The Emergence of Chronic Unemployment	p. 83
The Intensification of die Rate of Exploitation	p. 86
Capital's "Correctives" and Socialist Control	p. 89
Radical politics and transition to socialism: Reflections on Marx's centenary	p. 93
The Meaning of Beyond Capital	p. 95
Historical Conditions of the Socialist Offensive	p. 98
The Need for a Theory of Transition	p. 100
"Restructuring the Economy" and its Political Preconditions	p. 106
The Dynamics of Postwar Developments	p. 106
Alternatives to the Dominant "Economic Imperatives"	p. 111
The Historical Moment of Radical Politics	p. 113
Bolívar and Chávez: the spirit of radical determination	p. 117
"Feathers Carried by the Tempest"	p. 117
Chávez's Radical Critique of Politics in 1993	p. 126
Prospects for Development	p. 130
The Importance of planning and substantive equality	p. 147
The "Invisible Hand" and the "Cunning of Reason"	p. 147
The Long Historical Gestation of the Categories of Socialist Theory	p. 152
The Key Role of Substantive Equality	p. 156
A structural crisis of the system: January 2009 interview in socialist review	p. 165
The tasks ahead: March 2009 Interview in debate Socialista	p. 173
The Global Explosion of Capital's Structural Crisis	p. 173
In Place of Neo-Keynesian Illusions: The Strategic Offensive of Anti-Systemic Forces	p. 176
Monopolistic Economy and Credit Card Imperialism	p. 179
The Irrationality of Capitalist "Down-Sizing" in the Age of "Monopoly-Finance Capital"	p. 183
Deep-Seated Systemic Problems Call for Structural Remedies	p. 187
Sectorial Interests and Class Solidarity	p. 190
Labor's Historical Alternative to Capital's Social Order	p. 195
A Radical Political Movement is Unthinkable Without the Creative Self-Education of its Members	p. 199
Endnotes	p. 203
Index	p. 217
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