In Marx’s Laboratory

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Published Nov 2016
ISBN: 9789004236769

Critical Interpretations of the Grundrisse

Edited by Riccardo Bellofiore, University of Bergamo, Italy, Guido Starosta, National University of Quilmes, Argentina, and Peter D. Thomas, Brunel University, London

In Marx’s Laboratory. Critical Interpretations of the Grundrisse provides a critical analysis of the Grundrisse as a crucial stage in the development of Marx’s critique of political economy. Stressing both the achievements and limitations of this much-debated text, and drawing upon recent philological advances, this volume attempts to re-read Marx’s 1857-58 manuscripts against the background of Capital, as a ‘laboratory’ in which Marx first began to clarify central elements of his mature problematic. With chapters by an international range of authors from different traditions of interpretation, including the International Symposium on Marxian Theory, this volume provides an in-depth analysis of key themes and concepts in the Grundrisse, such as method, dialectics and abstraction; abstract labour, value, money and capital; technology, the ‘general intellect’ and revolutionary subjectivity, surplus-value, competition, crisis; and society, gender, ecology and pre-capitalist forms.

Contributors include: Chris Arthur, Luca Basso, Riccardo Bellofiore, George Caffentzis, Martha Campbell, Juan Iñigo Carrera, Howard Engelskirchen, Roberto Fineschi, Michael Heinrich, Fred Moseley, Patrick Murray, Geert Reuten, Tony Smith, Guido Starosta, Massimiliano Tomba, Jan Toporowski, Peter D. Thomas, Joel Wainwright, and Amy Wendling.

Biographical note

Riccardo Bellofiore is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Bergamo, Italy. He is the author and editor of many books, including La passione della ragione. Scienza economica e teoria critica in Claudio Napoleoni (1991), Financial Fragility and Investment in the Capitalist Economy: The Economic Legacy of Hyman Minsky (2 volumes, 2001), and Re-reading Marx. New Perspectives after the Critical Edition (2009). He is a member of the International Symposium on Marxian Theory.

Guido Starosta is Lecturer of the History of Economic Thought at the National University of Quilmes, Argentina. He has published many articles on value-theory, method and subjectivity in the Marxian critique of political economy. He is an editor of Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory.

Peter D. Thomas is Lecturer in the History of Political Thought at Brunel University, London. He is the author of The Gramscian Moment: Philosophy, Hegemony and Marxism (Brill, 2009) and an editor of Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory.

Readership

All interested in the development of Marx’s critique of political economy, the history of economic and political thought, new perspectives on value theory and Marx’s Grundrisse and Capital.

Table of contents

Introduction: in Marx’s Laboratory

PART ONE: ACHIEVEMENTS AND LIMITS OF THE GRUNDRISSE

The Grundrisse after Capital, or how to Re-read Marx Backwards, Riccardo Bellofiore

Method: from the Grundrisse to Capital, Juan Iñigo Carrera

The Four Levels of Abstraction of Marx’s Concept of ‘Capital’. Or, Can We Consider the Grundrisse the Most Advanced Version of Marx’s Concept of Capital?, Roberto Fineschi

PART TWO: ABSTRACT LABOUR, VALUE AND MONEY

The Practical Truth of Abstract Labour, Christopher J. Arthur

Unavoidable Crises: Reflections on Backhaus and the Development of Marx’s Value-Form Theory in the Grundrisse, Patrick Murray

PART THREE: THE CONCEPT OF CAPITAL

The Transformation of Money into Capital, Martha Campbell

The Concept of Capital in the Grundrisse, Howard Engelskirchen

PART FOUR: TECHNOLOGY, DOMINATION, EMANCIPATION

The ‘Fragment on Machines’: A Marxian Misconception in the Grundrisse and its Overcoming in Capital, Michael Heinrich

The ‘General Intellect’ in the Grundrisse and Beyond, Tony Smith

The System of Machinery and Determinations of Revolutionary Subjectivity in the Grundrisse and Capital, Guido Starosta

From the Grundrisse to Capital and Beyond: Then and Now, George Caffentzis

PART FIVE: COMPETITION, CYCLES AND CRISIS

The Whole and the Parts: The Early Development of Marx’s Theory of the Distribution of Surplus-Value in the Grundrisse, Fred Moseley

Marx’s Grundrisse and the Monetary Business-Cycle, Jan Toporowski

Crisis and the Rate of Profit in Marx’s Laboratory, Peter D. Thomas and Geert Reuten

PART SIX: SOCIETY AND HISTORY IN THE GRUNDRISSE

Between Pre-Capitalist Forms and Capitalism: The Problem of Society in the Grundrisse (Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy), Luca Basso

Second Nature: Gender in Marx’s Grundrisse, Amy E. Wendling

Uneven Developments: From the Grundrisse to Capital, Joel Wainwright

Pre-Capitalistic Forms of Production and Primitive Accumulation. Marx’s Historiography from the Grundrisse to Capital, Massimilano Tomba

References
Index