The Department of European and International Studies and thenextrecession.wordpress.com blog.are co-sponsoring a major international conference to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Volume I of Karl Marx’s Capital in September 1867.
Some places are still available. Book Tickets @ £10 at http://estore.kcl.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/academic-faculties/faculty-of-social-science-public-policy/school-of-politics-and-economics/capital150-marxs-capital-today
Capital.150: Marx’s Capital Today
19-20 September at The Venue, 1st Floor, Student Central, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HY.
Karl Marx published the first volume of his life work, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, in September 1867. Together with Volumes II and III, published after Marx’s death by Friedrich Engels, this book remains the most profound and challenging study of the logic of the capitalist system that still dominates our lives.
150 years after the first appearance of Capital Volume I, that system is grappling with the effects of one of the greatest crises in its history and the resulting political instability. Many have turned to Marx’s Capital seeking to understand the present conjuncture. But Marx never finished this work, and the recent publication of his manuscripts has revealed both the immensity and the complexity of his project.
Within walking distance of the British Museum, where Marx conducted his research, this conference seeks to interrogate his project in the light of the present. It brings together from around the world some of the leading practitioners in the Marxist critique of political economy to explore the relevance of Capital to issues such as crisis, imperialism, social reproduction, class struggles, and communism. The conference is organized with the aim of maximizing debate that can help clarify what Capital means today.
Tuesday 19 September
Crises (11am–1:30pm)
- Gugliemo Carchedi – The old is dying and the new cannot be born: the exhaustion of the present phase of capitalist development
- Rolf Hecker – Marx’s critique of capitalism during the 1857 crisis
- Paul Mattick jr – Crisis: abstraction and reality
- Ben Fine, discussant
Imperialism (2:30–5pm)
- Marcelo Dias Carcanholo, Dependency, super-exploitation of labour and crisis – an interpretation from Marx
- Tony Norfield, Das Kapital, finance, and imperialism
- Raquel Varela (& Marcelo Badaró Mattos), Primitive accumulation in Das Kapital
Mapping the terrain of anti-capitalist struggles (6–8pm)
- David Harvey, Perspectives from the Circulation of Capital
- Michael Roberts, Perspectives from the Accumulation of Capital
Wednesday 20 September
The future of capital (10am–12:30noon)
- Alex Callinicos, Continuing Capital in the face of the present
- Hannah Holleman, Capital and socio-ecological revolution
- Fred Moseley, The rate of profit and the future of US capitalism
- Eduardo Motta Albuquerque, Technological revolutions and changes in the centre-periphery divide
Labour and beyond (1:30-4pm)
- Tithi Bhattacharya, Social reproduction theory: conceiving capital as social relation
- Michael Heinrich, Communism in Marx’s Capital
- Lucia Pradella, Marx’s Capital and the power of labour: imperialism, migration, and workers’ struggles
- Beverly Silver, Marx’s general law of capital accumulation and the making and remaking of the global reserve army of labour
Contact capital150conference@gmail.com
