BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET
Political Economy of Capitalism Page
Suppressed or difficult to find articles, books, discussions, etc., on
various topics, issues and questions in Marxist political economy (economics).
[Intro to be added.]
If you know of other documents or items which should be made available here, contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.net
Introductions to the Marxist Political Economy of Capitalism:
- “Wage Labour and Capital” and “Wages, Price and Profit”, by Karl Marx. Two important pamphlets on capitalist political economy by Marx from 1849 and 1865, together with an 1891 Introduction to “Wage Labour and Capital” by Engels. (Paris: Foreign Languages Press, 2020), 128 pages. Very useful in coming to understand the concept of surplus value and how the capitalists exploit the workers. Searchable PDF format [1,380 KB]
- “An Introduction to Political Economy”, by R. Page Arnot, (London: A Marx House Syllbus #3, n.d. [but circa 1939-1940]), 28 pages. Searchable PDF format [1,363 KB]
- [Book:] “Political Economy: A Beginner’s Course”, by A. Leontiev, (Calcutta: National Book Agency, 1st Indian ed., 1942), 446 pages. PDF format [29,047 KB]
- [Book:] “Political Economy: A Condensed Course”, by L. Leontyev [Lev A. Leontiev], (NY: International, 1978 (1974)), 247 pages. (A somewhat sloppy scan, but fully legible.) Searchable PDF format [32,336 KB]
Older and Hard to Find Early Works on Marxist Political Economy:
- “The Development of Capitalism”, by Maurice Dobb, (London: Labour Research Department, n.d. [but apparently the very early 1920s]), 2nd edition, Syllabus Series No. 2, 36 pages. [This appears to have been written around the time that the Communist Party of Great Britain came into existence and when its line was very undeveloped. Dobb was an early member, but this pamphlet shows the influence of numerous individuals who did not become part of the CP.] PDF format [1,626 KB]
- [Book:] “The Marxian Economic Handbook and Glossary: With numerous corrections, explanations and emendations of the English version of vol. I of Capital", by W. H. Emmett, (London: Allen & Unwin, 1923), 358 pages. PDF format [29,005 KB]
Writings of Comintern Economist Eugen [Eugene] Varga:
- “Die Krise der kapitalistischen Weltwirtschaft” [“The Crisis in the Capitalist World Economy”], by E. [Eugen] Varga, (Moscow: The Communist International, 1921), 52 pages. German: Searchable PDF format [3,822 KB]
- “The Decline of Capitalism”, by E. [Eugen] Varga, (London: Communist Party of Great Britain (on behalf of the Communist International), 1924), 70 pages. Searchable PDF image format [3,385 KB]; Searchable PDF processed format [31 pages: 378 KB]
- [Book:] “The Decline of Capitalism: The Economics of a Period of the Decline of Capitalism after Stabilisation”, by E. [Eugen] Varga, (London: Communist Party of Great Britain, August 1928), 136 pages. This is a revised and expanded version of the 1924 work. This scan has extensive underlining and marginal notes; our apologies. Searchable PDF image format [2,750 KB]
- [Book:] “The Great Crisis and Its Political Consequences: Economics and Politics, 1928-1934”, by E. [Eugen] Varga, (NY: International Publishers, n.d. [but late 1934 or early 1935]), 180 pages. Searchable PDF format [5,610 KB]
- [Book:] “Two Systems — Socialist Economy and Capitalist Economy”, by Eugene Varga, (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1939), 272 pages, double page layout. Searchable PDF format [13,861 KB]
- “The Imperialist Struggle for a New Redivision of the World”, by E. Varga, Labour Monthly, War Pamphlet #1, 1940, 13 pages. (Reprinted from Labour Monthly, Vol. 22, #11.) Searchable PDF format [866 KB]
- “Marx’s Capital and Contemporary Capitalism”, by E. Varga, Problems of Economics [IASP], Vol. IV, #9, Jan. 1962, pp. 54-63. [Original Russian article in Kommunist, 1961, #17.] Includes a good, though brief, explanation of how World War II led to the destruction of excess productive capital that had brought about the Great Depression of the 1930s throughout the entire capitalist world, including in countries such as the U.S. which did not suffer direct destruction from the War itself. Searchable PDF format [1,558 KB]
- [Book:] “Twentieth Century Capitalism”, by E. [Eugen] Varga, (Moscow: FLPH, 1962), 158 pages. Searchable PDF format [17,995 KB]
- [Book:] “Politico-Economic Problems of Capitalism”, by Y. [Eugen] Varga, (Moscow: Progress, 1968), 354 pages. Searchable PDF format [46,582 KB]
Capitalist Economic Crises: Theories and Issues:
- [Book:] The Accumulation of Capital, by Rosa Luxemburg, with an Introduction by Joan Robinson, (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951), 474 pages. Searchable PDF format [19,644 KB]
- [Book:] The Falling Rate of Profit, by Joseph M. Gillman, (NY: Cameron Associates, 1958), 195 pages. Searchable PDF format [5,320 KB]
- “Crisis Theory, the Law of the Tendency of the Profit Rate to Fall, and Marx’s Studies in the 1870s”, by Michael Heinrich, Monthly Review, Vol. 64, #11, April 1, 2013, 19 pages. An important article with regard to understanding capitalist crisis theory. Searchable PDF format [527 KB]
- “Capital after MEGA: Discontinuities, Interruptions, and New Beginnings”, by Michael Heinrich, Crisis & Critique journal, Vol. 3, #3, 2016(?), 48 pages. This article discusses, in light of the publication of the relevant MEGA editions of Marx’s original manuscripts, the various different manuscript versions of what became his work Capital, and why Marx made this series of new starts. In addition it brings out one very important point on Marx’s views on capitalist crisis theory; namely, that after 1865 or so, Marx stopped talking about “the falling rate of profit” theory of crises in his writings, and may have abandoned it completely! (This is quite notable since that is the leading theory among Academic Marxists today.) On the other hand, Heinrich unfortunately repeats the common, erroneous interpretation of one passage in Marx where it is claimed he also rejected the overproduction/underconsumption theory of crises. (For more on this, see: UNDERCONSUMPTIONISM—Marx’s Supposed Rejection Of )
Searchable PDF format [343 KB]- [More to be added.]
Capitalist-Imperialism:
- [Book:] Marxist Theories of Imperialism: A Critical Survey, 2nd ed., by Anthony Brewer, (London/NY: Routledge, 1990), 313 pages. (By an academic sympathetic to Marxist and semi-Marxist theories of imperialism.) [Removed for copyright reasons.]
- [Book:] Lenin On Imperialism and Imperialists, a selection of extracts from Lenin’s Collected Works, (Moscow: Progress, 1973), 182 pages. Searchable PDF format [11,951 KB]
- [Book:] Imperialism: A Study, by John A. Hobson, (NY: Cosimo, 2005; a reprint of the Revised Edition, London: Sept. 1905), 390 pages. Searchable PDF format [7,962 KB]
- [Book:] Writings On Imperialism and Internationalism, by John A. Hobson, a reprint of articles originally published 1891-1930, (Routledge/Thoemmes Press, 1992), 247 pages. [Removed for copyright reasons.]
- [Book:] Finance Capital: A Study of the Latest Phase of Capitalist Development, by Rudolf Hilferding, [The original book was published in German in 1910. This English translation, ed. by Tom Bottomore, and translated by Morris Watnick & Sam Gordon, published by Routledge Kegan Paul, 1981], 474 pages. Searchable PDF format [Huge file: 82,820 KB]
Also available in HTML format on the Marxist Internet Archive, at: https://www.marxists.org/archive/hilferding/1910/finkap/index.htm- “The Imperialist Struggle for a New Redivision of the World”, by E. Varga, Labour Monthly, War Pamphlet #1, 1940, 13 pages. (Reprinted from Labour Monthly, Vol. 22, #11.) Searchable PDF format [866 KB]
United States Capitalism:
- [Book:] Millionaires and Managers: The Structure of U.S. Financial Oligarchy, by S. Menshikov, (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1969), 332 pages. Searchable PDF format [14,040 KB]
Bourgeois Economic Theory:
- [Book:] A Science in It’s Youth: Pre-Marxian Political Economy, by A. V. Anikin, (NY: International, 1979 [Reprint of Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1975]), 390 pages. Searchable PDF format [4,784 KB]
- [Book:] On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, by David Ricardo, (Project Gutenberg Ebook, 2011; [Orig. 1817]), 564 pages. EPUB format [259 KB]
- [Book:] Present-Day Non-Marxist Political Economy: A Critical Analysis, by A. G. Mileikovsky, et al., (Moscow: Progress, 1981 [Orig. Russian ed., 1975]), 581 pages. Searchable PDF format [19,003 KB]
- [Book:] Bourgeois Economic Thought: 1930s-70s, by V. Afanasyev, (Moscow: Progress, 1983), 541 pages. Searchable PDF format [18,792 KB]
Critiques of Marxist Political Economy [For Reference]:
- [Book:] Karl Marx and the Close of His System, by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, together with Böhm-Bawerk’s Criticism of Marx by Rudolf Hilferding, and an article by Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz on “The Transformation of Values into Prices of Production in the Marxian System”, ed. by Paul M. Sweezy, (NY: Augustus M. Kelly, 1949), 256 pages. Searchable PDF format [10,773 KB]
- On Re-Reading Marx, by Joan Robinson, (Cambridge, England: 1953), 28 pages. Searchable PDF format [6,167 KB]