Published: Science & Society, vol. 33, no. 4. Fall-Winter, 1969. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2019.
The Politics of War. The World and United States Policy
1943-1945, by Gabriel Kolko. New York: Random House,
1968. $12.95. Pp. 685.
The Roots of American Foreign Policy. An Analysis of Power
and Purpose, by Gabriel Kolko. Boston: Beacon Press,
1969. $5.95. Pp. 166.
The great number of historians turned out by American universities
produce an ever-swelling stream of historical studies, which, by the
nature of things, cannot help being highly repetitive. Contemporary
history seems to be a favored subject, with particular attention given
to World War II and its aftermath. These histories are written from one
or a... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: in International Council Correspondence Vol. 1, no.6, March 1935, pp 18-19. Source: Antonie Pannekoek Archives Transcribed: by Graham Dyer
The pressure of class interests upon government is aptly illustrated by
Roosevelt’s recent turn to the right in New Deal policies. The president came
into office with a reputation for opportunism and vacillation. An astute
political engineer, he lacked all knowledge of fundamental social and economic
science. As a consequence, his cabinet is the most heterogeneous hodge-podge,
running wild in contradictory and conflicting policies.
The liberals, captivated by his radiant smile and the well-meaning platitudes
he uttered, as usual placed great hopes in him and were, as usual... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Root and Branch, No. 3, 1971, pp. 14-18. Transcribed: by Thomas Schmidt;
Since capitalist economic policy must make no mention of the exploitation
relations underlying the capitalist mode of production, economists and
politicians must seek “solutions” to economic problems in terms of
market phenomena. It all seems quite simple. The periodic shortage of profit
which results from the laws of capitalist development appears on the market as
a lack of demand, which hinders the expansion of production and so of new
investments. When this state of affairs takes on a protracted character, the
state jumps in to increase demand through public spending.
This indeed revives production, but has no effect on the profit sit... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: in International Council Correspondence Vol. 1, no.5, February 1935, pp 19-22. Source: Antonie Pannekoek Archives Transcribed: by Graham Dyer
With the beginning of 1935 much rumor is heard about a possible major
offensive by the A.F. of L. in a number of basic industries. Some superficial
observers already see the threat of a nation-wide general strike to be initiated
by textile, steel and automobile workers’ unions. Vague statements about Labor's
awakening, uttered by the pious Baptist who heads the A.F. of L., further alarm
the backwoods shopkeepers, and 1935 opens with generally evil forebodings to the
middle class and the small business men.
We say middle class and small business men, because big business... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Root and Branch, 1971, No. 3, pp. 19-26. Transcribed: by Thomas Schmidt;
The origins of the war in Indochina are to be found in the results of the
second world war. Waged in Europe, Africa, and East Asia, World War II turned
America into the strongest capitalist power in both the Atlantic and the
Pacific areas of the world. The defeat of the imperialist ambitions of Germany
and Japan promised the opening up of new imperialist opportunities for the
United States, which emerged from the conflict not only unimpaired but
enormously strengthened. America’s opportunities were not limitless,
however; concessions had to be made to the Russian war-time ally, which formed
the basis for new imperialistic rivalries and for the e... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Kurasje Archive; First Published: in 1947 in Retort, an anarchist journal edited by Holly Cantine. Later the same year it was published by J.A. Dawson in Southern Advocate for Workers’ Councils, No. 37, Aug.-Sept. 1947, Melbourne, Australia. In 1976 it was included in Telos, number 26, Department of Sociology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130 USA. This e-version was made by Kurasje; Transcribed: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003.
The process of the concentration of capital and political power
forces any socially important movement to attempt either to destroy capitalism
or to serve it consistently. The old German labor movement could not do the
latter and was neither willing nor able to do the forme... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: New Politics (Old Series) 1962
Anton Pannekoek’s life span coincided with what was almost the whole
history of the modern labor movement; he experienced its rise as a movement of
social protest, its transformation into a movement of social reform, and its
eclipse as an independent class movement in the contemporary world. But
Pannekoek also experienced its revolutionary potentialities in the spontaneous
upheavals which, from time to time, interrupted the even flow of social
evolution. He entered the labor movement a Marxist and he died a Marxist,
still convinced that if there is a future, it will be a socialist future.
As have many prominent Dutch socialists, Pannekoek came from the middle
class and his interest i... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Kurasje Archive; First Published: Paul Mattick, Review Article: Arms and Capital, International Socialism (1st series), No.34, Autumn 1968; Transcribed: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003.
Because government interventions in the economy ensured, for almost two decades, the growth of production and trade, it fostered the illusion that a way had been found to break capitalism’s susceptibility to crisis and depression. The fiscal and monetary means employed were seen as degrees of ‘planning,’ assuring full employment and social stability. However, in view of America’s persistent economic stagnation and the leveling-off of the West European expansion, a new disillusionment has set in. It cannot very well be... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Western Socialist, Boston, USA, September-October 1956; Transcribed: by Adam Buick.
Toynbee and History. Critical Essays and Reviews. Edited by M. F. Ashley Montagu. Porter Sargent Publishers, Boston, 1956, pp. 285; $5.00
Thirty experts in fields related to A Study of
History here give their critical appraisals of Toynbee’s
monumental work. They all admire Toynbee’s great erudition and industry
even though he is full of misinterpretations, factual errors and “proves
exactly nothing.” For one reviewer, the Study is “a
house of many mansions, all impressive, many beautiful, but built on
sand.” Although Toynbee speaks in the name of science and empiricism, he
bases his work “on va... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Root and Branch, vol. 7, pp. 10-14 and 27-28. 1979. Source: Libcom. Transcription/Markup for Marxists Internet Archive: Micah Muer, 2018.
Reflecting on the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt once said
that his government "has done everything that Hitler has done, but by
other means". These other means, however, were not able to overcome the
Great Depression which occasioned the large-scale governmental
interventions in the American economy. It was finally only the resort to
Hitlerian means — that is, participation in the imperialist war
— which overcame the unrelenting crisis. Still, the internal
situation in America differed greatly from those prevailing in the
fascist nations. The United States remained democ... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: in International Council Correspondence Vol. 1, no.4, January 1935, pp 1-4. Source: Antonie Pannekoek Archives Transcribed: by Graham Dyer
The spirit of Hoover, Babbitt & Company lives on, very much unimpaired. The
Roosevelt Revolution came, passed over it, and finally spent itself in the
vaporings characteristic of predepression Cal at his best. The manufacturers,
industrialists or whatever one chooses to call them (but the word “capitalists”
is taboo) have taken heart, emerged from their cellars and come forward with a
“Proposed Platform for Recovery” which we understand was adopted at their annual
convention at the Waldorf-Astoria, Dec. 5 and 6. Or if it wasn't adopted, that
was a mere ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Anti-Bolshevik Communism by Paul Mattick, published by Merlin Press, 1978; Transcribed: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003.
The authors of Monopoly Capital,[1] Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy, attempt to overcome
“the stagnation of Marxian social science” by shifting the focus of
attention from competitive to monopoly capital. The Marxian analysis of
capitalism, they say, “still rests on the assumption of a competitive
economy”, which has, however, in the meantime, undergone a qualitative
change by turning into monopoly capitalism. Marx, the authors relate,
“treated monopolies not as essential elements of capitalism but rather as
remnants of the feudal mercantilist past which had to be abs... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Kurasje Archive; First Published: in International Communist Correspondence, Chicago, vol. 3, no. 7-8, August 1937; Transcribed: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003; Proofed: and corrected by Geoff Traugh, July 2005.
On May 7, 1937, the CNT-FAI of Barcelona broadcast the following
order: “The barricades must be torn down! The hours of crisis have
passed. Calm must be established. But rumors are circulating throughout the
city, contradicting the reports of a return to normality such as we are now
issuing. The barricades are a contributing factor to this confusion. We
don’t need the barricades now that fighting has stopped, The barricades
serve no purpose now, and their continued existence might give the impre... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Western Socialist, Boston, USA, July 1946; Transcribed: by Adam Buick; Proofed: and corrected by Geoff Traugh, August 2005.
The failure of education. By Porter Sargent. Boston, Mass. (608pp.; $5.00).
Porter Sargent is an enthusiastic believer in the almost
fetishistic “intense faith of the American people in education.”
Like all other faiths, the faith in education is not universal but is
restricted to those for whom it seems to have practical meaning. Others merely
suffer education, as they suffer religion and nationalism. Some, like the
underprivileged in the South, are even prevented from suffering it. Those,
however, who are strong in the faith are bound to be disillusioned. In his
comprehensive descripti... (From: Marxists.org.) Introduction by The Friends of Aron Baron
History may not have ended, but it certainly has gotten strange. The social contract neoliberalism once imposed—a patchwork of economic shell games and the political rituals needed to foist them on people—has shredded with surprising speed in recent years. The result has been a rapid universalization of precarity. Unpredictability and groundlessness are ubiquitous parts of our lives, which unfold in a supposedly “post-truth” world where the basic prerequisites for understanding almost anything seem lacking—or at least seem to change with each news cycle.
This new reality was both cause and effect of Donald Trump’s election as forty-fifth president of... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Source: Kurasje Archive; Transcribed: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003; Proofed: and corrected by Geoff Traugh, August 2005.
Further corrected by Jonas Holmgren, July 2009.
The following is an abridged edition of Mattick's review, originally published in Politics, Vol. 4, No. 2, Mar/Apr 1947. The full version is available in PDF format.
The alleged purpose of Trotsky’s biography of Stalin[1] is to show “how a personality
of this sort was formed, and how it came to power by usurpation of the right to
such an exceptional role.” The real purpose of the book, however, is to
show why Trotsky lost the power position he temporarily occupied and why his
rather than Stalin’s name should follow Lenin&rsquo... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Science & Society, vol. 26, no. 3. Summer, 1962. pp. 293-307. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2018. Note: A version of this text appears as chapter 17 of Mattick's Marx and Keynes: The Limits of the Mixed Economy.
The world's trade and payments dilemma dates back to the First World
War and acquired an apparently insoluble character in the wake of the
Second World War. The trade and payments balance of the European nations
which, until recently, were quite consistently unfavorable can be
traced, though not exclusively, back to the loss of these nations of
most of their foreign holdings, to their indebtedness for American
supplies, a change in the terms of trade, and the shrinkage of their
traditional markets. The... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: libcom.org; First Published: as "Kapitalismus und Ökologie: Vom Untergang des Kapitals zum Untergang der Welt", Jahrbuch Arbeiterbewegung 4, Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main, 1976; Translated: by Paul Mattick Jr.; Transcribed: by Zdravko Saveski, for marxists.org 2020.
The historical character of nature follows from the Second Law of thermodynamics, discovered more than a hundred years ago by Carnot and Clausius, spelling an increase in entropy ending in heat death. Our earthly life depends on the continuous supply of energy from solar radiation, which decreases with increasing entropy, however slowly. The period of time involved is indefinite from the human point of view, too gigantic to be taken into practical conside... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: in International Council Correspondence Vol. 1, no.4, January 1935, pp 5-15. Source: Antonie Pannekoek Archives Transcribed: by Graham Dyer
I
The literature dealing with the problems of a planned economy has attained
proportions comparable only with those of the crisis which brought it forth. In
all this welter of thought, we may distinguish three main currents: one which
stands for the possibility of capitalist planning, another which denies it on
principle, and a third which hovers between these extremes and finds its
champions both in the bourgeois and ‘socialist’ camps. While the first group
sees in the planning tendencies a vague intimation of an harmonious capitalism,
the latter hopes for a g... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: in International Council Correspondence
Vol. 1, no.8, May 1935, pp 22-26. Source:
Antonie Pannekoek Archives Transcribed: by Graham Dyer
The development of the American labor movement has been different from that
of Europe and England in several respects. The trade union movement here not
only refrains from independent political action, but actively supports the
capitalist parties. Repeatedly the socialist and communist movements have tried
either to capture or to destroy the American Federation of Labor. These tactics
have fluctuated between “boring from within” to outright organization of dual
unions. The history of these efforts is interesting.
The developments of trade unions during and since the... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: in International Council Correspondence Vol. 1, no.6, March 1935, pp 5-9. Source: Antonie Pannekoek Archives Transcribed: by Graham Dyer
What stamps the C.C.C. as the most unique experiment inaugurated by Franklin
D. Roosevelt is the almost total lack of criticism, both from capitalist
political opponents, and even those self-professing “liberals” admitting a
“socialistic” taint. For that very reason, the Civilian Conservation Corps
demands close scrutiny. Obviously, any innovation that immediately meets with
the unqualified approval of ALL the rival capitalist groups bodes no good for
the Proletariat.
The C.C.C. was launched amid the usual fanfare of idealistic catch-phrases.
The boys were... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: in International Council Correspondence Vol. 1, no.2, November 1934, pp 23-24. Source: Antonie Pannekoek Archives Transcribed: by Graham Dyer
In the middle of September, “La Nacion”, a leading bourgeois newspaper in
Spain, wrote “that the danger growing out of this situation of strike activities
can at this time only be combated by the erection of an open dictatorship”.
Since then the days were marked by increasing provocations by the government
against the labor organizations, as well as the whole working class.
Demonstrations, meetings, organizations were forbidden, the press suppressed,
elections declared illegal and communist and socialist deputies replaced by
reactionary ones. The bourgeo... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: New Essays, vol. 6, no. 3. Spring 1943. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2020.
Almost three years ago, during a Hearing before the Temporary National Economic Committee, representatives of the Federal Trade Commission declared that "the capitalist system of free initiative is quite capable of dying and of dragging down with it the system of democratic government." Monopoly, they said, "constitutes the death of capitalism and the genesis of authoritarian government."[1] Since then, and because of America's official entry into the war, the discussion around the monopoly question has calmed down considerably. As far as public interest is concerned the TNEC has seemingly labored in vain. This is not at all surprising. Contrary ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Kurasje Archive; Published: as Chapter V of Anti-Bolshevik Communism, Merlin Press 1978; originally published as "Groups of Council Communists" in The Social Frontier, vol. 5, no. 45, May 1939, pp. 248-253; Transcribed: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003; Proofed: and corrected by Geoff Traugh, July 2005.
There can be no doubt that those social forces generally known
as the ‘labor movement’ which rose during the last hundred years
and, quantitatively, reached their widest expansion shortly before and after
the world war, are now definitely on the decline. Though this situation is
either happily or reluctantly acknowledged by people concerned with labor
questions, realistic explanations of this phenomenon are... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: http://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/Lobby/2379/marcuse.htm; Published: by Herder and Herder/Merlin Press;
In an address delivered in Korcula, Yugoslavia, Herbert Marcuse
raised the question of “whether it is possible to conceive of revolution
when there is no vital need for it.” The need for revolution, he
explained, “is something quite different from a vital need for better
working conditions, a better income, more liberty and so on, which can be
satisfied within the existing order. Why should the overthrow of the existing
order be of vital necessity for people who own, or can hope to own, good
clothes, a well-stocked larder, a TV set, a car, a house and so on, all within
the existing order.” (1... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Science & Society, vol. 28, no. 3. Summer 1964. Pp. 286-304. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2018.
I
The THEORY of the “mixed” or “dual” economy is
Keynesian. This type of economy, implying government monetary and fiscal
intervention in the market mechanism, is still very much with us; but its
theory, or ideology, is in crisis. Quite frequently the question is raised
whether or not Keynesian economics is “outdated,” and demands are
heard for either a “meta-Keynesian” approach to economic problems
or for replacing the “conservative” with a more
“radical” version of Keynesianism. These laments are not the
outcome of any recently noticed in... (From: Marxists.org.) The stagnation of bourgeois economics with respect to its
content was for Marx a foregone conclusion. “Classical political
economy,” he wrote,
belongs to a period in which the class struggle was as yet
undeveloped. Its last great representative, Ricardo, ultimately (and
consciously) made the antagonism of class interests, of wages and profits, of
profits and rent, the starting-point of his investigations, naively taking this
antagonism for a social law of nature, but with this contradiction the
bourgeois science of economics had reached the limits beyond which it could not
pass....
In France and England the bourgeoisie had conquered political
power. From this time on, the class struggle took on more and more expli... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: New Politics, Vol. 1, 1962, No. 4, pp. 19-33 Transcribed: by Thomas Schmidt;
Marxism is often understood as a “theory of underconsumption”
and as such is easily disproved by the empirical evidence of rising living
standards in capitalist nations. It is also seen as a theory of crises and
depressions. The present possibility of overcoming, even preventing, crisis
conditions seems to prove Marxism doubly wrong. However, although Marx did draw
attention to the limited consuming power of the laboring population, his theory
was not a theory of underconsumption; and although he saw capitalism beset with
crises, he had no definite crisis theory. The absence of the business cycle
would not have invalidated his theory o... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: American Socialist, April 1959; Transcribed: by Adam Buick.
EVER since Lord Keynes’ dictum that wars—like
pyramid-building and earthquakes—may serve to increase wealth, it has
been increasingly recognized that war and preparation for war are necessary
aspects of the prevailing economy and a condition of its proper functioning.
Because, in recent history, only inflation and war have resulted in full
utilization of productive capacities, the question has been raised whether this
association between war and full employment is an accident or a necessity. It
is usually answered with the assurance that, although it is no accident, it is
not a necessity, for government expenditures can lead to full employment
w... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Dissent, Vol. 3, No. 4. (Fall 1956), pp. 376-389. Transcribed: by Thomas Schmidt;
Any contraction of the Cold War and ensuing attempts to
“normalize” international relations raise fresh hopes for a
peaceful solution of the prevailing imperialist antagonisms. For the Western
world this involves new evaluations of the Bolshevik regimes and their
aggressive aspirations, A new readiness to parley with the totalitarian world
is then explained by a change of attitude on the part of the totalitarian. The
new post-Stalinist policies would not alone, however, suffice for a real
rapprochement between the East and the West. The Bolshevik quest for peaceful
co-existence, interpreted as weakness, could actually strengthen W... (From: Marxists.org.)