Austrian and Marxist Theories of Monopoly-Capital: A Mutualist Synthesis
Kevin A. Carson
Economic Notes No. 102
ISSN 0267-7164 ISBN 1 85637 711 3
An occasional publication of the Libertarian Alliance, Suite 35, 2
Landsdowne Row, Mayfair, London W1J 6HL.
© 2004: Libertarian Alliance; Kevin A. Carson.
INTRODUCTION
My starting point for this article is a ground-breaking study by Joseph
Stromberg. In The Role of State Monopoly Capitalism in the American
Empire,1 Stromberg provides an insightful Austrian analysis of state
capitalist cartelization as the cause of crises of overproduction and
surplus capital. In the course of his argument, he makes reference to
Progressive/Revisionist and (to a lesser extent) Marxist theories of
imperialism, and analyzes their parallels with the Austrian view.
Although the state capitalism of the twentieth century (as opposed to the
earlier misnamed "laissez faire" variant, in which the statist character
of the system was largely disguised as a "neutral" legal framework) had
its roots in the mid-nineteenth century, it received great impetus as an
elite ideology during the depression of the 1890s. From that time on, the
problems of overproduction and surplus capital, the danger of domestic
class warfare, and the need for the state to solve them, figured large in
the perception of the cor****ate elite. The ****ft in elite consensus in the
1890s (toward cor****ate liberalism and foreign expansion) was as profound
as that of the 1970s, when reaction to wildcat strikes, the "crisis of
governability," and the looming "capital shortage" led the power elite to
abandon cor****ate liberalism in favor of neo-liberalism.... more at:
http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/econn/econn102.htm
--
Sean Gabb sean@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Number: 07956 472 199
http://www.seangabb.co.uk
http://www.libertarian.co.uk
Buy Sean Gabb's new book: "War and the National Interest: Arguments for a
British Foreign Policy" - http://www.hampdenpress.co.uk
|
