On money and billy clubs

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

> ... by 1966 Leninist Marxism was still lumbering along


1966 was also the year "Monopoly Capital" by Paul A. Baran and Paul M. 
Sweezy appeared. Wonder whether anyone here read this, be it back then 
or in the meantime. It's one of the very few Marxist studies from the US 
debated in the German Left (dt. edition: Monopolkapital. Ein Essay über 
die amerikanische Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftsordnung. Frankfurt a. M. 
1973: Suhrkamp). Uwe Johnson read it in original and so does the 
protagonist of his novel-tetralogy "Jahrestage" (Anniversaries), Miss 
Gesine Cresspahl, who is working for a bank in Manhattan. Not to get 
rich yet to organize credits for Czechoslovakia and its attempt to 
create a human socialism ("Prague Spring"). Sad story, yes ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uwe_Johnson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_Capital

/*Monopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order*/ 
is an essay from 1966 by Paul Sweezy 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Sweezy> and Paul A. Baran 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_A._Baran>. It made a major 
contribution to Marxist theory by shifting attention from the assumption 
of a competitive economy to monopolistic aspects of giant corporations 
that dominate market life.


    [edit
    <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monopoly_Capital&action=edit&section=1>]
    Argument

Big business <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_business> can maintain 
selling prices at high levels while still competing to cut costs, 
advertise and market their products. Competition is generally limited 
however with a few large capital formations sharing various markets, 
with the exception of a few actual monopolies (such as the Bell System 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System> at the time). The economic 
surpluses <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus> which result 
cannot be absorbed through consumers spending more. The concentration of 
the surplus in the hands of the business elite must therefore be geared 
towards imperialistic and militaristic government tendencies, which is 
the easiest and surest way to utilise surplus productive capacity.

Exploitation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation> focuses on low 
wage workers and groups at home, especially minorities. Average earners 
see the pressures in drive for production destroy their human 
relationships, leading to wider alienation and hostility. The whole 
system is largely irrational, since though individuals may make rational 
decisions, the ultimate systemic goals are not. The system continues to 
function so long as Keynesian full employment policies are pursued, but 
there is the continued threat to stability from less-developed 
countries, throwing off the restraints of neo-colonial domination.





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