A New Introduction to Karl Marx by Ryuji Sasaki

Author:Ryuji Sasaki
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030529505
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Why Do Crises Occur?

Capitalism Cannot Avert Crisis

The contradictions of the capitalist mode of production lead not only to poverty, the class divide, and labor problems, but also to periodic economic crises that imperil social reproduction. Phenomena arising from economic crises are general overproduction, decreased demand for the means of production and labor power amidst the decline in productive activity, and a further contraction of demand due to mass unemployment. Capital serves as a powerful theoretical tool for clarifying these phenomena concerning crisis.

It is true that the phenomenal forms of crisis have changed significantly since Marx’s own day. At that time, it was common for a crisis to break out at the end of the industrial cycle every ten years or so, but from the twentieth century the industrial cycle was not as clear as before. Moreover, after the Great Depression the increase in state intervention based on Keynesianism, and the mass production and consumption that characterizes Fordist accumulation, resulted in crisis no longer occurring in such a dramatic form as before. Still, the Fordist accumulation later stalled, and under stagflation Keynesian intervention lost its effectiveness during the economic crisis of the 1970s. In recent years, economic crises have occurred following the collapse of speculative bubbles, such as the 2008 financial crisis. That capitalism has not freed itself from crisis is unmistakably clear.

Here we will take a look at the issue of crisis by referring not only to the completed first volume of Capital but also to the manuscripts for the incomplete second volume (that Engels later edited as volumes two and three).

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