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The Accumulation of Capital

This article is about the book by Rosa Luxemburg. For the gathering of objects of value, see Accumulation of capital. For the book by Joan Robinson, see Joan Robinson's growth model.

The Accumulation of Capital (full title: The Accumulation of Capital: A Contribution to an Economic Explanation of Imperialism, Die Akkumulation des Kapitals: Ein Beitrag zur ökonomischen Erklärung des Imperialismus) is the principal book-length work of Rosa Luxemburg, first published in 1913, and the only work Luxemburg published on economics during her lifetime.

The Accumulation of Capital
First edition, 1913
AuthorRosa Luxemburg
Original titleDie Akkumulation des Kapitals
LanguageGerman
GenrePolitical economy, economic theory
Published1913
Publication placeGerman Empire

Her conclusion that the limits of the capitalist system drive it to imperialism and war led Luxemburg to a lifetime of campaigning against militarism and colonialism.[1]

Structure

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It is in three sections as described below:[2]

  1. The Problem of Reproduction
  2. The Historical Exposition of the Problem
    1. Round I: Sismondi--Malthus vs. Say--Ricardo, MacCulloch
    2. Round II: The Controversy between Rodbertus and von Kirchmann
    3. Round III: Struve-Bulgakov-Tugan Baranovski vs. Vorontsov-Kikolayon
  3. The Historical Conditions of Accumulation

Synopsis

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In the polemic, she argued that capitalism needs to constantly expand into noncapitalist areas in order to access new supply sources, markets for surplus value, and reservoirs of labor.[1] According to Luxemburg, Marx had made an error in Capital in that the proletariat could not afford to buy the commodities they produced, and therefore by his own criteria it was impossible for capitalists to make a profit in a closed-capitalist system since the demand for commodities would be too low, and therefore much of the value of commodities could not be transformed into money. Therefore, according to Luxemburg, capitalists sought to realize profits through offloading surplus commodities onto non-capitalist economies, hence the phenomenon of imperialism as capitalist states sought to dominate weaker economies. This however led to the destruction of non-capitalist economies as they were increasingly absorbed into the capitalist system. With the destruction of non-capitalist economies however, there would be no more markets to offload surplus commodities onto, and capitalism would break down.[3]

Reception

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The Accumulation of Capital was harshly criticized by both Marxist[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and non-Marxist economists, on the grounds that her logic was circular in proclaiming the impossibility of realizing profits in a close-capitalist system, and that her "underconsumptionist" theory was too crude.[3] Among Luxemburg's contemporaries, Franz Mehring praised the book as "the most significant phenomemon since Marx and Engels took up the pen" and described criticism of Luxemburg's work, particularly the one left by Austro-Marxists, such as Gustav Eckstein and Rudolf Hilferding, as "one of the crowning achievements of Marxist priesthood."[11] Vladimir Lenin read the work in 1913, "when his political relations with Rosa Luxemburg were at his worst", and left critical notes in the margin of the manuscript full of exclamations like "nonsense" and "funny" that indicate that "he was out to fault her whenever possible"; however, he was never publicly critical of the book, and these notes were published only after his death, and later Hannah Arendt comented on the criticism: ""Who would deny today that it belonged in a book on imperialism?"[12] After Luxemburg's death it was praised by prominent Marxist theorist György Lukács, who saw her work as a natural continuation of Marxist theory truly in the spirit of Marx, and also condemned those who criticize it, calling them bourgeois and revisionist.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Scott, Helen (2008). "Introduction to Rosa Luxemburg". The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution and The Mass Strike. By Luxemburg, Rosa. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books. p. 18.
  2. ^ Luxemburg, Rosa (1951). The Accumulation of Capital. Monthly Review Press. LCCN 64-16176. OCLC 168503.
  3. ^ a b Kolakowski, Leszek (2008). Main Currents of Marxism. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 407–415.
  4. ^ Sp (21 Jan 1913). "Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (1)". Dresdner Volkszeitung [de] (in German). 24 (16): 1.
  5. ^ Sp (22 Jan 1913). "Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (2)". Dresdner Volkszeitung (in German). 24 (17): 1.
  6. ^ Max Schippel (13 Feb 1913). "Das Grundgeheimnis des Imperialismus". Sozialistische Monatshefte (in German). 19 (3): 147–152.
  7. ^ Gustav Eckstein (16 Feb 1913). "Rosa Luxemburg: Die Akkumulation des Kapitals – Ein Beitrag zur ökonomischen Erklärung des Imperialismus". Vorwärts (in German). 30 (40): 13–14.
  8. ^ Gustav Eckstein (23 Feb 1913). "Überflüssige Aufregung". Vorwärts (in German). 30 (46): 3.
  9. ^ Otto Bauer (7 Mar 1913). "Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (1)". Die neue Zeit – Wochenschrift der deutschen Sozialdemokratie (in German). 31 (23): 831–838.
  10. ^ Otto Bauer (14 Mar 1913). "Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (2)". Die neue Zeit – Wochenschrift der deutschen Sozialdemokratie (in German). 31 (24): 862–874.
  11. ^ Day, Richard B.; Gaido, Daniel (25 November 2011). Discovering Imperialism: Social Democracy to World War I. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-20156-9.
  12. ^ The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg, Volume II: Economic Writings 2. Verso Books. 23 August 2016. ISBN 978-1-78478-392-1.
  13. ^ Lukács, György, 1885-1971. (1971). History and class consciousness : studies in Marxist dialectics. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-12035-6. OCLC 143706.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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