marx a radical critique

315 Pages·2015·9.54 MB·English

Marx: A Radical Critique

MARX
A Radical Critique
Alan Carter
Lecturer in Political Theory
University College Dublin
WESTVIEW PRESS
Boulder, Colorado
MOORHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MOORHEAD, MINNESOTA
First published in Great Britain in 1988 by
WHEATSHEAF BOOKS LIMITED
© Alan Brian Carter, 1988
Published in 1988 in the United States by
WESTVIEW PRESS
Frederick A. Prager, Publisher
5500 Central Avenue
Boulder, Colorado 80301
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Carter, Alan B.
Marx, a radical critique
Bibliography: p.
1. Marx, Karl, 1818-1883. 2. Communism.
I. Title.
HX39.5.C325 1987 335.4'092'4 87-27414
ISBN 0-8133-0651-5
Typeset in Times llpt
Printed in Great Britain
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is dedicated to the memory of John,
whose imagination was an inspiration.
On the day they join us,
The world will live as one.

Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables x
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xiii
INTRODUCTION
1. From a Radical Point of View 3
1.1 The schools of Marxist thought 6
1.2 Marx and Hegel 8
1.3 The libertarian communist vision 11
HISTORY
2. Karl Marx’s Theory of History: A Critique 21
2.1 The mechanistic school 21
2.2 The interactionist school 28
2.3 Consciousness and the economic base 32
2.4 An alternative schema 37
2.5 Further aspects of Marx’s theory of revolution 43
2.6 The labour-process 54
2.7 The social implications of technology 59
2.8 Developing the historical schema 66
2.9 The sources of Marx’s errors 71
ECONOMICS
3. Crisis, Value and Profit 83
3.1 Marx’s labour theory of value 84
3.2 The rate of profit 90
3.3 Crises, monopolization and automation 97
3.4 An alternative theory of value 101
vii
viii Contents
3.5 Monopolies and the complement theory 104
3.6 The complement theory further refined 109
3.7 The importance of monopolization 114
3.8 Philosophical issues 118
SOCIOLOGY
4. Class, Class Struggle and Class Consciousness 131
4.1 Marx on‘class’ 132
4.2 A single-feature specification of ‘class’ 134
4.3 Status and dominance 141
4.4 Further issues raised by Roemer’s account 146
4.5 A multiple-feature specification of‘class’ 152
4.6 Poulantzas on‘class’ 155
4.7 Lenin and the proletariat 159
4.8 Lukacs and class consciousness 167
4.9 Concluding remarks 174
POLITICS
5. The State and Society 185
5.1 Hegel’s influence on Marx’s theory of the state 187
5.2 Some objections to Marx’s theory 191
5.3 State and class 195
5.4 Lenin’s authoritarian centralism 204
5.5 Qualifications on Lenin’s authoritarianism considered 210
5.6 Bakunin’s critique of Marx 216
5.7 Summation of Marx’s philosophical errors 220
5.8 A contribution to the critique of political economism 228
CONCLUSION
6. A Radical Alternative 239
6.1 Technology, ecology and the Third World 243
6.2 An alternative theoretical approach 250
6.3 A general theory of revolution 254
6.4 The ageing of the Marxist paradigm 262
Appendix 275
Bibliography 281
Index 299
Figures
2.1 The ‘mode of production’ 22
2.2 ‘Contradictions’ in the social formation 49
2.3 The resolution of class conflict 67
3.1 Demand and supply 111
4.1 Varieties of exploitation 144
6.1 Prediction and workers’control 241
6.2 Structure and substructure 252
6.3 Two models of historical transformation 256
IX
Tables
3.1 Northern land production before breakthrough 92
3.2 Northern land production after breakthrough 94
3.3 Southern land production after breakthrough 96
100
3.4 Increasing OCK and limited profits
105
3.5 Increasing OCK and unlimited profits
X