Marxism, Crisis Theory and the Crisis of the Early 21st Century

BY WILLIAM K. TABB

In the writings of Karl Marx we find the most penetrating theoretical construction of the basic laws of motion of capitalism, and also acute observation of the significant events of his time and their larger meaning. Distinguishing his different levels of analysis can be obscured by the employment of the same words in different usages. For example, as Marx moves between the usages of the term "class" applied at the level of the mode of
production to "class" as class fractions relevant to a specific social formation in his contemporary conjuncture, the term takes on different meanings (Oilman, 1978; Tabb, 2009).

So too his writing explaining the causes of economic crisis range from disequilibrium in reproduction schemas and the core contradictions of social relations under capitalism, to contingent events of timely importance which attribute causal significance to such things as the discovery of natural resources or the bankruptcy of a particular enterprise. Just as our use of "class" depends on subject of our inquiry, so "crisis" is employed to consider different ranges of explanation.

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