Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory
Author: Ernest Mandel, George Novack
List Price: $10.95
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ISBN: 0873483154
Publisher: Pathfinder Press (December, 1974)
Sales Rank: 385,738
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Laboring Masses v. Ruling Classes
A remarkable little book that breaks down and makes crystal clear complex terms: surplus labor, necessary labor, necessary product, surplus product, surplus value, use value, exchange value, commodities, law of value, labor theory of value, etc.
See how despite huge differences in social systems from slavery to feudalism to capitalism, a key fundamental is consistent: most of the value produced by toilers is ceded to a parasitic ruling class. According to the author, that will change only when the laboring masses ourselves become the ruling class. Read this introduction and then read Marx's Wage Labor and Capitol as well as his Value, Price and Profit.
Rating: 5 out of 5
How the system really works
Workers are the ones who produce value. Bosses produce essentially nothing. The profits that bosses make are stolen from the workers This is a central insight of Marxist economics that this book does a good job of explaining. It also has an interesting discussion of "neo-capitalism" which is the form of capitalism that arose after World War II--capitalism that needed massive government intervention to survive. Mandel shows how war spending allows capitalism to avoid major depressions and how social programs blunt the effects of economic crisis on the workers, and thereby postpone revolutionary situations. It's especially interesting to read this book now, thirty years after it was written, since it makes a point of saying that the post-World War II prosperity would not last forever. It didn't and we've now entered a period of history where world economic depression, the rise of fascist movements, and attacks on social programs like welfare, social security, unemployment compensation, etc. are the norm. Mandel's book helps make sense of this miserable system so that we can chart a way forward to destroy it.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Workers make the best students of economics
Many of us have heard the boss accuse ourselves or other workers of "stealing from the company" by taking an unauthorized break. We suspect that this reasoning is bogus, but how can we describe it from a scientific point of view? This is one of the questions that Marx took up and that Mandel summarizes very succinctly in this book. Why does the boss come out the winner when workers have to work overtime or when so-called labor saving devices are introduced into the workplace? This is another question that Mandel analyzes simply and accurately. In fact, Mandel provides an authoritative outline of Marxist economic theory, from the labor theory of value to what causes worldwide unemployment, depression, and war. Reading this book will help you become a more conscious fighter for our class.
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