The Marxian Concept of Capital and the Soviet Experience: Essay in the Critique of Political Economy (Praeger Series in Political Economy)

This work establishes the uniqueness of the Marxian category of Capital on the basis of the original texts by Marx. The study has been neglected in the existing literature. The wage-labor relationship is shown to be necessary and sufficient for the existence of capital(ism). Individual ownership is shown to be a particular form of capitalist private property which can also take the form of collective ownership. The author argues the capitalist character of the Soviet economy. The Relevance Of Marx. The Critics. Relevance Of Marx's Method. General Outline -- Ch. 1. Capital's Double Existence. Capital's Economic Existence. Capital As A Social Relation As Such. Capital As Totality. Capital's Juridical Existence. Private Property As Class Property. Private Property As Individual Property -- Ch. 2. Accumulation Of Capital, Competition Of Capitals. Accumulation Of Capital. Competition Of Capitals -- Ch. 3. The Soviet Economy Viewed Statically. Production And Ownership. Exchange. Distribution -- Ch. 4. The Dynamics: The Process Of Capital Accumulation. The Initial Stage. The Over-accumulation Of Capital -- Ch. 5. The Crisis Of Absolute Over-accumulation Of Capital. Some Negative Indices. A Mobilization Economy: Historical Justification. Accumulation As A Contradictory Process. People's Needs As A Residual. Over-accumulation And Agriculture. Falling Behind The West -- Ch. 6. The Soviet Economy As A Non-capitalist Economy: Theoretical Considerations. The Socialist Argument. Socialism In The Socialist Argument. The Nsnc Argument. Nsnc Thesis: First Variant. Bureaucracy And Capitalism. Capitalism And Socialism In The Nsnc Argument. Nsnc Thesis: Second Variant. Concept Of Transitional Society -- Ch. 7. The Non-capitalist Position And The Soviet Reality. Commodity Production. Competition Of Capitals. Accumulation Of Capital. Character Of Labor Power. A More Advanced Economy? -- Ch. 8. From Non-proletarian Regime To Non-restoration Of Capitalism. A Non-proletarian Regime. Non-restoration Of Capitalism. Paresh Chattopadhyay. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [165]-182) And Indexes. Despite the fact that Marx's lifelong preoccupation was the investigation and analysis of the "economic law of motion" of the capitalist society and of the working of the forces destined, according to him, to undermine and eventually destroy it, there has surprisingly been little satisfactory discussion of the Marxian category of capital as such.