Karl Marx

ROUNDTABLE ON MARX’S CAPITAL

Roundtable on Marx’s Capital

The SSPP is pleased to issue a CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS for a Roundtable on Marx’s Capital Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, February 24-27, 2011

Our second Roundtable will explore Volume One of Marx’s Capital (1867).  We chose this text because the resurgence in references to and mentions of Marx – provoked especially by the financial crisis, but presaged by the best-seller status of Hardt and Negri’s Empire and Marx’s surprising victory in the BBC’s “greatest philosopher” poll – has only served to highlight the fact that there have not been any new interpretive or theoretical approaches to this book since Althusser’s in the 1960s.

The question that faces us is this: Does the return of Marx mean that we have been thrust into the past, such that long “obsolete” approaches have a newfound currency, or does in mean, on the contrary, that Marx has something new to say to us, and that new approaches to his text are called for?

The guiding hypothesis of this Roundtable is that if new readings of Capital are called for, then it is new readers who will produce them.

Therefore, we are calling for applications from scholars interested in approaching Marx’s magnum opus with fresh eyes, willing to open it to the first page and read it through to the end without knowing what they might find. Applicants need not be experts in Marx or in Marxism.  Applicants must, however, specialize in some area of social or political philosophy.  Applicants must also be interested in teaching and learning from their fellows, and in nurturing wide-ranging and diverse inquiries into the history of political thought.

If selected for participation, applicants will deliver a written, roundtable-style presentation on a specific part or theme of the text.  Your approach to the text might be driven by historical or contemporary concerns, and it might issue from an interest in a theme or a figure (be it Aristotle or Foucault).  Whatever your approach, however, your presentation must centrally investigate some aspect of the text of Capital.  Spaces are very limited.

Applicants should send the following materials as email attachments (.doc/.rtf/.pdf) to papers@sspp.us  by September 15, 2010:

    • Curriculum Vitae
    • One page statement of interest in the Roundtable.  (Please include a discussion of the topics you would be willing to explore in a roundtable presentation.  Please also discuss the projected significance of participation for your research and/or teaching.)

Ben Fowkes’ translation of Capital (Viking/Penguin, 1976) is the official translation for the Roundtable, and should be used for page citations. However, applicants are strongly encouraged to review either the German text of Capital (the 2nd edition of 1873 is the basis for most widely available texts) or the French translation (J. Roy, 1872-5), which was the last edition Marx himself oversaw to publication; both of these are widely available on-line.

All applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process via email on or before October 15, 2010.  Participants will be asked to send a draft or outline of their presentation to papers@sspp.us by January 15, 2011 so that we can finalize the program.

In order to participate in the Roundtable (but not to apply or to be selected), you must be a member of the Society in good standing. You can become a member of the Society by following the membership link at: http://www.sspp.us

William S. Lewis
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair,
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Skidmore College
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866, USA
(518) 580 5402

Board Member and Treasurer
Society for Social and Political Philosophy

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It's Crisis Time!

CORPORATE POWER AND OWNERSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I would like to announce the recent publication of my new book:

Corporate Power and Ownership in Contemporary Capitalism:
The Politics of Resistance and Domination (London: Routledge, 2009)

For more information see URL: http://www.routledge.com/9780415467889

Blurb:
Despite the influence corporations wield over all aspects of everyday life, there has been a remarkable absence of critical inquiry into the social constitution of this power. In analysing the complex relationship between corporate power and the widespread phenomenon of share ownership, this book seeks to map and define the nature of resistance and domination in contemporary capitalism.

Drawing on a Marxist-informed framework, this book reconnects the social constitution of corporate power and changing forms of shareholder activism. In contrast to other texts that deal with corporate governance, this study examines a diverse and comprehensive set of themes, from socially responsible investing to labour-led shareholder activism and its limitations. Through this ambitious and critical study, author Susanne Soederberg demonstrates how the corporate governance doctrine represents an inherent feature of neoliberal rule, effectively disembedding and depoliticising relations of domination and resistance from the wider power and paradoxes of capitalism.

Examining corporate governance and shareholder activism in a number of different contexts that include the United States and the global South, this important book will be of interest to students and scholars of international political economy, international relations and development studies. It will also be of relevance to a wider range of disciplines including finance, economics, and business and management studies.

“Soederberg should be thanked for revealing the elephant in the room – that corporations, along with their governance, power, ownership and management, are profoundly political, yet undemocratic. Through careful analysis, wide-ranging research and elegant writing she deconstructs comforting myths and shows us the true and unsettling politics and impacts of corporations in the world today. A must read – and also a good read – for anyone seeking true understanding of current economic, social and environmental upheavals.” — Joel Bakan, Professor of Law, University of British Columbia, Canada, and author/filmmaker of The Corporation

“In a capitalism deep into its second major crisis in 75 years, Soederberg’s book is very welcome. It critically examines the real (as opposed to the ideologically glossed) mechanisms enabling the crisis-producing decisions of corporate boards of directors. She performs a valuable deconstruction of the mythologies of mainstream ‘corporate governance’ literature.” — Richard D. Wolff, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts and the New School University, New York

“This book presents a much-needed and powerful critique of the ‘corporate governance doctrine’ that was promoted both by the US state and by dominant capitalist interests in many societies to underpin the priority given to ’shareholder value’, to take advantage of workers’ pension funds, and to direct labour and social movement challenges to corporate decisions into what Soederberg appropriately calls the ‘marketization of resistance’. As empirically rich as it is theoretically strong, this is another important contribution by one of the most creative political economy scholars writing today.’ — Leo Panitch, Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science, York University, Toronto

Cheers,
Susanne
Susanne Soederberg, DPhil
Canada Research Chair (Global Political Economy)
Associate Professor in Global Development Studies and Political Studies
Mackintosh-Corry, Room A-406
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 Canada
Tel: 613.533.6000 x 78391
Fax: 613.533.2986
Email: soederberg@queensu.ca
Homepage: http://www.queensu.ca/devs/faculty/ProfileSoederberg.html

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Historical Materialism

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM CONFERENCE 2009: PRE-REGISTRATION AND ABSTRACTS

Pre-registration for the HM Conference will close at midnight
tomorrow: http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/

Registration on the door will be possible on a first-come-first-served
basis.

The abstracts for the papers are now online: http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/

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Is Another Crisis!

BEYOND THE CRISIS

http://www.iippe.org

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR PROMOTING POLITICAL ECONOMY (IIPPE)

and

GREEK SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY

RETHYMNON, CRETE, SEPTEMBER 10-12, 2010

“BEYOND THE CRISIS”

Pre-amble: Following its three previous highly successful international research workshops for students in Crete, Naples and Ankara, the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) is now holding its FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, co-organised with the Greek Scientific Association of Political Economy, and open to application from all engaged in political economy. Summaries of papers for consideration for inclusion (maximum 1000 words) should be submitted by 31st of March 2010 to iippe@soas.ac.uk with subject heading IIPPE CONFERENCE 2010. Full papers are required to be made available by 30 June 2010 for pre-circulation to Conference participants. It will be possible to attend the Conference without submitting a paper but numbers will be limited. There will be some funding available for those who are unable to rely upon institutional support for participation, with special provision for research students.

Themes: Following the global crisis, the prospects of, and need for, progressive political economy are stronger than for many decades. Orthodox economics is in disarray, but with only a smattering of its own practitioners accepting this, generally by demanding more realism and the incorporation of a few more or less arbitrary behavioural principles. After the collapse of the post-war boom, the recession and slowdown that followed gave birth to extreme forms of monetarism followed by a mild reaction in terms of reliance upon market and institutional imperfections and weakened Keynesianism. The prospects for a radical rethink within orthodoxy and of tolerance to heterodoxy remain bleak. But it is still crucial to sustain critical commentary on orthodoxy’s continuing principles and innovations as a new generation of students and researchers are caught between conforming to its reduced and flawed content and the economic realities of the world around them. Political economy has begun to prosper in the wake of the crisis, not least with the rising popularity of Minsky for example. It is imperative that the strengths and weaknesses of the diverse, often insightful, analyses of the nature, causes and consequences of the financial crisis be debated and fully engaged across competing paradigms and emphases. Nor is the crisis confined to economic effects and causes alone. Interdisciplinary approaches are essential to address the nature of, and prospects for, neo-liberalism, the shifting character of the “new world order”, US hegemony and the rise of China, and the economic and the social and cultural restructuring that have both preceded and will follow upon the crisis. This offers opportunities to engage with activists in understanding the impact and incidence of the crisis and in formulating alternatives and strategies in response to it.

The Conference welcomes proposals for papers that address one or more of these issues or any other issue within political economy. IIPPE working groups are entitled to organise a panel. But we also welcome proposals for panels independently of working groups on well-defined themes, with three or four contributions and contributors specified in advance. These must be submitted, ideally with paper summaries by March 31st, 2010, although earlier submissions have greater chance of acceptance as the Conference programme is filled out.

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MONEY

King’s College London Reading Capital Society

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http://www.kclreadingcapital.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49539959 005

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1) Next session: ‘Money’

Following a fascinating session discussing the fetishism of commodities, the Reading Capital group asks…

What is money? Where does it come from? What makes certain commodities suitable as money? Could we live without it?

Joseph Choonara, former deputy-editor of International Socialism Journal (www.isj.org. uk), will introduce a discussion on:

‘Money or the Circulation of Commodities’.

Monday 23rd November ‘09 (NOTE CHANGE OF DATE): 6pm F-WB Room 2.43, Waterloo Campus, King’s College London

“It is not money that renders commodities commensurable. Just the contrary. It is because all commodities, as values, are realised human labour, and therefore commensurable, that their values can be measured by one and the same special commodity, and the latter be converted into the common measure of their values, i.e., into money. Money as a measure of value, is the phenomenal form that must of necessity be assumed by that measure of value which is immanent in commodities: labour-time.” (Marx)

All welcome - whether you have been reading Capital or just want to drop in for the talk – we aim to be accessible to all.

(Those wishing to read in advance should make their way to Chapter 3!)

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2) Martin Wolf & Alex Callinicos Debate:

If you haven’t already, you can watch the event:

Alex Callinicos:
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=k6CZAQvAMaY

Martin Wolf:
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=AXKqqgwAIeI

Questions & Answers:
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=hYpHLnlUrFg

or download the audio from:
http://rapidshare. com/files/ 302959451/ Wolf_Callinicos_ Full_Audio. wav
and a Palantypist’ s transcript:
http://rapidshare. com/files/ 305646664/ CallinicosWolf02 1009wholedebate. rtf

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3) Chris Harman – 1942-2009

The Reading Group was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Chris Harman. Only two weeks ago, Chris gave a brilliantly accessible introduction to the first chapter of Capital for the Reading Group. That he was able to make the most abstract and difficult part of Capital so unfailingly concrete is a testament to the power and clarity of his thought. He will be greatly missed. 

http://www.guardian .co.uk/politics/ 2009/nov/ 09/chris- harman-obituary

http://www.socialis tworker.co. uk/art.php?

Chris’s session for the Reading Group:
http://rapidshare. com/files/ 299965681/ Chris_Harman_ 27Oct2009. mp3

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KCL Reading Capital

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Rethinking Imperialism

RETHINKING IMPERIALISM: A STUDY OF CAPITALIST RULE

Rethinking Imperialism: A Study of Capitalist RulePalgrave-Macmillan 2009

By John Milios, and Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos

For over a century, “imperialism” has been a key concept in Left theory and politics, connoting both the aggressiveness and the characteristics of modern capitalism. This book aims at presenting and assessing imperialism as a theoretical concept. Since a variety of different definitions are assigned to the concept of imperialism, it is necessary to put to the test the rigour of these definitions. The authors of this volume provide a comprehensive evaluation, focusing especially on the tension between Marx’s theoretical system of the Critique of Political Economy and the theories of capitalist expansion and domination that emerge out of the various discourses on imperialism.

The book critically reviews all major (classical and contemporary) theories of imperialism. The authors embark on a critical interrogation of all innovations introduced into theoretical Marxism by theories of imperialism (for example those concerning the stages of historical evolution of capitalism, the capitalist state, internationalization of capital, crises etc.). They show that most of these theories deviate from the theoretical system formulated by Marx, especially in Capital and his other mature economic writings.

Furthermore, these theories seem to poorly interpret historical development. Is there a theory of the capitalist state to justify the thesis that the collapse of colonialism after World War II is so insignificant to the periodization of international capitalist relations (or “global capitalism”) that the “final stage” of capitalism commencing in the last decades of the 19th century is arguably still continuing? To pose the same question differently: on what theoretical grounds can the “early” colonialism, as opposed to the late colonial era (from the late 19th century to World War II), be bracketed off as a distinct period in the history of capitalism? On grounds of Marx’s theory of the CMP this period now has to be revisited. Why does the second colonial period have more affinities with the present-day non-colonial post-World War II era than with the era of early colonialism? Last but not least, is there a tendency towards expansionism that is innate in every form of capitalist domination, i.e. also in the less developed capitalist states that are not to be classified as being in the supposedly “ripe” or “monopoly capitalist” stage?

The authors propose a conceptualization of the international level which comes into a striking contrast with the majority of contemporary approaches of globalization or “new imperialism”. Their interpretation perceives the international level as a complex interlinkage of different (national-state) economic and social structures, each of which evolves at a different and unequal rate as a result primarily of the different class and political correlation of forces that have crystallized within it.

The book addresses the contemporary contradictions and trends of development of the “international capitalist system” and the evolving global economic crisis, formulating a fundamental reinterpretation of imperialism. Important in this line of reasoning remains the notion of imperialist chain, which is formulated in accordance with Marx’s concept of social capital and his theory of the capitalist mode of production. It thus defends the thesis that internal-national relationships and processes always have priority over international relations.

It is precisely the fundamental discovery of Marxism that the class struggle (which is at the same time economic, political and ideological and is thus consummated within each national-state entity) is the driving force of history. It is through these class correlations and relations of domination that international relations, with all the concomitant interdependence on other social formations, take effect. If imperialism is a permanent possibility emerging out of the structures of the capitalist mode of production, the historical form it will ultimately acquire for a particular social formation depends on the way in which the “external” situation (that is to say the international correlation of forces) over-determines but also constrains the practices that emerge out of the evolution of the internal class correlations.

Contents:
Introduction
* Classical Theories of Imperialism: A New Interpretation of Capitalist Rule, Expansionism, Capital Export, the Periodization and the “Decline” of Capitalism.
* Post World-War II “Metropolis-Periphery” Theories of Imperialism.
* Theories of Imperialism as Alternatives to Classical and Metropolis-Periphery Approaches.
* The State as a Vehicle of both Capitalist Expansionism and Decolonization: Historical Evidence and Theoretical Questions.
*Capitalist Mode of Production and Social Formation: Conclusions Concerning the Organization of Capitalist Power.
* Capitalist Mode of Production and Monopolies.
* Is Imperialism the Latest Stage of Capitalism? Reflections on the Question of Periodization of Capitalism and Stages of Capitalist Development.
* Internationalisation of Capital.
* Financialization: Market Discipline or Capital Discipline?
* The “Global” Level and the Concept of Imperialist Chain.
Epilogue: Rethinking Imperialism and Capitalist Rule.

John Milios, is Professor of Political Economy and the History of Economic Thought at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece. He has authored more than two hundred (200) papers published or forthcoming in refereed journals (in Greek, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Turkish), and has participated as invited speaker in numerous international conferences. He has also authored or co-authored some eleven scholarly books. He is director of the quarterly journal of economic theory Thesseis (published since 1982 in Greek) and serves on the Editorial Boards of several scholarly journals.

Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos is Visiting Lecturer of Political Economy at the Department of Sociology, University of the Aegean, Greece. He has published papers in refereed journals (in Greek, English and German). His research interests include: theories of Political Economy, theories of Imperialism, theory of Value and Money. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the quarterly journal of economic and political theory Thesseis (published since 1982 in Greek).

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American Empire

THE AMERICAN EMPIRE IN LIGHT OF THE GLOBAL CRISIS
‘THE GLOBALISATION LECTURES’

Organised by the Department of Development Studies

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

University of London

Convenor: Professor Gilbert Achcar

2009-2010

This event is co-sponsored by Historical Materialism Conference 2009 (27-29 November)

A DEBATE BETWEEN PROFESSOR ALEX CALLINICOS AND PROFESSOR LEO PANITCH

Wednesday 25 November, 6:30pm, SOAS, Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, London WC1

Alex Callinicos was born in Zimbabwe. After teaching political philosophy for many years at the University of York, he is now Professor of European Studies at King’s College London. His most recent books are The Resources of Critique and Imperialism and Global Political Economy. His next book Bonfire of Illusions: The Twin Crises of the Liberal World will appear early next year.

Leo Panitch is the Senior Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University, Toronto, and the co-editor of The Socialist Register. His most recent books are American Empire and the Political Economy of Global Finance, and Renewing Socialism: Transforming Democracy, Strategy and Imagination.

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Human Nature

HUMAN NATURE

Birkbeck ‘Marx, Individuals & Society’ Seminar

William Dixon will speak on: “Yes, there is a human nature”

Thursday 19th November, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1, 19:30 to 21:00, Classroom GOR B02

Contact for details: lukiezac@dircon.co.uk

‘Human Nature’ by Michael Jackson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjzer9dUWmg

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INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW – ISSUE 68

International Socialist Review, Issue 68 is now out

http://www.isreview.org/

ISSUE 68:
November-December 2009 TOO MANY PEOPLE?
Population, hunger, and the environment

EDITORIAL

The business of health care reform

ANALYSIS IN BRIEF

Elizabeth Schulte: Why won’t they call it racism?

Eric Ruder interviews Gareth Porter: Obama’s Afghan Disaster

COLUMN

Phil Gasper • Critical Thinking: What ever happened to “Change we can believe in?”

Shaun Joseph: The coup in Honduras: Perspectives and prospects

INTERVIEWS

Cleve Jones: Getting back to our roots

Walden Bello: The G20 after the crash

FEATURES

John Pilger: Power, illusion, and American’s last taboo

Chris Williams: Are there too many people?

Rick Kuhn: Economic crisis and the responsibility of socialists

HISTORY

Rebekah Ward: Darwin: the reluctant revolutionary

John Riddell: Clara Zetkin’s strugggle for the united front

Sharon Smith: 1934: The strikes that led the way

REVIEWS

Chrisopher Phelps: The sexual revolution, A review of Sherry Wolf’s Sexuality and Socialism

Ian Angus: Two accounts of Engels’ revolutionary life

Phil Aliff on soldier’s resistance; David Florey on racism after Katrina; Sara Knopp and Mais Jasser on a teenager’s diary under occupation; Marlene Martin on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Jailhouse Lawyers; Chris Williams on Monthly Review’s special issue on food

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Andrew Kliman

THE PERSISTENT FALL IN PROFITABILITY UNDERLYING THE CURRENT CRISIS

A message from Andrew Kliman

Dear Colleagues,

I have just posted a first draft of a longish (27,000 word) paper at: http://akliman.squarespace.com/persistent-fall

It’s entitled “The Persistent Fall in Profitability Underlying the Current Crisis: New Temporalist Evidence.”

It looks at the rates of profit of U.S. corporations, 1929-2007, with emphasis on the period since the early 1980s. The accompanying spreadsheet files will be posted at the same location soon, as soon as I can clean them up.

Comments are welcome.

Best,

Andrew

Andrew Kliman
http://akliman.squarespace.com:  “I Ain’t Gonna Work on Piero’s Farm No More”

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