Geography Archives: Global

It was Marx’s ultimate purpose, as stated in the preface to the first edition of Das Kapital, “to lay bare the economic law of motion of modern society.” It is clear that Marx regarded as his central achievement in this regard the “Law of the Falling Tendency of the Rate of Profit.” In vol.3, (p.303) he declares that: “The barrier of the capitalist mode of production becomes apparent

Heinrich’s article is mainly about the falling rate of profit and crisis theory, but another important point has to do with Marx’s logical method in Capital, and in particular with the levels of abstraction of capital in general and competition. Heinrich argues that Marx encountered difficulties in the Manuscript of 1861-63 concerning this logical structure, and as a result of these difficulties, Marx abandoned this logical structure in the final versions of Capital.

For Marx, is a rising rate of surplus value (s/v) a part of the law itself (as it is presented in chapter 13 of vol. III of Capital) or is it a counteracting factor (dealt with in chapter 14)? There is an easy way to check: we just have to read chapter 13. Marx starts his presentation with a constant rate of surplus value and shows that a rising organic composition of capital leads to a falling rate of profit (pp. 317-18, all pages from the Penguin edition of Capital). Then very quickly he includes a rising rate of surplus value in his considerations (see pp. 319, 322, 326, 327, 333, 337). At pages 333 and 337 Marx even realizes the possibility of a profit rate rising with a rising rate of surplus value, but excludes such a possibility as an “isolated case” or not realistic without going into details. It is clear that he maintains the “law itself” not only with a constant rate of surplus value but also with a rising rate of surplus value!

A bibliography of work utilizing the theory of metabolic rift developed by Marx.

So the world didn’t end after all and the ‘Mayan apocalypse’ turned out to be another in a long line of doomsday-related tall tales and hoaxes.  No doubt a hard-core of Armageddon enthusiasts who really did believe — or wanted to believe — that the ‘Mayan prophecy’ was anything other than a load of cobblers […]

  NATO has assassinated Gaddafi.  Now the puppets can dance.  This is not about democracy, as the “new” leaders are a combination of his ex-cabinet officials and ex-Mujahideen who took out the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan in the 80s and installed the Taliban for the CIA. Pro-Gaddafi protests in Tripoli have been met with […]

  Alexander Ramírez-Mallis and Lily Henderson are filmmakers based in Brooklyn, New York.  For more information about Occupy Wall Street, visit <occupywallst.org>.   var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print  

  Excerpt: For at least 5,000 years, before capitalism even existed, popular movements have tended to center on struggles over debt.  There is a reason for this.  Debt is the most efficient means ever created to make relations fundamentally based on violence and inequality seem morally upright.  When this trick no longer works everything explodes, […]

  “I liked training and defending my country, and now I’m training women from all ages to use weapons.” — Fatima Masoud 30 June 2011 30 June 2011 Cf. Waniss Otman and Erling Karlberg, “The Growing Role of Women in Libyan Society” (The Libyan Economy: Economic Diversification and International Repositioning, Springer, 2007). | Print  

  The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color.  The National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States.  With headquarters in New York, it has chapters in every state.  From its […]

  The following presentation contains graphic data.  Viewer discretion is strongly advised. — Ed. (function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })(); Barbara Steiner is a political scientist based in Vienna and member of Transform.at.  Walter Baier is an economist based […]

  Excerpt: This guide is not a road map or instruction manual.  It’s a match struck in the dark, a homemade multi-tool to help you carve out your own path through the ruins of the present, warmed by the stories and strategies of those who took Bertolt Brecht’s words to heart: “Art is not a […]

  Michael Munk’s The Portland Red Guide is a historical guidebook of social dissent in Portland, Oregon, and links notable radicals, their organizations, and their activities to physical sites in the city. We had a brief conversation over e-mail with Michael Munk to talk about the book, now in its Second Edition, and his experience […]

  Among the arrested are human rights activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, Wa’ad Secretary General Ebrahim Sharif, Haq Secretary General Hassan Mushaima. . . . Cf. Bahrain Center for Human Rights, <www.bahrainrights.org/en>; National Democratic Action Society (Wa’ad), <www.aldemokrati.org>; <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_Mushaima>. | Print  

  “An astronaut son of a carpenter, Yuri Gagarin, a son of Red October” I Giovani Comunisti/e (Young Communists) is the youth wing of the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation Party).  Music by Banda Bassotti (“Juri Gagarin”).  Cf. “Gagarin’s experience shows that the son of a Soviet carpenter enjoyed material foundations to make it […]

  A tribute to Yuri Gagarin and his first human spaceflight, 12 April 1961. . . . Music by Zemlyane (“The Grass at Home”).  Cf. <www.roscosmos.ru/main.php?id=87>, <english.ruvr.ru/tag_45875342/>, <ciudad-futura.net/2011/04/05/soyuz-gagarin-2/>, <www.yuriesfera.net>. | Print  

  21 March 2011 The African National Congress Youth League is concerned by the role played by South Africa in the United Nations Security Council.  South Africa voted in favour of UN Security Council Resolution 1973 to impose a No-Fly-Zone in Libya, and did not advocate for a peaceful solution or an African led solution […]

  “Workin’ hard scarred my proletarian flesh I used to go to sleep drunk every night depressed Slavin’ for a check, a couple hundred at best While the boss getting’ rich off my blood and sweat And all the crumbs I get go to bills and rent I ain’t workin’ all my life just to […]

  Past US administrations have deported illegal immigrants, but under President Obama the process has accelerated. This video was first released by Al Jazeera on 19 January 2011. | Print  

  There are many reasons for leaving one’s country. . . . N.B. Click on “Subtitles” to view this video with English subtitles. Directed by Atelier Collectif.  Animation by William Henne, Caroline Nugues, and Lionel Seneterre.  Produced by Zorobabel.  2006. | Print