The First Great Crisis of the 21st Century

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1、TheFirstGreatCrisisofthe21stCenturyJohnWeeksProfessorEmeritusSchoolofOriental&AfricanStudiesUniversityofLondon17June20111430-1515A.FlightfromProductionIn2005ataconferenceinBeijingofradicalscholars,aprominentNorthAmericanMarxisttoldthosewhowouldlistenthattherewouldbenomo

2、remajorcrisesofcapitalism.Theendtocriseswasbecausefinancialcapitalhaddevelopedthemeanstoensureitselfagainstallformsofriskanduncertainty.Thisspectacularlywrongembracementofthepropagandaoffinancialcapitalrequiredonetodiscardcommonsense,aswellasMarx'stheoryofvalue.ThatMarx

3、istsmighttakeseriouslythepossibilitythatcapitalistcriseswereathingofthepastisatributetothepowersof1obfuscationgeneratedbytheproductionandcirculationofcommodities.Capitalcan,1Marxexplicitlyrejectedtheargumentthatformsoffinancemightprotectcapitalismfromcrises:Cantheexisti

4、ngrelationsofproductionandtherelationsofdistributionwhichcorrespondtothemberevolutionizedbyachangeintheinstrumentofcirculation,intheorganizationofcirculation?...Variousformsofmoneymaycorrespondbettertosocialproductionatvariousstages;oneformmayremedyevilsagainstwhichanot

5、herispowerless;butnoneofthem,aslongastheyremainformsofmoney,andaslongasmoneyremainsanessentialrelationofproduction,iscapableofovercomingthecontradictionsinherentinthemoneyrelation,andcaninsteadonlyhopetoreproducethesecontradictionsinoneoranotherform.1indeed,insureandpro

6、tectitselfagainstmanydisasters,butthosearisingfromitsowninternationalcontradictionsarenotamongthem.Thetheoryofvalueprovidesanexplanationofthefinancialupheavalin2008that2fewmainstreamcommentatorsanticipatedandalmostnoneunderstood.Thecommonmisunderstandingwasthatthecrisis

7、astheconsequenceofirresponsiblelendingbyfinancialinstitutions,combinedwithnewformsoffinancialassetsthatremovedlendersfromanydirectresponsibilityofwhattheirlendinghadfinanced.Thisinterpretationmistakesoutcomeforcause.Theapparentlyrecklesslendingandtheproliferationoffinan

8、cial"products"arepredictedfromMarx'stheoryofvalueandmoney.Theyaretheexpectedconsequencesofthecontradictionbetw