By Abdullahi Idris
Every beginning is difficult,holds in all sciences…the value form were fully developed shape is the money-form,is very elementary and simple.Nevertheless the human mind has for more than 2000 years sought in vain to get to the bottom of it,this volume cannot stand accused on the score of difficulty.
Many people assume that Marxism is so dogmatic and outdated in its methods of enquiry and conclusions that it has nothing of interest to say about the modern world.In part this is due to widespread misconceptions and ignorance of Maxi’s own work.
In part it is due to simple ignorance of the work of modern Marxists.In recent years controversies among Marxists have ranged over the most important questions about the nature of the modern capitalist economy and the causes and the consequences of the present crisis.In contrast to Baran and Sweezy,who focus particularly on the nature of markets in modern capitalism,an alternative tradition has continued to stress the relevance and importance of Marx’s value analysis of capital and the production process.There have been important contributions in Japan,Europe and the United States.
In recent years to the publication and translation of long-buried manuscripts,particularly the Grundrisse,has brought greater understanding of Marx’s work Many myths about Marx’s work have been exploded,for example the idea that he was a technological determinist,or believed in some kind of inevitable polarization classes or progressive fall in the standard of living of the working class.With the aid of Grundrisse it is again possible to reconstruct Marx’s system of thought and knowledge its profundity.Though Marxy never completed the great work he planned,he left behind its essentials and his method of analysis.We believe that Marxi’s approach provided the means for understanding the development of capitalism,not merely in its early laissez-faire stage,but in its late monopoly stage as well.Marxis foresaw the concentration of production,the divorce of ownership from control,the creation of the world market,the approach to automation,the rise of the new middle classes.
One of the Marx’s greatest achievements was to leave formulated in general terms the limits capitalists production and the cause of crises.His method was to analyze capitalism as a system of production and a system of circulation and markets.Both are necessary to understand its development fully,but they require different approaches.The market is the moment of exchange,the sphere of money and price.It is through the market that all exchange relations must be expressed and realized.It is not,however,fundamental to the capitalist mode of production.At the level of the market and competition everything appears backwards.To understand market phenomena it is necessary first to analyze the spheres of production and the social basis of capitalism.
Only in this way can the inexplicable events of the world markets-inflation,crises,monopoly and cycles-be explained.Marx’s analysis,therefore,starts with production and a discussion of the concept of value.It is he acknowledged,the most difficult part of his analysis,but,unfortunately,also the most essential.
