Fragile Juggernaut

Harry Cleaver is Associate Professor, Emeritus, at the Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin and author of Reading Capital Politically (AK Press/Anti-Thesis, 1979 and 2000), Rupturing the Dialectic: The Struggle Against Work, Money, and Financialization (AK Press, 2017) and 33 Lessons on Capital: Reading Marx Politically (Pluto Press, 2019).

• ForewordPreface1 Introduction1 Work, the Vulnerable Heart of Capitalism2 “Class” and Class Struggle3 Capitalism, the Fragile Juggernaut4 What Constitutes a Crisis?2 Marx & Engels’ Studies of Crisies, 1843−18951 The Early Studies: 1842−18521.1 Paris and Manchester1.2 Brussels1.3 Paris1.4 Cologne1.5 London2 Years of Theory, 1857−18672.1 From Notes to Weighty Tomes2.2 The First International (1864–1876)3 After Capital, 1867−18953.1 A New Terrain of Struggle: Electoral Politics3.2 Continuing Conflicts within the First International3.3 War and the Paris Commune3.4 Revisions and Translations3.5 Working Class Parties and Debates3.6 Marx: Critique of the Gotha Program3.7 Engels: Anti-Dühring3.8 Engels: Socialism: Utopian & Scientific3.9 Engels: the Dialectics of Nature3.10 Periodical Crisis Becomes Permanent Stagnation?3.11 The Second International3.12 Engels: Sources and Circulation of Crises3 Marx’s Theory of Accumulation1 A “Labor” Theory of Value?2 The Material Circuits of Accumulation3 Three Observations4 Omnipresent Conflict; Omnipresent Struggle5 Conditions of Reproduction6 Accumulation in Terms of “Value”6.1 The Substance of Value6.2 The Measure of Value6.3 The Form of Value4 The Possibilities of Crisis1 Markets & Crisis2 And in Capitalism Per Se3 Possibilities of Crisis in the First Stage of the Circuit: Investment3.1 Possible Crises in Gathering Enough Money, M3.2 Possible Crises in Hiring in the Labor Market, L – P3.3 Possible Crises of Hiring in the Labor Market, M – LP3.4 Possible Crises for Buyers of the Means of Production, M – MP4 Possibilities of Crisis in the Second Stage of the Circuit: Production4.1 Possible Crises with Labor-Power, LP in … P … 4.2 Possible Crises in Means of Production, MP in … P … 4.3 Possible Crises Caused by a Rising Organic Composition of Capital4.4 Possible Crises Due to a Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Fall5 Possibilities of Crisis in the Third Stage of the Circuit: Sales5.1 Possible Crises in Selling Slaves, C(LP) – M′5.2 Possible Crises in Selling C(MS)’ or C(MP)’5.3 Credit, Debt, and Commercial Crisis5.4 Summarizing5 Predispositions to Crisis1 Predispositions in the First Stage of the Circuit: Investment1.1 Forces Limiting Access to Money for Investment, M 1.2 Forces Interfering with the Supply of Labor-Power, LP 1.3 Forces Causing a Shortage in the Supply of the Means of Production, MP2 Predispositions in the Second Stage: Production2.1 Predispositions to Breakdowns in Labor-Power, LP2.2 Predispositions to Breakdowns in the Means of Production, MP2.3 Predispositions to Increasing the Organic Composition of Capital2.4 Predispositions to a Falling Rate of Profit Tendency and Its Crises3 Predispositions in the Third Stage of the Circuit: Sales3.1 Predispositions to Crises in Selling Slaves, C(LP) – M′3.2 Predisposition to Crises in Markets for C(MS)’ or C(MP)’3.3 Predispositions to Credit Crises4 The Circulation of Breakdown4.1 Quantitative and Qualitative Change4.2 Circulation of Crisis within Individual Circuits 4.3 Circulation of Crisis among Interconnected Circuits5 Linkages among Tendencies6 Offsetting Strategies and Their Contradictions1 Force2 Laws: Writing and Enforcing3 Ideology: Ideas, Institutions and Behavior4 Strategic Ideas5 Apologetic Ideas6 Structural Changes7 Offsets in the First Stage of the Circuit: Investment7.1 Getting Enough Money7.2 Fixing the Supply of Labor-Power7.3 Offsetting Crises in Buying the Means of Production, M – MP8 Offsets in the Second Stage of the Circuit: Production, … P … 8.1 Countering Breakdowns in Labor-Power8.2 Countering Breakdowns in the Means of Production8.3 Offsets to Crises Due to Rising Organic Composition of Capital8.4 Offsets to the Falling Rate of Profit Tendency9 Offsets in the Third Stage of the Circuit: Sales9.1 Dealing with Crises in Selling Slaves, C(LP) – M′9.2 Dealing with Crises in Selling C(MS)’ or C(MP)’9.3 Dealing with Crises in Selling the Means of Production, C(MP)’ – M′ 9.4 Countering Credit and Commercial Crises10 Offsets to the Circulation of Breakdown 10.1 Dealing with Qualitative Change 10.2 Blunting Circulation within Individual Circuits 10.3 Blunting Circulation among Interconnected Circuits7 Crises as Solutions to the Contradictions of Accumulation1 In the First Stage of the Circuit: LP – M/M – LP2 In the Second Stage of the Circuit: …P… 3 In the Third Stage of the Circuit: C′ – M′8 Crisis and Revolution1 Revolution: Another Amoebic Term2 “Revolution” as Used by Marx and EngelsAppendix 1: Note to Polish Readers (2016)Appendix 2: Annotated Bibliography of Marx and Engels’ Writings on CrisisIndex