The Formation of the Economic Thought of Karl Marx, by Ernest Mandel (New Left Books, £2.25)
To understand the revolutionary nature of the industrial proletariat requires an understanding of the capitalist mode of production: its historical origins, its merits as well as the contradictions that spell its doom. The starting point of classical political economy had been wealth; Marx and Engels began their analysis with poverty, and with the laws of evolution of wages-rooted in the complete separation of producers from the means of production. Unlike Malthus and Ricardo, they start not from the population movements but from the movement of accumulation of capital. It took them a considerable time to rid themselves completely of Ricardo's views and Marx was led initially not only to miscalculate the the organisations which are trying to tackle these problems.
To attempt to muzzle organisations uction but also the significance of tradeunion activity. A careful study of both resulted in the more correct position in the Grundrisse and Capital. True, the accumulation of capital and the replacement of human labour by machines tend to lower the nominal wage, but this accumulation also gives rise to new branches of industry as well as new needs which, together with tradeunion resistance to the decline in the standard of living, increase the value of labour and its price. However, the inadequacy of wages is no longer measured against the minimum required for physical survival but also reflects new needs.
What is valuable in Mandel's account of the formation of Marx's economic thought is not just his clear and masterly presentation of issues such as those outlined above, but also his demolition of a number of well-known bourgeois and Marxist critics of Marx (from Parsons, Robinson and Tourraine to Marcuse and Althusser). He traces the fate of certain forgotten" themes (e.g. the Asiatic mode of production) and also takes the opportunity to combat some general views on the nature of transitional societies. What is now required is a concrete analysis of the economic laws of motion of these