Capitalism Hits the Fan Part 2 of 2

American economist Richard Wolff at the opening plenary of the Left Forum in New York City on April 17, 2009. In this speech he explains our current financial crisis and puts it in the context of an en economic system that is fundamentally unstable.

Richard D. Wolff (born April 1942, Youngstown, Ohio) is a American economist, well-known for his work on Marxian economics, economic methodology and class analysis. Wolff received his Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1969. He frequently collaborates with fellow economist Stephen Resnick. Wolf is married to (and sometimes co-author with) psychoanalyst Harriet Fraad.

Wolff taught at the City College of New York from 1969-1973, and then began teaching at the Economics Department of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has been full professor since 1981. He began collaborating with Stephen Resnick during their common appointments at the City University of New York, and continued after they both moved to University of Massachusetts. Wolff and Resnick have jointly published numerous articles and books that formulate a nondeterminist, class analytical approach. Their topics have included Marxian theory and value analysis, overdetermination, radical economics, international trade, business cycles, social formations, the Soviet Union, and comparing and contrasting Marxian and non-Marxian economic theories.

Wolff's work with Resnick took Louis Althusser and Etienne Balibar's Reading Capital as its point of departure and developed a subtle reading of Karl Marx's Capital Volumes II and III in their influential Knowledge and Class. For the authors, Marxian class analysis entails the detailed study of the conditions of existences of concrete forms of performance, appropriation, and distribution of surplus labor. While there could be an infinite number of forms of surplus appropriation, the Marxist canon refers to ancient (independent), slave, feudal, capitalist, and communist class processes.

In 1989, Wolff joined efforts with a group of colleagues, ex- and then current students to launch Rethinking Marxism, an academic journal that aims to create a platform for rethinking and developing Marxian concepts and theories within economics as well as other fields of social inquiry. He continues to serve as a member of both the editorial and the advisory boards of the journal.

Wolff continues to teach graduate seminars and undergraduate courses and direct dissertation research in economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Richard Wolff
• economic
• Marxist
• Left Forum
• New York City
• Left
• politics
• economic crisis
• Great Depression
• Civil War
• Corporatism
• Corporations
• labor
• stagnate wages
• wages
• productivity
• socialism

[sickliberal]

nice to see wolf(f?) here buddhagem! One of my favourite economists. How are you doing?

[buddhagem]

I'm good. Busy getting all the stuff from Left Forum posted. Wolff gave, by far, the best speech at the opening plenary. In fact it's doubtful I'll ever post the rest of the speeches given.

[sickliberal]

Did you film this yourself?

[buddhagem]

Yes. I filmed all of the Left Forum/Anarchist Book Fair stuff you'll see on my channel.

[Rockerboy2007]

Aww.. thats sad... thanx for these videos though! :)

[buddhagem]

They were pretty bad and way too long. If you're interested I'll post them. I just didn't think they were very radical or very interesting: lots of reading.

[ShadesofScorpius]

He's an excellent public speaker. Good points. Socialism is so taboo, and it's heady to hear someone intelligent and sage speak about it rationally.

[kirtokosseamrica]

i am celebrating the fact that the evil, preemptive striker, greedy, arrogent, supporter of dictators, anit democracy, u.s. empire is in a dive twards the toilet shit hole that they belong in

[inrrivas]

I AM A SOCIALIST AND I AM PROUD

[37Dionysos]

THANKS for posting this----I hope every American starts to imagine the structure of work as Wolff envisions. He describes time spent with Silicon Valley entrepeneurs who walked on "the corporation" and did great as their own bosses. NO CEO's, NO Board of Directors, NO stockholders. Work Mon-Thurs and on Fridays decide together what next, how to spend the income. Sound good? I hope good things for Van Jones' "Rebuild the Dream" movement. Look it up! It's that or worse of what we have.

[Thesterness]

@maalat

My thinking exactly. The biggest problem supporters of capitalism fail to see is that they fail to realize that a group can solve problems and make decisions better than any individual can. They realize it in arguing for a market vs. central planning, and democracy vs. dictatorship, but they don't seem to make the next logical step and apply it to the structure of the workplace.

[DIMOJABE]

This is finally making it to my end of the world... SWFL. It is so heartening to hear an analysis that is at least 80% of my own. The good folks here are mostly sheeple. Smart ones, but still unaware that there was ever another way to live. I tell people constantly about the renters deduction to match the mortgage interest deduction; the 11% usury caps on credit cards that Pres Carter removed and never restored; how I got raises of 6 - 15% and paid off a car early as a college student.

[courtesyZone]

I was just listening to someone making this same argument over dinner, on the necessary demise of Capitalism and rise of Marxian economics. He was wearing a very nice Rolex.

[AussieAustrianBlog]

@rring88 Welfare states like Western Europe. How's that working out for them? Here in Australia all social programs like health, public schools etc are a complete mess.

[Rykemasters]

Who decides who does what and for how long? How about workers deciding it together? You know, like people do in most informal work situations, and like workers do in cooperatives that do exist, and like people in Argentina spontaneously did when they took over factories after the Argentinian economic breakdown at the start of this decade.

Every man for himself would probably yield bad results, but when workers as a group are the owners, handle the profit and have to organize, they take it up.

[numbakull]

Zeitgeist movement gets my vote but this is a step in the good direction.

[maalat]

the idea is to work in a cooperative manner. everybody puts in their ideas together so that is empowerment for all... let's say there are 20 employees in a company and everybody makes an input, more likely, there is a facilitator, but not a boss.... that is a system of communal. they are communist... that's the system in a small setting. no boss, no one is above or below... and earnings are shared equally. not bad...