The Public Interest

Monopoly capitalism and neo-Marxism

Raymond Lubitz

Fall 1970

THE revival of radicalism in America has brought with it a search for a theoretical explanation of what is wrong with American society. Inevitably, many radicals have turned back to Marxist models of capitalist development. But these older models, derived from the Victorian capitalism of Marx's time, have little relevance to contemporary capitalism. An updated Marxist model, with a direct bearing on contemporary American capitalism, and offering suggestive theoretical explanations of our social ills, would be a major intellectual achievement. The one serious effort to provide such an analysis is Monopoly Capital by Paul Sweezy and the late Paul Baran. This book has become an intellectual force in its own right. It is perhaps the most influential work in economics among radicals and is worth some serious attention. Unfortunately, in this case the more serious the attention the more critical it has to be.

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