Ernest Mandel: An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory (1967)

An Introduction to
Marxist Economic Theory (1967)

By Ernest Mandel

From the Marxist Internet Archive and the Mandel Archive at www.angelfire.com/pr/red/mandel/
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.

I. The Theory of Value and Surplus value

Social Surplus Product

Commodities, Use value and Exchange value

The Marxist Theory of Alienation

The Law of Value

Determination of the Exchange Value of Commodities

What is Socially Necessary Labor?

The Origin and Nature of Surplus Value

The Validity of the Labor Theory of Value


II. Capital and Capitalism

Capital in Pre-capitalist Society

Origins of the Capitalist Mode of Production

Origins and Definition of the Modern Proletariat

The Fundamental Mechanism of Capitalist Economy

The Growth in the Organic Composition of Capital

Competition Leads to Concentration and Monopoly

Tendency of the Average Rate of Profit to Decline

The Fundamental Contradiction in the Capitalist System and the Periodic Crises of Overproduction

III. Neo-capitalism

The Origins of Neo-capitalism

A Permanent Technological Revolution

The Importance of Armament Expenditures

How Crises are “Amortized” in a Recession

The Tendency to Permanent Inflation

“Economic Planning”

The State Guaranty of Profit