Michael A. Lebowitz

Surplus value

Michael Lebowitz: What every child should know about Marx’s theory of value

Michael A. Lebowitz — The law of value works in mysterious ways. For some Marxists, it underlies everything we need to know about capitalism. But, just as Marx claimed he was not a Marxist, so too might he have said, “that’s not my law of value.”
Michael Lebowitz

Completing Marx’s Project: An Interview with Michael A. Lebowitz

In this interview with Mark Fischer, Michael A. Lebowitz, the author of 'Beyond Capital: Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class', argues that 'Capital', taken alone, is one-sided, given Marx’s intention to also write a book on wage-labor. 
Michael Lebowitz

The state and the future of socialism

Michael A. Lebowitz — When capital is in crisis, there are always two options – to give in or to move in. If masses are armed with a clear conception of the socialist alternative, they can turn a crisis in capitalism into the crisis of capitalism. Of course, it is possible that current struggles against the capitalist offensive ultimately may lead to a glorious defeat. It is possible but we must take that chance.
atomism

Capitalism and community: The tragedy of atomism

Given that the immanent drive and constant tendency of capital is to atomize the working class, what are the effects of this tendency? For the atomized worker, all other workers are competitors; all other workers are enemies in so far as they are competing for the same jobs. All other workers potentially stand between them and the satisfaction of their needs.
Cuban flag

The struggle between the future and the past: Where is Cuba going?

By Michael A Lebowitz,  Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from 

Slave or protagonist? The worker in 'Capital'

By Michael A. Lebowitz

Know your enemy: How to defeat capitalism

The responsibility of revolutionary intellectuals in building socialism

By Michael A. Lebowitz

March 13, 2021 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Socialist Project — When we talk about intellectuals, we have to recognize, of course, that there are many varieties of intellectual. So, let me be specific. I’m not talking about traditional intellectuals nor about academics. I am talking about intellectuals who are committed to building socialism. Further, my comments are not directed specifically about Venezuelan intellectuals – that would be inappropriate for me as a visitor. So, my comments are general rather than specific to Venezuela.

Popular protagonism in Venezuela’s transition to socialism: A conversation with Michael Lebowitz

By Cira Pascual Marquina

July 12, 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Venezuela Analysis — Michael Lebowitz is a professor of political economy, researcher, and prolific writer. He is the author of Beyond Capital: Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class (1992), The Socialist Imperative: From Gotha to Now (2015), and the upcoming Between Capitalism and Community (2021). From 2006 to 2011, Lebowitz was Development Director in the Program in Transformative Practice and Human Development at the Centro Internacional Miranda, in Caracas. In this interview, he explores the importance of participation and democracy in the construction of socialism, while reflecting on the internal contradictions of the Bolivarian Process.

Hats and men: Marx's faulty symmetry

By Michael A.

Michael Lebowitz: If you don’t understand the second product, you understand nothing about Marx's Capital

Presentation by Michael A.

What is socialism for the twenty-first century?

By Michael A. Lebowitz October 11, 2016 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Monthly Review — Often the best way to begin to understand something is to consider what it is not. Socialism for the twenty-first century is not a society in which people sell their ability to work and are directed from above by others whose goal is profits rather than the satisfaction of human needs. It is not a society where the owners of the means of production benefit by dividing workers and communities in order to drive down wages and intensify work—i.e., gain by increasing exploitation. Socialism for the twenty-first century, in short, is not capitalism.

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