Thomas Sekine
This is the first book written in English that tries to expose the “thing-in-itself (or inner logic)” of capitalism in a form homomorphic to Hegel’s Logic, following the method previously established in Japan by Kôzô Uno (1987-1977). Neither ‘bourgeois-liberal’ nor even ‘conventionally-Marxist’ economics possess a logical (hence objective) knowledge of capitalism as such, which is regrettable.
The manuscript of this book was completed in typescript at York University, Canada, in 1983, then privately published in that form by the author in about 500 copies, which are by now virtually dispersed. In order, however, to re-launch economics as objective knowledge, when the world must prepare itself to correctly terminate capitalism, we need to rediscover a book of this kind as a dependable guide.
Biographical Note
Readership
All scholars and students of economics, who have some doubt about the veracity and efficacy of its standard paradigms.
Table of Contents
VOLUME 1
Preface to this Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Introduction
A. Marxism, Ideology and Science
(a)Marxism as an Ideology
(b)The Three Elements of Marxist Knowledge
(c)The Problem of Social Science
B. The Significance of the Dialectic
(a)Hegel’s Dialectic
(b)The Rational Kernel of the Dialectic
(c)The Contradiction between Value and Use-value
C. Political Economy and Socialism
(a)The Scope of Political Economy
The Stage of Mercantilism
The Stage of Liberalism
The Stage of Imperialism
(b)The Fallacy of the Logical-historical Method
(c)From Capitalism to Socialism
P A R T 1: The Doctrine of Circulation (The Being of Capital): Introductory Remarks
1 The Form of the Commodity(Quality)
The Hegel Correspondence
A. The Two Factors of a Commodity: Value and Use-value(The Pure Being of Value)
(a)The Value of a Commodity
(b)The Use-value of a Commodity
(c)Exchange-value or Value in Exchange
B. The Forms of Value or the Expressions of Value as Exchange-value: (The Determinate Being of Value)
(a)The Simple Form of Value
(b)The Expanded Form of Value
(c)The General Form of Value
C. Money Prices or Value in the Form of Money
(a)Money as the Value-reflector
(b)Money Prices or the Money Form of Value
(c)The Social Cohesion of all Values
2 The Form of Money (Quantity)
The Hegel Correspondence
A. Money’s Function as the Measure of Value
(a)Money as the Means of Purchase
(b)The Formation of Normal Prices
(c)The Source of the Means of Purchase
B. Money’s Function as the Medium of Circulation
(a)The Chain of Commodity Transactions
(b)The Circulation of Money
(c)Currency, or the Institutional Medium of Circulation
C. Money’s Function as the Store of Value
(a)The Formation of Idle Money
(b)Money as the Means of Payment
(c)Funds, or Universal Money
3 The Form of Capital (Measure)
The Hegel Correspondence
A. The Form of Merchant Capital
(a)The General Formula for Capital
(b)The Activity of Merchant Capital
(c)The Limitation of Merchant Capital
B. The Form of Money-Lending Capital
(a)The Nature of Money-lending Capital
(b)The Activity of Money-lending Capital
(c)The Limitation of Money-lending Capital
C. The Form of Industrial Capital
(a)The Nature of Industrial Capital
(b)Labour-power as a Commodity
(c)The Transition to the Doctrine of Production
P A R T I I: The Doctrine Of Production (The Essence of Capital)
4 The Production-process of Capital (Intro-Reflection)
Introduction
The Hegel Correspondence
A. The Labour-and-Production Process
(a)The Labour-process and the Production-process
(b)The Dual Nature of Productive Labour
(c)Surplus Labour and Necessary Labour
B. The Value-Formation-and-Augmentation Process
(a)The Labour Theory of Value
(b)The Viability of Capitalist Society
(c)The Necessity of the Law of Value
C. The Development of the Capitalist Method of Production: Labour-Power as a Commodity
(a)The Rate of Surplus Value
(b)The Modern Factory System
(c)The Form of Wages
5 The Circulation-Process of Capital (Appearance)
The Hegel Correspondence
A. The Circular Motion of Capital
(a)The Three Circuits of Capital
(b)Productive Capital and Circulation Capital
(c)The Costs of Circulation
B. The Turnover of Capital
(a)The Efficiency of Value Augmentation
(b)The Turnover of Constant Capital
(c)The Turnover of Variable Capital
C. The Circulation of Surplus Value
(a)The Realisation of Surplus Value
(b)The Supply of the Monetary Commodity
(c)The Conversion of Surplus Value into Capital
6 The Reproduction-Process of Capital (Actuality)
The Hegel Correspondence
A. The Reproduction of the Capitalist Production-Relation
(a)The Production of Capital by Capital
(b)The Simple Reproduction of the Production-relation
(c)The Possibility of an Expanded Reproduction
B. The Reproduction of Goods as Commodities by Capital – The Reproduction-Schemes
(a)The Material Aspect of Reproduction
(b)The Circulation of Money in the Reproduction-schemes
(c)The Replacement of Fixed Capital
C. The Actual Process of Capitalist Accumulation
(a)The Organic Composition of Capital
(b)The Cyclical Accumulation of Capital
(c)The Value of Labour-power
References
VOLUME 2
P A R T I I I: THE DOCTRINE OF DISTRIBUTION (The Notion of Capital)
7 The Theory of Profit (The Subjective Notion)
A. The Rate of Profit
(a)Cost-price and the Rate of profit
(b)The Three Factors Influencing the Rate of Profit
(c)Inter-industrial Differences in the Rate of Profit
B. The Formation of Prices
(a)Production-prices and the Rate of Profit
(b)The Law of Average Profit
(c)The Law of Market Value
C. The Rate of Profit and Technical Progress
(a)Surplus Profit Reflecting Extra Surplus Value
(b)The Law of the Falling Rate of Profit
(c)The Exposition of the Internal Contradiction of Capitalism
8 The Theory of Rent (The Objective Notion)
The Hegel Correspondence
A. The First Form of Differential Rent
(a)Land and Landed Property
(b)The Nature of Differential Rent(I)
(c)The Regulation of Arable Land and Rent
B. The Second Form of Differential Rent
(a)The Nature of Differential Rent(II)
(b)The Accumulation of Capital in Agriculture
(c)Differential Rent Arising on the Least Fertile Land
C. Absolute Rent
(a)Landed Property and Absolute Rent
(b)The Distribution of Surplus Value in Agriculture
(c)Industrial Capital and Landed Property
9 Theory of Interest (The Idea)
The Hegel Correspondence
A. Loan-Capital and Interest
(a)Commercial Credit
(b)Bank Credit
(c)The Rate of Profit versus the Rate of Interest
B. Commercial Capital and its Profit
(a)Commercial Capital and the Equalisation of Profitrates
(b)The Cause of Commercial Profit
(c)Commercial Capital and Loan-capital
C. Interest-Bearing Capital and the Completion of the Dialectic of Capital
(a)The Conversion of Capital into a Commodity
(b)Class Structure of Capitalist Society
(c)The Self-conclusiveness of the Dialectic of Capital