1st Edition

The Accumulation of Capital

By Rosa Luxemburg Copyright 2003
    496 Pages
    by Routledge

    496 Pages
    by Routledge

    Rosa Luxemburg was a revolutionary socialist who fought and died for her beliefs. In January 1919, after being arrested for her involvement in a workers' uprising in Berlin, she was brutally murdered by a group of right-wing soldiers. Her body was recovered days later from a canal. Six years earlier she had published what was undoubtedly her finest achievement, The Accumulation of Capital - a book which remains one of the masterpieces of socialist literature. Taking Marx as her starting point, she offers an independent and fiercely critical explanation of the economic and political consequences of capitalism in the context of the turbulent times in which she lived, reinterpreting events in the United States, Europe, China, Russia and the British Empire. Many today believe there is no alternative to global capitalism. This book is a timely and forceful statement of an opposing view.

    Introduction to the Routledge Classics Edition, Translator’s Note, A Note on Rosa Luxemburg, Introduction, SECTION I: The Problem of Reproduction, 1. The Object of our Investigation, 2. Quesnay’s and Adam Smith’s Analyses of the Process of Reproduction, 3. A Criticism of Smith’s Analysis, 4. Marx’s Scheme of Simple Reproduction, 5. The Circulation of Money, 6. Enlarged Reproduction, 7. Analysis of Marx’s Diagram of Enlarged Reproduction, 8. Marx’s Attempt to Resolve the Difficulty, 9. The Difficulty Viewed from the Angle of the Process of Circulation, SECTION II: Historical Exposition of the Problem, 10. Sismondi’s Theory of Reproduction, 11. MacCulloch v. Sismondi, 12. Ricardo v. Sismondi, 13. Say v. Sismondi, 14. Malthus, 15. v. Kirchmann’s Theory of Reproduction, 16. Rodbertus’ Criticism of the Classical School, 17. Rodbertus’ Analysis of Reproduction, 18. A New Version of the Problem, 19. Vorontsov and his ‘Surplus’, 20. Nikolayon, 21. Struve’s ‘Third Persons’ and ‘Three World Empires’, 22. Bulgakov and his Completion of Marx’s Analysis, 23. Tugan Baranovski and his ‘Lack of Proportion’, 24. The End of Russian ‘Legalist’ Marxism, SECTION III: The Historical Conditions of Accumulation, 25. Contradictions within the Diagram of Enlarged Reproduction, 26. The Reproduction of Capital and its Social Setting, 27. The Struggle against Natural Economy, 28. The Introduction of Commodity Economy, 29. The Struggle against Peasant Economy, 30. International Loans, 31. Protective Tariffs and Accumulation, 32. Militarism as a Province of Accumulation, Index

    Biography

    Rosa Luxemburg (1870-1919). Polish-born revolutionary who was a leader of the left-wing movement in Germany from 1898 until her murder in 1919.

    Translated by Agnes Schwarzschild.

    'Rosa Luxemburg is one of the really big figures in the history of the international socialist movement and The Accumulation of Capital is unquestionably her magnum opus.' - New Statesman

    'This book, out of print for decades, is well worth reading ... one of her finest works.' - Labour Research