New Marx reading

The Neue Marx-Lektüre in the broader sense is a way of receiving the economic theory of Karl Marx from around the mid-1960s , which is mainly interested in a theoretical representation of the form of value . The Neue Marx-Lektüre was created to distinguish it from both Marxism-Leninism and social democracy , especially in Western and occasionally in Eastern Europe.

Basics

In a narrower sense, the term Neue Marx-Lektüre encompasses a loose group of authors mainly in German-speaking countries. a. revised the historicizing and empirical interpretation of the Marxian analysis of economic forms, which goes back to Friedrich Engels . The name has been used since around 1997 and comes from a work by Hans-Georg Backhaus . "Neo-Marxism", "critical Marxism", "capital logic", "Hegel Marxism" or "Marxism as social science" can also be found as further names for this inner-Marxist movement.

Based on the early approaches of Evgeni Bronislawowitsch Paschukanis and Isaak Iljitsch Rubin from the 1920s, the works that were presented by Helmut Reichelt and Hans-Georg Backhaus in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the writings of Michael Heinrich from the 1990s A partly academic and partly non-academic debate has developed about the question of economic value . These authors, who are now referred to as the collective term of the new Marx reading, differentiate themselves in several respects from the traditional Marxisms in the environment of the labor movement and state socialism. The new Marx reading rejected

• Premonetary theories of value , according to which the individual concrete work adds value and the substance of value results directly from the working time spent. In contrast, the social character of value-adding work is emphasized.
• Concepts of the state as a manipulative instrument of a ruling class. In contrast, the debate on the derivation of the state understands the state as a component of capitalism that is structurally necessary for capitalism and that is relatively separate from the classes.
• historical-theoretical expectations of a revolution to be achieved by the proletariat . In contrast, capital is viewed as an automatic subject that exists in both an apparent and real form.

Furthermore, the authors of the new Marx reading insist on the relevance of the Marxian approach to the neoclassical economics that dominates academically. The main insistence here is that the microeconomic approaches of neoclassical economic theory cannot explain the constitution, maintenance and dynamics of the economic value relationship and that they can only provide insufficient theoretical means for macroeconomic constructs such as gross national product. On the other hand, it is pointed out that although Marx does not provide answers to these questions, he has a higher level of reflection and problem awareness, which must be critically won for the contemporary discussion.

The positions within the representatives of the New Marx Reading are by no means homogeneous. There are often disputes and arguments about individual special questions in the Marx analysis. The focus here is on the interpretation of the Marxian concept of abstract work and the view of the concept of validity raised by Reichelt.

Major works

• Helmut Reichelt : On the logical structure of the concept of capital in Karl Marx . At the same time: Dissertation from July 10, 1968, Wirtschafts- u. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt, 1968, 265 p .; 4th, through Edition, with a foreword by Iring Fetscher , Frankfurt a. M .: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 1973 (Political Economy); Freiburg im Breisgau: Ça Ira, 2001, ISBN 3-924627-76-2 . ( Blurb )
• Michael Heinrich : Critique of Political Economy - An Introduction , Schmetterling Verlag, 3rd edition 2005
• Michael Heinrich: The science of value (dissertation) VSA-Verlag, 1991; 7th expanded edition 2017, ISBN 978-3-89691-454-5 .
• Hans-Georg Backhaus : Dialectics of the form of value. Studies on Marx's economic criticism , Freiburg i. Br. 1997, ISBN 3-924627-52-5 .
• Helmut Reichelt: New Marx reading. On the critique of social science logic , Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89965-287-1 . ( Table of contents as PDF , blurb ); 2nd edition, Freiburg im Breisgau: Ça Ira, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86259-116-9 . ( Table of contents )

literature

• Ingo Elbe: Neue Marxlektüre , in: Michael Quante , David P. Schweikard (Ed.): Marx-Handbuch. Life - work - effect . JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-476-02332-2 , pp. 343-349.
• Frank Engster, Jan Hoff: The New Marx Reading in an International Context , Berlin 2012 (Philosophical Conversations 28, Helle Panke eV).
• Ingo Elbe : Marx in the West. The new reading of Marx in the Federal Republic since 1965 , Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-05-004470-5 . Table of contents and introduction (PDF, 33 pages).
• Michael Heinrich: How to read Marx's Capital? 1st edition. Butterfly Verlag , Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 3-89657-051-X .
• Michael Heinrich / Werner Bonefeld (eds.): Capital & Criticism: After the "new" Marx reading , Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89965-403-5 .
• Hanno Pahl: Money in the modern economy. Marx and Luhmann in comparison , Frankfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-593-38607-2 .
• Jan Hoff , Alexis Petrioli, Ingo Stützle , Frieder Otto Wolf (eds.): Reread capital. Contributions to radical philosophy , Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-89691-605-X , ISBN 978-3-89691-605-1 . Reading sample with table of contents, introduction and epilogue (34 pages pdf; 361 kB)
• Lars Meyer: Absolute value and general will. On the self-justification of dialectical social theory , Bielefeld 2005, ISBN 978-3-89942-224-5 .
• Michael Heinrich: Critique of Political Economy - An Introduction , Schmetterling Verlag, 3rd edition 2005.
• Christine Kirchhoff, Hanno Pahl, Christoph Engemann, Judith Heckel, Lars Meyer (eds.): Society as reversal. Perspectives on a new reading of Marx. Festschrift for Helmut Reichelt , Freiburg 2004, ISBN 3-924627-26-6 .
• Jan Hoff: Critique of Classical Political Economy. On the reception of value-theoretical approaches to economic classics by Karl Marx , Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89438-314-3 .
• Dieter Wolf : Critical Theory and Critique of Political Economy. A critical examination of the writings of Hans-Georg Backhaus and Helmut Reichelt. (PDF; 897 kB) In: Dieter Wolf, Heinz Paragenings: On the confusion of the concept of value. Contributions to the "Capital" discussion , Argument Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-88619-651-7 (Berlin Association for the Promotion of the MEGA Edition eV, Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen, Issue 3)
• Dieter Wolf: On the method in Marx's “Capital” with special consideration of its logical-systematic character. On the method dispute between Wolfgang Fritz Haug and Michael Heinrich. (PDF; 635 kB) In: Ingo Elbe, Tobias Reichardt, Dieter Wolf: Social practice and its scientific presentation. Contributions to the capital discussion. Scientific communications. Issue 6. Argument Verlag, Hamburg, 2008. ISBN 978-3-88619-655-5 Ed .: Carl-Erich Vollgraf, Richard Sperl & Rolf Hecker .
• Karl Reitter (Ed.): Karl Marx - Philosopher of Liberation or Theoretician of Capital? On the criticism of the "new reading of Marx". Vienna 2015, Mandelbaum Verlag, ISBN 978-3-85476-639-1 ( free download of the book at mandelbaum.at, accessed on April 8, 2020 ).
• Uwe F. Findeisen: Marx's critique of capitalism - and what the new Marx reading (not) contributes to it. In: Johannes Schillo (Ed.): Back to the original. On the topicality of Marx's theory. Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-89965-675-6 .
• Johann-Friedrich Anders: The New Marx Reading - Claim and Reality . In: Z. Zeitschrift Marxistische Renewal . No. 111, September 2017, pp. 172–180. ISSN  0940-0648
• Jan Hoff: Antagonisms according to Marx - Insights into current theoretical debates outside of Europe . Philosophical Conversations Book 51. Helle Panke, 2018 ,. 40 pp.

Web links

• Ingo Elbe: New Marx reading (article in "Information Philosophy")
• Ingo Elbe: Between Marx, Marxism and Marxisms - readings of Marxian theory (PDF; 141 kB)
• Ingo Elbe: Value form analysis and money. On the debate on popularizations, breaks and games of hide-and-seek in Marx's presentation (2008, PDF)
• How not to reread “Das Kapital” again. On the “Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy” by Michael Heinrich (PDF), GegenStandpunkt - Political Quarterly Journal No. 2/2008.
• Dieter Wolf: The form of value and the dialectical method. On the interpretation of the dialectic of the form of value by Hans-Georg Backhaus (PDF; 68 kB). In: The dialectical contradiction in capital. A contribution to Marx's theory of value. Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-87975-889-1 , p. 151ff.

Text archives

• Marx Society
• oekonomiekritik.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ in H.-G. Backhaus: Dialectics of the Form of Value , Freiburg 1997, page 9
2. ^ I. Elbe: Marx im Westen , Berlin 2008, page 13
3. ↑ http://www.dieterwolf.net/pdf/Abstrakte_Arbeit_Wert.pdf
4. ↑ http://www.rote-ruhr-uni.com/texte/elbe_reichelt.pdf
5. ↑ Hendrik Wallat : Theory history of the new Marx reading , review of Marx in the West (PDF, 10 pages)
6. ↑ Wolfgang Fritz Haug : The "New capital-reading" of the monetary theory of value , to review Capital new reading (15 pages pdf; 259 kB)