Capitalism; Imperialism; Saving and investment; Socialism
In 1894, Peter v. Struve who had already given a detailed appraisal of
Nikolayon's book in an essay 'On Capitalist Development in Russia',[292]
published a book in Russian,[293] criticising the theories of 'populism'
from various aspects. In respect of our present problem, however, he
mainly confines himself to proving, against both Vorontsov and
Nikolayon, that capitalism does not cause a contraction of the home
market but, on the contrary, an expansion. There can be no doubt that
Nikolayon has made a blunder--the same that Sismondi had made. They each
describe only a single aspect of the destructive process, performed by
capitalism on the traditional forms of production by small enterprise.
They saw only the resulting depression of general welfare, the
impoverishment of broad strata of the population, and failed to notice
that economic aspect of the process which entails the abolition of
natural economy and the substitution of a commodity economy in rural
districts. And this is as much as to say that, by absorbing further and
further sections of formerly independent and self-sufficient producers
into its own sphere, capitalism continuously transforms into commodity
buyers ever new strata of people who had not before bought its
commodities. In fact, the course of capitalist development is just the
opposite of that pictured by the 'populists' on the model of Sismondi.
Capitalism, far from ruining the home market, really sets about creating
it, precisely by means of a spreading money economy.
Struve in particular refutes the theory that the surplus value cannot
possibly be realised on the home market. He argues as follows: The
conviction that a mature capitalist society consists exclusively of
entrepreneurs and workers forms the basis of Vorontsov's theory, and
Nikolayon himself operates with this concept throughout. From this point
of view, of course, the realisation of the capitalist aggregate product
seems incomprehensible. And Vorontsov's theory is correct in so far as
it states the fact that neither the capitalists' nor the workers'
consumption can realise the surplus value, so that the existence of
'third persons' must be presumed.[294] But then, is it not beyond any
doubt that some such 'third persons' exist in every capitalist society?
The idea of Vorontsov and Nikolayon is pure fiction 'which cannot
advance our understanding of any historical process whatever by a hair's
breadth'.[295] There is no actual capitalist society, however highly
developed, composed exclusively of capitalists and workers.
'Even in England and Wales, out of a thousand self-supporting
inhabitants, 543 are engaged in industry, 172 in commerce, 140 in
agriculture, 81 in casual wage labour, and 62 in the Civil Service, the
liberal professions and the like.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account