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The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System,
Being also a Theory of Crisis was Henryk Grossman's most important,
influential, and also most denounced work. As official Communist
economic thought was petrifying, to comply with the needs of the
Stalinist state in Russia, Grossman's book challenged the
developing dogma. Combining Marx's method and insights with a
comprehensive assessment of the very substantial literature on
crisis theory, Grossman demonstrated how the capitalist system,
even under supposedly ideal conditions, will break down
economically. Grossman's recovery of Marx's explanations for
capitalism's crises and tendency to break down is as timely as
ever, and thanks to Jairus Banaji and Rick Kuhn, this wonderful,
first full English translation is now available. The Law of
Accumulation is the third of four volumes of Grossman's works.
The rise of capitalism to global dominance is still largely
associated - by both laypeople and Marxist historians - with the
industrial capitalism that made its decisive breakthrough in 18th
century Britain. Jairus Banaji's new work reaches back centuries
and traverses vast distances to argue that this leap was preceded
by a long era of distinct "commercial capitalism", which
reorganised labor and production on a world scale to a degree
hitherto rarely appreciated. Rather than a picture centred solely
on Europe, we enter a diverse and vibrant world. Banaji reveals the
cantons of Muslim merchants trading in Guangzhou since the eighth
century, the 3,000 European traders recorded in Alexandria in 1216,
the Genoese, Venetians and Spanish Jews battling for commercial
dominance of Constantinople and later Istanbul. We are left with a
rich and global portrait of a world constantly in motion, tied
together and increasingly dominated by a pre-industrial capitalism.
The rise of Europe to world domination, in this view, has nothing
to do with any unique genius, but rather a distinct fusion of
commercial capitalism with state power.
This collection of essays, by leading historian Jairus Banaji,
provides a stimulating rebuttal to the prevailing minimalism in
late antique studies. Together, they strike a balance between the
wide lens and more specialised discussion, expanding on the
perspective and argumentation laid out in an earlier book, Agrarian
Change in Late Antiquity (2001). Successive chapters discuss the
scale of the late Roman gold currency, the economic nature of the
aristocracy, the importance of trade, relations between the state
and the ruling class, and the problem of continuity into the early
Middle Ages. A substantial introduction pulls together the themes
of the book into a coherent synopsis, while the preface clarifies
the broad aims behind the study. The book as a whole deploys a wide
range of sources in various languages and is intended for ancient
historians, students of late antiquity, and economic historians
more generally.
This collection of essays, by leading historian Jairus Banaji,
provides a stimulating rebuttal to the prevailing minimalism in
late antique studies. Together, they strike a balance between the
wide lens and more specialised discussion, expanding on the
perspective and argumentation laid out in an earlier book, Agrarian
Change in Late Antiquity (2001). Successive chapters discuss the
scale of the late Roman gold currency, the economic nature of the
aristocracy, the importance of trade, relations between the state
and the ruling class, and the problem of continuity into the early
Middle Ages. A substantial introduction pulls together the themes
of the book into a coherent synopsis, while the preface clarifies
the broad aims behind the study. The book as a whole deploys a wide
range of sources in various languages and is intended for ancient
historians, students of late antiquity, and economic historians
more generally.
The rise of capitalism to global dominance is still largely
associated - by both laypeople and Marxist historians - with the
industrial capitalism that made its decisive breakthrough in 18th
century Britain. Jairus Banaji's new work reaches back centuries
and traverses vast distances to argue that this leap was preceded
by a long era of distinct "commercial capitalism", which
reorganised labor and production on a world scale to a degree
hitherto rarely appreciated. Rather than a picture centred solely
on Europe, we enter a diverse and vibrant world. Banaji reveals the
cantons of Muslim merchants trading in Guangzhou since the eighth
century, the 3,000 European traders recorded in Alexandria in 1216,
the Genoese, Venetians and Spanish Jews battling for commercial
dominance of Constantinople and later Istanbul. We are left with a
rich and global portrait of a world constantly in motion, tied
together and increasingly dominated by a pre-industrial capitalism.
The rise of Europe to world domination, in this view, has nothing
to do with any unique genius, but rather a distinct fusion of
commercial capitalism with state power.
The economy of the late antique Mediterranean is still largely seen
through the prism of Weber's influential essay of 1896. Rejecting
that orthodoxy, Jairus Banaji argues that the late empire saw
substantial economic and social change, propelled by the powerful
stimulus of a stable gold coinage that circulated widely. In
successive chapters Banaji adduces fresh evidence for the
prosperity of the late Roman countryside, the expanding circulation
of gold, the restructuring of agrarian elites, and the extensive
use of paid labour, above all in the period spanning the fifth to
seventh centuries. The papyrological evidence is scrutinized in
detail to show that a key development entailed the rise of a new
aristocracy whose estates were immune to the devastating
fragmentation of partible inheritance, extensively irrigated, and
responsive to market opportunities. A concluding chapter defines
the more general issue raised by the aristocracy's involvement in
the monetary and business economy of the period.
Exploiting a wide range of sources, Agrarian Change in Late
Antiquity weaves together different strands of historiography
(Weber, Mickwitz, papyrology, agrarian history) into a fascinating
interpretation that challenges the minimalist orthodoxies about
late antiquity and the ancient economy more generally.
Long awaited, the first full translation of Henryk Grossman's The
Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System, Being
also a Theory of Crisis has been published in English. It was the
most important, influential and yet most denounced of Grossman's
works and recovers not only Marx's primary explanation of
capitalism's economic crises and breakdown tendency but also his
method in Capital.
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