Henryk Grossman and the recovery of Marxism

Abstract

Marxists are ambitious. We set out not only to understand the world but, more importantly, to change it. We regard ideas as part of the world and seek to understand and change them too. Marxism, as a set of ideas, has no privileged status in this regard. It, too, can be explained within the framework of historical materialism. For Marxism is not only a theory of the working class's struggle for its own emancipation. This theory is also the product of that struggle and the efforts of real human beings committed to and involved in it. The history of Marxism can only be grasped in the context of the working class's victories and defeats. This article uses an historical materialist framework to explore Henryk Grossman's recovery of Marxist economic theory, its preconditions in Grossman's own experience and its relationships with the recoveries of Marxist politics and philosophy undertaken by Lenin and György Lukács. The paragraphs below provide some background on the history of Marxism and especially of the Marxist theory of economic crisis. The next section sketches Grossman's political life to 1933. It is followed by an outline of his recovery and renewal of Marxist political economy. Instead of relying on a few passages selected from his best known work, The law of accumulation and breakdown of the capitalist system: being also a theory of crises, as most of his critics have, this discussion seeks to understand Grossman's approach in the context of his work as a whole, including his published and unpublished replies to critics. The final section discusses the effects of the rise of Stalinism and fascism on Grossman and their implications for his legacy. Show more