Marxism-and-the-Critique-of-Value.pdf

8/12/2019 Marxism-and-the-Critique-of-Value.pdf

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Edited byNeil Larsen, Mathias Nilges, Josh Robinson, and Nicholas Brown

Marxism and the Critique of Value


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Marxism and the Critique of ValueNeil Larsen, Mathias Nilges, Josh Robinson, and Nicholas Brown


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Be a Edi ion copyrigh 2014 by MCM' Publishing.

Anyone may reproduce, s ore, and rasmi any par o his publica ion in anyorm or by any means, elec ronic, mechanical, pho ocopying, recording, or

o herwise, under he ollowing condi ions: you mus give he original au horsand edi ors credi ; you mus include original publica ion da a; and you mayno use his work or commerical purposes. Failing hese condi ions, all righ sare reserved.

Published by MCM' PublishingChicago 60608www.mcmprime.com

Library o Congress Con rol Number 2013950962


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For Rober Kurz, 1943-2012


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Contentsix In roduc ion

1 Value and Crisis: Basic Ques ions (Norber renkle, 1998)

17 Te Crisis o Exchange Value: Science as Produc ivi y, Produc iveLabor, and Capi alis Reproduc ion (Rober Kurz, 1986)

77 A Con radic ion be ween Mater and Form: On he Signicance ohe Produc ion o Rela ive Surplus Value in he Dynamic o erminal

Crisis (Claus Pe er Or lieb, 2008)

123 Pa riarchy and Commodi y Socie y: Gender wi hou he Body(Roswi ha Scholz, 2009)

143 Te Rise and Fall o he Working Man: owards a Cri ique o ModernMasculini y (Norber renkle, 2008)

151 Off Limi s, Ou o Con rol: Commodi y Socie y and Resis ance in heAge o Deregula ion and Dena ionaliza ion (Erns Lohoff, 2009)

187 World Power and World Money: Te Economic Func ion o he U.S.Mili ary Machine wi hin Global Capi alism and he Background o

he New Financial Crisis (Rober Kurz, 2008)

201 S ruggle wi hou Classes: Why Tere Is No Resurgence o heProle aria in he Curren ly Un olding Capi alis Crisis (Norber

renkle, 2006)

225 Violence as he Order o Tings and he Logic o Annihila ion (ErnsLohoff, 2003)

285 Te Nigh mare o Freedom: Te Founda ions o Wes ern Valuesand he Helplessness o Cri ique (Rober Kurz, 2005)

293 Cur ains or Universalism: Islamism as Fundamen alism in ModernSocial Form (Karl-Heinz Lewed, 2008)

331 On he Curren Global Economic Crisis: Ques ions and Answers

(Rober Kurz, 2010)357 Te On ological Break: Be ore he Beginning o a Differen World

His ory (Rober Kurz, 2005)

373 Index


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Introduction

Marxism and he Cri ique o Value is he rs broadly represen a ivebook-leng h collec ion in English ransla ion o work rom hecon emporary German-language school o Marxian cri ical heoryknown as Wer kri ik, or, as we have op ed o ransla e he erm,value-cri ique or he cri ique o value.1 Te cri ique o value i selis unders ood in hese pages as having begun wi h Marx, whoini ia ed a heore ical projec ha was as philosophically radicalas i s implica ions were revolu ionary; an incomple e projec

ha has been aken up only ully by Marxism a er Marx.2 InMarxs cri ique o poli ical economy, value and o her ca egoriesatendan on i are shown o be concep s bo h undamen al o he

unc ioning o capi alism and undamen ally incoheren , riddledwi h con radic ions as pure concep s and produc ive o crisis asac ually exis ing concep s opera ive in he day- o-day reproduc iono social li e under capi al. While his eso eric Marxian cri iquehas been rediscovered rom ime o ime by pos -Marxis s who know

heyve ound some hing in eres ing bu don qui e know which end


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x Marxism and the Critique of Value

is he handle, Anglophone Marxism, or reasons ha will become clearin he course o his book, has ended o bury his eso eric cri iquebenea h a more redis ribu ionis unders anding o Marx, imagining

ha here could be a posi ive Marxis science o he economy, a scienceha would be orien ed oward devolving surplus value o he laborha crea es i .3 Bu wha i he value rela ion does no cons i u e i sel

in con radic ion o labor, bu ra her encompasses labor as preciselyano her o i s orms o appearance i labor is, o paraphrase andecho wha is perhaps Norber renkles mos direc challenge o

radi ional Marxism, i sel always already a real abs rac ion noless han he commodi y orm? Wha hen are, or a cri ical houghs ill ai h ul o Marx, he implied orms o revolu ionary prac ice andagency?

Te in roduc ory remarks ha ollow are in ended principallyor readers wi h litle o no previous knowledge oWer kri ik. Te

nearly universal absence o English ransla ions ha has prevailed up

un il now over a period o nearly hree decades, in effec an en iregenera ion has resul ed in a vir ually o al absence oWer kri ik

rom Anglophone cri ical heory even as one o hose spacesmarked erra incogni a on he maps drawn up by he conquerorsand colonizers o he rs phases o he capi alis world-sys em. Given

his absence, he need or a minimum o his orical and bibliographicalin orma ion can hardly be more urgen even as he con ex wouldi sel demand o be con ex ualized, ad inni um. Te bulk o hisin roduc ion will consis o a series o in erpre ive summaries o he

hir een ex s selec ed or ransla ion and con orming o a looselyhema ic sequence.4 Tese summaries, making up he mos prac ical

segmen o he in roduc ion, are in ended only o orien he readeroward he esays hemselves. Te bes in roduc ion oWer kri ik as aheore ical orien a ion is he essay ha begins his collec ion, Norberrenkles Value and Crisis: Basic Ques ions. Tere he reader will

nd a concise presen a ion o he wha and why o value-cri ique(originally presen ed as a lec ure or his purpose in 1998) ha wouldrender an elabora e summary o undamen al ene s here superuous.


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xiIntroduction

Al hough i s precise origins in he Wes Germany o he 1970s and1980s remain a mater o some dispu e,Wer kri ik s emergence as a welldened and sys ema ic direc ion wi hin German-speaking Marxiancri ical heory is made clear by he sheer mass, range, and dep h o heWer kri ik archive, which consis s o housands o pages dis ribu edacross publica ions ranging rom shor newspaper columns oleng hy journal ar icles o monographs. Ye i may come as surprise

o Anglophone readers o learn haWer kri ikin his sys ema ic sensedesigna es in prac ice he accumula ed work o probably no more han

hir y or or y individuals making up wo presen ly non-coopera ingheory-orien ed collec ives, he cen ral core o whose members haveor years lived and worked in and around he nor hern Bavarian ci y o

Nuremberg and whose main ac ivi y has been o produce wo roughlyannual journals Krisis andExi ! wi hS rei zge, a Vienna-based,looselyKrisis-allied, more pamphle ary publica ion, making up a hirdvenue.5

A smaller number o individuals closely involved in he produc iono one or he o her o hese periodical organs have published book-leng h works as well, mos no ably and prolically in he case oWer kri iks mos prominen au hor and ounda ional hinker, hela e Rober Kurz. Un il his un imely dea h in July 2012, Kurz wro evoluminously, publishing heore ical essays regularly inKrisis and

hen, a er 2004, inExi !; con ribu ed regular, shor newspapercolumns in he le -wing German press (and a mon hly column or heFolha de So Paulo, he major Brazilian daily); and au hored a numbero book-leng h works as remarkable or heir uncompromisingbu innova ive heore ical enor as hey are or heir relen lesslypolemical mili ancy. Probably he bes known o hese isSchwarzbuchKapi alismus, KurzsBlack Book o Capi alism, a massive and rulyparadigm-sha ering recons ruc ion, rom i s beginnings o i spresen -day crisis, o he his ory o he capi alis mode o produc ion.6 Meanwhile, o her, somewha younger value-cri ical heoris s, mosno ablyExi !s Roswi ha Scholz andKrisisedi ors and s alwar s Norber

renkle and Erns Lohoff, have published a s ream o pro oundly


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xii Marxism and the Critique of Value

original book-leng h works.7

hose who imagine hemselves a he vanguard o cri icalheory, Marxis and o herwise, wi hin he privileged zone o odays

unques ioned, conver ible currency o a lingua ranca, o en sharean unspoken ar icle o ai h according o which one can rus hasomeone, somewhere will see o i ha ransla ions o any hing ovi al signicance will sooner or la er nd heir way in o heore icalcircula ion. When one considers ha ew o he value-cri ical heoris spublishing inKrisis, Exi !, or S rei zge are employed as academics, i

migh appear unders andable ha he s ill predominan ly universi y-based audience or con emporary shi s and discoveries in Marxiscri ical heory would ake litle no ice even o an under aking asenormous and elec ri ying as KurzsBlack Book o Capi alism despi e

he rumors ha German inves men bankers and chie execu ives areworried enough o have been among he more loyal, i clandes ine,readers o Kurzs journalis ic columns. Is he absence oWer kri ik rom

Anglophone discourse an excep ional, even scandalous s a e o affairs?Or is such absence ra her inevi ably he case whenever some hinggenuinely new or simply chronically excluded rom he awareness oany cosmopoli an s ra um o in ellec uals is discovered? Te edi orso his volume do no pre end o any superiori y o judgmen . Wehave, never heless, under aken he work o preparing his volumein he convic ion ha he con ribu ion oWer kri ik o Marxis andcri ical heory generally is o such impor ance ha i s absence romcon emporary Anglophone deba es is remarkable and possiblysymp oma ic: a perhaps inadver en ly en orced exclusion rom a

heore ical-cri ical eld o vision, and he removal o wha i excludeso a loca ion a which wha has or unknown reasons ailed o become

presen or heore ical and cri ical awareness is presupposed as, byvir ue o i s con ingen absence, necessarily absen , even excludeda priori rom such heore ical and cri ical awareness. Tere are, ocourse, impor an excep ions.8 Bu English-speaking Marxis s have

ended o acknowledge he exis ence o he eso eric Marx as i wereonly on Sundays, qui e as i he inner dynamic o he value orm and an


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xiiiIntroduction

unders anding o he his orical un olding o even s down o he presenmomen had no hing o do wi h one ano her. And perhaps ha ac ,as much as he hi her o ex remely ske chy dissemina ion o he crisis

heories linked o German-language cri iques o poli ical economy,rom Henryk Grossman, Paul Matick, and Al red Sohn-Re hel, via he

origins o heneue Marx-Lek re in Adornos classroom in he 1960s,up o and including bo h he con emporary mani es a ions o he newreading o Marx and presen -day value-cri ique, explains why helater has remained mos ly unknown ground or Anglophones.9

Te difficul y o nding value-cri ical ma erial in English servesas an exacerba ed model or he res o he non-German-speakingworld.10 English-language ransla ions o he occasional shorar icle by Rober Kurz or Anselm Jappe (as o en as no hanks o heoppor une discovery o Por uguese, Spanish or French ransla ions

rom he original German) have cropped up now and hen on heblogosphere or, i one knew enough o look, in ci a ion indices. And

( hanks o he ireless effor s o Joe Keady) a more consis en s reamo English renderings o , or he mos par , excerp s rom he workso renkle and Lohoff now appear on he new, online- ormatedKrisis.Bu rue o a longs anding in ellec ual impor patern in he English-speaking world, French remains he quasi-official oreign language onew radical heory wi h I alian now sharing he domes ic marke

or exo ic wares. In eres ingly, he single mos impor an excep iono his linguis ically imposed localism has been, since he mid-1990s,he s ill compara ively small bu energe ic and sus ained s udy o

Wer kri ik ha can be ound in and radia ing ou rom he Universi y oSo Paulo, hanks ul ima ely o he effor s o Rober o Schwarz, one oBrazils oremos Marxis li erary, cul ural, and social heoris s, whoseinuen ial review o he Por uguese ransla ion o KurzsDer Kollapsder Modernisierung (Te Collapse o Moderniza ion) sparked he in enseBrazilian in eres in value-cri ique.11 Tere ollowed he inaugura iono Kurzs column or he Folha de So Paulo. Wi h his, shor er wri ingsby Kurz and o her well-known value-cri ical heoris s and au horsbegan o appear in Por uguese ransla ion as well. Tis hen made


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xiv Marxism and the Critique of Value

possible he a irs spon aneous, now organized publica ion oransla ions o he periodical li era ure o value-cri ique on websi es

(including Por ugalsobeco, on which vir ually every hing publishedin issues o Exi ! appears prac ically overnigh in highly compe enPor uguese ransla ion) ha are he work o independen radical

heory circles, one o which ormed in he ci y o Reci e, a rela ivelyperipheral ci y in he ar Nor heas bu one wi h an augus radical

radi ion.12 So much or he no ion ha heore ical vanguards ravelrs rom me ropolis o me ropolis!

he phenomenon o so-called an i-German communismrequires some care ul men ion here. Wi h i s origins in he cri icalMarxis curren s ha rejec ed he Leninism and Mao-S alinismo he ragmen ed cadre-organiza ions and groupuscules knownas heK-Gruppen (so called because he rs ini ial o mos o heirorganiza ional abbrevia ions was K orkommunis isch) in he la e1970s and 1980s, he an i-German German rajec ory can be credi ed

wi h having played an impor an role in he rediscovery o a range onon-or hodox Marxis radi ions, including he rs genera ion o

he Frank ur School (Adorno in par icular), he council communis s,Al red Sohn-Re hel, and Hans-Jrgen Krahl. In luenced by heirrediscovery o he an i-na ionalism o Rosa Luxemburg and KarlLiebknech (and la er ha o he le -communis s), an i-Germancommunis s con roversially urned away rom he reexive suppor

or movemen s o na ional libera ion ha was near-compulsoryamong he Wes -German radical le o he 1970s.13

Tis an i-na ional orien a ion en ailed a complex rela ionshipo he na ionalis an i-Zionism ha since a leas 1967 had been he

de aul posi ion on he Le in bo h Eas and Wes . Tis s emmed inpar rom cri ical reec ion on he la en an isemi ism ha some imeshides behind cri icism o Israel, no he only s a e wi h a record oviolen and criminal discrimina ion. Bu i also wen hand in hand wi ha new unders anding, s rongly inuenced by Moishe Pos ones An i-Semi ism and Na ional Socialism, o elimina ionis an i-semi ism.14 Te re hinking o he poli ics o an isemi ism and an i-Zionism ha


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xvIntroduction

ook place in he German-speaking radical Le during he course ohe 1990s was closely rela ed o he kinds o atemp s, carried on andur her developed byWer kri ik in ways visible in some o he essays

collec ed in his volume, o unders and, o analyze, and above all ocri icize he capi al rela ion. In par icular he an i-German endencyled, among o her hings, o he rejec ion o wo kinds o posi ion haare s ill popular among large par s o he sel -s yled radical le . Ters is he cri icism o he role played by nance capi al wi h respec

o he so-called real economy o indus rial capi al. Tis cri icism,

requen ly heard in he wake o he nancial crisis o 20078, bo hignores he orce o he Marxian insigh ha nance capi al is i seldependen on he produc ion o surplus value, and can a imescome dis urbingly close o mirroring he Na ional Socialis objec ion

o parasi ic (in erna ional, Jewish, exploi ive) capi al in avor oproduc ive (na ional, German, au och honous) capi al. Te secondis he an i-Americanism masquerading as opposi ion o capi alism

ha would la er charac erize large sec ions o he an i-globaliza ionmovemen , mani es ing i sel in a hos ili y o symbols such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds.

Wha is clear in he case o bo h o hese phenomena and whaWer kri ik drew rom i s own complex origins in he poli ical deba esand divisions o he era, and despi e la er cri icisms voiced agains hean i-German endency as i began i sel o ake on more and moreopenly reac ionary and even pro-U.S. imperialis posi ions is ha

hey are no , appearances no wi hs anding, cri iques o capi alism aall. Te rs explici ly appeals o indus rial capi alis produc ion (andin doing so erases all class dis inc ions in he indus rial produc ionprocess), while he second is an argumen in avor o local and o ensmaller-scale produc ion, an argumen which is requen ly imbuedwi h an i-Americanressen imen, and which neglec s he capi aliscompulsion o valorize value on an ever larger scale. Along hese samelines, objec ions o he ac ions o he players in he game o casinocapi alism are misdirec ed inso ar as hey see hese individualsas responsible or he sys em wi hin which hey ac ra her han


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xvi Marxism and the Critique of Value

recognizing ha he sys emic consequences o he compulsion ohe valoriza ion o value cons i u e he sphere wi hin which casino-

agency is produced. In doing so, such objec ions miscons rue nancialspecula ion and public borrowing as causes o he crisis, when in ac

hey are merely responses o and more specically, processes ode erral o he crisis o exchange value in which capi al, which canno longer atain valoriza ion in indus rial produc ion, seeks grea erre urns elsewhere, by means o he ina ion o specula ive bubbles.15

And as a nal observa ion here: givenWer kri ks key con ribu ions

o crisis heory, i s rela ive absence wi hin Anglophone economic andpoli ical discourse has become especially crippling since he ou breako he curren severe and his orically unpreceden ed crisis o globalcapi alism in 2007-8. Te considerable upsurge o in eres in Marx

ha has been one resul o he curren crisis in par icular inMarxs heory o capi alisms endency o sel -des ruc , as avorablymen ioned by Wall S ree s and heFinancial imes s mos lis ened- o

doom-mongering mains ream economis , Nouriel Roubini, in Augus ,2011 has in urn given rise o a ple hora o heore ical and poli icaldeba es in Le -leaning, Marxism- riendly al erna ive media in Nor hAmerica concerning he na ure and ou come o he Grea Recession,as he global economic down urn in he wake o he nancial crisiso 20078 seems o have come o be called, a leas wi hin he U.S.16 Bu wha has been missing in his li era ure has been an analysis hareaches deep in o he s ruc ure o Marxs ma ure cri ique o poli icaleconomy and a he same ime beyond he limi a ions o wha Kurzre ers o as he exo eric Marx: he poin s and aspec s wi hin his workwhere Marx is concerned wi h and orien ed oward he moderniza ionand developmen o capi alism, rom he his orical perspec ive o hisexis ence in he nine een h cen ury.

No surprisingly, and despi e he impressive explora ory rangeo Wer kri ik across he a imes seemingly endless ma rix o socialrela ions media ed hrough he value abs rac ion, especially as helater sinks ever more rapidly and deeply in o he array o symp oms

ha mark wha is possibly he erminal crisis o he value orm i sel ,


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xviiIntroduction

many problema ics remain unexplored. Prominen among hese, orreasons perhaps no difficul o discern when one considers ha hey

ended o domina e he cri ical heory o he Frank ur School romwhich Wer kri ik has had, ironically, o dis ance i sel in order omake ull use o i s ies o precursors such as Adorno, are he sphereso cul ure and he aes he ic. Bu he ques ion o he emancipa oryin i s immanen rela ion o he crisis o commodi y socie y may bewha nally eludes he cri ique o value even as i bores i s way ever

ur her in o he dep hs o a u ure as hough rom ron o back. I h

associa ed producers no longer appear as capi alisms gravediggers,who akes heir place? A imesWer kri ik re uses o consider ha i sake on his ques ion requires, a he very leas , evidence ha he old

no ion o a poli ical subjec , wha ever i s composi ion, is worse hani s lack evidence ha he curren momen coyly wi holds. Bu i oneis o nd such an immanen ground o emancipa ion, even i i s racesare as ye absen rom hem, one mus s ar by looking hard in o he

new and a imes uncannily dark illumina ions in he mirror held upo our own con emporanei y by he essays ha ollow.


Norber renklesValue and Crisis: Basic Ques ions,he rs exin his collec ion, se s or h in condensed orm he cen ral ene so he cri ique o value.17 Te rs , which makes clearWer kri iksorigins in he Wes ern Marxism s emming rom LukcssHis ory andClass Consciousnessand i s Frank ur School offshoo s, is he cri iqueo he na uraliza ion o social rela ions, according o which he

undamen ally social ca egories o commodi y-producing, capi alissocie y value, commodi y, money appear, in renkles words,rei ied and e ishized, as seemingly na ural ac s o li e and asobjec ive necessi ies (1). I is he misrecogni ion o hese ca egoriesas ranshis orical, as second na ure, ha masks he in ernalcon radic ions o capi alis socie y, con radic ions rom which s ems

he la ers inexorable endency oward crisis. hus i is ha , orrenkle, he cri ique o value is essen ially a heory o crisis (13).


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xviii Marxism and the Critique of Value

he poin a which value-cri ique di ers sharply rom bo hwha i re ers o, ollowing Pos one, as radi ional or workers-movemen Marxism as well as rom a more radi ional cri ical heorybecomes mos apparen is he concep o labor, which is unders oodno as a universal precondi ion o human exis ence or as a poin odepar ure or he analysis o commodi y socie y, s ill less as a basis

or he cons ruc ion o a new, libera ed socie y, bu as an oppressive,inhumane, and an isocial ac ivi y ha bo h is de ermined by andproduces priva e proper y (2). Labor, which only comes o exis as

such as he resul o a violen process o appropria ion ha separa esworkers rom he means o produc ion and exis ence, is a specicorm o ac ivi y in commodi y socie y, whose highes end is he

valoriza ion o value (4).In he cri ique o value, labor is made he objec o heore ical

cri ique, alling, along wi h he more amiliar, radi ionalmani es a ions o he value- orm under he aegis o wha Al red Sohn-

Re hel ermed a real or ac ually exis ing abs rac ion, a process oabs rac ion ha is no comple ed in human consciousness as an aco hough , bu which, as he a priori s ruc ure o social syn hesis, is

he presupposi ion o and de ermines human hough and ac ion (7).renkle akes issue, however, no only wi h he claim o Sohn-Re hel

bu also o Michael Heinrich, bo h o whom si ua e he real abs rac ionin he sphere o circula ion and more specically he ac o exchange.For renkle andWer kri ik, in con ras , commodi y produc ion is nodis inc rom or opposed o circula ion, bu always media ed hroughi : he produc ion o commodi ies or he sake o heir exchange valuei sel always presupposes he sphere o exchange: every processo produc ion is rom he ou se orien ed oward he valoriza iono capi al and organized accordingly (9). Tis reconsidera ion o

he undamen al ca egories o he economic sphere o commodi y-producing socie y has radical and pro ound consequences or herela ionship be ween value-cri ique and classical economics. For ivalue is no longer seen as reducible o an empirical ca egory hacan be posi ively de ermined by calcula ing he number o hours


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xixIntroduction

o socially use ul labor ha are embodied wi hin any par icularproduc , bu a e ishis ic resul o he in ernaliza ion o processes odispossession, hen he Marxis atemp o solve, or example, he so-called rans orma ion problem, o explain how a commodi ys pricecan resul rom i s value and o accoun or any divergence be ween

hem, is revealed o be a ca egory mis ake. All atemp s o ormula e acri ique o capi alism rom he s andpoin o labor or o ound a socie yon he principle ha he price workers should be paid or heir laborshould jus ly be de ermined by i s (no ionally calculable) value will

necessarily reaffirm he e ish on which capi alism is based ra herhan moving beyond i .Along wi h hese more axioma ic argumen s, renkles brillian ly

concise ou line o value-cri ique also se s or h he basic ndingo crisis heory, namely ha since he 1970s, as a resul o heworldwide, absolu e displacemen o living labor power rom heprocess o valoriza ion, capi al has reached he his orical limi s o i s

power o expand, and hus also o i s capaci y o exis (13). I is his,in urn, ha makes up he cen ral claim o he second essay o hisdossier, Rober Kurzs Te Crisis o Exchange Value (Die Krise des

auschwer s) which has perhaps he s ronges claim o be regarded ashe ounding documen o value-cri ique. Te essay was rs published

in 1986 in Issue 1 o he journal Marxis ische Kri ik, o which sevenissues were published be ween 1986 and 1989 be ore i was renamedKrisis or he publica ion o Issue 8/9 in December 1990 a er he allo he Berlin Wall.

Marxis ische Kri ik was i sel described in he edi orial o i s rsissue as in cer ain respec s a successor oNeue S rmung[New Curren],a journal o radical-Le heory ha had been made up o people wi ha wide range o revolu ionary Marxis poli ical backgrounds, ormermembers o groups ranging rom heK-Gruppen (which a one poinin he 1970s were es ima ed o have had abou 15,000 members among

hem), o ro skyis organiza ions ha race heir heri age back o heopposi ion ha ormed in he KPD in 1928 under Heinrich Brandlerand Augus Talheimer, and heoperaismo-inuenced Au onome and


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xx Marxism and the Critique of Value

squaters movemen ha had i s origins in he Ex ra-Parliamen aryOpposi ion o he la e 1960s. According o con emporary repor s, hiscons ella ion necessi a ed considerable discussion over a period o woyears be ore i was possible o overcome he concep ual differences

ha resul ed rom such rela ively he erogeneous and con ras ingradi ions, clearing a pa h orWer kri ikbo h o begin publishing aheore ical organ o i s own and, as par o he same process, o begino develop along increasingly sys ema ic and rigorous lines.

I is perhaps a legacy o hese discussions ha Kurzs essay

advances a posi ion ha more han a decade la er would be describedin he edi orial oKrisis12 as comple ely nave, seen rom our currenperspec ive. While i was clear a he ime ha Kurzs reading oMarxs accoun o rela ive surplus value implied a undamen al

urn agains he primary curren o all previous Marxis heory, heessay was s ill predica ed on a radi ional Marxis affirma ion o

he working class as revolu ionary subjec ha will no doub come as

a surprise o anyone whose rs poin o con ac wi h value-cri iquewas he 1999 Mani es o agains Labor. In he concluding sec ion oTe Crisis o Exchange Value Kurz insis s ha he does no in anyway wish undamen ally o belitle he role o he subjec : any ruerevolu ion mus proceed by means o he subjec o a social class andi s poli ical media ions (73). A his poin he cri ique o commodi ysocie y and o value and he doc rine o a revolu ionary s ruggle ors a e power led by he working class were s ill living side by side in as a e o peace ul co-exis ence. Tree years la er, his posi ion wouldbe undamen ally re hough in a process ha nds wha is perhaps i srs explici mani es a ion in he publica ion o Rober Kurz and ErnsLohoffs essay Te Fe ish o Class S ruggle in Marxis ische Kri ik 7.

Te Crisis o Exchange Value none heless con ained he core owha would develop in o he collec ion o ideas ha are represen edby he ex s ransla ed in his dossier. Te essays opening cri icizes hebelie o wha he re ers o as he Marxis Le ha he law o valueis merely a ormal law o he social alloca ion o resources ha canbe inuenced poli ically, and argues ha as long as value is allowed


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xxiIntroduction

o hold sway as an elemen o second na ure, such a Le will no beable adequa ely o unders and he developmen s in he produc ive

orces ha charac erized he wen ie h cen ury (18). Kurz akes issuewi h he pe ried his orical in erpre a ion o Marx in which heconcep s o produc ive labor and produc ivi y ail o ake in oconsidera ion he dis inc ion be ween use value and exchange value(20). From he perspec ive o use value, produc ive labor is any ormo use ul ac ivi y; rom ha o exchange value, i re ers exclusively

o he abs rac process o he orma ion o value (21). While i is he

case ha in simple commodi y produc ion he wo are more or lessiden ical, under he indus rial capi alis mode o produc ion heybegin o diverge.

Kurz analyzes his divergence wi h par icular aten ion o heca egory o rela ive surplus value, he erm Marx gave o he decreasein he ra io o necessary o surplus labor achieved by means no o heabsolu e ex ension o he working day bu o increases in produc ivi y

such ha he same magni ude o labor power can produce a grea ermass o commodi ies, or he same mass o commodi ies can beproduced by a lesser magni ude o labor power, lowering produc ioncos s, and making capi alis en erprises more compe i ive on he globalmarke . Kurz claims ha [c]api al has no in eres in and canno bein eres ed in he absolu e crea ion o value, bu is concerned merelywi h he propor ion o his new value ha can be appropria ed assurplus value (47). However, his increase in produc ivi y resul s in adecrease in he mass o value in every individual commodi y, since lesslabor ime is required or he produc ion o he same uni produced.Wi h he developmen o produc ivi y, capi al increases he ex eno exploi a ion, bu in doing so i undermines he ounda ion and

he objec o exploi a ion, he produc ion o value as such (47). Tesubs ance or con en o value is elimina ed, bu capi al mus ensure

ha i s orms o circula ion persis . Tis mus lead o ca as rophicsocial collisions (54). Kurz hus iden ies an absolu e, immanenlimi o capi alism, and claims no only ha capi al and i s advoca esare necessarily blind o he endency oward he reduc ion o value-


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xxii Marxism and the Critique of Value

produc ion, bu also ha he Marxis Le has ailed adequa ely oaddress much less o rene i s unders anding o his problema ic.For Kurz wri ing in he mid 1980s, he crisis dynamic has alreadybegun: each addi ional increase in produc ivi y and each ur herra ionaliza ion driven by he need o individual capi als o main aincompe i iveness on he world marke only add nails o he coffin o

he sel -valoriza ion o value. Capi alism has, in his sense, and i heheory holds rue, en ered upon i s nal crisis.

Despi e he oreboding predic ions o barbarism in his con ex ,

Kurzs s ronges atack is direc ed no agains capi al and i s advoca es,bu agains he ailure o he Le o recognize he dynamic o he crisis.From Engels, Kau sky, and Luxemburgs presen a ion o Marxs heoryo crisis as a heory purely o overproduc ion or underconsump ion

o Berns eins rejec ion o Marxs heory o collapse al oge her, Kurzaccuses he his orical Le o remaining xa ed on he e ishis ic,sur ace-level ca egories o capi al and o hus ailing o consider

he divergence o con emporary capi alis produc ion rom simplecommodi y produc ion, and he role wi hin his divergence o rela ivesurplus value. Even he ul ra-le , Kurz argues here wi h respec oGrossman and Matick conned hemselves o a value-immanen cri ique ha remained wi hin he sur ace ca egories o markecircula ion, a claim ha will s rike readers amiliar wi h Maticks Marx and Keynes or his in roduc ion oFundamen al Principles oCommunis Produc ion and Dis ribu ion as curious. I hus becomesclear, Kurz none heless insis s, ha Marxis crisis heory, so ar, hasin ac no moved beyond a value-immanen mode o observa ion, andhas no seized on he elemen s o a logical-his orical explosion o hevalue rela ion as such are included in Marxs work (71).

Claus Pe er Or liebs A Con radic ion be ween Mater and Form:On he Signi icance o he Produc ion o Rela ive Surplus Valuein he Dynamic o erminal Crisis begins rom a dis inc ion ha ,

hough misunders ood almos as o en by Marxis s as by non- andan i-Marxis s, is undamen al o Marxs analysis o he dynamico capi alism. As Or lieb reminds us ( ollowing Moishe Pos one),


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xxiiiIntroduction

no less a gure han Habermas has been led disas rously as ray bycon using value and weal h. Te ormer is he legible orm ha helater assumes under capi alism; weal h does no or all ha disappearin i s concep ual nor indeed in i s ac ual dis inc ion rom value. woiden ical coa s, or example, always represen precisely wice hema erial weal h o one; hey will keep wo people warm ins ead oone. Bu he wo coa s do no represen wice he value i hey weremade in a process more efficien han ha used o manu ac ure hesingle coa .

Al hough under capi alism he increase in weal h is onlyaccomplished by means o he produc ion o value, here is none helessno only a dis inc ion bu also a discrepancy be ween he wo. In spi eo all he cycles o expansion and con rac ion ha have charac erized

he his ory o capi alism, he produc ivi y o labor has increasedover ime in a unidirec ional movemen wi hin he developmen omodern capi al. Or liebs argumen , like Kurzs, hinges on Marxs

dis inc ion be ween absolu e and rela ive surplus value: once he merein ensica ion o he working day or suppression o wages has reacheda na ural or legisla ed limi , he developmen o capi al can hence or honly be accomplished by means o increases in he produc ivi y olabor ha is, by means o decreases in he use o labor rela ive

o ou pu a decrease which a he same ime reduces he value ohe produc o labor. As local gains in produc ivi y diffuse across he

economy, he value o par icular goods ends o decrease even as heweal h produced in par icular processes ends o increase. For hisreason new marke s and new produc s mus cons an ly be ound inorder o absorb he labor hrown off by increased produc ivi y inexis ing processes.

While Or lieb demons ra es ha we have reached a poin wheresuch con inued expansion a he required ra e is unlikely and iis wor h no ing ha economis s as solidly es ablishmen as LarrySummers, Secre ary o he U.S. reasury under Bill Clin on, havebeen led recen ly o specula e abou secular s agna ion he doesno rule i ou : his analysis o he erminal crisis is a enden ial


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xxiv Marxism and the Critique of Value

mater, no a punc ual predic ion. In any case, or Marxis analysis he erminal crisis is no way riumphal, since i s issue, barring poli icalin erven ion, would no be a libera ed socie y bu ra her universalunemploymen and des i u ion. Moreover, Or lieb poin s ou ha

he con inuing resolu ion o his process by means o economicgrow h runs up agains an environmen al limi , he origin o whichis none o her han he same con radic ion be ween weal h and value:while environmen al ac ors like a more or less s able global rangeo empera ures clearly coun as weal h, hey canno be accoun ed

or as value, and i he des ruc ion o ma erial weal h serves hevaloriza ion o value, hen ma erial weal h will be des royed (112).How, Roswi ha Scholzs essay Pa riarchy and Commodi y Socie y

asks, migh we ormula e a Marxis - eminis heore ical rameworkha is able o accoun or he curren crisis and o her developmen s

since he end o ac ually exis ing socialism? Te answer is wha Scholzheorizes under he name value dissocia ion heory. Te beginnings

o such a cri ique are roo ed in he undamen al asser ions o value-cri ique o which Scholz adds wha she calls a eminis wis , buwhich amoun s o a ramework ha does no hing less han oreground

he cen rali y o gender rela ions in he developmen o capi alism(125). As is he case or value-cri ical approaches generally, Scholzbegins wi h he asser ion ha he objec o cri ique should no besurplus value i sel (or i s produc ion via labor) bu ra her he socialcharac er o he commodi y-producing sys em and hus [] he orm oac ivi y par icular o abs rac labor (125). radi ional Marxism ends

o oreground only one ace o wha should ra her be unders oodas a complex sys em o rela ions, ul ima ely privileging analyses o

he unequal dis ribu ion o weal h and exploi ive appropria ion osurplus value over he level a which a more undamen al cri iqueshould begin. I is precisely his narrow concen ra ion and ocus o

radi ional Marxism ha Scholz breaks open. Indeed, she claims, odayhe Marxism o he workers movemen s has exhaus ed i sel and has

effec ively absorbed all he basic principles o capi alis socializa ion,he ca egories o value and abs rac labor in par icular.


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xxvIntroduction

Ye , Scholz argues, he cri ique o value, which argues agains hisabsorp ion, is i sel ound wan ing inso ar as i s hi her o inadequa eaten ion o gender means ha even an analysis ha begins wi ha undamen al cri ique o he value orm misses a key basis o he

orma ion o capi alism. he immense signi icance o Scholzscon ribu ion orWer kri ik proper canno , here ore, be unders a edin his regard, as he recen cri ical produc ion o heExi !groupadop s Scholzs emphasis on value dissocia ion and he impor anceo examining he gendered dimension o he value orm. Te analysis

o value dissocia ion atemp s o cap ure his previously missingbasis and aims o oreground all hose elemen s ha can nei her besubsumed by nor separa ed rom value all hose charac eris ics, ino her words, ha value can nei her con ain wi hin i sel nor elimina een irely. In a logical opera ion ha builds upon Adornos no ion ode ermina e nega ion, Scholz argues ha capi alism con ains a coreo emale-de ermined reproduc ive ac ivi ies ha are necessarily

dissocia ed rom value and abs rac labor (127). Te provoca ive claimha masculini y should be unders ood as he gender o capi alism,hen, can be unders ood as Scholzs a emp o oreground he

ins rumen al unc ion o capi alis gender rela ions in he developmeno capi alism i sel (130). Te gendering and subsequen dissocia iono an en ire range o broadly reproduc ive ac ivi ies, here ore,ough no o be considered a side-effec o capi alism and i s value

orm, bu ra her as a necessary precondi ion o value, which makesi necessary o speak o he emergence o a commodi y-producingpa riarchy ha de ermines he his orical developmen o moderni yand pos moderni y. Indeed, he universaliza ion o gender rela ionsunder he principle o value dissocia ion as par o he developmeno he capi alis value orm reveals i sel o be an ins rumen al aspeco he rise o moderni y. Gender wi hou he body, hen: gender whosebeing derives nei her rom biology nor rom cul ure, bu ra her

rom he value orm in i s dissocia ed developmen . Bu gender hais s ill gender: i is no coincidence ha he crash o 2008 is ollowedno only by an unemploymen crisis bu also by in ensied anxie ies


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xxvi Marxism and the Critique of Value

abou gender norms, as evidenced in he U.S. by a bru al an i- eminisbacklash and renewed assaul s on reproduc ive righ s.

Such an unders anding o he gender rela ions ha s ruc ure hesocial dynamism o capi alism also highligh s he shor comings o he

heore ical paradigms ha predomina e wi hin con emporary genders udies. Decons ruc ion and he wide eld o iden i y-poli ical andeven iden i y-cri ical paradigms share a problema ic unders andingo causali y ha obscures he necessary connec ion be ween genderand value, namely value dissocia ion as he principle ha s ruc ures

gender rela ions. he assump ion, in o her words, ha cul uralmeaning a aches i sel o a previously exis ing gendered socialdivision, misses he undamen al impor ance o value dissocia ion

or he developmen o capi alism in he rs place. I is hus nei hero be considered a consequence o capi alism nor even o be likenedo he non-iden ical as analyzed by Adorno. Ra her, Scholz s resses,

value dissocia ion is a precondi ion or he orma ion o capi alism.

Ul ima ely, value-dissocia ion heory allows or impor an me acri icalhis oriciza ion ha reveals, or ins ance, he ul ima e complici y o

he decons ruc ivis paradigm wi h pos modern orms o capi alismand i s social logic. Consequen ly, i is no only unnecessary bu in

ac highly suspec o sugges ha we mus decons ruc he moderndualism o gender (135). While he U.S. echnological sec or willgladly recognize y-one genders, such a recogni ion does no hing

o dis urb he overwhelming dominance o men in ha sec or byevery me ric a every level, or o disrup he prejudice he women whowork in ha sec or ace daily. An examina ion o he changes in he

orm o capi alism rom he perspec ive o value-dissocia ion heoryreveals ha cri ics such as Judi h Bu ler ul ima ely merely affirm[] pos modern (gender) reali y: pos modern capi alisms doublesocializa ion o women in he con ex o diversi y poli ics and o hes ruc ural and logical cen rali y o difference is a key aspec in whawe mus unders and as ac ually exis ing decons ruc ion (135).

Norber renkles Te Rise and Fall o he Working Man providesa provoca ive companion o Scholzs essay. For renkle, as or Scholz,


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xxviiIntroduction

any examina ion o he ongoing economic crisis in general, ando he crisis o labor in par icular, mus include an examina iono i s gender dimension. Te crisis o labor, he argues, mus alsobe seen as a crisis o modern masculini y (143). Like Scholz, whoinsis s ha he emergence and developmen o capi alism canno beunders ood wi hou accoun ing or i s gendered social dimension,

renkle oregrounds he dialec ical connec ion o modern masculini ywi h he logic o modern real abs rac ion o labor (while he ocus onbo h subjec ivi y and labor signican ly differen ia es renkles rom

Scholzs approach). Te atachmen o masculine power o he logico labor power places he working man in a perpe ually precarioussi ua ion. Since power is bes owed upon him ex ernally and as hispower is connec ed o he business cycle (and hus beyond he inuenceo individuals) and here ore carries wi hin i sel a any given poin

he po en ial or devaluing specic orms o power and labor i mushere ore be aggressively de ended and renewed. In consequence,

modern man is no charac erized by he dominan cul ural imageso muscular, physical power as such bu ins ead by he ul ima eprivileging o he will, by he exercise o discipline and sel -res rainover he body ha pu s he emerging masculine subjec o ally in heservice o a sys em ha res s upon he undamen al desensualiza iono li e as he basic precondi ion or i s labor processes. Indeed, renkleargues, an examina ion o he rela ion be ween he capi alis ormo labor i s real abs rac ion and i s corresponding orm omasculini y reveals ha bo h he body and he ma erial exis ence o

he commodi y are no hing more han a necessary evil in a sys emha is primarily aimed a he genera ion o money ou o money, inhe con ex o which ma eriali y becomes no hing else han a mere

represen a ion, a body ha in he end is no hing bu an abs raccon en pos ula ed by he orm o he valoriza ion o value.

Bu renkles essay also oregrounds an even more undamen alaspec o a value-cri ique o capi alism: he rela ion be ween capi alis

orm and i s corresponding social dimension. A er all, renkle argues,he es ablishmen o his his orically unique orm o social ac ivi y


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xxviii Marxism and the Critique of Value

and rela ion was no possible wi hou he crea ion o a par icularhuman ype (146). Tis par icular human ype reveals i sel o beno hing else han he male-inscribed modern subjec o labor andcommodi ies, whose cen ral essen ial charac eris ic is ha he en ireworld becomes o him a oreign objec (146). In a logical opera ionsimilar o Scholzs asser ion o he dialec ical connec ion o he modern

orm o value and he eminine-inec ed charac eris ics ha aredissocia ed rom value (and ha precisely via his opera ion becomei s basic precondi ion), renkle s resses ha he emergence o he

modern working man should no be regarded as a mere consequenceo capi alism. Ins ead, he insis s, modern subjec ivi y i sel iscons ruc ed according o he compulsory push oward his orm osubjec ivi y wi hou which capi alism (and i s value and commodi y

orm) would no have been able o develop in he rs place. Tis ormo subjec ivi y mus be regarded no as a mater o passive subjuga ionbu o ac ive complici y in he developmen o capi alism. While he

developmen o his orm o masculini y mus , o course, also beanalyzed diachronically in i s rela ion o a long his ory o pa ernalism

ha precedes capi alism, i s role in capi alism is unique inso ar as he abs rac and objec ied rela ion o he world wi h which i isassocia ed becomes he general mode o socializa ion (148). Tevalence o eminine iden i y, hen, differs in comparison wi h Scholzsmodel. For renkle, he cons ruc ion o modern eminine iden i y

akes he orm o he cons ruc ion o a social o her, a coun er-iden i yha rs and oremos serves o s abilize and ground he parame ers

o he male subjec o labor wi hou , however, neglec ing he rolehe division o genders plays wi h respec o he division o labor and

capi alis en erprise in general. Ul ima ely, he purchase o renklesargumen or he curren momen is i s abili y o accoun or he rise omasculine-inec ed aggression (including racis and sexis violence)

ha or renkle mus be unders ood as direc ly rela ed o he changesand crises o he curren orm o capi alism, which inevi ably bringswi h hem a crisis o masculini y.

In he rs par o Off Limi s, Ou o Con rol: Commodi y Socie y


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xxixIntroduction

and Resis ance in he Age o Deregula ion and Dena ionaliza ion,Erns Loho shows ha wha in he U.S. appear as liberal andconserva ive poli ics are in ac wo sides o he same coin. Te liberalside regards he remains o he wel are s a e as off limi s and gh srearguard ac ions agains i s disman ling and commodica ion. Teo her, conserva ive side regards he wel are s a e as ou o con roland seeks o disman le and commodi y i . Bo h camps regard hegul separa ing hem as essen ially poli ical, ra her han driven byan underlying economic crisis, and nei her ques ions ha he role o

he s a e i sel is o guaran ee condi ions or he he reproduc ion ocapi al ha canno be me by capi alism i sel . Lohoff poin s ou hahe asocial sociali y ha charac erizes capi alism a social orma ionha is horoughly in egra ed and in egra ing, bu ha unc ions,

paradoxically, hrough a omiza ion and compe i ion can only bebrough under con rol by he s a e: Te asocial charac er o commodi ysocie y imposes on he later, as s ill ano her o i s essen ial aspec s,

he orma ion o a second, deriva ive orm o weal h, namely he s a e(157). Bu rom he perspec ive o commodi y socie y, his deriva ive

orm o weal h (in ras ruc ure, social provision, public educa ion in sum, all ma erial weal h ha is no direc ly commodied) appearsra her as consump ion. Te symbio ic charac er o his rela ion hendepends on he s a e plausibly serving i s in egra ive unc ion, a s a eo appearances ha wanes as he explosive increase o permanen lysuperuous human ma erial begins o all under he jurisdic ion o

he s a e. Ta is, a he momen ha labor socie y as such en ersa crisis. Te crisis i sel is offse by wo mechanisms specula ionand nance on one hand, and priva iza ion on he o her and i is

his later mechanism ha promp s he deba e: off limi s, or ouo con rol? Loho argues ha he answer is nei her: ins ead oconcen ra ing our poli ical energies on he s a e as he ipside andguaran or o commodi y socie y, we should hink ma erial weal has such ou side o he money nexus, which is o say ou side bo h hes a e and he commodi y rela ion. Tis is easy o say (i no so easy o

hink), a he level o philosophical cri ique. Bu can i ransla e in o


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xxx Marxism and the Critique of Value

a prac ical poli ics? Te second hal o he essay is devo ed o hinkinghrough wha a coun er-poli ics ha aimed a a non-commodi y

socie y would look like rom wi hin commodi y socie y, and he rsmaxim is ha rearguard de enses o he s a e canno be he answer.Te ques ion o legi imacy ough ra her o be addressed offensively

rom he ou se (172-3). I commodi y socie y can no longer affordsocial securi y, his is an argumen agains commodi y socie y, noagains social securi y. Te answer o commodi y socie ys principleo equivalence is hen ree access, a slogan ha organizes Lohoffs

vision o a coun er-poli ics.Kurzs World Power and World Money is an atemp o hinkhrough he causes and consequences o a looming global economic

crisis ha was hen only in i s ini ial s ages. Kurz races he originso he crisis o he Reagani e policy o weaponized-Keynesianism massive, deb -nanced mili ary spending ha , on Kurzs accoun ,s abilized he world dollar economy and es ablished he dominan

global ows o deb and goods ha would persis un il he onse o hecrisis (192). Tese phenomena are o en recognized on he Le as wellas on he Righ , only in inver ed orm: greedy bankers and Americanimperialism, ra her han a crisis-induced igh o nance and hearms dollar as he overarching common condi ion o globalizedcapi al (198). Popular slogans such as a more democra ic globaliza ionor a re urn o Fordis employmen paterns are here ore no likely obe effec ive. Te closing pages, ocusing on he ul ima e issue o hecurren crisis, are necessarily explora ory; specula ing on he a e o

he oil regimes in he even o a world depression, Kurz does no ruleou he danger o an irra ional igh orward in o globalized civilwar (199).

Norber renkles S ruggle wi hou Classes is perhaps he moss riking con emporary mani es a ion o value-cri iques rejec ion oclass s ruggle ha began wi h he publica ion o Kurzs and LohoffsTe Fe ish o Class S ruggle in 1989.18 In he earlier ar icle hey hadargued ha he claim ha he working class represen s an on ologicalopposi ion o he abs rac logic o he valoriza ion o capi al, ha he


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xxxiIntroduction

workers movemen is he gravedigger o capi al, should properly beconsidered as a orm o hough ha is immanen o a socie y basedon value, an ideology o modern capi alism. A subjec capable oovercoming modern capi alism, hey argue, canno arise rom heaffirma ion o he ca egory o he worker, bu only rom he crisis,

he crisis o value. Tey accuse radi ional Marxism o mis akinghe classes, a secondary, derived ca egory, or wha are he genuineounda ions o socie y, and o reducing he analysis o he value ormo a merely deni ional and uncri ical railer o he rue heory o

capi al, and hus o replacing Marxs cri ique o poli ical economywi h an affirma ive vulgar socialism.renkle insis s ha he no ion ha he an agonis ic charac er o

class s ruggle can poin o a u ure beyond capi alis social rela ionsis an illusion, bu none heless a irms i s his orically impor anrole in he cons i u ion o he working class as a subjec consciouso i s abili y o ac in pursui o a social mission. In his essay,

however, he addresses he consequences o wha migh be hougho as he converse process, which ollowing Franz Schandl he ermsdeclassing, in which our principal rends are iden ied.19 Firs ,direc produc ion is increasingly replaced in he labor processwi h unc ions o surveillance and con rol, unc ions which havebeen in ernalized by he individual worker, bo h in he horizon alhierarchies o large companies and he precarious condi ions o

reelance and sel -employed labor (204). Second, responding o hedemand or exibili y, workers cease o iden i y wi h a single unc iono he labor process. Tird, here develop more, and more dis inc ,hierarchies among workers, par icularly wi h regard o dis inc ionsand divisions be ween permanen employees and emporary, par -

ime, and agency workers. Four h, here emerges as a consequence olong- erm unemploymen a new underclass ha is primarily denedby he ac ha i s members are no required by he valoriza ionprocess.

renkle rejec s he rend, par icularly in he an i-globaliza ionmovemen and i s a erma h, o see his underclass as a precaria ,


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xxxii Marxism and the Critique of Value

he con emporary embodimen o working-class, revolu ionarysubjec ivi y. ha is, while he early value-cri ical ex s on his

hema ic rejec ed class s ruggle on he basis o he co-de ermina iono labor and capi al as mu ually dependen aspec s o commodi ysocie y, renkle ques ions whe her he ca egory o a class subjec isvalid under he condi ions o con emporary capi alism, sugges ing

ha appeals o he working class now involve he ex ension o heconcep o re er no merely o hose workers whose surplus labor

urns he wheels o valoriza ion, bu o all who are dependen on

wage labor, or even all hose whose labor power, ollowing Marcelvan der Linden, is sold or hired o ano her person under economicor non-economic compulsion, a more or less universal and o haex en meaningless ca egory (q d. 209). Indeed, his also allows allconic s o be reinscribed as class s ruggle and permi s he inclusiono reac ionary movemen s such as e hnic na ionalisms wi hin heca egory o an i-capi alis s ruggles.

renkle no only o ers an analysis o he ragmen a ion ocapi alism as no hing more han he in ensi ica ion o he logico capi al in he s age o i s decomposi ion, bu also discusses hepossibili y o orms o resis ance o his ragmen a ion and o he

yranny o he commodi y- orm (219). Tis is bes seen as a growingendency o heKrisis group and he Gtingen-based group180 o

inves iga e orms o value-cri ical poli ical (or, since i rejec s heounda ion o poli ics ha is he value orm, an i-poli ical) praxis. He

insis s ha s ruggles such as hose o he Zapa is as, he au onomouscurren s o he Pique eros, and o her grass-roo s movemen s musno be roman icized or idealized, bu iden ies hem as si es where wemigh nd approaches and momen s which poin o he perspec ive oa libera ion rom he o ali y o commodi y socie y (221). Tis en a ivediscussion o praxis is perhaps a poin a which value-cri ique couldcons ruc ively be brough in o con ac wi h Marxis curren s ou side

he German-speaking world. Value-cri ique has up un il now nei herengaged par icularly horoughly nor been received by elemen s o hecon emporary ul ra-Le ha insis bo h on he impor ance o s ruggle


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xxxiiiIntroduction

and on he aboli ion ra her han he affirma ion o he prole aria . Tisessay may provide he s ar ing poin or such con ron a ions.

In Violence as he Order o Tings, Erns Lohoff akes up a serieso undamen al ques ions abou violence in he presen momen .Given ha , wi h he supposedly nal and comple e riumph o ree-marke capi alism and i s associa ed secular-Enligh enmen ca echismo Liber y, Fra erni y, and Equali y over i s ers while Cold War rivalall he underlying sources o violen conic and war ough o havebeen ex irpa ed as well, how is one o explain he violence wi h which

we are con ron ed almos daily? How can such epidemic violence beunders ood as any hing o her han a paradoxical aberra ion in heace o an o herwise irreversible march oward world peace? Wha

can be he sources o he violence we see emerging oday on all sides?Mus i no be ca egorically differen rom he more amiliar orms oviolence ha marked previous momen s in his ory?

Coun er o he dominan narra ive ha races he gradual

disappearance o violence in andem wi h he subsump ion o hes a e under marke orces, Loho s essay illus ra es he ways inwhich capi alism and he rise o Wes ern liberalism are inex ricablyand indeed cons i u ively bound up wi h violence. Tis rela ion is,according o Loho , par icularly marked in he pos -1989 era inwhich we are supposedly wi nessing a ransi ion in o a peace ulworld o globaliza ion bu which is ins ead dened by growing ormso violence ha are he resul no o momen ary aberra ions bu o

he violen core o capi alis moderni y, i sel pushed o a momeno crisis. Lohoffs essay races he his ory o his violen core ha ,he argues, lies a he very hear no only o capi alism bu also oEnligh enmen hough . Tus, any genuinely genealogical racing o

he orms o violence ha dene our presen momen mus beginrom a clear unders anding o he his orical changes in a word, he

crisis affec ing ha same commodi y orm.Lohoff re urns o he wri ings o Hobbes, Hegel, and Freud o show

ha he Wes ern ideals o Liber y, Fra erni y, and Equali y are nopa hways oward peace bu ins ead direc ly linked o merely emporary


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xxxiv Marxism and the Critique of Value

suspensions o violence ha mask he more undamen al rela ion: heviolen core o he commodi y subjec and o commodi y socie y. Sucha change in perspec ive, Lohoff argues, allows us o highligh he waysin which war and violence have no been so much eradica ed as ins eadsublima ed, con rolled, and ins rumen alized, ha is, brough under

he rule o he modern s a e, he ormal genesis o which parallels herise o commodi y socie y. Tis brings abou he need o reconsider

he work no only o Hobbes bu also o Hegel. Indeed, rom hisperspec ive, according o Loho , Hegel emerges, surprisingly, as

an apologis and propagandis or rising commodi y socie y o heex en ha his heore ical model o consciousness res s upon a logic oviolence: he amous need o wager ones li e ha is cen ral o Hegelsaccoun o sel -consciousness. Lohoffs essay concludes wi h a orce ulcri ique o a con emporary capi alis and ree-marke ideology hadoes no , by means o i s gradual dissolu ion o he s a e and hus o

he s a e monopoly on violence, herald an age o peace, bu ins ead

brings once more o he ore ron capi alisms paradoxical bu no lessessen ial dening social rela ion, asocial sociali y. Only his imeEnligh enmen s gradual ideological sublima ion o he commodi y

orms violen core rom Hobbes, say, o Rosseau, Kan , and Hegel,rom heLevia hans de erren hrea o a pre-a omic mu ually assured

des ruc ion, o he more compassiona e ai h en rus ed o he volon generale (equipped wi h a guillo ine) o heSocial Con rac, o Kan spurely ra ionalized ca egorical impera ive (always back-s opped by

he sovereign s a e o excep ion commanding obedience o enligh eneddespo ism) begins o play ou in reverse.

Like Lohoff, Kurz races he linkage be ween he dark underbellyo Enligh enmen hough and he rise o capi alism. In his essay he Nigh mare o Freedom, he urns more speci ically oward

he ways in which concep s such as reedom and equali y have noonly shaped liberalism (a well-known s ory) bu also Marxism andanarchism, radi ions in which hese concep s and heir atachmen

o he developmen o Enligh enmen hough occupy a much moreuncom or able posi ion, and indeed have o en been explici ly


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xxxvIntroduction

disavowed. Kurz nds in Marx a persuasive accoun o how reedomand equali y emerged no simply as lo y ideals, bu ra her underprecise ma erial condi ions ha assigned o hese concep s a specicma erial and his orical unc ion. Indeed, as Kurz shows, he dominan

orm o equali y (a ar rom homogenous concep ) in modern Wes ernhough is he equali y o he marke . Te reedom o buy or sell on

equal ground and by equal means becomes he dominan orm oul illing and re roac ively de ining equali y and equali ys aims.

Under capi alism, all cus omers are equally welcome, he marke place

is he realm o mu ual respec , and he exchange o commodi ies isan in erac ion ree rom violence. Ye , Kurz argues, i is impor anin his con ex o re urn o Marxs orce ul cri ique o his line oargumen a ion, which reminds us ha he marke sphere cons i u esonly one small ace o modern social li e, and ha a more pro oundunders anding o hese rela ions begins wi h he insigh ha exchangeand circula ion are secondary o he more undamen al rela ions o

capi alis produc ion. And once we regard capi alis socie y rom heperspec ive afforded by his more primary rela ion, he well-worn

heory ha , like bourgeois democracy, principles such as equali y,reedom, and non-violence mus inevi ably suffer be rayal a he

hands o he capi alis social rela ions ( ha are never heless heirhis orical condi ions o possibili y) is disclosed, more precisely, asi sel a horoughly bourgeois ideology. As Kurz illus ra es, i is jus hisseemingly paradoxical opposi ion ha is cons i u ive o capi alism:

he un reedom wi hin capi alis produc ion is sys emically bound upwi h he narra ive o reedom and equali y ha underlies he ideologyo he marke a ension ha , as Kurz argues, becomes even moreacu ely pronounced under neoliberalism.

Wha becomes visible here is nei her simply an illus ra ion o helimi s o discussions ha ocus on rade and circula ion (over andagains produc ion or he cons i u ion and reproduc ion o capi alismsvalue orm), nor an analysis ha oregrounds he violen dialec ic o

reedom and un reedom ha lies a he hear o capi alism. Ins ead,he accoun o he paradoxical ways in which Enligh enmen ideals


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xxxvi Marxism and the Critique of Value

are in egra ed in o he logic o capi al demons ra es ha reedom asi is unders ood even by discourses ha unders and hemselves asemancipa ory is no hing more han a necessary elemen o capi alismsvaloriza ion machine. Specically, his means ha we should regard

he sphere o circula ion and he marke no only as a hypocri icalsphere o reedom and equali y (which i o course is), bu moreimpor an ly as a naked unc ion o he end-in-i sel o capi alisvaloriza ion (288). In his sphere, where abs rac value realizesi sel as money, he reedom ha cons i u es he logic o ree rade

is indispensable. U opias based on a libera ed exchange rela ion, likehe LE S (Local Exchange rading Sys ems) championed by KojinKara ani, realize he logic o capi al ra her han oppose i .

In Cur ains or Universalism, Karl-Heinz Lewed brings a s ar lingperspec ive o he charac eriza ion o poli ical Islam. Te ini ial andobvious objec o cri ique, he clash o civiliza ions hypo hesis, ishardly aken seriously by anyone on he Le , bu Lewed begins wi h

i in order o lay bare he deeper dimensions o his analysis. So, orexample, Lewed reminds us ha , ar rom represen ing he resurgenceo an archaic orm, Islamic undamen alism akes shape a he locallevel as precisely he bru al repression o archaisms, here in he ormo longs anding local Islamic radi ions ha mus be suppressed in hename o a s andardized sys em o law and jurisprudence. Fur hermore,Lewed no only debunks he widespread (and o en murderouslyaggressive) belie ha Islamism is he a avis ic expression o ahos ile and oreign cul ure or civiliza ion. On he con rary, Lewedargues ha Islamism is in ac no hing o her han a orm o appearanceo our own civiliza ion, rendered supercially exo ic by ideologieso cul uralism. Ta is, more accura ely pu , Islamism is disclosedas simply one possible varia ion on a orm o civiliza ion requiredby he sa ura ion o social rela ions by he marke , ha is, by hevalue rela ion. o be specic, his sa ura ion necessi a es a dialec ico universal and par icular such ha he generalized pursui opar icular in eres s canno dispense wi h a universal ramework

o preserve he appearance o a universal redress o in eres s. Bu


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xxxviiIntroduction

his sys em o social media ion is i sel adminis ered by individualswi h par icular in eres s. Such a dialec ic proves o be irresolvable in

he long run bu no uncon ainable: he ideological orce ha keepshe whole dialec ic in check is he promise o na ional progress. Te

classical an icolonial movemen s develop on his basis: he colonialsovereign power opera es in i s own in eres ra her han ha o hecolonized erri ory, which is o say ha he local economy, al houghuniversal in orm is domina ed by he par icular in eres o a oreignpower. Te s ra egies o recupera ive moderniza ion (nachholdende

Modernisierung) pursued by he newly independen pos colonials a es, once hey ail o deliver on he promise o na ional progress,are assailed on precisely he same basis: governing eli es, chargedwi h guaran eeing universal progress, proceed ins ead o channel heweal h o he new na ion back in o he service o heir own par icularneeds.

Islamism represen s a solu ion o his ideological dilemma, a

solu ion which, since i pa en ly has nei her grounds rom which ohink hrough, nor any in eres in hinking hrough, he problem o

a neo-colonial orma ion in rela ion o a cri ique o he value orm,can propose no way ou o i , presen ing ins ead a hyper rophied,

ranscenden ally guaran eed version o poli ical universalism. Ina reading o a key ex by Osama bin Laden, Lewed shows ha i issho hrough wi h he rhe oric and logic o Enligh enmen poli ics.Universali y, since i can no longer be guaran eed by he sovereign, canonly be guaran eed ranscenden ally, hrough a religiously-inec eduniversal law. Wi h his we re urn, ironically, o Kan , who perceived

ha he guaran ee o universali y could only be ranscenden allypos ula ed and no empirically es ablished hrough con rac : Teme aphysics o he divine law o he Islamis s should, here ore, beseen wi hin he horizon o modern bourgeois rela ions, as ormula edby Kan inTe Me aphysics o Morals (318-9). I should be emphasized,

hen, ha he poli ical crisis represen ed by Islamism is he orm oappearance o a much more general phenomenon. In unders andingIslamism as a cul ural mater ra her han as he local expression o


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xxxviii Marxism and the Critique of Value

bourgeois poli ics as such, he Enligh ened perspec ive o odayhides he problem o i s own ounda ions (319).

In Kurzs examina ion o he ongoing global economic crisis,assembled rom in erviews conduc ed or he In erne magazine

elepolis and he Por uguese in erne organShif, published by ZionEdies, he no only engages in de ail wi h he economic crisis i selbu akes his examina ion as an oppor uni y o illus ra e he generals akes o a cri ique o he value orm a his momen in his ory. Teresul is a programma ic and me hodological essay ha a every

momen parallels he illumina ion o he objec o inquiry wi han analysis o he heore ical model wi h which he opera ion iscarried ou . Te curren global economic crisis cons i u es or Kurz

he momen a which a range o undamen al con radic ions haunderlie he valoriza ion o value under nance capi al come o ahead. Far rom being an isola ed inciden , he curren crisis shouldbe more accura ely unders ood as he consequence o he gradual,

dispropor iona e grow h o he cos o he necessary mobiliza iono real capi al (ma erial capi al) in rela ion o labor power as a by-produc o he increasing in egra ion o science as a produc ive orcewi h capi alis produc ion in he a erma h o he hird indus rialrevolu ion, he res ruc uring o produc ion in he wake o hedevelopmen o microelec ronics. Financing his s ruc ure required

he massive mobiliza ion o an icipa ed u ure pro in he orm ocredi , whose direc consequence was a series o nancial bubbles ha ,once burs , riggered he recen crisis. Ye , Kurz argues, he problem is

o be loca ed a a more undamen al level han ha imagined by hosewho merely poin oward he seeming irra ionali y o nance bubbles,since such bubbles are no aberra ions conned o he discre e sphereo nance bu ra her cons i u e a symp om o he underlying globaleconomic sys em ha developed in o a deci economy (332). Tegrowing gap be ween he u ure pro necessary o jus i y presencredi s and he pro ac ually genera ed ul ima ely led o a si ua ionin which he valoriza ion o capi al was vir ualized in he ormo c ional capi al ha could no longer be ma ched by he ac ual


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xxxixIntroduction

subs ance o value (335). Even he neoliberal revolu ion could onlys ra egically de er bu no resolve he undamen al con radic ionso a deci economy. Examining he problem rom his perspec ivealso illus ra es he con radic ions underlying curren atemp s oaddress he crisis in he orm o s a e-sponsored bailou and s imulusprograms ha merely displace he problem rom one sphere o credi

o ano her while also ac ively coun erac ing he logic o he s imulusin erven ions by he simul aneous implemen a ion o aus eri ymeasures. In ac , Kurz predic s, he irra ionali y o he con radic ory

s a e-sponsored measures underlying all curren atemp s o resolvehe crisis he simul anei y o s imulus and saving programs does litle o change he more undamen al con radic ions ( he globaleconomy and i s logic o value and credi will remain conned o hecircula ion o deci s), and will likely lead o a ur her amplica ion ocon radic ions ha will resul in a second wave o he global economiccrisis.

Solu ions o he curren problem, here ore, do no lie in illusorya emp s a recrea ing good (mos requen ly s a e-con rolled)

orms o capi alism as proposed, or example, by calls or a re urno Keynesianism. Ins ead i is necessary o orward a radical cri ique

o he value and commodi y orms hemselves ha is no limi ed byhe desire o leave in ac he undamen al principles o capi alism,

a limi a ion ha will reduce all atemp s a resolving he crisis omere crisis managemen and will resul in a ur her in ensica iono con radic ions. Such a cri ique mus cen rally include he ransi ion

rom workers-movemen Marxism o wha Kurz calls, in re erence oLukcss early work, ca egorical cri ique a cri ique ha does noseek social emancipa ion based upon he persis en on ologiza ion o

he concep o labor bu ins ead seeks o address capi alisms basicorms (349). Indeed, ca egorical cri ique and he corresponding

new global social movemen s or which Kurz calls (calls which areaccompanied by a radically revised concep o revolu ion) aim a

he con es a ion o wha he calls, using he concep and erm rsin roduced by Al red Sohn-Re hel, he dominan social syn hesis:


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xl Marxism and the Critique of Value

he nega ive o ali y o he specic orm o socializa ion de ermininghe presen his orical momen , which can only be surpassed by

means o a o al social revolu ion ha begins in heory as in prac icewi h a ca egorical cri ique o he in ernal barriers o con emporarycapi alism, namely he reliance upon abs rac labor, i s orm o hevaloriza ion o value, and i s corresponding gender rela ions.

We urn nally o Kurzs essay Te On ological Break in which heexplores wha is widely unders ood o be one o he dening problemso heore ical hough and poli ical discussion oday. Te deba e over

globaliza ion appears o have reached a momen o exhaus ion why? Te reasons or his exhaus ion are no linked o wha somemay unders and as he end o globaliza ion. On he con rary, Kurzsugges s, he social process underlying globaliza ion is s ill in i sincipien s age. Ra her, i is cri ique ha has run ou o s eam. Tedominan approach o globaliza ion is o examine i agains hebackdrop o na ional economies. Ye , Kurz sugges s, even as cri ique

poin s oward he end o na ional economies and he na ion s a e, hereac ion o such proclama ions is regressively con radic ory: he endo he na ion s a e appears merely o reaffirm he commi men o hena ion s a e, o previous modes o economic and social regula ion, and

o modes o analysis ha remain roo ed in he logic o na ion s a esand poli ics. Tis problem emerges, Kurz sugges s, because wi hinsuch a herme ically sealed orm o hough here exis no immanenal erna ives o hese concep s because, jus like concep s such as labor,money, and marke , hey represen he pe ried de ermina ions omodern capi alis on ology (357-8). Te main ask o cri ique oday,

here ore, is o explode he en ire epis emological cons ruc byradically his oricizing i s underpinnings ha is, o re urn he ocuso cri ique o he precise his orical elds wi hin which our concep s osociali y emerge and wi hin which hey acquire meaning, orce, andnecessary his orical limi s. Te endpoin we have reached, here ore,is ha o a orm o hough , o a range o linked his orical concep s.Whenever such a momen o exhaus ion is reached, i also carrieswi h i a dis inc crisis o heory and cri ique, or he replacemen


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xliIntroduction

o he undamen al ca egories o hough or heir revision appearsunimaginable, and he endpoin appears un ranscendable. Ye , Kurzshows, such a momen o exhaus ion mus be rigorously his oricizedwi h he aim o reveal i no as an endpoin proper, bu ra her as heendpoin merely o a his orically specic orm o hough . In order

or us o develop orce ul accoun s and cri iques o globaliza ion, Kurzhere ore argues, we mus bring abou no hing less han a pro ound

and comple e on ological (and consequen ly epis emological) break a break, ha is, wi h hose orms o hough ha , once dominan ,

have now run ou o s eam.Such a break migh begin wi h Kurzs sugges ion ha he perceivedcrisis o cri ique we are experiencing con ains a misrecogni ion:con emporary analysis asser s more han i knows. Wi h i s insighin o he loss o he regula ory capaci y o he na ion s a e and opoli ics, i involun arily comes up agains he limi s o modern on ologyi sel (359). Ye he aim radically o re-evalua e he very ca egories

wi hin which cri ique has played i sel ou , ca egories ha emergedunder his orically de ermina e condi ions be ween he six een h and

he eigh een h cen ury, is blocked by wha Kurz calls an ideologicalappara us, which is as cons i u ive o moderni y as he ca egorical

o ali y o i s social reproduc ion (360). Tis ideological appara us is,Kurzs essay shows, no hing o her han Enligh enmen hough i sel .Addi ionally, he argues, i is impor an o oreground he ac hamoderni y was de ermined by large-scale conic s be ween liberalism,Marxism, and conserva ism, conic s ha always addressed specicsocial, poli ical, juridical, or ideological maters. Ye hese conic snever addressed he ca egorical orms and on ological modes osociali y, he precise errain on which he ca egorical break ha canreinvigora e con emporary cri ique mus ake place (365). Kurzs essayou lines he orms such a break and i s subsequen modes o cri iquemay ake, modes o cri ique ha are aimed a no hing less han hecons i u ion o a new socie y o cri ique, a common [] plane arysocie y (372).

I is he possibili y o such a common plane ary socie y o


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xlii Marxism and the Critique of Value

li e ree rom media ion hrough he ca egories o value and labor oward which he cri ique o value is orien ed. We presen hese

hir een ex s no merely because we are o he opinion ha value-cri ical voices and argumen s along o her recen and con emporarywork rom heneue Marx-Lek reno represen ed in his volume canmake a signican heore ical con ribu ion o he in erpre a ion andanalysis o he ongoing crisis. For he cri ique o value has pro oundconsequences or bo h heory and prac ice, and urgen ly raises heques ion o he orm(s) ha an emancipa ory response o he crisis

migh ake. As herenewal o he remorseless cri ique o every hingha exis s he remorseless cri ique o he media ion o every hingha exis s hrough he ca egories o labor and value he cri ique

o value bo h demands and makes possible he ins an ia ion o ameans o s ruggle, o ac ion, o prac ice ha no only goes beyond

he cons rain s o he capi al-labor rela ion, bu also aims a heemancipa ion rom value o all aspec s o li e.

Work on he publica ion o his book has rom he ou se conrmedand re-conrmed he impossibili y o such a projec wi hou hesuppor o an in ormal collec ivi y ha has, over he years ul ima elyneeded o reach his goal, grown bo h ou wards and inwards, and hahas some imes seemed o shrink and weaken only o prove i sel obe jus as rmly in place. Offers o help in all aspec s o he workhave requen ly appeared be ore hose o us who had necessarily os ay wi h he prepara ion o he book wi hou le -up were even qui eaware ha we needed i . o he ransla ion work under aken by heco-edi ors hemselves, many, many o hers con ribu ed, includingespecially: Jon Detman, Ariane Fischer, Elmar Fla schar , Joe Keady,Mat McLellan, Sina Rahmani, Emilio Sauri, Imre Szeman, GeoffreyWildanger, and Rober Zwarg. Our gra i ude o he au hors o he

ex s hemselves could hardly be overs a ed, bu or heir ex ca hedrahelp we are especially indeb ed o Elmar Fla schar , Anselm Jappe,Wol gang Kukulies, Karl-Heinz Lewed, Moni Schmid and Roswi haScholz, and above all o Claus Pe er Or lieb oExi !and Norber

renkle o Krisiswi h whom we have been in regular communica ion


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xliiiIntroduction

hroughou his long edi orial process, and wi hou whose co-opera ion no o men ion ha o he many o her German andAus rian riends and comrades who answered more and less rivialques ions on our behal a heir reques his projec would scarcelyhave been possible. And nally we wish o express special hanks or

he many kinds and many hours o dedica ed assis ance provided ous by Joe A kins, Aaron Benanav, Bret Benjamin, Mark Bennet, JasperBernes, David Brazil ( oge her wi h he Cali ornia, Eas Bay chap ero he Public School), Nora Brown, Pa Cabell, Maria Elisa Cevasco,

Joshua Clover ( oge her wi h he many s uden s and o her readerso Capi al and crisis heories including early dra ransla ions ohis volume who sepn many rewarding hours oge her in mul iple

indepeden group s udy orma ions under he auspices o he Programin Cri ical Teory a he Universi y o Cali ornia, Davis), Kr Cohen,Sean Delaney, anzeen Dohan, Ee , Anna Bjrk Einarsdotir, MayaGonzlez, Chris ian Hner, Laura Hudson, Fred Jameson, im Kreiner,

Felix Kurz, Alexander Locascio, Duy Lap Nguyen, Erin Paszko, JenPhillis, Michel Prigen , Ricardo Pagliuso Regatieri, Pedro Rocha deOliveira, Gwen Sims, Magns Snaebj rnsson, Chris Wrigh , andMichelle Ya es. Unnamed here, or he simple ac ha hey are somany, are he enemies o u opia or he sake o i s realiza ion

hose s uden s, colleagues, ac ivis s, and hard- hinking individualsand groups o all kinds who helped wi h or simply ook an in eres in

his projec ou o a common desire o unders and he crisis-driven,moribund, and le hal capi alism o our presen day o unders andi precisely so as o has en i s des ruc ion.

Tis projec could no have been comple ed wi hou suppor romhe Alexander von Humbold -S i ung; he LAS Award or Facul y

Research a he Universi y o Illinois a Chicago; he Killam ResearchFund a he Universi y o Alber a; S . Francis Xavier Universi y and heUniversi y Council or Research a S . Francis Xavier Universi y; heAr s and Humani ies Research Council; he Deu scher AkademischerAus auschdiens ; he Presiden and Fellows o Queens College,Cambridge; he Pe er Szondi-Ins i u a he Freie Universi Berlin;


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xliv Marxism and the Critique of Value

he School o English, Communica ion, and Philosophy, CardiUniversi y.

For all our gra i ude o he grea many who have helped us,responsibili y or all errors remains o course wi h he ransla orsand edi ors. And we are conden ha despi e our bes effor s herewill s ill be a grea many errors o be ound. Anyone who has paidcri ical aten ion o ransla ions o heore ical work will be aware

ha hey are all in some way lawed and ye he vas majori yare none heless good enough. However, he possibili ies enabled by

online publica ion will allow us o correc wi h rela ive ease many ohe errors ha we nd and ha are drawn o our aten ion. We invi ereaders o par icipa e in a process o open peer review, and o sendno ice o any errors and inconsis encies o ransla ion, or o her errorsor inaccuracies, o correc [email protected] be ore June 30, 2014;

he gamma or deni ive edi ion will be published in summer 2014.- Te Edi ors


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xlvIntroduction

Notes

1. We use Wer kri ik, value-cri ique (and varia ions, e.g., cri ique o

value, value cri ical, and so on) o re er specically o he heoriesrepresen ed in he ou pu o he journalsExi !, Krisis, and S rei zge.(Since i s ounding in 2004,Exi !has ended, ollowing he work oRoswi ha Scholz, o re er exclusively oWer abspal ungskri ik, or hecri ique o value-dissocia ion a erm ha e ec ively labels hesame sys ema ic heore ical and cri ical s andpoin , al houghExi ! wouldargue ha heir heore ical unders anding o i differs rom ha o hepos -2004Krisis.) Tis is o an ex en a label o convenience ha goesback o be ore 2004, up un il which ime mos o he gures associa edwi hWer kri ikin Germany were o a grea er or lesser ex en affilia edwi h and in many cases involved in he produc ion o he rs Krisis,o which, be ween 1986 and he end o 2003, wen y-seven issues hadbeen published, he rs seven under he i le o Marxis ische Kri ik. Te

publica ion oKrisis28 in 2004 marked he beginning o a resolu ion,however unsa is ac ory, o a conic -ridden and a imes highly polemicalpublic spli in he pre-2004Krisis ha saw wo o i s cen ral gures,Rober Kurz and Roswi ha Scholz, along wi h o hers including Hannsvon Bosse, Pe ra Haarmann, Brigite Hausinger and Claus Pe er Or lieb,

ound he journalExi !as an al erna ive projec , which began publica ionla er in ha same year.

We are o course aware ha his erm, as well as re erences in Englisho value-cri ique or cri ique o he value orm, can and o en are akeno re er much more broadly o works o Marxian cri ical heory and o

advanced Marx scholarship writen mainly in German and as well asin some ewer cases o works and au hors wri ing in English, French,Por uguese and a scatering o o her languages. Principal among heseworks are hose o Hans-Georg Backhaus, Helmu Reichel , and some

o hers who, inuenced by such seminal works as Roman Rosdolskyslandmark s udy,Te Making o Marxs Capi al (rs published in Englishin 1977), began he ask o a serious re-examina ion o Marxs heory ovalue (and his cri ique o value) inCapi aland he un il hen litle-known


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xlvi Marxism and the Critique of Value

or -s udiedGrundrisse. Tis early work, acknowledged as a crucial sourceor, i also subjec o cri ique by, he sel -designa ing represen a ives o

wha we here designa e as value-cri ique orWer kri ik, can also be racedhrough o he work on Marxian heory and cri ique o he value orm

associa ed wi h heneue Marx-Lek re or new reading o Marx. Telater began o emerge in he 1960s (drawing inspira ion rom EvgenyPashukanis and Isaak Rubin, as well as rom he German-languagecri ical Marxis radi ions) and is now probably mos prominen lyrepresen ed by he impor an Marx scholarship as well as cri ical and

polemical wri ings o Michael Heinrich. As can be seen rom several ohe ex s in his collec ion, an in ense polemic has sprung up be ween

leading heoris s associa ed wi h bo h curren value-cri ical journalsKrisisand Exi !and Heinrich himsel , who has also become probably hemos prominen o con emporary Germanophone cri ics o crisis heory laWer kri ik. Our decision o employ he erm Wer kri ik in his moreres ric ed sense is no o deny ha heir are in erconnec ions be ween

Wer kri ikmore narrowly dened and heneue Marx-Lek re, bu ra hero recognize ha wi hin his con ex here exis a range o endencies,

o whichWer kri ik, he subjec o his volume, is one.2. Kurz dis inguishes be ween he exo eric and he eso eric Marx. Te

ormer develops rom he perspec ive o moderniza ion, and is heMarx ha has been dominan in he poli ical recep ion o his work,mos par icularly by Lenin and his ollowers, and by social democracy,and remains dominan in wha value cri ics end o re er o as labor-movemen or workers-movemen Marxism. Te eso eric Marx, whichinvolves he developmen o a ca egorical cri ique o capi alism, acri ique ha is never brough o comple ion wi hin Marxs work, remainsmuch less accessible. For Kurz his eso eric Marx has been writen ou ohis ory by Marxisms eleva ion o he exo eric Marx o a dogma.

3. I is in eres ing o no e he willingness o heory-inuenced scholarsin he humani ies o see he orce o he cri ique o he logic o he(posi ivis ) social sciences, bu only very rarely o acknowledge he

orce o i s con inua ion and developmen in Marxs cri ique o poli icaleconomy, and he implica ions o his con inua ion or prac ice in he


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xlviiIntroduction

humani ies. In his o course he reduc ion o he rs genera ion o heFrank ur Schools radical and po en ially world-changing cri ique oa cul ural or merely academic projec mirrors long a er he even heneglec o he orce o Marxs cri ique o poli ical economy, which was

rans ormed in o a le -wing poli ical economy ha survives oday, andno only in he represen a ives o he ransgured image o ac ually-exis ing socialism.

4. Tis hema ic sequence runs as ollows: I. value crisis, comprisinghe rs hree selec ions; II. value gender, comprising he ollowing

wo; III. crisis and he he eronomy o poli ics, comprising selec ions six,seven, and eigh ; IV. value and he cri ique o enligh enmen , made upo nine, en,

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