The Great Depression - Marx's theories

[Eastside Revolt]

I am doing a term paper for my economics 100 class and I am asked to answer this question:

"Would Marx have been suprised by the Great Depression? Would he have agreed with Keynes that large scale government intervention was nacessary and desirable to eliminate the depression?"

As for the second part of the question, Mra would have dissagreed with anyone except himself over anything,so obviously he wouldn't have agreed with Keynes. Mostly though his reasons would have been that the government should be the economy so the idea of government intervention in the economy would have been irrelevant to him.

The part of the question I am having touble with, is exactly how Marx wouldn't have been suprised by the depression. I know his theories for overproduction would have predicted the agricultural labour crisis which led to the depression. And aswell he saw a market economy as being inherently unstable.

But can anyone else think of another theory of Marx's that would have explained the depression?

(Edited by redcanada at 1:30 am on April 8, 2003)

[hazard]

isn't the communist stance on the economy is that it is an illusion? that is, all facts and figures that enter into it are phantoms that are based on overproduction, as marx pointed out, as well as the problems of inflating the costs to suit supply and demand. all business is a sham. the economy is a capitalist lie.

[Pete]

Marx understood Capitalism very well, I would not be surprised if someone could find a prediction of the Great Depression refered to in his works. Didn't he say that Capitalism would be crushed by its internal hypocracies? The distance between stock value and actual value where so great leading up the depression when they normalated the prices dropped greatly, plunginb people into 'poverty'

[Eastside Revolt]

Quote: from hazard on 8:11 am on April 8, 2003
isn't the communist stance on the economy is that it is an illusion? that is, all facts and figures that enter into it are phantoms that are based on overproduction, as marx pointed out, as well as the problems of inflating the costs to suit supply and demand. all business is a sham. the economy is a capitalist lie.


Your thinking of "the economy" in terms of the market economy, which is a type of economy. Yes it is true that the market is a lie. But an economy is just a term for describing a means of distributing wealth.

They always talk about "the economy" in the news, and on that level I agree that "the economy" of which they speak is a scham. But you do need an economy of some sort no matter how autocratic.

[Wolfie]

Marx did point out that the means of economy would impolode the borguese state in das kap.

[Saint-Just]

Marx predicted that the cyclical progression of capitalist economy produced circumstances of the 1929 great depression. He would not advise any government action as he opposes all actions of bourgeois government except the destruction of itself. The great depression did have the attributes to bring its destruction, therefore he would advocate no bourgeois action to alleviate its impact. He most likely knew that it would recover but would predict a more serious economic depression in the future.

Keynesian economics tend more towards socialist economics than capitalist, monetarist policies. Monetarists suggest that depression is impossible with the correct control of money supply. But to standard economic theory, in the 80's it was found virtually impossible to control money supply.

Keynes policy of government intervention was successful and to this day proves to be successfuly in increasing aggregate demand admist times of economic depression, however this is a policy for a capitalist system, a system to which Marx deplores in all its forms.

[Eastside Revolt]

Thanks all yall, I figured out a few more thing and handed it in yesterday.

[Invader Zim]

economics 100 class...

does that mean you can get an economics 67 class?