Rev Left Radio

The Fundamentals of Marxism: Intro to Political Economy

Added 2021-02-01 19:23:49 +0000 UTC

In this episode, Alyson and Breht introduce the core concepts of Marxist political economy by an analysis of the history of political economy, core economic concepts in Marxism, and much more!

Outline for this episode with timestamps

Political Economy:

[5:00] Definition: Political economy as the study of economics as played out in reality. Economics in relation to society, production, culture, politics, etc.
[12:28] History: Adam Smith’s development of economics in the wealth of nations, alongside Mill’s principles of political economy.
[20:05] So what does Marxism have to do with political economy?
[33:31] Critique of capitalist economics today

The Details and Concepts

1) [35:30] the Means of Production and Productive Forces

2) [43:20] Class as a relation to Production

3) [47:00] Value, Use, and Exchange

4) [58:05] Surplus Value and Wages

5) [61:09] Money, Capital, and the M-C-M Cycle

6) [68:35] Commodity Fetishism Closing Questions:

Questions:

[74:43] Why does this matter? If Marxism is about revolution, what's the deal with all this abstract economic analysis?
[78:13] Marxian economics vs Marxism: what's the difference, is there an issue with the former?