Historical Materialisim Conference 2023: value, profit, technology and value again – Michael Roberts
“…the HM conference brings together academics and students to present papers and discuss not just economics but all aspects of capitalist society – from a broadly Marxist viewpoint. This year, apparently up to 800 attended, with many papers presented and several plenaries.”
Roberts begins with his own presentation: “This was a session on the themes and arguments presented in our latest book by myself and Guglielmo Carchedi, entitled Capitalism in the 21st century – through the prism of value.
“The main approach of the book is to use Marx’s value theory to try and explain the main developments in global capitalism in the 23 years so far of this century. The chapters of the book follow some key themes: the degradation of nature, global warming and the impact of pandemics; changes in the role of money and credit, the return of inflation and a critique of new theories; what causes regular and recurring crises in capitalist accumulation – already two of the greatest slumps in capitalist history: 2008-9 and 2020; the economics of modern imperialism; the rise of mental labour, robots and AI; and last but not least, the features of transitional economies going from capitalism to socialism.”
Capitalism Isn’t Just Buying and Selling Things. It’s a System of Domination. – Jacobin