Rosa Luxemburg Theory of Accumulation and Imperialism

This translated volume of Tadeusz Kowalik's Rosa Luxemburg examines the theorist's contribution to economic theory. Part I discusses the dependence of capital accumulation on effective demand and also on specific capitalist barriers to growth. Part II is devoted to the relationship between capital accumulation and economic (and political) imperialism.
Luxemburg's analysis is contrasted to the underconsumptionist theory of capitalist crisis that prevailed among her critics. Although Kowalik recognizes Luxemburg's analysis as incomplete, he argues that she correctly identified the realization of surplus as the key constraint on expanded production in capitalism. This then points to a reinterpretation of Kalecki and Keynes, placing their analyses in a clear line of descent from Marx. Kalecki's analysis of militarism neatly complements Luxemburg's analysis, while Kowalik identifies neo-colonialism as a type of Luxemburg imperialism, providing markets that allow for the realisation of profits in the advanced capitalist countries.
Toporowski and Szymborska's accessible translation of Tadeusz Kowalik's masterpiece will appeal to professional economists, scholars, researchers and students of the history of economic thought and economic theory.

Jan Toporowski studied Economics at Birkbeck College, University of London, and the University of Birmingham, both UK. He has worked in fund management, international banking, central banking and financial and economic consultancy. Since 2004 he has been teaching and researching at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK.
 
Hanna Szymborska is a post-graduate researcher in Economics at the University of Leeds, UK and a graduate from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK, where she also completed her degree in Economics.

Introduction
PART I: CAPITALIST BARRIERS TO GROWTH
1. The Origin of the Problem. A General Outline of the Work
2. The Russian Dispute Over Markets. From the Narodniks to Lenin
3. Aggregate Demand and the Accumulation of Capital
4. The Unsuccessful Attempt to Complete Marx's Scheme or Reproduction
5. The Misunderstanding Around the Role of Money in the Process of Capital Accumulation
6. Appendix I: The Theoretical-analytical Significance of the Reproduction Schemes
7. Appendix II: Critics and Heirs of Rosa Luxemburg
PART II: THE THEORY OF ACCUMULATION IN RELATION TO IMPERIALISM
8. The Historic Conditions of Capital Accumulation
9. Militarism and Economic Growth
10. Imperialism and the Process of Capitalist Decline
11. Rudolf Hilferding's Theory of Finance Capital
12. V.I. Lenin on Imperialism and the Accumulation of Capital