Dear Reader,
Tonight’s blog-entry is about a rare book -- rare in
more than one sense of that word -- and about an author who can’t be found.
The author is one Horace H. Robbins.
The book’s cover’s back flap describes him as “a U.S.
Administrative Law Judge.”
The book, published in 1974 by Philosophical Library, Inc., New York, is entitled --
Fictive Capital and Fictive Profit --
Welfare-Military
State, A Political Economy Based on Economic Fictions.
¡The author is nowhere to be found!
¡Just try ‘“googleing”’ his name!
But this author is the author of a text of rare
synoptic vision and of large-scale, historical, whole-system-theory ambition, and one
that addresses the issues that reside at the very heart of this Blog.
So may you enjoy -- and ‘“profit from”’, in a
social-revolutionary sense -- this foray into Horace Robbins too-little-known
theory of the self-induced demise of the capitalist system.
Regards,
Miguel
First of all, Horace Robbins’s theory is part of the
broad current of thought in which this Blog’s theory also inheres, as one can
readily see from the following initial extract from his long text.
He does not explicitly
make all the connexions about technodepreciation as the fundamental, fatal flaw
of the capitalist system, in the quote below, but all those that we know of inhere there
implicitly, whether or not he consciously acknowledges them all or not --
“The basic cause of the ultimate failure of this political economy is
the resumption
of the process
that exists in all capitalist relationships,
i.e. the steady advance in technological
development that reduces the unit value
of goods (although this is concealed by the depreciation of paper money [M.D.: i.e., by
the declining “buying power” per unit [e.g., per $] of paper money = “inflation”]) and reduces the rate
of Aggregate Profit and entrepreneurial profit.”
“A point can be reached where the Aggregate Profit itself must always
decline, and the
Aggregate Capital must always shrink [M.D.: due to
shrinkage of capital-value by ‘technodepreciation’ losses/write-downs, e.g., a “point”
determined jointly by an acceleration of the rate of technological development
-- hence an acceleration of the rate of ‘technodepreciation’, including of
capital goods, relative to rates of physical, “wear and tear”
depreciation/-amortization thereof -- combined with a growing preponderance of
the value of capital goods in “Aggregate Capital” value], and there can be no market whatsoever for any new, additional capital
goods [M.D.:
E.g., implying a collapse of industrial, productive investment]...
.”
“It was this tendency that produced the relative economic critical
point [M.D.: e.g., “The Great Depression”] in the Independent Capitalist Economy [M.D.: I.e., in
the “gold standard” capitals-system, prior to the 1913 “Federal
Reserve” Act and to the 1929+ “Great Depression”],
wherein constant expansion could no longer take place in sufficient volume to
maintain the economy, and a variable, episodic expansion could no longer fill
the gap.”
“But the fictive processes introduced and maintained
by the Welfare-Military State [M.D.: E.g., by the fascist state-capitalist state
in pre-WWII Germany, Italy, Japan, etc., by “pure-state-bureaucratic ruling
class” state-capitalism in Pre-WWII Russia, and by the Roosevelt
proto-state-capitalist reforms in the U.S.A.],
and the creation of a pseudo Profit B made it possible for the relationship of
individuals in
capital units
[M.D.:
I.e., for the “capital-relation” [Marx]] to continue.”
“Yet the
same tendency still continues, to the point where any real capital expansion becomes impossible.”
“This is the absolute economic critical point of any capitalist relationship,
even if maintained by a pseudo Profit B [M.D.: The movement toward this absolute point of
breakdown of the [state-]capitalist/fictive-capital system could, presumably,
be averted only if the acceleration of the process technological development productively-applied
were diverted into destructive uses [e.g., into weapons of mass destruction and
“permanent war”], and otherwise wasted or suppressed -- hence the ruling-class
engineered “anti-technology” ideologies of “zero economic growth”, “small is beautiful”,
“limits to growth”, “post-modernism”, “post-industrialism” “Global Warming”,
etc.].” [p. 415].
[Horace H. Robbins, Fictive Capital and
Fictive Profit: The Welfare-Military State,
A Political Economy Based on Economic Fictions, Philosophical Library, [New
York: 1974], emphases
added by M.D.].
The predictions that Robbins lodges for the finality of the
global capitals-system are presented after he has applied his theory in a vast
historical perspective of the lead-up to that finality, from the end of what we
term ‘the ascendance phase of the capitals system’, and from the beginning of
what we term ‘the descendance phase of the capitals-system’, as follows [in
part] --
“The
(capitalist) organism has a definite span of life; when the organism dies, its
parts (units) cannot survive.”
“The organism came into being as an economy (the
Independent Capitalist Economy), because of the immense power of its dynamic,
the expansion of capital, which was self-creating and self-sustaining.”
“But such a capitalist organism must reach a critical
point when this capital expansion cannot by itself take place.”
“(The capital expansion referred to is the normal and
inherent expansion of capital, not the gross overexpansion of capital that is
induced by war, inflation, etc., an overexpansion of capital that is itself
periodically destructive to the economy).”
“When this critical point is reached, and even the
gross overexpansion is no longer possible, the organism (Independent Capitalist
Economy) must enter into a final, and ever widening spiral decline, to its
ultimate collapse.”
“(Topic 4, Syllabus -- 1914-1929 the period of the
critical point).”
“This organism (Independent Capitalist Economy) came
to its end in 1930; it cannot be resurrected.”
“The Democratic State, the political structure
characteristic of the period of the Independent Capitalist Economy, then also
failed.”
“The fact that in the political economy of fictitious
capital and profit the same relationship seems to exist in the units, as
stated at the outset, does not mean that the same economy exists. ... .” [op.
cit., p. 18]. ...
“The political economy based on the fictive expansion
of capital is created by the establishment of the Welfare-Military State, of
which it is an integral part...”
“This political is a simulacrum of a capitalist
economy; the fictions are simulacra, although they have an absolute adequacy
and reality for units and individuals.”
“But the political economy created, is plainly not the
capitalist economy that existed (in the Independent Capitalist Economy up to
1930).”
“By the creation of a simulacrum, a new economy
is actually created.”
“The capital units themselves become creatures of the
State.” ... [op. cit., pp. 28-29.].
“The Political Economy Based on Fictive Forms, and the
Welfare-Military State, must come to an end.”
“This political economy, this State, are mortal, as
were the Independent Capitalist Economy and the Democratic State.”
“The political economy must reach a point (called the
absolute economic critical point) where there can be no real capital expansion,
but rather a contraction of the Aggregate capital sets in, and the
pseudo-Profit B must begin to steadily decline, the fictive forms losing their
value and utility, finally becoming inadequate to create the pseudo Profit B.” [op.
cit., p. 44]. ...
“In the fifty years before the Great War of 1914-1918,
the full development of the Independent Capitalist Economy took place.”
“The half century period was a troubled one.”
“There were recurrent serious depressions and
financial crises that resulted in widespread distress and in the ruin of many.”
“There was labor conflict and the degradation of large
parts of the laboring class.”
“The units in nonconcentrated sectors of the economy
found increasing difficulty in surviving.”
“The accumulation of immense fortunes, and political
corruption seriously weakened the ideology of the Democratic State.”
“ “Socialist” movements caused much concern.”
“However, they were not in themselves significant.”
“In 1914, the relative economic critical point was
clearly recognizable.”
“The size and productivity of all the capitals in the
developed capitalist nations had reached such that new investment for constant
expansion was grossly insufficient to maintain an equilibrium except at a low
level of Production, including investment in existing undeveloped areas.”
“The course of the national economies for several
years had been erratic, and in most there was a great degree of dependence on
production for war purposes, to maintain normality.”
“The relative economic critical point must be viewed
in the actual political and international situation at this time, i.e. several
fiercely competing national economies, rather than abstractly, as though there
were one single great capitalist economy, highly advanced, and unable to
maintain an equilibrium.”
“In the actual situation, the relative economic
critical point could not really could not really take the course of a decline
into low level stagnation.” ...
“The war was effective in delaying the effect of the
relative economic critical point.” ...
“The war itself was a popular war in all the warring
countries, and it relieved the economic, social, and political stresses of the
relative economic critical point.” ...
“There were two major unforeseen consequences of this
war.”
“First the Russian economy reached a socially critical
point and the Communists seized power.”
“The second was that the period of prosperity that was
to come after the war for the successful warring powers, was achieved only by
the United States, which entered the war later.”
“The other victors, as well as the defeated nations
had to turn to the United States to save themselves from the socially critical
point that their economy was entering, something which the war itself could not
do.”
“The period of prosperity in the United States, the
second great period of variable expansion in the relative economic critical
point, indeed not only postponed the depression of the relative economic
critical point but was able to postpone the socially critical point of the
European economies.”
“The remarkable variable expansion that took place in
the U.S. after WWI, was, first, the result of war, and of the loans to rebuild
or sustain the European economies.”
“But the real basis of the boom was the extraordinary
development of the financial system, and a related private monetary inflation
through the banking system, to a degree that had never been reached before.”
...
“There was an immense real capital expansion.”
“Furthermore new capitals were formed, and old ones
expanded because the new capital papers themselves became things of value;
capitals could be created because their paper forms would constantly sell for a
higher price.”
“And capital papers were then created upon the basis
of these papers, their values increasing in the booming stock market.”
“The great sums of money made on all these papers was
in part fed back into the economy in the purchase of consumer goods.”
“A genuine private inflation was in being. (Ch. IV on
techniques of private inflation despite a gold standard, and its
consequence.)”
“The results and the technique were the basis of a
belief that a new economic system had been devised, unhampered by the
limitations of ordinary capital expansion and the business cycle.”
“This belief was held by high Government officials and
professional economists, as well as business men, financiers, and bankers.”
“That this new era was based on the full development
of private fictive paper and bank credit money inflation and a variable capital
expansion based on a pseudo Profit B -- all of which had to be temporary and
all of which were in fact only the ultimate stage of the relative economic
critical point -- was not recognized.” ...
“The collapse of the stock market in 1929-1930 was the
critical factor terminating the boom and the great capital overexpansion, real
and fictive.”
“The financial system and the inflation had been the
main forces behind the real capital expansion, and when these could no longer
function, the great structure of paper capitals collapsed, and with this
collapse the whole economy failed.”
“The Level of Production and Income at once entered
into a precipitous decline.” ...
“Extensive as the depression and collapse were, if
they had proceeded further in 1933 the result would have been the destruction
of the economic and political organization of the society.”
“But the socially critical point had been reached, and
the Independent Capitalist Economy came to an end and the political economy of
fictive capital and profit had its inception.” ...
“The final depression and collapse of the capitalist
economy (Independent Capitalist Economy) in the relative economic critical
point is qualitatively and quantitatively unlike the cyclic depression of the
Independent Capitalist Economy.”
“Even if the relative economic critical point had
resulted only in profound depression, it would have been a non-cyclic
depression, without recovery.” [op.
cit., pp. 172-175.].
Robbins's book includes a full chapter focused on "“Welfare” and “Military”
Systems of Distribution and use of Goods", which describes how a system
of vast overproduction of "military" "goods" -- of production,
for-national-government-as-sole-customer/sole-market, of non-use-values, of non-reproductive "capital" goods, of 'anti-use-values'
from a human social-reproductive standpoint, and from a social forces
of production standpoint, that is, vast production of 'anti-goods', or of 'bads'
-- can delay the onset of "the absolute economic critical point" of
collapse / transformation of "the political economy of fictive capital
and profit", including the excerpts below --
“... The
laws that govern the distribution and use of goods that constitute the pseudo
Profit B can be stated as logically necessary principles flowing from the nature
of a political economy based upon fictive expansion of capital.” ...
“... The goods, and the money, may not be used as
capital to produce other goods (in a capitalist relationship).”
“Nor may they
be used to produce goods in any other economic relationship, as for example by
Government production of goods for sale.” ...
“... The good must be used in a way socially accepted
as desirable or necessary. Corollary No
programs of direct, physical destruction of the good is permissible.” [pp. 299-300]. ...
“The welfare system of distribution and use cannot
be used alone; if an adequate Military program is not in existence, the Welfare
Program must be supplemented by a “public works” system of expenditure.
“But the latter will not permit a high level economy
or a high level welfare system; the
Military system of expenditure is essential to secure both a high level economy
and a high level welfare system.” ...
“Actually the greater part of the purchases must
directly, or indirectly be made from the capital goods industries.” ...
“Even at a low level political economy based on
fictive capital and profit -- as in the early U. S. political economy based on
fictive capital and profit [M.D.: i.e., the Roosevelt administration’s pre-WWII
New Deal] -- when welfare expenditure was
the only major system, of expenditure, the political economy based on fictive
capital and profit could not be sustained by the welfare system alone.”
“In the absence of a military program of adequate
size, a public works program is essential to furnish a market for heavy
industry.”
“Early public works programs often included the
construction of power generating facilities, etc., which is inconsistent with
the laws of use and distribution [for
“welfare” goods, and military “goods” -- M.D.].”
“However, this was necessary as an emergency measure
to maintain the political economy based on fictive capital and profit, in the
absence of military expenditure on a sufficient scale.” [pp. 304-305]. ...
“The defense requirements of the Welfare Military
State (in which an immense, technologically advanced military establishment and
armament is constantly maintained) constitutes a distribution and use of goods
that can always be at a high level, always consistent with the laws of
distribution and use [for “welfare” goods,
and military “goods” -- M.D.].” [p. 329].
Robbins describes the final breakdown-crisis [<<Zusammenbruch>>] of the capitals-system as follows --
“What then
occurs, stated generally, is the beginning of the failure of the fictive
Profit form (Welfare-Military State tax), the return declining, and the
rate reduced in an effort to maintain entrepreneurial profit.”
“Inflation must then increase.”
“A rapid depreciation of the paper money and all
fictive capital forms sets in.”
“The pseudo Profit B becomes difficult to maintain,
and it declines, and the declining spiral in the pseudo Profi[t] B, induces a
declining spiral in the level of production; value begins to decline faster
than volume.”
“The Level will decline to the point of a possible
socially critical point, with collapse of State and Economy.”
“That is to say the fictive forms (fictive capital,
fictive profit, inflated money as capital money, the private fictive capital
forms) can no longer maintain an equilibrium at any acceptable level of
production (acceptable for labor class, welfare class, military, capitalists
themselves), and as a corollary, the fictive forms themselves lose all
acceptability.”
“The actual approximate sequence is:”
“I. The real
expansion of capital, whether involving technological advance or not, comes to
an end, including any possible “reactive” expansion of capital for Government
demand. (Note, however, that this does
not mean that technological advance terminates.) There is, of course, an end to the creation
of new private fictive capital forms and private inflation.”
“II.
Parallel: The continuous fall in
the fictive profit form -- Welfare Military tax in amount of return and usually
in the overall tax rate.”
“The steady
increase in the issuance of fictive capital public forms.”
“The steady
increase in the public inflation of the paper money.”
“III. The
beginning and continuation of the spirally increasing decline in the Level of
Production, as the pseudo Profit B begins to decline.”
“V. Loss of
acceptability of new and existing fictive capital forms, almost final loss of
value of the paper money. Level of
production insufficient to maintain Government distribution -- welfare-military
systems. (Note: if gold reaches private possession in
sufficient amount, the fictive capital forms and the paper money are the sooner
destroyed.)”
“VI. Final spiral. (Note:
before final spiral, it is likely that the final Great War
intervenes. This will appear as an
attempt to maintain an “ideology.” In view of the needs of the Government, which
cannot be met thru the dependent capitalist organism, it is possible that a
Military Government system of production -- production directly undertaken by
the Government for military purposes, something like existing so called
“communist” States [,][--] comes into
being.”
“If the end is not in the devastation of war and
collapse, the point of the declining spiral will be such that the economy is
socially unacceptable to any class.”
“Note that the welfare distribution would have to
increase as the Level of Production declines.”
“The inability to expand real capital, and expand the
pseudo Profit B is really made critical by the lower tax return (and the fall
of the tax and of the whole Aggregate Profit will be precipitous because of
spiral effects).”
“Thereafter, the Government bond will not be privately
purchased; the Government must rely on inflation to obtain money, and this will
destroy the political economy.”
“The Government will not be able to arrest the spiral.” [pp. 415-417].
TO BE CONTINUED.
