(This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The Political Economy of Capitalism”)

3. Economic laws.

In society, as in nature, there are no isolated phenomena. All phenomena in the economic life of the society are interconnected and depend on one another.

For example, in the USSR the means of production – factories, plants, land – were the property of the whole people. Therefore, the relations between the people in the process of the production of material goods were characterised as relations of cooperation and mutual assistance. In turn, these relations conditioned the socialist character of the distribution of the results of production – in proportion to the labour invested in the common cause by each member of Soviet society.

It is a different matter under capitalism, where factories and plants are privately owned. Continue reading →

This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The Political Economy of Capitalism”.

2. Social production.

We know that there are many different sciences. Some study nature – physics, biology, zoology, botany, etc. And others study human society – history, literature, etc.

Each of these sciences studies a particular aspect of society. There are many such sides. But the leading role in the life of society is played by the relations that arise between people in the process of production of material goods. Continue reading →

(This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The political economy of capitalism“)

25. The universal law of capitalist accumulation

The accumulation of capital means above all the growth of capitalists’ wealth. As capitalism develops, as production expands, so does the number of the working class. But capitalist production develops in a contradictory manner. On the one hand, there is a growing demand for labor, and on the other hand, there is a huge surplus of it in the form of an army of unemployed. What is the cause of this phenomenon? Continue reading →

(The followng material has been prepared as part of the series “Political economy of capitalism. Basic course”)

9. What is money and how did it originate.

Before answering this question, let us remember Robinson Crusoe. All the things he saved after the shipwreck came in handy to him, all except… money. And how much effort he used to make to get it. And suddenly, when he found himself alone, the money had lost all value. “Unnecessary junk! – said Robinson of the coin. You’re not even worth bending over to pick you up off the floor.” Continue reading →

(The material below was prepared as part of the course “The Political Economy of Capitalism”)

21. The wage of a hired worker.

Capitalist economists claim that a worker’s wage is the price of his or her labor. This way they want to prove that workers receive full remuneration for their labor and that no exploitation happens. Continue reading →

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