Value and Crisis

Marxist economic thought has had a long and distinguished history in Japan, dating back to the First World War. When interest in Marxist theory was virtually nonexistent in the United States, rival schools of thought in Japan emerged, and brilliant debates took place on Marxs Capital and on capitalism as it was developing in Japan. Forty years ago, Makoto Itohs Value and Crisis began to chronicle these Japanese contributions to Marxist theory, discussing in particular views on Marxs theories of value and crisis, and problems of Marxs theory of market value. Now, in a second edition of his book, Itoh deepens his study Marxs theories of value and crisis, as an essential reference point from which to analyze the multiple crises that have arisen during the past four decades of neoliberalism. One contribution of the original Value and Crisis was to bridge Japan and the world in the field of Marxian political economy. Itohs second edition demonstrates an even wider-ranging familiarity with major schools of Marxist thought, summarizing and assessing viewpoints of such theorists as Hilferding, Bauer, Kautsky, Bukharin, Luxemburg, Grossman, Sweezy, the Japanese Marxist Kozo Uno, together with the relevant parts ofCapital and a section on the 1930s Great Depression. Given todays current emergencies of world capitalism and socialism, says Itoh, we need to work together to resolve new global problems, articulating new issues of Marxs theories of value and crisis. The promise of Marxs theories has not waned. If anything given the failure of Soviet-style socialism and the catastrophe of neoliberalism it grows daily.