The following article was originally published in the summer issue of our theoretical magazine In Defence of Marxism. In a previous article from the IDOM magazine, we polemicised against the theory of “under-consumption” as an explanation of capitalist crisis. In this article, we wish to look at Marx’s law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and explore the wider question of how to approach economics in a dialectical manner.

There is a tendency amongst the leaders of the labour movement to draw a distinction between the ‘parasitic’, ‘irresponsible’ financial sector of the economy and ‘productive’, ‘responsible’ manufacturing. But is it useful to draw this distinction between financial and industrial capitalism? In this history of finance capital, Luke Wilson discusses how such a distinction is artificial: the growth of industrial capitalism was intimately bound up with the growth of finance capital.

As part of the recent Annual Budget, George Osborne, the Tory Chancellor, announced government plans for a new “Help to Buy” scheme, aimed at increasing the number of residential property purchases. Far from solving Britain’s housing crisis, Osborne and the Coalition have helped to create the conditions for yet another bubble that will undoubtedly burst. Adam Booth looks at the housing question in the UK and latest government policy.