One of capitalism’s oldest myths is that of the efficiency of the so-called ‘free-market’ and its superiority to a socialist planned economy. Defending economic planning, this talk responds to the libertarian ideas of the Austrian School of economics, whose ‘theories’ amount to vitriolic support of the unrestricted rule of capital at the expense of the needs of society.
Across Europe, governments are hiking up ‘defence’ spending, whilst carrying out cuts and attacks on workers to pay for it. Rob Sewell explains the economics behind this ‘military Keynesianism’, and why it provides no way out for the capitalist system.
In the second episode of our series on the Classics: Daniel, Nye, Georgina & Peter discuss the ideas of Engels’Â Socialism: Utopian & Scientific.
Trump is set to announce a barrage of new tariffs, in an attempt to stem the decline of US capitalism. Here, Niklas Albin Svensson outlines the Marxist position on the ‘free trade vs protectionism’ debate, and how tariffs will impact the world economy.