BARANS NEO-MARXIST THESIS

TOCHE VIC B. DOCEP.A. 317 Seminar on Economic Planning and DevelopmentCOLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION GRADUATE PROGRAMDOCTOR OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM

BARANS NEO-MARXIST THESIS

Republic of the PhilippinesCAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITYPontevedra, CapizLETS HAVE SOME BRAIN EXERCISESExercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, its important that we keep mentally alert. The saying if you dont use it, you will lose it also applies to the brain. SoBrain ExercisesTwenty years ago, a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany. If you recall, Germany at that time was divided into West Germany and East Germany. Anyway, during the flight, TWO of the engines failed. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately, the engines fails before he has time and the plane crashes smack in the middle of no mans land between East Germany and West Germany. Where would you bury the survivors East Germany or West Germany or No Mans Land?Brain ExercisesWithout using a calculator You are driving a bus from London to Milford Havens in Wales. In London, 17 people get on the bus. In Reading, 6 people get off the bus and 9 people get on. In Swindon, two people get off and four get on. In Cardiff, 11 people get off and 16 get on. In Swansea, three people get off and five people get on. In Carmathen, six people get off and three get on. You then arrived at Milford Haven. Question: What was the name of the bus driver?WELCOME TO MENSA!!!ReviewClassical Marxism: Marx, Engels, Luxemburg and LeninNeo-Marxism:Underdevelopment: Baran (1950) and Frank (1969)Dependency Theory: Cardoso (1972), Evans, Chase-Dunn (1975) and Janvry & Garramon (1977)World System: Wallerstein (1979)Response to Neo-Marxism = Orthodox Marxism: Laclau, Brenner (1977), Phillips, Warren, and Sender & Smith

OverviewThe neo-Marxists came after classical Marxists. The difference between classical Marxism and neo-Marxism is that neo-Marxists see imperialism as responsible for underdevelopment. All underdevelopment draws on Lenin. There are three branches of neo-Marxism: underdevelopment, dependency, and world-system.

OverviewBaran (1950s) who was a neo-Marxist underdevelopment theorist developed Lenins ideas of imperialism by saying it was in the interests of capitalism to keep the third world as an indispensable hinterland because it provided the West with raw materials. The indispensable hinterland also gave a chance to extract an economic surplus. Baran (1950s) also suggested de-linking from the world economy and the introduction of socialist economic planning. Therefore, his thinking was a direct challenge to economic development theory at Barans time.

OverviewBaran introduced the concept of "economic surplus" to deal with novel complexities raised by the dominance of monopoly capital. With Paul Sweezy, Baran elaborated the importance of this innovation, its consistency with Marx's labor concept of value, and supplementary relation to Marx's category ofsurplus value.

OverviewAccording to Baran's categories, "Actual economic surplus" is "the difference between what society's actual current output and its actual current consumption," and hence is equal to current savings or accumulation. Potential economic surplus," in contrast, is "the difference between that output that could be produced in a given natural and technical environment with the help of employable productive resources, and what might be regarded as essential consumption." Baran also introduced the concept of "planned surplus"a category that could only be operationalized in a rationally planned socialist society. This was defined as "the difference between society's 'optimum' output available in a historically given natural and technological environment under conditions of planned 'optimal' utilization of all available productive resources, and some chosen 'optimal' volume of consumption."

OverviewBaran used the surplus concept to analyze underdeveloped economies (or what are now more optimistically called "developing economies") in hisThe Political Economy of Growth. Baran with Paul M. Sweezy applied the surplus concept to the contemporary US economy inMonopoly Capital.

About the theoristPaul Alexander Baran(25 August 1909 26 March 1964) was an AmericanMarxisteconomist. In 1951 Baran was promoted to full professor atStanford Universityand Baran was the only tenuredMarxian economistin the United States until his death in 1964. Baran wroteThe Political Economy of Growthin 1957 and co-authoredMonopoly CapitalwithPaul Sweezy.

About the theoristBaran was born inImperial Russia. His father, aMenshevik, left Russia forVilna(thenPoland) in 1917. From Vilna the Baran family moved toBerlin, and then, in 1915 back toMoscow, but Paul stayed inGermanyto finish his secondary school. In 1926 he attended thePlekhanov Institutein Moscow. He left again for Germany in 1928 accepting an appointment as an assistant on agricultural research with his advisor, Dr. Friedrich Pollock. Baran remained in Germany associated with theFrankfurt SchoolInstitute for Social Research. About the theoristHe received the Diplom-Volkswirt (graduate degree in political economy, equivalent to a Master's Degree) in 1931 from the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Breslau. He next wrote a dissertation underEmile Ledereron economic planning, and received his PhD from the University of Berlin in 1933. During these years in Germany, he metRudolf Hilferding, author ofFinance Capitaland wrote under the pen name of Alexander Gabriel for theGerman Social Democratic Partyjournal "Die Gesellschaft."

Barans Neo-Marxist Thesis Application of Marxism to Africa, Asia, & Latin America.Western economic & political domination unfavorable.Western monopolistic business transferred to LDCs.Bourgeoisie in LDCs too weak to accumulate capital & provide institutional change.Baran - coalitions in LDCsBourgeoisie ally with moderate leaders of workers & peasants.Form New Deal coalition democratic, antifeudal, anti-imperialist, supportive of indigenous capitalists.Indigenous middle & capitalist classes unwilling or unable to reduce poverty and provide economic development for masses.

Barans dynamicsBourgeoisie frightened & forced into alliance with landed interests & foreign capitalists.Government supported by foreign economic & military assistance.Progressive coalition breaks down.Overriding interest in preventing socialism.Needed: progressive income tax; landlords invest productively, public investment where private capital does not venture or where monopolies or where infrastructure required.Impossible populist forces further polarization, radicalism & revolt.Impasse broken by expropriation & ethos of collective effort.Critique of BaranPotential conflict of interest between local & foreign capital.Nationalism & decline of colonial economic ties.Couldnt revolution just transfer from one elite to another, e.g. USSR?USSR is Barans model collectivism not market socialism.Is transition of squalor, workers poverty & other human costs inevitable?Class interests under socialism.Barans Neo-Marxist ThesisSeveral Marxian economists have argued that the Russian Revolution of 1917 did not erase divergent class interests. One French economist argues that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) abandoned the socialist road, creating a new ruling class made up of the Communist Party, the Praesidium, and the bureaucracy whose economic interests are antagonistic to those of Soviet workers (Bettelheim 1978).

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