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Re Paul Z's [OPE-L:2927]:
I'm not sure how serious you are in raising this question since you
deliberately inserted a "smiley face" [i.e. ":)"], but I'll treat it
as if you are indeed serious on some level. I don't think that
Luxemburg has been ignored by contemporary Marxist economists because
she pointed to some alleged inconsistencies in Marx. Rather, her work
(especially _The Acuumulation of Capital_) hasn't been closely examined
by most Marxists since the late 1970's since there has been relatively
little theoretical focus on *imperialism* and related fields of study
such as economic development and international trade. In other words,
when her works were carefully read in the 1970's (along with other
works by Hilferding, Sternberg, and Bukharin) it was most frequently
in connection with evaluating different theoretical perspectives
on imperialism. This is unfortunate, though, since only a small portion
of her book discussed imperialism (even though, in a sense, that was
the subject that the book built-up towards).
One person who did read Luxemburg carefully was the late Joan Robinson.
Have you considered Robinson's perspective on Luxemburg and why there
has been a sympathetic reading of RL's work by Post-Keynesians?
Also: have you ever read *Dialectical Economics* (Lexington, Mass.,
D.C. Heath and Company, 1975) by "Lyn Marcus", more commonly known
as Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. [!] ? At the time when this book was first
written, LaRouche still considered himself to be a Marxist and, if I
recall correctly, referred to his perspective as "Neo-Luxemburgist"
(this was prior to his descent into ultra-right-wing craziness). He
also wrote the "Introduction" for Luxemburg's _The Industrial
Development of Poland_ (NY, Campaigner Publications, Inc., 1977).
In any event, I think that *all* of the classics of Marxist political
economy (of which, I certainly include Luxemburg's writings) deserve
a careful reading. A study of her life, as well, is well worth
studying.
In solidarity, Jerry
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