[OPE-L:628] Forms of Tech. Change (digression)

glevy@acnet.pratt.edu (glevy@acnet.pratt.edu)
Sat, 2 Dec 1995 19:29:16 -0800

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John wrote in [OPE-L:626]:

> One specific relation between the two concepts, LTGRPD
> and periodic crisis, is that the latter brings into
> existence the former and not the former, the latter.

Does it? It would seem to me that the LTGRPD is introduced in Vol. 3
_before_ an explanation of the specific mechanisms that call forth the
crisis. I believe part of the confusion centers on the fact that many
authors confuse the FRP (a term that, to my memory, Marx never used) with
the LTGRPD.

The crisis brings forth a falling rate of profit (obviously, this is
tautologically true). However, is the decline in profitability that
accompanies the crisis the same thing as the LTGRPD? Clearly, Marx would
have wanted to suggest that the LTGRPD manifests itself in the crisis,
but that does not mean that he held that the crisis caused the LTGRPD?

In OPE-L Solidarity,

Jerry