Paul Sweezy

Paul Marlor Sweezy(April 10, 1910 – February 27, 2004) was aMarxist economist,political activist, publisher, and foundingeditorof the long-running magazineMonthly Review.He is best remembered for his contributions to economic theory as one of the leading Marxian economists of the second half of the 20th century.

Paul M. Sweezy
Born	April 10, 1910 New York City,New York,U.S.
Died	February 27, 2004(2004-02-27)(aged 93) Larchmont,New York,U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Harvard University(BA,PhD) London School of Economics
Academic career
Field	Macroeconomics
School or tradition	Neo-Marxian economics
Doctoral advisor	Joseph Schumpeter
Influences	Karl Marx,Vladimir Lenin,Rosa Luxemburg,Michał Kalecki,Ladislaus Bortkiewicz,Joseph Schumpeter

Biography

Early years and education

Paul Sweezy was born on April 10, 1910 inNew York City,the youngest of three sons of Everett B. Sweezy, a vice-president of First National Bank of New York.His mother, Caroline Wilson Sweezy, was a graduate ofGoucher CollegeinBaltimore.

Sweezy attendedPhillips Exeter Academyand went on toHarvardand was editor ofThe Harvard Crimson,graduatingmagna cum laudein 1932.Having completed his undergraduate coursework, his interests shifted from journalism to economics. Sweezy spent the 1931–32 academic year taking courses at theLondon School of Economics,traveling toViennato study on breaks.It was at this time that Sweezy was first exposed to Marxian economic ideas.He made the acquaintance ofHarold Laski,Joan Robinsonand other young left-wing British thinkers of the day.

Upon his return to the United States, Sweezy again enrolled at Harvard, from which he received hisPhD degreein 1937 for a thesis on an English mineowners'cartel,The Limitation of the Vend: A Study in Monopoly and Competition.During his studies, Sweezy had become the "ersatzson "(" ersatz "meaning" replacement "in German) of the Austrian-born economistJoseph Schumpeter,although on an intellectual level, their views were diametrically opposed. Later, as colleagues, their debates on the "Laws of Capitalism" were of legendary status for a generation of Harvard economists.

While at Harvard, Sweezy founded theacademic journalThe Review of Economic Studiesand published essays onimperfect competition,the role ofexpectationsin the determination of supply and demand, and the problem ofeconomic stagnation.

Academic career and military service

Sweezy became an instructor at Harvard in 1938.It was there that he helped establish a local branch of theAmerican Federation of Teachers,the Harvard Teachers' Union.In this interval also Sweezy wrote lectures that later became one of his most important works of economics,The Theory of Capitalist Development(1942),a book which summarized thelabor theory of valueof Marx and his followers. The book was the first in English to deal with such questions as thetransformation problemthoroughly.

Sweezy worked for severalNew Dealagencies analyzing the concentration of economic power and the dynamics of monopoly and competition. This research included the influential study for the National Resources Committee, "Interest Groups in the American Economy" which identified the eight most powerful financial-industrial alliances in US business.

From 1942 to 1945, Sweezy worked for the research and analysis division of theOffice of Strategic Services.Sweezy was sent to London, where his work for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) required his monitoring British economic policy for the US government.He went on to edit the OSS's monthly publication, European Political Report. Sweezy received the bronze star for his role in the war. He was the recipient of the Social Science Research Council Demobilization Award at war's end. On December 14, 2016, the U.S. Congress "awarded the Congressional Gold Medal collectively to the members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in recognition of their superior and major contributions during World War II".

Sweezy wrote extensively for the liberal press during the post-war period, including such publications asThe NationandThe New Republic,among others.He also wrote a book,Socialism,published in 1949, as well as a number of shorter pieces which were collected in book form asThe Present as Historyin 1953. In 1947 Sweezy quit his teaching position at Harvard, with two years remaining on his contract, to dedicate himself to full-time writing and editing.

Monthly Reviewmagazine

In 1949, Sweezy andLeo Hubermanfounded a new magazine calledMonthly Review,using money fromhistorianandliterary criticF. O. Matthiessen.The first issue appeared in May of that year, and included Albert Einstein's article "Why Socialism?".The magazine, established in the midst of the AmericanRed Scare,describes itself as socialist "independent of any political organization".

Monthly Reviewrapidly expanded into the production of books andpamphletsthrough its publishing arm,Monthly Review Press.

Over the years,Monthly Reviewpublished articles by a diverse array of voices, including material byAlbert Einstein,W. E. B. Du Bois,Jean-Paul Sartre,Che GuevaraandJoan Robinson.

Activism

In 1954,New HampshireAttorney GeneralLouis C. Wymansubpoenaed Sweezy and made inquiries into the contents of a guest lecture at the University of New Hampshire and his political beliefs and associations, demanding to know the names of his political associates. Sweezy refused to comply, citing hisFirst Amendmentright offreedom of expression.He was cited forcontempt of courtand briefly imprisoned, but theUS Supreme Courtoverturned the conviction in a landmark case foracademic freedom,inSweezy v. New Hampshire,354U.S.234 (1957).

Sweezy was active in a wide range of progressive causes, including theEmergency Civil Liberties Committee,theNational Lawyers Guild,theNational Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions,and theFair Play for Cuba Committee.He was the chairman of the Committee in Defense ofCarl Marzaniand was particularly active fighting against the prosecution of members of the Communist Party under theSmith Act.

An outspoken opponent of theVietnam War,Sweezy was a prominent supporter ofBertrand Russell's International War Crimes Tribunal.

Contributions to economics

Main article:Monopoly Capital

Sweezy's work in economics focused on applying Marxist analysis to what he identified as three dominant trends in modern capitalism: monopolization, stagnation, and financialization.

Sweezy's first formally published paper on economics was a 1934 article entitled "Professor Pigou's Theory of Unemployment," published in theJournal of Political Economyin 1934.Over the rest of the decade Sweezy wrote prolifically on economics-related topics, publishing some 25 articles and reviews.Sweezy did pioneering work in the fields of expectations andoligopolyin these years, introducing for the first time the concept of thekinked demand curvein the determination of oligopoly pricing.

Harvard published Sweezy's dissertation,Monopoly and Competition in the English Coal Trade, 1550–1850,in 1938. With the 1942 publication of The Theory of Capitalist Development,Sweezy established himself as the "dean of American Marxists" and laid foundations for later Marxist work on these themes. In addition to presenting the first major discussion of the "transformation problem" in English, the book also emphasized the "qualitative" as well as "quantitative" aspect of Marx's theory of value, distinguishing Marx's approach from those of his predecessors in political economy.

In 1966, Sweezy publishedMonopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social OrderwithPaul Baran.The book elaborated evidence for and implications of Sweezy's stagnation theory, also calledsecular stagnation.The main dilemma moderncapitalismwould face, they argued, would be how to find profitable investment outlets for theeconomic surplusescreated bycapital accumulation.Because of the increase in oligopoly this took the form of stagnation as monopolistic firms reduced output rather than prices in response to overcapacity.

Oligopoly meant there was a tendency for the rate of surplus to rise, but this surplus did not necessarily register in statistical records as profits. It also takes the form of waste and excess production capacity.

Increases inmarketing,defense spendingand various forms ofdebtcould alleviate the problem ofoveraccumulation.However, they believed that these remedies to capital's difficulties were inherently limited and tend to decrease in effectiveness over time so thatmonopoly capitalwould tend toward economic stagnation.

This book is regarded as the cornerstone of Sweezy's contribution toMarxian economics.

Sweezy had dealt with the rise and fall of finance capital in the early 21st century identifying monopoly as the more essential trend. This formed the context in which he would analyze the resurgence of finance capital in the post-war era. Because Sweezy's approach combined and integrated the micro effects of monopoly with the macro level insights of Keynesian theory it proved superior for understanding thestagflation of the 1970s.Sweezy's later work withHarry Magdoffexamined the importance of "financial explosion" as a response to stagnation.

Death and legacy

Paul Sweezy died on February 27, 2004, at the age of 93.

He was survived by his second wife, Nancy, his third wife, Zyrel, and his three children, Samuel, Lybess and Martha.[1]

Sweezy was lauded by economist andpublic intellectualJohn Kenneth Galbraithas "the most noted American Marxist scholar" of the late 20th Century.He was also called "the best that Exeter and Harvard can produce" and regarded as "among the most promising economists of his generation" byNobel Prize-winning economistPaul Samuelson.

Relevance in 2008 Financial Crash and subsequent years of global economic turmoil

Sweezy and Baran'sMonopoly Capitalonce again came into fashion as a guideline for the 2008 financial troubles as surplus productivity was malinvested into the financial sector and "financialization" of western companies over productive benefits of industry. Post 2008,consolidating corporate powerswith aid from United States government policies continue to roll surpluses of productivity into militaristic ventures across the world in order to monopolize more industries such as media, banking, real estate, pharmaceutical, and technology to control pricing across commodities and services and labor."...capitalist opposition to civilian spending as a threat to their class interests and class power limited the ability of such spending to provide effective demand."

The increasing concentration and centralization of capital, the rise of giant corporate conglomerates (as seen in Japan since the 80's deflationary period began) forced effective demand to decline. Sweezy maintained, as new investment is restricted to defend the rate of profit,

Works

• Monopoly and Competition in the English Coal Trade, 1550–1850.[1938] Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1972.
• The Theory of Capitalist Development.London: D. Dobson, 1946.
• Socialism.New York: McGraw-Hill Company, 1949.
• The Present as History: Reviews on Capitalism and Socialism.(1953, 1962).
• Modern Capitalism and Other Essays.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972.
• The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.London: New Left Books, 1976.
• Post-Revolutionary Society: Essays.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1980.
• Four lectures on Marxism.(New York: Monthly Review Press, 1981).
• "The Limits of Imperialism." In Chilcote, Ronald H. (ed.)Imperialism: Theoretical Directions.New York: Humanity Books, 2000.

With Leo Huberman

• F.O. Matthiessen, 1902–1950.New York: S.N., 1950.
• Cuba: Anatomy of a Revolution.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1960.
• Regis Debray and Latin American Revolution.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1968.
• Socialism in Cuba.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1969.
• The Communist Manifesto after 100 Years: New translation by Paul M. Sweezy of Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" and Friedrich Engels' "Principles of Communism."New York: Modern Reader, 1964.
• Vietnam: The Endless War: From Monthly Review, 1954–1970.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970.

With Harry Magdoff

• The Dynamics of US Capitalism: Corporate Structure, Inflation, Credit, Gold, and the Dollar.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972.
• Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Chile.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1974.
• The End of Prosperity.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1977.
• The Deepening Crisis of US Capitalism.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1981.
• Stagnation and the Financial Explosion.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1987.
• The Irreversible Crisis: Five Essays.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1988.

With others

• An Economic Program for American Democracy.With Richard V. Gilbert, George H. Hildebrand, Arthur W. Stuart,Maxine Yaple Sweezy,Lorie Tarshis,and John D. Wilson. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1938.
• Monopoly Capital:An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order.With Paul A. Baran. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1966.
• On the Transition to Socialism.WithCharles Bettelheim.New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971.

Bibliography

• Fine, Ben(2009),"Enigma in the Origins of Paul Sweezy's Political Economy"(PDF),Review of Political Economy,21(1): 157–161

Further reading

• Bellod Redondo, J. F. "Monopolio e Irracionalidad: Microfundamentos de la Teoría Baran - Sweezy"inPrincipios - Estudios de Economía Política,pp 65 – 84, nº 10, Fundación Sistema, Madrid. (2008)
• Riccardo Bellofiore, "Between Schumpeter and Keynes: The Heterodoxy of Paul Marlor Sweezy and the Orthodoxy of Paul Mattick",Continental Thought and Theory, vol. 1 (4), October 2017, pp. 72–111
• Peter Clecak,Radical Paradoxes: Dilemmas of the American Left, 1945-1970(New York: Harper & Row, 1973), pp. 128–174
• Foster, John Bellamy.Paul Sweezy & Monopoly Capital(Pluto Press, Sterling, 2002).
• Nicholas Baran and John Bellamy Foster, eds.,The Age of Monopoly Capital, The Selected Correspondence of Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy, 1949-1964(Monthly Review Press, New York, 2017).

External links

• Interview of Paul M. Sweezy by Christopher Phelps and Andor Skotnes
• Obituary(Monthly Review)
• Obituary(The New York Times)
• Obituary(The Guardian)
• Obituary(Communist Party of India [Marxist-Lennist])
• Paul Sweezy, 93; Marxist, economist, Harvard teacher(The Boston Globe)
• Marxist Thinker, Former Prof. Dies(The Harvard Crimson,2004)
• Why The Soviet Bureaucracy is not a New Ruling Class(Ernest Mandelcomments on Sweezy's view of the USSR 1979)
• The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism(Maurice Dobb and Paul Sweezy debate, 1950)
• Correspondence of Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy at the Stanford University Archive, Paul A. Baran's papers

See also

• Richard D. Wolff
• Slavoj Zizek
• Michael Parenti