Michael A. Lebowitz's Books

The Socialist Imperative

From Gotha to Now

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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The Socialist Imperative

From Gotha to Now

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

In a little more than a decade, economist Michael A. Lebowitz has written several major works about the transition from socialism to capitalism: Beyond Capital(winner of the Deutscher Prize), Build It Now, The Socialist Alternative, and The Contradictions of “Real Socialism.” Here, he develops and deepens the analysis contained in those pathbreaking works by tracing major issues in socialist thought from the nineteenth century through the twenty-first. Lebowitz explores the obvious but almost universally ignored fact that as human beings work together to produce society’s goods and services, we also “produce” something else: namely, ourselves. Human beings are shaped by circumstances, and any vision of socialism that ignores this fact is bound to fail, or, at best, reproduce the alienation of labor that is endemic to capitalism. But how can people transform their circumstances in a way that allows them to re-organize production and, at the same time, fulfill their human potential? Lebowitz sets out to answer this question first by examining Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Programme, and from there investigates the experiences of the Soviet Union and more recent efforts to build socialism in Venezuela. He argues that socialism in the twenty-first century must be animated by a central vision, in three parts: social ownership of the means of production, social production organized by workers, and the satisfaction of communal needs and communal purposes. These essays repay careful reading and reflection, and prove Lebowitz to be one of the foremost Marxist thinkers of this era.

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264

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NYU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1583675469

ISBN 13

9781583675465

Between Capitalism and Community

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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Between Capitalism and Community

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

Connects the Marxist construct of capitalism to systems of community In this book, Michael Lebowitz deepens the arguments he made in his award-winning, Beyond Capital. Karl Marx, in Capital, focused on capital and the capitalist class that is its embodiment. It is the endless accumulation of capital, its causes and consequences that are central to Marx’s analysis. In taking this approach, Marx tended to obscure not only the centrality of capital’s “immanent drive” and “constant tendency” to divide the working class but also the political economy of the working class (“social production controlled by social foresight”). In Between Capitalism and Community, Lebowitz demonstrates that capitalism contains within itself elements of a different society, one of community. Whereas Marx’s intellectual construct of capitalism treats it as an organic system that reproduces its premises of capital and wage-labor (including a working class that looks upon the requirements of capital “as self-evident natural laws”), Lebowitz argues that the struggle of workers in common and activities based upon solidarity point in the direction of the organic system of community, an alternative system that produces its own premises, communality, and recognition of the needs of others. If we are to escape the ultimate barbarism portended by the existing crisis of the earth system, the subordination of the system of capitalism by that of community is essential. Since the interregnum in which capitalism and community coexist is marked by the interpenetration and mutual deformation of both sides within this whole, however, the path to community cannot emerge spontaneously but requires a revolutionary party that stresses the development of the capacities of people through their protagonism.

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208

Publisher

Monthly Review Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1583678875

ISBN 13

9781583678879

The Socialist Alternative

Real Human Development

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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The Socialist Alternative

Real Human Development

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

“A good society,“ Michael Lebowitz tells us, “is one that permits the full development of human potential.” In this slim, lucid, and insightful book, he argues persuasively that such a society is possible. That capitalism fails his definition of a good society is evident from even a cursory examination of its main features. What comes first in capitalism is not human development but privately accumulated profits by a tiny minority of the population. When there is a conflict between profits and human development, profits take precedence. Just ask the unemployed, those toiling at dead-end jobs, the sick and infirm, the poor, and the imprisoned. But if not capitalism, what? Lebowitz is also critical of those societies that have proclaimed their socialism, such as the former Soviet Union and China. While their systems were not capitalist and were capable of achieving some of what is necessary for the “development of human potential,” they were not “good societies.” A good society as Lebowitz defines it must be marked by three characteristics: social ownership of the means of production, social production controlled by workers, and satisfaction of communal needs and purposes. Lebowitz shows how these characteristics interact with and reinforce one another, and asks how they can be developed to the point where they occur more or less automatically—that is, become both a society’s premises and outcomes. He also offers fascinating insights into matters such as the nature of wealth, the illegitimacy of profits, the inadequacies of worker-controlled enterprises, the division of labor, and much more.

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192

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NYU Press

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1583672141

ISBN 13

9781583672143

The Contradictions of "Real Socialism"

The Conductor and the Conducted

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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The Contradictions of "Real Socialism"

The Conductor and the Conducted

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

What was “real socialism”—the term which originated in twentieth-century socialist societies for the purpose of distinguishing them from abstract, theoretical socialism? In this volume, Michael A. Lebowitz considers the nature, tendencies, and contradictions of those societies. Beginning with the constant presence of shortages within “real socialism,” Lebowitz searches for the inner relations which generate these patterns. He finds these, in particular, in what he calls “vanguard relations of production,” a relation which takes the apparent form of a social contract where workers obtain benefits not available to their counterparts in capitalism but lack the power to decide within the workplace and society. While these societies were able to claim major achievements in areas from health care to education to popular culture, the separation of thinking and doing prevented workers from developing their capacities as fully developed human beings. The relationship within “real socialism” between the vanguard as conductor and a conducted working class, however, did not only lead to the deformation of workers and those elements necessary for the building of socialism; it also created the conditions in which enterprise managers emerged as an incipient capitalist class, which was an immediate source of the crises of “real socialism.” As he argued in The Socialist Alternative: Real Human Development, Lebowitz stresses the necessity to go beyond the hierarchy inherent in the relation of conductor and conducted (and beyond the “vanguard Marxism” which supports this) to create the conditions in which people can transform themselves through their conscious cooperation and practice—i.e., a society of free and associated producers.

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223

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NYU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1583673385

ISBN 13

9781583673386

Build It Now

Socialism for the Twenty-First Century

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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Build It Now

Socialism for the Twenty-First Century

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

Build it Now' provides a compelling set of arguments for socialism, showing both the new catastrophes being prepared by capitalism and the concrete steps being taken to initiate a transition from capitalism to a form of socialism fitted for the 21st century.

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128

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NYU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1583671463

ISBN 13

9781583671467

Following Marx

Method, Critique and Crisis

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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Following Marx

Method, Critique and Crisis

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

Combining Marxa (TM)s focus upon the totality (and its appearance as capitals in competition) with specific applications in political economy, "Following Marx" demonstrates how the failure to understand Marxa (TM)s method has led astray many who consider themselves Marxists.

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389

Publisher

BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004149422

ISBN 13

9789004149427

Beyond Capital

Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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Beyond Capital

Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

Marxism has long been accused of economic determinism, reductionism and a silence on human experience. Beyond Capital argues that these problems can be traced back to Marx's failure to write his planned book on Wage-Labour. Added to this the subsequent ignorance of Marx's method, the result has been an inaccurate presentation of Marxian. Rather than rejecting Marx, Beyond Capital argues that his 'political economy of the working class' and the process of struggle are central for going beyond capitalism.

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198

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

1349218316

ISBN 13

9781349218318

The Socialist Imperative

From Gotha to Now

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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The Socialist Imperative

From Gotha to Now

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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264

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NYU Press

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1583675469

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9781583675465

Beyond Capital, Second Edition

Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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Beyond Capital, Second Edition

Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

A completely reworked edition of his classic volume, Michael Lebowitz's Beyond Capital explores one of the great debates among Marx scholars, that of the implications of Marx's uncompleted works. Lebowitz focuses on the side of the workers, which, he argues, was not developed in Marx's Das Kapital and which was to be the subject of his intended book on wage-labor. Beyond Capital criticizes the one-sidedness of much of Marxist thought and argues that Marx's political economy of the working class and the way in which human beings produce themselves through their struggles are central for going beyond capital.

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231

Publisher

Palgrave MacMillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0333964292

ISBN 13

9780333964293

Following Marx

Method, Critique and Crisis

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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Following Marx

Method, Critique and Crisis

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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389

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BRILL

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9004149422

ISBN 13

9789004149427

Build It Now

Socialism for the Twenty-First Century

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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Build It Now

Socialism for the Twenty-First Century

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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128

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NYU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1583671455

ISBN 13

9781583671450

The Socialist Alternative

Real Human Development

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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The Socialist Alternative

Real Human Development

By: Michael A. Lebowitz

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192

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NYU Press

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1583672141

ISBN 13

9781583672143

Book's by Michael A. Lebowitz

The Socialist Imperative

The Socialist Imperative

Between Capitalism and Community

Between Capitalism and Community

The Socialist Alternative

The Socialist Alternative

The Contradictions of "Real Socialism"

The Contradictions of "Real Socialism"

Build It Now

Build It Now

Following Marx

Following Marx

Beyond Capital

Beyond Capital

The Socialist Imperative

The Socialist Imperative

Beyond Capital, Second Edition

Beyond Capital, Second Edition

Following Marx

Following Marx

Build It Now

Build It Now

The Socialist Alternative

The Socialist Alternative

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