Neue Marx-Lektüre refers to the reception of the economic theory of Karl Marx, which started in the mid-1960s in Western and partly Eastern Europe, in distinction from both Marxism-Leninism and social democracy. In its specific meaning, Neue Marx-Lektüre refers to a loose group of authors mainly from the German-speaking countries, who go beyond to revise a certain historizing and empirical interpretation of Marx's analysis of economic forms which can be traced back to Friedrich Engels.
Overview
Departing from the early approaches of Evgeny Bronislavovich Pashukanis and Isaak Illich Rubin in the 1920s, the works submitted by Helmut Reichelt and Hans-Georg Backhaus in the seventies and eighties, and the writings of Michael Heinrich in the nineties, were at the turn of the millennium a partly academic, partly off-academic debate concerning the question of how economic value has evolved. These authors, who meanwhile are labeled by the umbrella term Neue Marx-Lektüre distinguish themselves in a variety of aspects from the traditional Marx reading related with both, the workers movement and state socialism. The Neue Marx-Lektüre rejects
premonetary theories of value, according to which already the single concrete work creates value, and the essence of value is a direct outcome of the invested time of labour. On the contrary the social character of work creating value is emphasized.
conceptions of the state as a manipulative instrument of a ruling class. On the contrary, the Staatsableitungsdebatte has an understanding of the state as a structurally necessary, but relatively separated part of capitalism.
theories of history which lead to the anticipation of a revolution to be accomplished by the proletariat. Opposed to this, capital is considered as an "automatic subject", which exists in a sham as well in a real form.
On the other hand, the authors of the Neue Marx-Lektüre in contrast to the academically dominant neo-classic economy maintain the relevance of the approach of Marx. Especially they insist that the micro-economic approaches of the neoclassic theory of economy can't explain the constitution, maintenance and dynamics of the economic value-relations, and only can exhibit insufficient theoretical means when it comes to macro-economic constructs such as e.g. the gross national income. On the contrary, they point out that Marx, although unable to answer these questions, nevertheless provides a higher degree of reflection and awareness for the problems, which has to be recovered in a critical manner for the contemporary discussion.
Main works
Helmut Reichelt: Zur logischen Struktur des Kapitalbegriffs bei Karl Marx. also: Dissertation from 10 July 1968, Wirtschafts- u. sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Universität Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt, 1968, 265 S.; fourth revisited edition, with a preface by Iring Fetscher, Frankfurt a. M.: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 1973 ; Freiburg im Breisgau: Ça Ira, 2001,.
Michael Heinrich:Kritik der politischen Ökonomie - Eine Einführung, Schmetterling Verlag, 3rd edition 2005 Die Wissenschaft vom Wert VSA-Verlag, 1991; second, revised edition: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2003
Hans-Georg Backhaus: Dialektik der Wertform. Untersuchungen zur Marxschen Ökonomiekritik, Freiburg i. Br. 1997,.
Helmut Reichelt: Neue Marx-Lektüre. Zur Kritik sozialwissenschaftlicher Logik, Hamburg 2008,.
Literature
English
Jacques Bidet: New Interpretations of Capital, in : Jacques Bides, Stathis Kouvelakis: Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism, BRILL 2008,, , pp. 369–384
* Ingo Elbe:
* Sotiropoulos, Dimitris P., Milios J. Political economy of contemporary capitalism and its crisis: demystifying finance. Routledge, 2015.
* Heinrich, Michael, and Alexander Locascio. An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Karl Marx's Capital. Monthly Review P, 2012.
German
Ingo Elbe: Marx im Westen. Die neue Marx-Lektüre in der Bundesrepublik seit 1965, Berlin 2008,
Michael Heinrich: Wie das Marxsche Kapital lesen?, Schmetterling Verlag, 1st edition 2008
Hanno Pahl: Das Geld in der modernen Wirtschaft. Marx und Luhmann im Vergleich, Frankfurt 2008,
Jan Hoff, Alexis Petrioli, Ingo Stützle, Frieder Otto Wolf : Das Kapital neu lesen. Beiträge zur radikalen Philosophie, Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 2006,,
* with table of contents, introduction and epilog
* Wolfgang Fritz Haug: , review of Das Kapital neu Lesen
Lars Meyer: Absoluter Wert und allgemeiner Wille. Zur Selbstbegründung dialektischer Gesellschaftstheorie, Bielefeld 2005,.
Michael Heinrich:Kritik der politischen Ökonomie - Eine Einführung, Schmetterling Verlag, 3rd edition 2005
Joachim Hirsch:Der Staat der Bürgerlichen Gesellschaft: Zum Staatsverständnis von Karl Marx, Frankfurt 2008,
Christine Kirchhoff, Hanno Pahl, Christoph Engemann, Judith Heckel, Lars Meyer : Gesellschaft als Verkehrung. Perspektiven einer neuen Marx-Lektüre. Festschrift für Helmut Reichelt, Freiburg 2004,.
Jan Hoff: Kritik der klassischen politischen Ökonomie. Zur Rezeption der werttheoretischen Ansätze ökonomischer Klassiker durch Karl Marx, Cologne 2004,.
Dieter Wolf: In: Dieter Wolf, Heinz Paragenings: Zur Konfusion des Wertbegriffs. Beiträge zur „Kapital“-Diskussion, Argument Verlag, Hamburg 2004,
Dieter Wolf: In: Ingo Elbe, Tobias Reichardt, Dieter Wolf: Gesellschaftliche Praxis und ihre wissenschaftliche Darstellung. Beiträge zur Kapital-Diskussion. Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen. Heft 6. Argument Verlag, Hamburg, 2008. Hrsg.: Carl-Erich Vollgraf, Richard Sperl & Rolf Hecker.
