Smart Talk: Richard D. Wolff, “America’s most prominent Marxist economist”

Andrew Mazzone interviews Richard D. Wolff, called “America’s most prominent Marxist economist” by New York Times Magazine. Wolff analyzes the economy of the U.S.A. from a Marxist perspective. He believes that Capitalism and Russian Communism, which he calls ‘State Capitalism’, are both fatally flawed. The issue is that the elites rig Capitalism for an inevitable unequal distribution of wealth, creating unsold products, resultant from production power exceeding the purchasing power of the bulk of society. Credit is then created to fill the gap until the credit cannot be repaid. The system collapses, and the elite cause the victims of the collapse to be taxed en masse, to reset the system for another round. Wolff’s solution is to circumvent the process by causing productive corporations to become worker-directed corporations, in order that the output can be disposed of under the direction of the majority of society, not just for a narrow stratum of society. He argues that this is feasible, and cites evidence of new corporations around the world, managed in such a way (e.g., public utilities, construction, agricultural, and the like). Richard D. Wolff is an American Marxist economist, well known for his work on Marxian economics, economic methodology, and class analysis. He is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York. Wolff has also taught economics at Yale University, City University of New York, University of Utah, University of Paris I (Sorbonne), and The Brecht Forum in New York City.