Value-Form,State Derivation And Critical Theory

The theoretical movement New Marx-Reading has become the object of the forefront of western academic theory in recent years.This theoretical exploration,provides important resources for us to rethink the approach of critique of political economics in the tradition of the critical theory of Frankfurt school.The theoretical movement "New Marx Reading" of Germany,which is rise in the late 1960s,had grown up from the soil of the Frankfurt School and centered on the theory of the value form in Marx’s critique of political economy.This theoretical movement has been revived in Germany since the beginning of the twenty-first century and has begun to be valued by the Western Marx Researchers.The New Marx-Reading has a deep social historical background and thought background.For the sake of special historical reasons,the younger generation of scholars of post-war Federal Republic of Germany had to "rebuild" their understanding of Marx;The all-round change of postwar Germany in economic,social and political area,provided the realistic theoretical object for this"reconstruction";the second generation of the Frankfurt School connected the Hegelian Marxist tradition of the Western Marxism again,This Connection provided the most important methodological basis for this "reconstruction";the debate of western mainstream economics in the theory of value and theory transform,put forward to rethink the requirements of Marx’s theory of value;and the discovery and research on Marx’s Grundrisse and a series of manuscripts of the Capital,constitute the direct opportunity of this "Reconstruction".The core theoretical construction of the New Marx-Reading is the Reconstruction of the dialectic of the value form in the Capital and its manuscripts.The key points of this reconstruction are,1.the theory of value form is the crux,which Marx beyond the classical political economics.However,in the revise of the first band of the Capital,the dialectical thought of value-form is"popularized",that’s why it is necessary to reconstruct this dialectic.2.the reconstruction of the dialectic of value-form,is the reconstruction of the representation process form value substance to value-form.3.during the reconstruction of the dialectic of value-form,the New Marx-Reading stresses,that not the simple commodity production,but the simple commodity circulation,is the object of the first chapter of the Capital;the chapter Commodity and Money,is not the abstract representation of the pre-capitalism society,but precisely the capitalism society.Value form,is produced by the commodity exchange and circulation.4.the understanding of commodity fetishism can only base on the dialectical development of the value form.5.the dialectic of value form,represent in with the structure of "Doubling"(Verdoppelung).The Process that Commodity is doubled into commodity and money,is further divided into the doubling of idea and the doubling of reality,the functions of money are understood as the definitions,which have the immanent logical relation.6.the Critique of political Economics,is precisely rather the Critique of "categories" of political Economics.The categories of political economics,as the so called "objective form of thought",is actually the ideal understanding of the objective production relation,in the critique of the economical categories,implicate the subjective and objective twofold-critique.Backhaus and Reichelt-the pioneers of the New Marx-Reading,and Adorno,and Alfred Sohn-Rethel,who given a deeply influence on Adorno in the theory of value form,they don’t have the direct inheritance relationship,and each have the different emphasizes on theory of value form,but on the other side,their exploration has the coincidence in the interpretation of the essence of historical materialism.The reconstruction of the dialectics of value-form of New Marx-Reading has directly promoted the "State derivation" Debate of the FRG in the 1970s.This debate explores the decisive role of the value-form and capital logic for the form of the bourgeois state,which is only the derivative of the former.This question was first explored by Soviet jurist Paschukanis.Be marked by "Die Sozialstaatsillusion und der Widerspruch von Lohnarbeit und Kapital",the initiators of the debate criticized the fragmentation of the revisionist theory of state and the distribution of production and distribution,and analyzed the inevitable derivative relationship between the capitalist mode of production and the state.The State Derivation debate also carried out fruitful research on the dual structure of bourgeois society,property rights and state-form,accumulation theory and national function.The State Derivation debate enriched the content of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School and also influenced the national theory of British Marxism.Secondly,the new Marxist reading also explores the relationship between the critique of political economy and the social theory.The interdisciplinary research laid by the critical theory is based on the study of social and cultural theories on the materialist dialectical thought in "Capital".Backhaus reveals the dual meaning of subjectivity and objectivity in the category of "criticism" of Marx’s "political economy".Marx’s critique of political economy is not only a critique of objective economic facts,but also a critique of subjective social activities.Bonefeld further analyzes the unity between the critique of political economy and the critical theory.Anti-Semitism is the typical theme of this critical theory of the Frankfurt School which combines the critique of political economy and the social theory.Thirdly,with the help of the new Marx,we have reinterpreted the critical theory of the Frankfurt School in the post-Adorno era,this is especially about how to treat the Habermas tradition.Whether to admit a paradigm of classical critical theory is key point to the two directions of the post-Adorno era critical theory.Habermas denies the existence of a certain paradigm,and then moving towards the theory of communicative action;the other direction is to admit a paradigm and to continue the interdisciplinary research on the basis of recognition of critique of political economics.New MarxReading exactly the most thorough path in the latter direction.The New Marx-Reading has a profound ideological historical effect,which provides an important frame of reference for us to rethink and examine contemporary critical theory and radical theory.The theoretical weaknesses are also obviously.1.it put the value form theory as the most important contribution and ignores the decisive role of theory of surplus value.2.this orientation prefers logical interpretation to the historical research.3.the decisive role of production,especially of productive forces,are undervalued in comparison with the role of exchange and circulation.4.it completely focused on the value form theory,therefore lacks of the much wider area of Critical Theory.Meanwhile,we should also see that the New Marx-Reading provides an important resource for us to understand the neo-liberal governance of developed capitalism;and it also reveals us the approach of critique of political economics in the Frankfut School and even the Western Marxism.It serves as an important tributary of the critical theory of Frankfurt School,which helps us to rethink about the inner relationship between critical theory and political economy critique,and to rethink the critical power of political economy criticism and the construction of dialectics nowadays.