The current economic crisis: an essay on a Marxist interpretation

The 70s are marked by the birth of a threefold crisis: an economic one, a crisisin economic policy, and a crisis in the economic theory which had, until then, been esmonic.The sharp growth in the world capitalist economy, the considerable decrease in the range ofcyclic movements, during the post-war period, seem to have validated the Keynesian conceptsarrived in power following the 1929 crisis and the subsequent Second World War. ln1974-75 everything changed. The crisis reappeared in all its depth, along with it there set ina feeling of skepticism regarding the efficacity of state intervention. At the same time with alltheir might there reemerged the “liberal” and monetarist thesis which had been dethroned bythe impact of the events of the 30s and Keynes’s criticism. The purpose of this paper is to fitinto the framework of the debate that exists today regarding the crisis and state interventionand to propose an interpretation of the economic difficulties triggered off by the 1974-75crisis, from the theoretical elements left by Marx. JEL Classification: E21; E11; B51.