G.A. Cohen and the Critique of Political Economy

G.A. Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History (KMTH) bears examination from the standpoint of the renewed critique of capitalism promoted by the anti-globalization movement. Cohen's own current view of his book places it firmly within the framework of rational-choice Marxism, which is characterized by a nihilist attitude towards the entire tradition of Marxist political economy. KMTH itself displays an ambivalent attitude towards Capital, simultaneously basing itself on a close reading of Marx's economic writings and seeking to make ever more explicit Cohen's rejection of the labor theory of value. This results in significant conceptual tensions, notably in Cohen's effort sharply to distinguish between the material and the social, but also weakens KMTH's account of the fettering of the productive forces by capitalist relations of production. The effect - particularly when combined with Cohen's espousal of rational-choice Marxism - is, regrettably, to shut him off from the current renaissance of Marxist political economy