[Marxism] A quote from Polanyi

Daniel Rosenberg dddrrr84 at gmail.com
Fri Jan 23 01:35:54 MST 2009


I recently came across the following quote by Polanyi, in his major
work The Great Transformation. I thought about it in the context of
the economic crisis in Israel, the recent war in Gaza and the
attempted disqualification of two central Arab minority parties.

Here it is:

"In reality, the part played by fascism was determined by one factor:
the condition of the market system.
...
The dominance of fascism was directly related to the health of the
market system. During 1917-23 when the market system was in good
shape, its help was not needed to set it right. It remained
undeveloped though governments, occasionally, sought its services to
maintain law and order by crushing the forces that aimed at changing
the existing socio-economic system.

In the period 1924-29, when the restoration of the market system
seemed ensured, fascism faded out as a political force altogether.

After 1930 market economy was in the general crisis. Within a few
years fascism was a world power." (The Great Transformation, p. 242)



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