The Crisis and the Calculation Debate: "the book is still out"

An recent post of mine over on the Blog at Mises.org.

The Crisis and the Calculation Debate: "the book is still out"

Marxists.org offers the complete content of their website (8 gig) as a two-disk DVD set. Since I recently purchased the collection, I figured I'd ask one of the curators about the future of Marxism. I wrote:

"I really enjoy the DVDs. I have one question: Are you and the other caretakers of the site really Marxists?

I come from the Austrian school of economics (Mises, Hayek, Menger, etc.) and assumed that with the calculation debates over socialist planning, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union, Marxists would have set aside old theories and embraced new ones. Is that not the case?"

From his response, it appears that Marxism is alive and well -- and that they will get it right next time.

"Actually...for you to ask me this question, today, in the midst of the biggest financial crisis ever faced by capitalism globally, is interesting. I'm not an economist, per se, but if anything we see many of the prediction that Marx talked about in Capital and the communist manifesto coming to life. Marxism is growing by leaps and bound, again, but this time freed from the syphilitic shackles of Stalinism.

The swing against Hayek style free-market economics is in full political swing right now. It's been an unmitigated failure in Latin America for example and the working classes have reacted, to the left, because of it.

So let's agree the "book is still out" on this question."

I'm glad you enjoy the DVDs.

Today we scored one for Liberty, or at least saw Liberty defended at the margin. I'm elated, and my Marxist friends are elated too. Ironic.