An Alternative to Marxism?: A Reprint

Abstract

The rapidly spreading discussion of American economic growth suffers seriously from its unfortunate "take-off"—to use Professor Rostow's favorite expression. Inspired by the notion of the so-called "Soviet challenge," it has been shunted into a blind alley by a particular interpretation of that ambiguous term which has been given wide currency in newspaper editorials and in the pronouncements of certain experts. There it has become customary to treat the expression "challenge" as a synonym of "threat," and thus to turn it into a new refrain in the dirge of the Cold War. Cited as the reason for the necessity to accelerate the growth of the American economy, it suggests that all that matters is a more pronounced expansion of our Gross National Product, or even only of the Gross National Product's military component.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.