Stalin’s Thought on the Fundamental Economic Law of Modern Capitalism

The basic economic law of modern capitalism, also known as the “basic economic law of monopoly capitalism”, are presented in the book Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R., section 7, “The Basic Economic Laws of Modern Capitalism and Socialism”. This book was written by Stalin between February and September 1952 in connection with the issues of the November 1951 Seminar on economic problems. It was published in the 18th issue of the Bolshevik magazine in 1952 and in the second volume of the first edition of Selected Works of Stalin.

On the question of the basic economic law of modern capitalism, Stalin made the following observations on all the documents of the Seminar on Economic Problems and on the problems in the unfinished textbooks about political economy:

Firstly, Stalin states that the basic economic law of capitalism is such a law as determines all the principal aspects and all the principal processes of the development of capitalist production, which determines the essence of capitalist production, its essential nature.

Secondly, Stalin clearly stated that the basic economic law of modern capitalism is the concrete embodiment of the law of surplus value, which is to be developed to more suit the conditions of monopoly capitalism and to pursue the maximum profit. Stalin rejected the “law of value,” the “law of competition and anarchy of production,” and the “law of the average rate of profit” as the main elements of this law, and pointed out the requirements for its realization, namely, the securing of the maximum capitalist profit through the exploitation and ruin and impoverishment of the majority of the population of the country, through the enslavement and systematic robbery of the peoples of other countries, especially backward countries, and through wars and militarization of the national economy, which are utilized for the obtaining of the highest profits.

Stalin pointed out that by applying the basic economic law of modern capitalism we can understand and explain all the phenomena of the development of capitalist production, which is of great importance for a deeper understanding and knowledge of the whole process of the contradictory development of capitalist production.