Sundays at 2:00pm ET from May 18th to June 29th, 2025

Register for the course by clicking HERE, and then hitting “Ask to join group.” A Gmail account or email connected to a Google account is recommended. (You may need to be logged in to a Google-associated email to register.)

---

In this course we will aim to develop an understanding of the roles of militarisation and war in the political economy of capitalism. Do militarisation or war solve a problem for capitalism? What role does military power play in the structure of capitalist society? Can we explain the emergence of 20th-century fascism by considering these connections? And how has the interplay between militarism, war, and capitalism developed over the last century or so?

We’ll explore these questions by engaging with a range of readings in political economy, sociology, and history. A number of the authors employ one or another Marxist lens, but not all do. The course will move chronologically, for the most part, and in the final session we’ll bring what we’ve learned to bear on the conflicts that have occupied so much of our attention in the last few years. Overall, the course will enable members to understand the relationship between our current economic system and the so-called forever wars, and to develop greater literacy in political economy more generally.

---

Readings will be made freely available to participants.

---

1. The Political Economy of German Fascism

• Alfred Sohn-Rethel:
  • The Economy and Class Structure of German Fascism (1973)
    • chapter 3: “The Dilemma of Rationalization”
    • chapter 13: “A Fascist Economic System”
    • chapter 16: “The Social Reconsolidation of Capitalism”
    • chapter 17: “The Class Structure of German Fascism”
  • [optional] “Excursus” (from “A Commentary after 38 Years”) (1970)

2. Military Power in American Society

• C. Wright Mills:
  • The Power Elite (1956)
    • chapter 1: “The Higher Circles”
    • chapter 8: “The Warlords”
    • chapter 9: “The Military Ascendancy”
  • [optional] Power, Politics, and People (1958)
    • chapter 1: “The Structure of Power in American Society”

3. Class Interests and Class Domination

• Michał Kalecki:
  • “Political Aspects of Full Employment” (1943)
  • “The Fascism of Our Times” (1964)
  • “Vietnam and US Big Business” (1967)
  • [optional] “The Impact of Armaments on the Business Cycle after the Second World War” (1955)
  • [optional] “The Economic Situation in the USA as Compared with the Pre-War Period” (1956)
• [optional] Jan Toporowski, Kalecki, Michał (1991)
• [optional] Tom Bottomore, Fascism (1991)

4. Monopoly Capital and Militarism

• Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy, Monopoly Capital (1966)
  • chapter 1: “Introduction”
  • chapter 7: “The Absorption of Surplus: Militarism and Imperialism”
• [optional] Laurence Harris, Monopoly Capitalism (1991)

5. History of the US Military-Industrial Complex (MIC)

• Mark Wilson, “The Military-Industrial Complex” (2018)
• Jennifer Mittelstadt and Mark Wilson, “The Politics of US Military Privatizations, 1945–2000” (2022)
• Daniel Wirls, “Updating the Military Industrial Complex: The Evolution of the National Security Contracting Complex from the Cold War to the Forever War” (2022)

6. Military Keynesianism: A Re-Emerging Debate

• James Cypher, “The Origins and Evolution of Military Keynesianism in the United States” (2015)
• Jan Toporowski, “Multilateralism and Military Keynesianism: Completing the Analysis” (2016)
• Timothy Barker, “‘Don’t Discuss Jobs Outside This Room’: Reconsidering Military Keynesianism in the 1970s” (2022)

7. Current Conflicts: Ukraine and Gaza

• Jan Toporowski, “The War in Ukraine and the Revival of Military Keynesianism” (2023)
• Wolfgang Streeck, “Notes on the Political Economy of War” (2024)
• Timothy Barker:
  • “Weapons of the Week #2: Why Can’t the US Make More Artillery Shells?” (2024)
  • [optional] “Weapons of the Week #5: Progress on the 155mm Shell Shortage” (2024)
  • [optional] “Weapons of the Weak [sic] #6: 155mm Shells, Made in America*” (2024)
• [optional] Adam Tooze, “Chartbook #120: St. Javelin, Lockheed, and the Arsenal of Democracy” (2022)

Suggested Reading

• Rosa Luxemburg, “The Accumulation of Capital” (1913)
  • Chapter 26: “The Reproduction of Capital and Its Social Setting”
  • Chapter 32: “Militarism as a Province of Accumulation”