Causes of economic crises in the 19th century diagram. World economic crises

We are already accustomed to living in a crisis, so we can hardly imagine that a global crisis once happened for the first time. When did this happen? When was the first world economic crisis?

Economic crises

Economic crises in general have long been known to humanity. They arise due to serious disruptions in economic activity. The most common form of crisis in the economy is the accumulation of debts and the inability to repay them within a reasonable time, and the main cause of crises is an imbalance between supply and demand for various services and goods.

There are two main types of crises:

• overproduction crisis
• and the crisis of underproduction.

It is believed that the very first crisis erupted back in 88 BC in the Roman Empire. But some scientists are still inclined to call the economic crisis in England that occurred in 1825 the first. Then the economies of other countries were partially affected: the USA and France. In addition, this crisis affected not one, but several industries at once.

Nevertheless, this crisis cannot be called “global”, since it did not cover most of the countries of the world. However, we didn’t have to wait long, because a little over 30 years later a real economic and financial crisis broke out, which was given the title of “first world crisis.”

The first world economic and financial crisis occurred in 1857-1858. Most of all, he struck Great Britain, which at that time was an industrial and commercial leader. However, the crisis began in the United States and hit Germany and France the hardest.

Contradictions between different sectors of the economy on a global scale

Progress in some cases has a negative impact on the economy. The advent of railways caused the growth of industry, primarily metallurgy. The whaling industry found itself in a deep crisis as mass production of kerosene began, which was obtained in 1849. If before the crisis one gallon (that is, approximately four liters) of whale oil cost $1.7, then with the advent of kerosene lamps in 1857, its price dropped to $0.4. In turn, the popularity of kerosene was caused by its low price - only seven cents per gallon.

Contradictions between producers and the exchange

The railroad companies, which were mostly joint stock companies, were actually worth less than their shares.

The first harbingers of the crisis

Along with joint stock companies, banks that trade in loans are also beginning to grow. As a result, there was no liquid funds left for urgent payments, and the money that was received on credit was used in speculation.

Conflicts between debtors and creditors

Money markets at this time were flooded with bills of exchange that were accepted and issued by insolvent firms. Farmers also found themselves insolvent and could not pay their debts to banks. The banks themselves were simply stuck with loans that were clearly impossible to repay.

Contradictions between the state and the national economy

These contradictions manifested themselves in the fact that the Bank of England issued eight million pounds sterling. Banknotes were issued in excess of the limit, which was established by law back in 1844.

Contradictions between the state and citizens

The real stress was experienced by those who previously had jobs in closed companies or deposits in bankrupt banks. Mass illness and poverty began.

Increasing political contradictions and struggle for power

The First World Economic Crisis is called “Karl Marx’s favorite crisis.” Marx and his comrade Engels observed this crisis and expected that the crisis would be much deeper. As a result, from financial and economic it will become social. They thought that the crisis could create a revolutionary situation in Western Europe, which would provide new opportunities for political struggle.

Of course, the crisis also affected the political situation in the world. However, after the crisis, capitalism entered an era of intensive growth. The economic recovery was particularly strong in the USA, Germany and Russia. This was facilitated by the successful completion of the Civil War in 1861-1865 in the United States, the unification of Germany in 1871 and the Russian reforms carried out by Alexander II in 1860-1870.

Growth was periodically interrupted by new crises, which had almost the same features as the crisis of 1857-1858, but the world changed during this time and by 1914, considered a turning point, already looked different than 50 years ago.

Periodic economic crises began with the crisis of 1825 in Great Britain, the first country where capitalism became the dominant system, and where machine production reached quite a large development.

The next economic crisis occurred in 1836 and simultaneously affected Great Britain and the United States, which at that time were closely connected by trade and production ties.

The crisis of 1847 was close in nature to a global crisis and affected all countries of the European continent.

The first world economic crisis occurred in 1857. This was the deepest of all the crises that had taken place before it. It covered all European countries, as well as countries in North and South America. During the year and a half of the crisis in the UK, production volume in the textile industry decreased by 21%, in shipbuilding - by 26%. Iron production in France decreased by 13%, in the USA - by 20%, in Germany - by 25%. Cotton consumption fell in France by 13%, in the UK by 23%, and in the USA by 27%. Russia has experienced great crisis shocks. Iron smelting in Russia decreased by 17%, production of cotton fabrics - by 14%, woolen fabrics - by 11%.

The next economic crisis occurred in 1866 and affected Great Britain in its most acute form. The crisis of 1866 had a special specificity. The American Civil War (1861 - 1865) caused a severe cotton famine in Great Britain and a shock to the textile market on the eve of this crisis. In 1862, according to Marx, 58% of all looms and more than 60% of spindles in Great Britain were idle. A large number of small manufacturers went bankrupt. According to Marx, the cotton famine then prevented the onset of an economic crisis and led to the fact that the crisis of 1866 was predominantly financial in nature, since speculation in cotton caused a large overflow of capital in the money market.

The next global economic crisis began in 1873. In its duration, it surpassed all previous economic crises. Starting in Austria and Germany, it spread to most European countries and the United States, ending in 1878 in Great Britain. Economic crisis of 1873-78 marked the beginning of the transition to monopoly capitalism.

In 1882, another economic crisis occurred, affecting mainly the USA and France.

In 1890-93 The economic crisis hit Germany, the USA, France and Russia.

The economic crises of the period of transition to the monopoly stage of development of capitalism were seriously influenced by the global agrarian crisis, which lasted from the mid-70s. until the mid-90s.

World economic crisis 1900-03. accelerated the formation of monopoly capitalism, it was the first crisis of the era of imperialism. And although the drop in production during the crisis was insignificant (2-3%), it affected almost all European countries and the United States. The crisis was especially difficult in Russia, where it coincided with a bad harvest.

The next global economic crisis erupted in 1907. The overall drop in the level of industrial production in capitalist countries was about 5%, but the crisis affected the USA and Great Britain to the greatest extent, where output decreased by 15% and 6%, respectively. The crisis of 1907 showed the groundlessness of the hopes of bourgeois ideologists for the possibility of the disappearance of economic crises under the conditions of monopoly capitalism. In Art. “Marxism and Revisionism” V.I. Lenin convincingly showed that the crisis of 1907 became indisputable proof of the inevitability of crises as an integral part of the capitalist system. At the same time, Lenin emphasized that at the imperialist stage of development of capitalism “The forms, sequence, picture of individual crises have changed...».

The next global economic crisis began in mid-1920. Its course was greatly affected by the First World War of 1914-18. and its consequences. Almost all capitalist countries experienced serious economic difficulties. Industrial output during the crisis decreased in Western European countries as a whole by 11%, and in Great Britain by 33%. In the US, production fell by 18%, in Canada by 22%.

But all the economic crises listed above could not be compared with the global economic crisis of 1929-33. This crisis, which lasted more than four years and engulfed the entire capitalist world, all spheres of the economy, literally shook the entire system of capitalism to its core. The total volume of industrial production of the capitalist world decreased by 46%, steel production fell by 62%, coal production by 31%, shipbuilding production decreased by 83%, foreign trade turnover by 67%, the number of unemployed reached 26 million people, or 1/4 of all people employed in production, real incomes of the population decreased by an average of 58%. The price of securities on stock exchanges decreased by 60-75%. The crisis was marked by a large number of bankruptcies. In the USA alone, 109 thousand companies went bankrupt.

The severity of the contradictions between societies, the nature of production and the private capitalist form of appropriation, which emerged during the global economic crisis of 1929-33, showed that the transition to the monopolistic stage of development of capitalism did not lead, as theorists had hoped, to overcoming the spontaneity of capitalist reproduction. The monopolies were unable to cope with the market forces and the bourgeois state was forced to intervene in economic processes. Began development of monopoly capitalism into state-monopoly capitalism.

The cycle that followed the crisis of 1929-33 is characterized by the absence of a recovery phase. After a long depression and slight recovery, another global economic crisis broke out in mid-1937. It was no less acute than the crisis of 1929-33. The total volume of industrial production in the capitalist world decreased by 11%, including in the USA - by 21%. Steel production fell by an average of 23%, automobile production by 40%, merchant ship production by 42%, etc.

This is what I.V. Stalin said about this economic crisis and its possible consequences in 1939 in the Report at the XVIII Congress on the work of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks:

“The economic crisis, which began in capitalist countries in the second half of 1920, continued until the end of 1933. After this, the crisis turned into depression, and then some revival of industry began, some of its growth. But this revival of industry did not turn into prosperity, as usually happens during a period of revival. On the contrary, starting from the second half of 1937, a new economic crisis began, affecting primarily the United States, followed by England, France and a number of other countries.

Thus, not having yet had time to recover from the blows of the recent economic crisis, the capitalist countries found themselves faced with a new economic crisis.

This circumstance naturally led to increased unemployment. The number of unemployed in capitalist countries, which had fallen from 30 million people in 1933 to 14 million in 1937, has now risen again as a result of the new crisis to 18 million people.

A characteristic feature of the new crisis is that it differs in many ways from the previous crisis, and it differs not for the better, but for the worse.

Firstly, the new crisis began not after industrial prosperity, as was the case in 1929, but after depression and some recovery, which, however, did not turn into prosperity. This means that the current crisis will be more severe and more difficult to combat than the previous crisis.

Further, the current crisis did not play out in peacetime, but during the period of the second imperialist war that had already begun, when Japan, having been at war with China for the second year, was disorganizing the vast Chinese market and making it almost inaccessible to the goods of other countries, when Italy and Germany had already transferred their national economy on the rails of a war economy, squandering their reserves of raw materials and currency on this matter, when all other major capitalist powers begin to rebuild on a war footing. This means that capitalism will have much fewer resources for a normal exit from the current crisis than during the previous crisis.

Finally, Unlike the previous crisis, the current crisis is not universal, but is currently affecting mainly economically powerful countries that have not yet switched to the war economy. As for aggressive countries, such as Japan, Germany and Italy, which have already rebuilt their economies on a war footing, they, while intensively developing their military industry, are not yet experiencing a crisis of overproduction, although they are approaching it. This means that while economically powerful, non-aggressive countries will begin to emerge from the period of crisis, aggressive countries, having depleted their gold and raw material reserves during the war fever, will have to enter a period of severe crisis.»

But this economic crisis did not fully develop; its course was interrupted by the Second World War of 1939-45.

After the 2nd World War 1939-45. The economic growth of capitalist countries did not last long. Already in 1948-49. The capitalist economy experienced its first crisis shock after the war. The economic crisis hit primarily the main capitalist country - the United States. The output of American industry fell by 18.2% from October 1948 to July 1949. The crisis in industry was complemented by overproduction in agriculture. The volume of US foreign trade has sharply decreased. In Canada, industrial production fell by 12%. The total volume of industrial output in developed capitalist countries decreased by almost 6% compared to the previous year. The commodity famine characteristic of the first post-war years was replaced by general difficulties of sales on the world capitalist market. Exports (by value) of many countries in Europe and Asia fell. World exports of wheat, coffee, rubber, wool, and coal decreased. All this dealt a blow to the already difficult currency situation of many countries, which caused a massive devaluation of capitalist currencies in the fall of 1949. Thus, the crisis of 1948-49. was not a local phenomenon, characteristic only of the USA and Canada, but had an essentially global character.

In the fall of 1957, a new global economic crisis began, which continued into 1958. It hit the United States with the greatest force. Industrial production fell here by 12.6%. The crisis also affected Japan, France, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The growth of industrial production in Germany and Italy has stopped. The rate of production growth in developing countries has sharply decreased. In the vast majority of light industry sectors, as well as in ferrous metallurgy, shipbuilding and the coal industry, production has completely decreased. In 1957-58 The crisis gripped countries that accounted for almost 2/3 of the industrial output of the capitalist world.

The crisis in industry was complemented by a crisis in international trade. For the first time in the post-war years, total exports of finished industrial products decreased. At the same time, long-term structural industrial crises began on the scale of the entire capitalist world: in the raw materials industries, the oil industry, shipbuilding, and merchant shipping. A US balance of payments crisis developed, caused mainly by huge military spending and the Cold War policy.

70s became a turning point in the economic development of capitalism. During this period, the general conditions of economic development of the capitalist world began to change rapidly. In the countries of Western Europe and Japan already by the mid-60s. The reconstruction of industry and other sectors of the economy was completed on a new technical basis, and new branches of production acquired key importance. In terms of their structure, technological equipment and productivity, the economies of these countries have come close to the level of the US economy. The convergence of the levels of economic development of the main competing centers of imperialism could not but affect the nature of the cycles of capitalist reproduction. In the 70s economic crises are becoming more widespread and more acute. In 1970-71 industrial production fell in 16 countries and was reflected in a fall in the aggregate production indicators of the industrialized capitalist world as a whole.

But a special place in post-war capitalist reproduction was occupied by the global economic crisis of 1974-75. He opened a qualitatively new period of development of capitalist reproduction. This crisis affected all developed capitalist countries without exception and led to the deepest decline in industrial production and capital investment since World War II. For the first time in the post-war years, consumer spending and the total volume of capitalist foreign trade decreased. The sharp increase in unemployment was accompanied by a fall in real incomes of the population.

Features of the global economic crisis of 1974-75.

The special nature of the economic crisis of 1974-75. was determined not only by its severity and simultaneous spread to all major capitalist countries, but also by its combination with a powerful wave of inflation. Prices for goods and services continued to rise rapidly even in the most acute phase of the crisis - a phenomenon unprecedented in the history of capitalism.

One of the features of the crisis of 1974-75. It became intertwined with deep structural crises that affected such important areas of the capitalist economy as energy, raw materials extraction, agriculture, and the monetary and financial system. It revealed the aggravation of the contradictions of the world capitalist economy with immeasurably greater force than in previous post-war crises.

The unusual nature of the economic crisis of 1974-75. was primarily due to the explosion of contradictions in the international division of labor that developed in the capitalist world in the post-war years. The crisis disrupted the system of world relations, caused an even greater intensification of inter-imperialist rivalry and qualitative changes in relations between the imperialist powers and developing countries. A characteristic feature of the economic crisis of 1974-75. There was a sharp violation of the cost proportions of capital reproduction as a result of the rapid rise in world prices for oil, raw materials and agricultural products. From 1972 to the first half of 1974, the price index for raw materials increased 2.4 times (including 4 times for oil), for agricultural goods - almost 2 times (including grain almost 3 times).

The energy, raw materials and food structural crises literally blew up the course of capitalist reproduction. At the heart of these crises lies a deep disproportionality in the development of individual parts and spheres of the world capitalist economy, which itself is the inevitable result of new forms of exploitation of developing countries by imperialism, a system of domination over the production and export of raw materials, founded by international monopolies with the help of concessions and monopoly-low purchasing prices for raw materials. The political and economic essence of the raw materials and energy crises, as well as the food crisis, is rooted in the aggravation of economic and political relations between imperialist countries and young national states. The intense political struggle over the prices of oil and other raw materials is only a reflection of the strengthening of the general struggle of developing countries against neo-colonialism. Never before in the history of capitalism have structural crises simultaneously affected such critical areas of production as the energy and raw materials complexes and agriculture. Having an independent character, these structural crises influenced the course of capitalist reproduction after the crisis of 1970-1971. and deformed the cycle.

The raw materials, energy and food crises arose during the long accumulation of contradictions of capitalist reproduction throughout the post-war period. Conditions for the reproduction of capital in industries producing raw materials and primary energy carriers, as well as in the electric power industry, were unfavorable in developed capitalist countries already in the first post-war years. The rate of return on invested capital in these industries was significantly lower than in most manufacturing industries.

Bourgeois states tried to mitigate the disproportionality in the industrial structure by providing tax incentives to mining companies (USA, Canada) or by nationalizing these industries and developing the public sector (Great Britain, France, Italy). As for the monopolies of the leading capitalist states, in the development of many raw materials industries, especially oil production, they focused on the exploitation of the resources of developing countries. The relatively rapid economic development of monopoly capitalism after World War II until the 70s. The 20th century was largely based on low prices for raw materials and oil and thus relied on neo-colonialist forms of pumping out profits from developing countries. At the same time, the economic conditions in which the extractive industries found themselves in the countries of developed capitalism themselves led to either stagnation or a curtailment of the production of raw materials and fuel on their own territory and to an increased focus on the import of these products from developing countries. So, for 1950-72. Imports of crude oil to the United States increased more than 9 times, to Western European countries - 17 times, to Japan - 193 times.

The huge increase in oil production in developing countries could not compensate for the general slowdown in the growth of production of primary energy carriers and other types of raw materials in the capitalist world. The deep disproportionality of the sectoral structure of the capitalist economy was clearly evident already during the cyclical rise of the 60s, but in the crisis form of relative “underproduction” it appeared only during the rise of 1972-73. The particular severity of the energy crisis is associated with the new balance of power between oil-producing countries and oil monopolies, whose power has been sharply undermined. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which unites the main oil-producing developing countries, was able to take control of its own natural resources and implement independent price policies in the oil market.

As for the food crisis, its occurrence is associated with the aggravation of the food problem in developing countries in the 70s, when in many of them the already low level of food production per capita dropped significantly. The immediate causes of this crisis are rooted not only in the significant lag in the growth rate of agriculture in developing countries from the growth rate of their population, but also in the relatively low growth rate of agricultural production in industrial capitalist countries in the 50-60s. The crop failures of 1972-74 played a significant role in the aggravation of the food problem.

Rising food prices in 1972-74. on the world market by 5 times led to an aggravation of contradictions both between the main capitalist countries and between developed capitalist states and developing countries. Rising food prices in the United States contributed to increased inflation and undermined the purchasing power of the American population. But as a major exporter of agricultural products, the United States benefited from rising prices on the world capitalist market. The countries of Western Europe, where domestic prices for agricultural products were significantly higher than world prices before 1974, suffered less from rising world prices. Japan, Great Britain and the vast majority of developing countries find themselves in the most difficult situation, where domestic food prices have increased and the cost of imported agricultural goods has increased significantly.

Thus, the raw materials and food crises led in 1973-74. to a sharp increase in world prices for oil, raw materials and agricultural products and thereby became a serious factor in the violation of the cost proportions of capital reproduction. These crises of relative underproduction played a major role in the onset of the global crisis of the capitalist economy of 1974-75.

A deep drop in production during the economic crisis of 1974-75. combined with increasing inflation, the origins of which were rooted in the enormous unproductive spending of bourgeois governments, as well as in monopolistic pricing practices. Monopolistic pricing practice is characterized primarily by the fact that companies create a system of relatively uniform and fixed prices for homogeneous products. For this purpose, the so-called mechanism is widely used. price leadership, when leading companies in monopolized industries focus on prices set by the most powerful of them in order to obtain high and sustainable profits. This practice inevitably leads to an increase in the general price level and intensification of inflationary processes.

An additional factor in the increase in the general price level is also the fact that, even in the face of a reduction in aggregate demand, companies now prefer to reduce production rather than reduce prices for goods in the interests of preserving profits.

A powerful increase in inflation in developed capitalist countries is government consumption, which is one of the main levers of constant pressure on commodity prices. The expansion of the functions of bourgeois states to regulate the economy in the interests of monopolies (government spending in the main capitalist countries absorbs from 25% to 45% of GDP) has led to the fact that capitalist states experience a constant lack of financial resources, which is manifested in chronic deficits of state budgets.

In just 33 post-war years from 1946 to 1978, the United States experienced a slight excess of revenue over expenditure 12 times. The total deficit of the US federal budget for this period amounted to (minus the positive balance in some years) about 254 billion dollars. Moreover, for the first 25 post-war years (1946-70) this deficit amounted to 8.6 billion dollars. The remaining 245 billion $. fall in the 70s (1971 - 78). In Great Britain for 1960-78. The state budget was reduced without a deficit only twice. This trend is also characteristic of other capitalist countries. Huge government budget deficits are financed with the help of additional emission of means of payment, and this makes price increases stable and long-lasting.

The combination of the economic crisis and inflation led to a sharp deterioration in the financial sector, shook the credit system, causing numerous stock exchange crashes, and an increase in the number of bankrupt industrial and trading companies and banks. Inflationary pressure did not allow discount rates on loans to be reduced sufficiently and made it difficult for many capitalist countries to recover from the crisis.

Economic crisis of 1974-75 clearly revealed the failure of the system of state-monopoly regulation that had developed in the post-war years. In conditions of inflation, the previous recipes for the anti-crisis policies of bourgeois states, with the help of which they tried to influence the course of business activity (lowering the discount rate, increasing government spending, etc.), turned out to be untenable.

Economic crisis of 1974-75 once again showed the extreme limitations of state-monopoly capitalism’s ability to influence the mechanism for regulating economic cycles. Anti-crisis measures affected only national economies, while in the conditions of increased internationalization of production, capitalism is experiencing increasingly acute shocks on the scale of the entire capitalist world economy. The activities of international monopolies, which played an active role in the disorganization of the world market and in the emergence of financial and currency crises, also turned out to be beyond the control of bourgeois states.

Moreover, the bourgeois states themselves, to a certain extent, contributed to the development of the economic crisis. Faced with unprecedented levels of inflation, they tried to combat it by curbing consumer demand and the pace of economic development, resorting to cutting government purchases of industrial goods and increasing the cost of credit, while companies were in dire need of capital. This deflationary policy of bourgeois states largely predetermined the severity of the situation that developed in 1974-75. a situation where inflation was combined with an economic crisis and high unemployment. Deflationary policies contributed to the aggravation of the global economic crisis and a sharp increase in unemployment in these years, but to a very small extent restrained price increases, since they almost did not affect the main sources of modern inflation - monopolistic pricing and huge government spending. The calculations of bourgeois economists that a significant increase in unemployment and restrictions on aggregate demand would sharply reduce inflation did not come true; the combination of inflation and high unemployment further increased socio-economic tension in the world of capitalism.

Economic crisis of 1974-75 led to an exacerbation of the social contradictions of capitalism, unprecedented in the post-war period. In addition to rising prices for consumer goods and a significant rise in the cost of living, the army of unemployed has sharply increased. At the height of the crisis (1st half of 1975), according to official data from the UN and OECD, the number of completely unemployed in developed capitalist countries exceeded 18 million people.

The main force opposing both the monopolies and the bourgeois state in the world of capital has been and remains the working class. The strike struggle of the workers did not subside even during the difficult period for the capitalist economy in the first half of the 70s. According to the International Labor Organization, in 1975-77. the working class held about 100 thousand strikes, in which over 150 million people took part.

After World War II, another important trend in capitalist development emerged, once predicted by K. Marx - increasing frequency of overproduction crises in the capitalist world.

It is most clearly visible in the world's largest economy - the United States, where crises occurred almost every 3-5 years throughout the post-war period and especially at the end of the 20th century.

1948-1949 – global economic crisis

1953-1954 – crisis of overproduction

1957-1958 – crisis of overproduction

1960-1961 – financial crisis, crisis of overproduction

1966-1967 – crisis of overproduction

1969-1971 – global economic crisis, financial crisis

1973-1975 – global economic crisis

1979-1982 – global economic crisis, oil crisis

1987 – “Black Monday”, financial crisis

1990-1992 – crisis of overproduction

1994-1995 – Mexican financial crisis (worldwide)

1997-1998 – Asian crisis (worldwide)

2000 – financial crisis, collapse in prices for shares of high-tech companies

If we take into account irregular crises - intermediate, partial, sectoral and structural, then in capitalist countries in the 19th and 20th centuries they occurred even more often, which further complicated the course of capitalist reproduction.

Thus, the entire post-war development of the capitalist economic system has completely proven the inconsistency of bourgeois and reformist concepts about the possibility of “crisis-free” development of modern capitalism and its “stabilization”, the ability to endlessly preserve the capitalist mode of production.

The world capitalist economy was not helped by militarization, on which in the middle of the 20th century bourgeois economists made a serious bet, presenting the military industry as the locomotive of the entire capitalist economy. World economic crises of 1957-58, 1970-71, 1974-75. broke out precisely under the conditions of militarization, on which, according to the most conservative estimates, capitalist countries spent more than 2 trillion dollars over 30 years (from 1946 to 1975). Militarization not only did not save capitalism from crises, but, on the contrary, further contributed to the strengthening of the contradictions of the capitalist economy. On the one hand, it led to an exorbitant expansion of production capacities, which, given the accelerated development of military equipment, always quickly become obsolete and depreciate. Excess production capacity created for military needs cannot be repurposed and fully used for peaceful purposes. On the other hand, such concomitants of militarization as taxes and inflationary price increases reduce the purchasing power of the masses. And this further aggravates the problem of markets, accelerating the maturation of general overproduction.

The 21st century for the world's largest economy, the USA, also did not start in the best way - in 2007 there was a serious mortgage crisis, which developed into the global economic and financial crisis of 2008-2014. Its consequences have not yet been overcome either in the United States or in other countries of the world.

A number of bourgeois economists quite reasonably believe that this latest crisis - 2008-2014. can quite be called global, so deeply has it affected the entire capitalist economic system, and there are all signs that without really emerging from this crisis, the world capitalist economy, and first of all, the US economy, is already plunging into a new economic crisis, after which it will completely the collapse of the entire system of capitalist production is possible.

The history of economic crises serves as clear and convincing evidence that the capitalist mode of production has long outlived itself and the collapse of capitalism is inevitable. It shows all the genetic vices of capitalism, convincing the working people of capitalist countries of the need to fight for a new social system - for socialism, free from crises of overproduction, class oppression, unemployment and giving unlimited scope for the development of the productive forces and man himself.

Prepared by KRD "Working Path"

Literature:

1 V.I.Lenin, Complete. collection cit., 5th ed., vol. 17, p. 21

2. World economic crises, under general. ed. E. Varga, vol. 1, M., 1937;

3. Trakhtenberg I., Capitalist reproduction and economic crises, 2nd ed.. M., 1954;

4. Mendelson L., Theory and history of economic crises and cycles, vol. 1-3, M., 1959-64;

5. Modern cycles and crises. [Sat. articles], M., 1967;

6. Mileikovsky A.G., The current stage of the general crisis of capitalism, M., 1976;

7. “Economic encyclopedia “Political Economy”, vol. 4, M., 1979

Economic crises began almost 200 years ago, during the formation of industrial societies. Their constant companions - a decline in production, high inflation, the collapse of banking systems, unemployment - threaten us to this day.

1857-58

The financial and economic crisis of 1857-1858 can be confidently called the first world crisis. Starting in the United States, it quickly spread to Europe, affecting the economies of all major European countries, but Great Britain, as the main industrial and trading power, suffered the most.
Undoubtedly, the European crisis was aggravated by the Crimean War that ended in 1856, but economists still call the main factor that caused the crisis an unprecedented increase in speculation.

The objects of speculation were mostly shares of railway companies and heavy industry enterprises, land plots, and grain. Researchers note that money from widows, orphans and priests even went into speculation.
The speculative boom was accompanied by an unprecedented accumulation of the money supply, an increase in lending volumes and an increase in stock prices: but one fine day all this burst like a soap bubble.
In the 19th century there were no clear plans for overcoming economic crises. However, the influx of liquid funds from England to the United States helped to initially weaken the consequences of the crisis, and then completely overcome it.

1914

The outbreak of the First World War gave impetus to a new financial and economic crisis. Formally, the cause of the crisis was the total sale of securities of foreign issuers by the governments of Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States in order to finance military actions.
Unlike the crisis of 1857, it did not spread from the center to the periphery, but arose simultaneously in many countries. The collapse occurred in all markets at once, both commodity and money. It was only thanks to the intervention of Central Banks that the economies of a number of countries were saved.
The crisis was especially deep in Germany. England and France, having captured a significant part of the European market, closed access to German goods there, which was one of the reasons Germany started the war. By blocking all German ports, the British fleet contributed to the onset of famine in Germany in 1916.
In Germany, as in Russia, the crisis was aggravated by revolutions that eliminated monarchical power and completely changed the political system. These countries took the longest and most painful time to overcome the consequences of social and economic decline.

"Great Depression" (1929-1933)

October 24, 1929 became Black Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. A sharp decline in stock prices (by 60-70%) led to the deepest and longest economic crisis in world history.
The “Great Depression” lasted about four years, although its echoes were felt until the outbreak of World War II. The crisis affected the USA and Canada the most, but France, Germany and the UK were also seriously affected.
It would seem that nothing foreshadowed the crisis. After World War I, the United States embarked on a path of stable economic growth, millions of stockholders increased their capital, and consumer demand grew rapidly. Everything collapsed overnight. In just one week, the largest shareholders, according to conservative estimates, lost $15 billion.
In the United States, factories were closing everywhere, banks were collapsing, and there were about 14 million unemployed on the streets, and the crime rate increased sharply. Against the backdrop of the unpopularity of bankers, bank robbers in the United States were almost national heroes.
Industrial production during this period in the USA decreased by 46%, in Germany by 41%, in France by 32%, and in the UK by 24%. During the years of crisis in these countries, the level of industrial production was actually thrown back to the beginning of the 20th century.
According to American economists Ohanian and Cole, researchers of the Great Depression, if the US economy had abandoned the Roosevelt administration’s measures to curb competition in the market, the country could have overcome the consequences of the crisis 5 years earlier.

"Oil crisis" of 1973-75

The 1973 crisis has every reason to be called an energy crisis. Its detonator was the Arab-Israeli war and the decision of the Arab OPEC member countries to impose an oil embargo on states supporting Israel. Oil production fell sharply, and during 1974, prices for “black gold” rose from $3 to $12 per barrel.
The oil crisis hit the United States the hardest. For the first time, the country faced the problem of a shortage of raw materials. This was also facilitated by the Western European partners of the United States, who, to please OPEC, stopped supplying petroleum products overseas.
In a special message to Congress, US President Richard Nixon called on his fellow citizens to save as much as possible, in particular, if possible, not use cars. Government agencies were advised to conserve energy and reduce vehicle fleets, and airlines were ordered to reduce the number of flights.
The energy crisis seriously affected the Japanese economy, which seemed immune to global economic problems. In response to the crisis, the Japanese government is developing a number of countermeasures: increasing imports of coal and liquefied natural gas, and embarking on accelerated development of nuclear energy.
The crisis of 1973-75 had a positive impact on the economy of the Soviet Union, as it contributed to an increase in oil exports to the West.

"Russian crisis" of 1998

On August 17, 1998, Russians heard the terrible word default for the first time. This was the first time in world history when a state declared a default not on external, but on internal debt denominated in national currency. According to some reports, the country's internal debt amounted to $200 billion.
This was the beginning of a severe financial and economic crisis in Russia, which launched the process of devaluation of the ruble. In just six months, the value of the dollar increased from 6 to 21 rubles. Real incomes and purchasing power of the population have decreased several times. The total number of unemployed in the country reached 8.39 million people, which amounted to about 11.5% of the economically active population of the Russian Federation.
Experts cite many factors as the cause of the crisis: the collapse of Asian financial markets, low purchasing prices for raw materials (oil, gas, metals), failed economic policy of the state, and the emergence of financial pyramids.
According to calculations by the Moscow Banking Union, the total losses of the Russian economy from the August crisis amounted to $96 billion: of which the corporate sector lost $33 billion, and the population lost $19 billion. However, some experts consider these data to be clearly underestimated. In a short time, Russia has become one of the largest debtors in the world.
Only by the end of 2002 did the Russian government manage to overcome inflationary processes, and from the beginning of 2003 the ruble began to gradually strengthen, which was largely facilitated by rising oil prices and the influx of foreign capital.

Economic crises began almost 200 years ago, during the formation of industrial societies. Their constant companions - a decline in production, high inflation, the collapse of banking systems, unemployment - threaten us to this day.

1857-58

The financial and economic crisis of 1857-1858 can be confidently called the first world crisis. Starting in the United States, it quickly spread to Europe, affecting the economies of all major European countries, but Great Britain, as the main industrial and trading power, suffered the most.
Undoubtedly, the European crisis was aggravated by the Crimean War that ended in 1856, but economists still call the main factor that caused the crisis an unprecedented increase in speculation.

The objects of speculation were mostly shares of railway companies and heavy industry enterprises, land plots, and grain. Researchers note that money from widows, orphans and priests even went into speculation.
The speculative boom was accompanied by an unprecedented accumulation of the money supply, an increase in lending volumes and an increase in stock prices: but one fine day all this burst like a soap bubble.
In the 19th century there were no clear plans for overcoming economic crises. However, the influx of liquid funds from England to the United States helped to initially weaken the consequences of the crisis, and then completely overcome it.

1914

The outbreak of the First World War gave impetus to a new financial and economic crisis. Formally, the cause of the crisis was the total sale of securities of foreign issuers by the governments of Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States in order to finance military actions.
Unlike the crisis of 1857, it did not spread from the center to the periphery, but arose simultaneously in many countries. The collapse occurred in all markets at once, both commodity and money. It was only thanks to the intervention of Central Banks that the economies of a number of countries were saved.
The crisis was especially deep in Germany. England and France, having captured a significant part of the European market, closed access to German goods there, which was one of the reasons Germany started the war. By blocking all German ports, the British fleet contributed to the onset of famine in Germany in 1916.
In Germany, as in Russia, the crisis was aggravated by revolutions that eliminated monarchical power and completely changed the political system. These countries took the longest and most painful time to overcome the consequences of social and economic decline.

"Great Depression" (1929-1933)

October 24, 1929 became Black Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. A sharp decline in stock prices (by 60-70%) led to the deepest and longest economic crisis in world history.
The “Great Depression” lasted about four years, although its echoes were felt until the outbreak of World War II. The crisis affected the USA and Canada the most, but France, Germany and the UK were also seriously affected.
It would seem that nothing foreshadowed the crisis. After World War I, the United States embarked on a path of stable economic growth, millions of stockholders increased their capital, and consumer demand grew rapidly. Everything collapsed overnight. In just one week, the largest shareholders, according to conservative estimates, lost $15 billion.
In the United States, factories were closing everywhere, banks were collapsing, and there were about 14 million unemployed on the streets, and the crime rate increased sharply. Against the backdrop of the unpopularity of bankers, bank robbers in the United States were almost national heroes.
Industrial production during this period in the USA decreased by 46%, in Germany by 41%, in France by 32%, and in the UK by 24%. During the years of crisis in these countries, the level of industrial production was actually thrown back to the beginning of the 20th century.
According to American economists Ohanian and Cole, researchers of the Great Depression, if the US economy had abandoned the Roosevelt administration’s measures to curb competition in the market, the country could have overcome the consequences of the crisis 5 years earlier.

"Oil crisis" of 1973-75

The 1973 crisis has every reason to be called an energy crisis. Its detonator was the Arab-Israeli war and the decision of the Arab OPEC member countries to impose an oil embargo on states supporting Israel. Oil production fell sharply, and during 1974, prices for “black gold” rose from $3 to $12 per barrel.
The oil crisis hit the United States the hardest. For the first time, the country faced the problem of a shortage of raw materials. This was also facilitated by the Western European partners of the United States, who, to please OPEC, stopped supplying petroleum products overseas.
In a special message to Congress, US President Richard Nixon called on his fellow citizens to save as much as possible, in particular, if possible, not use cars. Government agencies were advised to conserve energy and reduce vehicle fleets, and airlines were ordered to reduce the number of flights.
The energy crisis seriously affected the Japanese economy, which seemed immune to global economic problems. In response to the crisis, the Japanese government is developing a number of countermeasures: increasing imports of coal and liquefied natural gas, and embarking on accelerated development of nuclear energy.
The crisis of 1973-75 had a positive impact on the economy of the Soviet Union, as it contributed to an increase in oil exports to the West.

"Russian crisis" of 1998

On August 17, 1998, Russians heard the terrible word default for the first time. This was the first time in world history when a state declared a default not on external, but on internal debt denominated in national currency. According to some reports, the country's internal debt amounted to $200 billion.
This was the beginning of a severe financial and economic crisis in Russia, which launched the process of devaluation of the ruble. In just six months, the value of the dollar increased from 6 to 21 rubles. Real incomes and purchasing power of the population have decreased several times. The total number of unemployed in the country reached 8.39 million people, which amounted to about 11.5% of the economically active population of the Russian Federation.
Experts cite many factors as the cause of the crisis: the collapse of Asian financial markets, low purchasing prices for raw materials (oil, gas, metals), failed economic policy of the state, and the emergence of financial pyramids.
According to calculations by the Moscow Banking Union, the total losses of the Russian economy from the August crisis amounted to $96 billion: of which the corporate sector lost $33 billion, and the population lost $19 billion. However, some experts consider these data to be clearly underestimated. In a short time, Russia has become one of the largest debtors in the world.
Only by the end of 2002 did the Russian government manage to overcome inflationary processes, and from the beginning of 2003 the ruble began to gradually strengthen, which was largely facilitated by rising oil prices and the influx of foreign capital.

Periodic economic crises began with the crisis of 1825 in Great Britain, the first country where capitalism became the dominant system, and where machine production reached quite a large development.

The next economic crisis occurred in 1836 and simultaneously affected Great Britain and the United States, which at that time were closely connected by trade and production ties.

The crisis of 1847 was close in nature to a global crisis and affected all countries of the European continent.

The first world economic crisis occurred in 1857. This was the deepest of all the crises that had taken place before it. It covered all European countries, as well as countries in North and South America. During the year and a half of the crisis in the UK, production volume in the textile industry decreased by 21%, in shipbuilding - by 26%. Iron production in France decreased by 13%, in the USA - by 20%, in Germany - by 25%. Cotton consumption fell in France by 13%, in the UK by 23%, and in the USA by 27%. Russia has experienced great crisis shocks. Iron smelting in Russia decreased by 17%, production of cotton fabrics - by 14%, woolen fabrics - by 11%.

The next economic crisis occurred in 1866 and affected Great Britain in its most acute form. The crisis of 1866 had a special specificity. The American Civil War (1861 - 1865) caused a severe cotton famine in Great Britain and a shock to the textile market on the eve of this crisis. In 1862, according to Marx, 58% of all looms and more than 60% of spindles in Great Britain were idle. A large number of small manufacturers went bankrupt. According to Marx, the cotton famine then prevented the onset of an economic crisis and led to the fact that the crisis of 1866 was predominantly financial in nature, since speculation in cotton caused a large overflow of capital in the money market.

The next global economic crisis began in 1873. In its duration, it surpassed all previous economic crises. Starting in Austria and Germany, it spread to most European countries and the United States, ending in 1878 in Great Britain. Economic crisis of 1873-78 marked the beginning of the transition to monopoly capitalism.

In 1882, another economic crisis occurred, affecting mainly the USA and France.

In 1890-93 The economic crisis hit Germany, the USA, France and Russia.

The economic crises of the period of transition to the monopoly stage of development of capitalism were seriously influenced by the global agrarian crisis, which lasted from the mid-70s. until the mid-90s.

World economic crisis 1900-03. accelerated the formation of monopoly capitalism, it was the first crisis of the era of imperialism. And although the drop in production during the crisis was insignificant (2-3%), it affected almost all European countries and the United States. The crisis was especially difficult in Russia, where it coincided with a bad harvest.

The next global economic crisis erupted in 1907. The overall drop in the level of industrial production in capitalist countries was about 5%, but the crisis affected the USA and Great Britain to the greatest extent, where output decreased by 15% and 6%, respectively. The crisis of 1907 showed the groundlessness of the hopes of bourgeois ideologists for the possibility of the disappearance of economic crises under the conditions of monopoly capitalism. In Art. “Marxism and Revisionism” V.I. Lenin convincingly showed that the crisis of 1907 became indisputable proof of the inevitability of crises as an integral part of the capitalist system. At the same time, Lenin emphasized that at the imperialist stage of development of capitalism “The forms, sequence, picture of individual crises have changed...».

The next global economic crisis began in mid-1920. Its course was greatly affected by the First World War of 1914-18. and its consequences. Almost all capitalist countries experienced serious economic difficulties. Industrial output during the crisis decreased in Western European countries as a whole by 11%, and in Great Britain by 33%. In the US, production fell by 18%, in Canada by 22%.

But all the economic crises listed above could not be compared with the global economic crisis of 1929-33. This crisis, which lasted more than four years and engulfed the entire capitalist world, all spheres of the economy, literally shook the entire system of capitalism to its core. The total volume of industrial production of the capitalist world decreased by 46%, steel production fell by 62%, coal production by 31%, shipbuilding production decreased by 83%, foreign trade turnover by 67%, the number of unemployed reached 26 million people, or 1/4 of all people employed in production, real incomes of the population decreased by an average of 58%. The price of securities on stock exchanges decreased by 60-75%. The crisis was marked by a large number of bankruptcies. In the USA alone, 109 thousand companies went bankrupt.

The severity of the contradictions between societies, the nature of production and the private capitalist form of appropriation, which emerged during the global economic crisis of 1929-33, showed that the transition to the monopolistic stage of development of capitalism did not lead, as theorists had hoped, to overcoming the spontaneity of capitalist reproduction. The monopolies were unable to cope with the market forces and the bourgeois state was forced to intervene in economic processes. Began development of monopoly capitalism into state-monopoly capitalism.

The cycle that followed the crisis of 1929-33 is characterized by the absence of a recovery phase. After a long depression and slight recovery, another global economic crisis broke out in mid-1937. It was no less acute than the crisis of 1929-33. The total volume of industrial production in the capitalist world decreased by 11%, including in the USA - by 21%. Steel production fell by an average of 23%, car production by 40%, merchant ships by 42%, etc. But this economic crisis did not fully develop; its course was interrupted by the Second World War of 1939-45.

After the 2nd World War 1939-45. The economic growth of capitalist countries did not last long. Already in 1948-49. The capitalist economy experienced its first crisis shock after the war. The economic crisis hit primarily the main capitalist country - the United States. The volume of production of American industry from October 1948 to July 1949 fell by 18.2%. The crisis in industry was complemented by overproduction in agriculture. The volume of US foreign trade has sharply decreased. In Canada, industrial production fell by 12%. The total volume of industrial output in developed capitalist countries decreased by almost 6% compared to the previous year. The commodity famine characteristic of the first post-war years was replaced by general difficulties of sales on the world capitalist market. Exports (by value) of many countries in Europe and Asia fell. World exports of wheat, coffee, rubber, wool, and coal decreased. All this dealt a blow to the already difficult currency situation of many countries, which caused a massive devaluation of capitalist currencies in the fall of 1949. Thus, the crisis of 1948-49. was not a local phenomenon, characteristic only of the USA and Canada, but had an essentially global character.

In the fall of 1957, a new global economic crisis began, which continued into 1958. It hit the United States with the greatest force. Industrial production fell here by 12.6%. The crisis also affected Japan, France, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The growth of industrial production in Germany and Italy has stopped. The rate of production growth in developing countries has sharply decreased. In the vast majority of light industry sectors, as well as in ferrous metallurgy, shipbuilding and the coal industry, production has completely decreased. In 1957-58 The crisis gripped countries that accounted for almost 2/3 of the industrial output of the capitalist world.

The crisis in industry was complemented by a crisis in international trade. For the first time in the post-war years, total exports of finished industrial products decreased. At the same time, long-term structural industrial crises began on the scale of the entire capitalist world: in the raw materials industries, the oil industry, shipbuilding, and merchant shipping. A US balance of payments crisis developed, caused mainly by huge military spending and the Cold War policy.

70s became a turning point in the economic development of capitalism. During this period, the general conditions of economic development of the capitalist world began to change rapidly. In the countries of Western Europe and Japan already by the mid-60s. The reconstruction of industry and other sectors of the economy was completed on a new technical basis, and new branches of production acquired key importance. In terms of their structure, technological equipment and productivity, the economies of these countries have come close to the level of the US economy. The convergence of the levels of economic development of the main competing centers of imperialism could not but affect the nature of the cycles of capitalist reproduction. In the 70s economic crises are becoming more widespread and more acute. In 1970-71 industrial production fell in 16 countries and was reflected in a fall in the aggregate production indicators of the industrialized capitalist world as a whole.

But a special place in post-war capitalist reproduction was occupied by the global economic crisis of 1974-75. He opened a qualitatively new period of development of capitalist reproduction. This crisis affected all developed capitalist countries without exception and led to the deepest decline in industrial production and capital investment since World War II. For the first time in the post-war years, consumer spending and the total volume of capitalist foreign trade decreased. The sharp increase in unemployment was accompanied by a fall in real incomes of the population.

Features of the global economic crisis of 1974-75.

The special nature of the economic crisis of 1974-75. was determined not only by its severity and simultaneous spread to all major capitalist countries, but also by its combination with a powerful wave of inflation. Prices for goods and services continued to rise rapidly even in the most acute phase of the crisis - a phenomenon unprecedented in the history of capitalism.

One of the features of the crisis of 1974-75. It became intertwined with deep structural crises that affected such important areas of the capitalist economy as energy, raw materials extraction, agriculture, and the monetary and financial system. It revealed the aggravation of the contradictions of the world capitalist economy with immeasurably greater force than in previous post-war crises.

The unusual nature of the economic crisis of 1974-75. was primarily due to the explosion of contradictions in the international division of labor that developed in the capitalist world in the post-war years. The crisis disrupted the system of world relations, caused an even greater intensification of inter-imperialist rivalry and qualitative changes in relations between the imperialist powers and developing countries. A characteristic feature of the economic crisis of 1974-75. There was a sharp violation of the cost proportions of capital reproduction as a result of the rapid rise in world prices for oil, raw materials and agricultural products. From 1972 to the first half of 1974, the price index for raw materials increased 2.4 times (including 4 times for oil), for agricultural goods - almost 2 times (including grain almost 3 times).

The energy, raw materials and food structural crises literally blew up the course of capitalist reproduction. At the heart of these crises lies a deep disproportionality in the development of individual parts and spheres of the world capitalist economy, which itself is the inevitable result of new forms of exploitation of developing countries by imperialism, a system of domination over the production and export of raw materials, founded by international monopolies with the help of concessions and monopoly-low purchasing prices for raw materials. The political and economic essence of the raw materials and energy crises, as well as the food crisis, is rooted in the aggravation of economic and political relations between imperialist countries and young national states. The intense political struggle over the prices of oil and other raw materials is only a reflection of the strengthening of the general struggle of developing countries against neo-colonialism. Never before in the history of capitalism have structural crises simultaneously affected such critical areas of production as the energy and raw materials complexes and agriculture. Having an independent character, these structural crises influenced the course of capitalist reproduction after the crisis of 1970-1971. and deformed the cycle.

The raw materials, energy and food crises arose during the long accumulation of contradictions of capitalist reproduction throughout the post-war period. Conditions for the reproduction of capital in industries producing raw materials and primary energy carriers, as well as in the electric power industry, were unfavorable in developed capitalist countries already in the first post-war years. The rate of return on invested capital in these industries was significantly lower than in most manufacturing industries.

Bourgeois states tried to mitigate the disproportionality in the industrial structure by providing tax incentives to mining companies (USA, Canada) or by nationalizing these industries and developing the public sector (Great Britain, France, Italy). As for the monopolies of the leading capitalist states, in the development of many raw materials industries, especially oil production, they focused on the exploitation of the resources of developing countries. The relatively rapid economic development of monopoly capitalism after World War II until the 70s. The 20th century was largely based on low prices for raw materials and oil and thus relied on neo-colonialist forms of pumping out profits from developing countries. At the same time, the economic conditions in which the extractive industries found themselves in the countries of developed capitalism themselves led to either stagnation or a curtailment of the production of raw materials and fuel on their own territory and to an increased focus on the import of these products from developing countries. So, for 1950-72. Imports of crude oil to the United States increased more than 9 times, to Western European countries - 17 times, to Japan - 193 times.

The huge increase in oil production in developing countries could not compensate for the general slowdown in the growth of production of primary energy carriers and other types of raw materials in the capitalist world. The deep disproportionality of the sectoral structure of the capitalist economy was clearly evident already during the cyclical rise of the 60s, but in the crisis form of relative “underproduction” it appeared only during the rise of 1972-73. The particular severity of the energy crisis is associated with the new balance of power between oil-producing countries and oil monopolies, whose power has been sharply undermined. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which unites the main oil-producing developing countries, was able to take control of its own natural resources and implement independent price policies in the oil market.

As for the food crisis, its occurrence is associated with the aggravation of the food problem in developing countries in the 70s, when in many of them the already low level of food production per capita dropped significantly. The immediate causes of this crisis are rooted not only in the significant lag in the growth rate of agriculture in developing countries from the growth rate of their population, but also in the relatively low growth rate of agricultural production in industrial capitalist countries in the 50-60s. The crop failures of 1972-74 played a significant role in the aggravation of the food problem.

Rising food prices in 1972-74. on the world market by 5 times led to an aggravation of contradictions both between the main capitalist countries and between developed capitalist states and developing countries. Rising food prices in the United States contributed to increased inflation and undermined the purchasing power of the American population. But as a major exporter of agricultural products, the United States benefited from rising prices on the world capitalist market. The countries of Western Europe, where domestic prices for agricultural products were significantly higher than world prices before 1974, suffered less from rising world prices. Japan, Great Britain and the vast majority of developing countries find themselves in the most difficult situation, where domestic food prices have increased and the cost of imported agricultural goods has increased significantly.

Thus, the raw materials and food crises led in 1973-74. to a sharp increase in world prices for oil, raw materials and agricultural products and thereby became a serious factor in the violation of the cost proportions of capital reproduction. These crises of relative underproduction played a major role in the onset of the global crisis of the capitalist economy of 1974-75.

A deep drop in production during the economic crisis of 1974-75. combined with increasing inflation, the origins of which were rooted in the enormous unproductive spending of bourgeois governments, as well as in monopolistic pricing practices. Monopolistic pricing practice is characterized primarily by the fact that companies create a system of relatively uniform and fixed prices for homogeneous products. For this purpose, the so-called mechanism is widely used. price leadership, when leading companies in monopolized industries focus on prices set by the most powerful of them in order to obtain high and sustainable profits. This practice inevitably leads to an increase in the general price level and intensification of inflationary processes.

An additional factor in the increase in the general price level is also the fact that, even in the face of a reduction in aggregate demand, companies now prefer to reduce production rather than reduce prices for goods in the interests of preserving profits.

A powerful increase in inflation in developed capitalist countries is government consumption, which is one of the main levers of constant pressure on commodity prices. The expansion of the functions of bourgeois states to regulate the economy in the interests of monopolies (government spending in the main capitalist countries absorbs from 25% to 45% of GDP) has led to the fact that capitalist states experience a constant lack of financial resources, which is manifested in chronic deficits of state budgets.

In just 33 post-war years from 1946 to 1978, the United States experienced a slight excess of revenue over expenditure 12 times. The total deficit of the US federal budget for this period amounted to (minus the positive balance in some years) about 254 billion dollars. Moreover, for the first 25 post-war years (1946-70) this deficit amounted to 8.6 billion dollars. The remaining 245 billion $. fall in the 70s (1971 - 78). In Great Britain for 1960-78. The state budget was reduced without a deficit only twice. This trend is also characteristic of other capitalist countries. Huge government budget deficits are financed with the help of additional emission of means of payment, and this makes price increases stable and long-lasting.

The combination of the economic crisis and inflation led to a sharp deterioration in the financial sector, shook the credit system, causing numerous stock exchange crashes, and an increase in the number of bankrupt industrial and trading companies and banks. Inflationary pressure did not allow discount rates on loans to be reduced sufficiently and made it difficult for many capitalist countries to recover from the crisis.

Economic crisis of 1974-75 clearly revealed the failure of the system of state-monopoly regulation that had developed in the post-war years. In conditions of inflation, the previous recipes for the anti-crisis policies of bourgeois states, with the help of which they tried to influence the course of business activity (lowering the discount rate, increasing government spending, etc.), turned out to be untenable.

Economic crisis of 1974-75 once again showed the extreme limitations of state-monopoly capitalism’s ability to influence the mechanism for regulating economic cycles. Anti-crisis measures affected only national economies, while in the conditions of increased internationalization of production, capitalism is experiencing increasingly acute shocks on the scale of the entire capitalist world economy. The activities of international monopolies, which played an active role in the disorganization of the world market and in the emergence of financial and currency crises, also turned out to be beyond the control of bourgeois states.

Moreover, the bourgeois states themselves, to a certain extent, contributed to the development of the economic crisis. Faced with unprecedented levels of inflation, they tried to combat it by curbing consumer demand and the pace of economic development, resorting to cutting government purchases of industrial goods and increasing the cost of credit, while companies were in dire need of capital. This deflationary policy of bourgeois states largely predetermined the severity of the situation that developed in 1974-75. a situation where inflation was combined with an economic crisis and high unemployment. Deflationary policies contributed to the aggravation of the global economic crisis and a sharp increase in unemployment in these years, but to a very small extent restrained price increases, since they almost did not affect the main sources of modern inflation - monopolistic pricing and huge government spending. The calculations of bourgeois economists that a significant increase in unemployment and restrictions on aggregate demand would sharply reduce inflation did not come true; the combination of inflation and high unemployment further increased socio-economic tension in the world of capitalism.

Economic crisis of 1974-75 led to an exacerbation of the social contradictions of capitalism, unprecedented in the post-war period. In addition to rising prices for consumer goods and a significant rise in the cost of living, the army of unemployed has sharply increased. At the height of the crisis (1st half of 1975), according to official data from the UN and OECD, the number of completely unemployed in developed capitalist countries exceeded 18 million people.

The main force opposing both the monopolies and the bourgeois state in the world of capital has been and remains the working class. The strike struggle of the workers did not subside even during the difficult period for the capitalist economy in the first half of the 70s. According to the International Labor Organization, in 1975-77. the working class held about 100 thousand strikes, in which over 150 million people took part.

After World War II, another important trend in capitalist development emerged, once predicted by K. Marx - increasing frequency of overproduction crises in the capitalist world.

It is most clearly visible in the world's largest economy - the United States, where crises occurred almost every 3-5 years throughout the post-war period and especially at the end of the 20th century.

1948-1949 – global economic crisis
1953-1954 – crisis of overproduction
1957-1958 – crisis of overproduction
1960-1961 – financial crisis, crisis of overproduction
1966-1967 – crisis of overproduction
1969-1971 – global economic crisis, financial crisis
1973-1975 – global economic crisis
1979-1982 – global economic crisis, oil crisis
1987 – “Black Monday”, financial crisis
1990-1992 – crisis of overproduction
1994-1995 – Mexican financial crisis (worldwide)
1997-1998 – Asian crisis (worldwide)
2000 – financial crisis, collapse in prices for shares of high-tech companies

If we take into account irregular crises - intermediate, partial, sectoral and structural, then in capitalist countries in the 19th and 20th centuries they occurred even more often, which further complicated the course of capitalist reproduction.

Thus, the entire post-war development of the capitalist economic system has completely proven the inconsistency of bourgeois and reformist concepts about the possibility of “crisis-free” development of modern capitalism and its “stabilization”, the ability to endlessly preserve the capitalist mode of production.

The world capitalist economy was not helped by militarization, on which in the middle of the 20th century bourgeois economists made a serious bet, presenting the military industry as the locomotive of the entire capitalist economy. World economic crises of 1957-58, 1970-71, 1974-75. broke out precisely under the conditions of militarization, on which, according to the most conservative estimates, capitalist countries spent more than 2 trillion dollars over 30 years (from 1946 to 1975). Militarization not only did not save capitalism from crises, but, on the contrary, further contributed to the strengthening of the contradictions of the capitalist economy. On the one hand, it led to an exorbitant expansion of production capacities, which, given the accelerated development of military equipment, always quickly become obsolete and depreciate. Excess production capacity created for military needs cannot be repurposed and fully used for peaceful purposes. On the other hand, such concomitants of militarization as taxes and inflationary price increases reduce the purchasing power of the masses. And this further aggravates the problem of markets, accelerating the maturation of general overproduction.

The 21st century for the world's largest economy, the USA, also did not start in the best way - in 2007 there was a serious mortgage crisis, which developed into the global economic and financial crisis of 2008-2014. Its consequences have not yet been overcome either in the United States or in other countries of the world.

A number of bourgeois economists quite reasonably believe that this latest crisis - 2008-2014. can quite be called global, so deeply has it affected the entire capitalist economic system, and there are all signs that without really emerging from this crisis, the world capitalist economy, and first of all, the US economy, is already plunging into a new economic crisis, after which it will completely the collapse of the entire system of capitalist production is possible.

The history of economic crises serves as clear and convincing evidence that the capitalist mode of production has long outlived itself and the collapse of capitalism is inevitable. It shows all the genetic vices of capitalism, convincing the working people of capitalist countries of the need to fight for a new social system - for socialism, free from crises of overproduction, class oppression, unemployment and giving unlimited scope for the development of the productive forces and man himself.

Prepared by KRD "Working Path"
__________
Literature:
1 V.I.Lenin, Complete. collection cit., 5th ed., vol. 17, p. 21
2. World economic crises, under general. ed. E. Varga, vol. 1, M., 1937;
3. Trakhtenberg I., Capitalist reproduction and economic crises, 2nd ed.. M., 1954;
4. Mendelson L., Theory and history of economic crises and cycles, vol. 1-3, M., 1959-64;
5. Modern cycles and crises. [Sat. articles], M., 1967;
6. Mileikovsky A.G., The current stage of the general crisis of capitalism, M., 1976;
7. “Economic encyclopedia “Political Economy”, vol. 4, M., 1979