Full employment as a condition of crisis: Kalecki’s Marxian critique of Keynes and the Fabians (1942–45)

Abstract

Between 1942 and 1945, Kalecki emphasised the incompatibility between capitalism and full employment. Rather than stabilising market economies, full employment would have triggered social conflict by providing self-confidence amongst the workers and the lower strata of society. Accordingly, in any program of social transformation, the initial condition that had to be established was (guaranteed) full employment and economic security for workers to alter the game’s rules. Like Marx, full employment of resources became a condition of crisis in a capitalist economy. Upon this premise, Kalecki rejected both Keynes’s and the Fabians’ views, according to which full employment was essentially a technical operation to be achieved by intellectual persuasion and some basic control. The emphasis on persuasion implied an overestimation of the role of economic theory, meant as a method of moulding ideas and opinions of the country leaders. On the other hand, the lack of institutional analysis implied that full employment became a mere tool to guarantee capitalism’s correct functioning. Kalecki’s stance reflected his different background, both methodological and political.