A prelude to the return of monopoly capital

Lukács’ hybridism in the construction of the Chinese alternative to the capitalist system

Abstract

The role of state intervention in economy has been rediscovered over recent years. Although the capital circuit is accelerated through the countercyclical policies of central banks in the heart of capitalism, there is no perpetual post- ponement of the contradictions underlying capitalist reproduction. Capital cannot become, by mere bureaucratic action, more capital. If capitalist repro- duction necessarily depends on the continuous expansion of capitals, it is also true that this same reproduction cannot detach itself from materiality, though it perpetually seeks to distance from it. China’s transition to socialism takes the form of market socialism. This paper relates Lukács’ concept of hybridity to the transformation of the Chinese economy. The text is divided into two main top- ics. The first addresses hybridity as a Marxist concept. The second focuses on the approach developed here concerning the historical relevance of monopoly capital. Characterizing it necessarily involves a review of its theoretical devel- opment in order to, subsequently, address the central issue of the text: since hybridity between modes of production was already expressed in the initial nature of monopoly capital, it remains to be seen how it presents itself in the current historical context.