VINÍCIUS MATTEUCCI DE ANDRADE LOPES

This thesis investigates the diffuse and heterogeneous process of constitution of historical self-reflexivity that absorbs and reproduces the transition, between the 19th and 20th centuries, of capitalism in Europe. Our primary focus centers on Germany as a distinctive case study, given its unique experience of advancing capitalism in the late 19th century, leading to the internalization of the working class as a socially active and theoretically organized entity in economic, political, and social struggles. As a concrete movement of reflection, the dynamics of the revolution – and its negation – becomes a constitutive and permanent component.
In this process, wherein German social democracy constitutes an unavoidable turning point, the works of Marx serve as the principal theoretical foundation for our analysis. "Das Kapital" is adopted as the primary object of study, embodying a dichotomy: on one hand, it has been employed by several authors as an analytical instrument for understanding the transition process; on the other, it has been reduced to a mere description of the empirical relations of an antiquated capitalism. German social democracy, while assimilating Marxian critique into the new historical context, contributes to propelling its theoretical-practical dissolution.
From the moment that the expectation of a final crisis is not consummated after 1873-96 and the class struggle advances in bourgeois forms, new interpretations about capitalism and its historical movement emerge. The advance of trusts, the change in the role of banks and the development towards colonialism delimit the well-known transition to so-called monopoly capitalism. Considering these changes, we aim to examine the extent to which they strain both the logic of social democracy, which begins to perceive in capital the ability to self-organize and avoid self-destruction (Hilferding), and the revolutionary logic that identifies capital in its ultimate phase: a continuous process of decay (Lenin). These divergent paths guide our analytical approach to ascertain their reflection in the theoretical and practical discussions of the period. Consequently, the composition of the thesis is divided into two parts. The first part unfolds and discusses historical-conceptual configurations of this self-reflexivity in Germany between the 19th and 20th centuries, grounded in the classical transition from the liberal phase to the monopolistic phase. The second part engages more directly with the critique of Marxian political economy. Since the reflexivity previously examined is elaborated at the intersections between the interpretation of the present time and Marx's work, we have elements to reflect conceptually on how, within his work, Marx understands capital as a real historical process in movement.