K. Marx and Trust in the Capitalist Economy

Abstract:

The two-hundredth anniversary of K. Marx is an appropriate occasion to discuss what from its legacy remains relevant, and in what an outstanding economist was wrong. Economists–contemporaries of Marx studied trust in the research of the essence of credit, determined the influence of trust on monetary circulation. But K. Marx, knowing the arguments of other economists about trust, did not take their point of view and did not even discuss it. Thus, there is an impression that he consistently ignored the trust in the economy. The revealed fundamental difference in views on trust served as the reason for writing this work, since it will allow us to better understand the attitude of K. Marx to the capitalist economy. The article examines Marx’s views on trust in the economy. The author tries to find an explanation why there was no place in “Capital” for the analysis of trust and why K. Marx and his followers denied that the credit was based on the psychological factor of trust. The article shows that the concept of «primitive communism» allowed the Marxists to explain where the trust in society and the economy came from. According to the author, K. Marx underestimated the stability of capitalism and especially its ability to create and maintain trust for successful cooperation.