Since the publication of Volume III of Capital, debate has raged over Marx's theory of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall in advanced capitalist society . Unfortunately, the debate often takes an extremely rarefied form, so rarefied that its implications for theory, much less for practice, are at best obscure . This is indeed unfortunate, since the debate, abstract as it may seem at times, is fundamental to political practice. What is at stake is whether capitalism is by its nature stable and capable of sustained dynamism or whether the accumulation of capital is self-limiting . It must be stressed that the issue is not whether `Marx was right' or whether his theory can be defended, but rather what is the actual nature of capitalist accumulation and the correct way to analyze it.
