In “War Economy and Crisis”, Hyman Lumer, a Marxist-Leninist writer who has written other spectacular books, including “Zionism: It’s Role in World Politics” and “Is Full Employment Possible?”, both of which I have read and own, offers a Marxist-Leninist analysis of the American permanent war economy

Each chapter examines a different aspect of the permanent war economy (ex. “Who Pays for the War”, “War and Negroes”, “War and Farmers”, “War Profits”, “War and Real Wages”, “The State in Wartime”, etc.).

Although I thought it was an interesting read, especially since I am not aware of many Marxist-Leninist analyses of the permanent war economy, there wasn’t really anything ‘new’ or noteworthy that I read. Part of me thinks that due to the repetitiveness of what is written that this was once a mass produced pamphlet that was expanded into a full-sized book.

I’d recommend this book for those who are unfamiliar with Marxism and the economics of the permanent war economy; it is a good introduction to both subjects. For everyone else I think this book is best read together with some of Seymour Melman’s books, including “Pentagon Capitalism: The Political Economy of War”, “Profits Without Production” (read my review of this book here: http://peoplesvoice.ca/2016/10/01/the...), and “The Permanent War Economy: American Capitalism in Decline”, all of which I have read and own, which offer a much deeper and more technical analysis of the permanent war economy but lack the same social analysis as Lumer’s book. ( )