The Decline of American Capitalism

New York: Covici Friede, 1934. First Edition. Octavo. 24cm. Publisher's light brown cloth titled in silver gilt to spine and front board. Dustjacket. [x]; 622pp. Minor bumping to spine ends, a little rubbing and scuffing t the coth in places, clean and handsome, internally clean with some light isolated spotting, in a dustjacket with some marginal wer and shallow chipping, mostly to the upper edge and head of spine, some toning and soiling, and with some tape reinforcement to verso. A very good, solid copy.

A complex (although unsurprisingly damning) analysis of the decline in Western Capitalism in the aftermath of the disasterous 1920's, written (truncated) by one of the pre-eminent Marxist writers of the post-Depression period. Originally constantly in and out of trouble and authoritarian scrutiny as Louis Fraina, Salerno born communist firebrand and Russian evangelist, Fraina's re-invention of himself as calm, measured socio-economic analyst Lewis Corey has to rank as one of the most blithe adoptions of a new identity and image since the Scarlet Pimpernel. He lost face with the International after a squabble about misappropriated funds and became effectively a Freelance Communist in the wilderness, before his disillusionment and fairly triumphant reinvention.
Eventually to fall foul of the twin terrors of Senator Joseph McArthy and cerebral hemorrhage in 1953, there is no doubt that Corey's "The Decline of American Capitalism" alongside other works like Strachey's "The Coming Struggle for Power", and his own "The House of Morgan", went a long way towards shaping the Marxist thought processes of a whole generation of post-Depression Americans. (Inventory #: 83673)