Grossmann’s collapse thesis was quietistic because it stressed objective forces over revolutionary praxis.

Evidence

Grossmann attempted to build on Otto Bauer’s mathematical models a deductive system to prove the correctness of Marx’s predictions. The pauperization he pointed to was not that of the proletariat, but that of the capitalists, whose tendency to overaccumulation would produce an unavoidable decline in the profit rate over a certain fixed period of time. Although admitting countertendencies such as the more efficient use of capital, Grossmann confidently asserted that they might mitigate but not forestall the terminal crisis of the capitalist system. The full ramifications of his argument, whose predictions have obviously failed to come true, need not detain us here. Let it be said, however, that the essentially quietistic implications of his thesis, similar to those of all Marxist interpretations that stress objective forces over subjective revolutionary praxis, were not lost on some of his contemporaries. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 131

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the recurring Marxist debate on objective vs. subjective forces (structure vs. agency) that runs through the whole Frankfurt School history. — connects to: Stressing objective economic forces over revolutionary praxis yields quietistic politics — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 131

Broader Connections

• Stressing objective economic forces over revolutionary praxis yields quietistic politics #expands (0.95) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 131