Guest speaker Nikolaos Chatzarakis, Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research, joins the Oxford Communist Correspondence Society to explore the structural evolution of capitalism. Nikos examines the dynamic relationship between the "Law of Accumulation" and the "Falling Rate of Profit," arguing that these economic forces are the primary engines behind the major shifts in global history.

Key topics discussed:

- The Mechanics of Profit: How the rising "organic composition of capital" creates an inherent downward pressure on profitability.

- Long Cycles of Development: From the age of steam and railways to the emergence of digital networks and Artificial Intelligence.- Formal vs. Real Subsumption: How capital takes control of the labor process to squeeze out higher levels of productivity.

- Modern Crises: A look at how current trends - including the gig economy, "techno-feudalism," and the 2008 financial crisis - fit into Marx’s long-term predictions.

40 mins talk followed by ~1 hour of discussion.