우노 코조의 상업자본론

Abstract

This paper deals with Japanese contributions to the Marxian theory of commercial capital. It is especially noteworthy that Part 4, “The Transformation of Commodity Capital and Money Capital into Commercial Capital and Money-Dealing Capital (Merchant’s Capital)” of Capital Vol.3, has been a popular area of discussion among Japanese Marxists: whereas Part 5, “The Division of Profit into Interest and Profit of Enterprise”, was taken up by R. Hilferding, who wrote Finance Capital in 1910, the Western literature has paid little attention to the theory of commercial capital developed in Part 4. In order to complete the introduction of Japanese Marxian economics, the theory of commercial capital is indispensable and we think it useful for all critical thinkers of capitalism to understand how and why Japanese Marxian economists have studied the area. The history of Japanese studies of commercial capital can be divided into three periods, the first of which is from the 1950s to the 1970s and is led by Kozo Uno (1897-1977), one of the most influential figures in Japanese Marxian economists. A lot of people followed his argument and formed a group of scholars called the Uno school or Unoists. Consequently, the study of commercial capital has been mainly conducted by the Uno school. This paper will introduce how Uno tried to develop Marx’s argument on this topic for better understanding of the development of Japanese Marxian economics after 1991.