This volume focuses on nationality's efficacy in much of world affairs, and on the background and current issues surrounding global crisis. As one of the most famous Marxist revolutionaries, Rosa Luxemburg vigorously promoted her own conceptions, often opposing Lenin, her contemporary. In this volume, Narihiko Ito offers a much needed, extensive analysis of her position on the nation state versus national autonomy. This is followed by a critique of the current Iranian conjuncture, offered by Farhang Morady.

The development of crises in capitalism is addressed both directly and indirectly within the volume. Radhika Desai highlights renewed consideration of the major role of consumption demand in Marxist theory and considers implications for the current crisis. Paul Zarembka extends, theoretically and empirically, Marx's analysis of long-term capitalist accumulation and shows that merely 10-15% of surplus value has been needed for the accumulation occurring over the past 150 years. The volume continues with Karen Petersen's analysis of the post-WWII developments of major currencies. Restoring the concept of freedom within the current crisis, Alan Freeman argues the need to extricate French positivism from the Marxism that developed after Marx. The final chapter by Jorgen Sandemose presents a careful argument that the beginning of Marx's Capital had origins in many philosophical traditions and especially in early German philosophy and yet that this recognition does not make Marx a "Hegelian".