The 1822–1825 Latin American Bubble and the Formation of Crisis Theory in Early Marxism: From Marx to Tugan-Baranowski

This paper examines the relationship between Marx's remarks on the crisis of 1825 and the analysis developed by Mikhail Ivanovich Tugan-Baranowski in Industrial Crises in England (1894). The aim is to show how Tugan-Baranowski draws on the hypotheses formulated by Marx, which he extends and develops in his interpretation of the 1825 crisis. These hypotheses concern the links between overproduction and financial speculation, as well as the conditions of commercial capital turnover as mechanisms for the international spread of crises. As the leading economist of Legal Marxism—a current of economic thought from the late 19th century—Tugan’s analysis of crises sparked controversies shaping Marxist debates on the subject.