Reading this (poorly translated) paper: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.8.2.0138 on big data, the platform economy, and planning. The implicit argument within it is that capitalism and more broadly the market economy remains a progressive force. Most papers I have read by authors writing from the perspective of SwCC seem to push this view.

I understand that in China, capital has a different relationship to the state, and their economy is at a different level of development, but I rarely ever see the idea that capitalist mode of production is still a progressive force within western Marxism.

So, is capitalism still a progressive force? Marx seemed to belive it was at least during his life. Does this depend on the development of the economy in which it is utilized? Are there certain markers which can differentiate between whether it is or is not? Are there western Marxist authors who argue that it is still a progressive force?

Remember, progressive doesn’t mean “good” in this context.

For example, my read of Michael Hudson is that he believes that capitalism as practiced in the west is no longer a progressive force, but a financial capitalism which produces value primarily via extracting rent (I’m unsure if I completely agree with this), whereas China practices something closer to industrial capitalism, which can give way to Socialism, where the former cannot. The former here is regressive and the latter progressive uses of the capitalist mode of production.