Keynes and Marx: some points of contact

Marx and Keynes approach the analysis of capitalist economies from distinct standpoints, by starting with the investigation of the production of value and surplus value, and of its realisation, respectively. This implies complementarity, evidenced in several points of contact. Both writers adopt a labour theory of value, with goods prices varying around prices of production, and both affirm a tendency for the rate of profit to fall, underpinned by a tendency for organic composition to rise. The conclusion reached is that the thesis that Marx and Keynes are utterly opposed, expounded for example by Pilling, Mattick and Potts, is incorrect.