Robert Albritton.Political Economy in the Making: A Response. RM 8(1):125-129 A response to Raphael Sassower's comment (see abstract in SA 44:5) on Albritton's concerns about postmodernism (1993), Insufficient problemization of the concept of capital appears to be the primary objection offered in Sassower's critique. Mainstream postmodernists typically deconstruct capital by inserting the political and the ideological into the conceptualization. The intent of horizontal deconstruction is to eliminate economic determinism and reductionism. Vertical reconstruction offers a better alternative and leads to three assertions: (1) capital has an essence; (2) capital's essence can be theorized because of the reifying and self-reifying properties of capital; and (3) such a theory is useful in sorting out pluralities at more concrete levels of analyses. Marxian political economy should aim at understanding the role capitalism plays and has played in modern history. Such analysis requires realist ontology and a correspondence theory of truth.