Re: [OPE] autopilot

On 2010-02-24 16:18, Paul Cockshott wrote:
> Discussion has been rather slack.
>
> I am actually surprised that whilst finer points of the transformation problem are guaranteed to generate discussion, the sorts of economic policies discussed at the Berlin conference seem to raise no interest.
>

I suppose this symptomatic given the growing disassociation between
Marxist intellectuals and a weakened labour movement in the advanced
countries.

As for the policies I am of course familiar with the arguments that you
have made. What I found new in your proposal was the question of
strategy during obviously non-revolutionary periods; something the
far-Left has struggled to cope with ever since 1917. The gravitation of
European Communist parties towards social-democracy during the 1970s is
the primary example of this.

What you and Allin are suggesting seems to be a strategy emphasizing a
greater weight on trade-union struggle --- e.g. aiming to win the right
of control of full value-added --- rather than the classical
social-democratic emphasis on electoral power and nationalizations. The
way you formulate it as analogous to the 13th amendment to the US
constitution is elegant.

Still one wonders how far this demand could be pushed on the legal
terrain before the reaction side-steps it? The scenarios of capital
flight or extra-economic coercion need to be considered and prepared
for. Also, can the European trade-union movement, lacking a growing
industrial core, achieve such levels of bargaining power?

//Dave Z
_______________________________________________
ope mailing list
ope@lists.csuchico.edu
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
Received on Wed Feb 24 15:31:16 2010