In
the decade after the 1929 Great Crash, capitalism had been in such deep trouble
that its
very legitimacy was being questioned. Almost 90 years on, we seem back in the
same place….
The
destruction wrought by the Second World War, however, supplied a huge boost to
European economies - supplemented by the distributive effort of Marshall Aid and the new
role of global agencies such as The World Bank and the IMF – let alone the role
of American Capital… ….
In
Europe, Governments replaced key private monopolies with public ownership and
regulation; and earned legitimacy with social provision and full employment. The
“mixed economy” that resulted brought the power of unions and citizens into a
sort of balance with that of capital.
By
the mid 50s, therefore, Labour politician CAR Crosland’s seminal The Future of Socialism could argue to
some effect that managerial power was more important than ownership – an
analysis with which economic journalist Andrew Shonfield’s original and detailed
exploration of European Modern Capitalism – the changing
balance of public and private power (1966) concurred. And
which was already evident in the 1959 German SDP’s Bad Godesburg programme.
And.
by 1964, the British PM Harold McMillan expressed the ebullient European mood
when he used the phrase “you’ve never had it so good” – the growth of the core
European economic countries being one of the factors which encouraged the UK’s
membership of the Common Market in 1973 – although even then there were voices
such as that of EJ Mishan warning of The Costs of Economic
Growth (1967) and of…. The Limits to Growth (Club of
Rome 1972).
Daniel Bell was another
important voice questioning the brash confidence of the post-war period – with
his Coming
of Post-industrial Society (1971) and Cultural
Contradictions of Capitalism (1976)
But
most people by then were convinced that governments, science and big business
had found the answers to the problems which had plagued the 20th
century. The ending of American
dollar convertibility (to gold) and the first oil crisis of the early 1970s
may have raised questions about the “overload”
of state capacity - but privatization seemed to give the economy new energy
if not a new era
of greed. James Robertson’s The Sane Alternative
– a choice of futures (1978) may have been the last voice of
sanity before Thatcher took over……
There’s a nice little video here of Charles
Handy reminding us of the discussions in which he participated in the 1970s
about the purpose of the company - and the casual way people such as Milton
Friedmann and his acolytes introduced the idea of senior managers being given
“share options” as incentives. Handy regrets the failure of people then to
challenge what has now become the biggest element of the scandal of the gross
inequalities which disfigure our societies in the 21st century.
The
1980s and 1990s was – despite that - a celebration of a new spirit with even
social critics apparently conceding the irresistibility of the social and
technical change taking place - Charles Handy’s “The Future of Work” (1984); James
Robertson’s Future Work – jobs,
self-employment and measure after the industrial age (1985); Casino Capitalism by
International Relations scholar, Susan Strange (1986); The End of Organised
Capitalism by sociologists Scott Lash,
John Ury (1987) and the columns of Marxism Today – the
journal expressed the mood.
One
of the latter’s contributors, Andrew Gamble (a Politics Professor), wrote the
most clear and prescient analyses of the key forces - The
Free Economy and the Strong State – the politics of Thatcherism (1988).
It’s taken 25 years for the power of that analysis to be properly appreciated….
For the Common Good; Herman Daly
and John Cobb (1989) gave us a sense of how things could be organized
differently, Herman Daly
being one of the few economists in those days willing to break ranks against
the conventional wisdom…..
Then came the fall of
communism – and triumphalism. Hayek (and Popper) were wheeled out to inspire
central European intellectuals – I encountered so many well-thumbed copies of the
former’s (translated) Road to
Serfdom (written during the second world war) as I travelled around Central
Europe in the 1990s on my various projects …..
But,
by then, western academics were getting wise… .. and a deluge not only of
critiques but of alternative visions began to hit us….. I can’t pretend this is
exhaustive – but these are some of the titles which caught my eye over the next decade….
-
The
State We’re In; Will Hutton (1995); after Michel Albert’s book on different
sorts of capitalism, this was the book which showed us Brits what we were
missing in the Seine-Rheinish variant
-
The Future of Capitalism –
how today’s economic forces shape tomorrow’s world; Lester Thurow (1996).
Always ahead of himself, it’s significant that this book never got a serious
review
-
Political
Economy of Modern Capitalism – mapping convergence and diversity; ed C
Crouch and W Streeck (1996). Gives the Hutton thesis a much more technical
gloss
- “Everything for Sale – the
virtues and limits of markets” – Robert Kuttner (1996). The first majot blast
across the bows of neo-liberalism
- Short Circuit – strengthening
local economies in an unstable world” - Ronald Douthwaite (1996). Very
practical – but also inspirational….21 years on, it hasn’t really been bettered
-
Making Sense of a Changing
Economy – technology, markets and morals; Edward J Nell (1996)
delightfully-written and unforgivably neglected book – since it went against
the grain of the celebratory claims for economics at the time
- The End of Capitalism (as we knew it) – a feminist critique of political economy (1996)
very much ahead of its time – not least in its title
- The End of Capitalism (as we knew it) – a feminist critique of political economy (1996)
very much ahead of its time – not least in its title
- From
Statism to Pluralism - democracy, civil society and global politics; Paul
Hirst (1997)
argues
the case for “associational democracy” in both the public and private sectors.
It has a powerful beginning – The brutalities
of actually existing socialism have fatally crippled the power of socialist
ideas of any kind to motivate and inspire. The collapse of communism and the
decline of wars between the major industrial states have removed the major
justifications of social democracy for established elites – that it could
prevent the worse evil of communism and that it could harness organized labour
in the national war effort. Those elites have not just turned against social
democracy, but they almost seem to have convinced significant sections of the
population that a regulated economy and comprehensive social welfare are either
unattainable or undesirable
- Natural Capitalism – the
next industrial revolution; Paul Hawken (1999). A persuasive vision
of how green technology could revitalize capitalism….
- “The Lugano Report: On Preserving
Capitalism in the Twenty-first Century” – Susan George (1999). A satirical
piece which forces us to think where present forces are taking us….
- The Great Disruption – human nature and the
reconstitution of social order; Francis Fukuyama (1999) An important book which
passed me by until 2017 – it is a critique of the loosening of our social
fabric since 1965…..
- Economics
and Utopia – why the learning economy is not the end of history; Geoff Hodgson
(1999) a clear and tough analysis by
a top-class economic historian of why socialism lost its way – and exploration
of what it will take for it to restore its energies. If you want to get a sense
of the range of arguments which have convulsed economists and activists over
the past century, this is the book for you – despite the dreadful academic
habit of supporting every statement with brackets containing 3-4 names of academics).
- CyberMarx – cyles and
circuits of struggle in high technology capitalism; Nick
Dyer-Witheford (1999). It may be a PhD thesis – but it’s a great read…..
- The New Spirit of
Capitalism; L Boltanski and E Chiapello (1999). Surprising
that others have not attempted this critical analysis of managerial texts since
they tell us so much about the Zeitgeist…..these are mainly French (and a bit
turgid)….The only similar analyses I know are a couple of treatments of
managerial gurus by Brits (one with a Polish name!)….
-
Capitalism
and its Economics – a critical History; Douglas Dowd (2000) Very readable
- Anti-capitalism – theory
and practice; Chris Harman (2000) A Trotskyist take….
- Globalisation and its
Discontents; Joseph Stiglitz (2002) is
probably the best on the subject - exposing the emptiness of economics
orthodoxy….
- “We are Everywhere – a
celebration of community enterprise” (2003)
- Another world is possible Susan
George (2004) – one of the great critical analysts of global capitalism
- A Brief History of
Neo-Liberalism – David Harvey (2005). One of the world’s
experts in Marxist economics – so a bit heavy going…..
-
Knowing
Capitalism; Nigel Thrift (2005) A geographer turned turgid post-structuralist,
this book requires considerable perseverance!
- Models of Capitalism; Colin Crouch
(2005)…. It was in the 1990s when the variety of different types of capitalism were properly
appreciated
-
Global
Capitalism – its fall and rise in the twentieth century; Jeffry A Frieden
(2006)…an exceptionally well-written account of a subject which, at the time it
was being written, was not a popular one!!
- Theorising Neoliberalism; Chris Harman
(2007) How a Trotskyite sees things
-
Globalisation
and Contestation – the new great counter-movement; Ronaldo Munck (2007). An
interesting description and analysis of social reactions to economic power over
the past century – using a Polanyi perspective
And
that’s all before the crash – the next post will try to give you a sense of the
post-crash writing…
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