Showing papers in "Capital & Class in 1993"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors question the evidence for flexible specialisation and call for a re-examination of the real conditions of industrial districts such as Third Italy and the notion of the flexible firm.
Abstract: This article questions the evidence for flexible specialisation and calls for a re-examination of the real conditions of industrial districts such as Third Italy and the notion of the flexible firm...
54 citations
TL;DR: By joining the migratory labour movement to Western Europe in the early 1960s, Turkey for the first time in its history became a country of large scale economic emigration as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: By joining the migratory labour movement to Western Europe in the early 1960s, Turkey for the first time in its history became a country of large scale economic emigration. It is here argued that t...
33 citations
TL;DR: Bonefeld as mentioned in this paper assesses and criticises Jessop's dialectic between structure and strategy, arguing that Jessop equates class struggle with capitalist strategies, thus destroying the Marxian notion of a contradictory constitution of social relations.
Abstract: Bonefeld assesses and criticises Jessop's dialectic between structure and strategy. He argues that Jessop equates class struggle with capitalist strategies, thus destroying the Marxian notion of a contradictory constitution of social relations.
27 citations
TL;DR: Rainnie as discussed by the authors demonstrates that whilst the functions of large firms may be decentralised, with units taking on local appearances, control still resides in the hands of a distant and global management, often overiding local concerns.
Abstract: This article brings into sharper focus an aspect of the restructuring debate: namely the post Fordist orthodoxy which seeks to emphasise the centrality of the locality and the role of small and medium sized firms. Drawing on evidence from empirical examples, including the Hertfordshire study, Rainnie demonstrates that whilst the functions of large firms may be decentralised, with units taking on local appearances, control still resides in the hands of a distant and global management, often overiding local concerns.
26 citations
TL;DR: Saad-Filho draws on Marx to make clear that there are three distinct compositions of capital: technical (TCC), value (VCC), and organic (OCC) and argues that the distinction between them can be traced back to the relations between the spheres of production and circulation.
Abstract: Saad-Filho draws on Marx to make clear that there are three distinct compositions of capital: Technical (TCC); Value (VCC); and Organic (OCC). He demonstrates that the distinction between them can be traced back to the relations between the spheres of production and circulation, and argues that it is central for an analysis of capital accumulation and technical change based on the labour theory of value.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Kuhn assesses the record of Labor in power and finds that it has exploited its special relationship with the working class in order to push through a familiar policy of economic restructuring in the interests of capital.
Abstract: In 1993 the Australian Labor Party won an historic fifth successive general election. Here, Kuhn assesses the record of Labor in power. He finds that it has exploited its special relationship with the working class in order to push through a familiar policy of economic restructuring in the interests of capital. However, he also suggests that the limits to this social democratic strategy may now be approaching.
16 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of deregulation in the US telecommunications industry on communications workers and unions is examined, and the erosion of the traditional telephone monopoly is explained as part of the crisis of the postwar US economy's Fordist mode of development.
Abstract: The article examines the impact of deregulation in the US telecommunications industry on communications workers and unions. The erosion of the traditional telephone monopoly is explained as part of the crisis of the postwar US economy's Fordist mode of development. Theoretically, the analysis draws upon a critical reception of French regulation theory and the so-called state-derivation debate among West-German Marxists.
14 citations
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the causes, extent and implications of the proliferation of Japanese production systems in the South African economy, focusing on the motor vehicle industry, as the sector in which restructuring on Japanese lines is most evident.
Abstract: Two of the most important subjects, recently addressed by progressive academics have been apartheid (and post-apartheid) South Africa and Japanese production systems. The position of South Africa in the international economy, the blatant exploitation of African workers and their resistance, have been the focus of many studies from the left. The global challenge of Japanese exports and overseas investment have compelled researchers to investigate Japanese strategies and production systems—Just in Time (JIT), flexible specialisation, quality circles and robotics (Garrahan, 1986; Sayer, 1986; Holloway, 1987). This paper ties the two topics together: it analyses the causes, extent and implications of the proliferation of Japanese production systems in the South African economy. The focus is on the motor vehicle industry, as the sector in which restructuring on Japanese lines is most evident. 11
13 citations
TL;DR: Bonefeld as mentioned in this paper reviewed the State Debate and focused on Clarke's "class struggle approach" to the state and tried to develop this distinctive and rich understanding of the form of the state.
Abstract: In reviewing The State Debate, Werner Bonefeld specifically concentrates on Clarke's ‘class struggle approach’ to the state and attempts to develop this distinctive and rich understanding of the form of the state.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors criticise abstract economic theories of capital accumulation and discuss their irrelevance as concerns micro-economies, arguing that the problematic of regulation theory needs to be addressed.
Abstract: This article criticises abstract economic theories of capital accumulation and discusses their irrelevance as concerns micro-economies. It argues that the problematic of regulation theory needs to ...
10 citations
TL;DR: The events of 1989-92 and the flood of advice from bourgeois economists is critically examined in the light of the Hegelian-Marxist theory of the mixed economy as mentioned in this paper, and the failures of transition are laid at the door of the neglect of civil society.
Abstract: The events of 1989–92 and the flood of advice from bourgeois economists is critically examined in the light of the Hegelian-Marxist theory of the mixed economy. The (sometimes catastrophic) failures of transition are laid at the door of the neglect of civil society.
TL;DR: This paper showed that even at Marx's first iteration, the real average (non-uniform) profit rate corrected for inflation does not equal the value rate, and there is no iterative reconciliation of Marx with Sraffian equilibrium.
Abstract: The two ‘iterative’ models discussed exhibit unanticipated inflation. Real industry profit rates are not uniform; then why should nominal profit rates be? Even at Marx's first iteration, the real average (non-uniform) profit rate corrected for inflation does not equal the value rate. There is no iterative reconciliation of Marx with Sraffian equilibrium.
TL;DR: In this article, Morris argues that women's role within the home will not be strengthened so long as they are restricted to part-time work, which, in essence, is designed to accomodate their domestic obligations.
Abstract: This article, partly in response to Wheelock's article in Capital & Class (1990), examines the issue of flexibility, with regard to domestic labour, between married couples with different patterns of employment/unemployment. Morris argues that women's role within the home will not be strengthened so long as they are restricted to part-time work–which, in essence, is designed to accomodate their ‘domestic obligations’.
TL;DR: In this paper, the author takes issue with the prevailing Marxist common sense in order to prepare the way for a more adequate answer to the question posed in this paper. But, as analysis of the practical logic of exchange reveals, under capitalist conditions the ultimate source of all effective demand in the economy is the capitalist class itself.
Abstract: What constitutes the barriers to demand against which the accumulation of capital collides in periods of crisis or stagnation? The prevailing Marxist common sense suggests that such barriers derive from the limited purchasing power of the wage. The author takes issue with this common sense in order to prepare the way for a more adequate answer to the question posed. As analysis of the practical logic of exchange reveals, under capitalist conditions the ultimate source of all effective demand in the economy is the capitalist class itself.
TL;DR: In this paper, Magas' article "Lessons of history: War Returns to Yugoslavia" was published, in the Behind the News section of C&C 47, The Editorial Board of Capital & Class, expressed the hope that it would generate debate, and last August offered a contribution on the basis of several years spent in Yugoslavia during and immediately after the war and of regular almost annual visits ever since.
Abstract: In publishing Branka Magas̆’ article ‘Lessons of History: War Returns to Yugoslavia’, in the Behind the News section of C&C 47, The Editorial Board of Capital & Class, expressed the hope that it would generate debate. I hoped so too; and last August offered a contribution on the basis of several years spent in Yugoslavia during and immediately after the war and of regular almost annual visits ever since, plus some careful reading of official Yugoslav and United Nations reports. Since then, Capital & Class has published an invaluable article by Iraj Hashi, ‘The Disintegration of Yugoslavia: Regional Disparities and the Nationalities Question’, C&C 48. This has not only set the record straight about Croat responsibility for the massacre of Serbs and Moslems in 1941–2 under the German occupation, but has provided a detailed analysis of the increasing disregard after 1974 of post war promises to correct the historic inequalities between the more economically developed north of Yugoslavia and the less developed south. My concern in responding to Branka Magas̆ was to question her preoccupation with Great Serb nationalism, while almost entirely neglecting not only Croat fascism, but, 147
TL;DR: It is simply not true that, in 1918, what would become Yugoslavia's western and southern constituent parts separated from the former territories of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey and joined the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: It would take too much space to respond to all the points raised by the two authors, and even more space to correct all their historical errors—which, in Hashi’s case, begin on the very first page. It is simply not true that, in 1918, what would become Yugoslavia’s ‘western and southern constituent parts separated from the former territories of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey and joined the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro’. The union was actually between two distinct entities: the ‘State of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes’ (incorporating Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina) on the one hand; the Kingdom of Serbia (incorporating Serbia, Vojvodina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro) on the other. Macedonia and Kosovo had been conquered by Serbia in the Balkan wars of 1912–13 from the Ottoman Empire (not from Turkey and Bulgaria), while Vojvodina and Montenegro had been occupied by Serbian (and in the former case French) troops at the end of 1918 and annexed to Serbia immediately prior to the formation of Yugoslavia. To say that the new state was ‘assigned’ more than a million non-South Slavs is to distort the truth, in the sense that they (or rather the territory
TL;DR: The creation of a network of 82 Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) in England and Wales and 20 similar Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) in Scotland represents a significant switch in state training policy by attempting to privatise Britain's unemployment problem as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The creation of a network of 82 Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) in England and Wales and 20 similar Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) in Scotland represents a significant switch in state training policy by attempting to privatise Britain’s unemployment problem. Responsibility for training the unemployed has been transferred to local TECs, organisations dominated by the private sector. This attempt to forge a decentralised employer-led approach to training and job creation follows a period in which the rhetoric of ‘rolling back the state’ was contradicted by the necessity of the largest schematic employment interventions ever undertaken by a government in the United Kingdom. The espousal of entrepreneurialism contained in the 1988 White Paper Employment for the 1990s promoted training and enterprise to an extent not previously encountered (Department of Employment, 1988). The White Paper and the subsequent establishment of a 9
TL;DR: The authors further develops Kliman and McGlone's view of the value-price transformation and explores the contrast between Marx's concept of value as a self-moving substance and technological determinist concepts.
Abstract: In response to Michele Naples' critique, the author suggests that the dispute revolves around different concepts of value. Exploring the contrast between Marx's concept of value as a ‘self-moving substance’ and technological determinist concepts, this paper further develops Kliman and McGlone's view of the value-price transformation.
TL;DR: There has been a common tendency among many western commentators to see the outward manifestation of the state in the Islamic Republic of Iran (hereafter the IRI) as made up of different factions.
Abstract: There has been a common tendency among many western commentators to see the outward manifestation of the state in the Islamic Republic of Iran (hereafter the IRI) as made up of different factions. The executive branch led by President Rafsanjani is believed to represent a ‘moderate’ faction, while the former speaker of the Majlis (the Iranian Parliament), who until recently controlled the legislature, is supposed to be the leader of the ‘radicals’. The views of the ‘radical’ faction are usually presented in a variety of newspapers published in Tehran, namely Salaam, Jahan-e Islam, and Bayan, the chief editor of the last one being Mohtashami, a charismatic young clergyman with established links with the Hezb-ol-laah (Party of God) in Lebanon. Rafsanjani is also labelled as a ‘reformist’ president (Financial Times May 12, 1992, p.4), as well as a ‘pragmatist’. The ‘moderate’ faction controls the radio and television in the country, as well as a number of newspapers and periodicals, such as 19