HUGH CHERSON of capitalist crises was gone forever Labour's right-wingers are now prepared lo point to the deep-scated hd ticutties of Beitiih capitalism and bemoan the terble state of cur economy. Of counse they do this for Totally pro-capitulist reasons to try und club the workers' movement into submission on such life or-death questions for capitalism as unemployDREANS Meanwhile the Labour "left" conlinues to slumber on, dreaming about the long gone days when capitalism stilt had the wherewithal to fork out the odd concession to the working class, and one could make a reputation as a 'left' in the labour movement simply by houting 'stand and deliver ouder than anyone cisc.
The fatest emanation from this last remaining dream world of social democracy is the statement of the Thibune group on the coonomy, "The Crisis • and the only way in wilch the Labour Government can solve it'. The reference to "crisis" in the title belies its view point, which finds considerable grounds fur optimism in the fact that "despite this very serious econemic situation, Bri -LABOUR'S INDEPENDENT WEEKLY ONCE LIPON A TIME, in the good old days of capitalist prosperity, virtually the entire population of Labour'» parfumentary benches agreed that the age But now with bits and pieces of the collapsing capitalist system littering the very foor of the House oF Commons, a section of the Labour Party curiously, the right wong has woken up lo the fact that capitalist crisis is here again.
tain still has a very considerable volume of productive capacity in industry and is the bome of no less than 140 of the top 500 companies.
Western Furope".
True, Britain's capitalst economy 'has a very considerable volume of productive capacity". ment, wages and the Common Market, racked hy interminable economic in the 20'% and 30's woen it was crisis. The point is not what potenliai resources the economy has, but wether the capitalist system is capable uj setring them to work.
For the Tribunites the collapse of the Keynesian paradise is not due to the fundamental flaws of capitalism. but the rise of gigantic monopolies and muiti-national firmns: development of these multi-cational campanies which has led to the downfall ol convențional Keynesian economics They simply do not respond to conventional fiscal and monetary DIAGNOSİS Having made this diagnosis, the Tribunites have a ready solution: the adoption of measures to curtail the powers of the malti-nationals and allow us to return to a world where * 'conventionn] fiscal and monetary measures can do the job. In their wew thes can be accomplished thro ough a combination of expanding the public sector by the purchase of "profitable companies" in order to club the monopolies with a dose of capitalist competition, and then hitting them again with planning agreements", through which the Government will negotiate over company Thus summons up a vision of Gulliver and the Lilliputians: bordes of little Tribunite MPs swarning over But so it did the body of multi-national giants in an effort to hind him with their miniature threads, Such a course may be all very well as long as our piant is prepared to tolerate this activity haps curious as to the exact intentions of his puny adversaries — but as soon as he gets the wind up his nose and starts to thrash around the threads snup, and all our little Tribunites pet thrown in diarray to the four it is the corners.
ger. Its solution is to try and avoid a head-on clish with the monopolies. So, for exampic, the statement does not propose their outright nationalisat on. - surely the most direct and straightforward way to "break their power'.
At the same time they make it quite clear that all takeover will be naschases by the National Enterprise Board (NEB). So a considerable proportion of the funds required to finance these industrial plans will not go towards expandCAUTIOUS wishes.' perDrozee is not unaware of this danunions gould step in.
Ia the same way Tribune adopt a very cautious attitude towards nationalisation of the banks and insurance • companies (alter all, we woulde't want our giant to get the scent of sociciisae in his nostrils). Thus white pomine out thar suca nat onausation would 'greatly facilitate" the financing of their scheme, they do not assign this step high priority: "Uintil such tine as these institutions are nationalised the NEB must be allowed job of working out a rational, planned, to horrow on the open market if it so The net result af Tribune's economic policies then would produce a considerabiy enlarged public sector, competing in the capitalst market with the major multi-nationals, and in hock to the bankers for the cash required to pay back their former owners and to finance new investment. Such publie sector businessis would be totally fied to the laws of capitalism and would have no more in common with socialism than the National Coal Board, Britsh Rail or BP. Thin fact is recognised by Tribune who, despite their brave rejection of the 'social contract" in favour of a socialist contract, shamefacedly revive the essential content of the nght-wing's social contract: we do not desist from the view that if living standards are to be improved through the high levels of investment its place which we call for then there may have ite 'planning agreements", but to take have to be some initial restruint in the growth of some personal incomes? iety in the interests of their class. No Abau the only userul ideas the Tribsee statement contains are in its discussien of how to actually got the multi-nationals to pay any attention te the planting agreements. "Here they reveal a certain uncase that the multinational riants may not be prepared to go along with such restrictions on their power, and that a Labour Govemment busing itself on the capitalis! state machine may be able to do bugger all about it:*, we would expect trade unions to take the lead in lais hield. They are in a far better and more powerful position than any wiilehah bureaucracy to get such agreements moving ... If the Government is not prepared to use sanctions to make these compunies comply, we would bope that trade All fine and dandy. But why shouid the organised workers movemeat "take the lead only in chis area Chris if it's sn much more effective than *Whitchall bureaucracy ? Why all this pusss footing around the multnationals and the capitalist class as a whole if the unions can tame them?
The reasun is simple croush. To really tackle the power of the monopolies a comprehensive system of workers" control would be needed: hased on dentocratic workers councis in every factory, and bodies of workers delegates investigating, discussing and regulating the operation of capitalist firmis at every level. Such a system could break the power of the monepoles and the capitalists, and aliow the working class to get on with the socialist solution to the crisis But such a move would require a radical revamping of the present burcaucratic set-up of the unions - a prospect which would not sit well with the "left bureaucrats who are Trisune's political bedfeliows But even mote seiously, such an orgunised system of workers control would show the reaf class power of the the working class in operation. In its shadow Partiament would be exposed as the ruling class talking shop that it is. In such a situation the cry would invitably go up for a workers Govemment wilch based itseit on the organised power of the working class and the workers would set about scrapping the cupitalist state machine and putting their own organisations in not just to administer poiovet the running of the whole of soc force in the land would be able to stop them hurling the social democrats much-loved Parliament into the rubbish heap, along with all the other useless junk of the bankrupt capitalist systen.
What all chis boils down lo is that Lose who do not understand the need to break with Parlament and tho capitalists state machine will never be able to light for socialism indeed, they cannot even mount an effective light against the crisis.
The Tribunites may aut be prepured to launch the kind of outright attacks on the working class that Healey, Wilson, Jenkins or Prentice would. But they are no more prepared to mount a struggle for workers power. This puts them in a dilemma which they can only try to worm oul of by kidding themselves about the rotten bankrupt state capitalisin is really in. The task of those who dn understand the nature of the capitalist crisis is to try and make sure they don't fool ansone eise
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ATISH ATONALIST COALITION
-and the only way in which the Labour Government can solve it