Workers' Liberty

The imam of Australia’s biggest mosque, in Lakemba, Sydney, recently caused an outrage after being reported as having “told a service at the mosque that women who do not wear the hijab, or headdress, are like uncovered meat.” In an apparent reference to the (actually 55 year) sentence given in a notorious gang rape case Sheik Hilaly was reported as saying:

A discussion contribution from Martin Thomas. The left, in my view, should pick up and run with the proposals recently published by the ACTU, "A fair go at work: collective bargaining for Australian workers".

Discussion notes on the working class in "globalised" capitalism

Lash/Urry discussion notes 8: Capitalist competition and fragmentation of bargaining

The main theme of Lash/Urry's chapter 8 is the trend for trade-union bargaining to become more fragmented. Company bargaining, plant bargaining, or even departmental bargaining replaces overall national collective bargaining.

Discussion notes on the working class in "globalised" capitalism

Lash/Urry discussion points 7: Radicalism, nomadism and working-class communities

Part of Lash/Urry's argument is that the diminished "capacities" of the working class arise from breaking-up of previously cohesive working-class communities. An almost exactly contrary view is presented in Negri/Hardt's book "Empire", where they hail "nomadism and miscegenation" as high examples of the "refusal" which is the inner subversive force within "Empire".

Discussion notes on the working class in "globalised" capitalism

Lash/Urry discussion notes 6: Has politics become fractal?

Chapter 7 of "The End of Organised Capitalism", by Scott Lash and John Urry, contains some fairly commonplace comments on recent trends in industry and finance, and then some comments on politics which, for me, provoke more thought.

Discussion notes on the working class in "globalised" capitalism

Disorganised capital, disorganised labour?

The labour movement in the richer countries has been weakened over the last 25 years. Why? What are the implications?

A group of us are discussing these issues by way of a critical reading of "The End Of Organised Capitalism", by Scott Lash and John Urry. I'll present my personal conclusions.

Discussion notes on the working class in "globalised" capitalism

Lash/Urry: discussion points 4. Sunk in the suburbs?

The core argument of Lash and Urry in chapters 4 and 5 of their book is that the shift by industry, in the richer countries anyway, to smaller factories and into suburbs or smaller towns, weakens the "capacities" of the working class.

Discussion notes on the working class in "globalised" capitalism

"The End of Organised Capitalism": discussion points 3. The rise and fall of organised capitalism.

The importance of chapters 2 and 3 is in prompting us, or giving us material, to think through an account of the rise of nationally "organised capitalism" alternative to the traditional Marxist one.

Discussion notes on the working class in "globalised" capitalism

"The End of Organised Capitalism": overall summary

INTRODUCTION: CHAPTER 1

The introduction stated the thesis: that capitalism has moved through a "liberal" phase (19th century), then an "organised" phase (late 19th century/ most of 20th century), into a "disorganised" phase (from late 20th century).
By "disorganised", L/U say that they do not mean plain randomness and entropy; however, their definition of it is mainly negative.
They flag up three main themes:
* Though they distance themselves from theories of "farewell to the working class", and state that working-class struggles may increase in disorganised capitalism, they see disorganised capitalism as bringing a "decline of working-class capacities".
* Bringing, also, a rise of the "service class" (professional-managerial). For the earlier part of the 20th century, L/U see this "service class", in the USA especially, more or less as previous writers have seen it, as a vector of "managerial" or "bureaucratic" reorganisation of society as against a previous regime of individual capitalist authority and more or less free markets. For the later part, they see it as operating in the opposite sense, as a vector of "disorganisation".
* Cultural changes accompanying disorganised capitalism.

A Marxist discussion group getting under way in Brisbane.

Theme: the working class in "globalised" capitalism

Time: Monday evenings, 8pm to 10pm.

Place: not yet fixed, but should be central.

Dates: 21 July to 15 September 2003 inclusive.