Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism and the Trade Union Movement

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Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism
and the Trade Union Movement
GLI International Summer School
Northern College, UK
4 July 2016
Asbjørn Wahl
Adviser at the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees
Director of the Campaign for the Welfare State
Chair of the ITF Urban Transport Committee
Chair of the ITF Working Group on Climate Change

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“Great disorder under the heaven”
• We live in very difficult and dangerous times –
economic, environmental, social and political crises
• There is no time (any longer) for illusions
• Everything can be changed and nothing is forever –
some parties go under, new initiatives arise
• Now more relevant than for a long time:
It is a question of socialism or barbarism
• According to Mao: “The situation is excellent”

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Focus on five particular issues
1. Capitalism! – Which capitalism?
2. What is it that gives workers power?
3. The political/ideological crisis on the left
4. What has to be done?
5. To be honest, are we able to do it?

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1
Capitalism!
Which capitalism?

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Neo-liberalism and the crisis
• Neo-liberalism did not create the economic crisis
• Quite the opposite: the crisis created the need for
the neo-liberal ideology – as a response to the crisis
• It was the internal contradictions in capitalism
itself which led to the crisis – a systemic crisis
• Neo-liberalism won hegemony also due to the lack of
resistance from the trade union and labour movement

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Considerable redistribution from wages
to profits played a decisive role
for the development of the financial crisis.
The purchasing power became too weak
to buy all the goods and services
which were/could be produced.
This was partly compensated for through
increased loaning, which together with massive
speculation resulted in
a gigantic financial bubble.
A crisis of overproduction

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Financial capital and GNPTrillion$

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Capital’s need for expansion
• Enormous surplus of capital (financial capital)
• Desperate hunt for profitable investments
• Public sector the biggest potential (since the
entire world was already conquered = imperialism)
• Resulted in an unparalleled financial speculation
• ‘Globalisation’ is not a law of nature –
it is the result of market deregulation and
capital’s strategy for restructuring and expansion

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What then is anti-capitalism?
• Why cannot capitalism be regulated politically?
• Keynesianism, civilised social partnership, social
dialogue, the welfare state – have all tried that
• The ‘Golden Age of Capitalism’ ended in the 1970s
• Anti-capitalism then must aim at replacing capitalism
with something else – hopefully with a human face
• This means we have to go through a formidable
struggle with very powerful vested interests

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So it is a question of power!
• The capitalist class has concentrated enormous power
through the ownership of the means of production
• This private ownership is constitutionally protected
• This means the state apparatus is (mainly) on their side
• Experiences have proved that they are willing to go
very far in using their economic and physical power
• Workers’ power is more about numeric strength,
organisation, alliances and strategies and tactics

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2
What is it
that gives workers power?

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Workers’ power in practise
• The ability and right to organise and to strike
• Trade union/workers’ rights won through struggle
• Permanent jobs and job protection
• Social security when unemployed or out of work
• Strong trade unions – able and willing to fight
• Political instruments (parties) able to represent
the interests of workers and to lead the struggle

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A class war is going on
«There is a class war going on,
and my class is winning.»
Warren Buffet,
US financial investor

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The war on workers (wage share)

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Unsecure jobs (15-24 years - 2011)

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The decline of trade unions

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3
The political / ideological
crisis on the left

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Labour movement in crisis
• Deep political-ideological crisis on the left
• System criticism is more or less non-existent
• Few attempts at mobilising for a power struggle
• No efforts to curb the power of financial capital
• The labour movement is losing trust, since it
has supported the policy which led to the crisis
• Left parties in governments have been a failure

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Regulation of capital
Fixed
exchange ratesCapital control
Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Labour legislation Huge public sector
Private capital

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The neoliberal offensive
Capital control
Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Private capital

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Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Private capital

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Trade protectionism
Private capital

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Private capital

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Labour legislation Reduced public sector
Private capital

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The current situation
Attacks on labour legislation Reduced public sector
Private capital

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This was just not enough !
Fixed
exchange ratesCapital control
Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Private capital
Ownership Democratic control
Mobilisation of social power

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The social partnership ideology I
• A true-born child of the class compromise
• The result of a very specific historic development
in which the balance of power shifted towards labour
• Capitalists felt their interests threatened and
gave in to workers’ demands to damp their radicalism
• The need for popular support in the Cold War
against Soviet Union contributed in the same direction
• Exploitation of the third world created a bigger surplus
• The result: 20 years of unprecedented social progress

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The social partnership ideology II
• Social progress was less and less seen as a result
of certain power relations in society
• The compromise itself – social peace and social
dialogue – was seen as the cause for social progress
• This contributed to depoliticising, deradicalising
and demobilising the working class/trade unions
• Changed the character of social democracy – from a
class movement to a mediator between the classes

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«Neither society nor democracy»
«In the last decade European social democracy has
ceased to be about either society or democracy.
In government it has embraced liberal economic
principles that undermined solidarity and association.
Along the way the idea of the common good has
been lost and there is no vision of a 'Good Society'.»
«The Future of European Social Democracy»
published by the social democratic Social Europe Journal

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Is there an alternative solution?
• The crisis gives an opportunity to disarm
financial capital and regulate the markets
• The public sector should be used to damp the
effects of the crisis and stabilise the economy
• A radical redistribution of wealth is necessary
• Only the trade union movement has the
potential to push solutions in this direction
• Potential is one thing, practice something else
– a formidable mobilisation will be necessary

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Need agency and strategies
• We need alternatives, but not without also
considering agency – who is going to carry out
the struggles – social forces, alliances
• Wishful thinking and arm-chair theories,
alternatives and models are easy to produce
• What is realistic, what is possible, how do we
prioritise – and how to we get there (strategies)?
• This is too little discussed on the left today

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Right wing populism/extremism
• The capitalist crisis creates a real basis for
alienation, exclusion, discontent and polarisation
• Workers feel betrayed by their ‘own’ politicians
• The extreme Right supports all discontent
and channels it in perverted political directions
• The only alternative: A policy of the left
which politicises the discontent and channels
it into real fights for collective solutions

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A strategy for the unions
• Alternative analyses – a system-critical view
• Building of new, broad social alliances
• Development of concrete alternatives
• Due to the party political misery, trade unions
must take a broader political responsibility
• Develop solidarity across all borders
• Create democratic and action-oriented unions
prepared for the confrontations which will come

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What about the new initiatives?
• The short life of the Arab Spring, and
possibly also the Latin-American Spring
• Movements like Social Forum, Indignados/M15,
Occupy Wall Street, Alter Summit, #NuitDebout
• Political parties like Podemos and Syriza
• New tendencies in old parties – Bernie Sanders in
the Democratic Party and Jeremy Corbyn in Labour
• Post-Greece movements – DiEM25, PlanB, Lexit…

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Emancipation is our goal!
• The (positive) effects of a class compromise can
never be more than a temporary achievement
• Emancipatory social policies presuppose
a huge shift in the balance of power in society
• Today, we demand too little and accept too much
• As authoritarian rule and oppression increase,
our response has to be bolder and more radical
• If the right to strike is restricted or banned, trade
unions have to win back the right in practise

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A minimum programme
• Fight austerity – defend our public services!
• Redistribute our wealth – let the rich pay!
• Cancel public debt created by the financial crisis!
• Socialise banks and financial institutions!
• Defend democracy – break with trade & fiscal pacts!
• Unify the environmental with the social struggle!
• Organise, mobilise and meet the confrontations!

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5
To be honest,
are we able to do it?

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The Rise and Fall of the Welfare State
In an age of government
imposed austerity, and after 30
years of neo-liberal restructuring,
the future of the welfare state
looks increasingly uncertain.
Asbjørn Wahl offers an
accessible analysis of the
situation across Europe,
identifies the most important
challenges and presents
practical proposals for combating
the assaults on welfare.
£ 15,-

Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism and the Trade Union Movement

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