Monday 18 October 2010

State Capitalism Index

1. Why Marxists Do Not Call For Nationalisation, explains he difference between opposing privatisation and advocating State Capitalism.

2. Joe Stiglitz, The Crisis, Stalinism and Socialism, argues that the crisis shows that State Capitalism is still Capitalism.

3. Marxism, Education and The State, examines State Capitalist Education and proposes alternatives.

4. After the Big Bang The Big Bust, looks at the role of State Capitalism in stabilising the system.

5. Socialism For The Rich, argues that the view of some on the Right of State Capitalism as the same as Socialism is wrong. It is only Socialism for the rich.

6. The Insanity Of Capitalism, shows how State Capitalism and Welfarism are led into bureaucratic lunacy that provides an easy target for Right-wing populists to attack the poor, and the idea of “Socialism”.

7. Wonderful Logic, looks at another piece of idiocy from the AWL in relation to calls for the Capitalist State to nationalise the banks.

8. Nationalisation, Workers Control and Workers Ownership, argues that Marxists should be advocating Socialism not State Capitalism, and that under current conditions the demand for Workers Control is utopian.

9. A New Aristocracy Of Labour, argues that the sociological root of some of the Statism of today's Left stems from the fact that so many of them are dependent upon the State in one form or another, and that the predominance of the organised Labour Movement within the State Sector constitutes a new aristocracy of labour similar to that analysed by Engels towards the end of the 19th Century.

10. More Greenshoots looks at the role of State Capitalism in bailing out the bosses. At the end of the 19th Century when the German Government was doing something similar Engels wrote to Bebel saying they were doing it with workers money collected in taxes, and argued for the workers to set up Co-operatives, and the same kind of support.

11. The AWL And Workers Control, compares their repeated calls for it with the quote from Trotsky:

“"Thus the regime of workers’ control, a provisional transitional regime by its very essence, can correspond only to the period of the convulsing of the bourgeois state, the proletarian offensive, and the failing back of the bourgeoisie, that is, to the period of the proletarian revolution in the fullest sense of the word."

12. Mickles and Muckles, examines the insanity and corruption of State Capitalism, and wonders why on Earth the left still places faith in it.

13. North American auto Industry and The Socialist Project is a discussion with Canadian comrades setting out why nationalisation is not the answer to the problems of auto workers.

14. European Car Industry, looks at the problems of car workers in Europe, and argues that the reformist solutions are not the answer.

15. Open the Books On bourgeois Democracy, argues that the MP's expenses scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. What about all the top officials, what about the top bosses?

16. Cut & Run, argues that the Welfare State is a clever strategy developed by Big Capital. It is like a State run Truck System.

17. A Reply To Charlie On The State, examines some of the common misconceptions about State capitalism.

18. Warning State Capitalism Can Seriously Damage your Health, examines the deficiencies of the NHS.

19. The Left And The Crisis, is a critique of a discussion within the CPGB.

20. Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care? examines some of the lessons of the TV programme.

21. The Third Camp and Opportunism, examines why Third Camp groups like the AWL can argue for opposition to defending “State Capitalist” societies whilst uncritically defending State Capitalism in Britain!

22. Fighting The Cuts, argues that opposition to the Cuts and privatisation should not be done on a defensive basis of defending State capitalism, but an offensive basis of a struggle for workers ownership and control.

23. The Lessons Of UCS, argues that the struggle ultimately failed because it was limited to arguing for workers to swap exploitation by private Capitalists for exploitation by even more powerful State Capitalists.

24. Concessions Or Conveniences Part 2, examines the role of the State Capitalist Health and Education Factories.

25. Workers Co-operatives and Pensions. Why Can't State Capitalism provide pensions at least equal to those provided by Mondragon?

26. The Return Of Euro-Stalinism, examined some of the debates at the 2010 TUC, and saw the underlying ideas of Euro-Stalinism.

27. Value Theory, The Transformation Problem and Domestic Labour Part 3, argues that Education and Health are commodities provided by the State Capitalist.

28. Sham Rocked looks at the role of State capitalism in bailing out Anglo Irish Bank, and the alternatives to it.

29. AWL Stalinism, Once More, looks at the way the AWL's support for State Capitalist solutions is a reflection of its reformist/statist politics in general, and how this conflicts with its claims to be a revolutionary organisation.