Editor’s Note: Excerpted from the report of the LRNA Steering Committee, December 2004. The entire report is available at http://www.lrna.org/4-docs/docs.html

The U.S. has been fighting for dominance over globalization and the entire world. However, the increasing integration of the global market is undermining the U.S position. The U.S. can no longer simply impose its will as it did in the past. Though not categorical, the quantitative stage we are in today is the ending of the absolute dominance of the U.S. over the global economy.

Underlying it all is the growing and irreversible polarization of wealth and poverty brought about by labor replacing technology, the inevitable motion toward an economic crisis, the growth of other countries who seek to undercut the U.S. position, the formation of a new class of dispossessed in the U.S. and across the world.  As the U.S. aggressively attempts to impose its will on the world stage, it must crack down at home to guarantee the American people do not resist the capitalists' plans.

All elements involved in globalization - the still powerful national interests, the rise of speculative capital, the emergence of empire, the shifts and changes in the capitalist class - are entangled and interdependent upon another and are part of the same process, with each existing alongside, clashing, intertwining and developing with one another. The intention of the capitalists is to drive the process toward a world in which capital is unrestrained and the peoples of the world have nothing to do but submit to that tyranny.

The integration of the global economy

Today, the structure and character of capitalist production and finance is increasingly global in scope, increasingly integrated between its productive and financial aspects and between its national and international aspects.  National capital, national bourgeoisies (in locally based companies as well as multinationals) and national economies still exist in every country. There would be no "country" without them. But they are increasingly integrated into the global economy. The expansion of direct foreign investment, cross national mergers, strategic alliances, the interpenetration of capital, and interlocking directorates that are transnational are all examples. Outsourcing, subcontracting, various licensing agreements have resulted in a "production chain and complex webs of vertical and horizontal integration across the globe" in such a way that it is increasingly difficult to separate local circuits of production and distribution from globalized ones. (Robinson and Harris, http://www.net4dem.org/ mayglobal/Papers/papers.htm).

We can see this integration even in an industry as protected as the U.S. defense industry. European corporations like the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) are breaking down barriers to investment in the billion dollar U.S. defense industry. EADS sold 2,000 helicopters to the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol, and the Department of Homeland Security. It is involved in partnerships with Northrop and Lockheed on Pentagon contracts with billion-dollar price tags. Also, the company opened a new helicopter factory in Mississippi and other big deals are in the works.

The U.S. economy is the reserve for domestic corporations, but they still need international markets.  The capitalist circuit includes not just the sale of commodities, but also their production. The productivity of electronic based production is so great that the home market can only absorb so much, and the bourgeoisie has to force open markets in other countries to sell their commodities. Yet production without wages destroys the ability to sell, exacerbating the competition for those markets. The nations of the world are thrown into fierce competition with one another, as they force their way into markets, as they jostle against one another for geopolitical position to protect their access to markets, raw materials, labor, and production.

As a result, the various sections of the bourgeoisie, if from different angles, must both defend the national interests of the country as well as protect the globalization of the economy. It is this contradiction which gives rise to the drive toward protection of "national" industries while at the same time that the capitalists are dismantling every barrier to capital throughout the world. It is this contradiction which gives rise to the many complicated and dangerous situations developing in the world.

We understand that the general significance of the rise of speculative capital is its tendency toward replacing productive capital with speculative capital, further exacerbating the crisis resulting from production without human labor. We should be careful not to view speculative capital as a separate category, or even a new category battling against outdated forms of capital. Speculative activity intermingles with productive capital, and responds to and reflects the various motions of various national economies. Most global corporations, are simultaneously involved in financial, productive and speculative activities. Today, almost every aspect of the economy (corporation, real estate, oil, finance and other investors, etc.) speculate.  Fortune 500 companies speculate in currency markets.

Furthermore, as far as the policy debates, key elements of neoliberalism benefit capitalists of all kinds. Wages are driven down, safety nets are being destroyed, regulatory oversight is being eliminated, tax systems dismantled and rebuilt around new priorities, and civil and criminal law systems are being transformed in the direction of removing any government responsibility for the welfare of society and its citizens. These actions, essentially amounting to the reconstruction of society according to a new social order, remove any restraint on capital's ability to profit.

Policy debates

These further developments toward a global economy point us toward understanding the various policy debates among the ruling class. Taken together, these debates add up to a struggle over how the class is going to rule. The bedrock of agreement among the ruling class does not at all minimize the battle over the differences that exist on how they are going to resolve the problems they face.

Bush's economic policies have benefited a range of capitalists, particularly those most integrated into the global economy, across the board. Industry is awash in cash. Wall Street has made billions from the ballooning debt expressed in the U.S. deficit. Bush has elevated the place of corporations relative to the needs of people to an unprecedented level, and has pushed through laws and undercut constitutional protections that will allow the government the funds and the wherewithal to crush dissent at home. Nonetheless, some economic forces are being hurt by the Bush policies. Who are they? How long will Bush be able to continue to be all things to all capitalists?

The geopolitical debates in the U.S. among the ruling class are over how to most effectively guarantee that the U.S. is able to dominate the process of globalization. They are united in the necessity for the U.S. to enforce its rule around the world, and to geopolitically position itself to accomplish that. The capitalists and their spokespersons have no differences over the necessity to protect the system, or their place as rulers and chief beneficiaries of that system. Similarly, they are completely united on the necessity to prevent the growing global class of poor from disrupting their plans. There is no intention to provide for workers that are no longer needed.

We have focused on the essential unity among the ruling class because so much of the left has misconstrued their squabbles for essential differences. We need to keep our orientation and not get pulled behind this or that representative of the ruling class. At the same time, we must not minimize the seriousness of the debates, fail to see the profound difficulties they express for the ruling class, or disregard their impact on the overall political environment.

Conclusion

The underlying factor in the world today is the shrinking world market, the growing likelihood of  a global economic crisis and the potential of catastrophic war between the nations of the world. The capitalists are compelled to push globalization further even as it undermines their own position, both in terms of U.S. power and long range interests and in terms of creating an army of dispossessed throughout the world. The subjective response of nations to this situation expresses the entangled interests we have described. Fascism is the only solution  for the capitalists and the overall motion.

"Separate individuals form a class only insofar as they have to carry a common battle against another class", Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote in the German Ideology. "Otherwise, they are on hostile terms with each other as competitors."  Today, we see that the ruling class is absolutely united in its relation to the new class throughout the world, though there is a struggle over who will rule the process. Marx and Engels' second observation is also true. The constant falling out and maneuvering arouses the workers, setting the conditions for the introduction of new ideas. But where once squabbling rulers could draw the workers into their fight by delivering on reform, this is no longer possible today. Today, the stage is being set for world revolution and the revolutionaries must approach their work with that perspective ever in mind.

 

April.2006.Vol16.Ed3
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