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From: tbray@mprvaxa.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Recession a plot to break the unions??
Message-ID: <348@mprvaxa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 27-Oct-83 09:54:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: mprvaxa.348
Posted: Thu Oct 27 09:54:05 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Oct-83 01:29:41 EDT
References: <2562@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Organization: Microtel Pacific Research, Burnaby BC
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An orthodox Marxist (which I am not) would quote chapter and verse out
of Marx & Engels to the effect that:

1. Every period of prosperity in the history of capitalism has been followed
   by a period of hardship, due to the built-in tendency of profit margins
   to decrease with time (the argument for this is quite technical but seems
   strong if you accept the Marxist premises concerning where profit comes
   from).

2. The initial reaction of capitalism to this occurrence has always been
   to make up the difference out of the backs of the working classes.  The
   examples M & E used were the wage-cutting practices of the eighteenth
   and early nineteenth century industrialists, but there seems a fairly
   straightforward isomorphism between those examples and what's been
   going on in North America the last year or so.

3. Finally, there is no necessity for any actual conspiracy to occur
   for this to happen - the various classes are acting in an inevitable
   response to the economic forces which affect them.

As I said, I do not feel that Marxist theory gives a fully correct analysis
of our society, and certainly not a complete one.  I reject both Hegelian
logic and full economic determinism.  However, Marxism does claim to be
`scientific' and we are supposed to judge scientific theories on the
basis of the accuracy of their predictions.  Hmmm...

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