The Carpathia isn’t coming to rescue this government still swimming in the mire, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
Is capitalism cyclical?
As long as we permit capitalism to exist, there will be cycles of development and decay, of gains and losses for capitalists, and of successes and failures for the working class, explains the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Regular crises typically happen every five or six years — it was this, Marx said, that proves the labour theory of value in the same way as the collapse of a badly built house proved the law of gravity.
As the RMT Health and Safety Conference takes place, the union is calling for urgent action on crisis of work-related stress, understaffing and the growing threat of workplace assaults. RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY explains
Current polling shows Scottish Labour faces a stark choice: break decisively with Westminster or continue its slide into irrelevance, warns VINCE MILLS
As discussions continue between the US and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear enrichment programme, the suppression of internal dissent by the theocratic dictatorship grows. STEVE BISHOP reports.
Last weekend’s inaugural conference mixed warmth, unity and ambition with the unmistakable echo of old arguments. MATT KERR wonders whether the fledgling party’s difficulties can be overcome
The US president’s career is defined by a consistent use of racist tropes and provocation. Why are world leaders so silent over his repeated vitriolic prejudice, asks ROGER McKENZIE
DESPITE Gordon Brown’s boast to have ended “boom and bust” capitalism is — and has always been — cyclical. Periodic crises — cycles of growth and decay, of profit and loss for the owners of capital, of victories and defeats for the struggles of working people — are inherent in capitalism.
This was first recognised in the early 19th century by the French economic historian Jean Sismondi. Sismondi challenged earlier classical economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo who held that perfect competition would ensure smooth growth.
Sismondi, who coined the term “proletariat” to refer to the working class created under industrial capitalism, argued that cyclic mismatches of production and effective demand were caused by inequalities of income and wealth. He advocated modest state intervention to regulate working hours and progressive taxation to provide unemployment and sickness insurance and pensions. In England, his ideas were taken up by Robert Owen who argued for a form of paternalistic socialism.
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