ment of the case for an expansion centred on tax cuts for with a big growth in welfare of This section is very good. agreements.
But any argument for ex- The must also deal with the problem of the balance of Here the authors are on weaker ground. and then They acknowledge that an unsustainable deterioration in balance would almost certainly occur unless were and tives. they suggest the widespread use of import controls.
The authors' discussion of trade controls is better than most. They take charges of and chauvinism seriously and attempt a detailed rebutta Chey also understand th supporters dismiss ment in office key proposed Y for clearing this hurdle is a system compulsory planning idea is that the government would fix desirec evels of output, investment and so on for each industry, cajole major firms to tall in line using everything form the succulent carrot of tax incentives through to the sawn-off shotgun of direc RNATIVE A LABOUR MOVEMENT RESPONSETOTHE ECONOMIC CRISIS How would capital react to these uncouth invasions of Let's ask London CSÉ "The final difficulty with strategy of planning is perhaps the most fundamental. It can be argued that as long as capital in private hands it wil do all it can to subvert at planning and to resist the imposition of social measures taken to problen by through the exercise of more direct control bv the govern.
For the trade unions would simply harden the op position of capital and coul result In an all-oul Ivestiel Dead right Capital would stop investing altogether, try and sell off stocks fast refuse to buj government debt and shift its money abroad. It would be able to cause massive distuD tion because it would retain contro the factories Economic and social chaos would result, opening the way to a right-wing takeover.
To pass a law formally depriving capital of control over economic activity while leaving the real levers of economic actual control over the means of production in its hands is like accepting the formal surrender of an army without bothering to confiscate weapons or disband the troops. It is a sure recipe for disaster.
Middle In a contribution to the Debate of the Decade, , Ann Cesek put this, the fundamental point, in the following way The alternative economic strategy is an elaborate scheme to steer a wobbly between capitalist power and popular DOWel It's trying to drive a car on the right and • the left at the same time — like in Chile, we're all the Pluto transcript I think it is more like driving hell-for-leather straight down the middle of the road and relying on lega authorisation pinned to your windscreen to persuade the juggernaut drivers with their cargoes to give you the right of way.
*The Alternative Economic Strategy: Labour Movement Response to the Economic Crisis, the CSE London Working Group. Published CSE Books, and the Labour Co-ordinating Committee at f2.50 JOHN HARRISON Socialists (Pluto Press. £2.95) and, Andrew Glyn, of Britis: Economic Disaster (Plate Presshe £2.95). available from:
Bookshop 328 Upper Street London Ni.
Socialist Challenge 27 November 1980 Page 13