Jim Devine wrote: > > I wanted to add that Bob Brenner's excellent new book argues that > international competition between the advanced capitalist countries led to > the crisis of the 1970s, while a similar analysis applies to the > competition in East Asia that led to the 1997 crisis. One of the things I found odd about Brenner's latest effort is that class struggle plays no role in his explanation. This is odd after he took many other Marxists to task for abandoning class struggle in his other well-known article "Critique of Neo-Smithian Marxism". What he gives in his latest work is a Neo-Smithian account of recent economic history. In my,admittedly superficial, reading of Brenner there are at least prima facie similarities between his account and a simple neo-classical model where profits are driven to zero through competition. Ben Fine has an article in the latest Capital and Class detailing this criticism. As I understand it, policy, starting in the late 70's with Volker were ment to re- impose discipline on the working class which had gotten a little uppity in the 60's and 70's. Expectations were rising perhaps. Sam Pawlett
