On 2014-03-17, at 9:56 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: > Furthermore, the invention of the oil tanker and > large-scale container ships contributed to the restriction of unionized > power. The oil tanker facilitated control over energy supply and made it > more flexible. If a strike broke out in one place, an oil tanker could > immediately change its course and supply itself somewhere else. Standard > “containerisation” allowed rail, road, and over sea to transport goods > without being too dependent upon human labour to unload, stack, and > reload. A convenient form of economic rationalization as shipping and > docking stations were among the most important sites for labour unrest. > But the container did more than just limit the power of dockworkers. It > contributed to the transformation of capitalist organization in > fundamental ways: “Combined with the cheap oil of the 1960s, it made > possible the moving of manufacturing overseas.”[2] Industrial production > could now be outsourced more easily to low-wage countries.
Very interesting piece on container shipping in the latest NYRB: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/apr/03/passage-hong-kong/ _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
