Date: Sun, 09 Nov 1997 23:55:37 +0000
From: Chris Burford <cburford-AT-gn.apc.org>
Subject: M-I: Conservatives oppose monopoly capitalism


While the Conservative Europhiles have played down suggestions that their
"Conservative Mainstream" group is preparing to split the party, the
leadership has decided it has to come out fighting.

The extraordinary headline in the Sunday Telegraph is "Tory party opens war
on big business."

While Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are to be welcomed at next weeks
conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), William Hague,
the new Conservative leader, has decided to give it a lecture. At a time
when the CBI has reported that 3/4 of companies taking part in a survey
last week favoured monetary union with Europe, he is going to tell
capitalism that it should not be as it is, but as it should be. In essence
that it is wrong to have monopolistic, centralising tendencies.

This is unwise, but perhaps it is too late for him to read Marx.

Inside an article, "The CBI is bad news for British industry", by the
number 2 in the Conservative's economic team, makes remarkably explicit the
class basis of the confrontation:

"The corporatism of the 1960's and 1970's was based on a belief that blind
economic forces could be better managed by enlightened decisions made at
the top. Government, industry and trade unions got what they wanted not
through their economic contributions but through their lobbying strength.
It very nearly destroyed Britain as an economic power.

... Britain struggled out of that economic quagmire in the 1980's. It took
enormous courage and perseverance by  Conservative Governments. The
relentless opposition of Labour and the trade unions was natural. More
surprising - or perhaps not so surprising - was the attitude of the CBI.
Instead of leading the Thatcherite revolution, the CBI often appeared to be
a drag anchor. When the going got rough its Director-General, Sir Terence
Becket, promised a 'bare knuckle fight' with the Government. Compare that
with the muted reaction of the CBI to this July's Budget when, despite its
election promises, Labour made a =A35 billion a year raid on pension funds.

Masny businessmen rather liked life in the corporate state - the planning
agreements, the dependable returns, the seats on the National Economic
Development Council, the illusion of power. After all, when a businessman
does a deal with a civil servant, the businessman will ususally come off
best. Compared with that, the rigours and uncertainties of the marketplace
can look very unappealing.

The CBI is essentially, perhaps inevitably, a bureaucratic organisation.
Its lifeblood is consultation - preferably with government - and its
culture is corporatist. Its voice should not be mistaken for that of
British industry as a whole....


Most employees and most new jobs, are in the small company sector. Harassed
owner managers have little time to sit on the consultative committess or
attend conferences. When government cuts a deal with big business, they get
left out. This happens when governments consult industry over new European
regulations. Big companies have staff to deal with such regulations, and
the multinationals face them abroad anyway. Regulations are often
big-business-friendly, by raising the price of entry for competitors. The
heaviest costs are borne by the smallest businesses which have the least
clout..."

Such sentimentality about the centralising tendencies of capitalism!


Chris Burford

London.





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