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Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism
and the Trade Union Movement
GLI International Summer School
Northern College, UK
6 July 2015
Asbjørn Wahl
Adviser at the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees
Director of the Campaign for the Welfare State
Chair of the ITF Urban Transport Committee
Chair of the ITF Working Group on Climate Change

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Focus on four particular issues
1. Some thoughts about the connection between
capitalism, globalisation, crises and neo-liberalism
2. The ideological legacy of the social pact – or
how to understand the social partnership ideology
3. The need to politicise the trade unions – as
the political parties have let us down so awfully
4. The need to radicalise our messages and
to develop our struggle to match our adversaries

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1Some thoughts about the connection
between capitalism, globalisation,
crises and neo-liberalism

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Neo-liberalism and the crisis
• Neo-liberalism did not create the economic crisis
• Quite the opposite: the crisis created the need for
the neo-liberal ideology – as a response to the crisis
• It was the internal contradictions in capitalism
itself which led to the crisis – a systemic crisis
• Neo-liberalism won hegemony also due to the lack of
resistance from the trade union and labour movement

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Considerable redistribution from wages
to profits played a decisive role
for the development of the financial crisis.
The purchasing power became too weak
to buy all the goods and services
which were/could be produced.
This was partly compensated for through
increased loaning, which together with massive
speculation resulted in
a gigantic financial bubble.
A crisis of overproduction

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The war on workers (wage share)

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Financial capital and GNPTrillion$

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Capital’s need for expansion
• Enormous surplus of capital (financial capital)
• Desperate hunt for profitable investments
• Public sector the biggest potential (since the
entire world was already conquered = imperialism)
• Resulted in an unparalleled financial speculation
• ‘Globalisation’ is not a law of nature –
it is the result of market deregulation and
capital’s strategy for restructuring and expansion

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2The ideological legacy of the social pact –
or how to understand
the social partnership ideology

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The social partnership ideology I
• A true-born child of the class compromise
• The result of a very specific historic development
in which the balance of power shifted towards labour
• Capitalists felt their interests threatened and
gave in to workers’ demands to damp their radicalism
• The need for popular support in the Cold War
against Soviet Union contributed in the same direction
• Exploitation of the third world created a bigger surplus
• The result: 20 years of unprecedented social progress

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The social partnership ideology II
• Social progress was less and less seen as a result
of certain power relations in society
• The compromise itself – social peace and social
dialogue – was seen as the cause for social progress
• This contributed to depoliticising, deradicalising
and demobilising the working class/trade unions
• Changed the character of social democracy – from a
class movement to a mediator between the classes

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Regulation of capital
Fixed
exchange ratesCapital control
Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Labour legislation Huge public sector
Private capital

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The turning point
• The 1970s: crisis in the world economy
and a continued deep crisis of capitalism
• The triumph of neoliberalism and the
following restructuring of global capitalism
• Deregulation - abolishment of capital control
• Immense shift in the balance of power
(and it’s all about power, stupid)
• The breakdown of the class compromise

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The neoliberal offensive
Fixed
exchange ratesCapital control
Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Labour legislation Huge public sector
Private capital

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The neoliberal offensive
Capital control
Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Labour legislation Huge public sector
Private capital

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The neoliberal offensive
Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Labour legislation Huge public sector
Private capital

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The neoliberal offensive
Trade protectionism
Labour legislation Huge public sector
Private capital

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The neoliberal offensive
Labour legislation Huge public sector
Private capital

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The neoliberal offensive
Labour legislation Reduced public sector
Private capital

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The current situation
Attacks on labour legislation Reduced public sector
Private capital

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What went wrong?
• The social pact was not a stable situation
• A compromise in a concrete historical situation
• Tactical compromise became the final aim
• Basic power relations remained in tact
• The ideology of the social pact deradicalised
• Taken by surprise by the neo-liberal offensive

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This was just not enough !
Fixed
exchange ratesCapital control
Regulation of
investments
Trade protectionism
Labour legislation Huge public sector
Private capital
Ownership Democratic control
Mobilisation of social power

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The big question
In retrospect, who gained the
most from the class compromise
and the resulting welfare state?

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3The need to politicise the trade unions –
as the political parties
have let us down so awfully

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Labour movement in crisis
• Deep political-ideological crisis on the left
• System criticism is more or less non-existent
• Few attempts at mobilising for a power struggle
• No efforts to curb the power of financial capital
• The labour movement is losing trust, since it
has supported the policy which led to the crisis
• Left parties in governments have been a failure

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«Neither society nor democracy»
«In the last decade European social democracy has
ceased to be about either society or democracy.
In government it has embraced liberal economic
principles that undermined solidarity and association.
Along the way the idea of the common good has
been lost and there is no vision of a 'Good Society'.»
«The Future of European Social Democracy»
published by the social democratic Social Europe Journal

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Is there an alternative solution?
• The crisis gives an opportunity to disarm
financial capital and regulate the markets
• The public sector should be used to damp the
effects of the crisis and stabilise the economy
• A radical redistribution of wealth is necessary
• Only the trade union movement has the
potential to push solutions in this direction
• Potential is one thing, practice something else
– a formidable mobilisation will be necessary

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Need agency and strategies
• We need alternatives, but not without also
considering agency – who is going to carry out
the struggles – social forces, alliances
• Wishful thinking and arm-chair theories,
alternatives and models are easy to produce
• What is realistic, what is possible, how do we
prioritise – and how to we get there (strategies)?
• This is too little discussed on the left today

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Right wing populism/extremism
• The capitalist crisis creates a real basis for
alienation, exclusion, discontent and polarisation
• Workers feel betrayed by their ‘own’ politicians
• The extreme Right supports all discontent
and channels it in perverted political directions
• The only alternative: A policy of the left
which politicises the discontent and channels
it into real fights for collective solutions

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A strategy for the unions
• Alternative analyses – a system-critical view
• Building of new, broad social alliances
• Development of concrete alternatives
• Due to the party political misery, trade unions
must take a broader political responsibility
• Develop solidarity across all borders
• Create democratic and action-oriented unions
prepared for the confrontations which will come

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4The need to radicalise our messages
and to develop our struggle
to match our adversaries

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Emancipation is our goal!
• The (positive) effects of a class compromise can
never be more than a temporary achievement
• Emancipatory social policies presuppose
a huge shift in the balance of power in society
• Today, we demand too little and accept too much
• As authoritarian rule and oppression increase,
our response has to be bolder and more radical
• If the right to strike is restricted or banned, trade
unions have to win back the right in practise

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A minimum programme
• Fight austerity – defend our public services!
• Redistribute our wealth – let the rich pay!
• Cancel public debt created by the financial crisis!
• Socialise banks and financial institutions!
• Defend democracy – break with trade & fiscal pacts!
• Unify the environmental with the social struggle!
• Organise, mobilise and meet the confrontations!

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London, 20 June 2015

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Brussels, 21 June 2015

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Dublin, 4 July 2015

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Athens, 5 July 2015

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Athens, 5 July 2015

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The Rise and Fall of the Welfare State
In an age of government
imposed austerity, and after 30
years of neo-liberal restructuring,
the future of the welfare state
looks increasingly uncertain.
Asbjørn Wahl offers an
accessible analysis of the
situation across Europe,
identifies the most important
challenges and presents
practical proposals for combating
the assaults on welfare.
£ 15,-