europhoria

Chris Burford cburford at gn.apc.org
Thu Jan 7 00:35:44 PST 1999


Louis Proyect could not be bothered to wait to the next day to post the following because he had exceeded his quota on LBO-talk. Instead he posted in on his own list. I am therefore posting it here for him.

And will reply in due course.

Chris Burford

London.


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>Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 19:52:22 -0500
>To: marxism at lists.panix.com
>From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>
>Subject: Reply to Chris Burford
>Sender: owner-marxism at lists.panix.com
>Reply-To: marxism at lists.panix.com
>
>Chris Burford posted this to LBO-Talk, but I have exceeded my quota there.
>I will answer him here. Basically, I accused him of being some kind of
>neo-Kautskyite for believing the Eurodollar would bring the world closer to
>peace. I quoted Lenin and also a Philippine financial press article that
>said that East Asia had to defend itself from the Eurodollar onslaught.
>
>Chris:
>Many serious marxists now consider Lenin's analysis of imperialism in 1916,
>based heavily on the work of Hobson, to be inadequate in some respects. One
>of these is Paul Cockshott, for whom Louis has expressed admiration.
>
>Louis:
>I have never read Paul Cockshott on imperialism. If his hatred for Irish
>nationalism is any indication of what he has to say on broader questions of
>"the periphery," then I'm not very hopeful. I DO express admiration for Jim
>Blaut, whose dismantling of Willoughby I posted yesterday. You have some
>similarities with Willougby, but are about 90 degrees to the right of him.
>He appears to be some kind of right-leaning Marxist, but your Eurodollar
>hosannas strike me as right-leaning liberalism, of the Tony Blair or Bill
>Clinton variety.
>
>Chris:
>...In Lenin's day and for a few decades after, division of the world really
>meant division. Cartels meant massive trade barriers which could only be
>broken down by war. Now we are very far from that. We are certainly talking
>about a world in which the different capitals will dominate according to
>their relative strength, but
>they will continue to interpenetrate in the main capitalist economies. Eg
>the extent to which Brown and Williamson is US capital while its parent,
>British Anglo-American Tobacco (BAT) is British capital might need some
>quite detailed analysis. I do not imply that transnationals are purely
>transnational. But there is very considerable interpenetration of
>capitalist interests.
>
>Louis:
>The point I was making is that collaboration between European nations on a
>common currency simply puts them on a war footing against rival blocs of
>capital. The Philippino journalist saw this quite clearly.
>
>Chris:
>I think Louis Proyect needs to demonstrate a much more sustained analysis
>of Lenin's criticism of Kautsky, of where Lenin's theory of imperialism
>remains valid, and where it needs to be altered, and above all modern data
>as to how developments with the euro are leading to war rather than peace.
>I have presented a historical survey which stands on its merits.
>
>Louis:
>Your historical survey does not "stand on its merits." It is simply
>bonkers. European imperialism is extremely warlike and adopting a common
>currency will only make it more dangerous. It fomented the war in former
>Yugoslavia. It is pushing the Russian people into such a desperate state
>that all sorts of obscurantism and threats of internecine war are on the
>increase. Anti-semitism has been promoted by the Communist Party, so this
>should show you how extreme tensions are. European imperialism supported
>war in Iraq, including the Social Democratic leader of Germany. European
>imperialism has been busily involved in adventures in Africa, both in Congo
>and Sierra Leone.
>
>If anything, European imperialism was much less dangerous and belligerent
>in the 1960s when DeGaulle was an outspoken nationalist, but who rejected
>Anglo-American imperialism's adventuristic foreign policy.
>
>The Nation Magazine is America's most prestigious left-liberal publication
>and their European correspondent does not see the Eurodollar as anything
>except an expedient measure to shore up a rightward drifting Social
Democracy.
>
>In the same issue, Lester Thurow, a staunch Clintonite, sees no particular
>new epoch engendered by the Eurodollar and strikes this cautionary note:
>
>"While America must reinvigorate fiscal policies to remain prosperous, the
>world is going to have to build a new economic locomotive for itself. That
>can only be done with close cross-country coordination of monetary and
>fiscal policies among Europe, Japan and the United States, a project they
>have thus far demonstrated no ability to undertake."
>
>Louis Proyect
>(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
>
>



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