>There is a theory that capitalism can be ameliorated through
>social democracy or the Welfare State. But this does not
>appear to be the case in practice. The modifications are
>applied only during times of crisis, and are withdrawn when
>the ruling class feels sure of its position, exactly as
>common sense tells us they would be.
I suppose the flipside of big Al's theory of accelerated cycles is that moments of crisis (of various intensity and perception) come along so thick and fast that the working class is put on effectively constant alert (rather than gradually lulled into temporary political impotence). Then we could have a situation where the social democratic aspirations of the working class can be kept to systemically tolerable levels by some give-aways on the part of capital via the ol' state. The big questions might be (a) do we still have an institutional setting in which something approximating the welfare state can be redeemed? and (b) can big capitals smoothly come to such a party in an age where competitive 'shareholder value' is all?
Waddyareckon? Rob.