Wal-Mart Workers of the World Unite
By Wadi'h Halabi
If a company can single-handedly spur on international labor unity, Wal-Mart's it. This and similar corporations - Target, Nike, France's Carrefour, etc. - feed off misery, inequality and competition among workers worldwide. But their anti-social behavior is also breeding global resistance. Effective resistance requires highly coordinated initiatives and leadership by workers' parties and trade unions worldwide.
Wal-Martization is one face of capitalist "globalization." Wal-Mart cannot be understood except in the context of capitalism's global problems with "overproduction" and the corresponding mass unemployment. Of particular interest is the attempted Wal-Martization of China, the work of Chinese unions to resist and the potential of developments there in ending Wal-Mart's practices.
Nature of Crisis The rise of Wal-Mart is closely related to the cycle of crisis inherent in capitalism. For an economy to avoid crisis, a broad balance must be maintained between production and the demand of both producers and consumers. Capitalism cannot prevent the inevitable small imbalances in any economy from ballooning into big ones. Crises ensue. Marx and Engels termed these "crises of overproduction."
"Overproduction" really refers to imbalances that result from more being produced than can be sold profitably, not more than can meet human needs. Hunger repeatedly accompanies food "overproduction." Since the capitalists produce only to enrich themselves, they perceive an inability to sell their commodities profitably as "overproduction." Losses ensue, along with wage-cuts, factory closings and unemployment. Since the end of World War II, the years 1973-75, 1980-82, 1989-92, 1997-98 and 2001 all marked measurable turns for the worse in world capitalism's economic imbalances.
Growth in technology and monopolization has the effect of magnifying, not correcting, imbalances under capitalism. Wal-Mart is a child of monopolization, "overproduction" and the associated unemployment and poverty. Wal-Mart in turn is breeding even greater imbalances, poverty and unemployment.
Wall Street Origins How can Wal-Mart be a child of monopoly? After all, half a century ago, Wal-Mart did not even exist. Retailing was already largely monopolized by giants such as Sears and A&P. Today, Wal-Mart dwarfs Sears, while A&P fights irrelevance. Isn't Wal-Mart a triumph of competition, a tribute to US economic vitality? No. Beneath Wal-Mart lies Wall Street - monopoly capital.
Full: http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/133/1/31/