15-17 September 2005
University Center, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Provisional Draft of the Program (5/1/2005)
(It will change)
PURPOSE OF THE CONFERENCE
2005 will be the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World, the most radical union in North America. To commemorate the anniversary, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is hosting the conference on radical economics. The Conference theme is the role of radical economics in the labor movement in the United States and around the world. Radical economics includes but is not restricted to anarchism, Marxism, syndicalism, radical Institutionalism, left-wing Keynesianism, and plain old-fashion radical economics.
Conference supported by the IWW and the Union for Radical Economics
Dr. Frederic S. Lee
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Dr. Jon Bekken
Albright College
INFORMATION
1. All sessions will be held at the University Center Rooms 105 – Chancellors Dining Room and Room 106.
2. Each paper is scheduled for 25-30 minutes and there will be 20-30 minutes for discussion. A overhead projector will be available.
3. The Chairperson oversees the session and is to make sure that the presenters do not over-run their allocated time.
4. Tea, coffee, and juice will be provided during the breaks.
5. Lunches will be provided for Thursday and Friday of the Conference.
6. There is a dinner on Friday, September 16, 2005 starting at 6.30 p.m.
7. There will be space available at the University Center on September 17, 2005 for the storage of luggage during the morning.
PROGRAM
September 15, 2005
9.00 – 4.00 Registration
9.30 – 9.45 Welcome to the Conference
Conference Organizers
Frederic S. Lee (University of Missouri-Kansas City and
Jon Bekken (Albright College)
Secretary-Treasurer of the Industrial Workers of the World
Alexis Buss
9.45 – 11.15 Session 1 Syndicalism Past and Present
Chairperson: Fred Lee (University of Missouri-Kansas City)
Noel Thompson (University of Wales, Swansea), "Senex, The Pioneer and the Birth of Syndicalist Political Economy"
Erik Hetzner, "The Early Structure of the IWW, Centralization, and the Debate on Syndicalism"
Jon Bekken (Albright College), "Kropotkin, Anarchist Communism, Anarchist Economics, and the Workers' Movements
of the Late 19th Century"
11.15 – 11.30 Tea/Coffee/Juice Break
11.15 – 12.30 Session 2 Organizing, Education, and Economics
Chair person: Jon Bekken (Albright College)
Peter Donohue (PBI Associates/Portland State University), "Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom: Union Organizing on Commission"
Judy Ancel (University of Missouri-Kansas City), "The Regime Change 2004 Project"
12.30 – 1.30 Lunch
1.30 – 3.00 Session 3 Radical Economics and Labor in the 20th Century
Chairperson: Fred Lee (University of Missouri-Kansas City)
Dirk Philipsen (Virginia State University), "Struggles for Economic Democracy"
Eugene Plawiuk, "The Administration of Things: 20th Century North American Economic Models for a Post Capitalist Society,
Socialist Industrialization, Syndicalism, and Technocracy"
Jack Ross, "Binary Economics and the Rediscovery of Labor's Heritage: Syndicalism, Past and Present,
and its Significance for Labor Today"
3.00 – 3.15 Tea/Coffee/Juice Break
3.15 – 5.00 Session 4 Radical Economics and the IWW in Song and Theater
Chairperson: Judy Ancel (University of Missouri-Kansas City)
September 16, 2005
9.00 – 1.00 Registration
9.00 – 10.30 Session 5 Radical Economics, Galbraith, and Industrial Relations
Chairperson: John Marangos (Colorado State University)
Jim Crutchfield, "The Purpose of Radical Economics"
Ric McIntyre (University of Rhode Island) and Michael Hillard (University of Southern Maine), "A Radical Critique and Alternative to U.S.
Industrial Relations Theory and Practice"
Spencer Pack (Connecticut College), "J. K. Galbraith's New Industrial State 40 Years Later: A Radical Perspective"
10.30 – 10.45 Tea/Coffee/Juiced Break
10.45 – 12.00 Session 6 Radical Economic Theory and Labor
Chairperson: Matt Forstarter (University of Missouri-Kansas City)
Peter Hudis (Oakton Community College), "Envisioning the Transcendence of Value Production"
David Kristjanson-Gural (Bucknell University), "Overdetermination and Class: Postmodern Contribution to Marxian Economics"
Stevphen Shukaitis (University of Leicester), " Reworking Self-Management in Post-Fordist Capitalism"
12.00 – 1.00 Lunch
1.00 – 2.45 Session 7 Radical Economics and Labor
Chairperson: Jon Bekken (Albright College)
John Marangos (Colorado State University), "Labor during Transition: A Radical Institutional Approach"
Claude Pottier (University of Paris 10), "Offshoring Production and Global Labor Arbitrage : a Major Element of the Neoliberal Regime"
Julian Ammirante (York University) and Michelle Dagnino(York University), "The Political Economy of Canadian Staples Reconsidered:
Regional Decline and Transformation of Work in Post-Industrial and Post-Fordisy Northern Ontario"
2.45 – 3.00 Tea/Coffee/Juice Break
3.00 – 4.45 Session 8 Radical Economics and Latin American Workers
Chairperson: Ric McIntyre (University of Rhode Island)
Tsuyoshi Yasuhara (Nanzan University), "The Possibility of Micro Finances in Latin America:
The Financial Intermediaries for Lower Income Households and Micro Size Enterprises"
Maria Alejandra Caporale Madi (State University of Campinas), Jose Ricardo Barbosa Goncalves (State University of Campinas),
and Dari Klein (State University of Campinas), "Financialization and Employability: The Impacts on Bank Workers' Union
Movement in Brazil (1994 – 2003)
Enrico Marcelli (University of Massachusetts Boston), "Culture, Community, and Organizing Unauthorized Mexican Immigrants in
California: Wobbly Lessons."
6.30 - Dinner
September 17, 2005
9.00 – 10.30 Session 9 Radical Economics, Labor, and Fighting over the Wage Share
Chairperson: Spencer Pack (Connecticut College)
Tony Aspromourgos (University of Sydney), "Economic Science and the Left: Thoughts on Sraffa's System and the Efficacy of
Organized Labour"
Frederic Lee (University of Missouri-Kansas City), "The Economics of the IWW: Job and Revolution"
Matt Forstater (University of Missouri-Kansas City), "Is There an Anarchist Economics?"
10.30 – 10.45 Tea/Coffee/Juice Break
10.45 – 12.00 Session 10 Roundtable Discussion: Relationship between Radical Economics and Economists
and the Labor Movement in the 21st Century
Chairperson: Jon Bekken (Albright College)
2.00 – 4.00 Tour of Labor Struggles in Kansas City
-- "Rest and relaxation rocket to my brain" [Talking Heads]