The Conversation about Economics We Need To Have

George Hewison

Political Economy Newsletter

October 2013

I did not write either the title to this piece or the paragraphs that follow in bold. It is significant as to its source because it is from the preamble to Resolution 7 at the recently-concluded AFL-CIO Convention and the opening line of that preamble is from the keynote address of President, Richard Trumka. THE ECONOMY IS NOT THE WEATHER. It does not just happen to us. The economy is all about the wealth we create every day at work. Without our labor, there is no economy. But while we do the work, we do not control the economy we create. For a generation, the wealthiest among us, organized through the corporations they control and the government they influence, have rewritten the rules of the global economy so that they take a larger and larger share of the wealth we create. And as they are busy changing the rules to benefit themselves, the 1% have told us for a generation that this fundamentally unfair economic order is the only way we can create wealth. Corporate-dominated media continues to tell this story even as it becomes clearer and clearer that the 1% has built an economy that does not work even on its own terms. Its time for a different conversation. A conversation about how the global economy really works, about how political and economic power shapes economic reality, about what has gone wrong in the global economy in the last generation, and what we can do here in America to set our country and the world on the path to shared, sustainable prosperity. Its time for a conversation about how, together, workers can build countervailing economic and political power, through creating strong, democratic, independent labor movements and by developing economic strength through collective bargaining. This is a conversation we have to have togetherin our workplaces, in our union halls, online and in our homes. Its a conversation we need to have not just with our fellow union members, but with our allies, with economists and journalists, and with elected officials. But its a conversation that cant get started unless we start it in the labor movement. In his keynote address to the Convention, President Trumka said we have to do things differently. We are thirteen million strong. We are the biggest, strongest, best-organized force for economic justice in America. But we are a small part of the 150 million Americans who work for a

living. In a frank acknowledgment reminiscent of early socialist union organizers, he went on we cannot win economic justice for union members alone. So we must ask ourselves how must we reignite our movement? Not so we can have bigger unions, but so we can together make all working peoples lives better. He went on to say We need a culture shift that will turn the labour movement back into a movement that fights for the interests of all working people. Is this a significant change from a few short years ago? You bet! Just how difficult will this cultural shift by Labour be? The delegates to the Convention had not reached home when powerful voices inside the House of Labour charged that, by embracing allies of organized labour in the fight and embarking on a new course, organized labour was turning its back on its traditional constituency. Perhaps more troubling was the withdrawal of the militant west coast ILWU from the AFL-CIO on the eve of the Convention. The longshore union, that involves itself in every solidarity fight on the planet, claims AFL-CIO affiliates, aided and abetted by the AFL-CIO leadership, have been raiding their union as it attempts to bargain with powerful port and shipping conglomerates. Clearly there is lots of work to putting flesh on the bones of a different strategic vision for organized labour. The education resolution and Trumkas speech about changing the culture of the Labour Movement is mirrored in a number of initiatives north of the 49th Parallel. The Canadian Labour Congress plan to engage in mass training of rank and file activists; the experimentation with a new type of unionism envisioned by UNIFOR, the development of a Common Front in Ontario as an initiative of the Ontario Federation of Labour and the activities of many local Labour Councils and community bodies are all examples of how organized labour is trying to position itself to meet the most serious existential challenge it has faced since becoming a mass movement of workers. Working class education, especially about economics, has never been a frill. It has always held the key to unity and success. But unfortunately, for a number of years (decades??), it has too often been relegated to the back benches behind busy schedules of bargaining, grievance procedure and the tools of union administration instead of leading and informing all of those important activities. Workers do not get the opportunity to effectively process and respond to hostile, employer-driven propaganda simply through osmosis and/or during the course of a struggle in a workplace or on the picket line as important as these actions are in terms of their education. The vacuum in the political economy education for workers has in large measure been filled by the political economy of the boss, and the results are obvious. The resolution correctly identifies the mass (corporate-dominated) media as a means to injecting intellectual poisons into our midst and Canada is no exception. Study after study show Canada has one of the most tightly controlled media in the world and, through interlocking ownership, is part of the oligopoly that effectively runs the country. One of the most celebrated intellectuals and writers of our time, Noam Chomsky, is most persuasive as to how the media shapes our opinions of ourselves and our society. Countering media poison is an important task if Labour is to succeed economically and politically. Worker education must go toe-to-toe with the powers-that-be.

It is increasingly evident that the Koch Brothers-financed and mass-produced junk theories (and others) introduce political platforms opposite to the real interests of workers and society. But that ideology rests on a much deeper set of widespread and accepted beliefs. That set of beliefs would have us believe that capitalist society is not predicated on the necessity of maximizing profit-taking; but rather profit-taking is a by-product of having the best organization of human society possible. In other words, the real purpose of how society is organized (how wealth is created and distributed) is to serve the interests of the vast majority by providing jobs and opportunities, and a high standard and quality of life as technology and productivity expand. Implicit in this thesis: profit-taking in this system we call capitalism is needed for this noble endeavour. The premises are wearing thin. Nevertheless, the ideology persists because system apologists contend that, whatever the growing flaws of the system, there is no alternative. Of late, powerful economic voices have emerged that suggest the systems problems are merely one of bad policy choices of the past three decades. That would suggest that the problem is not systemic, not rooted in the fundamental raison dtre of capitalism, i.e. the pursuit of maximum profitability. In the action part of the American labour resolution, it states that the AFL-CIO will develop a comprehensive education program-Common Sense Economics. Whenever one hears the term common sense, we should get goose bumps. Not only does it bring back memories of the Mike Harris Common Sense Revolution in Ontario, but common sense also restricts the discourse to a very low level search for alternatives, because like the Harris Revolution, we found out common sense turned out to be illusory. Weve spent far too many years chasing illusions, only once having caught and dispelled them, like rats in a maze, weve had to turn our attention to yet another set of illusions. The AFL-CIO resolution suggests using Professor Jacob Hackers Prosperity Economics to develop curriculum. Professor Hacker (British Labour Party leader, Ed Milliband, has also embraced Hacker as he tries to distance himself and his Labour Party from the Third Way train wreck of Tony Blair) has some useful observations, but reading about his predistribution theories, we can see possible dangers of fostering more half-baked illusions. What the AFL-CIO seems to be garnering from Professor Hacker, though (and rightly so), is the Professors staunch belief in new forms of union organization to provide an effective counter weight to the power of the corporations. Illusions aside about some magic economic policy bullet, there is also absolutely nothing wrong with financial re-regulation of financial institutions. In fact, it must be increasingly obvious that rather than just more regulations on the banks, public ownership and control of the banking system is the key to developing any alternative in the interests of society. Closing the wealth gap between rich and poor, as Professor Hacker insists, should be everyones priority number one. How its done is the trick. One or two gimmicks wont fix a system in crisis, and ignoring the profit motive and the staggering sums of profit currently circling the globe at the speed of light would be the most dangerous illusion. Hackers suggestions of a tax on financial institutions transactions and a one second delay in such transactions, however, are worthy of exploring in the context of controls on capital. In his work, Hacker is drawing lessons from both Keynes and the New Deal. He is deserving of more study by the working class, both in the US, Great Britain, Canada and elsewhere. I dont know whether or not he will become the household name like a John Kenneth Galbraith in labour academic circles, but we must enjoy Hackers refreshing modesty: theres very little creative thinking about what kinds of organizations could supplement labour in terms of representing

ordinary working people. I honestly dont know what the answer is, but I do know thats where the thinking has to be. Amen to that! The resolution is a good start, as is the experimentation going on within the House of Labour. A higher level of engagement by working people in their economic and political destiny will effectively fill in the blanks. There are some who chide the experimentation as turning Labours back on its traditional constituency. Bluntly, it is not an either/or proposition! In fact, it is the traditional Labour constituency, as beset by the worst attack in its history, that has the resources and capacity to rally the new work force, a creation of the latest iteration of capitalism. Trumka is right in his approach. Increasingly, both the new and the traditional work forces are in fact united by one objective realitythey are the new precarious Labour Movement. An aroused and motivated rank and file is the only force capable of standing up to the controllers of the current economic system. Here leadership of labour at all levels has the critical role to play helping shift gears from what once seemed to get us by to a new model of unionism and solidarity. A new appreciation for, and approach to, labour education will be central to that endeavour. Despite all cautionary tales, let the debate begin. Workers, given the opportunity, do have the ability to sift fact from fiction; and given a real debate, they, who are the 99%, will fully come to grips with a system in crisis, and choose unity and solidarity as it rises to remake and save our civilization.

******************************************************************************** In the meantime, I wish to congratulate those folks that have started worker study groups to examine the economic laws of capital and capitalism and see this as a priority in their busy schedule of activism. In my opinion, you are ahead of the curve and a worthy complement to all of the exciting developments within the House of Labour.

George Hewison is a former union organizer and leader, a social and political activist for more than 50 years, and most recently, an educator and discussion leader within the workers movement. As always, critical comments, positive, negative or otherwise are always welcome. He may be contacted at: georgehewison@gmail.com