THE POLITICAL-ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE SHIFT TO THE RIGHT

Author(s): Andre Gunder Frank

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Crime and Social Justice, No. 17, MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF THE 1980s (Summer
1982), pp. 4-19
Published by: Social Justice/Global Options
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 and
Thoory
THE POLITICAL-ECONOMIC
AND THE SHIFT TO THE RIGHT
INTRODUCTION
We are pleased to print the following article by Andre
Gunder Frank in Crime and Social Justice. Three sections
were chosen from the chapter entitled "The Political
Economic Response to Crisis in the West" in his book
Crisis: In the World Economy (1980a), the companion
volume to Crisis: In the Third World (1981a). The first
section addresses the general shift to the right by govern?
ments in theWest; the second, the intensificationof political
repression internationally; and the last, the nature of the
ideological challenge from theRight.
These selections are not a theory of the rise of the
Right. Frank has done this elsewhere in Crisis: In theWorld
Economy and in other works. It is the task of thispreface
both to place Frank in the history of pioneering theory and
to supplement thefollowing article with an overview of the
theoryfrom which the logic of events was derived.
In the 1980s, increased political repression and expanded
activity of the state apparatus is a certainty. The context, as
Frank shows, isglobal, particularly with theproliferation of
extra-legal paramilitary right-wingforces to complement
the dirty work the state does in secret, the burgeoning
prison populations, and an array of repressive
" legislation to
combat a supposed rise in "terrorism, enacted to assuage
legitimate and popular fear of crime. This repressive legisla?
tion,from theOmnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
of 1968 to the current ominous approach to criminal code
reform in the U.S. Senate (S.1630), must be seen as part of
* Andre Gunder Frank is a Professor of
Development Studies at the
University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and author of Crisis:
In the World Economy and many other publications in economics
and world-systems theory.
from Andre Gunder Frank, Crisis: In the
Reprinted by permission
World Economy. Published by Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.
Copyright 1980 by Andre Gunder Frank.
4 /Crime and Social Justice
R?50Qrch
CRISIS
Andre Gunder Frank*
a worldwide pattern, a pattern of global reaction manifested
both in the central powers of theworld-economy and in the
states of the periphery. The current expansion of repressive
police powers in the United States resembles developments
inEurope described by Frank below.
ABOUT THEA UTHOR
Andre Gunder Frank was born in Berlin in 1929. He
was educated in the United States, where he received a
Ph.D in economics from the University of Chicago in 1957.
In 1962, Frank went to live in Latin America and between
1963 and 1965 wrote his seminal work Capitalism and
Underdevelopment in Latin America (1967). This work
contributed to the development of an alternative perspective
for studying modern social change, one which fundamen?
tally challenges the dominant "developmentalist" perspective
in social science.
Whereas the developmentalist premise essentially posits
a globe consisting of relatively autonomous "societies,"
developing in relation to one another along roughly the
same path, although with different starting times and at
different speeds, the alternative perspective begins with the
modern world-system, which emerges in the 16th century
a as a as its unit
European-centered world-economy, of
analysis. The zones of its division of labor operate as an
omnipresent division of centers and hinterlands, or cores
and peripheries, united and reproduced throughprocesses
of capital accumulation and unequal exchange (Hopkins
and Wallerstein, 1977).
Those who along with Frank became known as "depend?
"
ency theorists had come to recognize an untenable dispar?
ity between prevailing "developmentalist" theory and
historical fact. Instead of viewing "underdevelopment" or
"economic backwardness" as a matter of starting late, they
came to see it as itself a condition produced in the course
of and as a result of the rise of capitalism. This central
theoretical theme was expressed in Frank's phrase "the
development of underdevelopment" (ibid.). In short,
capitalism was seen as underdeveloping the periphery, an
analysis which was clearly anathema to the capitalist
developmentalist thrust of John F. Kennedy's Alliance for
Progress and Peace Corps in thewake of theCuban Revolu?
tion.
Frank's
book Dependent Accumulation and Under?
development (1979) tries to shed his strictly "dependency"
heritage. Rather, it ventures an explanation of underdevel?
opment through the analysis of theproduction and exchange
relations of dependence within theworld process of capital
accumulation. Between 1968 and 1973, Frank taught and
conducted research in Chile. The above-mentioned book
and his World Accumulation 1492-1789 (1978) were the
products of a period marked by both the hubris of Salvador
Allende's electoral victory in September, 1970, and the
tragedy of the coup of 1973. I stress this period to show
that when Frank speaks of political repression and the
corporatist command state, he speaks from experience.
Prior to leaving Chile, Frank increasinglyfocused on
the nature of the current economic crisis. In fact, in 1972
he publicly expressed the opinion that the capitalist world
had entered another major crisis of capital accumulation.
This essay is now Chapter 1 of Frank's book Reflections on
theWorld Economic Crisis (1981b). Frank here argues that
as of themid-1960s, theworld-economy entered a long-cycle
contraction.
As noted earlier, capitalism as a global mode of produc?
tion tends always towards uneven development spatially
and sectorally, which we call the industrialized core and the
superexploited periphery. Capitalist development and
accumulation are also uneven.
temporally Capital
tion is a cyclical phenomenon - the business cycle is well
known to practically all observers. What has been less
accepted by government economists is the thesis that the
world capitalist economy is also governed by "long waves"
of 50 to 75 years in duration. These waves consist of two
phases: thefirst is a period of growth, of expansion econom?
ically, such as characterized the world-economy from the
end of World War II to 1966; the second is a period of no
growth, of stagnation, which today takes the form of
stagflation. These long-wave cycles ceased to be denied by
1978 when the Bank for International Settlements (the
"central bankers'" central bank), the Club of Rome, and
even the Trilateral Commission seriously began to consider
an economic downturn of the Kondratieff type (Frank,
1980a: 22).
The long-cycle downswing which ensued in 1966 is
characterized by worldwide stagnation in investment and
growth, declining and lower profits, stagflation, the intro?
duction of cost-saving measures, and the failure of major
financial and industrial concerns. As Frank (1980a: 23)
notes, "downswings have exhibited certain political/
economic transformations that have made a recuperation of
profits possible, thereby stimulating innovativemajor new
investments and then expansion of production in the next
" face of a hostile transnational power, but not a dismantling
upswing. The mechanism at work is this: the capital/labor
ratio has become too high in the boom, resulting in lower
levels of investment.The major enterprisesmove to recuper
ate the previous rate of profit through a preference for
cost-reducing rationalization and invention. Most important,
however, are the political defeats of the working class in
class struggle, exemplified by the defeat of the revolutions
of 1848 for theEuropean working classes and the defeat of
the German revolution (Spartacist uprising) of 1918, which
was followed by the general defeat of labor through the
1920s. The latter paved the way, made the political space,
for the rise of classical fascism.
ANALYTICALBASES FOR THERISE OF THE RIGHT
Marlene Dixon, another pioneer of the world-systems
perspective, has stated the premise that wherever there
exists a conjunction between great concentrations of power
in the hands of rulingminorities and times of economic and
sociocultural crisis, fascism is possible (1982b: i). Like
Frank (1981b: 7-8) and Gross (1980), she locates the root
of the "rise of the Right" in the "world crisis of capital
accumulation, in the adaptive responses of national and
transnational capital on the one hand, and the acute, radical
and potentially violent social dislocation such adaptations
provoke on the other" (Dixon, 1982b: i-ii). There is likewise
agreement that any neofascist arrangement in the capitalist
core will unfold according to a logic of its own and will
assume a form unlike that of classical German or Italian
Fascism.
The policies of national and transnational capital will
demand thepillaging of theworking classes and underclasses
of the advanced countries and the intensification of exploi?
tation for the emerging working classes of the semi
accumula? periphery (Dixon, op. cit). This makes clear the ideological
function of Huntington^ essay The Crisis of Democracy: it
is a call for the consolidation of oligarchic power and for
the imposition of national controls to assure that the
transnational corporate powers, given their nonterritorial
character, are able to keep their concentration of wealth
intact.
It is for this reason that the following selections by
Frank begin with an examination of the rise of theRight by
introducing the worldview of the Trilateral Commission in
regard to the "democratic distemper." This emerging
worldview, as Gross and Dixon have noted, insists upon a
nonterritorial
supra-governmental, managerial formula
capable of consolidating ever greater concentrations of
wealth and power. Dixon (1982b: iv) in particular has
observed that the "complexities of modern forms of
neofascism are thus complicated by the fact that it is not a
question of subduing a single nation-state,
"
but a whole
system of states within theworld-economy.
While it is clear that a policy of global reaction has
been implemented by capital, the outcome is by no means
predetermined. The experience which has been solely that
of the periphery will now come to haunt the U.S.: we will
likely experience a stripping away of democratic veils in the
of the formal democratic machinery. The Reagan adminis?
tration is the beginning of a long period of conservative rule
in which the share of the national wealth allotted to the
Summer 1982/ 5
working class and underclass will diminish with the imple?
mentation of reactionary social policies and direct rollbacks
inwage levels.
The abandonment of the New Deal (high-growth
capitalism) policy of industrialpeace, as well as thedeliber?
ate immiseration of the unemployed population, will have
profound social consequences for which the ruling powers
are prepared. First, an accentuation of sexism (Kress,
1982), of racism (Bush, 1982), and of incarceration (Platt,
1982) are certainties. The deliberate fostering of right-wing
evangelical movements by the rightwing of the ruling class
is well documented (Huntington and Kaplan, 1982). Abov'e
working classes and the imposition of restrictions on civil
rights where bourgeois democracy places restraints on the
centralization of oligarchic power and concentration of
wealth. This shift to the right in the centers of power was
initially reflected in the electoral arena, where the organized
Right took the initiative in theface of bankrupt policies of
social reform that require a high-growth economy. Frank
also spoke to the continuing development of religious and
paramilitary right-wingformations: today we see the Ku
Klux Klan, theMoonies, and theU.S. Labor Party (National
Democratic Policy Committee) on themove and functioning
as "organizational provocateurs." The current trends in

all, the sudden intensification of right-wingparamilitary criminology-preventative detention, the abolition of

organizations reflects the repressive necessities of the
bourgeoisie, which is unable, or unwilling, to directly
unleash state terror because of the necessity of affirming
the power of the Constitution to protect national stability
(Dixon, 1981b). The existence of these right-wing extra
legal forces also creates a pretext for "fighting the terrorism
of the left and the right." Frank's article underscores the
degree to which the rise of theRight is international in its
manifestations (see also Crime and Social Justice 15, "Law
and Order in the 1980s: The Rise of theRight" and Con?
temporaryMarxism 4, "World Capitalist Crisis and theRise
of theRight").
Finally, it seems appropriate to underscore several of
Frank's conclusions in the following passages. First, the
success or failure of theRight's self-proclaimed "revolution"
(which in reality is a counterrevolution) depends entirely
upon whether the working class and its allies are sufficient?
parole, criminalization of strike activity, and the increased
use of incarceration-reflect the Trilateral Commission's
call for moderation and restriction of democracy and
represent a concerted political, legal, economic, and ideo?
logical assault on the rights and standards of living of
themajority of thepopulations of theworld.
The methodological tools of analysis used by Frank are
available to all who wish to pursue this line of thought
further. While the theoretical framework is rooted inMarx's
Capital, the following selections on world-systems analysis
and neofascism should be a useful beginning point.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amin, Samir
1976 Unequal Development. Brighton: Harvester.

ly organized and equipped with leadership and political 1974 Accumulation on a World Scale. New York: Monthly
policies to deflect the attack thatwill certainly intensifyas Review Press.
the crisis is aggravated.
For while the crisis in capitalism is being used by Arrighi, Giovanni
1978 The Geometry of Imperialism. London: New Left
capital to launch a dangerous offensive against thefunda? Books.
mental rights of labor and democratic forces, the additional
danger exists that thepopular resistance to the restructuring Bahro, Rudolph
of the world-economy will, according toFrank, be derailed 1979 The Alternative. London: New Left Books.

into nationalist/regionalist,ecological, or bourgeois women's

Bush, Rod
movements, thus rendering protest ineffective at best or 1982 "Racism and the Rise of the Right." Contemporary
reactionary at worst. Yet this need not come to pass: Marxism 4 (Winter).

self-conscious intervention on behalf of the workers'

movement and its democratically inclined allies holds the Dixon, Marlene
potential for an alternative resolution to the crisis. 1982a "World Capitalist Crisis and the Rise of the Right."
Marxism 4 (Winter).
While thefollowing article is not "current" in termsof Contemporary

the factual data presented, Frank's analytical framework 1982b "Tyranny Will Come Silently, Slowly, Like Fog Creeping
in on Little Cat Feet. . . ." Contemporary Marxism 4
proves to be of enormous value in the prediction of future
(Winter).
trends. It is themethod of analysis that should be learned
from, for the exposition of empirical data follows from the Imposed by the Capitalist
1981a "Limitations World-System."
Our Socialism 2, 2 (May).
tedious gathering of newspaper clippings which validate the
analysis. Frank (along with Ernest Mandel and Giovanni 1981b "On the Situation in the USA Today." Our Socialism

Arrighi and others) realized early on that what the world

2, 8 (October).

famous Keynesian advisers took to be short-termrecessions, 1981c "The Transition to Socialism as a World Process." Our

momentary bad dreams in the eternal fantasy of an un? 2, 2 (May).

Socialism

broken chain of capitalist prosperity, were indeed the 198Id "Abstract: The Degradation of Waged Labor and Class
accumu?
early signs of a long-termcapitalist crisis of capital
Formation on an International Scale." Our Socialism

lation. As such, the policies initiated during the Carter 2, 2 (May).

administration and intensified in theReagan era reflect the 1980 "The Challenge of Transnational Capitalism." Our

logic of the necessities of capital: the world defeat of the

Socialism 1, 1 (Fall).

6 /Crime and Social Justice

Dixon, Marlene, Elizabeth Martinez, and Ed McCaughan Shank, Gregory
1982 "Chicanos and Mexicanos: A Transnational 1982 "Commentary on Friendly Fascism." Contemporary
Working
Class, Part I." Our Socialism 3, 6 (March). Marxism 4 (Winter).

Sweezy, Paul
Emmanuel, Arghiri 1981 "Economic Crisis in the United States." Monthly
1972 Unequal Exchange. New York: Monthly Review Press. Review 33 (December).

Trilateral Commission
Frank, Andre Gunder on the Governability
1975 The Crisis of Democracy: Report
1982 "After Reaganomics and Thatcherism, What? From
of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission. New
Keynesian Demand Management via Supply-Side Eco?
York: New York University Press.
nomics to Corporate State Planning and 1984." Con?
temporary Marxism 4 (Winter).
Wallerstein, Immanuel
1981a Crisis: In the Third World. New York: Holmes & Meier 1982 "The USA in Today's World." Contemporary Marxism
Publishers, Inc. 4 (Winter).

1981b Reflections on the World Economic Crisis. New York: 1980 "The Future of the World Economy." In Terence K.
Monthly Review Press. Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein (eds.), Processes
of theWorld-System. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
1980a Crisis: In the World Economy. New York: Holmes &
Meier Publishers, Inc. 1979 The Capitalist World Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
1980b "World System in Crisis." Contemporary Marxism
2 (Winter). 1976 "A World-System Perspective on the Social Sciences."
British Journal of Sociology 27 (September).
1979 Dependent Accumulation and Underdevelopment. New
York: Monthly Review Press. 1974a The Modern World System. New York: Academic Press.

1977 "Long Live Transideological Enterprise! The Socialist 1974b "The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist
Economies in the Capitalist International Division of System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis." Compara?
Labor." Review 1, 1 (Summer). tive Studies in Society and History 6, 4 (September).

1967 Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America.

New York: Monthly Review Press.
Gregory Shank

Fr?bel, Folker, J?rgen Heinrichs and Otto Kreye

1980 The New International Division of Labor. Cambridge
Cambridge University Press. The status quo is highly unstable and capital and its
states are preparing for the eventuality that in a deepening
Gross, Bertram crisis they will have to demand still greater economic
1980 Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America. sacrifices from labor. Itmay well become politically problem?
New York: M. Evans and Company.
atic to obtain these sacrifices through "social contract"
Hopkins, Terence K. and labor's "self-discipline." In that case, capital will again
1977 "Notes on Class Analysis and World-System." Review 1,1. have recourse to greater force and other powers of persua?

sion, and it is already preparing to use these.

Hopkins, Terence K. and Immanuel Wallerstein
1977 "Patterns of Development of the Modern System."
Capital's concern and preparation was publicly mani?
Review 1,1 (Fall).
fested through the publication of the revealing book,
The Crisis of Democracy, Report on the Governability of
Huntington, Deborah and Ruth Kaplan Democracies to the Trilateral Commission (1975). This
1982 "Whose Gold Is Behind the Altar? Ties to
Corporate commission subsequently attracted considerable notoriety
Evangelicals." Contemporary Marxism 4 (Winter).
after some of its members were elected or appointed

Jonas, Susanne and Marlene Dixon

president, vice-president, secretary of state and to other
1980 "Proletarianization and Class Alliances in the Americas." high offices in the United States and certain other govern?
In Terence K. Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein (eds.),
ments. The director of the Trilateral Commission, who
Processes of the World System. Beverly Hills: Sage wrote the "Introductory Note" to that report,wasZbigniew
Publications.
Brzezinski, who later became President Carter's national
Kress, June security adviser. The obvious pedigree of the Trilateral
1982 "Austerity and the Right-Wing Attack on Women." Commission lends The Crisis of Democracy the aura of
Contemporary Marxism 4 (Winter). political policy at the highest level. Some excerpts speak for
themselves:
Platt, Tony
1982 "Managing the Crisis: Austerity and the Penal System." From Chapter I, Introduction I.
Contemporary Marxism 4 (Winter). The Current Pessimism About Democracy. . .
What are in doubt today are not just the eco?
Sau, Ranjit
1978 nomic and military policies but also the political
Unequal Exchange, Imperialism and Underdevelopment.
An Essay on the Political Economy of World Capitalism. institutions inherited from the past. Is political
Bombay: Oxford University Press. democracy, as it exists today, a viable form of

Summer 19821 7
 government for the industrialized countries of exists in these countries and even in Sweden.. . .

Europe, North America, and Asia? In recent years, In Denmark, the Netherlands, and Britain, the
acute observers on all three continents have seen a social democratic consensus is breaking down.. . .

bleak future for democratic government.

. . .This The late sixtieshave been amajor turningpoint. . . .
pessimism about the future of democracy has From VI. Conclusions:
coincided with a parallel pessimism about the Toward a Democratic Balance
future of economic conditions. Economists have
Predictively, the implication of this analysis is
rediscovered the fifty-year Kondratieff cycle, that in due course the democratic surge and its
according to which 1971 (like 1921) should have resulting dual distemper in government will
marked the beginning of a sustained economic moderate. Prescriptively, the implication is that
downturn fromwhich the industrialized capitalist these to take place.. . .
developments ought
world would not emerge until close to the end of Al Smith once remarked that "the only cure for
. . .
the century. the evils of democracy ismore democracy." Our
The current pessimism seems to stem from the
analysis suggests that applying that cure at the
conjunction of three types of challenges to demo? present time could well be adding fuel to the
cratic government. First, contextual challenges flames. some of the problems of govern?
Instead,
arise autonomously from the external environments ance in the United States today stem from an
in which democracies . . . Worldwide . . . a
operate. excess of democracy. Needed, instead, is
or inflation . . . serious . . .
depression may present of moderation in democracy.
greater degree
to . . .
problems the functioning of democracy. In practice, thismoderation has twomajor areas
Changes in the international distribution of of application. First, democracy is only one way
economic, political, and military power and the of constituting authority, and it is not necessarily
relations both among Trilateral societies and a universally one. . . .The areas where
applicable
between them and the Second and Third Worlds democratic are are, in
procedures appropriate
now confront the democratic societies with a set
short, limited. Second, the effective operation of a
of interrelated contextual . . .
challenges. democratic political system usually requires some
They arise, however, at a timewhen democratic measure of apathy and noninvolvement on the
governments are also confronted with other ... In itself,
part of some individuals and groups.
serious problems stemming from the social evolu? this marginality on the part of some groups is
tion and political dynamics of their own societies. inherently undemocratic, but it has also been one
... At the present time, a significant challenge of the factors which has enabled democracy to
comes from the intellectuals and related . . . . . . never
groups. function effectively. "Democracy lasts
This development constitutes a challenge to long," John Adams observed. "It soon wastes,
democratic government which is, potentially at exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a

least, as serious as those posed in the past by the democracy yet that did not commit suicide." That
aristocratic cliques, fascist movements, and com? suicide is more likely to be the product of over?
... a
munist parties. In addition parallel and
indulgence than of any other cause (Trilateral
possibly related trend affecting the viability Commission, 1975).
of democracy concerns broader changes in social
. . .The
This "suicide" of democracy is even more likely with a
values. new values may not survive reces?
little help from its "friends" who have discovered the
sion and resource shortages. But if they do,
to democracy from a sustained economic down?
challenges
they pose an additional new problem for democrat? turn and?as Brzezinski emphasizes in his "Introductory
ic government in terms of its ability tomobilize its
Note"?are concerned that "their discussion of 'The Crisis
citizens for the achievement of social and political . . .
of Democracy' is designed to make democracy stronger
goals and to impose discipline and sacrifice upon and more democratic."
its citizens in order to achieve those goals.
There is widespread and increasing evidence that the
Finally, and perhaps most seriously, there are Trilateral Commission is not merely whistling in the dark.
the intrinsicchallenges to the viability of democrat?
However, we can convey here only the very smallest?and
ic government. ... In recent the operations
years,
perhaps most superficial?part of this evidence; our sources
of the democratic process do indeed appear to
includemostly press reports.
have generated a breakdown of traditional means
of social control, a delegitimation of political and Poll Finds Conservative Mood
other forms of authority, and an overload of No Move to theRight inU.S.
demands on government, exceeding its capacity to What many perceive as a
groundswell of conser?

respond.
. . . vatism in the United States?a new right, as
... a very sizeable part of it has been called?may instead be only an expres?
[In] France and Italy
the electorate will always vote for extremist sion of extreme dissatisfaction with the federal
... A drift toward a Washington Post . . .
parties. general alienation, government, poll suggests.

irresponsibility, and breakdown of consensus also The Post's findings cast doubt on the assertion by

8 /Crime and Social Justice

 rightistgroups that the time is ripe for conservative
candidates to unseat liberal
bents in this year's House
(IHT, March 14, 1978).
The liberalWashington newspaper certainly sees the smoke,
but perhaps it is trying to use its poll to deny that there is
any fire.Even so, liberal andmoderate candidates performed
very poorly in the 1978 primaries and elections.
"
[A] conservative tide currently floods theUS Congress.
. . .There is plenty of evidence of a tide running against
the Liberals. Most of the 17 incumbent congressmen
who were beaten went down to strongly conservative
... all went down to
challengers and in the Senate liberals
conservatives" {New Statesman, November 17, 1978).
"But [some] Democrats proved sufficiently adept at
assuming classically Republican positions to minimise their
losses. . . .The mood
country's
especially on fiscal matters, but also to a lesser extent on
social issues" (FT, November 9, 1978). In the judiciary
branch as well, therehave been:
shifting patterns in [the] High Court.
. . .The
clearest move the Court made in its 1975-76 term
was to give the police and courts more leeway in
handling criminal suspects and
Court made it easier for police to search citizens
without a warrant. Made it harder for a defendant
to plead entrapment, easier for officials to seize a
citizen's personal records. Made itmore difficult
for inmates to challenge disciplinary action (USN,
July 19, 1978).
The Burger Court Shows [a] Clear Trend with
Landmark Rulings. . . .The death penalty [was]
upheld.... . . [The Supreme Court has been]
restricting the rights of criminal defendants,
reinforcing states rights; refusing to expand, and
sometimes limiting, privacy rights; and curtailing
access
to the federal courts.
almost in favor of the prosecution.
always
liberties lawyers ... are shocked and angry (IHT,
"Carter Seeks Eased Curbs on CIA Missions" (IHT
or moderate incum? May 2, 1979). Members of Congress and the press have
and Senate elections been saying that the CIA's wings have been clipped too
much (witness its supposed paralysis inAngola and Iran).
Domestically, "Vast Police Surveillance Alleged inU.S. For
. . a vast . . .' a
Political Purposes. [it] continues 'on scale
3Vi year study by theAmerican Friends Service Committee
maintains" (IHT, April 18, 1979).
In Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau in late 1977 swore
that it could never happen here.
"I do not think people suspect the RCMP
[Royal Canadian Mounted Police] of conducting
themselves as the FBI does." But they certainly
should: Buggings, break-ins, mail tampering, an
enemies list and other illegal activities of Canada's
security forces are coming to lighthere daily in a
was conservative,
clearly flood of revelations confronting Prime Minister
Trudeau. The disclosures also include illicit use of
medical and income tax arson and a
records,
variety of "dirty tricks," all contributing to the
spectacle of a Canadian version ofWatergate (IHT,
November 23, 1977).
defendants. . . .The
Outside theUnited States government, in the society at
large, "Political 'Decay' in U.S. Worries Scholars" (IHT,
September 7, 1976). The following headlines reflect various
aspects of this "decay": "The trend of the last two decades
shows a precipitous decline in voting in large industrial
states" (IHT, November 5, 1976). "Rightists inU.S. West
Reviving Posses to Enforce Their Laws" (IHT, September
29, 1976). "Big Arms Cache of Rightists Unit Found in
Calif." (IHT, December 13, 1976). "Major U.S. Klan
Faction isArmed and Openly Defiant" (IHT, March 17-18,
1979). On November 3, 1979, Ku Klux Klan members
openly fired on an anti-Klan demonstration and killed five
people on the street inGreensboro, North Carolina, in front
. . .The of the television cameras which relayed the event around
ruling was
. . .Civil the world. The popular rampage that cost an estimated $1
billion in one night (since revised down to $350 million)

July 12, 1976). during New York City's second blackout made some people
reflect upon the same "alienation, irresponsibility and
Since then, in its spring 1978 session, theUnited States breakdown of consensus" that worries the Trilateral Com?
Supreme Court ruled in the Stanford University Daily case mission. This is "N.Y.C.'s Message for Carter," as conveyed
that thepolice may search the premises and seize testimony, by theNew York Times:
even of citizens against whom there is no suspicion of
criminal action or intent. (The police might thus find useful [Mr. Carter does not] need yet another commis?
sion to discover that half the black and Hispanic
information as they did at the StanfordDaily.)
The abuses of civil liberties by the executive branch of youths in his major cities are out of work and out
of hope and out of mainstream America. . . .
the United States government have received substantial
publicity through the Watergate scandal and revelations The need in our cities is for both defense of the
about the actions of theCIA and FBI as well as the repeated
society and insurance against the unemployment
perjury of their responsible officials, who deny these underclass. That is not a noble way of defining our
actions. these and even increase:
continuing Still, continue,
most urgent human problem, but . . . (IHT, July
"President Carter personally approved secret television
a U.S. . .The
21, 1977).
surveillance of citizen recently.. legal basis
for such surveillance is unclear. . ..
Attorney General What is the solution? If the "measures of apathy and
Griffin Bell also approved thewiretapping" (IHT, February noninvolvement of some individuals and groups" hamper
13, 1978). "the effective operation of a democratic political system,"

Summer 1982/ 9
as the Trilateral Commission fears, then the solution is refused to sign.The IrishGovernment claims ithas
"a greater degree of moderation in democracy" instead. constitutional difficulties about extraditing for
'political' offenses (FT, December 5, 1979).
POLITICALREPRESSIONON THE INCREASE
France, which originally held up the signature of this
In Europe, similar tendencies are "Holland's
convention, did indeed extradite the German lawyerKlaus
emerging.
Croissant without much ado and in the most scandalous
Chief of Government fearsRightward Trend inEurope. . . .
fashion. On the other hand, right before a demonstration
Prime Minister Joop den Uyl [says] the 'present tendency
"
in all of Europe [is] to restoration toward the right' (FR, by French and foreign opponents of atomic energy at a
French nuclear power plant, theWest German police sent
September 21, 1976).
photographs ofWest German opponents of nuclear energy
In various political circles and in part of public ahead to the French police. And theywere used. Further,
opinion, the idea is abroad that a general process "the West German Interior Ministry said that its close
of a "political right turn" is going throughEurope. relationship with the Dutch police brought about the arrest
... I believe this is due to three economic reasons. last of two German terrorist . . . and that
year suspects
In the first place, and possibly most important.
. . teamwork displayed by French and Swiss authorities led to
[another] capture at a Swiss border post" (IHT, May 9,
a reaction the levels of tax pressure. . . .
[is] against
Another economic factor that seems to be rejected 1978).
by the ordinary European is the growing economic InWest Germany, "the danger for internal security of
intervention by the state. . . .Additionally, I the Federal Republic still comes from the 'left-extremists'
believe, there is a third socio-economic phenome? according to the Verfassungsschutz [the political police]"
non that the European citizen rejects: the express ?not from the who have received
"right-extremists"
power and lack of control of the labor unions increasing publicity (FR, June 28, 1978). Accordingly,
(EPA, November 29, 1979). political repression against the left has been increased by
the Social Democratic government to an extent in recent
The facts that the writer adduces to support his thesis are
that the labor and social-democratic parties have been voted years impossible to summarize here. The West German
out of office in England and Sweden, where taxes were weekly pictorial magazine Stern (July 6-12, 1978; circulation
1,876,444) published an expose of the "?berwachungstaat"
highest, but have been retained in office inGermany and
Austria, where the three factors he cites are at least in (surveillance state) with photographs of police officers
evidence. On the other hand, particularly at German identifyingand filming individuals at demonstrations:
initiative, there is taking place: "A European Convention These pictures are not out of a Nazi film.These
Against Terrorism. The end of the political offense?" pictures are German reality: West Berlin, 1 May
officers observe demonstra?
Inspired essentially by Federal Germany, itwas 1978?police peaceful

to be signed on 22 September at Strasbourg by the tors. Freedom 1978?that means, no citizen is safe
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. anymore from being shadowed by the police and
. .. This text climaxes the repressive legislation put the Verfassungsschutz [politicalpolice]. No citizen
in force in the past few years by thewhole of the can escape the computers of the guardians of the
western countries. ... If it is it would
state. Millions are already registered. Freedom
ratified,
establish a sort of federalism of delinquency, '78?mobilization against the citizen, prohibition
to exercise one's profession and destruction of the
especially political. Its purpose: to facilitate
extradition. . . .The convention turns its back?to
democratic state of law. It means more police,
better and to kill. ... A demon?
begin with?on the liberal tradition on the Europe?
weapons shooting
an level?and consequently on the national level? strator whose neck and head are held by the
of a fundamental distinction of penal law: political police. Plainclothes policemen photograph him
with a police camera for the archives. .. .
Wherever
offenses and offenses of common law. . .. With

this text, therefore, there is no more political
. . .This
offense. convention
fashion one of the principles of the rights of man
which has long been accepted by positive law: the
Germans demonstrate ? the guardians of the state
in
are there. No matter whether it is about nuclear
denies brutal
power plants, unemployment or slumhousing;
whoever makes use of his basic rights is already

right to [political] asylum.

. . .Federal Germany is suspicious for the police.
demanding an almost general and automatic Nuclear power is a matter of very serious economic
procedure of extradition. Who wants to help her concern at home and abroad for bigWest German business
fillher prisons? (LM, November 12, 1976). and the state: "A planned, very importantGerman industri?
European justice Ministers, meeting in Dublin, al restructuringfor the 1980s and 1990s relies heavily on an
have signed a new convention on terrorismdesigned advanced nuclear industry and its exports" (IHT, June 29,
to get around the reservations of some countries? 1978). However, the West German nuclear business not
including Ireland?about extradition. It replaces only calls forth President Carter's staunch opposition to
an original convention which Ireland and Malta West German sales of nuclear reactors to Brazil; it also

10 /Crime and Social Justice

draws environmentalist opposition from urban and rural
residents of various political shades at home. Therefore,
during demonstrations against nuclear power plants inWest
Germany, the government closed off superhighways for a
full day, searched 50,000 cars and confiscated jacks and tire
irons as "potential weapons," turned people back at the
borders, stopped and searched trains in the countryside
after swooping down on them with helicopters, and beat
hundreds of people black and blue. Police raids and "acci?
dental" shootings of innocent people by the police are
common occurrences. The government denies that it is
holding any political prisoners, and calls them "common
criminals" instead. Nonetheless, political prisoners receive
uncommon treatment?they are systematically kept in
solitary confinement for many months and in specially
sound- and sight-treated, all-white cells, designed to elimi?
nate stimulation of the senses. This police action is,however,
only the administrative praxis of a series of politically
repressive laws and a political climate deliberately created
by themost responsible representatives of theWest German
"state of law."
Parties, Helmut Kohl and Franz-Joseph Strauss?made
public Statements very similar to the following assertion by
CSU member of Parliament, Carl-Dieter Spranger:
Terrorism has only been able to develop as
dangerously as it has because numerous left
intellectual publicists, politicians, theologians,
professors minimized the danger and called it
harmless ... thereby extending the dangerous
circle of sympathizers (FR, October 5, 1977).
Among the guilty "left intellectuals" Spranger named
were Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Boll, writer Gunter
Grass, and "politician" Willy Brandt, who was chancellor
when the "Radikalenerlass" was passed, and who is still
chairman of the governing Social Democratic party. The
witchhunt, however, has hardly been limited to attacks
against "left intellectuals." In 1978, the West German
Parliament, with only four left-wing Social Democrats

The Bertrand Russell Tribunal?which previously

examined American aggression againstVietnam and military
terror and torture in Chile and other countries of South
America?limited itself at its third session, in 1978, to
examining the "Berufsverbot" Under this decree commu?
nists, and even left Social Democrats and conscientious
objectors, have been denied public employment, particularly
as teachers, after the Social Democratic government passed
a "Radikalenerlass" law. Though the number of people who
have been denied employment specifically under this decree
is about four thousand, the number so affected through
various subterfuges is many times greater, and those who
have been investigated by the Verfassungsschutz number
about two million (Stern, July 6-12, 1978). Those who
have been intimidated by this witchhunt?evidence of
which goes right through the society to high school students
?are virtually countless.
Furthermore, itwas recently revealed that the border
police maintained a list of 239 organizations and another
of 187 publications ranging literally fromA to Z (Aktion
Dritte Welt/Third World to Zivilcourage, also including the
foldout of theWest German edition ofMad magazine). The
police regard these as "extreme left," and have been control?
ling and registeringcarriers of such publications on compu?
ters at airports and other border crossing points (FR, May
30, 1978). Moreover, the Frankfurter Rundschau (FR,
March 30, 1978) expresses the following concern: "To
read can sometimes turn out to be expensive. How often
does the Verfassungsschutz control public libraries and
book stores?" For, as it turns out, the political police fills
its computers with information on who reads and/or buys
what in libraries and bookshops. The Trilateral Commission
(1975: 30-31) is very concerned about the "tremendous
increase in the number of intellectuals, would-be intellec?
tuals, and para-intellectuals." Evidently, it is not alone in its
concern. In October, 1977, several leading West German
political figures?including the heads of the conservative
Christian Democratic (CDU) and Christian Social (CSU)

Summer 1982/11
 refusing to vote in favor, passed a new series of "anti-terror would be required to restore the situation rapidly."
laws," one of which expressly permits the issuance of a It is against this background that the self-styled
single search warrant for one apartment to be used to action groups should be assessed. .. .Those at
search every apartment in the same apartment block/housing the private enterprise end of the political spectrum
project as well. That would have been useful atWatergate! are beginning to organize themselves to fight
In themeantime, in neighboring Switzerland laws and battles which no political party seems disposed
ordinances are said to allow still wider repression than in to fight for them. Large industrial concerns are
West Germany. Further, a certain Ernst Cincera has taken beginning to talk in termsof a coordinated defence
it on himself to organize the "fight against subversion" against industrial action or wholesale nationaliza?
through the maintenance of a privately financed file and tion. The voice of Aims of Industry is becoming
microfilm system of "subversives," some of whose names more insistent and more extreme (LT, August 5,
and activities he publishes in a regular bulletin, "What, 1974).
Who, How, When, Where" (NZZ, November 24, 1976).
Some people, including the British fascist leader of
The above-cited West German attack against the
the 1930s, Oswald Mosley, and the American rightist,
principle of political asylum in Europe, by denying the William Buckley, were expecting a military takeover in
political character of political offenses, together with the
similar West German initiative at the United Nations for 1974, a time which witnessed increasing strikes in Britain;
such a takeover has not occurred. It is not likely now, but
the worldwide combat against "terrorism," are only the
the threat remains and could arise again in the future. In
most visible signs that the increase of political repression in
the meantime, many "large industrial concerns" are increas?
West Germany is not limited to that country alone, but is
calculated to extend far beyond its borders. There is other ing their finance of "coordinated defence." (A major
bank thought it opportune publicly to deny having contrib?
evidence that West Germany?with the agreement of
uted to the fund.) At the same time, the League for the
right-wing supporters and even governing forces in certain
Defence of Freedom is becoming more insistent and more
countries?is being built up to become the "political
extreme?to the right. So is the outright fascist National
gendarme of Europe" to match its increasing economic Front. Meanwhile, inBritish-administered Northern Ireland,
dominance. The head of the Social Democratic Party,Willy
Brandt, intervened in Portuguese and Spanish politics with draconian powers against the IRA?unprecedented
West German funds; the Social Democratic Chancellor in peacetime?were announced. . . .The
legislation
Helmut Schmidt lentmoney to shore up Italy's balance of will also allow a policeman to arrest without a
payments in reaction to the increasing gravitation to the warrant. . . and
detaining suspects for up to a
ItalianCommunist Party. In Europe, West German economic week. . . .This
particular act, taken together with
power and West German political repressions aremeant to, its subsequent amendments, has already been
and do, go hand in hand. If theWest German bourgeoisie described by many international jurists as being
keeps its own house in order, the ruling class and its state more draconian than similar legislative provision
can intervene elsewhere in Europe more effectively if and in any non-Communist country in the world
when the "need" should arise. other than South Africa (FT, November 26,
Thepolitical right and "democratic" governments 1974).
elsewhere, however, are not simply waiting for eventual
West German help in combatting their "subversion" and Since then, there have been revelations and denunciations
"terrorism" at home. The article in the London Times, of systematic torture of detainees. The British Army has
cited above ?"Armoured Cars at Heathrow: A rehearsal for certainly gathered considerable experience in handling
a coup?"?went
on to give serious consideration to the civilian protest inNorthern Ireland (as theAmericans did in
following in the English "mother of democracies": Vietnam). The British armed forces could and would just as
well apply such expertise in Britain itself if the occasion
It would be wise to recognize that more and arose. to Mr. Jonathan an executive
According Rosenhead,
more people in this country, many of themmen of the British Society for Social Responsibility, "there
and women of impeccably liberal instincts, are is a rather disturbing parallel between what has been
beginning to contemplate seriously, and not happening inNorthern Ireland and what is now happening
without some satisfaction, the possibility of a in England" (GUA, April 27, 1979). This consideration
of authoritarian rule in Britain. . . .
period should also be assessed against the background of the
[An] officer was writing in a book to which self-styled action groups elsewhere in the British Isles.
the present Chief of Defense contributed a fore? Under the Labour government, "Scientists' warning after
word: "If a genuine and serious grievance arose, Southall rioting: Police 'may use gas and plastic bullets . . .'
such as might result from a significant drop and SPG [Special Patrol Group] officerswere being used as
"
in the standard of living, all those who now 'shock troops to spearhead this new aggressive policy'
dissipate their protests over a wide variety of (GUA, April 27, 1979). The new Conservative government,
causes might concentrate their effortsand produce of course, ran and won on an election promise significantly
a situation which was beyond the power of the to increase expenditures and other support to the police
police to handle. Should this happen, the Army and army.

121Crime and Social Justice

 The French army was said to have been extremely
interested in the lessons it could derive from themilitary
coup in Chile, and no doubt it has been assimilating the
experience of the British Army in Northern Ireland. The
French police used one thousand men in the operation to
surround and capture one unarmed man, the West
lawyer Klaus Croissant, whom they delivered to the Ger?
mans that same night before any court might pronounce a
staying order. Similarly, President Giscard d'Estaing refused
to stop the reinstitution of capital punishment by the
guillotine.
In Italy, authorized denunciations have revealed
part of a plot at the highest level of the army and certain
political circles to stage a military coup d'etat in 1970 ?that
is, after the "long hot summer of 1969." More recently,
such a step seems a less likely response. Nonetheless, in
1977, "Italy Suspend [ed] Habeas Corpus For Terrorists"
(IHT, May 2, 1977), an act indicating a rightward trend
similar to that in the rest of theWest.
Italy Uses Crackdown Law, Closes 4 Neo-Fascist
Offices. . . .The decree used for the first time
against the neo-Fascists today permits the police
to close down the headquarters of political groups
when they are suspected of harboring arms even if
there is not conclusive evidence. The decree also
enables police to make preventative arrests and to
keep suspects for 48 hours. It is the firstof several
measures intended to give police more power
against political groups regarded as subversive.
Both theCommunists and the Christian Democrats
wanted the new law-and-order measures.
Communists this represented the reversal of a
long-held policy (IHT, October 4, 1977).
The Italian governmenthas introduced a package
of emergency anti-terrorist measures . . .
include life sentences for terrorists and wider
powers for police forces. Police will now be able
to detain and interrogate suspects without charges
for 48 hours, ... to intercept telephone calls and
search suspect buildings.
.. .These measures.
have been broadly welcomed by themain political
parties (FT, December 17, 1979).
Indeed, "all parties accepted yesterday that these extraor?
dinary but not exceptional laws are necessary," and they
also include "more severe norms regarding the definition of
subversive associations" (EPA, December 14, 1979).
This Communist Party "reversal" and all party agree?
ment had been very emphatic. The Communist Party of
Italy [CPI] has appointed itself themost zealous defender
of "law-and-order," and made the strongest
calls for police repression during the kidnapping of Aldo
Moro. Moreover, [CPI Secretary General] "Berlinguer
equates the new leftwith the fascists" (FR, September 20,
1977), such that the new "crackdown laws" are to be
equally used against them. The question remains as to how
far "the new left" extends.
In Portugal, after the "roses in gun barrels" liberation
from forty years of fascism on April 25, 1975, "now the
mood of the country appears to be one of frustration and
complaint and most conversations with leftists, rightistsor
those in between seem to end with the view that the only
solution may be another dictatorship" (IHT, November 5,
German 1976). Since then the political center of gravityhas certainly
continued to move furtherand further to the rightwith the
increasing deterioration of the economic situation. The
failure of the austerity programs obliged Prime Minister
Soares to resign, but the economic situation continued to
deteriorate further.As a result, the rightwas voted back
into the government in December, 1979. On the opposite
side of the globe, Chief of the Japanese "Self-Defense
Force" Sakata observed: "Fascism or a trend towards
fascism is rising in our country" (FER, November 14,
1975). Although fascism has certainly not arrived in Japan,
the political trend has continued to move increasingly to
the right.Harder economic times have resulted in "a subtle
shift to the right in national politics" and toward "fiscal
moderates" at the local level (IHT, May 8, 1979). In the
1979 municipal and prefectual (provincial) elections, the
Socialists and Communists lost all fifteen prefectual gover?
norships as well as Osaka and, for the first time in twelve
years, Tokyo to the nationally governing (conservative)
Liberal Democratic party, which has been cutting social
services. In themeantime, "Japanese Fleet sails on tide of
risingmilitarism" (GUA, October 11, 1978); and "Japan
Enshrines 14 Top War Criminals" as "Right make[s]
Hirohito's dynasty safe" with the wholehearted support of
the prime minister and his Liberal Party (IHT, April 24,
1979 and GUA, April 28, 1979). In New Zealand and
For the
Australia also, the political trend has been sharply to the
right and against labor: "How Australia Plans to curb the
power of the unions. Federal and State governments
introduce anti-strike legislation" (FT, October 31, 1970).
[which]
THE CRISIS AND THE IDEOLOGICALCHALLENGE
In view of the growing economic crisis and the various
actions and reactions in the social sphere, on the political
. . level, and not least on the ideological front, a number of
people have begun to invoke George Orwell's authoritarian
"Big Brother iswatching" society inhis famous anti-utopia
1984 as a realistic prospect for just about that time (Amin
et al., 1975; Amin, Frank, and Jaffe, 1975; Frank, 1977).
Ernest Mandel (1975b) thinks that this "oft-cited 1984 fear
complex in half-left, pseudo-left or moderate circles who
want to escape from their own responsibilities" should not
be exaggerated. Perhaps. However, there are also
increasing
references to 1984 in other circles: "Text of theDraft of a
Federal [German Personal] Registration Law of 6 December
and loudest 1977. A Law inAnticipation of 1984?" (FR, January 12,
1978). "Computer Banks [inUSA]. Big Brother iswatching"
(FT, October 22, 1974). These and many similar fears
are expressed in the press and elsewhere on themoderate
right.Moreover, we can safely conclude that there is some
fire behind all this smoke, particularly on the ideological
front.
According to the "first global poll of public opinion,"
Summer 1982/ 13
 taken in the capitalist countries by Gallup International in As the survey shows, many believe thatwe are
1975/1976, in the United States 33 percent, inWestern in the midst of an ideological transition.When a
Europe 39 percent, and in the Far East 30 percent of the traditional ideology loses acceptance, the com?
people thought that "living conditions for people like munity loses direction. Its institutions are no
yourself in this country are better. . . than theywere five longer legitimate. ... A society that ignores
years ago" (USN, January 24, 1977). The remainder,well ideological change may promote the anarchy
over half, thought that theywere the same or worse. In the that inevitably leads to totalitarian temptations;
United States 49 percent said "worse." Since then, although a history is replete with examples. . . . Ideology II
minority may still find that "life is improving," hardly ... is becoming the legitimizer for our great
anybody anymore considers full employment a realistic and essentially communitarian institutions?Exxon,
prospect for the foreseeable future. In mid-1976, 66 ITT, First National City Bank of New York, the
percent of Americans no longer felt that full employment U.S. government, Harvard University, and the like
in the United States was a realistic goal. Interestingly (HBR, November-December, 1975: 15).
enough, in the same poll 69 percent blamed the government, it seems that the alternative to "individualism" is
65 percent blamed the labor unions, and only 38 percent Thus,
less "communitarian" than corporativist.
thought that business should take some responsibility for The extent of the social, ideological, and political
inflation (USN, September 13, 1976). In his major nation?
wide television speech of July 15, 1979, President Carter problem and the urgency of corresponding countermeasures
manifest themselves visibly as the tip of the iceberg. There
observed thatmost Americans think the next five years will
has been Watergate in the United States and Lockheed
be worse than the last five (which were already worse than
and other scandals in Japan, Italy, and elsewhere, all of
those before). The president then went on to analyze the
which have forced the resignation of heads of government
"crisis of conscience," for which, however, he offered no
or of state. Their successors, like Jimmy Carter and his
remedy. Certainly, the dream of "ever bigger and better" "I'll never tell a lie" campaign and thenhis "human rights"
through the "American way of life" has vanished formost
campaign, have correctly sensed their principal immediate
people in the industrial countries, and has turned into a
political task to be the short-termrestoration of ideological
nightmare formany of them. As early as December, 1973,
Time magazine announced that thishad been the "last year legitimacy. Though they have had a measure of short-term
success during the 1976-77 economic recovery, none of
of the past"?that is, of the postwar era; and it pictured
them can be sure of its permanence, particularly if another
Western Europe as going downhill from then on. Perhaps
Time's editors and writers were not aware at the time just recession?and/or the one after that?is very deep. There
are other, less visible, but all themore real,manifestations.
how real, steep, and prolonged this descent would be; but a
largemajority of theWest's population has by now probably Mental Health in the U.S.: President's Study
become aware of it, and this awareness grows with each Panel Finds Emotional StressMore Widespread
recession. This situation poses a most serious Than Was Previously Believed
succeeding
problem for capital and the state on the ideological front, . . . and that one-quarter of the population suffered
where the erstwhile postwar "bigger and better" ideology is
severe emotional stress. . . and that itwas
probable
increasinglybelied by reality?not just by the "intellectuals, that about 40 million Americans had diagnosable
would-be intellectuals and para-intellectuals" that the
mental disturbances and were in need of profes?
Trilateral Commission cites. What new ideology is to
sional care. ... 16.4 cent of the populations of
per
replace the old, to offer the necessary legitimation of the North America and Europe could be defined as
system so as to achieve "social control" over the growing
number of people who are "alienated" from the "main? having "functional psychiatric disorders" (IHT,
stream" of life in capitalist society? That new ideology and September 17-18, 1977).
themeans to achieve its acceptance are still the subjects of Only suicide and homicide, among death rates,
insistent search. "A genetic defense of the freemarket" rise and fall with unemployment and its familiar
through sociobiology (BW, April 10, 1978) by Gary Becker consequences during depressions.
. . .The most
and other Chicago-trained economists might convince some dramatic indicator of the relation between job
para-intellectuals, but is unlikely to catch the imagination and stress is the suicide rate. .. .For
security
of the masses. The Harvard Business Review (November men of all labor market ages there is a peak in
December, 1975) published an opinion and attitude survey suicide for each peak in unemployment.
. . .

for theUnited States, and addressed the issue of "individual? Among working-age males, for each unemploy?
versus "communitarianism." ment there is an ulcer death rate . .
ism" Seventy percent preferred peak peak.
individualism, but only 62 percent thought that it existed with a lag of between 1 and 3 years. Alternatively,
in theUnited States at present. That is, 38 percent thought one might emphasize the stresses which rise
communitarianism already dominant today. Forty percent with the boom of the business cycle, such as
thought communitarianism more suitable for solving overwork . . . heart disease,
[which make] stroke,

problems in the future; and 73 percent anticipated that cancer, cirrhosis, diabetes, accidents, influenza
communitarianism would be dominant in theUnited States pneumonia, and many smaller causes of death
by 1985. such as ulcers rise during the boom with the

14 /Crime and Social Justice

 . . .
lengthening of hours of work. points out that "common to all these groups is the fixation
The movement of death rates in the next on an authoritarian leadership figurewith the foundation of
decade will depend on whether and how capital? a claim to absolutism and total obedience that are tied to a
ism recovers. ... A can be strict submission to the group."
recovery only pro?
duced by extraordinary extraction of surplus
from one or more worker groups. If the small For the first time in nearly two decades, church
attendance is up. . . .Church is up,
cohort is the object of this intensification, its membership
in churches. . . .The
health gains will be lost. If the baby boom children particularly evangelical
of Americans?39 cent?who
continue to bear the brunt of redistributive proportion per

the
measures, prospective increase
for this group as it moves into maximal risk
ages for heart disease, cancer, and cirrhosiswill be
that much larger (Eyer and Sterling, 1977: 9,
30-32).
Under the headline "Jobless Youths Worry West Europe.
Fears Grow on Crime, 'Unemployables'," the IHT (Decem?
ber 14, 1976) reports:
The blight of jobless youth has fallen over
Western Europe
[leading to the] development
of a hard-core of long-term unemployed people.
... As in theUnited States, it is school ? As
dropouts
often from the least favored strata, often with
inadequate vocational or
training
mismatched with the needs of employers?
who get the hardest hit. In U.S. cities, rising
youth unemployment has been associated with
increased crime and other violence, suicides, drug
addiction and prostitution. An investigation has
found fears running deep inmany Western Euro?
pean countries that they may be headed down a
similar path. Economic and social forces are
to make into
combining youths
privileged group. . . .There is a danger of making
out of our
unemployables employed.
too much similarity for comfort between what
happened in the northern cities of the United
States and what ishappening here [inLondon]....
Youth unemployment has grown so much in
Britain that it is now genuinely reflected in delin?
quency, crime and anti-social behavior (IHT,
December 14, 1976).
But since it is not possible to work to death all those
who are employed or to wait for all those who are unem?
ployed to commit suicide, some other social and ideological
measures are necessary for the quarter of the
population
that ismentally disturbed and even for the three quarters
that is not (yet). One possibility is the "Big Religious
Revival in U.S." and elsewhere as well. In his triumphant
tours of Mexico, Ireland, the United States, and his native
Poland, the very conservative Pope John Paul II drew
far greater numbers of people to hear or see him (3 million
inMexico, 5 million in Poland, and in Ireland one thirdof
the entire population at a single mass) and elicited a far
deeper response than conventional politicians of all hues
put together ever have. Referring to the estimated 150,000
young sect members of "substitute religions" in West
Germany, the Frankfurter Rundschau (July 11, 1978)
believe religion is increasing its influence on U.S.
in death rates
life "is up sharply in recentmonths and has tripled
since 1971," Mr. Gallup said (IHT, June 18, 1977).
[Church] membership of groups with a funda?
mentalist or related viewpoint has increased
steadily, while membership of non-fundamen?
talist groups peaked in the mid 1960's and has
declined since then. . . .They seek to alleviate
these uncertainties and disruptions by turning
toward a traditional and fundamentalist religious
outlook (SA, April, 1976: 35-36).
the above-cited article on "The Science-Textbook
Controversies" these fundamentalists have
documents,
launched a far-reaching campaign against "the authority
an education
represented by scientific dogmatism." But they seek to
replace it with far more reactionary political dogmas,
such as that of the notorious "Moon" sect, whose ties
to the South Korean CIA have been exposed in the world
press.
There have been widespread attacks on the liberal
and progressive education reforms of the 1960s, such as set
theory, which helped children reason inmathematics, and
... a new under?
notably also on integrated schooling, in which unequal
educational were reduced somewhat. Reforms
opportunities
in educational content and organization are now on the
. . . There is
retreat in the face of a well-financed and organized counter?
attack from the political right and ultra-right inside and
outside the churches in the United States, Britain, West
Germany, and elsewhere. The pretext for the attacks
everywhere is that "Johnny can't read" or do arithmetic,
and that test scores and educational achievements have
fallen everywhere in the industrialworld. The latter corre?
sponds to fact and is another symptom of the crisis. But the
proposed remedy of the economic, political, and ideological
right is to cut educational expenditures (as noted above),
reduce educational opportunities intended for minorities
and the poor (in which they have been backed up by
"anti-busing" movements and the Bakke decision of the
U.S. Supreme Court), and to give educational content a
politically and ideologically reactionary turn to the right.
After 25 years of trying to follow America's
lead in mass education, many nations are finding
they have gone too far, too fast, and are trying to
pull back. The once widely held idea that education
for all would enhance economic progress and serve
to equalize social classes is being abandoned in
much of Europe and the Far East, and in many
"third world" countries. . . .Even the rapid

Summer 1982/ 15
 growth of college and university systems is being
questioned in many nations. Many educators
... an overeducated
contend and underemployed
. . . The
graduate population. result has
sweeping? and some would say regressive?reform.
... All these of academic
suggestions
lution cause little surprise among American
educators (USN, November 8, 1976).
In West Germany, "conservative professors celebrated the
450th anniversary of the University of Marburg in their
own way [with a call for the] return to 'leadership through
the best. . . .' The so far most
important
professors . . . asked industry for contributions [and]
as 'retribution' promised its 8,500 members to help organ?
ize the necessary salvation of the German universities
frompolitical alienation and blind fanaticism" (FR, June 27,
1977). Several right-wingparliamentarians, state ministers
of education, and others inWest Germany have formed a
"Working Group for a Free Society [which] wants to drive
political education into the right corner . . . [and] has
taken the counter-offensive against all left?and liberal?
enlightening developments in educational guidelines and
textbooks" (FR, November 4, 1976). The counteroffensive
is in full swing at the local and state or district school-board
levels in one country after another.
Another development is "Dwindling Coverage of
Foreign News inU.S." (IHT, February 6, 1978) as well as
elsewhere. At the same time, concerted political and
financial attacks from the right are increasing against
television programming that is not sufficiently "balanced"
or not exclusively conservative. Programming
networks in Munich, Hamburg, and Paris have suffered
such attacks. In short, the political righthas launched a
widespread ideological and literally reactionary counter
offensive all around the industrial capitalist world and the
Third World. This worldwide counteroffensive includes the
visible reactivation?and now international
fascist groups in the United States (Skokie, Illinois, and
elsewhere), Britain (National Front campaigns against
"coloureds"), West Germany (the new Hitler wave, local
Nazi demonstrations, exposes of Nazi activities in the
army), France, Italy, Japan, and elsewhere, which are
only a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg.
Three increasinglywidespread recent developments on
the ideological and sociopolitical frontmerit special atten?
tion. They are the women's liberation movement, the
ecological movement, and the revival of nationalist or
regionalist movements. None of these
per se. On the contrary, each of them, and perhaps the
gay and other movements as well, in its own way contains
an antiauthoritarian response to existing organized exploita?
tion and/or repression of large sectors of the population,
which is to be welcomed by progressives and people of
goodwill everywhere. All three of thesemovements contain
important progressive, socialist, and
currents. But at the same time, it is possible to point to
strong escapist tendencies in thesemovements and to note
that they seem increasingly to be joined and/or taken over
16 /Crime and SocialJustice
by politically right-wing groups. The exploitation and
oppression of women is cemented in the social and economic
organization of our society, and most socialist and revolu?
been a
tionary movements have done little or nothing to reduce,
let alone to eliminate it.Therefore, themore than legitimate
counterrevo?
formation of women's liberation caucuses in left-wing
parties and any progressive leadership in the women's
movement are only to be welcomed. But almost everywhere
the women's movement seems already to have shed its
erstwhile left leadership and increasingly to support the
political positions and status quo demanded by the right.
The many environmental groups, movements,
ecological
association of and "green" political parties that are springing up in the
West also represent much legitimate opposition to the
reduced "quality of life" that capital is imposing on the
population at large. Even more than the women's movement,
the ecological movement and the green parties bring to?
gether people from a very large range of the political
spectrum from left to right.(Many of them have concluded
that "left" and "right" have become unidentifiable and/or
meaningless.) But even if these social movements and
political parties include many people who are subjectively
left, the objective political consequence of their joint action
is likely to be to reinforce the political movement to the
right.They help to divide or otherwise weaken progressive
and revolutionary movements and parties on the left,
destroy center-left parliamentary coalitions, and throw the
elections in this or that country or region over to the
parties of the political right.The renewed rise of nationalist
and regionalist parties may have similar but even more
far-reaching consequences.
or entire The renewed spread and intensification of nationalism
and regionalism in the developed countries as well as
elsewhere in the world could be the subject of a book in
itself. Indeed, many books written by spokesmen of one
or another of these movements are appearing (in English,
for instance, The Break-Up of Britain: Crisis and Neo
coordination?of Nationalism by Tom Nairn, 1977, and Scotland 1980:
The Economics of Self Government, edited by Donald
MacKay, 1977). Many of these nationalist and regionalist
movements have made headlines elsewhere, and they
are destined to do so increasingly as the crisis deepens in
Scotland and Wales; Euzkadi, Pais Vasco, Cataluna, Anda?
lusia, and Galicia in Spain; Flemings and Walloons in
Belgium; Bretagne and Corsica in France; Sardinia in Italy;
the Jura in Switzerland; Quebec in Canada; in Cyprus and
elsewhere. Nationalism and regionalism are also becoming
acute forces of contention in Yugoslavia, Eastern Europe,
are authoritarian the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Kampuchea, elsewhere
in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, various parts of India, the
Middle East, and Africa, in many of which the forces of
nationalism seem to be mobilizing themasses and preoccu?
pying the political leadershipmore than the ideological and
political struggle between classes at the regional, national,
or international levels. Perhaps the accelerated differentia?
even revolutionary tion of development levels from one region to another,
an acceleration generated by the economic crisis, is an
important determinant of this nationalist and regionalist
response. But the political implications of the ever more
widespread appearance of these particular ideological many nationalist and regionalistmovements, independently
responses also give cause for further reflection. of the subjective desires of many of their leaders and
Nationalism was already the subject of insistent soul supporters, are not serving or being
manipulated by essen

searching by Marxists and others, fromMarx and Engels tially reactionary interests to divide and conquer popular
to Lenin and Stalin, between 50 and 100 years ago. They movements of resistance to capital as it seeks to confront

faced the dilemma of supporting or opposing popular mass the new crisis of capitalism. The United States playing
movements at a time when many of these nationalist "the Chinese card" in its global poker game with the
movements, especially after 1870, served political ends Soviet Union, the Soviet Union's sudden abandonment
manipulated by themost reactionary and imperialist sectors of Somalia and perhaps of Eritrea in favor of Ethiopia
of the bourgeoisie, as Carlton J.Hayes (1941) showed inhis in its power play against the West and China in Africa,
classic study. To some extent, notably in Germany, this and theVietnamese invasion of Kampuchea and the Chinese
tendency persisted throughmuch of the twentieth century. invasion of Vietnam are suggestive of the divisive and
But with the rise of the anticolonial and national liberation unprogressive uses and consequences of nationalism on the

movements, particularly during and since World War II global level. But the neonationalism and regionalism that
are growing inmany parts of Europe and elsewhere, as well
(except in the socialist countries thatwere liberated from
fascism and where nationalism has often been manipulated as their flowering in China, Vietnam, and Kampuchea,
for reactionary purposes by outside political interests), portend the additional danger that popular resistance to the
nationalism became a cause that Marxists and progressives restructuring of the world economy by capital will be
were able and anxious to support. The present writer and derailed into nationalist protests that are ineffective at best
others like him certainly supported nationalist causes all and literally reactionary at worst. While the crisis of capital
around the globe inwriting and otherwise. Particularly after ism is differentiating the economy and society further and
the war against, and the liberation of, Vietnam and other while some sectors of capital are launching dangerous
parts of Indochina, nationalism retains a deservedly authoritarian counteroffensives, nationalism and regionalism,
large
political capital of goodwill and support throughout the like fundamentalist religion,may seem to offer ideological
world. escapes for many individuals and another safety-valve for

However, today-not unlike a hundred years ago-it

the capitalist system as a whole. The threat is very ready
is becoming increasingly important to question whether that, even when real possibilities for itmay exist, socialism

Summer 1982/ 17
may be sacrificedon the altar of nationalism and/or religion. the sort of struggle that has marked the 1970s and
Of course, mystical, spiritualist, and fundamentalist will continue to mark the rest of the 1970s and
the 1980s, just as itmarked the 1920s and 1930s
religious waves; nationalist or regionalist movements;
. . .
individualist escapes into personal neuroses, drugs, and in Europe?has only just begun.
re? The capitalist world will not be able to pass
criminality; as well as other centrifugal ideological
sponses of escape, offer no more of a solution than the from its present phase of general social crisis and
a new
possible instability of multiple political parties, each pull?
economic recession to phase
generalized
of lasting and prolonged expansion except by
ing in its own direction. Therefore, at each criticalmoment
of the growing crisis, at least at the national levels, some first inflicting a crushing defeat on the working
class and by inflicting disasters in the form of
existing or potential political leadership makes increasingly
insistent calls for common sacrifice and self-discipline appalling famines, new bloody dictatorships,
. . .
for the national good. There have already been several and new murderous wars on all humanity.

serious suggestions for the formation of coalition govern? Increasingly, tough tests of strength between
ments of national unity, which would include the broad? capital and labor will occur inmany imperialist
and
est if not the entire parliamentary political spectrum. countries. Pre-revolutionary revolutionary

Some of these proposals have come from the political situations will arise in several of these countries
right,but, significantly, themost insistent
ones have been (Mandel, 1975a: 967-68).
made for their countries by the Communist parties of What is not yet clear, especially in view of the political
has not yet
Italy and Spain. So far, the political situation its organiza?
measures ?that is, experience of labor and the political policies of
ripened for such emergency political on the left reviewed and foreseen
tions and leadership
capital and the righthave not yet found themselves obliged be able
above, iswhether theworking class and its allies will
to or them. But the next economic reces?
accept impose to take of these and revolu?
advantage "pre-revolutionary
sion or another lagging "recovery" from it, or the next a
tionary situations," or whether capital will "inflict
recession after that, may well generate political emer? defeat on the class" and dictator?
crushing working "bloody
gencies in which such governments of national unity may
ships" on us all.
appear as the only or at least the first acceptable political
response. Of course, such governments would inherit and We are still, then, in a situation of extremely
incorporate the ideological preparations made
in themean? unstable and fragile equilibrium. ... In this situa?
time by the political right (and some by the "left"). But if tion, an accident of whatever kind?political,
the crisis persisted or got worse, these emergency govern? social, economic, or fiscal?can set off either a

ments would have to pave the way for more permanent revolutionary explosion,
or a counter-revolution?

economic, social, political, and ideological crisis manage? ary, much more aggressive offensive of the bour?
ment, which could only select and utilize those aspects of geoisie (Mandel, ICP, May 13, 1978).
be incorporated
previously centrifugal responses that could In the face of the inevitable conflicts generated during
into a centripetal and systematic crisismanagement.
another recession and the one after that (in time for 1984?),
The reactionary counteroffensive, like the growth and
of the 1930s, which will itbe?
spread of fascism during theGreat Depression
has its roots and raison d'etre in the deepening economic,
social, political, and ideological crisis of the capitalist
world economy. We can?and I believe must?agree with
Ernest Mandel when he says: ABBREVIATIONS:PERIODICALS
BW Business Week, New York
Under these conditions, the conclusion is one EPA El Pais, Madrid
that we have stressed continually for several FER Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong
FT Financial Times, London
years: The possibility of a new period of acceler?
FR Frankfurter Rundschau, Frankfurt
ated growth of the type that occurred during the
GUA The Guardian, London
1950s and the beginning of the 1960s is, in the HBR Harvard Business Review, Cambridge, Mass.
final analysis, linked to a radical increase in the ICP Intercontinental Press, New York (incorporating
rate of surplus value through a sharp compression Inprecor, Brussels)
of the mass of direct and indirect wages. Only IHT International Herald Tribune, Paris
LM Le Monde, Paris
such a modification could seriously relaunch the LT The Times, London
rate of profit and the rate of self-financed invest? NZZ Neue Z?richer Zeitung, Z?rich
ment by the big monopoly trusts (that is, invest? SA Scientific American, New York
ments that are made without massive resort USN U.S. News and World Report, Washington

to inflation). And such a genuine upturn in the

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Summer 1982/ 19