The state and local government

Local Government and Administration at the University of Birmingham.

73 M. Cole, 2001, pp. 22-23.

74 M. Lyons, 2007, pp. 51-52.

75 Ibid., pp. 52-56.

76 L. Panitch and C. Leys, 1997, p. viii.

77 S. Driver and L. Martell, 1998.

78 Dearlove and Saunders, 2000, op. cit., pp. 425-7. ‘Ethical socialism’ is a tradition opposed to Marxism associated with Christian Socialism: see N. Dennis and A.H. Halsey, 1988.

79 J. Dearlove and P. Saunders, 2000, op. cit., p. 427.

80 S. Hall, 2003.

81 L. Panitch and C. Leys, 1997, op. cit., p. 257.

82 Ibid., pp. 258-9.

83 J.A. Chandler, 2008, p. 368, my emphasis.

84 Ibid., p. 369.

85 L. Panitch and C. Leys, 1997, p. 242.

86 Ibid., pp. 242-3.

87 P. Latham, 2001, p. 18.

88 G. Filkin, G. Stoker, G. Wilkinson and J. Williams, 2000. This publication – although several of his other New Local Government Network publications are – is not listed in Stoker’s list of publications: see note 61.

89 In the last 20 years Jerry Stoker has published 24 books, 40 chapters to books, 39 articles and 32 reports/pamphlets on local government: see http://www.ipeg.org.uk/staff/stoker/documents/gs_publications.pdf.

90 See C. Stone, 1989.

91 G. Stoker, 1995, p. 54.

92 K. Orr, 2005, p. 316.

93 See M.R. Thompson, R. Ellis and A. Wildavsky, 1990; and C. Hood, 2000.

94 J. Stoker, 2004, p. 85.

95 Ibid., p. 69, p. 85, my emphasis.

96 K. Orr, 2005, p. 315.

97 There is a massive literature on the development of the Marxist theory of the state from Marx and Engels, through to Lenin and Gramsci plus the revival of interest in Marxist state theory after 1945 and contemporary debates. See, for example, C. Hay, 1999, which provides a useful summary of the debate up to 1999. Marxist journals such as Capital & Class and Critique both regularly include articles and book reviews on Marxist theories of the state. For an earlier abbreviated version of this Chapter see Latham, 2009b.

98 J. Harvey and K. Hood, 1958. During the cold war Roger Simon (1913-2002) and Noreen Branson (1910-2003) – both Communist Party members – wrote under the pseudonyms James Harvey and Katherine Hood.

99 L. Harris, 1983, p. 468.

100 Miliband, 1984, p. 17, H. Laski, 1938. See also Chapter l note 5. Laski’s study, according to Miliband, ‘was a pioneer work, which placed the institutions of the British system of government in their social context, and showed the functions they performed in the defence of class-based society in Britain. However, the book suffered from a basic weakness…the pervading notion that the Labour Party’s attainment of the role of principal opposition party had transformed the whole British political scene…. Britain would indeed have been transformed, had the Labour Party in the inter-war years been the socialist party which he wanted it to be, or at least believed that it must soon become. But…the Labour Party was not then, and was not on the way to becoming, such a party….Notwithstanding its weaknesses, Parliamentary Government in England…drew much from Marxism’ (1984, p.16).

101 Miliband, 1984, p. 17.

102 Harvey and Hood, p. 9.

103 Ibid., p. 11.

104 Ibid., p. 12.

105 For example: ‘The question of the state is now acquiring particular importance both in theory and in practical politics. The imperialist war has immensely accelerated and intensified the process of transformation of monopoly capitalism into state-monopoly capitalism’ (V.I. Lenin, 1918, p. 1).

106 Harris, 1983, p. 469.

107 Harvey and Hood, p. 24

108 Ibid.

109 Ibid., p. 17, p. 18.

110 Ibid., p. 281. See the reference to Robert Lowe in Chapter 2.

111 Harvey and Hood, pp. 281-282.

112 Ibid., p. 283.

113 Ibid.

114 Ibid., p. 253.

115 Ibid., pp. 240-246.

116 Ibid., pp. 248-249.

117 Cited by Harvey and Hood, p. 251.

118 Ibid., 253.

119 Ibid.

120 Ibid., pp. 253-254.

121 Ibid., pp. 255-257.

122 Ibid., p. 259.

123 Ibid., p. 260.

124 Ibid., pp. 260-261.

125 Most of this section was previously published online: see P. Latham, 2010a.

126 A. Gramsci, 1999a, p. 532.

127 See R. Simon, 1982, pp. 72-74.

128 Ibid., p. 105, p. 115.

129 Ibid., pp. 103-104.

130 See J. Hoffman, 1995, which distinguishes between the state and government, the latter referring to the negotiation and arbitration of conflicts of interest, whereas the former (using Weber's definition) involves the use of force to tackle conflict.

131 J. Hoffman, 1984, p. 212.

132 See A. Gramsci, 1999c, Chapter III ‘The Nature and History of Economic Science’, pp. 290-321; Chapter IV ‘Economic Trends and Developments’, pp. 322-419; and Chapter VII ‘Reference Points for an Essay on B. Croce’, pp. 512-639.

133 Ibid., p. 553.

134 Gramsci – who began his article on the Southern Question in October 1926 – was arrested before it was completed (see A. Gramsci, 1999b, ‘Some aspects of the Southern Question’, pp. 595-625).

135 E. Gündoğan, 2008, pp. 56-57. Professor E. Gündoğan is Head of the Department of
Public Administration and International Relations at Universum University College, Institute for Economic and Social Studies, Prishtina, Kosovo.

136 Ibid., p. 57.

137 R. Simon, 1982, p. 86.

138 K. Marx, 1859, para 6.

139 See R. Griffiths, 1984. Though note that Roger Simon only mentions Euro-Communism once (see Simon, 1982, p. 124).

140 See, for example, South African Communist Party, 2009. The SACP’s discussion document Building Working Class Hegemony on the Terrain of a National Democratic Struggle was published on 14 September 2009. Moreover, as Dominic Tweedie points out, though Building Working Class Hegemony ‘hinges around the idea of hegemony….It doesn't mention Gramsci but it can't help but be haunted by the legacy of Gramsci, both deserved and undeserved….We have had considerable debate in SA about Gramsci and I expect this to continue’ (emails to the author dated 29 and 31 December 2009).

141 P. Anderson, 1976, p. 47, his emphases.

142 R. Griffiths, 1984, p.13.

143 R. Simon, 1982, p. 115.

144 G. Fischman and P. McLaren, 2005, p. 435. Gustavo E. Fischman is Associate Professor of Curriculum and Policy Studies at Arizona State University and Peter McClaren is a Professor in the Graduate School of Education at UCLA. Moreover, as the work cited in this section from around the world demonstrates, Marxist educationalists are the leading contemporary critics of post-Marxist and postmodernist readings of Gramsci. Indeed, proof of their hegemony in these debates is provided by the attack on Peter McLaren by the rightwing National Association of Scholars (NAS) – funded with millions of dollars by right-wing foundations in the United States – for his links to the thought of ‘Paolo Freire, Raya Dunayevskaya, and Che Guevara’. Ashley Thorne, author of the NAS's 15 December 2009 polemic against Marxist influences in schools of education, also targeted the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (A. Thorne, ‘Guided by a Red Star: Ed Schools Bring Frankincense to the Cradle of Marxism’, 15 December 2009, http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?doctype_code=Article&doc_id=1127). The U.S. Marxist Humanists organisation then issued a statement stating: ‘We firmly oppose such McCarthyite attacks and express our solidarity with McLaren and other critics of capitalism mentioned in the NAS polemic’ (US Marxist Humanists, ‘Resist Neocon Witchhunters’, 29 December 2009, http://usmarxisthumanists.org/node/32).

145 Lenin, 1902.

146 T. Brown, 2009, p. 2-3. Trent Brown is a doctoral student at the University of Wollongong.

147 Lenin, 1921, 3, paragraphs 16-17.

148 Critics of the German Communist Party (KPD) also accused it of having pursued a sectarian policy – for example, its denunciation of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as "social fascists" – that scuttled any possibility of a united front with the SPD against the rising power of the Nazis. These allegations were repudiated by supporters of the KPD who accused the SPD leaders of having countered KPD efforts to form a united front of the working class. For instance, after Papen's government carried out a coup d'état in Prussia, the KPD called for a general strike and turned to the SPD leadership for joint struggle. But the SPD leaders again refused to cooperate with the KPD. Though there were also major differences between the situation in Italy and Germany. For instance, votes for the new Communist Party in Italy were disappointingly low whereas in Germany the KPD from 1924 onwards successfully contested Reichstag elections. During the years of the Weimar Republic the KPD was the largest Communist party in Europe. It maintained a solid electoral performance, usually polling more than 10 per cent of the vote, and gaining 100 deputies in the November 1932 elections. In the presidential election of the same year, the KPD’s leader Ernst Thälmann took 13.2 per cent of the vote, compared to Hitler's 30.1 per cent (http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/germany/wr19291932.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_July_1932).

149 P. Anderson, 1976, p. 59.

150 A. Gramsci, 1999a, p. 494.

151 Ibid.

152 P. Mayo, 2005, p. 2. Peter Mayo teaches at the University of Malta.

153 T. Brown, 2009, p. 4.

154 Ibid.

155 Ibid.

156 Ibid.

157 Ibid., pp. 4-5.

158 A. Gramsci, 1999a, p. 323.

159 R. Brosio, 2008, p. 1. Richard Brosio is a Lecturer in Education Policy and Community Studies at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

160 See J. Sanbonmatsu, 2004. John Sanbonmatsu is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA.

161 R. Brosio, 2008, p. 2.

162 See the section on the central state and local government during early industrial capitalism in Chapter 5.

163 T. Brown, 2009, p. 5, his emphasis.

164 G. Gall, Exposing injunction injustice’, Morning Star, 30 December 2009. Moreover, as Martin Mayer notes, New Labour not only refused to repeal the Tories anti-union laws, but made them worse via amendments that ‘created a bosses’ injunction charter’ (M. Mayer, ‘Britain’s Anti-Union Shame’, Morning Star, 8 January 2010).

165 T. Brown, 2009, p. 8.

166 See the section on the People’s Charter in Chapter 14.

167 P. Anderson, 1976, p. 78.

168 P. Bocarra (ed.), 1971. ‘Devalorisation’ of capital is the term that Marxists use when analysing situations such as the present financial crisis in which we are witnessing a massive ‘correction’ – the falling stock markets, housing market – expressed in write-downs, defaults, bankruptcies, mergers and fire sales of financial institutions, and now their ownership or part-ownership by capitalist states.

169 B. Fine and L. Harris, 1979, 1985.

170 J. Foster, 2009, p. 18. This section is based on Foster’s path-breaking analysis of the different strategies adopted by the ruling class over the past century and the crisis of state-monopoly capitalism today. Foster also shows how the latter aspect of the Communist Party of Britain’s theory underpins the immediate proposals advanced in its Left Wing Programme.

171 That is, 'the fusion of banking and cognate capital with industrial capital' (S. Aaronovitch, 1961, p. 7).

172 J. Foster, 2009, p. 19.

173 M. Friedman, 1977.

174 J. Foster, 2009, op. cit., pp. 20-21.

175 M. A. King, 1975. King is now Governor of the Bank of England and his article provided a defence of state monopoly capitalism against A. Glyn and B. Sutcliffe, 1972.

176 J. Foster, 2009, p. 22. See also M. Barratt Brown, 2001.

177 J. Foster, 2009, p. 22-23.

178 UDITE, 2008, p. 27.

179 Bank of England, 2008a, Chart 1.2, p. 11.

180 J. Foster, 2009, p. 27.

181 Ibid., p. 28.

182 L. Elliott and J. Treanor, ‘UK was hours from bank shutdown: FSA ready to close cash machines during crisis’, The Observer, 6 September 2009.

183 Financial Times, 31 December 2008 citing Hedge Funds Research.

184 J. Foster, 2009, p. 28.

185 Ibid., p. 29.

186 Ibid., pp. 29-30.

187 Research by the Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (Financial Times, 15 January 2009) showed that the profit rate of the fourteen biggest private equity firms for the three years 2005-2007 ran at 330 per cent that of companies listed on the FTSE All Share Index. Of this 167 per cent came from higher debt levels (or leverage) as against debt levels for comparable companies. Average hedge fund profits were running at 15 per cent through the 1990s.

188 C. M. Reinhart and K. S. Rogoff, 2008a and 2008b.

189 J. Foster, 2009, p. 32. Foster also draws attention to the way in which economic decision-making in Britain is serving the interests of the super-rich – those with £3 million or more to invest, generally in hedge funds and private equity companies clustered around the “alternative investment market” in the City of London. This tiny section of Britain’s monopoly capitalist class, probably no more than 0.2 per cent of the adult population, is sacrificing workers’ pension funds and the investment needs of manufacturing industry to its own drive for superprofits (J. Foster, 2010).

190 J. Stiglitz, ‘Obama's ersatz capitalism’, International Tribune Herald, 2 April 2009.

191 J. Stiglitz, 2010.

192 N. Kline, ‘Obama’s big silence: Has the president turned his back on black America?’ Guardian Weekend, 12 September, pp. 37-45, p. 44.

193 Ibid., pp. 44-45.

194 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) are potential claims on the freely usable currencies of International Monetary Fund members.

195 The five multilateral development banks (MDBs) lend money for projects in low income countries on five continents Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia (ECA), the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), and Latin America.

196 Group of Twenty, 2 April 2009a, para 5.

197 Group of Twenty, 2 April 2009b, p. 2.

198 H. Stewart, ‘Memo to world leaders: spare us all the summit speeches and fix finance instead’, The Observer, 20 September 2009.

199 J.K. Galbraith, 1961, pp. 158-159.

200 D. Lawson, ‘Gordon’s gang pulls a $1 trillion con trick’, The Sunday Times, 5 April 2009.

201 Ibid.

202 Group of Twenty, 2009a, para 3.

203 M. Weisbrot et al, 2009, p. 5. The 41 low income countries analysed were as follows: Afghanistan, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Haiti, Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, El Salvador, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Niger, Pakistan, Romania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, the Republic of Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Ukraine and Zambia.

204 Ibid., p. 4, my emphasis.

205 Ibid.

206 Ibid., p. 5.

207 Ibid., p. 6.

208 J. Breman, 2009, p. 29.

209 Quoted in R. Sunderland, ‘G20 tells indebted nations to speed up their austerity drives’, The Observer, 6 June 2010.

210 L. Elliott, 'G20 accord: you go your way, I'll go mine', The Guardian, 28 June 2010.

211 Ibid.

212 P. Krugman, '21st century depression', The Guardian, 29 June 2010. Paul Krugman is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the