Sutcliffe and Glyn have whiten the book not for university lecturers but for militant workers in order to clarify the real issues facing the labour movement in Britain today. It is readily comprehensible to noncoonomists, and where technical terms are inevitable they have been explained in The centre of the argument is that the militancy of the British working class has combined with international competition to drastically reduce the profitability of British capital. The profit share in company net output has fallen drastically: in 1950 — 54 it was 25.2 per cent, by 1964 it had fallen to 21.2 per cent, and by 1970 it had plummeted to 12.1 percent. rate of profit on capital (the key ratio for the capitalist has fallen in a similar way.
In effect the working class has, over the last few years, been bargaining about its share of the national product. But the implications of this fact are inadequately. if at all, understood. The authors point out that the working class movement has to have an awareness of what it has done.
conclusions to be drawn from it, the working class movement is weakened because it fails to understand the logic of its own strategy". Such a drastic cut in profitability has, in fact, put the very existence of British capitalism in question. Profits remain the lifeblood of the system and the capitalists will only be able to restore them if they can drastically hold back the growth of working class living standards for a number of years.
Sutcliffe and Glyn argue that working class militancy has been a crucial contributory cause of British capitalism's crisis, but they Compared to most other capitalist states, Britain has a relatively badly armed police BRIAN DAVEY on do not feel the need to be at all apologetic about this. Despile militancy pushing up money wages very rapidly over the last few years this has not led to rapid increases in real wages. They show in great detail that real incomes, after allowing for rising prices and the claw-back" of increased taxes ete. by the state, have not risen much. From 1964 to 1969 the average manual worker's income increased by a mere one peroent per year, and even between 1969 and 1970 real wages only accelerated at a rate of 2.7 per cent. In addition there has been a massive increase in poverty since the late sixties (especially given the massive increase in unemployment) which is a part of the capitalist response to working class militancy But most importantly, if the logic of working class struggle is to put the very existence of British capitalism at stake then that logic What is only too obvious is that the TUC and the Labour Party have no such understanding. Sutcliffe and Glyn make a very valuable contribution in their criticisms of the TUC's approach to the crisis. The TUC does not, of course, want to admit that there is any fundamental conflict of interest between the working class and the capitalist class that cannot be solved with a reasonable compromise Because they accept the capitalist system, and seek to operate within its contines, they are obliged to deny that the working class is in any proposes solutions that have no contact with that of reflation of the coonomy. (Le. ex"The TUC's concern about profits is not surprising, for they believe (correctly) that a healthy capitalism requires high protits. But they are wrong in suggest"Our estimate i that only about one sixth of the Tall in the profit share since 1964 was the result of stagnation. Getting back to full employment, especially over an ex. tended period of time, could do no more than stabilize the profit share, unless there was a drastic reduction in international competition or improvement in Britain's competitiveness. But merely maintaining the present profit share, even with higher outpur, is not sufficient. Given the state of international competition and the determination of the British workers to maintain and improve living standards, this means that British capitalists will have no remedy but to attack the working class".. Thus the traditional leadership of the working ciass will obstruct the develop ment of a strategy which meets the needs of the situation: for such a strategy requires WORLD ECONOMY The authors see the other cause of the profit squeeze as increasing international competition". One interesting chapter is devoted to the slowing down of the world economy with its main emphasis being un the erosion of profstability in the other advanced capilalist countries. The main emphasis is again laid on working class militancy — perhaps too much so since there are other variables tending to make the long boom slow down and become The book is weak in one respect: its treatment of Britain's entry into the Common Market, Since entry is so important for the prospects of British capitalism a fuller analysis would have been useful though il does not strictly fall within the terms of refer ence that the two authors have set themselves. Sutcliffe and Glyn appear to consider that British capital is pursuing anunwise policy that British capitalists, clamoring for entry into the market, are in effect asking for more. In addition the initial adverse effects on real wages... will make it more difticult to achieve the redistribution from wages to profits necessary to restore profitability." But this misses out the fact that in the med Jum and long term there would be far more severe competition for British capital outside the Common Market than inside, particularly in view of the present slow-down in the world capitalist economy. Outside the Conmon Market, British big capital would get crushed in the growing triangular conflict between Europe, the US and Japan Inside the Common Market it could strengthen itself through mergers with the European British capital has continued expanding by capital export and the establishment of productive units overseas far more than other countries. Entry into the Common Market would be a continuation of this trend and would be bound to speed up the outflow of capital. The British capitalist class may attempt to defeat mbitancy with the threat or the action of taking its capital some where else in Europe. A substantial volume of overseas investment has weakened British capitalism's home base and reduced the State's ability to take measures to pro vite retaliation from foreign states against British capital shroad, With such gloomy prospects the British bourgeoisie is evidently prepared to sacrifice further political sovereignty and room for international manoewyre in order to get into the relatively more exciting Common Market and take advantage of some of the opportunities for expansion Sut cliffe and Glyn's book is a valuable contribution to the revolutionary movement and deserves to be widely read by militants. It fulfills its aun of clarifying the desperate underlying economic situation which as the authors point out is still not realized widely cough" are quietly adding new fangs in the shape of measures such as the Immigration Act and
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GEORGE WRIGHT on *Police Power and Black People