struggles and the women get liberated. + Equalieducation and job opportunities: 4 Free 24 hour nurseries: Lion Movement were: • Foual pay now: nor working class. Meanwhile Norah Carlin fol- Betty Frieden et al, who faced with accusations movement: 'an end to all discrimination against lows the time honoured path, established by of rampant lesbianism" within the ranks, giving the movement a "bad name", deny the existence tional Women's Conference decision to add to the original four demands of the women's pears to think that lesbians are neither women feminists, are blamed for the disintegration of lesbians and a woman's right to define her own sexuality", is described by Mr Cliff as an indica- tion of: 'how the Women's Movement dis- tanced itself from the working class'!* He ap- Lesbian feminists, along with black the British women's movement. The 1975 Na- This was not alivays so. In 1974 the SWP ject was to recruit women from the feminist movement to the SWP. A wide range of women got involved in Women's Voice groups which provided a valuable forum for discussion und launched an autonomous women's organisation Unfortunately, however reasonably these points are made, constructive dialogue with They come to women only meetings to argue that the meeting should not take place; a slang- with its own joumal - Women's Voice. The ob did much good work on women's issues. members of the SWP remains very difficult. Women's Voice ing match is usually the only result. 5 proves the power of autonomy. Page 22
I T m Z - Car
BARRY HEATH looks at the Fighting for a place in the Wars 'Big Six'
unlikely alliances - between car cut-throat competition - and industry giants as they face the battle for survival in the final years of the century.
proceed with a price war to regain its share of the domestic market which has slumped from over 50% in 1980 to 36% last year. They have spent S50 billion on new plant and equipment, and are now geared up and ready to go. At the same time Ford has announced record profits of $5.5 billion for 1987, which is more than all the European and Japanese car firms put together. This is the result of drastic rationalisation including a 25% cut in the workforce, General Motors too have cut their workforce - by 40,000 - and declared profits of S4 billion for 1987 as well as record There in a new factor in the US car market, however, and that is the oned to have followed this expansion. With consumer demand expected It costs about $500 million to design, develop and equip a gearbox factory. One mistake and profit margins tumble. One way of avoiding these hazards is for car firms to enter into joint ventures with each other There are a bewildering number of these agreements taking place. Glossy adverts and media hype mask the fact that beneath the bonnet and the hrand name many cars are virtually the same. It makes nonsense to say "Buy British' or 'Buy German" because heaven only knows where the bits came from or where the car was designed. The joint ventures of course may give some indication of the future members of the global Big As one would expect, the big three US car firms are the most predatory. Ford have close links with Mazda (Japan), with Kia (South Korca) and Lio Ho (Taiwan). It was expected that Mazda would become Ford's bane in the Pacific rim, rather like Ford (Westem Europe) - having a certain independence, but ultimately answerable to Detroit. However the Japanese banks seem to have manocuvred against this development, only to throw up rumours of an even bigger merger between Ford, Mazda, parently been trying for a long time to cut Japan's nine car firms down to Meanwhile Gencral Motors has large stakes in Isuzu (Japan) and Daewoo (South Korea. At the same time they have joint ventures with Japanese cars assembled in the USA itself, expected to rise to two mil- lion a year by the carly 1990s. Toyota for exomple has a $1.1 billion com plex in Kentucky, and about 300 Japanese component firmn are also reck- - to use the same gearboxes or diesel engines, or the same components. and Japan's number two car firmi, Nissan. The Japanese banks have ap Page 23 Toyota production line: a similar pattern of exploitation world-wide to stay steady if not decline, something will have to give. Joint ventures profits in their Wester European operations: three viable ones. which there will be no market. That is the grim picture Such a huge level of overproduction must mean an increase in cut- throat competition and even more drastic rationalisation on the part of the buge transnational motor companies as they fight for their share of a dustry commented: "There will be manufacturers today that will not he able to survive to the end of the century - if that long - in their present This refers to the development of the 'Big Six' in Britain in the 1930s, The stock markets" fear of vehicle overproduction arises from two factors. On the one hand the brokers expect consumer demand to level off or fall after four buoyant years, not least hecause of the problems of the US cconomy and the implications of the infemational debt crisis. In Britain, the president of the Motor Agents Association reckons there will On the other hand, the transnationals have planned to increase their Citroen plants in France, Britain and Spain to 2.5 million a year by 1992 to grab European market leadership from Volkswagen and Fiat. In Spain, tem ready for 1992. If other Europeun car firms followed suit there would According to Harold Poling, the worst hit domestic market will be that of the USA, which will have six million more cars and trucks than it can handle. Already the US market is fiercely competitive, with 27 car Jar, imports only fell by two percent last year - a fall that mainly hit European car firas and smaller Japanese Firms (while the Japanese "big What is likely to happen in the USA is that General Motors will painted in a New Year's message for 1989 by Harold decreasing market. The Financial Times in its review of the motor in- The talk in the car industry itself is of a 'Big Six' by the yoar 2000. following the elimination of over 150 British car firms during the 1920s. Thistime the talk is of six worldwide transnationals - not six British fims. production as part of their aggressive competition. In France, forexample, lacques Calvet of Peugoot-Citroen has statod he expects demand for cars to decline, but he still intends to increase car production in Peugeot- Gencral Motors have already put their works on a three shift a day pal- firms offering over 40 brand names. In spite of the fall in value of the dol- be a 200,000 drop in car sales this year due to higher interest rates. Poling, Fords' chief operating officer (USA). US market to be worst hit lion cars, vans and lorries per year for By 1990 the car industry worldwide could face an excess production capacity of 20% - equivalent to at least nine mil- three' actunily increased their market share). SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 14 April 1989 soon he huge overcapacity. size and structure.
World economic geography is changing due to crises in the USA and in the USSR, together with the developments around 1992 and the single Lamborghini of Italy; Ford now owns Aston Martin; General Motors owns Lotus. If is likely that the bigger names will go next - like Porsche, market in Western Europe. There seems to be a growing regionalisation as Japan, the USA and the European Community (EC) gear up for a probable trade war. Each major country seeks to maintain and increase political and economic power over its own arca - Japan over the Pacific rim; the USA over the Americas; the EC over the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) states and Easter Europe, Clerly 1992 will make a major difference to the balance of forces as an embryo European stale emerges: - particularly if this sets up a 'Fortress Europe' of trade barriers, as some Ar the top end of the market where more profits are to be made, there has been a scramble for the West German brand names. The Japanese have faced an image problem when competing in this soctor, and small companies have been taken over. Chrysler have taken over Maserati and The impact of 1992 exporter of cars and trucks by the year 2000. Jaguar and BMW. P T cooperation and Santana production with Nissan, and joint production of is linked to Hyundai (South Korea and Canada) and China Motor In Wester Europe, too, there are numerous joint ventures. Fiat, for example, shares engine research and development with Peugeot-Citroen. diesel engine production with Renault, and executive car production with Saab, Meanwhile Volkswagen supplies gearboxes to Austin Rover, en- gines to Velvo, and owns Seat (Spain) and Audi (West Germany). They also have joint production of Hilux pickups with Toyota, overseas cars with Ford in Brazil and Argentina. This is just a sample of the com- One reason for the dominance of the transnationals is the most ob- vious development in car design over the last period; the "global car". All Bocause of the oil crisis the large American cars of the 1950s and 1960g had to be scaled down in the 1970s to the 'compacts. The small cheap Japan's numher one car finn, Toyota in Xiummi (USA) and in Australian plants, Chrysler have close links with Mitsubishi (Japan), which in tur new cars look and perform more or less the same throughout the world. plex web of alliances among transational car firms. - The Global Car The Japanese firms assessed the world universally popular. Smaller firms went out They swapped their designs and component over the world, Gencral Motors for example has a car which was designed at Opel in row wallets, became popular in other market and designed a range of cars to be of business; transnationals took over. com peting in each other's national markets. part manufacturers from country to country. The 'global car' is made up of parts from all Italian cars, made for narrow streets and nar- West Germany, is assembled at Daewoo (S. countrics, were upgraded and copied.
where to locate ticir production and what joint ventures to enter into. The cheap cod @ Korea) and is sold in the USA as the Pontiac The notion of the 'global car' bas brought about three main brands of car production aimed at three sections of the market: the cheap end; the middle range; the Transnationals have to assess the markets for cach on a world scale, and therefore executive class and specialist models.
volved in this shake-up, particularly since the six main C-based car firms are only relatively medium sized on a world scalc, and have in some cases The Japanese car firms aim to get into the EC on the ground floor, with either new plants of their own based inside the EC, or with links with EC motor finns. Nissan has led the way with its plant in Sunderland. It ta and Micra cars: in Barcelona a plant is already producing Ford/Nissan 4WD utility vehicles. Toyota also plans an assembly plant in Britsin cost- ing £610 million. incloding up to £125 million grant from the British Rover, the Thatcher goverment has been accused of playing a comprador role for the Japanese because Britain's own manufacturing base is too The former boss of ICT claims that two thirds of West European manufacturing industry will be restructured and/or disappear as a result of the J992 changes, The transnational car furms will obviously be in- also has links with Ford, and plans a joint (Sigma) engine to power Fies- govemment. With Honda already having established links with Austin- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 14 April 1989 had the benefit of state protection. Austin Rover cars with Volkswagen gearboxes weak to withstand 1992. analysts believe. also expect to export engines back to VW in West Germany, China, too, major factories linked with VW and Chrysler, and hope to become a major ridiaries, Volkswagen is moving Polo production to Seat (Spain), where Sonie car firms have direct agreements with nation states to produce designed for Fiat's Brazilian plant). Poland's SO plants also have ex- clusive international rights to produce the small Polski Fist 126: the idea here is to scoop the market for cheap cars in the stalinist states of Eastern Europe — and also to export them to Western Europe. At the same time however Renault have a deal with the Romanian government, whose Dacia car is based on the Renault 12. Volkswagen have sold Bast Germany's Wartburg a Polo engine track to power their new model, and has now entered the fray, worried by imports from Japan. They plan three labour costs are half those at Wolfsburg: and Ford (USA) has links with cheap small cars. India, for example is building car plants with help from Suzuki. Frat has a $1 billion deal with the Polish government to moder- nise FSO plants, based on production of the Fiat Duna (originally models in areas where labour costs are low, 9 going up market and leaving the cheaper end of the market brings the highest levels of but is the Icast profitable: therefore the Thus for example the Japanese car firms are demand, especially in the poorer countries. transnationals aim to assemble their cheaper to their South Korean or Taiwanese sub- and seck joint ventures wherever possible. Mazda in Mexico. Page 24
OUT SELL IGS SELLOuT & NO 3 YEAR DER MURPHY STRING No FORF ON
regional, national and interational networks need to be built up on this basis. At the same time, militancy is not enough — as the miners' strike showed. Workers in each corporation must fight to open the books of the posedly "rival" employers; their manipulation of pricing and tariff up tactics to combat 'quality circles" and every device used by employers to entice collaborationist union leaders into helping to increase levels of exploitation. They should also look at what they are producing, and propose changes based on human need, not profits. In the car industry. all sorts of "green" issues like pollution, public transport, road building. These alterative plans are important in order to attack the capitalist system and win more general support. The same could be said about the vation of the earth's resources. These plans could make practical sense of the old slogan "nationalisation under workers" control. What would Immediate solidarity with workers defending their jobs is essential; industry, to expose the financial and production links between their sup- policies, their manoeuvres to maximise government grants while mini- mising tax bills; and show the knock-on effect of every productivity. con- cession from one firm to others throughout the industry. They must draw miners' strike, which anderlined the need for a plan for energy and preser- be the role of a car industry under socialism? We need to plan and ex- Militancy is not enough: a political leadership and a workers' plan are needed to wrest control from management the needs of the 'third world' would need to be looked al A new generation Toyota's Hilux pickups are produced at the VW plant in Hanover, while Toyota is also interested in Audi ar a hare for its upmarket cars. It has a 27% stake in Salvadez Caetano (Portugal) which assembles Toyota utility tugal). The largercomponent firms are also hecoming linked, forexample Bosch with Akebono brakes, Lucas with Yuasa batteries. These are just Carworkers need their own intemational links to defend themselves against the transnational car firms, Already massive cutbacks have been Lion of British manufacturing industry is well known, but in the USA, The Financial Times recently wrote of Peugeot Citroen's Draconian tle resistance, certainly with no international working class solidarity. The tacks on jobs, wages and working conditions. Workers need to build a whole series of links and networks if they are to defend themselves. At the moment the leadership of the European labour movement seems either There are a number of links between Japanese and EC car finns. vehicles. Mitsubishi is linked with Daimler-Benz and with MDF (Por- made in established motor industries throughout the world. The devasta- Ford have cut their workforce by 25%, and General Motors by 40,000. restructuring of its workforce", with Renault doing the same to keep pace. These measures have gone acad, as far as one can see, with very lit- restructuring of industry in the EC after 1992 is bound to mean more at- The workers' response a few of the interconnections. Caros Guarita/Fellar
A whole new generation of carworkers is entering struggle in the union recognition and better conditions last year in South Korea, Brazil and now Spain, are precisely in those areas where car assembly plants have been located for cheap labour. Wage increases in double figures The car firms always look to make profits out of paying low wages and speeding up production. The Japanese car firms in their green field sites and "just in time" production methods are notorious in this respect, and the envy of other employers. Conflict inevitably results, since the production methods are inhuman. There are numerous stories now in car workers leaving after two or three days and so on. The reality needs to In the coming war for markets among the transnational car firms, a systematic link between the established, unionised carworkers and the new generation of their co-workers in new and re-located plants could were gained in South Korea - Hyundai moved a good deal of its produc- towns of Britain about deaths on the track, breakdowns from stress, new yet he a powerful force. The task in to build a marxist leadership in the Page 25 newly-established car plants. It is no accident that the mass car industry unions that can open up such a development. tion to Canada for a quieter life. be exposed publicly. locked into making the EC work for capitalism (following the line put by Jacques Delors to last year's TUC Congress) or merely content to sign redundancy forms and single union deals. The links have to be built at factory and rank and file level, where workers are beginning to realise with the miners meant solidarity with the front line representatives of the working class in struggle, I recall a group of ex-carworkers handing in a received a tremendous welcome, This was not charity or plain hospitality, working class for the struggle against a quite conscious class enemy. We thinks nothing of phoning or Faxing around the world hefore lunch. The need for preparation and learning lessons from the past has never been The British miners' strike is very instructive in this regard. Solidarity colloction. They said 'We needed a Scargill. We signed the redundancy papers, and now our kids have got no jobs'. Since then, strikers at Wap- ping and Dover have understood the meaning of the miners" strike; Wherever miners went abroad to speak, especially in Europe, they The fact is however that there had been no preparation of the British are now faced with the restructaring of industry on a European-wide scale, and then on an intermational scale. We are up against an enemy that but class solidarity - their struggle was our struggle, intemationally. that there is no purely national solution to their problems. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 14 April 1989
Dialectical materialism