Divided Societies Oxford University Press, £7.99 Reviewed by Paul Clarke IDEOLOGICAL turmoil on the left has followed the East European revolutions, the fall of the Berlin wall and the crisis in the Soviet Union. Revolutionary socialism, any form of 'class politics' and Marxism itself have come under intense fire not only from the right, but from within the left.
In fact, the ideological swing rightwards in Britain had been going on a long time before the East European events. From the late 1970s onwards an assault, spearheaded by Marxism Today, has been launched which has attempted to break the left from 'dogmatic' and 'fundamentalist Marxist notions.
Under fire
Under fire have been the ideas that the central contradiction in capitalism is that between classes; the notion of socialism involving the overthrow of capitalism; and commitment to social ownership and national planning as central to a socialist and egalitarian economy.
Ralph Miliband, one of the founders of the Socialist Movement, and longtime editor of the yearly Socialist Register has stood out against this trend with commendable determination, dubbing the whole rightward move on the left as the 'new revisionism'. The paperback publication of Divided Societies is a welcome and eloquent defence of Marxist basics.
Miliband's book is a wide survey of class conflict in advanced capitalist First he refutes claims that colinenes. class contradictions are lessening, orthat the working class is disappearing Much attention has been paid in recent years to the 'recomposition of the working class'. In most advanced societies the proportion of workers involved in industrial, manual labour has declined. Fo tre want ideas sayine goodbye to the working class' based themselves on this.
The increase of the number of workers Page 10 July 6, 1991 No.5 in theservice, distribution and white collar sectors of the economy has not fundamentally reduced the size of the working class. What is true is that new sectors of workers are often poorly unionised and lack the militant traditions of longestablished industrial sectors like miners and dockers.
Restrictive
Miliband rightly rejects restrictive definitions of the working class, like those of Poulantzas, which only include those 'directly producing surplus value'. Instead he counterposes Marx's notion of the 'collective labourer' - those forced to sell their labour power, and whose work is directlv or indirectlv essential for the production of surplus value.
Poulantzas' definition would exclude bus drivers or low-paid local does not (although I'm not sure that Miliband is entirely consistent about this in the 'class map' diagram he includes).
Thedefinition of the working class has important strategic implications. If the working class is a small minority then its ability to become the leading class in society, the motor force of radical social change, is restricted. There is often a hidden agenda behind those who want to theoretically minimise the weight of the working class in late capitalism.
Miliband's position is implicitly counterposed to the theorists of 'radical democracy' - in this country most notoriously Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Thace author in their book 'Hegemony and Socialist Strategy argue that the Marxist project is marred by 'classism' - the irrational prejudice of the left in favour of the working class as opposed to others. They argue that the real contradiction in capitalism is that of 'power', authority and hierarchy which suffuses society and is relatively inde pendent of class.
Overthrow
The strategic consequence of this line of argument is to reject the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism in favour of the struggle for a radical democratisation throughout society. This struggle will be carried out by a variety of social agencies, but in the first place the 'new social movements' -for example the women's movement, black movements, pro-ecology move ments and so on. Moveover, they argue that these movements have no sponstruction of a 'discourse' on radical democracy.
While of course they fight for democratic reforms, marxists reject this strategic line. First, they reject the view that specific forms of oppression, or hierarchy and power in general, are totally divorced from class society and capitalism. in capitalist societies, even the authoritarianism of the bureaucracy in the labour move ment, cannot be divorced from existing cass stacares Second, even where a specific form of oppression and hierarchy long pre-dates capitalism - most notably in the oppression of women - the revolutionary destruction of capitalism and the capitalist state is a precondition for defeating it.
It is this fact which creates the objective basis for an anti-capitalist dynamic n all the struggles against hierarchy anc oppression. The task of Marxists is to fight to make this objective process conscious, by fighting to win the labour movement to the struggles of the of pressed, and by fighting for an explicitly socialist consciousness in the autonomous social movements.
Miliband's defence of a socialised economy as central to socialism is very welcome. In recent years, deference to the 'magic of the market on the left has reached obscene proportions. At the heart of much of this discussion has been a mystification - that a socialised economy must necessarily mean bureaucracy and inefficiency. The logical result of saying this is that only the market can create democracy and efficiency.
Irony
One of the ironies of this is that revolutionary Marxists long opposed the type of bureaucratised economy which existed in pastero Europe, and bureaucratic nationalisation in capitalist countries, while many non-Marxist radicals had illusions.
Deification of the market has at its root an extraordinary social and historical Notebooks for Study and Research (NSP) are snonsored bv the International Institute for Researcha nd Education (IIRE), Postbus 53290, 1007 RG Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Fax: 33 20 6732106)
self-interest must remain the motor forces of innovation and progress; and that the profit motive is the highest form of development of human civilisation. This is a classic 'illusion of the epoch; the self-consciousness of a particular historical period being projected onto the whole of future human history. Miliband has some tough words for the Communist parties in advanced capitalist countries, seeing them, especially since the advent of Eurocommunism, as essentially reformist parties who have made their peace with the status quo. Ironically, in many of these parties the crisis of Stalinism has deepened the rightward shift, reproducing within them many of the rightist attacks on Marxism mentioned above. Weakness Miliband's weakness is his own dis CUSSIOn of strategy and agency. Miliband has long been the advocate of building a new socialist party, and of a 'revolutionary-reformist' strategy which rejects the idea of the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist state as hopelessly utopian. Miliband regards existing far left organisations as 'sectarian' and 'too narrow'. Be that as it may, they are broader than the new socialist party, which alas doesn't exist. The point is of course that a new socialist party, even a small one with 15-20,000 members, could only come about as a result of giant upsurges in the class struggle. Outside of such developments Miliband's strategy is just as 'utopian' as that put forward by Leninists. When and if we get that kind of class upsurge, we shall see who is right on strategy. Despite these disagreements. Miliband's general approach is a model of common sense. In periods of intellectual reaction it is vital that those who stand by classical Marxism stand up to the barrage of right-wing dross and intellectual quackerv and fight their corner. Every socialist will benefit from reading this book. Available now: number 14 of the Notebooks for Study and Research by Andre Gunder Frank & Salah Jaber This special issue of the NSR provides thorough analyses of the international framework of the Gulf War and its meaning for the Third World, detailed assessments of the Western policies and of the changing Middle-East scene. This timely 72 page A4 format publication can be obtained for £3.50 Among the coming issues of the NSR: Livio Maitan on the Italian Communist Party; José Iriarte 'Bikila' on the national question. Subscriptions to the NSR: 5 issues, surface €10; 10 issues, surface £20. Add 20% for air mail.
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