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International Socialism, April 1974

 

Hugo Radice

Multinationals

 

From International Socialism, No.68, April 1974, pp.30-31.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.

 

The Multinationals
Christopher Tugendhat
Pelican, 50p.

The Juggernauts
Graham Bannock
Pelican, 65p.

The City
Richard Spiegelberg
Quartet, 60p.

‘KNOW THINE ENEMY’ has always been one of the revolutionary’s ten commandments, but because of the complexities of modern big business and the abstruseness of most economics it’s a difficult task for most of us. Nowadays, the ‘paperback revolution’ and a new wave of liberal criticism of capitalism have made it a good deal easier. The books reviewed here look at three different aspects of big business: the implications of increasing internationalisation of business activities, the problem of capitalist ‘efficiency’ in a ‘market economy’ dominated by giant firms, and the financial system which lies behind them.

Christopher Tugendhat is Tory MP for the Cities of London and Westminster and an ex-financial journalist. He begins by reviewing the development of multinational firms, covering the ‘American invasion’ of Europe and the European response: the second and more interesting half of his book deals with the workings of multinationals, covering planning, control, finance, marketing, industrial relations, etc. Tugendhat is very knowledgeable on all this, and shop-floor militants win find it very helpful, although he certainly overestimates the competence of modern ‘scientific’ managers. As a ‘left’ Tory, Tugendhat accepts the view that there are conflicts of interest between multinationals and national economic policies, and argues that governments are entitled to intervene to prevent ‘abuses’. There is the usual nonsense about the ‘national interest’: somehow he doesn’t notice that it’s the same multinationals – Shell, ICI, Ford, etc. – who control national economic policy anyway.

Graham Bannock’s book will be useful mainly to readers in the car industry, since that provides most of his examples: well-documented tales of technical and managerial incompetence. For the rest, it’s an old-fashioned small business attack on big business. He criticises the ‘juggernauts’ for being uncompetitive and inefficient and failing to innovate, and puts forward an improbable plan for re-establishing good old-fashioned competitive capitalism, with the state breaking up the big firms and policing the ‘free market’. The workers do not figure at all in this fantasy, not even the obvious point that working in a car plant is sheer hell. His strongest plea is on behalf of the would-be small businessman whose ‘creative spirit’ is being stifled. Judging by their tax returns, these poor thwarted creatures must be crying all the way to the bank.

Spiegelberg is another financial journalist, and his book ranges far and wide over that most secretive and complicated business sector, the City. This is an instructive and entertaining book. The classic take-over sagas are recounted, and histories provided of Jim Slater, John Bentley the asset-stripper and other assorted villains. But he also explains the much more important ‘respectable’ institutions: the clearing banks (Barclays, Lloyds, etc.), the merchant banks, pension funds and insurance companies, discount houses, secondary banks, etc., and above all the Bank of England. He makes it quite clear mat the City has tremendous power over British capitalism, and that this power is becoming more and more concentrated: a period of rapid growth and innovation by newcomers has been followed by one of consolidation by the really powerful established groups. The old Fabian argument that the managers have gained control and the City is just a parasitic nuisance is convincingly dismissed. He also shows that the self-regulation of the City (such as the Takeover Panel chaired by ex-Labour minister Lord Shawcross of Ford, Shell, EMI, etc.) is a hypocritical farce, maintaining a minimum of law and order to benefit the biggest thieves in the den. His plea for an effective control agency ‘backed by statutory powers’ rings very hollow against the picture he presents. The book suffers from being disorganised and rather repetitive, but it is wen worth a read.

Until we have some good socialist analyses of big business and how it works, these three books are a good £1.75 worth: between the liberal or reactionary political perspectives are some solid and accurate accounts of the mechanisms of capitalist exploitation today.

 
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