After Capitalism
= Book: After Capitalism: From Managerialism to Workplace Democracy. By Seymour Melman (New York: Knopf, 2001)
= Book: After Capitalism (New Critical Theory). By David Schweickart (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002)
Book by Melman ISBN: 0679418598
"If the future of global warfare promised us by the current “war on terror" is an economic imperative of capitalism, how can we stop it before it brings greater disasters upon us?
Synthesizing a life’s study of militarism, de-industrialization and workplace democracy, Seymour Melman offers some answers. Melman commands attention because his classic of 1974, The Permanent War Economy, has largely come to pass. His new magnum opus places in historical perspective worker self-management as a strong and growing current in workplace relations worldwide. Those sharing his enthusiasm for this trend will find ample evidence that their hopes for cooperative commonwealth are not pipe dreams.
This hard-headed book musters overlooked information for a powerful argument addressed as much to union workers as to workplace democracy activists. Perhaps most valuable is Melman’s tracing of capitalism’s evolution from a drive for profit into a drive for power over people. The current “warfare state" business/government partnership, with its imperative for world hegemony, culminates this shift. After Capitalism links militarism to the collapse of the industrial sector, marginalizing American workers. This disturbing imitation of the recent Russian experience deepens the basic alienation of workers from control over their lives. An emeritus Professor in Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, Melman explains why workplace democracy is the only counter to these trends." (Review by bobstone@igc.org http://www.geo.coop)
Book by Schweickart ISBN: 0742513009
review by Gavin Mendel-Gleason [1]:
"After Capitalism is probably the most useful and concrete proposal amongst the books which propose some form of Market Socialism. While many books have been published on the subject, few have the level of prescriptive detail, together with justifications that exists in this book. Further, in its favour, the proposal is nearly “scale free”. One can imagine immediately beginning its implementation starting with only one cooperative. The organs of finance could grow organically as a constellation of cooperatives came into being.
A number of my comrades are very much averse to Market Socialism in all its forms. I share the distrust of market forces taken out of the control of conscious human direction and think there are dangers of “capture” of important organs in such a scheme, especially the organs of finance. I think Yugoslavia has demonstrated well the dangers of relaxation of wage differential controls and the conscious redistribution of surplus in market socialism, which, after they were liberalised, eventually led to powerful centrifugal forces.
However, Schweickart presents his proposal as a “successor system”, that is, a means from which we can get from here, to something else progressive and workable. Whether this system is a cul de sac which will stifle further progress or not is a question that requires more debate. I’m of the opinion that such a system could in fact be a stepping stone, as once capital is in the hands of the public, the question of what would be an even better model of production and distribution is posed."