Introduction to Henryk Grossman’s critique of Franz Borkenau and Max Weber

Henryk Grossman's previously unpublished essay 'The Beginnings of Capitalism and the New Mass Morality' offers a Marxist critique of Max Weber's arguments, as expressed by Franz Borkenau, about Calvinism’s role in the emergence of capitalism. This article places Grossman's essay in the context of his political and intellectual background, the immediate circumstances of his response to Borkenau's work and its place in the early literature on Weber's argument

Alternative Strategies: Left Nationalism and Revolutionary Marxism

The reliance of Alternative Economic Strategies on the capitalist state is contrasted with the Marxist emphasis on working class self-activity as means of achieving socialism

Making capitalism acceptable? The economic policy of Australian social democracy since the 1970s

Labor governments since the early 20th Century have consistently attempted to boost business profits. The way they have done so has changed but their policies have been consistently shaped by both the shifting requirements of Australian capitalism and the ALP’s nature as a capitalist workers party. From the 1940s until the early 1970s, Labor advocated a program of Keynesian and protectionist economics. As the economics profession turned against protectionism, the Whitlam Government sought to integrate Australian capitalism more closely with the global economy. The Hawke and Keating Governments went much further in opening the economy, deregulating, privatizing and corporatizing than their conservative predecessor. In most areas, with the notable exception of industrial relations, they generally acted in line with the new, neo-liberal orthodoxy in economics. The logic of the Rudd and Gillard Governments’ responses to the global economic crisis, invoking a mixture of neo-liberal and Keynesian precepts, like the economic policies of its Labor predecessors, can only be grasped in terms of the ALP’s distinctive material constitution

Profitability and economic crisis

The article establish the relevance of the approach which focuses on the theory of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. The opening section surveys recent overseas evidence on profit rates and offers a theoretical account of the tendency for profit rates to fall. This provides a background to a tentative examination of Australian evidence and the attention paid to the issue by some mainstream economists. At appropriate points we suggest some political implications arising from the theory

Class struggle in the public service: class and labour process in the Australian Public Service

The body of the thesis is divided into three parts: overview and clarification of theoretical issues - chapter 1, 2 and 3; some developments in the Australian Public Servie (APS) labour process since 1945 - chapters 4 and 5; public service employee organisation, chapter 6. Chapter 1 provides an outline of the empirical scope of the thesis and a statistical overview of state employment in Australia. Chapter 2 considers marxist theories which have a bearing on the questions in hand. Therborn’s 1978 essay “Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the Class character of the State Apparatus” which directly addresses the central concerns of the thesis is examined. It is criticised for its inadequate understanding of the distinction between state and civil society, shared by many other marxist analyses, which leads to a replacement of concepts of historical materialism by those of orthodox social science, when the internal structure of the state is being analysed. The critique of Therborn leads to the conclusion that the nature of class relations within the state must be the basis for further analysis of the state’s internal structure. These class relations are explored by taking up the debate on the "new middle class", initiated by Poulantzas. He maintains that state employees are members of the new petty bourgeoisie rather than proletarian, because they do not perform productive labour. The related critiques of Poulantzas by Carchedi and Wright point out the inadequacy of the productive/unproductive labour criterion and his contradictory use of other criteria (political and ideological roles). Carchedi's own approach, which identified workers, members of the new middle class and bourgeoisie amongst' state employees is adopted and applied to the classifications structure of the APS. Carchedi's analysis opens the way to considering the APS as a labour process. Chapter 3 established some specific characteristics of the APS labour process through an exposition and application of Edwards' theory of internal labour markets. Part II examines the recent history of class relations in the APS on the basis of the approach elaborated in Part I. Chapter 4 considers the developments from 1945 to the late 1960's and their continuing relevance. The main aspects are: the relationship between staff ceilings and economic conditions (early 1950's); joint consultation (1945 to around 1955); "scientific management" (1948 to the present); and the automation of the public service (early 1960's to the present). Chapter 5 is concerned with developments since the late 1960's. The implications of the present crisis and staff ceilings are discussed. The majority of the chapter deals with work humanisation schemes, briefly examining international trends and then considering the course of their development in Australia. The final part of the chapter considers different marxist approaches to work and the role of behayioura1 science as an ideology. Chapter 6 is an assessment of Australian public service trade unions in the context of socialist strategy, The evolution of the Administrative and Clerical Officers' Association and Australian Public Service Association is briefly outlined as a background to the activities of the two left groupings inside them, The experiences of the groups are used to throw light on the potential role of public servants in a socialist strategy

Paradise on the instalment plan: the economic thought of the Australian labour movement between the depression and the long boom

The period between the depression of the 1930s and the long post-war boom saw the development of the contemporary shape of the labour movement's economic thought, with its dichotomy between moderate and left nationalist currents. This development is examined in terms of the nature of the main organisations of the labour movement, economic conditions, the ideological proclivities of different classes and the levelof the class struggle. The main areas of economic thought examined are theories of Australia's place in the world economy, the class anatomy of Australian capitalism and of economic crises. During the late 1930s laborites continued to express a longstanding commitment to national development through tariff protection and wariness of overseas loans. Moderate ideas of the possibilities for overcoming class conflicts increasingly displaced radical Money Power theory after the depression. While monetary and real underconsumptionism continued to be the main explanations of economic crises offered by laborites, both ALP politicians and union officials became aware of Keynesian economics and the legitimacy it provided for longstanding Labor policies. The advent of the Popular Front period in the international communist movement saw the Communist Party of Australia move from a revolutionary internationalist towards a politically more conservative left nationalist position, sharing assumptions with Money Power theorists, despite the rise in the level of industrial struggle. The Communist conviction in radical underconsumptionist theory of inevitable economic crises began to weaken. World War II and the advent of the Curtin Government saw the leadership of the ALP embrace Keynesian economics and its priorities. This was expressed in both foreign economic and domestic policies, but was qualified by a keen appreciation of the requirements of the Australian economy for both protection and foreign markets and the level of the class struggle. The promotion of Keynesian ideas and divisions in the labour movement was successful after 1947 in countering working class militancy. While retaining a fervent nationalism the Communist Party's policies shifted after the War from strong support for the Government during the War to a very radical and anti-American position after 1947. Bolstered by a return to radical underconsumptionism and a focus on the conspiratorial role of the Collins House monopolists, the Party believed it could challenge the authority of the ALP and the Chifley Government, on the basis of working class industrial struggles. But the Communist Party made its attempt when the level of united struggle was already in decline. Between 1949 and 1952 the balance of class forces shifted sharply in favour of capital. Moderate laborites have continued to accept the main propositions of orthodox economics, while the bulk of the left in the labour movement has been nationalist and, after the Communist Party's break with Moscow, committed to a version of Keynesian economics. Although the adequacy of both approaches to working class interests is in doubt and they have not consistently promoted its struggles, their hegemony over the labour movement has not prevented the emergence of militant working class action

Stellar Double Coronagraph: a multistage coronagraphic platform at Palomar observatory

We present a new instrument, the "Stellar Double Coronagraph" (SDC), a flexible coronagraphic platform. Designed for Palomar Observatory's 200" Hale telescope, its two focal and pupil planes allow for a number of different observing configurations, including multiple vortex coronagraphs in series for improved contrast at small angles. We describe the motivation, design, observing modes, wavefront control approaches, data reduction pipeline, and early science results. We also discuss future directions for the instrument.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures. Correspondence welcome. The published work is open access and differs trivially from the version posted here. The published version may be found at http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/128/965/075003/met