Review of Radical Political Economics

This paper argues that the adoption of ad hoc protectionist politics by the trade union leadership fails to address effectively the issues of job loss and managerial control of production. Instead, protectionist policies actually weaken trade union power in both the short term and long term.

The essay proposes an alternative strategy. It is possible for labor to demand protection against the anarchy of accumulation while avoiding demobilizing alliances with the corporate world. If full employment policies require trade and capital controls, then protectionism should be supported, but only in the context of the actual implementation of those proworker macroeconomic policies.

This article begins with the observation that a restructuring of social relations basic to capitalism is necessary to end the nation's economic crisis. It argues that free market solutions to the crisis have proven their bankruptcy, making it likely that capital will eventually pursue statesupported strategies of "reindustrialization." The article focuses on the ways in which the contradictions in capital's strategical shift can be exploited by labor and'the Left. It argues for a socialist strategy based on an expanded public sector work force and a reformed trade union movement.

A philosophically satisfactory analysis of the plant relocation problem must resist an immediate move to the practical. Such "pragmatism" takes too much for granted. In order to counter the pragmatic temptation, I insist on raising certain moral questions that are natural to those affected by a plant closing. But to answer these questions, or even determine their legitimacy, moral philosophy is not enough. We must proceed to the theoretical question, what is the function of a capitalist in a capitalist society? This consideration suggests a noncapitalist economic model that would resolve the plant relocation problem. From this model, the viability of which is supported by the remarkable Mondragon experiment, we can deduce a series of general prescriptions for activists and a specific agenda for legislative reform. Only after this ground has been covered can the problem of a specific plant relocation be adequately addressed.

We analyze QWL (Quality of Work Life) programs within the context of the economic crisis. We argue that QWL is fragile and its continuation must be guaranteed within a broader institutional context. We argue that QWL could become part of a corporate planning approach to resolving the crisis.

If QWL is implemented in this context, the danger of greater labor market segmentation would lend added importance to the struggles of women and minorities and organizing the unorganized. The Left would also have to look more closely at the issues of co-optation and democracy raised by QWL.

In this paper I argue that unequal distribution of the costs of children between men and women has been reinforced by public policies that have served the interests of men as fathers as well as the interests of those employers and taxpayers who are not also mothers. Taking an historical approach, I trace changes in the patriarchal content of policies towards mothers in three separate arenas: family policy, labor market policy, and the welfare system.

Socialist feminism provides a necessary corrective to the strict feminization of poverty analysis by incorporating analyses of race and class differences among women, of internal family politics shaped by the familistic ideology, and of the contradictory role of the welfare state. We use the concept of women's dual role to analyze the interconnections among the family, the labor market and the welfare state, and to examine the ways that gender and class struggles over the costs of reproduction of labor power are expressed as conflicts over welfare policies. We suggest five criteria for evaluating policy and use them to analyze two specific issues-the six-hour day and child support.

Black-white inequality in employment has been increasing since 1982 despite rapid economic growth. This phenomenon is explained in terms of the interaction between discrimination, labor market structure and public policy. If the labor market is slack, competitive pressures will tend to increase employment discrimination due to shifts in the cost and compositional structures of discrimination. The policies of the Reagan administration have thereby contributed to a decline in the relative probability of black employment by keeping unemployment high, job competition intense and antidiscrimination efforts weak. Changes in the cyclical variability of the black-white unemployment rate differential lend empirical support to the argument.

Over the past three decades urban redevelopment projects in the United States have typically involved working partnerships between public officials and the business community. This article presents the results of a case study showing how one American city cooperated with private investors to redevelop a large residential area close to its central business district. Through the use of strategic code enforcement and a financial scheme which removed market risks for the developers, the city in question made it possible for the development plan to succeed. The data are examined within the framework of an emerging neo Marxist literature on urban land use. The policy implications of the findings are discussed and analyzed.