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The Socialist Register 1996

The Socialist Register 1996

Are There Alternatives?

About the book

The ideological and material sweep encompassed by the proud capitalist assertion, ‘There Is No Alternative’, has been the clearest marker in our time of the contemporary crisis of socialism. How to take full measure of the power of ‘TINA’ (which really means treating seriously what it tells us about global capitalist economic, political and cultural power in the late 20th century) while at the same time not succumbing to the ‘end of history’ claim implicit within it (which means not becoming complicit with the extension of the present conjuncture into the foreseeable future) is the central political challenge of our time. In posing the sober question ‘Are There Alternatives?’ as its theme, this 32nd issue of The Socialist Register seeks to take up this challenge. It does so not by canvassing the many new ‘models’ of (market, participatory or other) socialism which have been advanced in recent years (this will be the focus of a later volume), but by looking at alternatives that arise out of the present conjuncture.

Capitalism & Alternatives

Author

Leo Panitch

Leo Panitch was a Distinguished Research Professor, renowned political economist, Marxist theorist and editor of the Socialist Register. He received a B.A. (Hons.) from the University of Manitoba in 1967 and a M.Sc.(Hons.) and PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1968 and 1974, respectively. He was a Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor at Carleton University between 1972 and 1984. He was a Professor of Political Science at York University since 1984. He was the Chair of the Department of Political Science at York from 1988-1994. He was the General Co-editor of State and Economic Life series, U. of T. Press, from 1979 to 1995 and is the Co-founder and a Board Member of Studies in Political Economy. He was also the author of numerous articles and books dealing with political science including The End of Parliamentary Socialism (1997). He was a member of the Movement for an Independent and Socialist Canada, 1973-1975, the Ottawa Committee for Labour Action, 1975-1984, the Canadian Political Science Association, the Committee of Socialist Studies, the Marxist Institute and the Royal Society of Canada. He was an ardent supporter of the Socialist Project.

Preface
The British Labour Party’s Transition from Socialist to Capitalism (Colin Leys)
Developing Resistance and Resisting ‘Development’: Reflections from the South African Struggle (Patrick Bond & Mzwanele Mayekiso)
The Use and Abuse of Japan as a Progressive Model (Paul Burkett & Martin Hart-Landsberg)
A Kinder Road to Hell? Labor and the Politics of Progressive Competitiveness in Australia (John Wiseman)
In Defence of Capital Controls (Jim Crotty & Gerald Epstein)
The Challenge for Trade Unionism: Sectoral Change, ‘Poor Work’ and Organising the Unorganised (Anna Pollert)
The Tower of Infobabel: Cyberspace as Alternative Universe (Reg Whitaker)
‘Sack the Spooks’: Do We Need an Internal Security Apparatus? (Peter Gill)
Sport, Gender and Politics: Moving Beyond the O.J. Saga (Varda Burstyn)
Socialist Hope in an Age of Catastrophe (Norman Geras)
Are There Left Alternatives? A Debate from Latin America (Carlos Vilas)
Socialists, Social Movements and the Labour Party: A Reply to Hilary Wainwright (Barry Winter)
Building New Parties for a Different Kind of Socialism: A Response (Hilary Wainwright)