"With the capitalist system demonstrably unfair, irrational, and prone to intermittent crises, it is useful, indeed refreshing, to see a Marxist analysis of globalization and its effects on working people." —Howard Zinn, author, A People's History of the United States
"Lucid, deeply accurate, and informative, as relevant and useful as a book can be, Goldstein offers a compelling analysis of the exploitative world of global corporate capitalism." —Michael Parenti, author, Contrary Notions
"Even the most knowledgeable will find much to learn from this compelling and revelatory analysis of predatory corporate capitalism and find it a source to return to again and again." —Greg Elich, author, Strange Liberators
"A most timely and important work as the working class prepares for a 'fightback' during the greatest crisis of capitalism since the great depression." —Clarence Thomas, executive board member, International Longshore Workers Union Local 10, and cochair, Million Worker March Movement
Through an examination of current corporate practices, historical evidence, and Marxist theories, this critique reveals the direct correlation between new technologies, globalization, and the dramatic drop in worker wages worldwide and proposes alternatives for dealing with the crisis. The narrative traces the advances in production, communications, and transportation that have enabled transnational companies—such as Dell Computer, the “Big Three” U.S. auto companies, IBM, Liz Claiborne, and Boeing—to outsource to many diverse suppliers in numerous countries to make a single product. As a result of this global outsourcing, workers are no longer competing with others within their city, state, or country but with those thousands of miles away and have in essence entered into a worldwide wage competition that consistently lowers the wage floor. Compounding the crippling effects of these practices is the near doubling of the global workforce resulting from the collapse of the USSR and Eastern Europe’s political systems. Using Karl Marx’s law of wages and other findings, the chronicle maintains that these developments will not only continue to drive down wages but lead to a profound revival of working class struggle. This analysis argues that the only way to reverse these trends is to implement various strategies to fight back, especially regarding the labor-community alliance and class-wide strategies for struggle.
Fred Goldstein is a contributing editor to Workers World newspaper. He lives in New York City.
Economics, Social Science
338 pages, Trade Paper, 6 x 9
4 Graphs
Distribution Rights: WOR
$19.95 (CAN $21.95)
9780895671516 (0895671514) Pub Date: September 2009
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