Ken Livingstone is already supping with capitalism with not too long a spoon.
Due to be formally invested on Monday as London Mayor of London, Ken
Livingstone told GMTV's The Sunday Programme that he was in discussion
with major international firms who have investment programmes planned in
the UK. "They are all working on one assumption, that is we will be in the
Euro by 2003," he said. "If we are not...they will be rethinking their
investment plans, I have no doubt about that. Any sign that we were pulling
back from that assumption we are on our way in would be devastating for
jobs in London."
"We have got to play on a world stage. One third of firms in Britain now
link in to International Corporations. You can't opt out of the world. You
can't stop the world because we want to get off and go back to the 1950s."
His argument, and that of John Monks, head of the British Trades Union
Congress, is to support industry, including industrial capitalism, against
finance capitalism. And not just national industrial capital.
Nissan warned earlier this week that jobs could be under threat unless
Britain joins the single currency.
Mr Monks said that there were "quite a lot of Nissans. Toyota have been
saying the same sort of thing and we know it was a factor behind the BMW
decision in relation to Longbridge.
Is this a compromise too far?
ust because Lenin said it, does not make it right, but he did say "From
their daily experience the masses know perfectly well the value of
geographical and economic ties and the advantage of a big market and a big
state."
That of course does not mean that people with socialist credentials should
become the cheer leaders of industrial capital. But do not the arguments of
Livingstone and Monks stand on their own merits?
Chris Burford
London
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