On 3/27/16 8:49 PM, Robert Naiman wrote: > So, in other news, the Washington Post is now running avowedly socialist > pro-Sanders op-eds from the editor of Monthly Review. > > https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/03/23/is-democratic-socialism-the-american-dream/ >
"All of these proposals represent things that have been accomplished in other countries, particularly the Scandinavian social democracies, where the populations are better off according to every social indicator." What a coincidence. I am relying on a couple of Monthly Review articles from 20 years ago to make my case in a forthcoming article that the model is bogus. This is from an article in the July-August 1994 issue titled "Sweden: The Model that Never Was" by Peter Cohen. I guess Foster has no big problems turning over a new leaf at MR. Once upon a time the journal told the truth about the Syrian dictatorship that it now covers up for. As Cicero put it, "O tempora o mores". Peter Cohen: Integration in the International Capitalist System One of the main factors underlying the growth trend for national income in the OECD countries after 1945 was the intensified exploitation of workers in the so-called LDCs, in which Swedish capitalists participated ferociously. From the 1960s onward, Sweden has been one of the world leaders in per-capita exports of capital. The SAP cooperates eagerly with Swedish capitalists in their efforts to maximize the return on investments in the neocolonies, particularly in Latin America, the Middle East, and southeast Asia, as does LO (Landsorganisationen), which is the Swedish equivalent of the British Trade Union Council and is intimately connected with the party. Neither the SAP, LO, nor any other Social Democrat party or trade union in Western Europe has ever made any serious attempt to block exploitation of the LDCs. Swedish post-war Social Democrat governments led Sweden to active participation in various imperialist organizations and agreements, including the IMF, the IBRD, the OECD, and GATT. One of the SAP's main functions has been to persuade the Swedish working class that such activities are valuable contributions to world peace and prosperity. Among other things, a Swedish SAP government endorsed the moratorium on loans to Chile after Allende's election and contributed to the special IBRD fund for financing loans to the Pinochet government after the cup in 1973. This was publacly motivated in Sweden by the claim that the poor and downtrodden in Chile would suffer even more unless help was provided to the Pinochet government, which the SAP said was @dmittedly authoritarian but was nevertheless trying to repair a shattered economy for the general good of all the Chileans. Similar arguments were used throughout the 1970s to justify the SAP's refusal to support sanctions against South Africa. By coincidece, Swedish companies such as SKF and Atlas Copco had been operating for decades in the South African market. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
