Chapter 2
1. For US, Forbes April 25, 1994,p.195., figures corrected for portion of GDP attributed to government. For world, estimate based on $4.2 trillion revenue of top 500 US companies, and listing of revenues of top 50 non-US. companies, Forbes July 18, 1994,p.223
2. Based on cross referencing Standard and Poor's Register (McGraw Hill, New York 1995) listing of corporate directors, and the same source's listing of directorships held by each director of Banker's Trust.
3. Structure of Corporate Concentration. Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, December 1980,p.377-78
4. Based on cross referencing Standard and Poor's Register listing of corporate directors.
5. Structure of Corporate Concentration. op. cit.
6. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1995, Government Printing Office p.505
7.ibid
8. Institutional Holdings, 1994, CDA Spectrum, CDA Investment Technologies
9. Pensions and Investments Jan. 23, 1995 p.1,23,83
10 loc.cit.
11 loc.cit.
12. loc.cit.
13. Christian Marfels,Recent Trends of Concentration in Selected Industries of the European Community, Japan, and the United States, Commission of the European Communities, 1987
14. Estimate based on assets of top 500 US companies, and listing of revenues of top 50 non-US. companies, Forbes April 25, 1994,p.195; July 18, 1994,p.223
15. Forbes, July 18, 1994,p.152ff; Oct.17,1994,p.102ff
16. Concentration of Wealth in the United States, Joint Economic Committee, US Congress, July ,1986,p.30 ;Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1994, p.340
17. IMF Survey, Oct. 1993, p.7
18. World Debt Tables 1954-95, V.2 p.395, World Bank, Washington DC
19. Statistical Abstract of the United States, p.505,515
20. World Economic Outlook, May 1993, IMF, p.32
21.1994 IMF Annual Report, p.45
22. ibid., p.48
23. World Economic Outlook, May 1993, IMF, p.39
24 ibid. ,p.39
25. Opening Address by Michel Camdessus to IMF Board Of Governors, Oct.15, 1991, p.10
26. Taffazul Hussain,"Fact Sheet on the jute and textile industry in Bangladesh," International Liaison Committee for a Workers International, Feb., 1995
27. Taffazul Hussain"Urgent Appeal in Support of Striking Jute and textile Workers in Bangladesh", International Liaison Committee for a Workers International, Feb., 1995
28. Jane Perlez, "GM is Getting Its Foot in the Door in Poland",New York Times, Nov.7,1994,p.B16.
29.Scott Cooper" The Folly of NAFTA Created Jobs" The Organizer, Oct. 1995, p.5
30. Seth Mydans,"Steel Mill is Shadow of What It once Was" , New York Times, Sept.6, 1994, p.A12
31 Estimate based on $35,000 in annual sales per job.
32. "As Hospital System Fails in New York City, Babies are the Victims, "New York Times, Mar.6, 1995,p.1
33.UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 1989, p.18
34."Russia's Degenerating Health" New York Times, , Feb. 19, 1995, p.12
35. Ann Imse, "Russia's Wild Capitalists Take Aluminum for a ride " , New York Times, Feb. 13, 1994, P. F4
36. Steel production figures from Metal Statistics 1976, 1994
37. op cit.
38. Roger Cohen, "The Growing Weight of Germany's Unification",, New York Times, March 8, 1993, p.D1
39.Sarah Ryan, "Postal Workers help Teamsters Organize Privatized Letter Sorting jobs", Labor Notes, April 1995, p.1
40.The Times(Trenton, NJ), Sept. 5,1993,p.D10
41. FAO Production Yearbook, 1987, p.291; 1993,p.233
42.UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 1987, p128, 1991, p.120, 1995, p.69, 82
43. Diego Cevallos"Mexico: Unions in Crisis" , La Jornada, May 18, 1995, p.44
44. FAO Production Yearbook, 1975,p.243;1987, p.291; 1993,p.233
45. Crisis in Mortality, Health and Nutrition, UNICEF, Florence, p.98-,99,101
46. ibid. p.94,96
47. ibid. p.90
48. ibid, p.46, :Micheal Specter, "Plunging Life Expectancy Puzzles Russia",New York Times, Aug.2, 1995, p.1. It should be noted that the Times coverage of this issue has consistently ignored the obvious explanation that the crash in life expectancy is due to the collapse in living standards and health care following the restoration of capitalism, preferring to label the phenomenon a mystery.
49.. Christian Marfels,op.cit..
50.The Organizer, Nov. 1995, p.8
51. Record of the Meeting Between the Representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the International labor Delegation. Feb. 7, 1994, Liaison Committee for A Workers International
52. Standard and Poor's Register,op.cit.
53 Institutional Holdings, 1994, CDA Spectrum CDA Investment Technologies
54. ibid.
55 ibid.
Chapter 3
1. Gross profits and net interest from ."National Income by Type of Income," Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1995, p.457(and same table in earlier editions);wages are wages of non-supervisory personnel, obtained by multiplying average non-supervisory wages by non -supervisory hours(ibid., p.424 and same table in earlier editions)
2. Concentration of Wealth in the United States,op.cit.,p.30
3. Net return on capital is calculated by first totaling gross profits for the seven leading industrial economies: The US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada. The total capital of these economies is then determined. All figures are converted to US dollars at current rates of exchange. The US consumer inflation rates for each year is then multiplied by the total capital for that year, and the amount subtracted from gross profit. This is the correction for the loss of the real value of capital due to inflation. The result is considered net profit-- real profit after inflation. All figures are then converted to constant, 1995 dollars. The net return on capital ,or the rate of profit, is the net profit divided by total capital, while the gross profit rate is gross profit divided by total capital.
This is the technique used for 1980-95. For the period prior to 1980, the figures are based on an unpublished 1980 study by the author, which used a slightly different technique. Here, deductions for inflation were made country-by-country based on the countries wholesale price index. Each country's capital and profit figures were then reduced to constant '67 currency and converted to dollars at '67 exchange rates. This difference in technique only affects the years 1971-79, since before that exchange rates were essentially fixed. Adjustments have been made to make the two series comparable, and the differences do not substantially affect the figures in any case.For the United States, gross profit is considered to be after tax profits of corporations plus net interest. The source is Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1995 p.457 and same table in earlier editions .Unincorporated profit of enterprise ,which overwhelmingly goes to non-capitalist proprietors, i.e. small proprietors who derive personal income from business but do not accumulate capital, is not indcluded. For other countries, "operating surplus" taken for OECD National Accounts Main Aggregates 1960-93, OECD, Paris are corrected to exclude small proprietor income by multiplying by the US ratio of gross profit to total business income.Total capital is considered to be the sum of all stocks, bonds and loans. For the US, this data comes from Flow of Funds accounts from the Statistical Abstract of the United States, p.515. For other countries, these figures are either from UN National Accounts Statistics or the statistical yearbooks of individual countries.4. Luxemburg, Rosa, The Accumulation of Capital, trans. Agnes Schwarzchild, Modern Reader, 1968. This is essential reading for those interested in economic theory, but only section III need be read . Also, The Accumulation of Capital and Anti Critique, Rudogl Wichman trans, Monthly Review Press, 1972. This very readable pamphlet is Luxemburg's reply to her critics. It should be noted that Luxemburg's theories have never been particularly fashionable., nor are they today. However, I believe the analysis presented in Chapter 3 and 4 gives solid evidence of the validity of her approach.
5. FAO Production Yearbook, 1994, p.65
6. Again, See Accumulation of Capital, op cit. for further details on this historical process.
7. For an excellent overview of the relationship of capitalism to the Holocaust, and of the efforts of US capital to absolve German capitalist of war crimes, see Christopher Simpson, The Splendid Blond Beast, Common Courage Press, 1995
8. The fund available for accumulation is sales of farmers in the industrialized countries, plus sales from non-capitalist producers outside these countries. For farm sales, I use OECD National Accounts Detailed Tables. For sales by non-capitalist producers, I take from UN Monthly Bulletin of Statistics" Special Tables on World Exports by Provenance and Destination "figures for exports from developing countries to OECD(industrialized) countries. I subtract exports from OPEC countries to OECD. I add exports from Soviet Union ,East Europe and China to OECD. All figures are then reduced to constant 1995 dollars.
While these figures are, I believe ,broadly accurate, a number of distortions are introduced. Sales from peasants to capitalist enterprises within the Third World are excluded, while sales of capitalist enterprises in the Third World to OECD countries are included. These errors probably roughly balance. Also, after 1990, some sales by capitalist enterprises in the former east bloc are incorrectly included, but the amounts here are very small as yet.It is the sales to the capitalist world which is the critical amount, since as capital becomes more parasitic, these are not used to pay for imports from the capitalist world, but merely for debt service. However, from the point of view of capital the key thing is that new wealth is flowing to capitalist producers from non-capitalist producers.9. Author's estimate based on OECD unemployment figures, employment figures and population growth.
10. Steel production figures from Metal Statistics, Op.cit. 1961; p.99; 1965,p.10,103,105; 1973p.250;1979,1992,p.148;1994
11. World capital figures are derived as explained in note 3, this chapter. Steel production figures are as cited in note 10, this chapter.
12. Donella H. Meadows et al, The Limits to Growth, Universe Book, 1972
13. There is much evidence that the oil companies were informed of the boycott and the subsequent price increase, coordinated it and enforced it. Armaco, and thus the oil companies that at the time owned it, were informed of the Egyptian plan to attack Israel by May of '73. (John Blair,The Control of Oil, Pantheon,New York, 1976p.268)At that point, not only Armaco, but all the other companies, ordered an increase in production to levels far above those the companies had agreed to at the beginning of the year. Oddly enough, after the boycott reduced production, the total output for the year was identical to the level the companies has set in 1972. As John Blair pointed out (ibid.p.268)this strange coincidence means that either the companies must have known the exact extent and timing of the boycott and increased production to compensate for it, or that they themselves planned the boycott, or both.
Second, the companies admitted in a later US. Senate hearing that in 1973 they had nearly doubled their target profits from 11 to 18%, a target that was reachable only with a vast increase in the price of crude oil. (ibid, p.294ff) Third, when the OPEC countries decided in December 1973 to increase prices, it was the companies that decided by how much. As no less than the Shah of Iran admitted in an interview at the time, "It was the companies who insisted on the $12 price. We would have settled for less."Finally, it was the companies' globally coordinated cutbacks in production in 1974 and '75 that preserved the price increases in the face of falling demand during the recession that followed. In October, 1975, Armaco cut production by two and a half million barrels a day, a move that Exxon Chairman Clifford Ganin admitted was solely at the companies' own initiative.(ibid,p.292). Blair's book dispels any myth that OPEC was calling the shots, rather than the oil companies. 14. Calculated from FAO Production Yearbook for grain production figures 1948, 1973, International Statistical Yearbook, 1929,League of Nations, Geneva p.63-73 and same table in earlier editions for earlier figures.
15. UN Statistical Yearbook;International Statistical Yearbook, 1929,League of Nations,Geneva p.26-32
Chapter 4
1. Main Economic Indicators, Historical Statistics, OECD, Paris, p.357
2. Total domestic oil revenue was calculated by multiplying average retail price by amount of product consumed. Source, Monthly Energy Review, US Department of Energy. Price increases ,in 1980 dollars, by 48 cents a gallon on 280 billion gallons a year. By mid summer, with imports dropping to 6 million gallons a day, total cost of imports was $11 billion a year above 1979 levels, in 1980 dollars. The global income of the oil industry, at $1.3 trillion, exceeded the budgets of every national government in the world, including the US. Of this total, only about one sixth went to the exportation, production, refining and transportation of oil and its products.
3. Energy User News
4. New York Times, Sept. 25, 1980,p.17
5. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1995, p.515
6. Historical Statistics of the United States, p.168-170,210-211, US Dept. Of Commerce
7. UN Monthly Statistical Bulletin, Special Table on Construction of New Buildings
8. World Tables, World Bank, 1995, 28-29
9. Author's estimate based on taking real wages as a constant fraction of GNP. In fact, this is conservative, since wages undoubtedly fell as a fraction of GNP.
10. Statistical Abstract of the United States., 1987, p.317
11. World Debt Tables op.cit., p.192
12. World Economic Outlook, IMF, May 1995,p.141
13. Calculated from Statistical Abstract of the United States. p.347
14. Net real profits are taken as US capital's share of world net profit, derived by multiplying world net profit by the ratio of US capital to that of the seven leading nations. Real wage loss is calculated by multiplying fall in real hourly wages by hours worked. Figures from Statistical Abstract of the United States , p.424. Net interest divided by net interest plus after tax profit. Source Statistical Abstract of the United States
15.New York Times, November 3, 1994, p.D22
16. World after tax income of workers and peasants is calculated by dividing GNP by two to yield wages and multiplying by .6 to yield after tax income(ratios based on sample individual country statistics.)
17. Statistical Abstract of the United States,1994 p. 424
18. Sylvia Nasar."The Rich get Richer",The New York Times,Aug.16, 1992, p.IV-3
19. Statistical Abstract of the United States p.346
20. Supervisor's,( manager's) salaries, were calculated by taking all wages and subtracting non-supervisory wages, determined by multiplying non-supervisory average hourly wages by non-supervisory hours worked. Source Statistical Abstract of the United States.
21. This subsidy was calculated by taking the effective interest rate paid by the US government, net interest divided by net debt, and subtracting average short term interest rates, then multiplying by the net debt. Since the Federal Reserve directly controls short term rates, the Treasury can borrow short when long term rates rise. A decision not to do so is a direct subsidy to banks. Statistical Abstract of the United States p.333,335,526
22. flow of funds, Statistical Abstract of the United States
23. "Excerpts from Iraqi Document on Meeting with US Envoy".New York Times, Sept.23, 1990, p.19
24.Rosa Luxemburg,"The Junius Pamphlet, :The Crisis in Social Democracy", in Rosa Luxemburg Speaks, Pathfinder, New York ,1970, p.269.
Chapter 5
1.G.D.H. Cole and Raymond Postgate, The British Common People, Barnes and Noble, NY, 1961, p.,498
2.Rosa Luxemburg, "The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions",in Rosa Luxemburg Speaks, op.cit.
3.The descriptions of the mass strikes in '34 is based on Irving Bernstein, The Turbulent Years, Houghton-Mifflin, New York, 1971
4.F. De Massot, La Greve Generale, Supplement au Informations Ouvrieres no.437., Paris, 1968; Partisans, May-June 1968
5.Author's interview, May, 1994
Additional Bibliography for Chapter 5:
Isaac Deutcher, The Prophet Armed, The Prophet Disarmed, The Prophet Outcast,(3-volume biography of Trotsky),Vintage, 1954
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The German Ideology, International Publishers, New York, 1947
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Selected Works, International Publishers, New York, 1947
Peter Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg, Oxford University Press, London, 1969
Leon Trotsky, History of the Russian Revolution, Acorn, London, 1967
Leon Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed, Merit, New York, 1965
