In her recent
book How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and
the Neoliberal Project (Brill, 2018), Elizabeth Humphrys
challenges the narrative that neo-liberalism was generally imposed onto labour by
right-wing governments such as the Thatcher government in the UK and the Reagan
government in the US during the 1980s. Through a detailed analysis of the
Australian political economy between 1983 and 1996, she demonstrates how
restructuring was also carried out by a Labour Party in close co-operation with
trade unions. In this blog post, I will provide a critical engagement with this
important book.
In
the standard narrative about the rollout of neoliberalism, it is generally
argued that right-wing governments such as Pinochet’s authoritarian rule
in Chile in the early 1970s or conservative Thatcher’s government in Britain or
Reagan’s administration in the USA during the 1980s spearheaded this
move. In the process, trade unions and workers are generally regarded as the
victims of labour market deregulation and cut-backs of workers’ rights. Not so,
argues Humphrys in her assessment of neo-liberal restructuring in Australia. The
book critically analyses the dynamics underlying the Statement of Accord by the
Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)
Regarding Economic Policy across the period of 1983 to 1996. The book, thereby,
amends our traditional understanding of the imposition of the early forms of
neo-liberalism by focusing in particular on the class-based nature of the
Accord and the role of labour in bringing about restructuring. Importantly, therefore,
the book highlights that the way neo-liberalism is implemented differs from
country to country. As an analysis of the Australian case illustrates, this can
also occur through the concrete involvement of trade unions. ‘Labour made
neoliberalism’ in Australia, it is concluded.
In
particular, the book examines the relationship between corporatist
policy-making on the one hand, and the implementation of vanguard
neo-liberalism in Australia on the other. Rather than being part of opposite
policy projects, ‘the social contract and neoliberalism were interrelated
elements of a hegemonic state-centred project to restore accumulation after the
1970s economic crisis’ (P.8), Humphrys states. Thus, the book is a fascinating
analysis of how corporatist decision-making was combined with the implementation
of neoliberalism. In a period of five consecutive terms of Labour governments
from 1983 to 1996, neoliberalism was firmly implemented in Australia. ‘Corporatism was the form and method that
vanguard neoliberalism took in Australia, and corporatism and neoliberalism were
internally related’ (P.9). The book is based on extensive archival research and
additionally draws on official statements by political parties and various
trade unions providing us with a detailed insight into how the ALP and the ACTU
internally, but also in their co-operation rationalised these policies.
There
are several questions, I would like to raise for further thought. First, how
was Australian production integrated in the global economy and what was the
related underlying power structure in Australia throughout the 1980s?
Elsewhere, it had been the transnationalisation of production, which changed
the balance of power in society in favour of capital, which had often limited
the room for manoeuvre of labour in defining economic policy. Understanding the
balance of power in society between capital and labour during the 1980s may
shed further light on why the ALP and the ACTU felt that neoliberal
restructuring was the only way forward.
Second,
towards the end of the book, Humphrys refers to the Social Contract between the
British Labour Party and the TUC from 1974 to 1979 as a similar experience,
during which labour as political party and trade union movement had participated
in neoliberal restructuring. ‘The social contract, and the TUC’s role in
facilitating austerity and wage restraint, ultimately assisted the
implementation of vanguard neoliberalism’ (P.213). While some policies did have
neoliberal leanings during that period such as the acceptance of the 1976 IMF
bailout, it is not correct in my view to compare this experience with the
Australian. In the UK, alternative policies were tried out in a situation, when
traditional policies no longer seemed to work. Unlike Thatcher’s onslaught
during the 1980s, however, this was not the rolling out of a concrete and
comprehensive neoliberal policy programme.
Third,
Humphrys compares the current situation in Finland, where again the labour
movement is involved in neoliberal restructuring, with the 1980s in Australia.
Nevertheless, if we look at these two examples from the perspective of an incorporated
comparison, then it becomes clear that restructuring in Finland now takes place
in a completely different global environment from when neoliberalism was
implemented in Australia during the 1980s. Back then, Australia was a
frontrunner in the move towards neoliberal economics. Finland now finds itself
in a situation with neoliberalism ruling supreme at the global and, perhaps
even more importantly, European level. Austria in the second half of the 1980s
and early 1990s in preparation of EU membership would serve as a more
appropriate example for the implementation of neoliberalism within corporatist
structures based on support by labour (Bieler
2000).
These
questions should not, however, distract from the excellent contributions
Humphrys makes in this volume. Written in a beautiful and highly accessible
prose, she makes clear that trade unions are not automatically progressive or
reactionary. Ultimately, trade unions too are sites of class struggle, which
decides on whether a particular trade union is a force for social justice or not.
One
of the most surprising findings of the book is that the ALP and ACTU celebrated
the 30 anniversary of the Accord in 2012 and 2013. ‘They celebrated their roles
in the dramatic restructuring of the Australian economy, which, alongside the
suppression of wages and industrial action through the social contract,
involved financial “deregulation” (re-regulation), floating the Australian
dollar, and mass privatisations’ (P.7). Considering that we now know of the
dramatic consequences of the Accord for the Australian labour movement, which
is only a shadow of its former self after an enormous decline in membership,
this is worrying indeed. It will be interesting to see whether a new moment of
rank-and-file militancy can be created, which may result in a strengthening of
the labour movement, or whether Australian trade unions remain content to be
the co-managers of capitalism. Humphrys’ book is a must-read in guiding our
explorations of this question and the search for alternative, progressive
strategies.
Andreas Bieler
Andreas Bieler
Professor of Political Economy
University of Nottingham/UK
Andreas.Bieler@nottingham.ac.uk
Personal website: http://andreasbieler.net
19 December 2018
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