One thing is clear. Globalization is here to stay. But, unless workers understand what underlies it, they will remain a pawn in the hands of the corporations, fighting other workers here and globally for the few left over crumbs. Further, as more jobs are lost, a sentiment is being cultivated to get workers here to blame other nations, especially China, for our poverty. This line of reasoning -- if not challenged -- could result in the U.S. workers lining up with reactionary forces that are developing the fascist political movements the corporations need.
In fact, many countries in the world today are suffering a decline in manufacturing and job loss. In the past decade, U.S. manufacturing jobs declined by more than 11 percent while during the same period, Japan's manufacturing employment base dropped by 16 percent. Manufacturing jobs in Brazil declined 20 percent -- and one of the biggest losers in manufacturing was China!
So, who is the culprit? Automation, under capitalism, is the basis of the monumental economic changes sweeping the earth. Automation is creating permanent job loss everywhere. But, by understanding how the world is tied together and what globalization in the age of electronic production is, the people can determine a successful course of action to create a bright future for everyone, not just the select few.
Since the beginnings of capitalism, businesses had to expand or perish. As capitalism matured, it saturated the home market while accumulating a mass of capital the capitalists could not profitably invest in the home country alone, including the U.S. With the merging of industrial and banking capital, the first stage of globalization began. The major financial-industrial nations carved out global spheres of influence to guarantee profits.
The development of the computer made globalization leap forward. World financiers, dominated by the U.S., set out to reorganize the world. Their battle cry was "free trade." Their artillery was the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Group of 7 and other shadowy international bodies that no one elected, but that all nations became subservient to. Today, no nation, if it wants to remain part of international commerce, has the economic power to defy these world bodies which are dominated by the U.S.
The name of the game is world domination and the U.S. has always had this as its policy. Today, as the U.S. shuts down its industrial plants, it aims to strengthen its control of the world through its hold over high technology. However, this will mean further elimination of human labor here in the U.S., fewer and fewer jobs for Americans and other workers globally.
Globalization today means a global economy dominated by the United States. But the tendency is toward a future dominated by global corporations with the entire world as their colony. The problem for them--and opportunity for us--is that what they are achieving historically is preparing the peoples and economies of the world for a truly world revolution. What is needed is a vision of a new kind of world, where the technology can be utilized to provide every single person a rich, fulfilling and happy life.
