Education not bombs ionship of forces bourgeoisie is constantly vithout of the four ponents being able to bring the others to heel, this Cotl homogeneity winin ine bourgeoisie is another major obstacle o making the qualitative leap forward to economic and political integration of Europe.
When the capitalist economy is expanding, every partner in a capitalist business can get a part of the cake. The came is true for every faction of a 'naional' bourgeoisie. every all bourgeois enterprise.
Of course, even in a period of exwithin each changing gain more than others.
Coolis of the Common La prolonged depression. became fierce.
small medium for mall the phase of crisis and challenges.
Survived Market would peared, as a lot Bills.
obstructing all sharpening market. market, the Many powers taken separately.
not led to its breakup, pansion competition continues. Some some grow stronger at the expense of others. But in general everything is rosy for all of this charming society as long as capitalist property prevails. Thus, the golden age Market was its first decade, 1958-1968. The period 1968-73 represented the period of transition.
When the economic crisis erupted, and especially when it took the form of For many capitalist firms, the crisis has posed the question of life or death. They face bankruptcy. This applies both to the multinationals and the 'national' trusts, as well as the business. 'Every himself' is more and more rule. What for capitalist firms also goes for 'national' bourgeois classes and their states. This is why for the Common Market the long economic depression means a long If the simple correlation between depression and stepped-up competition were all there was to it, the Common have already disapof people in fact predicted it would. But it has survived. even if it has become prey to numerous While the crisis is sharpening the competition within Europe and thereby Ine pursull of economic integration, it is also above competition on the the world And on American and Japanese multinationals can rely on states and 'economic spheres of operation' with a far greater weight than that represented European imperialist For all these reasons, the impact of the crisis on the Common Market has to its disapand simple. The reult intermediary stage between a mere freetrade zone and a new supranational tederal state To understand the reasons why the Common Market has become 'blocked' halfway on the road to real economic and political integration of capitalist Europe, the analysis has to be carried further. We have to look at the nature of the changes that have taken place within the European bourgeoisies over the past quarter of a century.
In the sphere of finance capital, there has been genuine success. Substantial progress has been made in integrating the banking systems of the Six (and to a lesser extent, the The financial market has been peanised, as evidenced by the role of Luxembourg as a centre for BE AND SURINE FOR # LEAR European loans. The market for EuroDollars has lost all 'national' character.
'Common' opposition
and Japanese finance capital has increased, with the Swiss and Canadians occupying an intermediate position.
On the military level, integration has made spectacular advances. is no longer any 'national' arms in dustry, except for small arms. the production of airplanes, tanks and artillery has been internationalised in Europe. There are no longer any essentially German', 'Italian' heavy weapons. All such arms Ten). are produced in common. In a nutshell, Euro- this is a drastic change by comparison with the situation in 1939 and 1945, to issuing say nothing of 1914. been a ment Market more anu more French President Mitterrand In the sphere of industry, there has very widespread disappointThe hope that the Common would sumulate lein terpenetration of capital, giving rise to firms like Dunlop.
Pirelli and FIAT-Citröen, has to a large extent failed to materialise. Some new firms of this type have emerged, such a Phillips-Grundig recently. But this is far from being the predominant trend Moreover, there are also as many examples of associations between European firms and American or Japanese multinationals as between 'European' firms themselves.
As regards so-called North-South relations, the EEC has emerged as a neo-colonialist force (the Lome Ac cords, Lebanon, etc).
Finally, in the field of agriculture, integration has run into a total impasse. Nowhere has a North American type agribusiness emerged, with a sphere of activity (production) extending across the territory of several 'national' states. European capitalist agriculture remains confined to relatively small surfaces, even if landholding continues to become more concentrated.