1 IMCWP, Contribution of Lebanese CP

5/22/99, 10:50 AM
  • Lebanon, Lebanese communist party 1imcwp En Asia Communist and workers' parties

GLOBALISATION : ITS CHALLENGES AND OUR RESPONSES 

Dr. Mufid Kuteish
Vice-President of the National Council of
the Lebanese Communist Party 

 

Athenes, May 21-23th
1999 

 

- 1 -

 

Our conference is taking place on the eve of the
third millennium in the situation of major and minor
current dramatic events : the war waged against
Yugoslavia by NATO; the war declared against Iraq;
regional and local conflicts. Despite all possible
arguments and justification of the abovementioned wars as
well as efforts aimed at reshaping the international
public opinion in support of these wars they have
been strongly condemned by the international society.
And that is natural.
The evaluation of these wars and working out of our
position towards these dramatic events can not be to
based on the assessment of the situation made by such
people as Sadaam Hussein or S.Milochevich. The only way to
assess these events is to take into account their nature
in the concrete historical situation."These wars have to
be viewed in a certain historical situation in which they
take place and only then we can work out our attitude
towards them, otherwise we will have not a
materialistic but eclectic interpretation of the question."
It has been generally realised that, what America is
really concerned in Iraq and countries of the Gulf, has
nothing to do with the interests of Kuweit or the security
of the region; similarly, in Kosovo - they are not
guided by the intentions to defend the interests of the
muslim population in the region.
Setting their strategic goals aside, we can claim that
their real intention is to pursue and impose the policy
benefical both for them and their allies : expoitation of
oil in the Gulf region and natural resourses in Kosovo.
These dramatic events are considered to be logical
consequences of the new stage in the capitalist
development at the turn of two millennia , that is
defined as capitalist globalisation and imperialist
unification. These tragic events can be viewed as vivid
examples of what mankind can expect in the third millennium
and where the situation is heading to, particularly after
the announcement made by the NATO
administration that stated the intention of this
organisation to interfere in all regions of the world using
military forces in order to work out local conflicts
without legal permission of international organisations,
i.e. the United Nations. Therefore, in order to
evaluate the present situation and predict the possible
course of events, it is necessary to analyse the essence of
them, to consider the new stage in the world capitalist
system - globalisation - and to reveal the essence of
the economic and political orientation.

 

Research Methodology

 

In the context of the contemporary events in the world
capitalist system announcements about the end of
Marxism and Ideology appear to be empty phrases that can
not satisfy even their authors, "creators". The recent
events have called Marxism to the historical scene and not
the theory of Keynese , as some may suppose, in order
to fulfill certain goals through those devoted
marxists who still support his scientific
methodology : to analyse and investigate the current
economic development and new changes that are taking place
now at the end of the twentieth century , to evaluate these
changes in the framework of Marxism but by means of
up-to-date methods of analysis that facilitate us
with an opportunity to get a general view of the current
events in order to work out new approaches and
perspectives.
In the context of the current developments in the
world capitalist system, globalisation , the role of
Marxism is widely acknowleged not only by communists but
by all honest scientists, politicians who claim that
Marx was the first to state the international character
of the capitalist system in the "Manifecto of the Communist
Party" in 1844.
Why is Marxism so essential nowadays?
As it has been claimed by Stanley Hoffman, President of
European Research Center at Harvord University ,"the
capitalist globalisation and imperialist unification is
a certain type of a reproduction in the international
level of what capitalism has accomplished in a country
taken in isolation"(Sciences Humaines, Paris, 17, p.76).
What we witness nowadays is the process of injection of a
new life in the world capitalist system, transition to a
new stage of its development in the direction of setting up
monopolies on the basis of the law of capital and
industrial concentration in the development of
capitalism, the monopoly stage.
The second stage that brought new changes to the nature
of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th
centuries,was covered by V.I. Lenin who analysed the
monopoly stage taking advantage of Marxist methodology. He
is credited to trace the process of industrial and capital
concentration and centralisation that led to the
springing up of monopolies which dominated the economic
and political policies of capitalist countries at that
time and predetermined the main characteristics of the
stage in question. Analysing the national
liberation movements V.I. Lenin revealed the objective
basis of the interrelation ( intersection ) of national
liberation struggle in dependent countries and struggle
for socialism in capitalist countries, making an important
conclusion that claimed the necessity of international
solidarity against the capital dominance.
The present stage of capitalist system development must be
treated as the direct continuation of the first stage
investigated by Marxism in the 19th century and V.I. Lenin
at the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th centuries. The
present stage is characterised by the following features:

 

transition of the whole world into a single industrial area
without any boundaries with full freedom of movement for
merchandise, workforce , services and capital;
a global capitalist economy aims first of all at extracting
the maximum possible surplus value and amassing capital;
modifications of laws of capitalism in order to readjust
them to new conditions and to deprive the products of its
national character serving the interests of international
capital.

Marx studied the free competition system of capitalism ,
its mechanisms and laws , characteristic of capitalism at
that certain stage in its development, set the historical
limits of the system and its perspectives - transition to
socialism. In short, Marx is credited to discover the
objective causes of the capitalist system dynamism.
The today's discussion of globalisation reminds of the
controversy around the phenomenon of Imperialism at
the beginning of the 20th century , in particular, the
definition that was given to Imperialism as a political
dominance of imperialist nations or as a new economic
phenomenon of that dominance. In other words , a study of
new phenomenon in the scociety at the imperialist stage
, before and after it , has to be carried out from the
economic point of view and not the political one , in
production level and not in the level of exchange and
circulation , which is considered to be a derivative one of
the first two levels.
Therefore , bearing in mind that the capitalist
system has acquired an international character and that
naional markets have integrated into an international one
, a question springs up : What are the new tendencies that
have taken place in the capitalist system and that can
be considered to be the basis of such a new phenomenon
as globalisation.

What has been globalised?

What has been globalised, it is the process of surplus
value and capital extraction, productive forces and
production relations, the tendency of extention of the
system even to places where they do not exist or exist in a
limited range .

 

The Definition of Globalisation and its Characteristics.

 

It is commonly believed that globalisation presupposes
extention of trade exchanges , revolutionary improvements
of communication and information exchange , world
unification for the sake of common solution of global
problems, establishment of multinational corporations and
American hegemonism and so on and so forth . Thus , in the
abovementioned definition of globalisation there is an
obvious confusion between the essence and form of the
phenomenon and conditions of its implementation that
complicates the differentiation of main and surbordinate in
the definition.
In our opinion, globalisation is a new stage in the
development of the world capitalist system, the essence of
which can be defined as the globalisation of surplus value
and capital extraction; integration of production relations
on the international scale , i.e. in the world without
boundaries where a product loses its national distinctions.
The implementation of the abovementioned process is carried
out by the global capital that is represented in numerous
multinational corporations under the control and leadership
of the American capital. This process presupposes
transfer of foreign direct investment, production and
technology to different countries of the world.
This stage is viewed as the logical continuation of the
previous stages in the development of the world capitalist
system. It modifies the action of the laws of
capitalism and its characteristics, sharpening the inner
contradictions of the capitalist system. It is an objective
and logical process of the capitalist development since it
reflects objective interests, natural consequences of the
development of the capitalist contradic- tions and their
new forms at the present historical stage.
The degree of capital and production integration has
achieved a very high level in the form of international
monopolies which have developed into multinational
corporations, that have divided the world economically and
politically in the first part of the 20th century by means
of expoitation of other people such as: trade and financial
relations , capital investments into extractive industry ,
wars , military coup d'etats and so on and so forth . But
what really caused the process of globalisation was the
intention to take certain contractions against the
objective law that states the tendency of surplus value to
decrease . This law is seen by the world bourgeosia as the
only law that can be used as a compass or orientation for
their actions and policy . But despite the stable
development of globalisation , it seems so that these
mechanisms have lost their strength through the structural
and cyclic crises that have been in progress since the
World War II . And consequently, instead of relieving
tensions and solving the acute conflicts, it has sharpened
them .
Hence , the world capitalist system is faced with the
neccessity to work out a new approach to the new objective
circumstances and, apparently, under these conditions of
foreign direct investments of production and technology to
emerging countries is the only way out to maintain , renew
and reinforce the capitalist system .This new policy can
ensure the best possible conditions not only to reduce
production costs but to increase the profit rates as well
. At the same time the biggest part of investments
and production is still concentrated in leading
capitalist centers.
Moreover , globalisation is used as propaganda and a
certain alternative for those developing countries which
made their anticapitalist choice and for former
specialist countries, by means of which the world
capitalist system is trying to win them back and to prove
that those countries have chosen the wrong way and
direction .
Furthermore, the capitalist way and its demands are
presented as the only road , the only right alternative,
the only possible way of their development, deliberately
misleading the people of these countries.
Globalisation is considered to be a stage in the
historical process, the roots of which are in the
objective development of capitalism . As a distinct stage
in the historical process it dated back to the beginning of
the 70ies and has been fostered and strengthened after the
collapse of the USSR and the socialist camp at the
beginning of the 90ies . Theoratically, the process of
globalisation is based on neoliberalism, which has
dominated all trends of bourgeois and pseudosocialist
theories . But nowadays there is a new tendency : the
integrated bourgeois trends attract the socio-democratic
thought , that is proved by the fact that a great number of
socialist governments have taken advantage and implemented
a whole range of bourgeois recommendations in the field of
economy.

Driving forces of globalisation.

 

Each process has its own driving forces .The driving forces
of globalisation are the three leading capitalist
centers: the USA , Europe and Japan, represented by the G7
, multinational corporations , international financial and
trade organisations (IMF,IB,etc), regional organisations (
UE, NAFTA, etc ), the organisations of world trade,
well-known and eminient figures (George Soroce) and the
military block of NATO. G7 countries have schedueled
meetings aimed at discussions and regulation of common and
international issues . It would not be an exaggeration to
say that owing to their economic and military power, the
USA is an undoubtful leader in this block and their
dominance is unquestionable . They are seeking to
reinforce their positions , to ensure , to preserve and to
strengthen their world leadership through penetration
into the zones of their interests.Their ambition is clear
cut, they strive to avert any danger from their policies,
to eliminate all the obstacles in the way of their capital
and goods, introducing and advitising the American way of
life and its values .
Their efforts are aimed at acquiring the position of the
`engineer' of the new world order or of the center of the
world economy . The fact that the USA own 65 percent of
the world information data makes it possible for them to
impose their not only economic and political but cultural
dominance and hegemony in the world as well .
The world globalisation process is being directed by the
leading G7 countries due to their power and dominance
.The G7 control the main part of foreign direct
investments where their share amounts to more than a
trillion dollars , 500 million dollars of which belong to
the USA and Japan . The main part of these investments is
made in the above mentioned countries .
International organisations have been granted the right to
manage and plan the globalisation process , to set up the
terms for other countries to get direct investments ,
credits and financial aids.
Multinational corporations are regarded as a driving force
of the globalisation process in different levels . National
governments are obliged to work out their economic courses
and regulations in support of these corporations and their
policies. Needless to say that it is these countries who
take a desicion how much , when and where certain
investments have to be made , technology and production
have to be developed , goods have to be imported or
exported .
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the rate of the
world globalisation is really great : hundred thousands of
leading companies in capitalist countries are engaged in
the process . It is enough to mention the fact that 40
percent of the world total GDP belongs to the leading 500
corporations . For instance , the quantity sold of General
Motors exceeds the total GDP of such countries taken
together as Switzeland , Pakistan , South Africa. Likewise,
the quantity sold of "Shell" company exceeds the total GDP
of such countries as Iran , Venesuela and Turkey. These 500
corporations control the trade of natural resources
including 90 percent of wheat , coffee , corn , tobacco ,
wood , metals sale; 85 percent of copper sale , 80 percent
of tin sale , 75 percent of banana , rubber and oil sale .
50 percent of American export and 80 percent of UK export
is executed through their companies.
Financial markets are being controlled as well by the 500
above mentioned corporations, which are considered to be an
extremely influential force in the questions of financial
policy-making, as their financial reserves exceed the
total financial reserves of all world central banks taken
together.
Let us turn to statistics. It has been assessed that these
companies' profits reached 10,254 trillion dollars in 1994
, in other words - 40 percent of the world GDP which
amounted to 24 trillion dollars or double the USA GDP. The
profits of the leading corporations were assessed at 147
billion dollars, while 13 Dutch corporations earned 156 bln
dollars of profits in comparison with the total GOP of the
Netherlands - 309 billion dollars. While the GDP of France
was assessed as 1.254 trillion dollars, the profits of
40 French leading companies reached the level of 142
billion dollars.
Futhermore, the GDP of 45 world countries with the total
population of 3.1 billion people was estimated at 350
billion dollars , while the GDP of the leading
corporations is estimated at 68 percent of the world GDP,
and they are distributed in 18 countries of the world that
belong to the group of OCED countries. 428
corporations including 153 in the USA, 155 in the G7 and
141 in Japan are considered to be the most influential
and powerful 428 corporations in the world. The assets of
these corporations were estimated at 32 trillion dollars,
incomes - 324 billion dollars in 1995 taking into account
the level of employment - only 35 million people. ( World
Bank Report On World Development in 1996).
But the real intention of these corporations is to provide
their industries with primary commodities and maintain
their positions in the world markets by means of
establishing branches or subsidiary companies, production
rationalisation and partial production delocalising in
the countries acknowledged for their attractive investing
climate, likewise , as establising new enterprises in
these countries.
All the above mentioned tendencies and trends , aimed at
world globalisation and capitalist utification, have been
united and modified into a new unified world strategy for
these corporations allowing them to become the biggest
world `player' and to extend their production to the
countries that provide high incomes.
Pursuing these goals, the corporations coordinate
their activities , taking advantage of the latest
communication technology; intergrate their factories,
enterprises and subsidiary companies; take into their
possession real assets and part of the capital of the
countries, they have delocalised their production in,
intergrate industrial, trade and financial companies
organising and reshaping the world trade and industrial
system in comparison with which the role of national
governments would be insignificant and diminished.

 

The impact of globalisation on the world capitalist
centers.

 

It is not accidental that the capitalist development has
aggravated and sharpened a great number of problems of
the world character . Thus , the extensive industrial
development and exploitation of natural resources have
caused a real danger of air, water and enviromental
pollution , extinction of natural resources, water and
wood supplies, deforestation and land degradation. In short
, it has caused a severe recources and pollution crisis.
Consequently, the shortage of natural recources and
primary commodities had just aggravated the acute
competition among the leading capitalist countries with the
objective to win these natural resources markets.
Moreover , despite the visible successes achieved by the
leading capitalist countries during the post-war period ,
the conflicts have not dissappeared and have not been
bridged .We would remind you of the crises of the 70ies
,80ies and 90ies .The successful post-war development has
not led to the stable economic growth, that can ensure the
solution of the unemployment problem while the unemployment
level is estimated at 35 mln people in these countries .The
contradictions between labour and capital are still
essential and remind of themselves through frequent
strikes and demonstrations as well as constant increase in
the number of people living under the poverty line .
There is a visible effort here made by capitalists to
reduce production costs by means of neglecting the
implementation of social programmes , ignoring their
social obligations and putting into practice the theory of
labor market flexibility .Though there has been a recent
tendency to reconsider and modify the social policy
pursued by bourgeoisie, but it is done with the only
aim to increase the competitiveness .The conclusion seemed
hard to escape that bourgeoisie intends to solve all the
problems at the expense of people in both of developed
and developing countries. And this is guaranteed by the
world globalisation process.
Recent developments proved that globalisation is
supported by developed countries for the sake of benefits
it can bring to the countries in question : growth of
direct foreign investments and their transfer abroad with
the objective to penetrate into production, i.e. it implies
that the process of direct investments transfers has been
restructured and modified in favour of developing
countries. It can be backed with recent data : American and
Japanese direct investments into developing countries
production have been doubled lately.
On the other hand , investment transfer presupposes
certain dramatic repercussions : work place restrictions ,
aggravation of unemployment, reduction of peoples'
incomes and lowering of their consumption level even in
capitalist countries themselves. But the problem is that
unemployment is not a temporary phenomenon that can be
dealt with by means of work force delocalisation to other
countries since there are certain objective obstacles that
can upset these measures: the recruitment and payment
conditions in developing countries differ from country to
country.
Thus, the globalised capital strives to fight for cheap
work force penetrating into natural resources and
commodities markets trying to avoid ecological crises .
All these measures help companies to relieve the main
conntradiction by means of extension of its frames ,
sharpening and deepening of exploitation , globalising
not only the crisis of the capitalist system but enlarging
the number of new members of the system as well.
However , the positive effects of globalisation on the
countries with similar level of development can not be
denied . It allows the countries to develop their
productive forces and integrate their economies, what is
considered to be the objective of European Community and
the organisation of NAFTA.

 

In this sense globalisation increases the quantity of goods
exchange , capital exchange among these countries ,
extends the scope of knowledge and conditions for common
solution of international problems .

Impact of globalisation on developing countries.

What are the effects of globalisation on developing
countries? Does it create any favourable conditions to
eliminate the precapitalist relations ? Does it ensure
productive forces development and full resources employment
. Needless to say, that there is a great number of people
who look at it with optimism deeply believing that
globalisation will provide the integration of markets and
unification of lifestyles as well as . However , they do
not take into account a range of factors.The fact, that the
process of unification is being implemented under the
leadership of capital with the only goal to get certain
advantages for capital out of it, should not be
underestimated . Globalisation for developing countries
has a unique meaning : the end of the epoch of aid ,
support and concessions, the bulk part of which has been
made for the sake of support of certain forces that were in
opposition to socialist trends.
The policy of support is recommended to be substituted at
the present stage by creation of the investment climate
that can attract overseas investments. It presupposes
taking certain steps :
~ introducing suitable regulations ;
~ annulation of profit taxes;
~ liquidation of obstacles in the way of income transfer
abroad ;
~ capital circulation;
~ provision of cheap workforce that lacks legal defence ;
~ suitable infrastructure and know how .
All the above mentioned measures form a set of stimuli for
capital dominance with a limited and reduced role of
national governments . Needless to say, that provision of
all these conditions does not exert any pressure or
impose any obligations on foreign investments . It is the
globalised capital that will determine and monitor the
investment quantity and the fields of investments.
Consequently , these measures and the world globalised
policy serve the interests of capital and have nothing to
do with the national economic structure of the country
where the investments are implemented, therefore the
invested sector will be closely related to the foreign
company and its subsidiary affiliations abroad that make
these investments, and will cause further disintegration
of the country economy receiving the investments.
As a result, any successful enterprises can be confiscated
by means of purchase , integration or reconstruction . In
this sense the impact of world globalisation on
developing countries is the following :
~ multinational corporations intervenion in the economies
of economically backward
countries ;
~ annulation of the government role in the field of
economic policy ;
~ recolonisation of economically backward countries by
leading capitalist countries ;
~ confiscation of real assets that reminds us of the
history of primary capital accumulation
~disregard of independence and sovereignty of developing
countries depriving them of their rights either in home or
foreign policies , restriction of their right on
autodetermination that clearly demonstrates antidemocratic
character of globalisation ;
~aggravation of inner political and social situation
,deepening of marginasation of social groups .
~transformation of the owners of production means into
appointed agents, representatives of the globalised capital
, transforming most of them into wage earners , increasing
of social distinctions and poverty .
Consequently , globalisation can not guarantee real
development for these countries that enables them to
mobilise their resources with the objective to build a
national economy on a stable basis .
Through globalisation can have positive effects on their
economy in certain circumstances such as production means
development , establishment of an access to modern
technology and information , globalisation puts these
countries in a dependent state to leading capitalist
states and restricts their ability to take advantage of
international economic relations . As a consequence ,
globalisation will be the source of pessimism and tension
that can lead to sharp social and national explosions.
Aimed at implementation of its goals in the countries in
question, capital is well "equipped" and takes advantage of
the following instruments:
~ using international organisations and establishments in
order to impose their will on national governments (through
financial terms and legal regulations including the policy
of promises, threats, isolation and sanctions);
~ shaping social opinion within these countries in support
of their course by means of propaganda and persuasion of
people in the fact that the course chosen by them will
never give any positive results.
In other words, propaganda in support of globalisation
presupposes reshaping of national mentality, injecting in
it new alien images, ways of conduct, values, ideas and
needs. In short, it can be classified as mental
colonisation of people in developing countries. What we
witness nowadays is mental colonisation executed by West
and American culture through powerful means of satellite
transmission and Internet;
~ improving transmission technology in order to make
information exchange easier and more efficient as well as
further development of marketing and management;
~ direct intervention into inner affairs of countries by
means of military coup-d'etats, military interventions
aimed at establishing conditions in favour of globalised
capital under the pretext of safeguarding people's civil
rights, rights of ethnic minorities, terorism threat and
etc. Recent events in Iraq and Yugoslavia can serve as
vivid examples of direct intervention into inner affairs.
As it has been revealed, it was NATO (an establishment of a
civilized world ) that took the ultimate decision to
follow this aggressive course under the leadership of the
USA, that has the right to make the last decision owing to
its dominance in the world after they have turned Europe
into submissive executive of their plans, irrespectively of
the fact who is in power in these countries.
The conclusion seems difficult to escape that the ruling
circles of the USA and their West allies present a real
danger to the future of mankind as it is the only power in
the world that is capable of committing the graviest crimes
against the peoples of the world.

 

The contradictions of globalisation.

 

Globalisation as a natural and objective phenomenon, as an
objective consequence of capital movement is characterized
with its own contraditions. Despite the fact that
globalisation due to its positive effects can ensure
further development in this or that country, guarantee
knowledge and information exchange, provide certain mutual
understanding among peoples of the world, it has certain
negative effects, such as deepening of capitalist
polarization and assymetric development among countries
and in each country as well, marginalization of
whole classes, destructive effects on nature and ecology.
At the globalisation stage the production and capital
concentration law is implemented to the world level
where it ensures wealth centralization in the hands of a
limited group of globalised capital owners, subdivision
of the world society into two main classes: a limited
class of production means monopolists and the other that
represents a wide range of people in both developed and
developing countries deprived of production means and
wealth.
Thus, the social character of labour and production has
acquired a new feature - its international scale.
Globalisation aggravates the contraditions in developed
capitalist countries, mainly the contradiction between
labour and capital, as a result, additional difficulties
caused by partial capital and production transfer abroad
that leads to increasing of the unemployment level in
developed capitalist countries.
In the situation of a severe capitalist competition
globalisation sharpens the existing contraditions among
developed capitalist countries and doubles the
intensity of competition among them with the objective
to get access to attractive beneficial investment areas in
the field of production not in natural resources
extracting
production.
As a consequence of globalisation, the economic
situation in developing countries is also experiencing
its negative effects. It worsens the main contradiction in
these countries between the neccessity to implement a
programme of constructive economic and social development
and to overcome social economic backwardness, on the one
hand, and the shortage of resources, on the other hand .
Direct intervention into surplus value production and its
confiscation , as well as confliscation of profitable
enterprises complicates the process of capital accumulation
and other resources neccessary for further development ,
hinders to overcome the old forms of production .
As a result, we can witness the aggrevation of social
contradictions through the following scourges of the
capitalist society : poverty, hunger, unemployment , income
reduction , social conflicts .
Furthermore, the objective of the globalised capital
to weeken and reduce the role of national governments ,
governmental bodies and establishments contradicts and
endangers political independance and national sovereignty
of the country , undermines the basis for the desicion
taking in accordance with the people's interests .
In addition, it shouldnt be underestimated that certain
contradictions spring up from time to time not only among
capitalist countries but among capitalist countries and new
industrial countries or competitors, that have certain
pretentions to join the world economic sysytem and occupy a
certain place in it (China , Russia ,etc.). Needless to
say, that national and religions contradictions are also
deepens and aggravated at the globalisation stage .

 

7. How to deal with globalisation ?

 

The answer to this question can be formed only on the
ground of acceptance of the view of globalisation as an
objective process, as one of the stages in the development
of the capitalist system , the essense of which is world
integration and common access to technology and
information achievements .We are faced with three choices:
to integrate the world capitalist system, to avoid its
negative sides and to oppose, or to make certain profits
out of globalisaion without being trapped .
The first way has been chosen by Russia , former Soviet
Republics and countries of Eastern Europe , but the first
visible results after implementation were disastrous :
right parties lost their power as a result of putting into
practice the recommendations given by IMF that were aimed
at the destruction of inner and foreign economic relations
, state property with the objective to concentrate it in
the hands of a limited group of people.
Russia can serve as the most vivid example of the failure
of the first way . The right circles have destroyed the
economic system, stolen the property and treasures that
have been accumulated for centuries by different
generations, transformed Russia from a highly developed
industrial state into an appendix of the capitalist market
.
Needless to say, that this way of development and
reforms at the transition stage has been suggested to
Russia by Western neo-liberal financial establishments and
institutes .
The second example of the first way can be South-Eastern
and Eastern Asia .Here I would like to confine to South
Korea . This country has succeeded in making benifits out
of globalisation at the first stage of its development
(1960 -1985), owing to external financial aid and cold war
. But the main factor of its success is the active role of
the government in the economic development, where the
economic policy and foreign investments were put at the
service of the national interests . Korea has succeeded in
transforming from a backward agrilicultural country into a
developed industrial one, competitive with the leading
industrial countries .
But the requirements of globalisation that set certain
demands on Korea from the side of Japan and the USA, such
as its markets liberelization, open markets for foreign
capital and goods movement , access of foreign businessmen
, restricted and hindered its development .
Korea was obliged to adhere to the requirements and
fulfill the abovementioned demands at the end of the 80ies
and beginning of the 90ies. Consequently, its markets,
enterprises and companies were taken over by speculators,
as a result of an abrubt fall in the companies share
rates. Thus, Southern Korea has been trapped by the process
of globalisation and its development has been slowed down.
China that intends to build socialism in a Chinese way
taking advantage of the concept "socialist market
economy"where market plays the main role in resources
distribution process combined with the state monitoring
of the macroeconomic indexes,can serve as example of the
third way of dealing with globalisation, and its demands.
China, being engaged in the process of reforming and
modernizing its economy, demonstrates high growth rates. It
has liberalized the regulations, concerning external
relations and foreign investments, established attractive
investment climate, that guarantees its independence from
international organisations and transinternational
corporations speculations and control both in political and
economic spheres, as a result these corporations have been
involved in am acute competition with the objective to
penetrate into the Chinese market and up till now
approximately 100 million dollars have been invested in
China by them.
In the light of these experiences and experiments, it is
going to be a pure simplification to ask such a question
as: Who is for and who is against globalisation? This
objective process by its logic develops the productive
forces at different rates, accelerates the people's
integration into a common process that creates a basis for
further changes in the organisational forms of capitalist
society and the solution of its contradictions by means of
transition to socialism. But at the same time it leads to
wars, conflicts and social hardships. Hence, we are
supposed to deal with it in such a way that we can take
advantage of its positive sides for the sake of development
of different peoples and countries, restricting its
negative effects, factors and ambitions to establish its
dominance in the world in order to exploit the peoples of
the world.
The implementation of this course is possible in three
levels that are regarded as three integral parts of the
opposition course dictated by the main contradiction of
capitalism at the present stage of its development when the
world society is subdivided into two classes: globalised
capital, on the one hand, and millions of exploited working
people deprived of the right to take advantage of the
labour and production results.
The numerous army of workers, farmers and intelligensia
constitutes a new exponent of progress. In this sense
globalisation widens the frames of the units in three
levels: local, regional and global.
Opposition in the local level presupposes the following
steps:
~ to discover the causes of the problems that lead to
hardships and sufferings in each individual country;
~ to work out constructive ways of combating these
problems;
~to investigate possible ways of taking advantage of
foreign investments .
The abovementioned measures have to fit the national plan
to build a stable and independent economy and its
priorities. Hence, these measures have to be backed by an
appropriete monetary, financial and economic policy from
the side of a government that is supposed to pursue a
policy of national interests instead of a policy in support
of the globolised capital. In this context regional
integration of different countries' economies under the
abovementioned conditions is viewed as beneficial.

 

Moreover, globalisation widens the frames of national
interests that, in its turn, increases the possibility of
new unions among different layers of the society with the
aim to save their countries in new conditions.
The success of opposition to the process of globalisation
presupposes a common regional activity of counteies with
the objective to integrate them as it has taken place in
different regions of the world.
This integrated unions promote and contribute greatly to
the integrative processes and production forces
development, introduce a considerable power that can oppose
the globalised capital, safeguard the national interests of
countries in questions and participate in implementation of
development plans.
On the ground of our perception of the main contradiction
of modern capitalism and capitalist expansion we can claim
the appearance of a more appropriate basis now than ever
before for a wide union that can comprise hundred millions
of people who suffer from hegemony and exploitation of the
globalised capital in both capitalist centers and
developing countries as well.
In contrast to negative effects of globalisation,
internationalisation, as a humane and balanced in its
objectives and means policy, can be considered to be a
positive consequence of this process.
However, globalisation as a whole comprises all the forces
that suffer from barbarism of the globalised capital that
increases poverty and hardships, endangers nature and
ecology, threatens to destroy all the achievements the
mankind has made in the course of its history.
There is a new historical stage in the course of the
struggle nowadays, as neo-liberal globalised capitalism
forces the main part of mankind to live on the edge of
poverty, in the situation of insecurity and anxiety.
But the results of the progress and accumulated knowledge
should not be put at service to a limited group of greedy
elite that threatens to destroy both man and nature.
It is high time we raised our heads after a temporary
defeat, we proceeded with our struggle to change the course
of the history.
It is high time we opposed the power of globalised capital.
It is today that we need more than ever solidarity among
the peoples of the world, mainly among active forces in the
communist vanguard to oppose the neo-liberal capitalism and
its destructive plans.
It is time we consolidated to establish a globalisation of
another type - new revolutionary, humane and democratic
internationalism that can draw lessons from the past
experience.