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I discovered Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century (Penguin 2008) in Spring 2011, less than a year after the August 2010 untimely death of Tony Judt. Remarkably, Judt’s book is crafted around essays written over a 12 year period at the invitation of a journal or newspaper editor. The subjects are varied moving from French Marxists to American foreign policy and Kissinger, from the economics of globalization to the memory of evil, from the politics of Belgium to those of Israel. Yet the book has a thoughtful shape thanks to a good introduction and concluding envoi. In his introduction Judt reveals his interest in the role of the State as the world rushes into economic globalization and mass communication. In the first of four parts of his book, Judt considers intellectuals and their ideas. He views intellectuals as important and their loss with the 20th century a major loss. His reflections contains several essays about intellectuals and their biographies: Koestler, Levi, Sperber, Arendt and the issues of totalitarianism and evil, Camus and issues of peace, Althusser, Hobsbawn, Kolekowski - Marxist sympathisers and a Marxist critic who has experienced life under communism. Judt adds a critical reflection on the thoughts of Pope John Paul whose period introduced major change to the Catholic world and he adds a supportive reflection about Edward Said who was a commentator on the crisis in the Middle East, the Palestinians and Israel. The middle of the book is more histories and political commentaries, often using a book Judt had been asked to review as a springboard for his own reflections, supportive or critical. The Chapter on the Fall of France reveals a weighing of how a swift German invasion succeeded when it was not anticipated nor certain at the time. The next chapter reflects on a contemporary France and its pasts. A chapter on Britain follows. Judt is critical of the politics of Tony Blair and new labour. There are informative reflective chapters on Belgium and Romania, then one on Israel’s 6-day war which Judt views as a disaster over the long term. This section of the book ends with a forthright, penetrating and damning analysis of Israel “The Country which wouldn’t grow up” – a remarkable fearless piece of thinking from a Jew, proud of his heritage. The final section brings chapters which analyse American politics and society. There is an insightful piece on Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis. A chapter on Henry Kissinger is a thoughtful but brutal and effective critique of the pragmatic lone wolf player who was a central figure in his time. There is a critique of the triumphalistic US mainstream thinking on the end of the Cold War. An essay presents a scathing attack on American academics and thinkers who failed to criticize the Bush excesses and his war in Iraq. There is a thoughtful essay comparing and contrasting Europe and the US as the good society. Then we turn to the parting reflection – the envoi. The town Longwy, erstwhile centre for iron and steel in industrial northern Lorraine is changed. The town is quiet and deserted with no work for the sons of the former steel workers. Wives and daughters have part time work. The town has counterparts across Europe. Judt shows how a long time union town with a communist deputy, has turned to the right wing national front. Regions which were socialist are now far right supporters. The neo-fascist program is one big scream against immigrants, unemployment, crime and insecurity, at “Europe” and at “them.” The Europe debate readily becomes security, stability and protection versus vulnerability and change directed against globalisation and the hegemony of the anglo-american model of minimized state and maximized profit – la pensee unique. Judt shows that the mantra of global market forces assumes too much. Growth is slowing in Asia – and must because increasing labour and resource inputs are not sustainable anywhere. Wages in S Korea were close to 2/3 of German wages January 1997. Some countries in Europe have lower wages. Even if global market forces were the problem, the European problems are more than economic. Finding jobs for unemployed is not a solution. Britain has done best at creating jobs, yet has 22% of the population below the poverty line. Judt sees the problem as les exclus – the excluded – people who left the workforce or never joined and who never quite belong to the national community. “Such people – whether single parents, part-time or short-time workers, immigrants, unskilled adolescents, or prematurely or forcibly retired manual workers – cannot live decently, participate in the culture of their local or national community, or offer their children prospects better than their own.” These are the losers who are vulnerable “above all because they have lost the work related forms of institutional solidarity that once characterized the exploited industrial proletariat.” They cannot readily go elsewhere to find work and if they did they would be exclus somewhere else. Labour cannot be separated from its owner who is not just a worker, but a member of one or more communities, a resident, a citizen, a national. True, labour is potentially mobile. But it is unrealistic to expect people to change work skills and home every time global market forces dictate it. Time is critical. Social changes take time. Here Judt turns to the comparable “Social Question” of the mid 19th century to show how we have a stable combination of market economies, pre-capitalist social relations and moral expectations, and interventionist states. Judt considers states bad economic actors, and concedes that over-powerful states tend to “eat their children.” He concludes that some form of liberalism that maximises freedoms in every sphere of life is the only option. He also concludes that beyond the principle of maximizing freedoms, no other single rule or set of rules and principles offers a universal formula for every state. The role of the state varies from US, to Britain and to European states. Recent
criticisms
of the state
notwithstanding, Judt suggests that only
the state can provide the
services and
conditions through which its citizens may
aspire to lead a good and
fulfilling
life. Only the state can distinguish
between what is to be provided in
good
times and what must goods and services are
basic and must be provided
to
everyone in all circumstances. In a world
of global markets and global
forces
the state now serves as an intermediary –
“standing between its
citizens and
the unrestricted, unregulated
unlegitimated capacities of markets,
insensitive
and unresponsive supranational
administrations and processes” over
which
individuals and their communities have no
control. Judt
points out that social and political
stability are important economic variables
and a crucial local asset
whatever
its economic behaviour. The losers in
today’s economy have the most
interest in
and need for the state. The political Left
is most motivated to capture
this
support so its afflictions are of concern.
Since the late 18th century the Left has been the bearer of a project – march of progress, preparation of revolution, cause of a class – and so has invoked history on its behalf. Since the end of the industrial proletariat and the end of the USSR the Left has no agent, story or master narrative for its endeavours. In putting his finger on this Judt is surely correct. Moreover, since the thing most protested is the damage wrought by economic change, to be on the left is to be conservative – something not alien to trade unions from the time of the French revolution. Not all Judt’s suggestions for rethinking policy are compelling. But he is wise to suggest the Left should come clean about why former links to Marxist thinking had to be broken and why the Left’s earlier tendency of favouring power over freedom was abandoned. He is also correct to reinforce the fact that the problem of les exclus is not a fringe problem but the central social issue to be addressed. This leads Judt to conclude the State must incorporate the consequences of economic change rather than provide minimal compensation. A strong public service sector is crucial in areas which the state is best equipped to provide or where economic efficiency is not the best criterion for performance, like health, education, transportation. The state still has a say about how economic growth developed in private hands might be distributed so that principles for this could be helpful. Judt ends recalling that the 19th century reformers learned that the Social Question, if not addressed, goes in search of more radical solutions. For
me,
some additions need to be
made to this envoi. The
20th
century for the first time produced a
universal moral code, the
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights against which
all states and other actors
could be
measured. Further, this code was
translated into international legal
treaty forms
which are suitable for court
implementation. Indeed international
courts of
human rights are adjudicating cases beyond
the state level and
interntional
human rights bodies are pronouncing on the
unacceptable nature of some
economic
results and are setting some limits on
economic activities. This of
course has
some impact on les exclus
from an
international level. The Left should see
the quest of international
human
rights as in part a substitute for its
lost historical narrative.
Indeed,
some of les exclus, the
immigrants
and some minorities, are groups whose
needs are being reported as loss
of human rights. The
other exclus should be
addressed for enjoyment of their
rights in equality. The
20th
century also produced
nuclear weapons and the Japanese
experienced their use. The potential
for annihilation
of the species is an issue which deserves
a high place on a policy list
for the
Left. Nuclear disarmament needs to be
completed in the 21st century. The
end of the 20th
century brought to the fore the issue of
sustainability of the global
environment for life. The industiral and
post industrial economic
activities have centred around drawing on
key non-replaceable resources for unclean
and dangerous energy. I refer
to oil and
uranium. The Left in the 21st century can
use the state as an
instrument for promoting sustainable
economies. A sustainable
economy quest fits within a wider
historical narrative of
survival of the species. It also offers
potential ways to
allow
local economic actors to create wealth
without siphoning money into
oil rich states. Finally, the world is heading towards a levelling of population by the mid 21st century. Some creative thinking is due about how a just and sustainable economy might work in such circumstances of zero population growth. Top Click:  |