Preface
When this book is released in English by Pluto Press in the spring of
1999, it will have already appeared in six other languages: French,
Dutch, Spanish, German, Turkish and Greek. For a book that does not
hide its hostility to the neo-liberal project, this in itself is a sign of
renewed interest in global alternatives to mainstream thinking.
Meetings have been organised to launch the book in a number of
countries in Latin America, Africa and Europe. The meetings have
provided an opportunity to test the validity of the book's main
arguments. The results have been encouraging. As a result of the
exchange organised around the proposals advanced in chapter 17,
these proposals will be reworked in line with the thoughtful criticisms
and additions I have received.
A number of significant events have taken place since the book was
completed in May 1998. They provide the raw material necessary for
fine-tuning the book's main theses.
A GLOBAL AND SYSTEMIC CRISIS
In a number of key countries around the world, we have seen either
outright drops in production and consumption or significant drops in
their rate of growth.
The term 'systemic crisis' is fitting in so far as the economic strategy
of a number of big states, large private financial institutions and
industrial multinationals has been unsettled - due to the growing
number of sources of imbalance and uncertainty in the world
economic situation.
From the very start, the capitalist system has gone through a large
number of generalised crises. On occasion, its very survival was in
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