
A Class Against Itself
Power and the Nationalisation of the British Steel Industry
Doug McEachern(Author)
Cambridge University Press
1st Edition
Published on 4. March 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-0-521-13546-7 (ISBN)
Description
This study of the complicated disputes between 1945 and 1970 over the nationalisation of the British steel industry offers original insights into the distribution and exercise of power in a capitalist state. It examines in detail the ways in which the views of different classes and pressure groups in society were reflected in the history of steel nationalisation, and shows that the issue of nationalisation brought out inherent conflicts within the capitalist class. This class opposed the Labour governments' attempts to nationalise steel, but Doug McEachern shows that those attempts were in fact securing, perhaps unwittingly, the interests of capital. In this sense the opposition of capital to nationalisation made it a class arguing against itself, against its own long-term interests. Unlike many other studies of either power or the state, this analysis is based on the sustained assessment of the complex issues involved in a long-drawn out dispute about a policy of real social significance.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
396 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-13546-7 (9780521135467)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/1980
Cambridge University Press
€30.95
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Previous edition
Book
10/1980
Cambridge University Press
€30.95
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Content
Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Problems in the analysis of power; 2. State theory and the question of class interests; 3. The steel industry 1919-1945; 4. The first nationalisation of steel: conflicting proposals; 5. Steel nationalised and the role of power; 6. The denationalisation of steel; 7. Power in the period of public supervision; 8. The renationalisation of steel; Conclusion: Government action and the power of private capital; Notes; Bibliography; Index.