| Easter- cerns for them. wolved. The most stunning NEB reh 1978 profit of 49 per ly which ures in duce is DEE LEI sation - who gains?
Fairey bankruptcy by a total NER engineering — rescued from takeover, and now showing pre-tax profits of $5.2 million.
A return on cupital of 26.6 per cent is a gift horse the private sector won look. in the mouth.
The Tories of course say that these will be best ron in privule hands unyway. that were true the Government would not have been pouring money into them via the NEB in the first place.
State investment used because the wealthy privule investors were either unprepared to luke risks or didn't see emough retums.
1976 averaged 3.5 per cent in the British economy as a whole well below point the industrial cycle in 1970, That's why the investors are not investing.
weulthy possibly be Inclined take-over those compunies that ure now fit and well after massive Injections, let if there is no firm guarantee of retures forthcomingFavour H Even in the case of ICL, the computer firm, anotber NEB Involvement which recorded increase in profits in 1938, the massive needed over the years may put off the private sector despite healthy stute profitability When the Tories get round to half the low other Industries — sections of shiphuilding, steel or the previous telecommunications side of the Post Office - they will he only foe aware that doing big business might depends to triesiness sees it as a favour.
example is the compete with its main rivals. immediate protit.
Nationalisation capitalist solution. First, massive investrnent returns in if for them.
Second, investment promised to former owners market sabotage did carry out, By the 1960s, Japanese steel had been rebuilt about scoel it, but merely compensation for the owners They government jobs year with 200,000 workers - Per cent Investment next few private industry its current been the second industries desationalising machinery acoess to Britain. whether big capitalist rationalisation. NATIONALISATION in Britain has always been used to aid private capitalist industry. rather than as a step towards socialism. A prime British steel industry nationalised and denationalised according to how it benefited private ownership.
Britain's domination of the world markets was broken by the First World War. Since then the British steel industry has been unable to The latter had better and more advanced technology, concentrated in large units, while Britain's much carlier development meant that massive investment and re-organisation to concentrate resources was needed.
With the depression of the 1930s, however, the owners of British steel did the opposite They banded together to tix a common price foi steel sales, and lobbied to win a tariff on cheaper foreign imports. Attempts to introduce new technology were resisted in the interests of could provide a pro because the state would be in the best position to fork out the needed, whereas private capital feared the risk or saw insufficient because the necessary reorganisation could then take place without being blocked by the steel owners. Unwilling to sec change lest they were the ones who lost out. they could be guaranteed a safe return on through the compensation But in 1945, when the Labour government came to nationalise the industry, the war had remporarily cased the situation for the steel employers. German and Japanese industry had been severely weakened, and the sleel owners were not going to give up the short-term profits which this offered them on the open world So the owners' federacion orpanised to Labours's nationalisation, and refused the ron and Steel Corporation ans co-operation — even technical advice The Minister of Supply was forced to admit in the House of Commons that these people (the employers) decided to threaten, and indeed La political strike. there is concerted action by a tumber of pepple for thi specitic purpose of sabocagine of When the Tories canie to pffice in 1951, a year atler nationalisation, there as no attack on the stect employers for defyleg an Act of Pariansent, Steel was simply des itionalised.
nonsever. and tain using the mose advanced lechnology at production methods. The basic problem had te surfaced, It was clear that private capital could not resolve it, and that things could not go on as they weie.
So when the 1964 Labour governmenr set nationa lisation the Tories and employers did not go out of their way to prevent pressed to get the best also managed to ensure that the profitable sectors were not inciuded, Much of the specialist stecl production. and engineering processing was left in private hands Under nationalisation the steel industry has been run with twe main objectives in mind. The first has been to boost productivity and cut Thus the Benson report of 1965 set a 10-yea larget of producing 35 million tons of steel:
nine million tons more, with 116,000 workers less, than • *965 The idea was to put British steel bac TiLS foct in the long term, so that even if a return to private ownership wasn't viable, it could a cast provide a cheap and dependable service lo Acting as a buffer to privare industry has objective. the engineering, shipbuilding and machine tool low steel prices can encourage investment in new equipment and So BSC prices to the private sector have bee kept down, whilst import restrictions bave been bified to allow cheaper foreign products easier Nationalisation in steel so far has not been a step towards socialist planning but a stage in Socialist Challenge 14 June 1979