Publication Type:
Journal Article
Source:
Rethinking Marxism, Volume 20, Number 2 (2008)
Abstract:
Benjamin Gerdes & Jennifer Hayashida's "No More Strike Anywhere" presents a historical account of Swedish social democracy and contemporary neoliberalism. Like generations of Marxists before them, Gerdes & Hayashida endeavor to pose questions of history, and of how history is represented. They immerse themselves in concrete history and follow the trajectory of Ivan Krueger, the Swedish Match King. Krueger's personal story is also the history of Swedish social democracy. One version of that history, of walking into the sunshine, of caring for Sweden's own, was emblazoned on the matchboxes themselves. Gerdes and Hayashida present images of another history - of workers' strikes, colonial exploitation, monopoly capital, and the manipulation of credit markets. But, of course, it's not enough to excavate and display evidence of tragedy and scandal, demonstrating that contemporary capitalism is "the fruit of the most barbaric, brutal, and naked use of 'extra-economic' violence." It's also necessary to challenge and change our relationship to past history, to work collectively to locate cracks in existing narratives of economic and social stability, and to allow the new complexities and confusions that emerge to inform our reframing of the present.
