Globalisation and Stagnation

Abstract

It is relatively clear that globalisation, the international spread of capitalist exchange and production relationships, is a very destructive and painful process. The implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will provide some very stark examples over the next several years. In Mexico, peasants are likely to suffer final extinction as a class, as they are driven off the land by competition from large scale U.S. grain producers. In the United States, many workers with relatively low levels of skills and task-specific skills - such as broom makers in Alabama, glass makers in West Virginia, and workers connected to auto production throughout the country - will lose their jobs or see their wages dramatically reduced.