Re: <nettime> Managerial capitalism?

[Örsan Şenalp <orsan1234@gmail.com>]

     The point of all good debate is to thrash out understandings,
     misunderstandings and counter-understandings, until some sharable
     form of clarity emerges.

   Brian thanks for your thoughtful response. My previous email is not
   really based on a worked out but on informed intuitions. Informed
   by the new class theory in Bogdanov and Bukharin -I didn't read
   what Trotsky wrote on the topic but am sure Burnham had read it,
   then I read Gramsci and his reading of Machiavelli and modern
   Machiavellians, especially Mosca.

   The fact that since 19th cc. this class has been in formation.
   Revolutionary leaps in science and philosophy, was the accumulation
   of 'capital' of this class, called knowledge. I seriously think,
   managerial science (cybernetics+GST+operations research units [and
   Burnham's role in the re-organisation of OSS into modern CIA was
   not a coincidence] has emerged in the hands of conscious class
   agency of future 'managerialism', consisted of certain fractional
   divisions some were close to social-democratic ideas (in line with
   Dewey, Bertallanfy, Wiener, Von Neumann, Von Forester etc.), some
   to anarcho-capitalism (Misses, Hayek, Friedman, Rand etc.) and some
   others even envisaged a full-fledged alternative for the aftermath
   of capitalism. So, if in managerial capitalism managerials are
   subordinate to capitalists, this needs to be reversed.

   Fascism and Nazism may be the version of state-capitalism that came
   closest to managerialism as another (worse) system. After their
   defeat in 1945, but also subsuming many minds running away from
   fascism and Nazism (also ex-nazi and fascist scientists runaways)
   the really existing managerial revolution arrived in the 50s and
   60s. In a sense, corporate-liberalism in the West, USSR and China,
   and NIEO were versions of 'managerial capitalisms' in variety and
   their competition dominated the world. In all these variations
   yet managerials subordinated to productive capital -filling key
   functions in line with Keynesian, socialist, and third worldists
   ideologies.

   With the emergence of mass media, computer systems, behaviourism,
   TNCs, etc. we had Peter Drucker's, Henry Kissengers, Alvin
   Toffler's, and those who manage and serve to IMF, WB, OECD sort
   of bodies, as well as states and corporations. These segments of
   managerials, top managerials, had a deal with Hayek-Friedman-Coase,
   who aligned with the vision and interest of the money-capital
   fraction which was hibernated between 1920s and 70s. Formulation
   made of neoliberalism did eliminated or undermined the broader
   class base of managerials, in favour of a fusion between top
   managers and top money capitalist. Years when Rockefellar studies
   at LSE, and forms Club of Rome -as monarchs willingly turned to
   bourgeoisie in 17th 18th century we have now capitalist dynasties
   being raised as managerial. Also as a counter strategy to not to
   lose whole control to professional cadre of CEOs and top managers.


   So, rise of global market, liberalisation, good governance, collapse of
   class compromise, flexibilisation, internationalisation of production,
   ICT revolution, post-modernism, so on so forth. The rise of 'Empire'
   was a thrust to unify economic, political and military power in the
   hands of this class fusion of capitalist managers and it was in expanse
   of subordination of entire global production -first to finance/money
   capital; then the production and finance got subordinated to algorithms
   and data. The control was taken over, by money-dealing a specific
   segment of the class agency of money capital, based in Wall Street and
   the City. Such class is tearing apart all consensus base and triggering
   reactionary regression, calling for corrective war that will finish all
   the wars.

   As you say, China being closest to managerial capitalism and being
   the new hegemoni is not a good sign. Since it pushes all system to
   that direction. Climate change and other earth-systemic problems
   strengthen the hand of complexity managers so on. Some segments
   of managerial feel ease in aligning with fascist option. Putin's
   Russia represents a similar form, as Tayyip's Turkey. The system
   dynamics pushes even EU, after UK to that direction. In all cases,
   economic political and military power is being totalled in limited
   class of people, and it looks like big data, silicon valley, IoT,
   is not there to reverse these tendencies but enforcing them.

   As I said, these can be illusionary since I did not work through
   all these, instead as I said it is an informed intuition.
   Getting feedback from and debating it Brian is one of the best
   opportunities one might have to think these stuff through. So
   thanks for that.

   Best,   
   Orsan

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