Dominion of Capital: The Politics of Big Business and the Crisis of the Canadian Bourgeoisie, 1914-1947

[Don Nerbas] accepts the view that, in the National Policy period, Canada's eco- nomic and political structure was geared to western settlement and the export of staple products to Europe. The end of the wheat boom followed by the col- lapse of export markets during the Great Depression exposed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Labour (Halifax) 2014, Vol.74 (74), p.353-354
Main Author: Grant, Hugh
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Big business
Biographies
Bourgeoisie
Business
Canada
Capital
Capitalism
Collective bargaining
Dunning, Charles
Entrepreneurs
Great Depression
Middle class
Nerbas, Don
Nonfiction
Politics
REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS
Robinson, Howard P
World War II
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Summary:[Don Nerbas] accepts the view that, in the National Policy period, Canada's eco- nomic and political structure was geared to western settlement and the export of staple products to Europe. The end of the wheat boom followed by the col- lapse of export markets during the Great Depression exposed the fragility, if not the illusion, of the national economy. What ensued was a not just a crisis in accu- mulation, but a "crisis in legitimacy." The search for solutions is largely an account of the failure of capitalists to act as a co- herent class. Despite a shared "mentalité," interlocking corporate directorships, and the social networks of the Mount Royal or St. James Club, they lacked the capac- ity to act collectively in order to establish the conditions for a new regime of accu- mulation. [Howard P. Robinson]'s deeply conservative ideology prevented him from perceiving a broader role of the state in supporting private capital; [Charles Dunning], as minister of finance, proved incapable of responding to the collapse in aggregate demand and was only reluctantly cajoled into present- ing Canada's first Keynesian-inspired budget in 1939; [Edward Beatty] did not supersede the earlier identification of state action with support of the railways, nor did he comprehend the need to redefine the role of transportation infrastructure in a re- arranged economy; and McLaughlin's parochialism and paternalism, exhibited in his resistance of industrial unionism, contributed to the historic 1937 auto- workers' strike.
ISSN:0700-3862
1911-4842