[URPE] RADICAL ECON - RADICAL LABOR CONF

Wed Aug 31 13:38:09 MDT 2005

Conference on Radical Economics in the 20th Century: Radical Economics
and the Labor Movement

Call for Participants

September 15-17, 2005 
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A.

CELEBRATING THE 100 ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE INDUSTRIAL
WORKERS OF THE WORLD

To commemorate the anniversary, Fred Lee and Jon Bekken in conjunction
with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) are hosting the
conference on radical economics. The Conference theme is the role of
radical economics in the labor movement in the United States and around
the world. Radical economics includes but is not restricted to
anarchism, Marxism, syndicalism, radical Institutionalism, left-wing
Keynesianism, and plain old-fashion radical economics. Topics covered
include syndicalism past and present, local organizing education,
radical economics and democracy, industrial relations, labor, and Latin
American workers, the economics of the IWW, and Sraffa and organized
labor. There will also be a session on radical economics and the IWW in
song and theater; and if possible a tour of labor struggles in Kansas
City. Come participate in a conference that occurs only once every 100
years. 

PROGRAM

September 15, 2005

9.00 - 4.00                  Registration

9.30 - 9.45                  Welcome to the Conference

                                    Conference Organizers

Frederic S. Lee (University of Missouri-Kansas City and 

Jon Bekken (Albright College and editor of the Industrial Worker)

9.45 - 11.15                Session 1        Syndicalism Past and
Present

                                    Chairperson:     Fred Lee
(University of Missouri-Kansas City)

            Noel Thompson (University of Wales, Swansea), "Senex, The
Pioneer and the 

Birth of Syndicalist Political Economy"

            Erik Hetzner, "The Early Structure of the IWW,
Centralization, and the Debate on 

Syndicalism"

            Jon Bekken (Albright College and editor of the Industrial
Worker), "Kropotkin, 

Anarchist Communism, Anarchist Economics, and the Workers' Movements of
the Late 19th Century"

11.15 - 11.30              Tea/Coffee/Juice Break

11.15 - 12.45              Session 2        Radical Economics and Labor
in the 20th 

Century

                                    Chair person:    Fred Lee
(University of Missouri-Kansas City)

Dirk Philipsen (Virginia State University), "Struggles for Economic
Democracy"

Eugene Plawiuk, "The Administration of Things:  20th Century North
American 

Economic Models for a Post Capitalist Society, Socialist
Industralization, Syndicalism, and Technocracy"

            Jack Ross (National Labor College), "Binary Economics and
the Rediscovery of 

Labor's Heritage:  Syndicalism, Past and Present, and its Significance
for Labor Today"

12.45 - 1.45                Lunch

1.45 - 3.15                  Session 3        Organizing, Education, and
Economics 

Chairperson:     Jon Bekken (Albright College and editor of the
Industrial Worker)

            Peter Donohue (PBI Associates/Portland State University),
"Let a Hundred 

Flowers Bloom:  Union Organizing on Commission"

      Judy Ancel (University of Missouri-Kansas City), "The Regime
Change 2004 

Project"

3.15 - 3.30                  Tea/Coffee/Juice Break

3.30 - 6.00                  Session 4        Labor History in Kansas
City

                                    Chairperson:     Judy Ancel
(University of Missouri-Kansas City)

Slide show, tour of Kansas City labor history ending at the IWW
headquarters in 

the City market, and concluding with a drink at an outdoor bar and then
back to hotels.  Tour is limited to 30 people.  There will be a sign up
sheet.  

September 16, 2005

9.00 - 1.00                  Registration

9.00 - 10.30                Session 5        Radical Economics,
Galbraith, and Industrial 

Relations

Chairperson:     John Marangos (Colorado State University)      

            Jim Crutchfield, "The Purpose of Radical Economics"

            Ric McIntyre (University of Rhode Island) and Michael
Hillard (University of 

Southern Maine), "A Radical Critique and Alternative to U.S. Industrial
Relations Theory and Practice"

            Spencer Pack (Connecticut College), "J. K. Galbraith's New
Industrial State 40 

Years Later:  A Radical Perspective"

10.30 - 10.45              Tea/Coffee/Juiced Break

10.45 - 12.00              Session 6        Radical Economic Theory and
Labor

                                    Chairperson:     Mathew Forstater
(University of Missouri-Kansas City)

Charles Reitz (Kansas City Kansas Community College) and Steve Spartan 

(Kansas City Kansas Community College), "Workforce Remuneration and
Wealth:  Observations on the Origins and Outcomes of Inequality"

            David Kristjanson-Gural (Bucknell University),
"Overdetermination and Class:  

Postmodern Contribution to Marxian Economics"

12.00 - 1.00                Lunch

1.00 - 2.45                  Session 7        Radical Economics and
Labor

Chairperson:     Jon Bekken (Albright College and editor of the
Industrial Worker)

            John Marangos (Colorado State University), "Labor during
Transition:  A Radical 

Institutional Approach"

Claude Pottier (University of Paris 10), "Offshoring Production and
Global Labor Arbitrage : a Major Element of the Neoliberal Regime"

2.45 - 3.00                  Tea/Coffee/Juice Break

3.00 - 4.45                  Session 8        Radical Economics and
Latin American 

Workers         

                                    Chairperson:     Ric McIntyre
(University of Rhode Island)

            Tsuyoshi Yasuhara (Nanzan University), "The Possibility of
Micro Finances in 

Latin America:  The Financial Intermediaries for Lower Income Households
and Micro Size Enterprises"

            Maria Alejandra Caporale Madi (State University of
Campinas), Jose Ricardo 

Barbosa Goncalves (State University of Campinas), and Dari Klein (State
University of Campinas), "Financialization and Employability:  The
Impacts on Bank Workers' Union Movement in Brazil (1994 - 2003)

      Enrico Marcelli (University of Massachusetts Boston), "Culture,
Community, and 

Organizing Unauthorized Mexican Immigrants in California: Wobbly
Lessons."

6.30 -                           Dinner (at Aixois which is at 55th and
Brookside)

September 17, 2005

9.00 - 10.30                Session 9        Radical Economics, Labor,
and Fighting over 

the Wage Share

                                    Chairperson:     Spencer Pack
(Connecticut College)

Tony Aspromourgos (University of Sydney), "Economic Science and the
Left: 

Thoughts on Sraffa's System and the Efficacy of Organized Labour"

Frederic Lee (University of Missouri-Kansas City), "The Economics of the
IWW:  

Job Control and Revolution"

            Mathew Forstater (University of Missouri-Kansas City), "Is
There an Anarchist 

Economics?"

10.30 - 10.45              Tea/Coffee/Juice Break

10.45 - 12.00              Session 10      Roundtable Discussion:
Relationship between 

Radical Economics and Economists and the Labor Movement in the 21st
Century

Chairperson:     Jon Bekken (Albright College and editor of the
Industrial Worker)

Registration forms attached.

Website for more information:  http://cas.umkc.edu/econ/iwwconf/

Fred Lee

Is a Professor of Economics at University of Missouri-Kansas City and a
long-standing member of the IWW.  He was instrumental in retrieving Joe
Hill's ashes from the National Archives in 1988.

Jon Bekken

Is an Associate Professor in Communications at Albright College and a
long-standing member of the IWW.  He is currently the editor of the
Industrial Worker, the official newspaper of the IWW.

Fred Lee

Professor Frederic S. Lee

Department of Economics

University of Missouri-Kansas City

5100 Rockhill Road

Kansas City, Missouri  64110

USA

E-mail:  leefs at umkc.edu

Book Series Editor of "Advances in Heterodox Economics"

For Heterodox Economics on the Web see 
http://www.orgs.bucknell.edu/afee/hetecon.htm

For Archive of E-mails of Interest to Heterodox Economists, see the web
site of the Association for Heterodox Economics:  
http://www.hetecon.com. 

For Heterodox Economics Newsletter: http://l.web.umkc.edu/leefs/htn.htm