Revolutionary Prophet
It had to come. The logical counter to revolutionary Socialism has been launched—“revolutionary capitalism.” Its arrival in Britain was announced by Dr. Khalil Osman Mahmoud who styles himself the most successful private industrialist in the Middle East. In spite of the “revolutionary” label, he affectionately retains certain features of what we suppose must now be called old-fashioned capitalism. For example he made the announcement "from the headquarters of his company, Gulf International, above Christian Dior’s plush London establishment in the heart of Mayfair.” As a partner in Gulf International, he, and his “revolutionary” associates, decided some years ago to enlarge the empire and contacted the equally "revolutionary” Lonrho Group. Readers will recall that so revolutionary was this company that a Conservative Prime Minister (Mr. Heath), described certain of its practices as representing “the unacceptable face of capitalism,” however, that is one of the prices of success. The link was made with the Lonrho chief, Tiny Rowland after certain basic facts had been established.
We smelled this was a man who could produce. We watched him for three years before we did a single deal with him. Now we never stop buying Lonrho shares—34m. at last count.Sunday Times, 15th August 76
At the beginning of September, Lonrho industrial shares were quoted on the stock market at 64p each which would value the shareholding in the region of £22m. The uninitiated may be excused for thinking that Dr. Osman—who incidentally is now a Lonrho director—is just an old-fashioned capitalist after all. Where does the revolution come in?
That Certain Smile
Oh, but it does. Following Lonrho’s acquisition of the bankrupt Brentford Nylon Group, Dr. Osman underwent a unique experience and visited the newly completed Newcastle nylon factory. He expanded on the object of his trip:
To bridge the gap between workers and management from the start and to show “revolutionary capitalism” in practice. Dr. Osman’s first visit was to the union office. “I had the day of my life. I met the workers and managers. It was the first time I had met the working people of Britain. I said to them Let us all pray for the man who built this factory but could not complete it.”
It seems sincerity pays off in the end. After prayers for the dearly departed, some philosophy.
“A businessman lives to get pleasure from the smile of his working people. I got it that day in Newcastle. I went back to London and next day I met with my colleagues. I told them, we can do lots more with this factory and with people like this. If a businessman is not interested in that smile, if he goes off and spends his time on the Riviera, he’s finished.”
This is something new: Up to now the owners have lived to get surplus value from their workers. Clearly the £22m. which Osman has so far accumulated off the backs of his workers has been more by accident than design. These workers may have been smiling, the owners are positively rubbing their hands together.
Busy Doing Nothing
An American professor of neurological surgery and psychology recently concluded after a year’s research that the size of a woman’s bust influences her chances of getting lifts while hitchhiking. Fascinating stuff, and more could be on the way. Messrs. Heidrick and Struggles, an American “headhunting” company is about to conduct a survey among selected British public companies to learn how part-time (sleeping) directors got on to their particular boards, and what work they do in the boardroom to earn their fees. One City editor expressed approval of the scheme, but felt that there may be some reluctance on the part of those surveyed.
Whether the part-timers are ready to answer such questions is another matter. A good many of the questionnaires sent out by Heidrick and Struggles will, I suspect, end up in the boardroom waste paper baskets.London Evening Standard, 31st August 76
That makes sense at least. We could have told them that these chaps are far too busy doing other things, to bother with silly questionnaires—and about work of all things!
Party Tricks
It was hard to tell if the writer of the following letter, published in the Daily Telegraph on 28th August, did not have her tongue in her cheek. She directed some stinging facts against the “lefties.”
After reading your editorial comment about Mr. Auberon Waugh and the perpetuation of the “Tory twits” myth (Aug. 25), I feel it is a pity that it is not better known that by far the greater number of members of Mensa (the high IQ society) lean politically to the Conservatives. This also holds true of members of other countries, and in fact it seems the higher a person’s intelligence the more likely is he to hold so-called "Right-wing” views.
What has escaped her attention is that IQ tests examine the individual’s ability to do IQ tests—she refers to intelligence which is something else. However it matters not a jot whether “Tory twits” are better at such tests than “Labour loonies”. Both groups are ignorant, or profess to be, of the need for the working class internationally to take control of the means of wealth production and distribution. While Mensa’s members may “lean” in every direction but the right one, this should not dissuade members of the working class from doing some thinking on their own account.
Allies in Wonderland
The London Evening Standard of 31st August reported the comments of Joseph Kraft “one of Washington’s most widely read syndicated columnists” who described Ford’s opponent, Carter, as “inexperienced, even naive” in matters of foreign policy. Carter is “an amateur who treats foreign affairs as a kind of wonderland.” Telling points no doubt, until it is recalled that even Presidents have suffered from similar deficiencies. When the pound was ‘floated’ in 1972, the matter was brought to President Nixon’s attention.
Mr. Haldeman offered the President a report from one of his economic advisers outlining the effect of the British float on the world monetary system. Mr. Nixon brushed it aside saying: ‘It’s too complicated for me to get into.' Haldeman said that Dr. Arthur Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, expected the British move to result in a five per cent devaluation of sterling against the dollar.The President: ‘Yeah. OK. Fine.’Haldeman: Burns is concerned about speculation about the lira.The President: ‘Well I don’t give a (expletive deleted) about the lira (unintelligible).’The discussion turned briefly to legislative matters before the President asked Haldeman: ‘OK. What else have you got that’s amusing today?’
Transcript of White House tape recording of June 23rd, 1972. Reported in the Daily Telegraph.
Nixon of course could argue that he was far too involved in fooling the American people over his part in a burglary to pay much attention. Carter’s line of defence is clear therefore—he must tell his critics that he is far too involved in fooling Americans that he can make capitalism work.
Goldwater on Democracy
Following Gerald Ford’s success in obtaining the Republican Party’s nomination for presidential candidate, the Daily Mail of 20th August carried a centre page spread on the forthcoming us election. The headline read “Now every punch a dirty one” and the article predicts that the respective camps will be taking part in “a raucous and possibly unedifying campaign.” If the words of Senator Barry Goldwater are anything to go by, the Mail has understated it. Ford’s running mate, Robert Dole, caught his attention :
Senator Barry Goldwater, no pansy himself, says admiringly of Dole: “Thank God we finally have someone who will grab the other side by the hair and drag them down the hill.”
And having done so, will then declare himself for freedom, fair play and law and order.
Getting the Priorities Right
The government published a white paper toward the end of August in response to the 1974 all-Party Expenditure Committee’s suggestion that loans, rather than grants be made to postgraduate students. These currently number 33,000.
The Government do not consider it possible to achieve worthwhile public expenditure savings in the near future by a loans scheme which spread the repayments over a reasonable period.Daily Telegraph, 25th August 76
Although they argue that the loan scheme could be “potentially damaging in terms of social equity,” they go on to say that they will “continue to bear in mind the possibility of achieving savings in the long run through such a change.” The “social equity” will be more resilient then, no doubt. For the time being, they are in agreement with the Expenditure Committee’s main recommendation that resources should be provided “Primarily in order to meet the country’s need for trained manpower.”
One of the other guidelines for expenditure on postgraduate education “the satisfaction of the demands from students (individual demands)” was considered to be “too haphazard.”
Alan D'Arcy
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