A new Fabian pamphlet entitled "Why Steel" by Richard Prykes, Research Officer at the Department of Applied Economics, Cambridge, analyses the record of private ownership of steel, and shows how only with nationalisa~ tion can its present shortcomings be rectified. The pamphlet has been written in light of the Government's proposals for the industry.
The author shows that steel is a natural monopoly and that all the talk of there being a "competitive atmosphere" under private ownership is false because there is no competition in price. The author quotes Mr, Judge, President of the British Iron and Steel Federation, to support this argument. When Mr. Judge was asked at the Restrictive Practices Court if he agreed that the industry's price fixing arrangements were "not a flexible arrangement giving individual producers some freedom, but an inflexible scheme?", he replied, "I think that is the conclusion one comes to", British steel prices rose by 32% between May, 1953, and January, 1963, compared with an average 10% increase in the price of steel in the Common Market countries.
The author makes an extremely good case for the nationalisation of steel on the grounds of poor export performance, bad planning of expansion, lagging productivity, etc. He dismisses the arguments put forward by the Tories and Liberals on this matter. The pamphlet thus becomes, also, a weapon in the hands of those who are against the present proposals for compensation, and for workers! self-management in the industry.
"Why Steel" is available from the Fabian Society, 11, Dartmouth St., London S.W. 1. price 3/3d post paid.