Conference of Socialist Economists (CSE) and the Brighton Labour Process Group (BLPG)
Brighton Labour Process Group, 1975-1976
Hugo Radice was one of the founding members of the Brighton Labour Process Group, set up in the autumn of 1975, following the decision of the Conference of Socialist Economists to hold its 1976 annual conference on the topic of the capitalist labour process. The Brighton Group was one of a number of local groups set up to explore the subject of work and production in capitalism. Radice recounts the early history of the BLPG and its early texts, including a wide-ranging 30k word paper on “The production process of capital and the capitalist labour process” which sought to situate the labour process within a much wider understanding of capitalism.
Tate and Lyle Factory, East London: IDS study seminar site visit 1975-6, Diane Elson (front) Robin Murray and colleagues (back)
Personal reflections on the Brighton Labour Process Group, 1975-77
Diane Elson was a member of the BLPG for two years in the late 1970s. Here she explains how taking part in the BLPG enabled her to develop a reading of Marx and the process of capital accumulation that provided a foundation for her subsequent work as an academic and activist. Elson explains how the combination of theoretical and empirical work was a cornerstone of the work of the BLPG, and most visible in the investigations into how the labour process was changing in two Brighton manufacturing businesses, ITT Creed and Gross Cash Registers.
The Brighton Labour Process Group and its resonance today
Manfred Bienefeld reflects on the discussions of the BLPG, which focused on the various ways in which technical change, changing production structures, new forms of ownership and new linkages between working people and the communities in which they lived were creating new threats and opportunities potentially capable of altering the balance of power between capital and labour. The relevance of these discussions today is striking in the context of trends such as artificial intelligence and automation.
The Brighton Labour Process Group and its approach to research
Kate Soper discusses her participation in the BLPG during the late 1970s, reflecting on the interdisciplinary nature of the Brighton Group - and the ways in which the cross-fertilisation of ideas from economics, development studies, social and political theory - can the BLPG much of its special quality and energy. In addition, the BLPG had a particular view of the role and rationale of academic research, and of its responsibilities to the wider world.