This is the text of a talk given around 1985; and deals primarily with the causes of the Depression of the 1890s, looking at parallels to the 1930s. Some of the material here is a bit out of date, but what the heck. During the past century, the Australian economy has experienced two periods of extremely severe economic collapse: the depressions of the 1890s and the 1930s. These crises were quite unlike anything we ourselves have …
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…of the Australian ruling class, leading to a direct and immediate crisis here. We can't predict the future of Australian capitalism in any detailed sense, but we can easily see that the economy remains firmly linked to the world economy and will ultimately rise and fall on the basis of developments in the world economy. When the next major recession comes, as surely it will, there will be no hiding place for our ruling class.