110 Stephen Hymer vided this apparatus.It now seems less able to carry on this function due to many internal struggles.Among these are:the revolt of the Blacks; the failure of some of the most promising youth to take up the call for which they were trained;a host of movements,such as the cultural revolution and women's liberation,which reject the whole social fabric of the society and the power system on which it is based;the low morale in the army;and other problems now manifested in drugs and an unwil- lingness to work hard,but soon perhaps to take political form. Our present fiscal crisis at the municipal,state,and international level, despite growth of the GNP,the switch in the allegiance of intellectuals, and a loss of self-confidence in the ruling class were the three major signs of a disintegrating ancien regime identified by Crane Brinton in his study of the anatomy of revolution.No wonder a sense of foreboding is dawning that capitalism is no solid crystal,but an organism capable of changing.Some are hopeful,most are frightened,a few have everything to lose. In sum,it is my view that although the first round (the fifties and sixties)went to the multinational corporation,the coming rounds (the seventies and eighties)will take a quite different course,as the arena shifts from economic integration to political battle.With the fall of the United States from its position of predominance,Europe and Japan may try to substitute some system for American hegemony,but their record of foreign rule is a bad one.Furthermore,their faith in growth as a solution to all problems has been challenged,and they all face many of the same internal problems as the United States.These,at bottom,seem to stem from the fact that twenty-five years of prosperity erode the compliance to capitalism built up by wars and depression,and that economic growth under capitalism is not satisfying and does not fulfill human needs.As Keynes (Essays in Persuasion)once put it in dis- cussing capitalism,"it is not beautiful,it is not just,it is not vir- tuous-and it doesn't deliver the goods."The multinational corporation is its swan song. Note 1.Many of the ideas presented here are further developed in S.Hymer and R. Rowthorn,"Multinational Corporations and International Oligopoly:The Non-American Challenge,"in C.P.Kindleberger,The International Cor- poration (Cambridge,Mass.:M.I.T.Press,1970);S.Hymer,"The Efficiency (Contradictions)of the Multinational Corporation,"American Economic Review 60(May 1970);S.Hymer,"The Multinational Corpo- ration and the Law of Uneven Development,"in J.Bhagwati,ed.,Econom- This content downloaded from 202.120.14.154 on Mon,04 Jan 2016 03:31:29 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions110 Stephen Hymer vided this apparatus. It now seems less able to carry on this function due to many internal struggles. Among these are: the revolt of the Blacks; the failure of some of the most promising youth to take up the call for which they were trained; a host of movements, such as the cultural revolution and women's liberation, which reject the whole social fabric of the society and the power system on which it is based; the low morale in the army; and other problems now manifested in drugs and an unwil￾lingness to work hard, but soon perhaps to take political form. Our present fiscal crisis at the municipal, state, and internationalevel, despite growth of the GNP, the switch in the allegiance of intellectuals, and a loss of self-confidence in the ruling class were the three major signs of a disintegrating ancien regime identified by Crane Brinton in his study of the anatomy of revolution. No wonder a sense of foreboding is dawning that capitalism is no solid crystal, but an organism capable of changing. Some are hopeful, most are frightened, a few have everything to lose. In sum, it is my view that although the first round (the fifties and sixties) went to the multinational corporation, the coming rounds (the seventies and eighties) will take a quite different course, as the arena shifts from economic integration to political battle. With the fall of the United States from its position of predominance, Europe and Japan may try to substitute some system for American hegemony, but their record of foreign rule is a bad one. Furthermore, their faith in growth as a solution to all problems has been challenged, and they all face many of the same internal problems as the United States. These, at bottom, seem to stem from the fact that twenty-five years of prosperity erode the compliance to capitalism built up by wars and depression, and that economic growth under capitalism is not satisfying and does not fulfill human needs. As Keynes (Essays in Persuasion) once put it in dis￾cussing capitalism, "it is not beautiful, it is not just, it is not vir￾tuous-and it doesn't deliver the goods." The multinational corporation is its swan song. Note 1. Many of the ideas presented here are further developed in S. Hymer and R. Rowthorn, "Multinational Corporations and International Oligopoly: The Non-American Challenge," in C. P. Kindleberger, The International Cor￾poration (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1970); S. Hymer, "The Efficiency (Contradictions) of the Multinational Corporation," American Economic Review 60 (May 1970); S. Hymer, "The Multinational Corpo￾ration and the Law of Uneven Development," in J. Bhagwati, ed., Econom￾This content downloaded from 202.120.14.154 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 03:31:29 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions