Fifty two years ago, on this day, August 23, 1971, a blueprint for survival (of corporate capitalism) was sent, written by a guy who then got appointed to the Supreme Court by Tricky Dick Nixon.
1971 Powell Memorandum – https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 326ppm. As of 2023 it is 423ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that the American elites were becoming more and more worried about the upsurge in citizen action after the quiescent 1950s. By 1971 it wasn’t just the blacks demanding theri civil rights, it was latinos, women, homosexuals, anti-war protesters, environment protesters, you name it. And and the so-called “crisis of democracy” (to use the term from the Trilateral Commission) was becoming a real thing, a real threat. The Powell memorandum is a nice clear summation of how to fight back…
What I think we can learn from this is that the counter-assault has been quite successful against the democratisation of society. And the state is not without its strategists, who are able to be clear about what is required and how to get it.
The Powell memorandum makes for interesting, important reading. And if we lived in a democracy it would be taught in schools – that this is what happened, But the very existence of the Powell memorandum shows you that that wouldn’t exist; it’s like the Lewis law and feminism
The Australian equivalent would be people like Geoff Allen, who set up the Business Council of Australia – but the foundations in Australia are less deep pocketed, there isn’t quite that same mentality.
What happened next
The Powell memorandum became the how-to manual for the American foundations. You have things springing up like the Heritage Foundation in 1973, which has been incredibly influential.
Powell then went on to be a supreme court Justice put in place by Nixon which tells you everything you need to know.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.