Keynesianism could neither restore the system to its old vigour nor serve the interests of the workers, the peasants and the poor.
The system was only able to recover from the crisis of the interwar years after a massive destruction of value through the worst slump capitalism had ever known followed by the worst war. The greater size and interconnectedness of capitals today means that the destruction of value would have to be proportionately greater to return the system to a new "golden age". After all, even the bankruptcy of the world's second biggest economy, that of the USSR, two decades ago had only marginal benefits for the rest of the system-a lower global price of oil than would otherwise have been the case and some cheap skilled labour power for West European firms.
It is necessary to repeat that this does not automatically mean endless slump. The limits on the degree to which some capitals can gain from the destruction of others do not mean that no gains at all are possible. The wiping out of many small and medium sized firms can provide some relief for the giant firms that states prop up. New bubbles and periods of rapid growth in one part of the world or another are not only possible but likely. But they will not involve the whole world economy moving forward uniformly and will only prepare the way for more burst bubbles and more crises. And the consequences will not only be economic.
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The New Age of Global Instability