Wartime is an important reminder of the centrality of the state in capitalist societies. The state is all over the news right now. Military power is, of course, a central feature of the capitalist state. At the present time, states around the world are also pumping up their domestic control, using the war against Afghanistan and the terrorist "threat" to amass new coercive power over the population.

Some people on the left argue that we should oppose capitalist globalisation because it weakens the state and leaves us exposed to the market without any defences. Yet the current war mobilisation is an important reminder that state power has not gone away. There has certainly been a massive shift in the focus of state activity over the last 30 years, but it has not been in any simple way a reduction in state power. It is true that the increased ability of capital to move around the world and the increased conglomeration of capital into massive transnational corporations do have an impact on the way the state does its business. But the state is still very present in our lives.

People often equate socialism with increased state power, assuming that also means a decrease in corporate power. But in reality, state power and corporate power are inseparable in capitalist societies. The state relentlessly tries to create the conditions for corporate profitability that is the key to capitalist prosperity. But that requires different strategies at different times, depending particularly on the state of the capitalist economy and the extent of working class mobilisation.

The social programmes of the welfare state grew largely in response to working class mobilisation in conditions of capitalist boom. The welfare state was a means to promote productivity by granting some limited degree of security to promote hard work and belief in the system, disproportionately to white men. From the standpoint of business, the welfare state worked pretty well to provide some degree of social peace and productivity during the period of the long capitalist boom from roughly 1945-1973.

The capitalist economy went into a giant slump in the early 1970s. To increase profitability, employers began restructuring corporations to drive up productivity and force down wages. Employers and state policy-makers began to see the welfare state as an obstacle to restructuring. The welfare state created certain expectations on the part of many workers about decent work and an adequate standard of living. In the era of corporate restructuring, employers needed workers who were hungry for any job under any conditions.

A massive programme of state restructuring began, largely with the Mulroney government in Canada though its origins can be traced back to Trudeau's wage and price controls of the mid-1970s. Social programmes were eroded over a long period of time and then aggressively restructured once public support had been worn down due to the lack of confidence in the possibility of an alternative.

But this was not simply a cut in state power. In certain areas, state power was expanded. Immigration controls were tightened throughout this period, to contribute to the development of a highly vulnerable sector of the working population who would work under any conditions. Police powers and the coercive use of the penal system were increased. State power was used in very deliberate ways to undercut the rights of immigrants, refugees and the poor.

Now, state policy-makers are using the war against Afghanistan and the terrorist incidents of September 11, 2001 as an excuse to push this restructuring agenda still further. Immigration controls and anti-refugee measures are being passed quickly under the guise of "national security". The Harris government in Ontario has announced a further tax cut and new police powers targeting immigrants and refugees. The federal government's "anti-terrorism" bill makes it possible to crack down on dissent in even deeper ways. The Campbell government in British Columbia has announced that cuts might have to go even deeper than anticipated.

The last 30 years have seen certain obstacles to the movement of capital reduced dramatically, yet the mobility of labour has been dramatically reduced by new restrictions on the movement of immigrants and refugees on an international scale. This is not a weakening of the state, but a reorientation of state power to focus on new tasks. The current war mobilisations put all of this in dramatic perspective.