Labour Lies

The Labour Party was not formed to replace capitalism by socialism, nor has it ever stood for a socialist object. Herbert Morrison repudiated any suggestion of Labour Government wishing to end the profit system. The Labour Party seeks by reform measures to stimulate capitalism while trying to curb its harmful effects. Pledged to retain capitalism, it cannot remove the evils of capitalism. Capitalism’s need for a National Health Service was expressed by all parties standing for capitalism. Nationalisation is not socialism but an expedient of capitalism. Openly capitalist powers have nearly all nationalised where necessary. Despite the efforts of Labour Governments, working class problems remain. Housing and healthcare are sacrificed to bail out the banks and industrial barons. Any politician who is promising a better life soon is dishonest.  The Labour Party is not a class party. It does not aim at socialism. The Labour Party works for capitalism. Despite the “bleak” outlook forecasted for workers, profits had risen. The “socialism” of the Labour Party has benefited only the capitalists. The Labour Party, so far from assisting the emancipation of working people, hindered it, in their pursuit of the will-o-the-wisp of social reform. For all their reforms the problems remain. It is not a bogus claim to make that if the factors causing war and unemployment continue that these things will re-appear. The Labour Party does not spread socialism but disillusionment. What can the Labour Party offer now?

That wealth exists on this planet in abundance is well known. But the distribution of this wealth proceeds according to the social relations of society. These are capitalist relations, resting upon the capitalist ownership and control of the means of production. According to the Left’s plan these relations would remain, only the wealth would be redistributed by cutting down on big fortunes by increased taxation and adding to the small ones or giving to those that have none via tax credits and benefits, and among the “radicals” the Universal Basic Income. But this is impossible under capitalism since the ownership and control of the means of production determines the form of distribution of all wealth. So far this has meant and can only mean ever greater riches for the parasites and ever greater impoverishment for those who toil, who have nothing but their labour power to sell – and to sell only when the bosses see fit to buy. What is the cause of this unequal distribution of wealth? The cause is to be found in the ownership and control of the means of production. This system secures the right to exploit labour by leaving in the hands of the capitalist class also the ownership of the surplus value produced by the labourer over and above what he receives as wages. This is how profits are acquired. Moreover, under the conditions of mass production, and in order to continue the process of production, wages only sufficient for their bare upkeep when they have jobs. Of course, the abundance of wealth available could easily guarantee to each family, a decent standard of life. But this is equally impossible under the profit system and it can be obtained only when the profit system is abolished.

Jeremy Corbyn declares in self-righteous indignation for the redistribution of wealth; but he is equally vociferous for the maintenance of the present social relationship. Labour Party policies assume the continuation of the right to exploitation, however, with an increase of the purchasing power of the masses so that returns to bondholders in the form of unearned incomes may continue; so that dividends on shares may be paid and the now of profits taken out of the exploitation of labour may proceed uninterrupted. There are no other sources for profits to come from. What is this but the stabilisation of the system of exploitation? To stabilise the system of exploitation means to stabilise the economic power of the class that owns and controls the means of production. It is also well to remember that political relations are governed by this economic power which is another way of saying that those who own are also those who rule. They use their economic power to build up their political state, to build up their government and to reinforce it by courts, by police and by military forces, always ready to be used against the workers when on strike or in other forms of struggle and on a whole serving for the purpose of keeping workers in subjection. The ruling class  will not consent to any redistribution of their wealth without political resistance. They will not even permit the workers to organise into unions so as to obtain a living wage without the most stubborn opposition. They will not yield their economic power, as represented by their accumulated wealth, or give up their privilege to exploit labour. They use this economic power to determine who can be elected to the public offices and to dictate the programmes of those elected and its execution as well. A real redistribution of wealth and implementation of real economic security can be carried out in no other way than by the overthrow of the system of capitalism. That is not at all the purpose of Corbyn’s Labour Party. Only the working-class revolution can accomplish that.