No. 1394 october 2020
 Socialist Standard No. 1394 October 2020 PDF version |
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Features
US elections: The lesser-evil fallacy
As
the American presidential election draws closer, progressives such as
Noam Chomsky are making their message to vote Biden very much more
vocal, declaring Trump is so demented and deranged that a president
already displaying symptoms of senility and dementia is preferable and
so working people must ignore Biden’s ignominious past record. Read >
Socialism is not a Dream. It can be Reality. It’s up to You…
Socialism
is the great beacon of hope for humanity. The working class, black and
white, have put up with endless injustice in capitalism. Socialism will
be a huge relief after the long nightmare of capitalist exploitation,
inequality, and poverty in the midst of material prosperity. Socialism
is not an end, but a beginning, it is the beginning of the real history
of humankind, an awakening to a new age of socialist justice. Socialism
means the free development of each man and woman, black and white, as
the condition of the free development of all men and women. Read >
Enough food for all
‘Malnutrition
is caused by “the lack of access to sufficient, nutritious and safe
food” due to poverty’ (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation 2017).
Within the current political system planning ahead on whatever front, the main goal will be in some way or another connected to the financial aspect. Housing, for instance, is a major problem for millions around the world even though it is designated by a UN resolution as a basic human right. In ‘normal’ non-Covid times the UK, with less than one percent and the US, with less than five percent of the global population, both have significant numbers of people living rough on the streets or in hostels whilst more than enough housing remains empty but unavailable to them. Read >
US elections: capitalism or capitalism?
America
is at the cusp of deciding the nature of its future, or at least it
thinks it is. It has two scarcely distinguishable options, Democrat Joe
Biden and incumbent Donald Trump. The Trump presidency has already had
an effect on America that will long outlast his second term, should he
get one. The wildfires sweeping the West Coast have had fuel thrown upon
them by the rapid destruction of what little environmental regulation
there was before Trump. Nominal wages have gone up steadily over the
last four years, but cost of living has been growing faster, far
outstripping the growth in wages. Read>
Capitalism: incompatible with democracy
We continue from Part One, our explanation as to why capitalism is not and cannot be democratic
The ownership of the mass media is merely the start of the problem. Another way of constraining democracy is by limiting what is seen as being suitable for discussion. Liberal Democracy (LD) does not normally limit discussion by outlawing ideas and throwing people who fail to conform into gaol or worse, although this may happen in certain circumstances. Instead it falls more into the category expressed by Marx that the dominant ideas in society are those of the ruling class. Read >
Anti-imperialism is not anti-capitalism
We
continue our series on the origins of the mistaken view that workers in
the advanced capitalist countries share in the exploitation of those in
the so-called ‘underdeveloped’ countries.
In his 1920 Preface to Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism Lenin comments: ‘Capitalism has grown into a world system of colonial oppression and of the financial strangulation of the overwhelming majority of the population of the world by a handful of “advanced” countries’.
Colonialism is not quite the same thing as imperialism. It entails the annexation of, and direct political control over, other territories by a state which is not necessarily true of imperialism. Read >
Conflicts in Hong Kong
Hong
Kong was a small but important part of the British Empire, acquired by
military might. Hong Kong Island originally became part of the Empire in
1842, after China was defeated in the First Opium War, as the lucrative
opium trade was imposed on China by Britain. After the Second Opium War
in 1860, further land was ceded, including Kowloon Peninsula. Then in
1898 the New Territories to the north of Kowloon were leased to Britain
for 99 years. Read >
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Socialist Standard October 2020
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