INTRODUCING SOCIALISM

 Politics has become such a dirty word that you could well stop reading this blog right now. But before you do, think about the recent conversations you’ve had. What were they about? 

Did you complain about the price of something which has gone up again?

Did you talk about problems with the Council, or with your mortgage, or with your wages?

Did your boss get you down again this week?

If you’re unemployed, were you depressed because you walked past shops and people who all seem to live on a separate planet? Or was it a row with a partner over money and unpaid bills?

Or did you argue with your kids just because you’re so tired and full of stress that anything sets you off?

 

If your week sounded anything like that, you're not alone.

 What happens in our lives is not entirely up to us, and when we talk about life we are also making political statements about how we would like things to be. Politics is only a dirty word because the politicians have made it into a game that you play in parliaments and score points off the opposition.

Their games are none of our concern, but our own lives matter and the politics of our lives must matter to us as well. This post is about politics, but don’t be put off by that. The things that worry you, that may be mentioned above, are the sort of politics we want to talk about. Not party politics, or 'real-politik'. but real life.

 

 Life is full of popular myths. One myth that is still around, and matters rather a lot, is the myth of 'common sense'.

If something is ’common sense', it is true. Many of the ideas we hear through the TV and newspapers are put in this way. We take them very much for granted. They are what is called "realism". Politicians are fond of "realism" and "common sense approaches". Nowadays you don't have to prove somebody wrong, you just call them "unrealistic" or "naive". Politicians have managed to make everybody else’s ideas sound childish and naive while they really understand all about 'common sense'. They should, they manufacture most of it.

The problems that we have in our lives don't get talked about by the papers or politicians. That is left to us, on our own, in pubs or among friends. Why do we have to work for bosses? What is the point of saving when inflation eats it all up? Why do people starve when supermarkets throw food away? But it's not 'common sense’ to talk about things that political leaders are not interested in.

Here are some examples of this 'Common Sense', and underneath, the feelings, or as they are more usually called the "Bad Attitudes" that a lot of people have about them. 

Common Sense: This is a prosperous country.

Bad Attitude: Where is all this prosperity when you're on the dole or three months behind with the mortgage?

Common Sense: If you want to 'make it', work hard and be thrifty. 

Bad Attitude: Like my parents did, and look at them. Besides, what's the point when some yuppie can make my life’s earnings in twenty minutes on the Stock Exchange? 

Common Sense: Other people are worse off than you. If you've got an ounce of decency you should be grateful, and give to charities.

Bad Attitude: Alright, I can't walk past a collecting box without feeling guilty, but however much I pay, the problems don't seem to go away. If anything they get worse. Why don't the government pay?

Common Sense: Politics is for politicians. I wouldn't fancy trying to run the country.

Bad Attitude: Mind you, for their salaries plus expenses I couldn't do any worse than them, could I? All they care about is their own power.

If you have something like this 'bad altitude problem', don't despair. There are others like you, not in hundreds or thousands, but in millions. Just think of election-time, when you get to make your own mark for democracy. In spite of all the rousing speeches, the rallies and the broadcasts, many people still don't bother to vote. They obviously think it makes no difference to their lives who is in power and who isn’t. This, we are told, is because they have a bad attitude. Perhaps so. Perhaps, too, if speeches and policy reviews don't matter to them, they should get together and find out what does. They might find out they’ve got quite a lot in common. With each other. With us. With you.