Defend the Strike

Union leaders in Glasgow have been told they face legal action for allegedly organising illegal pickets and wildcat action as a strike by 8,000 mostly female cleaners and care workers in a dispute over equal pay enters its second day.

Lawyers for Glasgow city council wrote to the GMB union to accuse its officials of organising an illegal walkout by 600 street cleaners and refuse workers and of setting up pickets that intimidated people not involved in the dispute. After the refuse collectors and street sweepers refused to work on Tuesday, the council threatened to invoke trade union legislation introduced by a Conservative government in 1992 unless the GMB formally repudiated their unofficial action.

The industrial action spread further on Wednesday morning, when upwards of 50 parking attendants refused to cross picket lines and were sent home.

“We will not be bullied by any employer, much less Glasgow city council,” said Rhea Wolfson, a GMB organiser. “It is shameful an employer like Glasgow has threatened to use Tory anti-trade union legislation against working-class women, and working-class men who have huge sympathy for these women.”

Wolfson denied the walkout by street sweepers, bin collectors and road workers was orchestrated by the GMB, or that the pickets were unlawful. “Individuals have exercised their consciences in choosing to support the action. It hasn’t been encouraged by the GMB,” she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/24/schools-remain-closed-glasgow-equal-pay-strike-continues

Solidarity

8,000 members of the GMB and Unison strike for a second day as over equal pay in protest at a "lack of progress" in talks on how to redress years of pay discrimination.

Can the working class change the world? Yes

The Socialist Party exists as a result of the war between the classes —the antagonism of interests between the class of wage-workers and the class of property-owning employers. Its work, at present, lies in its efforts to arouse the workers to a conscious recognition of their wage-slavery. The need for such a party is felt when one realises the amazing lack of class consciousness existing amongst the working-class. To-day, the workers give their support to capitalism because they are saturated, quite unconsciously, in the majority of cases, with the ideas of the ruling class. They oppose socialism because they do not understand it. Not understanding it, they do not desire it. These capitalist ideas amongst workers have to be fought, and their opposition to socialism has to be removed before we can organise effectively for the abolition of the capitalist system. The work of spreading socialist knowledge—and we are the only party that is doing this work—is a big job, and we are in need of many more members to help along this campaign. The larger the organisation, the more widely known can we make our object and principles? We make a special appeal to our fellow-workers and ask “Why not join us now?” We want your support to help us in the fight against working-class political ignorance and apathy, and for the spreading of Socialist knowledge   We want to grow and forge ahead, and as quickly as possible and make our name and activities a mark of fear amongst those anti-working class organisations. Socialism is the only hope for the working class—all else is an illusion. But Socialism will only come when a majority of workers understand it and desire it. Recognise their own interests, and instruct their delegate to pursue it.  Class-consciousness is the first essential. Organisation to help in furthering it is the next. We are that organisation.

Come join us now. The Party welcomes everyone who sincerely believes in the establishment of the socialist commonwealth as the only means of evolving order from the present social chaos. We exist to convert the great mass of workers to the socialist point of view. We are a section of the world socialist movement, and our great mission is to trail the way to economic freedom, our task is to end wage slavery.  We have a clear aim and a political case which is on the right lines.

Those who criticise leaders, but continue to believe in the need for leadership, usually fasten upon the personal defects of the man they condemn. What the workers want, according to these critics, is better leaders, leaders who can be trusted. Our case is that the working-class movement will never succeed until the workers put all of their trust in themselves, with a full recognition that the responsibility for success or failure must rest on their own shoulders, and cannot without grave danger be placed on those of leaders.

Trade unions are useful and necessary within capitalism, but can they abolish the wages system which of necessity involves the exploitation and poverty of the workers. Obviously, no! To do so requires the acquisition for society of the means of wealth production, and this, in turn, can only be done when the majority of the workers become socialist and decide to obtain control of the machinery of government for the express purpose of depriving the present propertied class of all their property privileges. A minority of workers cannot by either political or economic action stand up against the forces of the State. A majority can obtain control of those forces through control of Parliament. Economic organisation can aid, but it cannot substitute political organisation. Trade unions, both from the point of view of progress to socialism and in the day-to-day struggle will gain, not lose, by severing their connection with the Labour Party. In fact, while their members are politically divided, as at present, the trade unions would gain in cohesion and effectiveness by concentration on trade-union objects, leaving politics alone until the organised working class is ready to use Parliament for socialist instead of reformist purposes.

 The workers can solve their problems only by gaining control of Parliament for THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF INTRODUCING SOCIALISM. A party which seeks to gain political control for any other purpose must therefore be anti-socialist and anti-working class. The Labour Party seeks to gain control for a variety of reforms, including such capitalist schemes as nationalisation. Some reforms may in themselves be good, most are indifferent and some, like nationalisation, are for the working class wholly bad. But whether good, bad, or indifferent, they are not socialism, and do not, and cannot, aid in hastening socialism. Socialism presupposes a socialist working class. The propagation of reforms does not make socialists. First, it makes reformers and then drives them through disillusion to despair. The Labour Party has not socialist aims. Its guiding belief is in its ability to administer capitalism better than the capitalists themselves. This may be true, but it is not socialism.

 As we are Marxists who can see in capitalist nationalist movements nothing but capitalist nationalism. We urge workers everywhere to oppose their own capitalist class from the outset and build up their own independent organisations.  The Irish workers have gained nothing by helping the republican movement. There are yet hardly the beginnings of a genuine working-class movement in Ireland. The war for independence has only embittered the relations between the Irish workers, and workers outside, by stressing racial and religious divisions, and by strengthening the illusion of a common bond between the classes in the Irish Republic. Workers  will fight and die in any cause but their own. It can be said in their defence that they are too inexperienced to know that it is unsafe to trust to the gratitude of governing classes, when gratitude conflicts with class interests. A slave-owning class will be kind, but it will not free its slaves.

Socialists want a society based on common ownership and co-operation and where human needs come first. Socialism will be a society without money. People will work as a social duty, All work is voluntary (‘from each according to their ability’) so wages are unnecessary and cash no longer needed to acquire goods (‘to each according to need.’) Socialism is a system without the market where prices will not exist and where everyone has equal rights to have their needs met with equal access to goods and services. It is a society where all have equal control over decision-making. Socialist society will certainly, for planning how much to produce, need a rough figure for what people are likely to consume over a given period, but this only needs to be measured globally for any district – as, for instance, by a computerised system of stock control or by sample polling – not at the level of each and every individual. Certainly, particularly in the very early days of socialism and perhaps later after some unexpected natural disaster, there could be shortages of some things that might necessitate recourse to some system of rationing for those things. But this would only be exceptional and temporary, the normal situation being free access to goods and services according to self-determined needs.   

Observations of a Canadian Socialist

In August an SPC’er took a trip across Canada to Vancouver. Here are a few of his observations.

In Finns Slough, just outside the Richmond, B.C. city limits people are living in shacks, like third- world squalor. On Gastown Vancouver, it is worse; there are no shacks, they live and sleep on the street, victims of a system that uses people and spits them out when they are no longer productive.

At the intersection of Abbot and Hastings, there are on opposite sides apartments for millionaires and those for the almost destitute, highlighting capitalism’s glaring contradictions between wealth and poverty. Near the coast, there is, under construction, a building which looks about 2 square miles in area. It will be to receive goods coming in from that great capitalist power, so-called communist China. 

I stayed at a very nice and small hotel the Delta Inn which is in Delta, B.C. and is close to a network of main roads and highways. Because of its accessibility, it will soon be torn down and a casino will be built. The almighty buck rules. Sydney on Vancouver Island is a very nice small coastal town, buts it’s not so nice at night when the tides out. The ocean floor is covered with garbage which is dumped there by ocean liners. The local folk are not amused.

Racist attitudes are common among Vancouverites. They feel bitter about Asian immigrants buying property there and call it, "The Asian Invasion”. Another way capitalism divides worker against worker. 

While traveling across Canada I noticed how similar the cities looked. Didn’t the authors of the Communist Manifesto, say something to the effect that capitalism seeks to make the world in its own image? The joke being that critics of Socialism have said it would create uniformity.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC

Possibility of change (1998)

Book Review from the June 1998 issue of the SocialistStandard

The Doctrine of DNA by R.C. Lewontin. Penguin Books, £5.99.

Every socialist should read this book. In less than 130 pages one of the co-authors of the excellent Not in Our Genes brilliantly argues against the sociobiologists’ claim that all human existence is controlled by our DNA.

His book, subtitled “Biology & Ideology”, is a collection of radio lectures he gave on CBS. The language is simple and straightforward and demands no specialised knowledge of genetics.

He is devastating when dealing with the role of science in the modern world:

“Science uses commodities and is part of the process of commodity production. Science uses money. People earn their living by science, and as a consequence the dominant social and economic forces in society determine to a large extent what science does and how it does it.”

He shows that despite its limited medical application a great deal of money is being spent on the Human Genome Project. This programme makes great philosophical and social claims that he, as one of the world’s leading geneticists, shows are nonsense. He further claims that the programme is lining the pockets of companies. “No prominent molecular biologist of my acquaintance is without a financial stake in the biotechnology business.”

He is scathing in his attack on claims that there are genes that shape aggression, xenophobia, sexism, and racism. His last chapter “Science as Social Action” is an excellent summation of the pointless “nature or nurture” debate because he takes a thoroughly dialectical view, one that could not be bettered.

Richard Donnelly

Glasgow Branch

Letting capitalism off the hook.

In a 2018 report the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation suggests that “If the rate of population growth slows down, there will be more resources to invest in each African’s health, education and opportunity for all.” 

 A common misconception today is that there are too many people on this planet and that we need to do something about it. The Socialist Party has always insisted that capitalism and not overpopulation is what causes poverty. It is in the parts of Britain which have a low population density which has the lowest living standards in the UK.  Thinly populated Canada boasts one of the world's largest economies. Likewise, Singapore which accommodates millions of people within 50 sq. miles is similarly one of the richest economies in the world. Poverty and population are not linked in any way whatsoever. Capitalism, not people, causes poverty.

Nor is  ‘overpopulation’ the root cause of climate change. It is not people who are are the problem, but society. Not human beings per se, but the way our social life is organised: capitalism. We should be condemning capitalism, not women and the number of children they bear. 

Socialism will very likely improve people's life expectancy, leading to population increases, but rising living standards lead to lower birthrates and longer-term population stability. Once we are living in socialism, the release of human creativity to solve the problem of a finite planet and potential ever-expanding population will provide many strategies that we can't even begin to imagine. New technologies of food production and medicine will be able to do more and more to remove the 'problem' in the first place. The priority is the re-organisation of society and with that in place, any necessity to have a strategy to cope with 'too many people' is actually very distant.  There is no real problem in a socialist society that has its resources rationally planned. Nor is it side-stepping the issue by stating the problem exists only for capitalist society and would not occur in socialism.

The standard non-socialist explanation for world hunger is that there are too many people. In other words, that not enough food can be produced to feed the world's present population. This is just not true. Enough food (in terms of calories and proteins) is already being produced which, if evenly divided, could eliminate hunger and starvation tomorrow. In short, the problem is one of distribution or, rather, of maldistribution. World food production can also be increased well above its present level. Under capitalism, production is for sale on a market. Only those who can pay have their needs met, those who can't pay don't have theirs met. If you've got no money, or not enough money, you're not part of the market, and production ignores you.

The total land area of the planet is about 12 billion hectares, but only 1.3 billion hectares can currently be used as arable land. Even with a population of 10 billion, this would mean 0.13 hectares per person or something over a third of an acre. If farmed by means of intensive horticulture a plot this size could feed dozens. The average yield in England is about eight tonnes of wheat per hectare per year, enough to feed a couple of dozen people; so the 0.13 hectare per person available once global population settles down would be plenty to feed three or four. The conclusion of such calculations is inescapable: even without genetically-modified crops, the Earth can produce more than enough to feed likely future populations.

No doubt, it will be argued that food is not a finite resource but in regards to those the excessive consumption of both renewal and non-renewable resources and the release of waste that nature can’t absorb that currently go on are not just accidental but an inevitable result of capitalism’s very nature. Endless “growth” – and the growing consumption of nature- given materials this involves – is built in to capitalism. However, this is not the growth of useful things as such but rather the growth of money-values.

Socialism is about eventually creating what some call a "steady-state economy" or "zero-growth". A situation where human needs are in balance with the resources needed to satisfy them. Such a society would already have decided on the most appropriate way to allocate resources to meet the needs of its members. This having been done, it would only need to go on repeating this continuously from production period to production period. Production would not be ever-increasing but would be stabilised at the level required to satisfy needs. All that would be produced would be products for consumption and the products needed to replace and repair the raw materials and instruments of production used up in producing these consumer goods. The point about such a situation is that there will no longer be any imperative need to develop productivity. In a stable society such as socialism, needs would most likely change relatively slowly. What it means is that we should construct permanent, durable means of production which you don’t constantly innovate. We would use these to produce durable equipment and machinery and durable consumer goods designed to last for a long time, designed for minimum maintenance and made from materials which if necessary can be re-cycled. In this way we would get a minimum loss of materials; once they’ve been extracted and processed they can be used over and over again. It also means that once you’ve achieved satisfactory levels of consumer goods, you don’t insist on producing more and more. Total social production could even be reduced. This will be the opposite of to-day. Society would move into a stable mode, a rhythm of daily production in line with daily needs with no significant growth which would reconcile two great needs, the need to live in material well being whilst looking after the planet.

On scarcity, it's the same. We deny there will be a problem. Well, not the degree that's being claimed by critics.

First, we have to define what scarcity is. Orthodox economics argue it is limited supply - versus- boundless demand. Our wants are essentially “infinite” and the resources to meet them, limited, claim the economists. They claim that without the guidance of prices socialism would sink into inefficiency. According to the argument, scarcity is an unavoidable fact of life. And that's what the text-books describe economics as - the allocation of scarce resources.

However, outside the class-room and in the real world, abundance is not a situation where an infinite amount of every good could be produced. Similarly, scarcity is not the situation which exists in the absence of this impossible total or sheer abundance. Abundance is a situation where productive resources are sufficient to produce enough wealth to satisfy human needs, while scarcity is a situation where productive resources are insufficient for this purpose. Abundance is a relationship between supply and demand, where the former exceeds the latter. Achieving abundance can be understood as the maintenance of an adequate buffer of stock in light of possible future demand. The relative abundance or scarcity of a good would be indicated by how easy or difficult it was to maintain such an adequate buffer stock in the face of a demand trend (upward, static, or downward). It will thus be possible to choose how to combine different factors for production, and whether to use one rather than another, on the basis of their relative abundance/scarcity.

How do we tell when something is becoming scarce? We use the tools and systems that capitalism bequeathed us, which will be suitably modified and adapted and transformed for the new conditions. There are stock or inventory control systems and logistics. The key to good stock management is the stock turnover rate – how rapidly stock is removed from the shelves – and the point at which it may need to be re-ordered. So its a matter of simply monitoring the shelves. The maintenance of surplus stocks would provide a buffer against unforeseen fluctuations in demand. In a particular situation of actual physical shortage we can use substitution and by what's described as the law of the minimum - you economise most on those factors of production that are relatively scarcest.

In essence, overpopulation is not a problem. Poverty is. 

Systematic Mental Health Problems

More than 5,800 Canadian children and youth have died by suicide during the past 13 years, some as young as 8, according to data compiled by the Ryerson School of Journalism in Toronto.

Since 2007 emergency department mental health visits for patients aged 5 to 24 have increased by 66 per-cent. One in 12 was given mood/anxiety or antipsychotic medication. Hospitalizations due to intentional self-harm increased by 102 per-cent for girls aged 10 to 17 between 2009 and 2014, which was 4 times higher than boys.

 Nobody seems to know what’s causing this, though bullying is a definite factor, which has increased through social media — in other words through one click of the button.

 As for prevention, Kimberly Moran, the head of Children’s Mental Health Ontario said, ”There needs to be counselling and therapy for moderate mental health issues as well as specialized mental health services for those who may be suicidal and require 24/7 intensive treatment”, which may be alright as far as it goes but doesn’t go nearly far enough.

 An economic system which doesn’t cause people to have severe mental health problems would be a better answer.

For socialism,
 Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC

Price Barriers On Humanity

Numbers released in August by the various transit commissions across Canada, state that since 2007 there have been 1,235 track level deaths on railway corridors in Canada. 

Experts say these numbers would not be so bad if transit agencies installed platform-edge barriers which are a series of sliding doors barring access to the tracks. They open once the train has stopped. 

The head of the Amalgamated Transit Union of Canada, Paul Thorp said,” Such barriers should be in place nationwide. Any transit agency that is not putting in these barriers due to financial costs needs to stop putting a price on humanity”. 

Under capitalism money counts, people don’t.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC

We need a socialist party

The Socialist Party is the political expression of the interests of the workers. The Socialist Party seeks to organise the working class for independent action on the political field for the revolutionary aim of putting an end to exploitation and class rule. Such political action is absolutely necessary to the emancipation of the working class, and the establishment of genuine liberty for all. To accomplish this aim of the Socialist Party is to bring about the common ownership and democratic control of all the necessary means of production — to eliminate profit, rent, and interest, to change our class-riven society into a society of equals, in which the interest of one will be the interest of all.

The economic basis of present-day society is the private ownership and control of socially necessary means of production, and the exploitation of the workers, who operate these means of production for the profit of those who own them. The interests of these two classes are diametrically opposed. It is the interest of the capitalist class to maintain the present system and to obtain for themselves the largest possible share of the product of labor. It is the interest of the working class to improve their conditions of life and get the largest possible share of their own product so long as the present system prevails and to end this system as quickly as they can. In so far as the members of the opposing classes become conscious of these facts, each strives to advance its own interests as against the other. It is this active conflict of interest which we describe as the class struggle or the class war. The capitalists control the powers of the state and use them to secure and entrench its position. Without such control of the state, its position of economic power would be untenable. The workers must wrest the control of the government from the hands of the masters and use its powers in the building of the new social system, the cooperative commonwealth.

 Struggle after struggle develops of the workers against capitalism for the needs of life. The Labour Party and the trade unions offer no answer. For if capitalism itself is the cause of our miseries, no policy of patching up capitalism can avail. Policy after policy is desperately tried by capitalism and thrown aside in failure. There is no future on the basis of capitalism. Unless we overthrow capitalism, perhaps only the destruction of the planet await us. The battle between the workers’ needs and capitalism grows ever fiercer. It can only end in social revolution. Capitalism has no solution. Only the working-class, only socialism can bring the solution. Only Socialism can cut through the bonds of capitalist property rights and organise production to meet human needs. Once capitalism is overthrown, then and only then can production be organised in common for all, and every increase in production bring increasing abundance and leisure for all. This is the aim of the Socialist Party. Only the organised working-class can fight and destroy the power of the capitalist class, can drive the capitalists from possession, can organise social production. 

The first necessity is the working-class conquest of political power. Without power, no change. But what do we mean by “power”? Do we mean simply a change of government? No. What is in question is not simply a change of government on top, but a change of class power; since our purpose, is not simply to carry through one or two legislative measures, but to change the whole class-nature of existing society. The capitalists own the means of production; the rest of us live at their mercy, depend on them for the means of life, we are in literal fact wage-slaves in their daily lives. The change from a Conservative Government to a Labour Government does not affect this one iota. What is needed is a change in class power. The capitalists and their propagandists try to frighten the workers from revolution by holding before them the spectre that revolution means “starvation,” that the workers depend on capitalism for their existence. The contrary is the truth. That the workers can by the method of social revolution rapidly reconstruct and extend production and win prosperity for all.

Socialism - a future for all life on Earth.

Poverty is a violence inflicted by capitalism upon the working class. It brings, as we all know, economic distress, malnutrition, sexism and family disruption, racial divide, national chauvinism and above all demoralisation. Capitalism has only one function and that is to employ and exploit workers for profit.  To exact the greatest amount of profit from workers more and more is the worker made the appendage of the machine and the machines become more costly as the employers vie with each other and their foreign counterparts for a greater share of the markets which depends on production costs being competitive. Thus productivity levels and new technology has become something to be almost worshipped. Technology is, in fact, the creation of the working class. It derives from the skill and the labour of workers whether they be employed in tool-room, drawing office, laboratory, computer departments, or production lines. But the employing class owns it and appropriates the benefits for itself. The manner in which this technology is used in the form of ever more sophisticated machines and plant, the competition to be ahead in the never-ending struggle for markets and hence profit has led to what goes along with increased technology, the growth of giant companies brought about by takeovers and mergers which concentrate capital in fewer hands and put more and more machinery behind fewer and fewer workers. When the term “automation” was coined the social theorists of the capitalist system pontificated about the problems confronting the workers in the greater use of leisure time. In fact the problem has been quite different.

Parliament is an instrument of capitalist class rule. This holds true regardless of the incumbent in Downing Street. To say otherwise is a denial of all historical fact. Whichever party is set to treat the ill they use the same medicine, only varying to some degree the manner of administering it. Were their motives of the highest, and they are not, it would make no difference.  They have no faith in the working class to solve their own problems. 

There will be no future for any of us, socialist or otherwise if global warming is permitted to drastically change the climate. The planet may well not survive environmental collapse before socialism can be established and begin to counter-act its effects. Capitalism cannot save the planet because it sees its natural resources only as commodities to make profits.  But it is not a foregone conclusion that socialism will not be achieved before all the tipping points arrive. Undoing climate change means undoing the commodification of Earth. Capitalism is not a system designed for meeting the needs of human beings. Capitalism is a system that serves capital, and nothing else, certainly not humanity's.  It is possible to meet all the needs of humanity and still allow for the needs of nature, as well. Capitalism cannot do it because it must continuously expand its markets to create new needs for people, in order to extract profit from them. We can protect the planet while maintaining our electricity, medicine, learning, and leisure. Calls to abandon civilisation entirely are doomed to failure.  Those who seek solutions in anti-human and usually racist calls for population control are denying that resources are available for all sections of the population. A socialist society has the capacity to create a  future for all life on Earth. 

Most people used to expect that life in capitalism would inevitably get better: incomes would grow, jobs are more secure and safety at work improve, yet the opposite is happening. Those expectations simply didn’t take into account capitalism’s built-in drive for profit and the competition it brings in its wake. It is the Socialist Party's argument that working-class problems can only be solved by abolishing capitalism, and capitalism can only be abolished after a majority of the population have been won over to want it abolished.  Capitalism masquerading as socialism is a fruit which the workers will find less enticing in future. We seize the opportunity to show that capitalism’s contradictions can only disappear in socialism. Chaos and capitalism go together because of the anarchy of the market mechanism.  At the moment the capitalist economy is in a period of profound disequilibrium and most of the indicators show that it will get worse before it gets better. There is still too much capital seeking not enough profit, leading to unsustainable and potentially catastrophic flights into speculation in the stock and currency markets. The stock markets are in particular danger with another crash a definite possibility, which would see masses of unprofitable capital go to the wall and huge liquidation of existing debts, the primary conditions in fact for a sustainable recovery. The immediate prospects for wage earners pinning their hopes on a recovery don't look good. It would be far better for them to work for the complete abolition of booms and slumps, together with their cause — capitalism. 

The Dark Side Of Capitalism In It's Lack Of Glory.

This item is of no profound significance, but I’ll mention it to be boring and because the subject matter is a welcome break. As some of you may know TCM, recently has been showing many movies in the Film Noir genre. The announcer said, in effect, that whereas mainstream Hollywood movies depict a world where if one works hard and has what it takes that person will make a fortune, but Film Noir movies say, ”it doesn’t work that way for everyone”. 

Though some have happy endings and none suggest that society should be radically changed, nevertheless it’s refreshing to watch the dark side of capitalism being shown in all its lack of glory.

For socialism,
Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC

Life Under Capitalism At Any Age Is Very Insecure.

A study conducted by McMaster University in Hamilton and the Poverty and Employment Precarity in Southern Ontario surveyed 1,189 employed young people in Hamilton and concluded it was an accurate picture of what it is like for most workers under 35 in Canada.

 They see the lack of full-time jobs, permanent jobs and affordable housing as the greatest causes of depression and anxiety.

 Only 44 per-cent have found full time, permanent jobs. The majority reported not having jobs that have health benefits, pension plans or employer-funded training, while 38 per cent said they expected to be worse off than their parents.

 There is no escaping the conclusion that whether one has a job or not, life under capitalism at any age is very insecure.

For socialism,
Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC

Fighting for equality means the fight for socialism

The process of concentration is part and parcel of capitalism. Behind it lies the relentless drive for greater and still greater efficiency, and before it the all-important quest for profit. Marx saw it operating in its very earliest stages over a hundred years ago and foresaw that its effects would become more and more profound. Each time someone comes along to advocate a new scheme for reducing inequality he or she has to explain why earlier schemes failed. After all those years and all these “cures”, capitalism exhibits just the same “two nations" that the Tory Disraeli described over a century ago. 

Equality cannot be attained except by the abolition of the whole present system of wealth ownership and production. The working class should give up following futile schemes for achieving the impossible dream of an equalitarian capitalism. Their interest lies in establishing socialism.  Capitalism will keep producing the evidence of its own contradictions and inhumanities. Capitalism’s constant search for profitability is a fundamental source of instability that will ultimately undermine all efforts to reform it. There is only one way of cutting through the confusion. The future of society rests in the hands of the people who make it and organise it. The working class of the world can decide whether the waste and destruction of capitalism shall continue.  But when the working class has woken up, when they have realised that false ideas can only be answered with knowledge, when they have decided that they do not need leaders to run their lives and their ideas for them, capitalism will stop rolling on. For the working class will also have realised that socialism is the answer to the problems of property society. 

The Labour Party aims for power to run British capitalism. And no party has yet succeeded in doing that to the benefit of the great majority of the people. Workers everywhere—who are the majority-should see through the false propaganda of the Labour Party and of the other organisations which stand for capitalism. Capitalism can only be run in the interest of the capitalist class. The majority of us—the working class—suffer the brunt of the system’s evils, which only socialism will remove. Conservative and Labour Party delegates at their conferences, full with their pet reform measures, often take no account of the basic facts of capitalism, which contradict the intention of their proposals.   It is not possible for capitalism, with all the commercial rivalries, its diplomatic intrigues, its "defence” secrets, etc., to be administered openly, for everyone to see.  

The needs of capitalism itself often wipe out many of the politicians' promises and those that survive and come onto the Statute Book have little, if any, the effect upon the lives of the people who have been persuaded to vote for them. Capitalism grinds on, leaving the mass of its people to be exploited by a privileged few, who do very well out of the arrangement.

 Sooner or later ignorance will have to yield to the growth of socialist knowledge and the realisation that war is not just a nasty accident but has its roots in the private property basis of modern society. It is an ever-present menace so long as capitalism survives. The sordid squabbles over markets, trade routes, and other considerations, give way eventually to armed conflict, but no working class interest is involved, and no social problem is solved by fighting. When each war is over, all that can be said is that countless workers have died to preserve the conditions for another holocaust later on. Someone once said that the next war really begins where the last one ends. We could not agree more. 

 We, the working class, are the victims of a brutal aggression, renewed day by day in the episodes of the class struggle. We want to be rid of our conquering aggressors, the capitalist class. The Socialist Party has always and rightly resisted the blindly optimistic reformist view which can, against all experience, hope that things will right themselves and life become progressively better without a fundamental change in the basis of human society. That means hoping that the capitalist leopard will change its spots, and we know it will not. Socialists do not consider their task as hopeless but remember that economic forces, as well as human reason, are on our side against the brutal power of the propertied class and their agents. One of the first duties of working-class organisations when they declare their abhorrence of the iniquities of foreign capitalist governments is to show clearly and unmistakably that they are opposed to their own ruling class and free from the suspicion of condoning its actions. Many fail to understand the nature of capitalism—whether governed by dictators or self-styled democrats. That lack of understanding is to be found in every country, and the task of fostering an international working- class outlook and international organisation is made more difficult by ignoring it. Internationalism will only have a sure foundation to the extent to which such illusions are ruthlessly cut out. A first step is to tell foreign workers frankly that with the best will in the world the amount of practical help that can be given is strictly limited, and therefore it is necessary for them not to build great hopes on succour from abroad to make up for their own weakness. The best help that the workers anywhere can give to their foreign comrades is to redouble their efforts to strengthen the socialist movement in their own country and hasten the day when the workers will control social affairs.

There is an alternative to them all. Socialism will bring us a world of peace and plenty. That is a world worth working for because it is a world worth living for. The key to social progress is the level of knowledge and understanding which the people attain. When they begin to see through the promises and the posturing of political leaders, the first gleam of hope for the better life will be on the horizon. 

Lest we forget

Obituary from the July 1999 issue of the Socialist Standard

The death of Jimmy Robertson after a short illness came as a shock to his comrades in Glasgow.

He was such a regular attendee at branch and propaganda meetings that any absence had the rest of us wondering what could have happened. He served the Party in whatever way he could, and, whether it was as branch treasurer or taking care of the literature table, every task was done cheerfully.

Jimmy’s political activity began in the Communist Party and he was one of the thousands who left it over the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956. Later on, he came in contact with Glasgow branch of the Socialist Party and became a member in 1962.

But there was another side to Jimmy. He was to the very end a keep-fit devotee who hiked, ran, cycled and swam. Indeed his swimming ability earned him a medal from the Humane Society for saving a drowning man in the River Clyde, but, true to his nature, he would never do any of these things competitively, only for the enjoyment they brought.

Jimmy Robertson was one of those members who form the essential core of the Party and his passing is a grievous loss, especially to Glasgow members. We extend our deepest condolences to his family.

Vic Vanni

USA: The fallacy of the free market (1999)

From the February 1999 issue of the Socialist Standard and how appropriate the theme of the article is today when we are confronted by Donald Trump's Americ First protectionism

The illusion that is peddled by sharp-suited government spokesmen on television about the benefits of the free market system is just that—an illusion. Every government in the world is in favour of free trade when their owning class is in a favourable position to compete and in favour of protectionism when some competitor from another country has the drop on them.

The British toadies of capitalism are bad enough but, in the USA the hypocritical posturing of the worshippers of the market system is truly nauseating. As the foremost industrial and commercial power in the world, the USA is loud in its praise of free trade as the cure-all for social problems. In practice, though, it often favours the strictest protectionism and some recent examples from the Press starkly prove this.

The notion that it is the soundest economic wisdom to “buy in the cheapest market” may be all very well for American academic economists to expound in the ivory towers of university and business schools, but in the USA when they find that their home produced commodities are being undercut in price the capitalists appeal to their government to protect US products from “unfair” competition. They call any competition at which they are losing “dumping”:

“Anti-dumping duties are a frequent recourse of the US government when faced with a trade problem. As the US trade deficit has mounted, pressure for duties has mounted, pressure for duties has increased rapidly and 36 petitions for anti-dumping have been received by the government so far in 1998, compared with 16 for the whole of last year. Most concerned imports of steel products . . . Ominously, William Daly, the US Commerce Secretary, has invited US manufacturers to make his anti-dumping staff ‘the busiest people in town’ . . . .” (Independent on Sunday, 22 November.)

The US exporters of Chiquita bananas, produced in Central America, used their political muscle to combat the European Union’s favourable trade terms for Caribbean bananas, and got the US government to slap 100 percent duties on such products as sheep’s cheese from the EU to the US. The American Financial Group, who own Chiquita, have recently given $1 million to Democratic and Republican politicians to fight the Caribbean preference which the they claim has lost Chiquita $1,000 million in earnings since the EC ruling of 1983 in favour of Caribbean bananas.

Behind the threats and counter-threats of a trade war the US and the EU are playing for higher stakes than are represented by bananas and sheep’s cheese:

“Andrew Hughes Hallett, professor of economics at Strathclyde University, believes we need to peel back the skin on this row to understand it. ‘I suspect it isn’t about bananas at all and it isn’t about protecting poor farmers either in St. Lucia or Honduras. It’s about political pressure in Washington and Brussels . . . In the EU this dispute is tied up with the power of the agricultural lobby. It’s like a bargaining chip. France is prepared to support Britain which is keen to get a favourable deal for its former colonies, so Britain will be more supportive of France on other issues affecting French farmers’.” (The Herald, 24 December.)

All over the world the US government pursues a policy of free trade or protectionism, whichever is most beneficial to US economic interests, but it is from New Zealand that we learn of the naked power of the US being used to force its products down the throats of unsuspecting consumers.

As the world’s biggest producer of genetically modified food, the US does everything in its power to protect the global ambitions of the agri-chemical firm Monsanto. It is increasingly concerned about European reluctance to accept genetically modified foodstuffs without proper labelling and testing.

In reply to criticisms of the British government that it was being pressured to accept US-produced genetically modified foodstuff, Tony Blair hid behind the cloak of secrecy when he replied:

“By convention it is not the practice of governments to make information on such meetings, or their contents, publicly available.”

In New Zealand no such convention applies and it was revealed in cabinet minutes that economic pressure was being applied to the New Zealand government to accept genetically modified food:

“The Cabinet Minutes, dated 19 February 1998, state: ‘The United States, and Canada to a lesser extent, are concerned in principle about the kind of approach advocated by Anzfa [part of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council], and the demonstration effect this may have on others, including the European Union. The United States have told us that such an approach could impact negatively on the bilateral trade relationship and potentially end any chance of a New Zealand-United States Free Trade Agreement.'” (Independent on Sunday, 22 November.)

So there you have it. Blatant economic threats, undisguised self-interest, and no recourse to such fine rhetoric, so beloved by US politicians, as the “free world”, or hypocritical cant about “democracy and the freedom of choice”.

Capitalism is a horrible society—let’s get rid of it.

The late Richard Donnelly

Glasgow Branch

Rent Arrears Rise

Demand for advice on rent arrears has increased by 40% over the last five years, according to a new report.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) blamed changes to the social security system for the rise in the number of people facing problems paying their rent. It said the increasing demand matched the period in which Universal Credit has been rolled out.

The CAS report - Our Rent Arrears - Causes and Consequences - found:

• The growth in rent arrears advice coincided closely with changes to the social security system;
• Almost a quarter of those living in rented accommodation have experienced rent arrears in last five years;
• CAB clients with rent arrears are more likely to be in part-time employment or unemployed;
• They are more likely to be single person or a lone parent, to be aged between 25 and 44, and to live in the 20% most deprived areas.

It also discovered that the most common reasons for rent arrears were a benefits issue, loss of income or unexpected costs.

Borrowing money or cutting back on essentials were among the most common ways people tried to resolve their problem.

And it claimed the incidence of rent arrears is far higher among tenants receiving Universal Credit.

CAS spokesman Rob Gowans said: "The rise in rent arrears is one of the most worrying trends we see across the CAB network at the moment. While there are a number of factors driving this, we have no doubt that the flaws in Universal Credit are one of the main ones. For the past 18 months we have been calling for a halt and fix to Universal Credit."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-45894810

Fishy Denials

Scotland's No. 1 food export is fish-farmed Atlantic salmon.

Last year, almost $786 million worth of Scottish salmon was exported globally, with the United States as its largest market. The aquaculture industry, which already contributes $2.85 billion to the U.K. economy, has ambitious targets for growth. The Scottish Salmon Producers' Organization, the main industry group, aims to more than double production to as much as 400,000 tons by 2030.

That growth, however, comes with high costs for Scotland's environment according to a government report, which echoes the concerns of environmental and community groups. The report, part of an ongoing inquiry by the Scottish Parliament's Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, found that the country's farmed salmon sector is reaching a critical point in which "the status quo is not an option."

"If the current issues are not addressed," the report says, plans for expansion "may cause irrecoverable damage to the environment."

The link between Scotland's wild fish declines and the rise of salmon farms is one of the many points of contention between pro- and anti-fish farming interests.

On the one side are the aquaculture businesses, and the supporters of the 2,472 jobs that the sector brought to the Scottish Highlands in 2016. On the other side are wild fish advocates, environmental organizations, and coastal community groups concerned about the sector's environmental impacts.

Government reports lay out the environmental issues — as well as responses to them — such as sea lice infestations, disease outbreaks, fish escapes, feed sustainability, and biological and medical waste. Because Scottish salmon farms consist of large, open metal cages that sit above the seabed, everything that goes in or comes out also affects the marine ecologies surrounding them. The reports note that the issues in this year's review are not new; they were in fact highlighted in an earlier government inquiry from 2002 and, according to the new data, the sector has made little progress in addressing them since then. Instead, the salmon industry has continued to grow, with each new or expanded fish farm amplifying the negative impact on the environment. This year's reports conclude that the industry's ambitious growth targets fail to "take into account the capacity of the environment to farm that quantity of salmon."

Pro-aquaculture interests, such as the Scottish Salmon Producers' Organization(SSPO), the largest industry group,contend that "any potential impacts on wild fish are not understood, and the science is particularly lacking for Scotland." The SSPO says that many of the studies rely too heavily on data from Norway and Ireland, but "Scotland is different in many regards, for example, in its regulatory framework, farming environment, and scale of production."

For Dr. Richard Luxmoore, a conservation advisor for the nonprofit National Trust for Scotland, SSPO's questioning of the science is just "mental acrobatics" in an attempt to "highlight uncertainty and undermine the overwhelming evidence."

"It's the same species of fish in both places. Ireland is south of Scotland and Norway is north," says John Aitchison, a documentary filmmaker who led a successful community petition against a planned farm site in the Sound of Jura in western Scotland.

Aitchison continues, "And it's the same fish that go to the same places. All their life cycles are the same, so you could turn that question on its head and say, on what basis do you think this wouldn't apply to them if it's close to those two countries with oceans straddling Scotland?"

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/10/17/657539821/scotlands-2-billion-salmon-industry-is-thriving-but-at-what-cost

A Conscientious Objector's Letter

Postal worker Robert Climie had been a lifelong activist in the international peace movement before he was conscripted in 1916. A tribunal hearing initially backed his case, but a retired army officer pursued the matter and saw it overturned.

Like hundreds of other Scottish objectors, he was imprisoned at Wormwood Scrubs, before being moved to a labour camp by Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute to work on forestry. He wrote to his daughter Cathie for her first birthday, while at the camp.

The letter says: “The first year of your life … will in later years be known as one of the worst years in the History of the World.” It continues: “A most fearful war is raging. The World is just now divided into nations and the people of each nation believe themselves to be fighting on behalf of their own particular country. However, there are men and women who believe that all men and women are brothers and sisters. These people are known as Pacifists.”

University archivist Carole McCallum said: “When Robert Climie was put to work in the labour camp, he befriended a fellow pacifist called Sandy Stewart.

“The men stayed in touch, and Robert’s daughter Cathie went on to marry Sandy’s son – who she supported when he became a conscientious objector in the Second World War.

Actor Gary Lewis has now recited a letter Mr Climie wrote to his daughter Cathie for her first birthday, while at the camp. Mr Lewis said: “Men like Robert Climie were victimised and persecuted because of their stance, but it was a principled stance. It wasn’t that they were cowards – it was because of their very firm conviction that men should not fight.”