False Hope

Will “independence” make the Scottish workers better off and happier? Is it “London rule” that is responsible for the problems faced by workers in Scotland, or is it capitalism?

Independence solves none of the problems resulting from exploitation. Poverty in the midst of a potential for plenty remains, and massive disparities of wealth continue to exist. It can be seen in retrospect that independence for the vast majority of the people has simply meant the exchange of one set of exploiters for another. The realisation of " political independence " by a country leaves the workers' conditions untouched (or actually worsens them in some cases). As socialists, we don't take sides in this inter-capitalist argument. We don't support one section of the capitalist class or the other, and we don't have any illusions about the "sovereign power" of Parliaments to pass reformist legislation that can make capitalism work in the interest of the exploited class of wage and salary earners. Capitalism just cannot be reformed to work in this way; so transferring some of the powers of the House of Commons to a Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh makes no difference.

Nationalist movements are not just movements to secure independence from the foreign governments that kept them in subjection, for even after achieving independence they continue to preach the same anti-foreign doctrines as before. Nationalism has been and is everywhere the form in which each capitalist group tries to carve out a place for itself in the world of warring capitalist states, where politicians who have used nationalism to gain independence from a colonial power need it just as much afterwards in order to persuade the workers to go on fighting capitalism's battles. It is an illusion to think that nations can be friendly in a capitalist world provided that they are all “independent” and it is equally an illusion to think that the Powers, great and small, could dispense with nationalism.

If the worker is to be won for socialism, it is by getting him to understand the principles of socialism. When other countries have achieved independence, little changed except the functionaries of the state machinery. National independence is good for local politicians, manufacturers and business men; it opens up careers and money-making opportunities for them, as also for local holders of government civilian posts who may have found their advancement hindered while a foreign or central administration had control. Workers have nothing to gain from the re-drawing of the border, but some regional entrepreneurs and bureaucrats certainly do have a chance of making good if only they can persuade the electorate to back them. Scotland like every other country in the world, is a class-divided country where the two classes - those who own and class and those who work and produce - have diametrically opposed interests. The bonds which bind worker with worker, irrespective of nationality, are those of class solidarity.

Yet capitalism knows no boundaries, money has no accent. Independence is just not possible within the context of globalized capitalism. Certainly, formal political independence, or sovereignty, is possible, where states have the full power to make decisions without reference to any supra-national rules or decision-making procedures. But there’s a difference between the mere legal power to do something and what can be done in practice. In practice all states, when exercising their sovereign power to make decisions, have to take into account the economic reality that there exists a single world market economy on which they are dependent. A state can exercise some degree of influence on how the world market operates in relation to it - it erect tariff walls, subsidise exports, devalue its currency - but this depends on its economic clout (such as the productivity and size of its industry and the extent of its internal market). Over the years capitalism has become more and more international, more and more globalised. This has tended to reduce the margin of manoeuvre open to states, i.e. has reduced their "sovereignty". The vital decisions affecting the local economy have little to do with Holyrood or Westminster. The inexorable process of globalisation has increasingly made redundant the question of "national sovereignty". Yet regional nationalists imagine they can buck the trend without even being against capitalism.

The nationalists emphasise a Scottish Parliament's "constitutional right" to control the economy, completely ignoring the fact that experience has shown this to be a purely paper right. The capitalist economy works according to certain economic laws which no government or legislative body can over-ride. So the argument about sovereignty is not really about what the constitution may or may not say. It's about the effective power that a capitalist state can exercise within the capitalist economy. Capitalism has always existed within a framework of competing states, none of which is strong enough to impose its will on all the others. States, as weapons in the hands of rival groups of capitalists, intervene to further the interests of the capitalists that control them. They do this by using state power to set up protected markets, raw materials sources, trade routes and investment outlets. In normal times their weapons are tariffs, taxes, quotas, export rebates and other economic measures. When they judge that their vital interest is at stake their weapons are . . . weapons. They go to war. The extent to which a capitalist state can distort the world market in favour of its capitalists depends both on its industrial strength and on the amount of armed force at its disposal. This is why all states are under pressure to acquire the most up-to-date and destructive armaments that they can afford. In the jungle world of capitalism might is right. "Sovereignty"—the margin of independent decision-making that a state has—also depends on might.

The interest of the wage and salary working class in all countries is to reject all nationalism, to reject in fact the very idea of “foreigner”, and to recognise that they have a common interest with people in other countries in the same economic situation of being obliged to sell their mental and physical energies in order to get a living. That interest lies in working together to establish a world-wide society of common ownership, democratic control and production for use not profit. Independence will not give the people of Scotland effective control over their own affairs. The only change that will do that is a change in the whole social system, replacing competitive production for profit and minority ownership by co-operative production. Neither devolution nor an independent Scotland (nor a United Kingdom, because we point out that no state today can be independent of the capitalist world market does not mean that we therefore favour the union) can achieve this. It is only feasible in a moneyless, frontierless society which, for those with vision, is the next stage in human social evolution. It is for the Scottish workers to see that their position demands that they should fight only for their class emancipation, and that nothing, constitutional reform or national independence, should draw them away from their determination to fight for the realisation of socialism. What is the “independence” some Scots yearn after, if it means being trapped inside of the bigger prison of capitalism?

“It’s a truism, but one that needs to be constantly stressed, that capitalism and democracy are ultimately quite incompatible.” - Noam Chomsky

JET AGE SHOPPING

Every day you can read of shops in the High Street closing down as the economic recession worsens, but it is not all doom and gloom in the retail business. "Finally, the shop we've all been waiting for. I'm talking about the first showroom for private jets, of course. The Jet Business is billing itself as the "one-stop shop for the private jet shopper" and will open in Grovenor Place, Belgravia - just a runway's length from Harrods - this week." (Sunday Times, 8 January) instead of having to shop around the various manufacturers or go through a broker you just pop in and tell them your requirements. In case you were thinking of paying a visit to this glitzy showroom with its full size cabin mock-up of an Airbus corporate jet it should be noted that visits are by appointment only. That should keep out you Ryanair customers. RD

Capitalism as usual

1. On Friday, December 2, Angela Merkel said,
" The German government has made it clear that the European crisis will not be solved in one fell swoop. It's a process and this process will take years." In other words, years of unemployment, under employment, poverty and misery for the workers.

2. Canadian blackberry producer, Research In Motion (RIM) is faced with the usual dilemma -- deliver a new family of highly-anticipated smart-phones on time, but with flaws, or invite the ire of the markets by delaying the release to get the product right. It's a no- brainer in capitalism -- get the crappy stuff out fast!

Strangely, The Toronto Star published an article with the title "Wage Hike the Key to Cutting Poverty" and then goes on to tell how supervision is needed to get employers to pay immigrants the minimum wage. Many pay cash only and at rates below the legal minimum.

The same newspaper reported on the slowness on Employment insurance claims. One claimant had to wait 46 days for his insurance, missed his mortgage, car insurance, and hydro payments and was slapped with a $400 non-sufficient funds penalty. It also reported the grim fact that a poll commissioned by the Canadian Payroll Association showed that 57% of respondents could not deal with a one-week delay in their pay -- astonishingly high in a rich country. John Ayers

CAPITALISM IN ACTION

Supporters of capitalism are fond of depicting the development of the profit system as a humanising, liberating advance over pre-capitalist society. Yet for thousands of years so-called primitive people have lived in the Amazon area without the benefits of production for profit until they were hit by the advance of capitalism. "Loggers in Brazil captured an eight-year-old girl from one of the Amazon's last uncontacted tribes and burned her alive as part of a campaign to force the indigenous population from its land, reports claimed on Tuesday night." (Daily Telegraph, 10 January) In its ruthless quest for profits capitalism is far from humanising or liberating. RD

The right to life

In the words of Nobel laureate and Dr Amartya Sen:
"Famines are very easy to publicise, people dying of hunger is one thing. But people being underweight, stunted, their lifestyle, their probability of survival being diminished, all that is not so visible..."

A survey conducted by the Naandi Foundation in India found that 42% of children under five are underweight and 59 per cent have stunted growth.

When asked why they did not give their children more non-cereal foods, 93.7 per cent mothers said they did not do so because non-cereal foods were expensive. Fifty per cent of Indian women are anaemic.

836 million people live under less than Rs20 (38 US cents) a day.

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by all United Nations member states in 1948, lists the right to food among a state's obligations. Article 21 of the Indian constitution, which provides a fundamental right to life and personal liberty, has been repeatedly interpreted by the Indian Supreme Court as enshrining within it the right to food. Article 47 of the Indian constitution obliges the Indian state to raise the standard of nutrition of its people.

But capitalism pays no heed to human rights when it comes to making profits!

BEHIND THE RHETORIC

Western governments are fond of posing as lovers of freedom and democracy and as enemies of dictatorship, but behind the laudable rhetoric lurks a sordid reality. "The Obama administration is moving ahead with the sale of nearly $11 billion worth of arms and training for the Iraqi military despite concerns that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is seeking to consolidate authority, create a one-party Shiite-dominated state and abandon the American-backed power-sharing government. The military aid, including advanced fighter jets and battle tanks, is meant to help the Iraqi government protect its borders and rebuild a military that before the 1991 Persian Gulf war was one of the largest in the world; it was disbanded in 2003 after the United States invasion." (New York Times, 29 December) Why is the US government taking this action? Well $11 billion arms sales are not to be ignored but the menace of neighbouring Iran's threat to US oil supplies in the area is probably more likely to be the reason. RD

AN INHUMAN SOCIETY

Capitalism is a society that constantly attempts to cheapen production so that it can boost profits. This drive is not confined to the factory it also applies to the hospital. "Hospitals have been accused by ministers of treating patients like parts on a production line after official figures suggested that hundreds of thousands of people every year are being sent home before they are well enough. More than 660,000 people were brought back to hospital last year within 28 days of leaving, statistics show, sparking allegations that patients are being hurried through the system so the NHS can meet waiting-list targets." (Daily Telegraph, 29 December) Needless to say that this heartless treatment only applies to members of the working class. The owning class enjoy the best possible medical treatment just as they enjoy the best of everything that society can provide. RD

Food for thought

The Toronto Star of December 10 published the latest Corruption List by Transparency International. New Zealand leads the 'clean' list with 9.5 out of ten, Canada ranks tenth (8.7) and at the bottom are Somalia and North Korea ranking at 182 tied (1 out of 10). Not surprisingly, the Arab Spring countries rank below 5 with Egypt in 112^th spot at 2.9 out of 10. Obviously, transparency isn't high on the priority list in capitalism. It didn't say where China ranked but this may be an indication. In Wukan Village, farm workers have been protesting over the selling of the land to developers without their permission. In fact, they were offered rice and cooking oil to sign a blank paper. The police responded to the protests by blockading the village. The standoff continues. Does anyone need further proof that China is a capitalist country?
Chinese-Canadian and world champion figure skater, Patrick Chan complained recently how his parents had to sacrifice so much for him and that probably wouldn't have happened if they had stayed in China. TheToronto Star, in reply, reported on a Chinese gymnast who, after a career ending injury, was forced to sell off his medals and beg in the streets to survive. Like any commodity, use it and throw it away! John Ayers

scottish child poverty

Children in one in five Scottish families live in poverty, campaigners have warned, with fears that number is set to rise. The highest levels of child poverty are in Glasgow, where in some parts every other child lives in a family struggling to put food on the table or pay heating bills.

John Dickie, spokesman for Scottish members of the Campaign to End Child Poverty said “It is shameful that in almost every part of our country there are children who are missing out and seeing their future life chances seriously harmed. An increasing number of children, particularly in Scotland, are living in families without paid work and we are deeply concerned about the effect that rising unemployment is having on child poverty."

Justice for all?

Legal experts have raised concerns about a lack of justice over health and safety failures.

Only 3% of complaints ever lead to a prosecution or enforcement notice in Scotland. The number of cases recommended for prosecution has fallen by nearly 50% in two years.

One in three deaths at work is not scrutinised by a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) , despite being mandatory by law. The cases that do result in an FAI, they take an average of 30 months to set up. In one-third of instances, it took three to four years for an FAI to be held. None took under a year.

Patrick McGuire, of the major personal injury specialists, Thompsons Solicitors Scotland, said: "Breaching health and safety legislation is a crime but is not treated with the seriousness it deserves. For as long as the perception remains that this is not a 'proper crime' that devastates lives, the effectiveness of health and safety legislation will not be maximised. Disregarding people's safety at work or anywhere is a serious offence. It deserves the most serious enforcement measures possible."

HARD TIMES

We are told every day by the mass media that we are living through an economic downturn, but some seem to be surving it rather well. "Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has reported record sales for 2011, having sold 3,538 cars. Sales at the BMW-owned luxury marque grew by 31% from the previous year, although the growth rate was weaker than in 2010 when sales jumped by 150%. Rolls-Royce's £165,000 Ghost model, which is smaller and less ostentatious than the £235,000 Phantom models, has been the main driving force for sales." (BBC News, 9 January) So while members of the working class are told to tighten their belts the owning class are still buying their Rollers in increasing numbers. RD

The Referendum - Where We Stand

The Herald reports on the independence referendum and when it is most likely to come.

Independence for Scotland?

Our rulers have decided to ask us our opinion on the matter. We should be flattered, but don’t be fooled. Constitutional reform is of no benefit or relevance to us. It leaves our lives and the problems the profit system causes completely unchanged. Exploitation through the wages system continues. Unemployment continues. A polluted environment, and the general breakdown of society all continue. As far as solving these problems is concerned, independence is just a useless irrelevancy.

Independence would be an extension of democracy, bringing power nearer to the people, so how can socialists not be in favour of this? Yet supporters of capitalism who talk about “democracy” always mean only political democracy since economic democracy - where people would democratically run the places where they work - is out of the question under capitalism, based as it is on these workplaces being owned and controlled by and for the benefit of a privileged minority. You can have the most democratic constitution imaginable but this won’t make any difference to the fact that profits have to come before meeting needs under capitalism. The people’s will to have their needs met properly is frustrated all the time by the operation of the economic laws of the capitalist system which no political structure, no matter how democratic, can control. If our rulers want to reform the machinery of capitalist government in this way, that’s up to them. But spare us the pretence that it’s some great extension of democracy. It is not imperfections in the political decision-making process that’s the problem but the profit system and its economic laws. And the answer is not political independence but the replacement of capitalism by socialism.

Socialists are not nationalists - in fact we are implacably opposed to nationalism in whatever form it rears its ugly head - and we see the establishment of an independent Scotland as yet another irrelevant, constitutional reform. One of the last things the world needs at the moment is more states, with their own armed forces and divisive nationalist ideologies. Nationalists like the SNP who preach the opposite are spreading a divisive poison amongst people who socialists say should unite to establish a frontier-less world community, based on the world’s resources becoming the common heritage of all humanity. Socialists and nationalists are implacably opposed to each other. We are working in opposite directions. Us to unite workers. Them to divide them.

In the end the point at issue - independence which leaves profit-making, exploitation and all the other social problems untouched - is so irrelevant that it is not worth taking sides. We don’t see any point in diverting our energies to changing the constitution but we certainly want things to change. We want people to change the economic and social basis of society and establish socialism in place of capitalism. Just because we are not prepared to back the efforts of Scottish nationalists to break away from the United Kingdom - and vigorously oppose their efforts to split the trade union movement - does not mean that we are unionists. We don’t support the Union. We just put up with it! Socialists are just as much opposed to British nationalism as we are to Scottish. So we won’t be voting “yes” or “no”. We’ll be writing the word “SOCIALISM” across the referendum voting paper whenever it eventually takes place.

Food for thought

The Irving shipyard in Halifax has won the contract to build twenty-one Canadian combat ships for the navy. The accompanying photograph in the Toronto Star article shows the workers pumping their fists in the air. Those shipyards that lost out will have to pare down or close. Such is the nature of capitalism, for every winner there is a loser. Even the winners soon become losers. An employee of the Saint John shipyard tells how when the yard closed down the last time that the work ran out in his yard, "A lot of guys got divorced and lost homes and houses. A lot committed suicide." And we have to rely on the production of killing machines to gain a livelihood.

The house to house battle in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 polluted the city with the use of white phosphorous by the American troops to light up the city. The chemical rained down on the houses. It has resulted in a staggering rise in birth defects -- 15%. Compared to a global average of 6%. There are no support systems for the care of these children.

At the peak of the Iraq war, there were 505 US bases and 170 000 troops in Iraq. The equipment left behind is staggering -- 26 000 trailers (housing units), worth $124 million, 89 000 air conditioners worth $18.5 million, 900 vehicles worth making a total of $350 million. The waste of war in equipment is staggering to say nothing of the human and infrastructure costs.

The war was all about giving the Iraqis freedom and democracy (?). The Toronto Star of December 17 reports on the protest against ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) wherein Senators and corporate executives are wined and dined at the best resorts so that the corporate world can tell the senators what legislation they should be enacting. Corporations such as AT&T, Wal-Mart, GlaxoSmithKline, UPS, Pfizer, Bayer, Verizon, amd Koch industries meet the senators to 'provide public and private sector workers members with a unique opportunity to work together to develop policies and programs that effectively promote the Jeffersonian principle of free markets, limited governments, federalism and individual liberty'. A spokesperson says it creates the best agenda for taxpayers to create jobs and increase the overall standard of living. Some two thousand state legislators belong the organization that has created an arsenal of 800 'model' bills that get tabled about one thousand times a year. Most of them, of course oppose climate change legislation, privatize prisons and schools, rollback workers' rights, limit voting rights, and promote tax breaks for the wealthy.

In addition, a recent book -- Republic Lost -- How money corrupts Congress and how to stop it -- by Lawrence Lessig, it states the less than one per cent of Americans contribute to political campaigns and members of Congress spend a phenomenal amount of time pursuing these elites -- between 30 and 70%. Some democracy the Iraqis have gained! John Ayers

FAMILY VALUES

Politicians are fond of speaking about "family values", and love photo opportunities that depict them as happily married decent individuals. In practice though when defending the profit margins of the owning class they ruthlessly attack the living standards of working class families. "Families with children will be hardest hit by tax and benefit changes aimed at cutting the deficit, a charity argues. The Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) says the average income of households with children will drop by 4.2% between 2010-11 and 2015-16, the equivalent of £1,250 a year. Average household income however will fall 0.9%, or £215 a year, say the FPI." (BBC News, 4 January) RD

ANOTHER EMPTY PROMISE

An ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once boasted that we lived in a property-owning democracy, but that boast seems somewhat laughable today. "Almost a million people have turned to a high cost payday loan to cover their mortgage or rent in the past year, the homelessness charity Shelter has claimed. A further 6 million have used other types of credit, including unauthorised overdrafts, other loans or credit cards, to help pay their housing costs, it said. (Guardian, 4 January) It seems we now live in a pawn ticket owning society. RD

Footballer's goal

It is not all empty wallets at Hearts of Midlothian FC . Despite Hearts failing to pay wages on time to him and his team-mates last month David Obua has sparked controversy by building a mansion in his Uganda homeland.

The five-bed villa will feature a cinema, football pitch, two garages, full-size bar and banquet room. It will also have a gym, ­swimming pool, sauna, steam bath and stable. Sources claim the midfielder is having expensive fittings and furnishings shipped from Italy. Friends claim Obua plans to buy a yacht and dock at the nearby Munyonyo Cape pier.

A source said: “To many, Obua is one of Uganda’s biggest football exports. But he is also seen as a spoilt boy who is only concerned about his playboy lifestyle. Most Ugandans earn less than 50p a day, so it’s easy to see why this would upset people.”

BIG CITY BLUES

The illusion that poverty and homelessness only occur in impoverished countries is shattered by the following report. "US mayors sounded an alarm Thursday over deepening economic woes after a survey of 29 cities from Los Angeles to Washington showed worrying rises in homelessness and poverty-related food aid. "Here is the richest country in the world and we have people who cannot find a place to live," said Kansas City Mayor Sly James, who co-chairs a task force on hunger and homelessness for the US Conference of Mayors. "We are failing" to address critical issues of homelessness and the use of food stamps, which is "increasing, not decreasing," he told reporters on a conference call to discuss the survey. The government has reported that 46.2 million people nationwide were living in poverty in 2010 and that the rate climbed to 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent a year earlier." (Yahoo News, 15 December) RD

YOU RANG MY LORD?

A recent press item reveals two popular notions as completely fallacious. The notion that in China there is a more equitable society and the equally foolish illusion that the UK is gradually becoming less class-based. "English butlers, synonymous with Reginald Jeeves in the novels of P.G. Wodehouse, are answering more calls from super-rich Chinese and Russian clients as wealth shifts between east and west. The Guild of Professional English Butlers has trained 20 percent more butlers this year than last, placing them with clients as soon as they are ready, according to Robert Watson, head of the firm in southern England, last week. The number of domestic staff registered with Greycoat Placements has trebled over the past three years, Managing Director Debbie Salter said." (Bloomberg News, 13 December) RD

a new year of debt

Hundred of thousands of Scots are spiralling into debt by turning to payday loan companies or other expensive providers of credit to keep a roof over their heads, a survey has found.

The number of people turning to the much-criticised operators, whose interest charges can quickly rack up to several hundred per cent, is approaching one million across the UK, while a further six million are using an overdraft, credit cards or other loans to keep a roof over their heads, according to housing campaigner Shelter.

Shelter Scotland spokesman Gordon MacRae said: "These findings are extremely worrying and show that millions of households are desperately struggling to keep their homes. Payday loans may seem like a quick fix to pay for housing costs but with interest rates of up to 4000% annually they are completely unsustainable and can quickly lead to snowballing debt, eviction, repossession and ultimately homelessness...Every two minutes someone in Britain faces the nightmare of losing their home. "

More than one in 10 people in the UK faces a constant struggle to pay their rent or mortgage, while 37% blame high housing costs as the cause of stress and depression in their families.

THE SEASON OF GOODWILL?

During the big sales drive of the Christmas period advertisers put great emphasis on phrases like "goodwill to all men" and "peace on earth" but there is one group of salesmen who don't rely on such nonsense. The gun manufacturer and arms dealers know that Christmas time is a boom period for gun sales."According to the FBI, over 1.5 million background checks on customers were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December. Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas. It was the highest number ever in a single month, surpassing the previous record set in November. On Dec 23 alone there were 102,222 background checks, making it the second busiest single day for buying guns in history." (Daily Telegraph, 1 January) RD