Food for thought 2

As bad as the 'garment countries' appear to be, there is always someone worse off, luckily for the capitalist class. In a study released by the UK based Legatum Institute and its Prosperity (?) Index, Bangladesh ranks 103rd out of 142 countries whereas India, that darling of the world's expanding economies, comes in at 106th. and falling. Apparently, if you live in Bangladesh you will live 3.4 years longer, you will be less likely to be undernourished, or die in infancy, and have better access to sanitation. Just don't take a job in the garment industry! John Ayers

Food for thought

Several Canadian firms have been targeted as culprits in the garment Industry shame league, such as Reitmans who consigned more than $13 million worth of goods from Cambodia in 2012, and The Hudson's Bay Company, who commented, " The safety of the workers is our top concern…" Sure, you just happened to farm your work out to low paying, low safety law areas by accident! Profit was never a big concern, right? John Ayers

Capitalism Must Be Abolished!

Few can deny that the world today is in upheaval. That is reflected in the widespread  turmoil and conflict not only in the developed industrial nations but also in developing nations throughout the globe. The Socialist Party has repeatedly demonstrated, is the capitalist system that does not and cannot work in the interests of the majority.

Socialists are agreed upon their object, that object being social and economic freedom and equality for all, and the realisation of the highest individual development and liberty for all, through the social ownership and control of all the material means of production. Many say they are socialists  but only those who believe in the object as here defined can be properly so described. Those who do not so accept it are not socialists, despite what they may say to the contrary. The goal of socialism as the classless society has its starting point in the propertyless condition of the working class. The Socialist’s goal represents the consummation of the struggle of the working class—its emancipation from the system which gives rise to that struggle.

Socialism is the name given to that form of society in which there is no such thing as a propertyless class, but in which the whole community has become a working community owning the means of production—the land, factories, mills, mines, transport and all the means whereby wealth is created and distributed to the community. Socialism is also the name given to a body of scientific and philosophic thought which explains why the socialist form of society is now a necessity, the forces upon which its achievement depends, the conditions under which and the methods whereby it can be achieved. It will be obvious at once that the basic principles of Socialist society are diametrically opposite to those of Capitalist society in which we live. Socialism stands for social or community property. Capitalism stands for private and state-owned property. Socialism is a society without classes. Capitalism is divided into classes—the class owning property and the propertyless working class.

We can easily understand, therefore, why the, employers , financiers and the land-owners are opposed to socialism. Their very existence as the receivers of rent, interest and profit is at stake. They do not merely reject the theory of socialism, but bitterly fight every movement which is in any way associated with the struggle for socialism. The beneficiaries and defenders of this economic dictatorship never tire of declaring it the “best of all possible systems.” Yet, today, after decades of new deals, fair deals, wars on poverty, civil rights legislation, government regulations, deregulations and a host of other reform efforts, capitalism presents an obscene social picture. Millions who need and want jobs are unemployed, including many of whose jobs have been out-sourced. Others are underemployed, working only part-time or temporary jobs though they need and want full-time work. Millions aren’t earning enough to maintain a decent standard of living for themselves and their families despite the fact that they are working. The malignant evil of racism and discrimination is pervasive. The health care system, despite heated debate for years, still fails to meet the needs of millions. Widespread pollution of our environment worsens. Crime and corruption are widespread at every level of capitalist society. Thanks to capitalism’s exploitation of workers poverty continues to grow. All of those problems still plague the working class—but have grown to even more monumental proportions.

These long-standing problems and the failure of seemingly unending reform efforts to solve or even alleviate them to any meaningful degree have imposed decades of misery and suffering on millions of workers and their families. Against this insane capitalist system the Socialist Party raises its voice in emphatic protest and unqualified condemnation. It declares that if our society is to be rid of the host of economic, political and social ills that for so long have plagued it, the outmoded capitalist system of private ownership of the socially operated means of life and production for the profit of a few must be replaced by a new social order. That new social order must be organized on the same basis of social ownership and democratic management of all the instruments of social production, all means of distribution and all of the social services. It must be one in which production is carried on to satisfy human needs and wants. In short, it must be genuine socialism.

 It is to the individual and social interest of the propertyless class to fight against the private property system and for socialism. They do it every day, though as yet only a minority do it consciously for socialism. When Trade Unionists fight the employers on wages questions and the conditions of labour they are really fighting against consequences of the private property system. The existence of the private ownership of the means of production means also the private ownership of the things produced and their sale as commodities in competition one with another. Labour also is a commodity and those who sell their labour power, the members of the working class, manual and brain-worker alike, also compete like other commodities.

Why then is it that all  trade unionists are not always socialists? People do not start their lives with fully developed theories about systems of society. Nor were trade unions formed to fight for socialism. The workers formed them to defend and improve their immediate conditions of employment, their wages, their hours of labour and so on. This is clearly revealed by the way in which the trade unions have grown.  The Socialist Party is not anti-trade union. On the contrary, we are ardent supporters of trade unionism. Socialists want their fellow trade unionists to recognise the cause of the struggle their unions are compelled to wage. Recognising the cause as rooted in the private ownership of the means of production and the propertyless conditions of the working class, socialists want all the struggles of the unions to be co-ordinated, so that behind every national or industry conflict there will be available the appropriate power of the working class. Socialists want sectionalism to be superseded by a united working class army. Trade unions should become transformed into industrial unions, i.e. one union for each industry. It means that the unions should recognise that all the efforts of the working class must be directed to the goal of the conquest of political power and their fight in the industrial field must be linked and  backed by the might of the working class, to achieve transfer the ownership of the means of production and distribution from private hands to social ownership. Divisions between workers are fatal and must be quickly overcome to develop solidarity of the working class in the struggle against Capitalism.And that solidarity is the basis of class action in politics.  No longer a movement of protesting wage slaves, they will become the means whereby the workers control the conditions and processes of industry.  A new basis of common ownership has given the transformed unions new functions of self-government and administration. Capable of assuming control and continuing to administer and operate the essential industries and social services, unions can exercise the power and provide the decisive leverage to “swing” the revolution. Moreover, they have the structure that provides the necessary foundation and structural framework for socialist society. It is the workers who will fill out the new social framework and make the people’s ownership, control and administration of the new social structure a reality.
Despite the many threats to workers’ lives, liberty and happiness today, despite the growing poverty and misery that workers are subjected to, a world of peace, liberty, security, health and abundance for all stands within our grasp. The potential to create such a society exists, but that potential can be realized only if workers act to gain control of their own lives by organizing, politically and industrially, for socialism.

But general agreement on the object, however, by no means presupposes universal agreement on policy and tactics. They are matters to discuss, to argue out, to confer about. It is for such purposes that our own party holds its annual conferences and  Autumn Delegate Conference, reaching a common agreement as to socialist policy and action in the present and immediate future. The Socialist Party calls upon all who realise and who may be increasingly aware that a basic change in our society is needed, to place themselves squarely on working-class principles. Join us in this effort to put an end to the existing class conflict and all its malevolent results by placing the land and the instruments of social production in the hands of the people as a collective body in a cooperative socialist society. Help us build a world in which everyone will enjoy the free exercise and full benefit of their individual faculties, multiplied by all the technological and other factors of modern civilization. We may not presently be overwhelmed by members but let’s be optimistic - “We’ve got a lot of room to grow.”

Connolly the Anti-Nationalist

Billy Connolly has said he will not vote in the referendum on Scottish independence.

" I have never been a nationalist and I have never been a patriot. I have always remembered that I have a lot more in common with a welder from Liverpool than I do with someone from agriculture in the Highlands..."

Science and Ignorance

The USA is the most developed capitalist country in the world. It also happens to have the most developed scientists in the world, but that doesn't mean its population is the best informed. When asked the question does the earth orbit the sun how did they reply? 'The good news is that 74 per cent of Americans know the answer. The very bad news is that means 26 per cent really don't. ....... Other startling results from the survey included that only 39 per cent of Americans believe "the universe began with a huge explosion". And fewer than half of the people surveyed (48 per cent) agreed that "human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier  species of animals". .... The study also demonstrated that a total of 42 per cent of Americans thought astrology was either "very scientific" or "sort of scientific". (Independent, 16 February) The survey, as reported by Agence France-Presse, is carried out every couple of years in order to analyse whether America is making educational progress. The owning class throughout the world need the best possible scientists but if the rest of the population know little of science it is of little concern to the owners. RD

Football and Fatalities

According to most dictionaries "sport" is usually depicted as " an enjoyable pursuit", but we live in capitalism - a society that distorts everything. 'More than 400 Nepalese migrant workers have died on World Cup building sites as the Gulf state Qatar prepares to host the event in 2022, a report will reveal this week. The grim statistic comes from the Pravasi Nepali Co-ordination Committee, a respected human rights organisation which compiles lists of the dead using  official sources in Doha.' (Observer, 16 February) In its relentless drive for bigger and bigger profits the health and safety and life itself means little to the owning class - to which 400 grieving families can now testify. RD

Neither Union or Separatism

NO PASSPORTS
JUST PEOPLES

 "I have no sense of nationalism, only a cosmic consciousness of belonging to the human family" - Rosika Schwimmer

How are we to explain this nationalism arising in an advanced capitalist country at this time?Since the 1707 Union Scotland has visibly progressed, not regressed, as part of the United Kingdom. Certainly, there are a number of features which spur national consciousness in Scotland: the legal and educational systems are separate from those in England and Wales and there is even the remnants of a ‘national’ language - gaelic. But to pretend that the Union is the cause of all the problems is to deliberately fool the people.

Nations that divide the world at present have not existed for all time. They are the by-products of fairly recent historical developments. Usually, they grew up as a particular ruling class sought to establish its dominance over the economic activities of the territory it inhabited. To do so successfully, it had to replace the various local traditions and dialects that characterised pre-capitalist society by new traditions and a uniform language and to fight to subordinate the state power to its own ‘national’ interests.  As well as serving the interests of capitalist progress, nationalism contained the concept of popular sovereignty—of a motherland which claims to represent the people as a whole, its vast majority, and which grants and defend their liberties and gives them a conscious stake in shaping its future.

The idea of an independent Scottish parliament has arisen among sections of the Scottish business class and it has also enticed the support of many workers. Independence is offred as  a panacea which will enable Scots to  rid themselves of the myriad of social problems thrown up by capitalism without having to fight to overthrow capitalism itself. North Sea oil is the new snake-oil cure. All that is needed is an Edinburgh sovereign parliament to demand a larger share of revenue from the global energy companies but this panacea simply ignores the realities of power under capitalism. Nationalism finds little expression among the Scottish businessmen which is firmly committed to its junior partner relationship with UK capitalism. While at the national level the bourgeoisie is divided, various elements within the ruling class, from one faction and the other, have been exhorting workers to abandon its own interests for the sake of the “nation”. Each faction is hoping to push the balance of power between the factions in its own favour, in order to profit to the hilt from the capitalist crisis which is shaking Scotland and the UK.

Nationalist calls for independence serves as an instrument of the capitalist class to mystify its rule, to delude the workers, to deter them from developing a class consciousness and organising along independent class lines. It has been used to pit them against one another.

Scottish nationalism and independence does not strengthen the real force for socialism but weakens and fragments a united, class-conscious working class. The Left nationalists contribute nothing but division and confusion. They ally with the little tartan-clad bosses. Marx and Engels, by saying that “the workers have no country” were stating fact. Since the workers do not own their a share of the country, they are without a country. You cannot take from them what they have not got. It is a truth that capitalist ruling classes are always seeking to camouflage. For the members of the ruling class in Scotland, to fight unemployment and the recession, English colonialism must first be fought so runs Salmond’s appeal  and it is a simplistic one. “Support me, I am the saviour of our country, forget about your exploitation and your misery for the time being...Help us get independence then you’ll get more jobs...later””

A worker’s  place of birth is accidental.  Nationalism groups men according to their land of origin, as decided by the vicissitudes of history. Socialism groups men, poor against rich, class against class, without taking into account the differences of race and language, and over and above the frontiers traced by history. Workers have no country. The differences which exist between the present countries are all superficial differences. The Socialist Party looks at the national question from the desire to find the best method of struggle for socialism.  We do not accept that the struggle for independence is more important than the struggle for socialism.

In a big company, there is always an owner or many shareholders that live off the work of others: these are the ones who really hold the power! The foremen and supervisors are only their watchdogs; they apply the rules the capitalist owners dictate; they “direct” the workers in such a way as to insure as much profit as possible, and when the industry is facing difficulties, they are charged with the laying-off, or they do the “pushing” to raise production; they also try to create division among the workers as they fight against their union or try to buy off their representatives. If a party does not want to abolish capitalist exploitation, it can only serve capitalism – its role is that of the foreman in the plant.

 If the Left nationalists truly have at heart the interests of the workers, why don’t they denounce the very essence of exploitation, the capitalists system? They call themselves “socialists,” but that doesn’t mean much – they are hollow words. One is not truly a socialist who does not want to abolish the private/state ownership of the means of production, who does not want to expropriate the capitalists. Left nationalists are pretend revolutionaries. They want to rally the working class behind the nationalist cause. But nationalism disarms the workers, an attempt to rally the working class behind the cause of our native ruling class seeking a better place in the sun. Nationalism does not oppose capitalism. There are no shortcuts to the socialist revolution, and those who enter the nationalist paths retard the coming of a popular revolutionary movement by chasing fake enemies.

Furthermore nationalism is used to divide the workers among themselves so they can ignore their real enemy. The workers (Scots and English, Scots and Europeans)  need to unite – their main interests lie in such unity. The separation of Scotland would divide the workers of Britain in two and draw Scottish workers nearer to the Scotland-based bourgeoisie. We must fight nationalism! The Left that supports independence serve the interests of “our” ascendent capitalists. The social revolution is an immense task and workers must have their own organisations.

A workers’ movement that fights for economic gains, yes!  A Socialist Party that fight for the emancipation of the working class, even better!

Five hundred factories came out on strike

The Asian garment industry is in the news again. This time it's Cambodia's turn as five hundred factories came out on strike for higher wages. The government replied predictably with police opening fire with their AK47s killing three workers. The industry, like Bangladesh and Viet Nam, is the country's largest exporter. The workers are asking for $160 per month (less than $1 per hour) and the government has offered $100. No wonder the greedy clothing retailers are licking their lips at the prospects of large profits in Asia! Toronto Star, 4/Jan/2014). John Ayers

If the power lines were buried underground.

As most of us are painfully aware, the ice storm that hit most of eastern North America, December 21/22, created havoc. Thirty hours of freezing rain meant downed power lines with loss of electricity, heat, and spoiled food in refrigerators and freezers. Public transit was at a standstill as was almost everything else. All of this could be avoided if the power lines were buried underground. however the simple fact is, as usual, it is too expensive and that, under capitalism, people's well-being comes second to shoveling profits in the direction of the owning class. John Ayers

Poverty and Health

Statisticians are often coming up with surprising findings, but the following should startle no one. " Wealthy octogenarians are healthier than poorer people in their 60s, according to official figures. A big health gap starts to open in middle-age, but even by their late 30s poorer men have a  level of health problems not seen by rich men until they reach their mid-60s , the Office for National Statistics says." (Times, 15 February) So not only do rich people live longer than poor people they live healthier lives too. Surprise, surprise! RD

Class Against Class

Humanity has reached a turning point in its history. The dreams of the past have become real possibilities for a future that can already be foreseen, because the material conditions necessary for achieving them now exist. Socialism has been called the science of human association reduced to a practical programme, based upon a study of the social organism. It is an interpretation of the past, a diagnosis of the present, and a forecast of the future. It recognises that life in society as well as in the organic world, is constantly passing through a process of evolution. It is therefore founded upon an enduring basis of fact. Its practical programme declares that labour is the sole creator of value and that the laboring class is entitled to the full social value of the things they produce. It teaches that the only way to attain the just distribution of wealth to those who produce it is through the collective or social ownership, control, and operation of the means of production and distribution, such as lands, mines, factories, transport and communications etc., etc. It asserts that this production should be for use and not for sale or profit, thus doing away with all private monopoly of the means of subsistence, and all forms of the vast amount of unproductive labour and an immense number of
useless and harmful occupations.

Working people are becoming increasingly aware that this society can only’be achieved through  revolution. Only a social revolution can put an end to the capitalist relations of exploitation that are now the fundamental obstacle to further progress for mankind. The socialist revolution expropriates the capitalist class who now possess and control the means of the production and distribution of the world’s wealth. The precise way in which this is affected, whether by general strike, by street fighting, or by the ballot box or finally by a combination of all three methods, may be argued but does not affect the ultimate issue - the capitalists are to be eliminated. This is the meaning of the struggle for a society of abundance, of justice and of freedom: the communist/socialist society based on the free association of all individuals who work together to produce the goods necessary for their collective well-being. All will work according to their capacities and their needs will be fully satisfied.  Individuals will no longer be governed by the division of labour and all opposition between city and countryside and between manual and intellectual work will be eliminated.

Class society is characterized by the struggle between two main classes: the proletariat (the workers) and the bourgeoisie (the employers, aka the capitalists). The course of humanity is still determined by the struggle between these two classes. The employer’s power is rooted in the appropriation of new wealth produced by the labour of the working class. Workers are forced to exchange their labour-power for a wage that allows them to survive but that represents less value than that produced by their labour; this is the source of capital accumulation. In this way, the capitalists, the owners of the means of production, constantly deprive the workers of part of the fruits of their labour. Capitalists have only one raison d’etre – to accumulate more and more capital. They are therefore always looking for ways to increase the productivity of labour. This stimulates the development of science and technology and leads to an ever greater division of labour. It also results in very keen competition among capitalists themselves; many are reduced to bankruptcy, while a minority get richer and richer. The working class cannot free itself without freeing all of humanity at the same time, because the ultimate goal of its struggle is not to replace the power of one class with that of another but rather to abolish all classes. This is the only way to put an end to all the social divisions and inequalities that have characterized class societies thus far. The expropriation of the capitalists and the socialization of the means of production will lead directly to the abolition of society divided into classes with opposing interests. The abolition of classes will in turn lead to the withering away of the State and to its extinction for the State is not, and can never be, anything other than the instrument of dictatorship of one class over others.

The fundamental interests of the proletariat are the same throughout the world. The socialist revolution is inseparable from the world revolution. Socialism  is only possible in a world totally rid of capitalist exploitation. When the working class has captured political power it can build socialism. With power in the hands of the workers, the pathway to socialism is as clear as daylight and the working class can solve the economic and social problems of this planet and liberate billions of oppressed peoples so, for the first time in history, the great majority of the population, will have control over their daily lives and the power to build their future.

The mainstream parties—Tory, LibDems, Labour and various nationalists—appeal to you in the name of the “nation.” One Party—the Socialist Party—appeals to you in the name of the working class. No political party can serve two masters. No party can serve a “nation” divided into two warring classes—one which owns the wealth and one which produces the wealth and does not own it. No party can serve the robbers and the robbed at the same time.  The Socialist Party is thus the only party of the oppressed workers. The others are parties of the party of the landlords, the industrialists and financiers. The basis of their policies is upon the preservation and extension of the private ownership of all wealth and property. They wage a perpetual class war against the workers and call it “austerity” They wage war abroad and call it “humantarian intervention”. They speak of disarmament, but equip themselves with more deadly weapons. They are not against violence on behalf of the capitalists, but only against violence on behalf of the workers against the capitalists. In the current crisis the first line of attack was the characteristic attack upon the wages and conditions of the workers. This has been their first line of attack in their attempt to recover from the economic recession.

There can be no real democracy unless it is a workers’ democracy, a social democracy,  which  means the mass of the population being at once voters and administrators. This is only possible within some sort of a system of workers’ councils and neighbourhood communes.  Then all can stand on equal footing and collectively participate in the conduct of their own affairs, the running of industry and the organisation of social life. The power of the working class is the strength of its own organisation. It calls for the workers to leave the parties of capitalism, to rally to the party of the class struggle - a socialist party.

The Poverty of Capitalism

It remains the great and tragic paradox of our age – poverty in the midst of plenty.

One class—the capitalist class—owns and controls the economic resources of the world. That class, for its own protection and perpetuation in power, subjects all institutions to its own interests. In its advent to power and supremacy the present economic master class succeeded another that had decayed in the process of evolution. The feudal lords had to surrender to the ascending capitalist class. We socialists have always contended that capitalism should be abolished because it mismanaged the means of production so that a very few – those who own the means of production – reaped great profits while the masses of the people were deprived of a secure standard of living. We would often prove this assertion by demonstrating the tremendous capacities which the modern industrial machine has; how it could satisfy the needs of everyone if it were run for that purpose; and how capitalism, instead, ran the industrial machine for profits. When the capitalists could not sell their products at a profit,  industrial capacity would lie idle because the capitalists despite the need for these products. We socialists would say, if only the people could run these industries themselves, they could produce enough to satisfy everyone’s needs.

The creators of all wealth, workers; obtain in wages only the minimum necessary to live and raise children so that capitalism has a steady supply of labour-power. All means of production, whether factories, machines or mines, are owned by the capitalist class. Workers possess only their own labour-power which they must sell in order to live. The system of capitalist relations of production leads to ever-more acute economic crises, bringing the miseries of unemployment and falling real wages on the working class. The class interest of the workers is to eliminate capitalism entirely and to build a socialist society, the classless society free from exploitation and from racial, sexual and all other forms of inequality.

The aim of the socialist movement is to replace world capitalist economy by a world system of socialism/communism. Socialist society is mankind’s only way out, for it alone can abolish the problems of the capitalist system which threaten to degrade and destroy the human race. Socialism will abolish the class division of society and simultaneously with the abolition of anarchy in production, it will abolish all forms of exploitation and oppression of man by man. Society will no longer consist of antagonistic classes in conflict with each other, but will present a united commonwealth of labour. At the same time, the organs of class domination, and the State in the first place, will disappear also. The State, being the embodiment of class domination, will die out in so far as classes die out, and with it all measures of coercion will expire. For the first time in its history mankind will take its fate into its own hands. Instead of destroying innumerable human lives and incalculable wealth in struggles between classes and nations, mankind will devote all its energy to the development and strengthening of its own collective might.

After abolishing private and state ownership of the means of production and converting these means into social property, the world socialism will replace the elemental forces of the world market, competitive and blind processes of social production, by consciously organised and planned production for the purpose of satisfying rapidly growing social needs. With the abolition of competition and anarchy in production, devastating crises and still more devastating wars will disappear. Instead of colossal waste of productive forces and spasmodic development of society-there will be a planned utilisation of all material resources and a painless economic development on the basis of unrestricted, smooth and rapid development of productive forces. Work will cease to be toiling for the benefit of a class enemy: instead of being merely a means of livelihood it will become a necessity of life: want and economic inequality, the misery of enslaved classes, and a wretched standard of life generally will disappear; the hierarchy created in the division of labour system will be abolished together with the antagonism between mental and manual labour; and the last vestige of the social inequality of the sexes will be removed.

With the disappearance of classes culture will become the acquirement of all and the class ideologies of the past will give place to scientific materialist philosophy. Hence, it will bury forever all mysticism, religion, prejudice and superstition and will give a powerful impetus to the development of all-conquering, scientific knowledge. Under such circumstances, the domination of man over man, in any form, becomes impossible, and a great field will be opened for the social selection and the harmonious development of all the talents inherent in humanity. Socialism will make it possible to raise the well-being of the whole of humanity and to reduce to a minimum the time devoted to material production and, consequently, will enable culture to flourish as never before in history.

 In socialism no social restrictions will be imposed upon the growth of the forces of production. Private ownership in the means of production, the selfish lust for profits, the artificial retention of the masses in a state of ignorance, poverty-which retards technical progress in capitalist society. The most expedient utilisation of the forces of nature and of the natural conditions of production in the various parts of the world, the removal of the antagonism between town and country, that under capitalism results from the low technical level of agriculture and its systematic lagging behind industry; the closest possible co-operation between science and technique, the utmost encouragement of research work and the practical application of its results on the widest possible social scale; planned organisation of scientific work; the application of the most perfect methods of statistical accounting and, planned regulation of economy; the rapid growth of social needs, which-is the most powerful internal driving force of the whole system-all these will secure the maximum productivity of social labour, which in turn will release human energy for the powerful development of science and art.

Capitalism is a wasteful and inefficient system. It cannot plan on either locally or a worldwide scale. It deprives the mass of the people of products. Socialism could plan better, provide the people with all necessities. In socialism there would be no shortages or unemployment created by the greed of a few owners of the means of production, because the people would collectively own the means of production. Socialism could take the vast resources devoted to war  and use them for constructive purposes. These are the real class interests of the working class. That is why socialism is the burning need of the hour. The capitalist class continuously tries to make the working class carry the burden of their economic crises.  The introduction  of more repressive legislation facilitates this, together with the attacks on the peoples’ living standards.

In opposition to all other parties—ConDem Coalition,  Labour or nationalist—the Socialist Party affirm that so long as one section of the community own and control the means of production, and the rest of the community are compelled to work for that section in order to obtain the means of life, there can be no peace between them.

Corrupt Capitalism

Sudhir Choudhrie, who has donated more than £500,000 to the Lib Dems via his family company since 2010, was named by India's Central Bureau of Investigation as one of 23 "unscrupulous persons" in 2012. The Indian-born businessman, who lives in a £5m apartment in Chelsea, was placed on the Indian list of "unscrupulous persons" following two formal investigations of alleged bribery in Choudhrie's work brokering arms deals. The "Undesirable Contactmen" list, which was prepared by the CBI and distributed to all Indian government departments, states politicians and officials should be "careful and cautious in dealings with unscrupulous contact men whose names are on these lists, to avoid associating with them socially and accepting hospitality and gifts from them. "Even official dealings with the UCM should be discouraged. Nefarious activities of these individuals should not be allowed and they should not be allowed sponsorship of Govt projects."

Choudhrie was investigated, and later cleared of allegations he accepted a $150,000 (£90,000) commission as part of an arms deal with the Israeli company Soltam in 2000. The Indian CBI also investigated claims that Choudhrie and his companies received "a number of suspected remittances to the tune of millions of dollars" from arms firm Israel Aircraft Industries over a deal to supply seven Barak missile systems and 200 missiles to the Indian navy. The CBI closed its seven-year investigation into the allegations on 24 December 2013 due to a lack of evidence.

Nick Clegg and his wife Miriam hosted an event in 2011 for Choudhrie's charity Path To Success in Lancaster House, London, an official government residence. Justice minister Simon Hughes received a £60,000 donation in November 2013. Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, used an official government trip to India to make a visit to the home of Choudhrie last year.

Choudhrie has developed strong links with the Lib Dems and was named by Nick Clegg as a potential future peer last year. Last autumn it was reported that he has since fallen off the prospective peer list following a damning official report into the state of hospitals and care homes he owns.

He and his son Bhanu were arrested and questioned for several hours by the Serious Fraud Office in connection with an investigation into allegations of multimillion pound bribery and corruption at Rolls-Royce, which supplies engines for military and civilian jets. It is understood that they were "fixers" who set up deals on the company's behalf.

The prime minister has praised Rolls-Royce as an enterprise "of which the whole country can be proud", and the Duke of Cambridge has described it as "one of the United Kingdom's great global companies" Rolls-Royce is alleged to have used middlemen to bribe Tommy Suharto, the son of Indonesia's former president General Suharto, with $20m (£13m) and a blue Rolls-Royce car.

 The allegations, which mostly date back to the 1980s and 1990s, were raised by former Rolls-Royce employee Dick Taylor. Taylor, who worked for Rolls-Royce for more than 30 years, including a stint in Indonesia, turned whistleblower after the company ignored concerns he raised internally. After taking early retirement, Taylor said he decided to "tell the truth". Taylor claims the Derby-based company paid bribes in order to persuade the national airline, Garuda, to order Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines.

Last year Mark King, head of Rolls-Royce's aerospace division, resigned just four months after being promoted to president of aerospace, the division beset by the allegations. The company has not explained the departure of King, a 27-year company veteran. It declined to state whether his departure was linked to the investigation, stating only that he was leaving for "personal reasons".

Lawyers for Suharto, who was convicted of ordering the murder of a judge who tried him on separate corruption charges in 2000, said: "He did not, and has never, received monies or a car from Rolls-Royce and nor did he recommend their engines to Garuda, as alleged."

The former Marks & Spencer’s boss appointed by Jeremy Hunt to advise on improving the NHS could “make a fortune” from hospital takeovers by private companies, the country’s biggest union has claimed. Sir Stuart Rose, who will lead a review of management in the NHS, is also paid to sit on the advisory board of Bridgepoint, an international private equity group, which is the major shareholder of private health firm Care UK. Care UK is in the running to take over the George Eliot NHS Hospital Trust – one of 14 hospital trusts in Sir Stuart’s review.

Rachael Maskell, national officer for health at the Unite union, said Stuart’s appointment represented a “gobsmacking conflict of interest” and called on him to confirm he would not profit personally from Care UK’s bid for the Warwickshire hospital.

Knightsbridge Bargain

While many workers scrimp and save in an effort to get together a deposit for a mortgage it is worthwhile looking at how the owning class live. 'An allotted space in an underground car park has gone on sale for £400,000. The space, near the Royal Albert Hall, Knightsbridge, is large enough for a Rolls-Royce Phantom and comes with metal lockable doors.' (Times, 13 February) You homeless workers will be glad to know that the agent Hobart Slater said "We've already had plenty of interest in the space." RD

Reformism and Deformism

The revolt against the ruling class was never so much alive as today. The ruthless march of capital is daily recruiting and making rebels out of both the young and old by grinding down wages to the point of bare subsistence. As a consequence workers are becoming more revolutionary than ever before. All over the world the ruling classes are busy devising measures to stem the rising tide. Even in the United States the “conspiracy of silence” has ended and socialism is once again being discussed from press and platform. Meanwhile the Socialist Party of Great Britain as an organisation and its companion parties in the World Socialist Movement has failed to make a corresponding growth. The Socialist Party of the future must find its strength.

Socialists concern themselves with analysing the capitalist system, pointing out its defects and advocating the replacing of the capitalist system by the collective ownership and democratic administration of the means of production and distribution. Socialism is not advanced necessarily in response to or because of great economic  distress. These crises may point out the fact that something is wrong but the suggestion of the remedy and the cure for these ills is quite a different problem. Socialism is our immediate demand. The overthrow of capitalism is our only platform. The purpose for the Socialist Party is not that of a “uniting the whole of the workers,” but that of expressing the interests of the working class and encouraging its fighting class-conscious spirit.

 Reformist demands are like shopping lists and this isn’t surprising since political parties try to collect the maximum number of votes so as to get themselves elected to government. They’re a hodge-podge collection in which everybody can find something which pleases them, a package of electoral promises for one and all. To go out amongst the people and try to get them to vote for our candidates merely because we promise them some palliative amelioration is to enter into competition with the Labour Party and its left-wing on their own ground, for there is no earthly reason why the workers should prefer our brand of reforms to those of these others. We can offer no more and no better reforms than can any other party under capitalism and the workers would be entirely correct if, on the basis of an appeal for reforms, they would turn their backs to us and vote for the more electable parties. We distinguish ourselves fundamentally from all reformist groups by carrying on a campaign solely for socialism, which is not only correct but common sense. The Socialist Party refuses to have anything to do with dangling the hook and bait of immediate demands for acquiring votes. The Socialist Party declines to transform itself into a mere vote-catching machine.

 Concessions gained are by-products of the class struggle, not our aim, and gained only because of our strengthened position against, and over the opposition of the capitalist parties. If we fail to educate, to organise and to prepare the working class for a clear understanding of, and for the attainment of the socialist objective, temporary concessions gained can, instead of becoming partial victories on the way, be turned into retardation of the struggle. It is absolutely necessary to make clear our object and the limitations of immediate partial demands and not to arithmetically add new demands for every ill of the present situation appearing as solutions in themselves, such ends only in reformism pure and simple.

Day-to-day struggles must be subordinated by a socialist party to the realisation of the final goal. The pursuit of immediate objectives, reforms within the framework of the capitalist system supposedly means evolution from capitalism to socialism results in the strategy that the movement is everything, the final aim is nothing. The reformists set their demands as ends in themselves. They sow confusion in the minds of the workers.  The reformist platforms in practice cannot bring us closer to our revolutionary goal. It leads in another direction. It will not serve to develop class consciousness through struggle because the struggle, which it is conducting, is based on reformist premises.

If the socialist movement and the labour movement are ever to become one it will be necessary for socialism to be raised beyond an utopian aspiration. Workers require a concrete goal towards which to strive, which it comes nearer to with every battle. Every effort that preserves or increases the self-consciousness of the proletariat or its spirit of co-operation and discipline, is worth the making. Victory will not he born out of degradation, as many have believed.

Workers have a sense of realism and to put forth propositions outside of the realms of possible achievement under existing conditions then workers will give no serious support to an appeal for their backing on the basis of immediate demands that are manifestly unrealisable under the given conditions. Let us leave reformers to wrangle over reforms. Such a policy cannot mobilise the workers under the socialist banner but on the contrary helps to put new life into an otherwise rather feeble social reformism. Let us make our chief task to spread the propaganda of revolution.

There can be no peace and no unity between the exploiter and victim. There is no more unity between the employer and employee than there is between the robber and the robbed. There is a clash of interests. There is antagonism. The capitalist strives to secure for himself as much of the workers’ product as he can get by force or fraud or both; the workers, resisting exploitation, strive to get as big a share of their own product as they can force the boss to yield. That is fundamental. That is the law of capitalist society. It is the division of classes. It is the never ending class conflict as long as capitalism lasts. Capitalist society is a battle ground and the workers are an army on the march against the enemy. The State is not neutral, nor an ally it sometimes pretends to be.

There are many more struggles. Each day brings its own tasks. Each step the capitalists and their State demands new struggles of the workers. These struggles are not separated from each other. They are intertwined into a united whole. One struggle helps another. One victory makes others more easy. All of them strengthen the working class. All of them weaken the capitalist system. These struggles have not been invented. They are a necessity. They are an outcome of existing conditions. They are vital to the very existence of the workers. These struggles will be the more effective, the greater the masses that participate in them and the stronger their unity and will to fight. The Socialist Party is against the opportunism which concentrates the attention of the workers on immediate demands while posing socialism as some distant and ultimate goal.

Fact of the Day

14th February 1937 --  Emma Goldman speaks in Glasgow to an audience of 600 on "The Part of the CNT-FAI in the Spanish Revolution" in the afternoon; & in Paisley on "The CNT-FAI & Collectivisation" in the evening

Human Misery

Capitalism is a destructive society that causes intense suffering as figures from just one part of the world shows. 'More than 130,000 people have been killed in Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The U.N. has given up counting, saying it could no longer do so with any accuracy. 2.3 million Syrians have official refugee status and 6.5 million others are displaced within Syria out of a total population of 23 million.' (Associated Press, 25 January) These are just statistics but think of what it represents in real human suffering. RD

Our Goal is Socialism

Many people, especially Labour Party supporters, propagate the view that the Socialist Party is so concerned with the revolution that we do nothing to secure immediate reforms and that ignoring the needs of workers and by opposing reform we were preventing the workers from getting the immediate relief.  Socialism they contended is a long way off, the workers don’t want it, and consequently we utopians. The Socialist Party does not reject reforms but we do not view reforms as ends in themselves. It is the struggle for socialism which is all important. The Socialist Party has demonstrated that with the socialisation of the means of production there can be an increasing standard of life for all.

Socialism cannot be created by a minority. It can only function with the approval of an immense majority.  In the enormous task of social construction, the immense majority of the citizens must co-operate. We must never forget the object of the Socialist Revolution is the common good. In the socialist system, co-ordination of effort will not be maintained by the authority of one class over another, but will come as the result of the free will of associated members of society. How, then, can a system based on the free collaboration of all be instituted against the will, or even without the will, of the greater number? It can only succeed by the general and almost unanimous desire of the community. Destined for the benefit of all, it must be prepared and accepted by almost all; because the power behind an immense majority discourages the last efforts to resist its will.  Socialism is not the regime of a minority and it cannot be imposed by a minority. The socialist revolution will be brought about by the will and by the power of a majority. Democracy is the essential basis for building up a socialist system of production. Only under the influence of democracy does the proletariat attain that maturity which it needs to be able to bring about socialism, and democracy supplies the surest means for testing its maturity.

The State in a class-divided society can be nothing other than an instrument in the hands of the class owning the property and means of production in society. The talk of “reconciling class interests” is simple deceit. It is impossible to reconcile the interests of the slave owner and the slave, the exploiter and the exploited. Parliament grew out of feudalism and after the capitalist revolution developed as the natural custodian of the interests of capitalism. It was founded on private property foundations. Its laws are the laws of private property. The modifications that have taken place, the extension of the franchise and the growth of social legislation for the working-class are the reflection of the growing strength and power of the working-class. Parliament reflects the class struggle in its work, the more the capitalists attempt to use it as the means to regulate capitalist economy, the more they are impeded by the increasing claims of the workers. The “safety valve” thus becomes no longer “safe” for private property.

  For these reasons the Socialist Party oppose all efforts to stop the advance of the workers through Parliament. We call upon the workers to make the machine of Parliament effective for economic change. There lies the only chance of a transformation of capitalism into socialism without resorting to violence.Workers must use not only the weapon of mass organisation on the industrial field, but the weapon of parliamentary democracy, won in the past by reason of working class power. It must set itself, by using the machine of Parliament, by adapting it and changing it to serve new purposes, to win power so that it shall transfer into the hands of the exploited the means of production. It must wage the class struggle on the political arena if class domination is to end. A socialist and working-class movement fighting relentlessly for socialism and in that fight combating the day to day attacks of the employers is the only way to defeat capitalism. The wealth produced by the workers, for the first time in history, will become the common possession of all people, not just of a group of property owners.

The Socialist Party has since our inception as a party proclaimed the unity of interest of the workers the world over, and the antagonism of interest between the workers of the world and the master class. The principles which we had proclaimed and acted upon in “peace” were sufficient to guide us in war. Socialists in any country had only to stand faithfully by them to keep the name “socialist” free from reproach, and to retain the confidence of those who looked in hope toward our movement. In the face of the tricksters, the mis-leaders, and capitalist agents we declared the unity of interest of the world’s workers and proclaimed again the class struggle.

To-day the worker goes into the labour market as an article of merchandise with a price tag, that is, his or her wage. Herded together in slums, half starved and ill educated, the workers eke out a miserable existence. The evils with which we are confronted are not temporary or accidental, but are the necessary outcome of the system of society itself. As long as that system remains its results will become more and more pronounced, and its effects increasingly felt by the working class. Suffering from want and haunted by fear of want, life is a burden to the working class today.

Socialism – the only hope of the toiling masses – was proudly acclaimed as the beacon for the toilers of the globe in the struggles of the future. When anxious eyes search the horizon for some flickering beam to give them direction, and weary ears listen tensely for some encouraging sound to give them hope and the strength that comes with hope, they will discern the one and hear the other in the message that we sent out to the world in arms – that the workers of the world are one and the master class their enemies.

We in the Socialist Party are proud to declare before the people of the world that we are Marxian communists. We represent the conception of socialism of the future. We believe that the principles  for which we stand should end impoverishment and win the Earth. We seek a world in which the exploitation of man by man shall cease, when the evolution of human society to new and higher forms shall become possible to all mankind, when peace shall be enjoyed by all. Those who state that the Socialist Party extols catastrophe as a condition of the growth of socialist  influence, we say it is they produce the misery. It is the capitalist system which produces the disasters. We socialists do not need these conditions to develop our influence. We urge no pessimism, no sense of frustration. The future is ours. The Socialist Party has never been more optimistic, never more certain, never more determined to achieve the goal of socialism than we are on this day in the year 2014.

American Nightmare

The USA is often depicted as the embodiment of the virtues of modern capitalism but we are indebted to the American journalist  Paul Krugman for this expose of its less than perfect characteristics. 'What do we know about long-term unemployment in America? First, it's still at near-record levels. Historically, the long-term unemployed - those out of work for 27 weeks or more - have usually been between 10 and 20 per cent of total unemployment. Today the number is 35.8 per cent. Yet extended unemployment benefits, which went into effect in 2008, have now been allowed to lapse. As a result, few of the long-term unemployed are receiving any kind of support.' (New York Times, 9 February) Hardly the American dream is it? RD

Dying To Work

The owning class hate to see workers not working. After all they rely on them to produce the surplus value the owners live on. In addition the owning class have got to pay out sickness benefits. Last year they reckon it cost about £13 billion. The present government have appointed the company Atos to overhaul the benefits system. Its findings have not been without its critics though. 'One 39-year old woman from Livingston, near Edinburgh, was judged fit to work just weeks before she died. A heart and lung transplant patient from Essex died nine days after being declared well enough for employment.' (Sunday Times, 9 February) RD