Growing Old Disgracefully

After a lifetime of hard work many thousands of workers because of ill-health and ageing find themselves reduced to living in a so-called Care Home. 'The Care Quality Commission, which carries out inspections of homes, this week confirmed that in the past three years warnings were issued to 1,200 homes, of which 158 were forced to close. ........ A request to 150 councils revealed officials examined a total of 16,405 cases in the past 12 months, up from 13,880 in the previous year. The number of elderly residents who claim they were abused by care home staff also rose last year to 30,785, or 600 a week.' (Daily Express, 4 May) All sorts of proposals are put forward to deal with the situation but the reality is that the Care Homes are under-staffed and under-funded and are unlikely to be improved inside capitalism. RD

Not For The Likes Of Us

Professor Karol Sikora a former director of cancer services at Hammersmith Hospital and ex- chief of the World Health Organisation has expressed his views about treatment of the disease. 'One of Britain's top cancer doctors has called for expensive cancer drugs to be rationed for the frail elderly in favour of being given to younger patients.' (Sunday Times, 4 May) What the doctor really means of course is the elderly and poor patients being untreated. There would be a public outcry if he meant millionaires or even members of the royal family being denied the best possible treatment. As some of the treatments cost £50,000 per year it is obviously not for the likes of us workers. RD

Capitalism In Africa

The development of capitalism leads to the creation of immense amounts of wealth but of course only for a a privileged minority. 'Nigeria's economy is expected to increase by as much as 60 per cent, taking it from $264 billion past South Africa's $384 billion. ...... Despite its vast oil wealth, the last available World Bank figures from 2010 indicated that a staggering 84.5 per cent of Nigeria's 170 million people lived on less than $2 a day.' (Yahoo News, 6 April) This pattern of wealth inequality is typical of how capitalism develops world-wide. RD

The Class Struggle is our struggle

There is a widespread feeling that something is wrong, and that the problem is becoming worse.  Many fear catastrophes looming ahead, dreading that they cannot be stopped, much less reversed.  Doing nothing will only make matters worse. Taking action requirescourage and our politicians  are scarcely up to the task. Plutocrats are calling the shots, telling the government what it should do and what it shouldn’t with the politicians serving their corporate masters,  promoting the oligarchy’s interests, not ours. Normal politics has become even more futile than it used to be. We are faced with a world crisis of capitalism.

The only solution is revolution. The various Occupy movements came into being and caused the idea behind the slogan, “we are the 99%” to take root. It brought to public awareness that not just were the poor getting poorer or that the gap between the rich and the poor was growing.  It highlighted that it was the 1% enriching itself in ways that threatened what remains of our rights and liberties and of government of, by and for the people. Occupy gave expression to political aspirations and to a demand for justice that is implicitly revolutionary.

The political solidarity of the working class means the death of despotism and the birth of freedom. The Socialist Party’s basic idea is the complete and permanent emancipation of workers all over the world. The Socialist Party is the political expression of what is known as “the class struggle.” The struggle for working class emancipation must increase in intensity until  the working class entirely subjugates the capitalist class. There is no middle ground possible, and it is this fact that makes ludicrous many of the reform movements seeking unrealisable concessions and compromises.

 A new era is now developing across the world. Working people are seeing through the deceit of the  capitalist class. History is moving with big strides. For the first time in a long time there are emerging political organisations whose  aim is to overthrow the capitalist system. The news media showed try their best to conceal  and to confuse. The mouth pieces of the capitalist ruling class do not even mention the names of socialist candidates most of the time, nor quote their manifestoes. The main purpose of this propaganda is to say that there is no choice but the capitalist system and that  ending the profit system is not a real alternative. The media believe in the divine right of the capitalist class to rule. Revolution is not practical politics, the television pundits tell us.

The purpose of the Socialist Party is the achievement of a new social system based on the elimination of all classes and class differences, a rational system without exploitation or oppression. The abolition of classes makes possible the enormous development of the productive forces and the production of abundant social wealth. The State, as an instrument of class domination, is no longer necessary, and will wither away.  It will replace the anarchy of capitalist production with planned socialist production. Socialist revolution is the only practical politics and  not a wooly idea. If this course is not taken, starvation and ruin faces the world’s population.  The capitalist class gives no thought for the future; with eyes only for the immediate plunder beyond the dreams of avarice to be made by the spoliation of the world. They assume growth will last for ever. The delusion is ending. Capitalism maintains its profits; no longer on a basis of growing world expansion but solely on the basis of lowering and worsening the standards of the workers. The parasitic burdens of capitalism grow ever greater, as the capitalists maintain their enormous incomes in the midst of decline of the wages of all workers. The attacks of capitalism, to maintain its profits, grow ever more sweeping and ferocious, ranging over every field, against both employed and unemployed workers, against wages and social services.

This position cannot last. The battle between the workers’ needs and capitalism grows ever fiercer. It can only end in revolution. The Labour Party reformists, now turned policemen of capitalism, can no longer hold the workers back. The only path before workers is Revolution.

Do not imagine that the crisis is only a crisis of British industry to be solved by some form of reorganisation within capitalism which would restore British competitive efficiency. All the capitalist spokesmen, Conservative, LibDems and Labour, speak of reorganisation, of new policies of this, that and the other (but never touching rent, interest and profits), to “save” British industry.  They imagine that if only British capitalist organisation and technique could be modernised and improved, if rationalisation could be introduced or the like, all would be well. They appeal to the workers to make “sacrifices” to help in this. But all these so-called remedies not only fail to touch the root or the evil —  capitalist parasitism. It is not a peculiar crisis of British capitalism, it is a crisis of world capitalism. The same measures are pursued by the capitalists in every country and although one set or another set may gain a temporary advantage for a short time net effect of every advance of technique, of every wage-cut, of every cheapening of costs and intensification of production, is to intensify workers’ exploitation. Note well. The crisis is not a crisis of natural scarcity or shortage. We suffer from the curse of plenty. The crisis is a crisis of capitalism alone. Why? Because capitalism cannot organise production for use.  Every advance of production only intensifies the crisis, intensifies the ferocity of capitalist competition for the market.

Many would-be reformers of capitalism (including those on the Left) urge that if only the employers would pay higher wages to the workers, enabling them to buy more of what they produce, there would be no crisis. This is utopian nonsense, which ignores the inevitable laws of capitalism — the drive for profits, and the drive of competition. The drive of capitalism is always to increase its profits by every possible means, to increase its surplus, not to decrease it. Individual capitalists may talk of the “gospel of high wages” in the hope of securing a larger market for their goods. But the actual drive of capitalism as a whole is the opposite. The force of competition compels every capitalist to cheapen costs of production, to extract more output per worker for less return, to cut wages. The “gospel of high wages” IS to conceal the real process of capitalism at work which is the intensified output from the workers, with a diminishing share to the workers.

Capitalism has no solution. Only revolution can bring the solution. Only socialism can cut through the chains 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 working-class revolution. Only the organised working-class can fight and destroy the power of the capitalist class, care drive the capitalists from possession, can organise social production.

 Engels wrote in 1891:
“But these inventions and discoveries, which supersede each other at an ever-increasing pace, this productiveness of human labour, which increases day by day at a hitherto unheard of rate, finally creates a conflict, in which the present capitalist system must fall to pieces. On the one side, immeasurable wealth and a surplus of products which the purchasers cannot control. On the other, the great mass of society proletarised, turned into wage workers, and just on that account become incapable of taking possession of that surplus of products. The division of society into a small over-rich class and a large propertyless working-class, causes this society to suffocate in its own surplus, while the great mass of its members is scarcely, or, indeed, not at all, protected from extreme want. Such a condition of things becomes daily more absurd and unnecessary. It can be abolished; it must be abolished. A new social order is possible, wherein the class differences of to-day will have disappeared, and wherein — perhaps, after a short transitional period, of materially rather straitened circumstances, maybe, but morally of great value-through the systematic use and development of the enormous productive forces already in existence (with equal obligation upon all to work), the means of life, of enjoying life, and of developing all the physical and mental capabilities, will be at the equal disposal of all in ever-increasing fullness.” (Engels: Introduction to Marx “Wage-Labour and Capital”).

To-day we are living to take part in the actual change. The struggle that goes on is our struggle.

All the means of production, the factories, mines, land, railways, docks, airports,  are the shared property of society. The capitalist and landlord parasites are no longer there to levy tribute. The product of labour belongs to the people. The workers are free to organise production. There is no longer the capitalist anarchy of production by competing businesses for an unknown market, with the consequent gluts and slumps. Instead, communities will be abl  to determine what we shall produce and how much to produce. Production will be directed solely to supplying peoples’needs. It is for use, not for profit. Therefore every expansion of production means greater abundance and leisure for all. Workers because it is their own production, for themselves, their families, their neighbours, are able to engage in production with an initiative and enthusiasm unattainable in capitalism  maintaining management through their own elected  committee in the workplace, controlling production and administration through their own elected organs.

What if we do not end capitalism? Capitalism can only restore its profits by throwing the burdens of the crisis on to the workers, by ever renewed attacks upon the workers wages and upon the workers’ living standards. We have seen that in the face of the crisis the immediate policy of the rival groups of capitalists is to fight to increase their own competitive power, to cheapen costs of production, to fight to enlarge their own share of the diminishing market. But this cheapening of costs, since capitalist rent, interest and profits are sacred, can only be carried out at the expense of the workers. So develops the new capitalist offensive which sweeps through the capitalist world in the wake of the crisis. Worsening conditions and desperate struggles, this is the outlook if we delay to overthrow capitalism. Wages and conditions are attacked on every side. Increased productivity and more output is demanded from every worker for less return. All the social services and benefit payments within the Welfare State — the bare and starveling expenditure on health, education, etc., grudgingly admitted by capitalism for the maintenance of its labour force — are now attacked by capitalism in its present reckless stage as an “extravagance” to be cut down the national debt. This is the very heart of the “crisis,” which no capitalist policy, Conservative, LibDems or Labour can change, but only the working-class revolution can put n end to. All the promises of the political parties and their think-tank analyses will not solve the crisis of capitalism . They will only make the more urgent, the workers’ revolution.

Many workers placed their hopes in the Labour Party to bring the solution. They have seen the need of basic social change; the Labour Party spoke of basic social change, of socialism, and promised to realise it. When a Labour government has been installed swift disillusionment has followed. The condition of the workers has grown worse; there is no sign of the advance to socialism. Many workers who voted for the Labour Party now abstain; discontent is widespread. The “failure” of the Labour Party is not an accident, not a personal question of this or that particular leader, of this or that particular policy. The Labour Party acts and will continues to act, as the representative of capitalism. Their basic principles is of  winning for the workers gradual gains within capitalism. Therefore their practice is based on capitalism, on acceptance of the capitalist State , on administering capitalism and helping to build up capitalism. This they call  “practical” politics.

What is the outcome? As we have seen, in the period of flourishing capitalism, reformism was able to win small gains for the workers, and on this basis to keep them from the socialist revolution, to hold the workers to capitalism. Capitalism to-day is no longer willing to grant concessions to the workers, on the contrary finds itself compelled to withdraw existing concessions, to make new attacks, to worsen conditions. And therefore the role of reformism, which is the servant of capitalism in the working-class, changes. The role of reformism inevitably becomes to assist capitalism to attack the workers, to enforce wage-cuts, to stifle the workers’ resistance  — all in the name of “practical” policy. Labour Party leaders like Miliband seek by every means to suppress revolt, to bind the workers’ organisations to capitalism and to the capitalist state, to enforce increasingly spartan conditions on the workers in order to save capitalism.

The so-called Left-wing hasten to proclaim their “opposition” to the Labour Party policy and to advocate so-called “socialist” alternatives. But on examination their policy will be found to be only the old policy of the Old Labour Party dressed up in new clothes. Although they speak  of “socialism” against “capitalism,” they do not propose the overthrow of capitalism.Their platforms are still committed to some form of capitalism, a reorganisation of capitalism by a system of State ownership , by which they promise a minimum wage for the workers, at the same time as higher profits for the State. But in fact, reorganisation can only at the expense of the workers. The Left’s value to capitalism, to divert the workers from the struggle in the name of phrases of “socialism.” The supposed “alternatives” to the Labour Party line are in fact conscious attempts to draw the workers back, as they become disillusioned with the Labour Party, from advancing beyond the Labour Party to the conscious revolutionary fight.

Millions of workers are turning from the Labour Party and seeking a new direction. Where shall they turn?  It will be necessary to break with the Labour Party in order to advance the struggle against capitalism. We in the Socialist Party say the only path forward is the path of struggle against capitalism, the path that leads to the social revolution, to socialism. This is required  to be understood  by the majority of the workers who constitute nine-tenths of the population, by all who are willing to face the facts and are not, tied to the interests of the handful of rich.

The first requirement is the working-class conquest of 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-direction of existing society.

The first step is the expropriation of the capitalists and taking over by the working-class of all the large-scale means of production.  By this means we can begin the social organisation of production, free from the burdens of parasitism and private ownership. The second step is the organisation of production on a single plan to meet social needs. Every industry is organised as a single unit under its own workers council or community committee, with social control at every stage of production. What will be the immediate consequences of the change-over from the present capitalist society to the socialist society? It means the end  of the present reign of inequality — inequality in respect of every elementary human need of food, clothing, shelter, conditions of labour health, education, etc., and will bring the material conditions of real freedom and development to all.

 We are not speaking of some utopia, but only of what is immediately and practically realisable so soon as the workers are united to overthrow capitalism and enforce their will. Production at present is below its potential capacity and could create an abundance. The labour of millions workers is not used at all. The labour of millions of others is wasted in useless non-productive work, in provision of  luxury goods and services for the rich, but more importantly in what would be redundant, the  commercial, financial and banking spheres made only necessary by private ownership and competition.  Add to all this, the work and occupations which can readily be replaced by computers and automation. So there is the possibility of an enormous increase of output in the things we need to make our lives comfortable and it could all be done by working less! We shall immediately banish poverty.

This, then, is the choice we place before workers. Capitalism and continuing misery or socialism and a new life for all. Capitalism already begrudges us a bare subsistence. The fight to-day against capitalism’s attacks is only a beginning. Let us go forward from the present struggles, determined above all  to carry forward the struggle to overthrow capitalism and realise a socialist world.

Sickening Statistics

The filthy rich it seems are getting even richer according to one authority on wealth accumulation. The rallying cry of the Occupy Movement was that the richest 1 per cent of Americans is getting richer while the rest of us struggle to get by. That's not quite right, though. 'The bottom nine-tenths of the 1 Per cent club have about the same slice of the national wealth pie that they had a generation ago. The gains have accrued almost exclusively to the top tenth of 1 Percenters. The richest 0.1 per cent of the American population has rebuilt its share of wealth back to where it was in the Roaring Twenties.' (Bloomberg Businessweek, 3 April) RD

Flaunting Their Wealth

FLAUNTING THEIR WEALTH                                           

Nothing better sums up the gigantic economic gap that exists between the owning class and the working class than the housing market. At a time when many workers face rent and mortgage worries we have the flats at One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, London making the news again. 'Last week a flat in Knightsbridge, central London was sold for a reported £140m, breaking the previous record. It is not even done up yet - when its east European owner has finished poncing about with designer throws, acres of marble and 50 shades of beige, it will be worth a further £20m.' (Sunday Times, 4 May) RD

For a socialist party

Today the whole world is in the grip of a recession. Millions of workers are unemployed and being reduced to subsistence standards of living yet it is an astonishing paradox that, in a world where science and technology have advanced to the stage where there could be plenty for all, there is a growing amount of want and hunger with many under-fed and actually starving. Even those people who escape the worst excesses of deprivation often find that their lives are empty and meaningless; they experience severe alienation. Wherever one looks in the world, people are turned away from each other and thrown into all manner of antagonistic conflicts. The human species is even developing an antagonistic relationship with its environment. Slowly but surely by poisoning the atmosphere, polluting the oceans and ravaging the land, Nature is being turned against us. None of these things are isolated or accidental but all interconnected. At the root of all these problems is the exploitation of some people by other people, the capitalist class exploiting the working class, the oppressors against the oppressed. No lasting solution to any of these problems will be found while capitalism is allowed to survive in the world.

Today the human species stands at a turning point: either we develop further by means of the revolutionary socialist transformation of society or we are eventually destroyed. There is nothing inevitable about the further advancement of the human species. True, the only real, lasting way forward is socialism but whether or not this road is taken is a matter of decision for human beings whereby they decide to take their own fate into their own hands is there any possibility of progress. The working class has it within its power to overthrow capitalist society and in so doing to pave the way for the liberation of the whole of humankind. History never stands still: if we do not move forward then we may well regress backwards.

The relationship between capitalists and workers is unavoidably and inherently exploitive and oppressive because capitalist profits are derived from paying workers less than the value of what they produce. It follows that all the time a class-divided capitalist society exists there will be a continuous, never-ending class war between capitalists and workers. The main enemy of the working class, the target of the revolution, is the capitalist class. These are the really  industrialists and financiers, together with leading state functionaries. They dominate the economic, political and cultural life of this country. The  capitalists have a solid interest in perpetuating the rule of capital.

Experience has shown that while they find it necessary at times to make certain minor concessions to the working class and are willing to enter into alliances and accommodations with various groups outside their ranks, that even so the capitalists will never tolerate any fundamental challenge to their interests and rule.  A comparatively small group of capitalists at whose head stand the smaller group of billionaires compete with each other in the exploitation of the millions of propertyless workers. The workers compete with each other for a livelihood controlled by the owners of the means of production. While there are differences within this class on what is the best way of controlling the working class so as to perpetuate the rule of capital they stand united in their determination to uphold its reign. Any challenge to their rule is met with whatever measures are necessary to defeat it, including armed force. These people are the real rulers and the working class will never be free until we overthrow the capitalist class.

Violence is not revolution, for though violence may possibly in certain circumstances accompany a revolution it is not the revolution. There can be no social revolution without a fundamental change in the relation of the classes. It is the division of society into property owners and propertyless people which lies at the root of the crisis of the capitalist world. 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. The truth is that the employing class want the State  more firmly to fetter the exploited to their exploitation, to rivet class division securely by oppression.

Parliament grew out of feudalism and after the capitalist revolution. It was founded on private property foundations. Its laws are the laws of private property. Nevertheless, 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. The greater the crisis of capitalism the more Parliament reflects the class struggle in its work, because more the capitalists attempt to use it as the means to regulate capitalist economy and  the more they are impeded by the increasing claims of the workers who feel the full force of the crisis. This is seen in the protests against austerity cuts, against the attacks on benefits, against the lowering of the standard of life, against the crushing burdens and the pauperisation of the workers.

The unity of the working class can be made real in a socialist party, if that party becomes, in fact as well as in name, the fighting force of the whole working-class movement. Its avowed aim should be the reorganisation of the economic and social life on the economic foundation of socialism.  It must use not only the weapon of mass organisation on the industrial field, but the weapon of parliamentary democracy, won in the past by 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 land and the industries. It must wage the class struggle 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 capitalism is the only way to defeat capitalism.

The Rich Get Richer

In last month's Socialist Standard we dealt with the French economist Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century and its many short-comings, but its publication and the many reviews it has produced in the mass media has thrown up some interesting aspects of modern capitalism. Here for instances is the journalist Philip Collins in his review of the book. 'Between 1977 and 2007 the richest 1 per cent of Americans took an astonishing 60 per cent of the growth in national income. Sixty per cent. The wealth of the richest 85 people in the world is greater than that of the 3.5 billion people who make up the bottom half of the world's population.' (Times, 2 May) Such statistics must give even the staunchest defenders of capitalism cause for concern. RD

Please Sir May I Have Some More

A group of 170 doctors and researchers have highlighted the plight of many badly-fed children and likened them to modern day Oliver Twists hungry for more. 'In an open letter published in The Lancet, they urge the Prime Minister to take action in the face of a "an overwhelming strain on household food budgets", saying that the rise of food banks is a sign that poor families are increasingly struggling to afford to eat  properly.' (Times, 2 May) It says much about progress in modern capitalism that medical experts can compare modern Britain with Dickensian times. RD

SPGB ELECTION BROADCAST

For a new world not a new nation

The task of socialists is to clearly speaking clearly for workers’ interests, ALL workers’ interests,  and support ‘internationalism’ against the ‘national interest’. We live in an upside-down world that protects the profits of a privileged few at the expense of the rest of us yet it is we, with our labour, our skills and our ingenuity that built this world and that keeps it running every day. And it is we who are overworked and underpaid. A socialist world is possible and worth fighting for.

The richest 10% of households in Scotland have 900 times the accumulated wealth of the poorest 10%, according to a new Scottish Government analysis. It confirms the old saying that money goes to money, with those who have a large slice of one form of wealth having other kinds too, while the poorest have little wealth of any sort, making it hugely difficult for them to accumulate some.

30% of Scotland's children live in households which between them own less than 2% of the nation's private worth.

 The wealthiest 30% of households had 76% of all private wealth in Scotland: 84% of pension wealth, 81% of financial wealth, 70% of property wealth, and 54% of physical wealth.

The poorest 30% of households accounted for just 11% of physical wealth and less than 1% of private pensions, property and financial wealth.

The middle 40% of households held 22% of total wealth, but 35% of physical wealth, 29% of property wealth, 18% of financial wealth and 15% of private pension wealth.

The most recent figures show total household wealth in Scotland was £811 billion, of which almost half - £402bn - was attributable to private pensions. Property accounted for £230bn (28%), financial wealth such as savings, stocks and shares covered £90bn, and physical wealth such as cars and jewellery £89bn (both accounting for 11%).

Research by the Green Party suggests that 43 chief executives of public bodies are earning six figure salaries, though the median salary in Scotland is £26,000. The chief executive of Scottish Water earned £350,000 to £400,000 in 2011-12, 27 times the salary of a water treatment operator. At NHS Lothian the chief executive earned £190,000-£195,000 in 2011-12, which is 13 times what a nursing assistant earns. The boss of Scottish Enterprise Lena Wilson earned £200,000 - £205,000 in 2011-12 and Barry White, head of the Scottish Futures Trust who was on £185,000.

There was little difference in the level of wealth inequality in Scotland compared with Great Britain as a whole. Independence for Scotland  has nothing to do with liberation and no section of the working class will benefit. The nationalists attack London’s mismanagement and promise Scots wealth beyond our wildest dreams. For whom? Scottish industrialists are well aware of the potential profits of separation.

Until we create our own class voice working people will remain locked out of political power. We need to declare our class independence and create a real alternative: a socialist one. Real change is never handed down by politicians. Real change is won by people standing together and building movements. Rallying workers to socialism is not a matter of clever tricks, skilful manipulation or stealthy infiltration. It is instead the demonstration of the correctness of the socialist case. Some deny this point of view and call for independence or appeal to stay in the UK union. In its fight against capitalism, socialists encounters various tendencies among the working class, which to a greater or less degree reflect the views and expresses a favourable attitude towards a particular section of the capitalist class. The working class requires to break through the obstacles placed in the path of independent political action. It must therefore, must propose its irreconcilable opposition to the capitalist class and the capitalist state. A socialist party cannot be an amorphous, all-inclusive party. We, socialists, refuse to join the reformists in leading the workers down the road into the camp of capitalism. The only road is the socialist road.

The Valley Of Despair

The source of much of the advanced technology of capitalism takes place in what has become known as Silicon Valley in the USA. Vast fortunes have been acquired by members of the owning class there but not everyone is doing so well in the area. 'Mark Zuckerberg's fortune grew by $10 billion last year, but not all the denizens of Silicon Valley are prospering. .... Silicon Valley has the fifth-largest homeless population in the US. ..... About 1,000 children and young adults are among the region's 7,000 homeless. Many live in an area known as "The Jungle" in San Jose, a squalid shantytown that is home to hundreds.' (Times, 2 May) That is how capitalism operates. Billions of dollars for the owning class and lives of penury for many of the working class. RD

So What's New?

No doubt the journalist Cheryl. K. Chumley seems to think that this piece of information is startling news. 'America is no longer a a democracy - never mind the democratic republic envisioned by founding Fathers. Rather it has taken a turn down Elitist Lane and become a country led by a small dominant class comprised of powerful members who exert total control over the general population - an Oligarchy, said a new study jointly conducted by Princeton and NothWestern Universities. One finding in the study: the US government now represents the rich and powerful, not the average citizen, United Press International reported.' (Washington Times, 21 April) Far from being a recent development of course, this situation of the owning class being in economic and political control has always existed in the USA.RD

All For Each And Each For All

The spectre of poverty and insecurity haunts every worker. For centuries we have lived as slaves.  Are we not all equal? Well then, we claim the right to live and die equal, the way we were born. And we’ll have this real equality, at whatever price. Gutless politicians have no more genius than they do good faith. None have had the courage to tell the whole truth. The selfish and the ambitious will tremble with rage and those who possess unjustly will cry out about injustice. Freedom for them is when one class can starve another with impunity. Equality is nothing but a vain phantom when the rich, through monopoly of ownership, exercise the right of life or death over the poor.

We seek the common good and the community of goods. We declare that we can no longer put up with the fact that the great majority work and sweat for the smallest of minorities. No more individual property in land: the land belongs to no one. We demand the common enjoyment of the fruits of the land that belong to all. Long enough, and for too long, the few have disposed of that which belongs to us all. The people want freedom and equality.

Let it at last end this great scandal of distinctions between rich and poor, great and small, masters and servants, rulers and ruled. Let there no longer be any difference between people. Since all have the same faculties and the same needs, let there then be for them but one education, but one food. They are satisfied with one sun and one air for all: why then would the same portion and the same quality of food not suffice for each of them? We tell you that we are organising for no other goal than to put an end to civil dissension and public misery. Never before has a vaster plan been conceived of or carried out than the organisation of real equality, the only one that responds to all needs, without causing any victims, without costing any sacrifice.

The day after this real revolution, we’ll say with astonishment: What? Happiness was so easy to obtain? All we had to do was want it? Why, oh why, didn’t we desire it sooner? Open your eyes and your hearts to the fulfilment of happiness: recognise and proclaim a society of equals and an emancipated world. A society of economic and social equals wherein class divisions, privileges and disabilities will for the first time in history be impossible; a system of social ownership of the means of production industrially administered by the workers on an organised and harmonious plan, ensuring from every person according to his or her capacity and to everyone according to his or her needs.

This Social Revolution is the objective of the World Socialist Movement, the goal which every step it takes heads towards It is time for the labour movement, too, to hearken to the call of the times to discard its futile reformism. It is time to recognise the nature of the fight and to unite all our forces in countering the enemy. We hold aloft the banner of World Socialism, when the class war shall have been for ever stamped out, when mankind shall no longer cower under the oppressor, when the necessaries and amenities of life, its comfort and culture shall be to those who toil and not them that exploits, a society where none shall be called master and none servant, but all shall be fellow workers in common.

Either we get rid of this capitalist system or it will devastate humanity. People know that capitalism is no good but few can see a way forward to a better type of society. Our human resources are wasted through social and economic conditions which stunt human growth, through unemployment and through our failure to provide adequate education. We aim to replace  the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a social order from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will be eliminated, in which economic planning will supersede unregulated private enterprise and competition, and in which genuine democracy based upon economic equality will be possible. The present order is marked by glaring inequalities of wealth and opportunity, by chaotic waste and instability; and in an age of plenty it condemns the great mass of the people to poverty and insecurity. Power has become more and more concentrated into the hands of a small irresponsible minority of financiers and industrialists and to their predatory interests the majority are habitually sacrificed. When private profit is the main stimulus to economic effort, our society oscillates between periods of feverish prosperity in which the main benefits go to speculators and profiteers, and of catastrophic depression, in which the common man's normal state of insecurity and hardship is accentuated. We believe that these evils can be removed only in a planned and socialized economy in which our natural resources and principal means of production and distribution are owned, controlled and operated by the people. What we seek is a proper collective organisation of our economic resources such as will make possible a much greater degree of leisure and a much richer individual life for every person. The community must organise its resources to effect a reduction of the hours of work in accordance with technological development.

Unprecedented scientific and technological advances have brought us to the threshold of bountiful abundance. Opportunities for enriching the standard of life are greater than ever. However, unless there is intelligent planning, the evils of the past will be multiplied in the future. The technological changes will produce even greater concentrations of wealth and power and will cause widespread distress through unemployment and the displacement of populations.

 We do not believe in change by violence but that this social and economic transformation can be brought about by political action. As a social movement, we support all struggles against the injustices of capitalism. We cannot offer a blueprint to a better future but we offer an invitation to all workers to join us, as we join them, in our common efforts to eradicate a social system based on exploitation, discrimination, poverty and war. The capitalist system must be replaced by socialist democracy. That is the burning issue of our era.

 A free life on a free earth. Only socialism can turn the boundless potential of working people and resources to the creation of a world free from tyranny, greed, poverty and exploitation. That is the only hope of humanity.

Who Owns the North Pole (part 71)

...Not us if there is an oil spill !

Approximately 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and about 15 percent of its untapped oil lie in the Arctic. But the majority, 84 percent, of the estimated 90 billion barrels of oil and 47.3 trillion cubic meters of gas remain offshore. The five countries with territorial claims in the Arctic – Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States – have stated intentions to develop these reserves, if they haven’t begun already. Three oil and gas companies – ConocoPhillips, Norwegian multinational Statoil, and Shell Oil – have received approval to explore the US Arctic territory.

A National Research Council’s new study – funded by US federal agencies and the leading trade group for the oil industry, the American Petroleum Institute – found that energy companies currently lack Arctic oil spill response plans, as it is their responsibility to address such an event.  The US government does not have infrastructure capabilities in place despite its rush to establish dominance in the region.

“The lack of infrastructure and oil spill response equipment in the U.S. Arctic is a significant liability in the event of a large oil spill,” the report states. “Building U.S. capabilities to support oil spill response will require significant investment in physical infrastructure and human capabilities, from communications and personnel to transportation systems and traffic monitoring.”

Adequate research into what awaits industry in the extreme cold of Arctic waters is also lacking, the report said. There is little understanding of how the low temperatures would affect both spilled oil and commonly-used techniques to reverse the effects of a spill, such as the spread of chemical dispersants. The report goes as far as suggesting that the only way to know is to conduct a controlled oil spill.

In an incident in 2012, involving a Shell oil-drilling rig, that has provided the starkest indication of what lies ahead for companies in the region. In a rush to avoid an upcoming tax liability about to go into effect, Shell decided to drag its top rig, the Kulluk, around 1,700 miles through frigid Arctic waters despite warnings from the tow ship’s captain. The Kulluk, reportedly carrying 150,000 gallons of fuel, eventually broke free from the towing ship floating off into an ecologically-sensitive area. The rig and its crew had to be rescued by the US Coast Guard, which recently released a report on the incident that slams Shell for “inadequate assessment and management of risks.”

“Vessels and the operations they conduct are growing more complex, and the risks that accompany these operations increase, whether in Alaskan waters or not,” wrote Joseph A. Servidio, a Coast Guard rear admiral, in the report. “The failure to adequately understand, respect, and not complacently assume past practice will address new risks, is critical both in practice and in company culture.”

These commercial interests worry advocates of ecologically-intelligent approaches to the Arctic.

“The Arctic Council should be a forum focused on protecting the Arctic environment, yet we see it more and more talking about protecting economic interests in the region,” John Deans, an Arctic campaigner with Greenpeace USA, told Mint Press. 

The Only Solution - Revolution

Capitalism has outlived its earlier progressive role. This is now the era of socialist revolution.  Capital must accumulate in order to survive. It grows by keeping for itself the surplus value produced by workers after they have reproduced the value of their labour power, their wages. Surplus value is the source of all profit. The unending search for surplus value, for profit, is the motive force of capitalist production. Capitalism can produce only for profit. In times of crisis the capitalists tell us to tighten our belts and slave harder for them, for “ the national interest”. They try to increase exploitation so as to get the huge profit needed to start capital expanding again. Economic expansion accompanied by widespread suffering and injustice is not desirable social progress. A society motivated by the drive for private gain and special privilege is basically immoral.

Under capitalism, labour is a commodity. Workers are used as replaceable parts, extensions of machines—as long as they provide dividends. Employers use their power of ownership to devastate the lives of workers through layoffs, shutdowns and neglect of health and safety. Unions, despite their courageous efforts, have encountered difficulties eliminating even the worst abuses of management power.

People live and work in a world dominated by multinationals and corporate monopolies. These far-flung business empires, of a scope and size unimaginable to previous generations, treat the entire planet as their domain. They are a law unto themselves, free to roam the globe in search of cheaper labour, more exploitable resources, more pliant governments and greater profits. They now hold the power of life and death over every region and industry. By their dictates, our resources have been plundered. Workers are their pawns in a global game of mergers, shutdowns, and relocations. These transnational conglomerates have robbed us of our wealth and of the very power to determine our own future. An world-wide unemployment and hunger are the legacy. These profiteering corporations, incapable of turning their technology and organisation to the needs of people, are collapsing under the weight of their hoarded wealth. They have distorted the economic development of the world so fundamentally, the resources they waste on war production, for instance, could eliminate hunger in the world. The computer revolution will only intensify massive permanent unemployment, tedious and stressful jobs for remaining workers, and terrifying concentrations of knowledge and social control in the hands of private internet businesses. If harnessed to popular administration and planning, new technology could help us achieve an era of abundance for all, release us from monotonous toil and enrich our store of accessible information. The socialist option is the only alternative. The flaws of capitalism are too basic, the power of the capitalist corporations too great, the chasm separating the compulsions of profit and the needs of people too wide, for anything less to succeed.

The half-measures of government intervention such as tinkering with monetary and fiscal policy to stimulate investment and spending or legislative reforms, aimed at the most blatant abuses of corporate power has proven futile. Welfare state policies, though won by hard struggles, have done little to correct deep-seated structures of social inequality. In these harsh economic times of recession, corporations hold governments to ransom through their control of desperately needed investment. Even reform- minded governments have buckled under this pressure, and passed vicious legislation, slashing social services and trampling the basic rights of workers. Capitalism is failing, and so are the efforts to reform it. That failure puts a campaign for the socialist alternative on the immediate agenda. Socialists reaffirms their belief that our society must build a new relationship among men--a relationship based on mutual respect and on equality of opportunity. In such a society everyone will have a sense of worth and belonging, and will be enabled to develop his or her capacities to the full.

The task of the Socialist Party to shape the struggle of the working class into a conscious and unified one and to point out the inherent necessity of its goals. The interests of the working class are the same in all countries and with the expansion of global commerce the world market, the position of the worker in every country becomes increasingly dependent on the position of workers in other countries. The emancipation of the working class is thus a task in which the workers of all countries are equally involved. Recognising this, the Socialist Party declares itself to be at one with the class-conscious workers of all other countries. The Socialist Party fights for the abolition of class rule. Society will no longer consist of antagonistic classes in conflict with each other, but will present a united commonwealth of labour. The hungry, oppressed and underprivileged of the world must know social democracy not as a smug slogan but as a way which sees the world as one whole. The needs of people, not profit, are the driving force of a socialist society. It will be accomplished by democratizing all levels of society.

After abolishing private ownership of the means of production and converting these means into social property, the world system of socialism will replace the world market and its competitive and blind processes of social production, by consciously organised and planned production for the purpose of satisfying social needs. With the abolition of competition and anarchy in production, devastating crises and still more devastating wars will disappear. Instead of waste of productive forces and spasmodic development of society there will be a planned utilisation of all resources.

 The disappearance of classes will do away with the exploitation of man by man. 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 desirable part of life. The want and inequality, the misery and a wretched standard of life of wage slaves will disappear.

Schools for Socialism?

There exists to-day, so many factions all claiming the course necessary to be taken by the working class towards its emancipation. The Socialist Party does not minimise the necessity and importance of the worker keeping up the struggle to maintain the wage-scale, resisting cuts. There are some signs however that general combativity is rising. Let's not forget that this is vital if our class is to develop some of the solidarity and self-confidence essential for the final abolition of wage slavery. Socialists recognise the necessity of workers' solidarity in the class struggle against the capitalist class, and rejoice in every victory for the workers to assert their economic power.

Trade unions are necessary, not to overthrow the present system, but to resist capitalist encroachment under the system. To struggle for higher wages and better conditions is not revolutionary in any fundamental sense of the word; and the essential weapons in this struggle are not revolutionary either. Industrial militancy is just that: militancy on the industrial field. Those who are most active in this do tend to have political views, generally of a left-wing nature, but it is not for these views that they are supported; it is for their negotiating skills and their ability to stand up to the bosses and express what their fellow workers feel about pay and working conditions. There have been numerous examples of shop stewards and works convenors who at work have been able to “mobilise” thousands of workers but who, when they have stood at elections for the Communist Party, have received only a few hundred votes. Industrial militancy does not lead to political militancy, but ebbs and flows as labour market conditions change – and industrial militants can in no way count on leading their supporters on or on to the political field. Most experienced industrial militants are well aware of this and wouldn’t dream of trying to.

To be sure, participation in the class struggle does not automatically make workers class conscious. Workers are not "reformist" because "the unions" make them so; rather the level of political consciousness within a union will be a reflection of the general consciousness of the working class at the time. If more militant members are losing the arguments then this reflects a wider passivity: something that is hardly surprising given the shattering defeats organised labour has suffered in Britain in recent decades. Trade unions can only be as militant and class conscious (and effective) as their memberships are, which must depend on the wider situation. (Though this isn't to take away from the damage done by servile union bosses) To create a dichotomy between "the unions" and "the workers" can only lead to a distorted analysis of the uses and limitations of union struggle. Ultimately the union and the workers are one and the same thing. If these workers have reformist outlook on life, i.e. believe that capitalism can be made to run in the interests of all, the unions must therefore have the same outlook; on the other hand if there were more revolutionary workers in the unions—and in society generally—then the unions would have a more revolutionary outlook, no longer harbouring any illusions about 'common national interests' . That would not in any way alter the essential nature and role of the trade unions as the defensive organisations of the working class; but it would make them far more effective fulfilling that role

Socialism demands the revolutionising of the workers themselves. This does not mean that workers should sit back and do nothing, the struggle over wages and conditions must go on. But once we have learned the hard lessons, it becomes clear that this is a secondary, defensive activity. The real struggle is to take the means of wealth production and distribution – the factories, farms, offices, mines etc. – into the common ownership and democratic control of the entire world community. Only by conscious and democratic action will such a socialist system of society be established. This means urging workers to want something more than what they once thought was "enough".

Socialists are accused of wanting "too much" because our aim is aim is a society in which the earth is the common property of all . The task of the Socialist Party is to show workers that it is a practical proposition which calls for their urgent attention in order to transform a picture of how we could live into a movement for how we shall live. To transform this desire into an immediancy for the working class. Democratic decisions will need to be made, not by leaders but by all interested people. That people are capable of organising their own affairs in common is one of the things that has clearly demonstrated. The socialist movement must be "the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interests of the immense majority" (Communist Manifesto).

One school of thought in the working class political movement sees unofficial and wildcat strikes as bona fide rebellions, not only against the labour leaders, but against the capitalist system itself. This school views unofficial actions and wildcat strikes as the beginnings of a real rank and file movement which will eventually result in the workers throwing out the union bureaucrats, taking over the factories, establishing workers' councils and ultimately a "workers society" based on these councils. Often If one reads in leftist journals an impression that a tremendous political movement of the workers is under way. Yet these wildcats still remain purely economic struggles on the part of the workers. They have a grievance arising out of the conditions of their work, instinctively they bring to bear their only weapon, withdrawal of their labour. For a brief period the workers are aroused. They assail their union leaders in no uncertain terms. But they learn nothing of the role of these union leaders in support of capitalism because they do not understand the society under which they live. In a few days, after the wildcat is over, the workers return to their routine thinking.

Some believe these wildcat unofficial strikes can be used as a lever to push the workers along a political road, towards their "emancipation." How is this possible if the workers do not understand the political road, and are only engaging in economic struggles? The answer is that "leaders in-the-know" will direct the workers, much as a guide-dog leads a blind person. But more often than not these leaders will also try to lead the workers in the wrong direction, toward the wrong goals (nationalisation and state capitalism), as the workers later find out to their sorrow.

The socialist approach of education - rather than the non-socialist approach of leadership - is much better. Through education it can be pointed out to the workers that strikes arise out of the nature of capitalism, but that they are not the answer to the workers' problems. These economic struggles settle nothing decisively because in the end the workers still wear the chains of wage slavery. It is the political act of the entire working class to eliminate the exploitative relations between workers and capitalists which can furnish a final solution. The socialist teaches the nature of both capitalism and socialism, so that, armed with this understanding, the workers themselves can carry out the political act of their own emancipation. This is the lesson of all other outbursts of class struggle among the workers. These struggles can be used as a means of educating workers to the real political struggle - socialism. They should not be used as a means to gain leadership over the workers, or to lead them along a political path they do not understand.

May Day - We are on the March

May Day has for over a hundred years symbolised the common struggles of workers around the globe and over those years numerous Labour/Social Democratic Parties governments turned May Day to the purposes of State propaganda but they have now shed any trappings of socialism. The Communist Party regimes that shamefully paraded their military wares on the workers day have gone. Once more May Day now signifies the struggle for a future beyond capitalism rather than just a homage to the failed struggles of the past.

Activists have reclaimed what May Day should mean. It is an expression of the consciousness of the working class. May Day rallies in recent years reflect the growing anger all around the world against a capitalist class that is striving to force working people of the entire world to pay for the economic, social and environmental crises it has created. In their efforts to keep working people divided and weaken resistance to their attacks, the capitalists are using their  media and political parties to fuel racism,  to vilify the poor and to scapegoat immigrants.

But the momentum towards change and the creation of a system that puts the needs of people and the planet before profit cannot be stopped. May Day is when the workers show their loyalty to themselves, to their own interest, to their own class.

Meanwhile, May Day reminds us that the oppressive capitalist system is to be followed by socialism, just as the harshness of winter is followed by spring.

Even though, on this day the World Socialist Movement is too small to take to the streets, it represents the liberating ideas of the struggle for socialism.

For international working class solidarity!

"March Comrades"

Workers and farmers unite
You have nothing,to lose
But your chains
The world is to win
This is May Day! May!
Your armies are veining the earth!

Railways and highways have tied
Blood of farmland and town
And the chains
Speed wheat to machine
This is May Day! May!
The poor's armies veining the earth!

Hirers once fed by the harried
Cannot feed them their hire
Nor can chains
Hold the hungry in
This is May Day! May!
The poor are veining the earth!

Light lights in air blossoms red
Like nothing on earth
Now the chains
Drag graves to lie in
This is May Day! May!
The poor's armies are veining the earth!

March comrades in revolution
From hirer unchained
Till your gain
Be the freedom of all
The World's May Day! May!
May of the Freed of All the Earth!

Louis Zukofsky
New Masses, May, 1938.

Scotland or the World? - Your Choice.

The struggle in Scotland is not, as the nationalists would have us believe, the struggle for independence. The struggle in Scotland, as in the rest of the world, is a class struggle: the struggle between the workers and the employers.

 Scottish Chambers of Commerce found more than half of respondents rated the level of debate so far as "poor" or "dismal". Issues around currency, taxes and business rates were found to be the most important for firms. And should we be at all surprised by such concerns from the Scotland’s capitalist or aspiring capitalists?

 Over half of businesses polled saw potential opportunities from independence,  with Yes Scotland campaign declaring small and medium seized businesses appreciate the benefits that taking responsibility for managing our own affairs and economy present. The SNP tell us that independence from England and the control of our own budget will cure all our ails. What they purposefully neglect to tell us is that the problems they are going to try to solve are an integral part of the capitalist system and history has shown that within this system there is no satisfactory solution to these problems apart from socialism.

The SNP talk about a Scottish culture and a Scottish way of life. But in what way is the life of a Scottish wage-slave basically different from that of an English or, for that matter, a Russian wage- slave? There is little difference in the way of life of the world’s working class because we all suffer from the same problems such as poverty and insecurity. Independence from England will not end those for Scottish workers, because there will still be the wages labour and capital relationship. An independent Scottish government would still have to operate within the constraints of the world capitalist system. It would still have to ensure that goods produced in Scotland were competitive on world markets and that capitalists investing in Scotland were allowed to make the same level of profits as they could in other countries. In other words, it would still be subject to the same economic pressures as the existing London-based government to promote profits and restrict wages and benefits, just as it was for the government of Ireland, which broke away from the UK in 1922 and where things have never been any different.

Since it is this class-divided, profit-motivated society that is the cause of the problems workers face in Scotland, as in England and in the rest of the world, so these problems will continue, regardless of whether Scotland separates from or remains part of the UK.

Independence for Scotland therefore is a myth put about by the SNP and their fellow-travellers on the Left, which further confuses the Scottish section of the working class and blinds them from the real struggle - the class struggle.

The outcome of the class struggle is the abolition of capitalism and an end to deprivation, and alienation. Socialism is a sane and rational society, where the means of life will be owned in common by the whole of the world socialist community. By the means of life we mean the land, mines, factories, railways - in short, the means of production and distribution. In socialism the rule of life will be: from each according to his or her ability, to each to according to his or her need. There will be no need for buying and selling, just a free world for a free people.

The Socialist Party declares that to save humanity from the economic chaos, social injustice, and environmental destruction, it is necessary to abolish the capitalist system altogether and replace it with a humane, democratically-run socialist system. We are for the expropriation of the capitalist class and the abolition of capitalism. We are for its replacement by socialist production to satisfy human needs. It has become apparent that only a socialist revolution and a planned rational economy can make the changes in our production and use of energy and resources that are essential to prevent, or at least mitigate, catastrophic climate change and other environmental degradation.

For neither Scottish nor British capitalism but for world socialism

There is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about what “socialism” means.  One misconception is socialism existed in Soviet Russia or in China. No totalitarian or autocratic system like the USSR or China can be considered socialist. Socialism is also a label affixed to the type of “social-democratic” capitalism that exists in Scandinavia and some other parts of Europe today. None of them conforms to the definition of socialism that we use.

The kind of democracy we envision is one in which the formal law-making bodies of capitalist democracy, such as parliaments, will be replaced by organs of direct democracy at the level of the workplace and community. These in turn will be coordinated at broader levels by democratically chosen delegates answerable to, and serving at the pleasure and at the discretion of, the local bodies that appointed them.

Socialism is an economic system under which all natural resources, as well as all means of producing goods and of organising the delivery of services, will  be owned and managed by various democratically-run committees for the benefit of the society as a whole that will take full responsibility for meeting everyone’s fundamental needs – food, clothing, shelter, health-care, education, transportation, while preserving a healthy ecosystem.

Rational planning, not competition for profit, will drive the allocation of resources, with the goal of meeting the needs of society as a whole. Under capitalism, advances in technology are used to replace workers, so that the wealthy owners of large enterprises can increase their profits, while the displaced workers are thrown out on the street and left to fend for themselves. Inside socialism, in contrast, advances in technology – environmentally sustainable – will be planned and implemented so as to reduce the level of human drudgery. Advances in productivity will result in reducing working hours and raising the standard of living for everyone, rather than enriching a privileged elite. Everyone will reap equal benefits from, and thus have an equal stake in, improving the way goods and services are created and delivered. Everyone will enjoy an  decent standard of living, and an opportunity to enjoy the richness of life.

As machines and technology replace more and more manual labour and perform routine chores, people will be freed to devote more time to leisure pursuits such as recreation, creative endeavours, and social relationships. Meanwhile, better education, improved technology, humanely and democratically operated workplaces, a shorter work week, and an emphasis on cooperation will all combine to make work a more rewarding, less stressful experience. Few (if any) will be reluctant to make their appropriate contribution to society. All workers will be motivated by a positive desire to help others, rather than by the need to avoid hunger and homelessness. Where jobs involving drudgery, danger, and difficult working conditions remain necessary, they will be filled on a voluntary and rotational basis. Those with unusual talents or skills will be encouraged to use them to the fullest extent, for the benefit of society. Extraordinary contributions will be rewarded through public recognition, allocation of resources for additional future projects, and the satisfaction inherent in the work itself, rather than through money or material privileges. Those who can create new or improved products, processes, and services will still have the incentive and the opportunity to do so, but the results will benefit the entire society, not just a privileged few. Goods whose scarcity is intrinsic and/or cannot be reproduced will be allocated fairly, by various appropriate methods, influenced various local customs such as by waiting list or lottery.

 It could be like that now, so why not do something about it? The world is ours for the taking. So why not take it?

The Value Of Our Participation!

The debate in Canada now is about the value of our participation in the Afghani war. 168 soldiers died in the twelve years of the war and many more injured or damaged through post- traumatic stress disorder and other mental disorders. In the capital, Kabul, where one would expect the most security, the Toronto Star reports that business is conducted from behind blast barriers, razor wire, and thick steel doors. At the shopping centre, mall cops in camouflage carry AK-47s and even the grocery store is a bunker shielded behind steel doors thick enough to withstand a hit from a rocket-launched grenade and bag boys pack assault weapons. What a tragedy that Afghanistan and Iraq have been reduced to such horror only to make things worse. We all know that the real reason for the two wars was nothing to do with security or democracy but it is still a tragedy that need not have happened. John Ayers.