Share the Planet, Spare the People and Save Humanity

 All forms of life, vegetable, and animal, are part of a network of relationships called an ecosystem. This system is normally self-regulating so that, if disequilibrium occurs, it is corrected spontaneously, either restoring the former equilibrium or establishing a new one. The problem is that the industrial revolution came along, i.e. pollution of earth and water due to the dumping of toxic waste, or the use of non-recyclables, chemical fertilizers, nitrates, pesticides and other processes in agriculture; pollution of oceans due to an increase in maritime traffic, pollution of and from continental waterways, to shipwrecks of oil tankers (seventy recorded in 1996), to the discharge of toxic waste, chemicals, radioactive material, to over-fishing; air pollution due to massive utilization of fossil fuels and the development of individual automobiles, to destruction of forests, the lungs of the planet, to industrial accidents (for instance, Bhopal 1984, Chernobyl 1986), to emissions of greenhouse gases by vehicles, factories; deforestation leading to global warming and its consequences; raising the levels of the oceans due to melting of polar and continental glaciers; desertification; storms; acid rain; species extinction; stockpiling of nuclear weapons; development of mega cities that now house half the world’s population. 

As to the social and economic consequences of the ecological crisis, they will be dire with ninety per cent of the population exposed to natural catastrophe, especially in the poor regions and half the world’s population occupying coastal zones. How many climate refugees will be forced from flooded lands or from desertification that renders their lands unfit for agriculture? In the nineteenth century, some people were already concerned about the consequences of industrialisation on the environment, but it was the ecologists in the second half of the twentieth century when the ravages caused by human activity worsened, who provoked a consciousness of ecological problems. To remedy this, conferences and summits were held where international accords were reached, e.g. Declaration of Rio, 1992, Protocol of Kyoto, 1997, Earth Summit, Johannesburg, 2002, Paris Treaty 2016 on the greenhouse effect and global warming but not respected by the signatories who were submitting to global multinational interests. No nation is going to pass legislation unilaterally that will penalise the competitiveness of its national enterprises in the face of foreign competition. It would be almost impossible to find the international agreement that would penalise no one. That’s the snag since competition for profits is the basis of our current system.

Attempts at international agreement have been made, e.g. the UN, founded with the goal of maintaining peace. Yet the twentieth century has experienced the most murderous and devastating wars in history. No accord aiming to limit the machinations of the multinationals in their tireless quest for profits is successful. The measures that favour the environment, and the fundamental transformation of the productive apparatus and transportation systems that these measures imply, hurt the interests of the enterprises and their shareholder since adding to costs diminishes profits. Human beings are capable, whatever the form of production, of working with the environment. That was the case for many primitive societies that co-existed in complete harmony with the rest of nature and there’s nothing to prevent that being possible today, based on our technology and methods of industrial production, but for the capitalists, they are a ‘cost’ that would penalise them, faced with international competition.

It isn’t, then, that production itself, i.e. the use of nature to produce for human needs, that is incompatible with sustainability, but the use of certain productive methods that ignore nature’s balance or that brings about changes too rapid to allow a new balance to develop. In effect, environmental preservation is a social problem that imposes on humanity the establishment of a rapport with the rest of nature. In practice, that implies a society that uses as much renewable sources of energy as possible and recycling of non renewable material; a society that, once the appropriate balance with nature is found, would hold a level of stable production and zero growth. That doesn’t mean to say that changes are excluded on principle, but that all changes must respect the environment making a rhythm to which nature can adapt. Yet, the destructive methods of capitalist production over the course of the last two centuries destroyed the natural balance. What is called ‘market economy’, ‘economic liberalism’, ‘free enterprise’, or whatever euphemism is employed, the social system we live under is capitalism. Under this system, the means of producing and distributing social wealth – the means of society’s existence – are the exclusive property of a dominant, parasitic, minority, the holders of capital or the capitalist class, in whose interests the system is inevitably managed. 

In effect, capitalism, ruled by economic laws that act as external constraints on human productive activities, and within which businesses compete on the market for short term economic gain, pushes the economic decision makers to adopt methods that serve profit without taking their ecological impact into account, and pillage the earth’s natural resources without regard for the future. It isn’t, then, man, but the capitalist system itself that is responsible for ecological problems. Not only do the salaried workers have no influence in business decisions, but those who have the power to make decisions – the capitalists and their managers – are themselves subject to the laws of competition and profit. Of course, capitalism must face up to the ecological problems sooner or later, but only after the fact, after having caused the damage. Yet the ecologists, critics of ‘liberal capitalism’, accept, like the other types of reformers, the economic dictatorship of the minority, because they do not understand the relationship between environmental destruction and the private ownership of the means of production. That’s why the Greens are forced to make concessions whenever they participate in government. Because, by definition, capitalism can only function in the interests of the capitalists, no palliative, no adjustment, no measure, no reform, is able (and never will be able) to subordinate capitalist private property to the interests of all. For that reason, only the threat of a socialist movement, based on the establishment of social ownership (hence socialism) of the means of existence of society, managed by, and in the interests of all, would push the capitalists to concede reforms favourable to workers for fear of losing the whole pie, but still retaining the system that causes the problems! 

It is, then, for the construction of such a movement that we launch a call to all workers conscious of the fact that their interests are in opposition to those of the capitalists, to all those who are subject to the incessant attacks and dangers of the capitalists’ destruction of our planet, and wanting not just to patch up for now, but to solve the problems forever. We are only able to heal the planet by establishing a society without private property, commodity production, or profit, where human beings are free to choose the employment of productive methods because only such a society is free of the economic laws of the quest for profit and capital accumulation. In short, only a world socialist society, based on common ownership and the democratic management of the world’s resources, is compatible with production that is respectful of our natural environment.  

Dreams And Reality.

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The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy, is a new book by economist Peter Temin.

We know that there are only two classes: those who have to work to earn their living, and those who do not. I visited the US only three or four times, but just a quick glance at any neighbourhood is enough to see that "American Dream" is only true for a select few.

Run down neighbourhoods, increasing racial violence, xenophobia, and many other ills, are the results of the very system they have been praising for years. America is not regressing into a developing nation. It has already been a developing nation, for capitalism, but is now far worse for most: it's anarchic barbarism.

The rich will understand that they cannot sustain their status much longer while there is so much injustice and suffering around. Hasten the day working folk of America wake up to know that "American Dream" is for all to prosper, not a select few! 

Wage slaves to the back of the line . 

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/america-is-regressing-into-a-developing-nation-for-most-people

Steve and John

Come Fly With Me - If You Are Rich.

How much would you pay to avoid the common crowd? Now there is a great service available for 1% of the 1%. While the rest gets treated like crap going through security points, customs and struggling to get their baggage if you can afford, you can get the royal treatment. With a private entrance to suites at the airport and quick custom and security clearance, the service boasts that all you have to do is to walk 70 steps as while the rest walks about 2200 steps from the entrance to the plane. Capitalism continues to divide us and pushes those who are already at lower levels of the social structure further down.

Another article related to this by the Independent mentions that there are iPads showing the airport security and baggage queues. This adds insult to injury.

Now the very rich will be watching how hoi polloi suffer to get on planes (only to be further insulted as in the American Airlines incident) while they are sipping cocktails in comfy suites.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-private-terminal-lax-0503-story.html 

Steve and John.

The Waste of the Profit System

Capitalism has an odd way of producing goods in today’s world. The sheer amount of waste created by the capitalist system would almost be unexplainable if it weren’t understood that goods are only produced for a profit. When you look at the industries that have nothing to do with the production of goods to satisfy human needs this becomes apparent. The marketing industry in the United States is an excellent example of how labour is being wasted at an unprecedented scale.

 In 2004 the communications and research company, Blackfriars Communications, Inc. projected that marketing spending in the U.S. alone would near $1.074 trillion in 2005. That accounts for nearly 9% percent of the gross domestic product for that year. They found that manufacturers spent the most on the marketing of all the industries, almost $120 billion, which was spent on advertising, direct marketing, events and other activities. The sheer amount of labour hours wasted in this industry alone is astonishing. Let's take a look at some of the other industries that have nothing to do with the production of goods for human need. A breakdown of the American economy for 2007 shows that the labour pool, that is all employed workers in America, is approximately 134 million people. Of that number approximately 60 million are employed in industries that are involved in the production of goods that can be consumed or used. This figure is the added approximate number of workers employed in industries such as mining, utilities, construction, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, scientific and technical services, education, health care and arts and entertainment. That leaves approximately 72 million workers employed in industries that have little or nothing to do with the production of goods for use or consumption. Industries such as wholesale, retail, information, finance, and insurance, real estate, management, administration and food service. Not to mention the number of workers employed by the armed forces and the police. It is striking to see that the number of workers employed in fields devoted to the selling of goods produced is much higher than those employed in sectors that actually produce wealth. This odd balance is only part of the unavoidable structure of the capitalist system.

 In a world of private ownership, the wealth produced is owned and controlled by a small minority of people. Jobs are available only when there is a profit to be made in that sector and goods can be had only if you have the money to buy them. It is the profit making system that creates a society of scarcity. It is not scarcity that creates the profit system. In the capitalist society, goods can only be produced if there is an expectation of making a profit. The capitalist class, who owns all of the wealth produced, sells the goods back to those who produce them in the first place. The wage or salary paid to the worker is always less than the value of what he or she produces. It is this surplus that creates profit. In this respect, profit can be considered as unpaid labour. In a society of common ownership, labour would be directly involved only in the production of wealth for use. Only the work that is involved in the production of goods would remain. That would leave more than half of the entire labour pool that could be immediately used to increase the productive capacities of wealth in society, greatly reducing the man-hours of each worker in the production of goods. Gone would be the countless numbers of jobs that only exist to administer the profit system. It has been argued that it is the competition that exists in the profit system that is responsible for all technological advancements.

 While this may true in some respects, it is also the profit system that is responsible for the hindering of many technological and productive advancements. For example, the know-how and will exist to create an automobile that can run on hydrogen power alone, i.e. water.2 Unfortunate, however, is the fact that there is no profit to be made in selling a car that runs for free. Another thing to consider is the production of shoddy goods that break down not long after they are used. Again, using the automobile as an example, it is not that we cannot build a car that would run for 20 years without having to be replaced, but it is the fact that there is no profit in selling a car that would last that long. Much more profitable to the owning class is to sell a car that breaks down after five or six years so that another car must replace it. Without the hindrance of the capital seeking system of production, the working class would be free to increase its efficiency and productive capacities to satisfy each human being to live a full life of abundance. It is only when the working class organizes politically and consciously to take the wealth of their labour into their own hands that the waste and exploitation of labour will end.  

Dictating The Course Of Enemies In WAR!

On May 5, a senior Russian diplomat, Aleksandr Laventriev, made an announcement that would make Trump seem like a wise guy in comparison. He said that as a result of the U.S bombing of Syria, their aircraft and that of allied nations are banned from flying over the areas of Syria where the war is being fought. This is a deal agreed on between Iran, Russia, and Turkey. It is not known at this time if the U.S. has agreed, what a laugh. 

Laventiev should be doing stand up comedy if he thinks one can dictate to capitalists what they are allowed to do or not in a war. 

The best thing anyone can suggest in relation to war is to abolish it, or better still abolish the cause. 

Steve and John.

Can One Say Perfectly Crazy?

A Brampton man who rented the main floor of his house to a Muslim couple has been ordered by the court to pay them $12,000 for failing to respect their religious practices when showing their apartment to prospective tenants. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario also found he had,''Harassed them and created a poisoned housing environment''.

Sounds terrible, doesn't it? And what exactly was his diabolical, dirty, deed? John Alabi refused to remove his shoes when showing the bedroom where the couple prayed and while he always gave them the mandated 24-hour notice before showings he didn't always provide the five-minute warnings they had requested to ensure the wife was modestly dressed and they weren't in the midst of their 5 daily prayers. Wow! Mr.Alibi must be one real bad dude.

It is clearly obvious that daily life under capitalism is getting crazier every day and the above is a perfect, (if one can use the word), example. 

Steve And John.

Save the Children or Save the Profits

In the tradition in which we stand, revolution is the self-emancipation of the working class. Our vision is a world without the private ownership of the means of production. The struggle for that freedom is to wrest control of the means of production from the controlling class. The Socialist Party encourages all struggles against exploitation, raising an awareness of the truth that the only solution is the socialist revolution. The only real deterrent to the attack on the working class by capitalism is the socialist revolution.  Once workers understand their material interests, not just as good ideas or moral imperatives but as inescapable necessities, they will embrace the revolution.  Workers recognising their self-interest will see the absolute need for the unity of their class in order to overthrow the ruling class.  What kind of future do we have? Under capitalism, the overwhelming majority of us have little to look forward to. Capitalism has brought our world to the brink with inequality, racism, war and environmental devastation. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It is clear that the current system isn’t working, and we need an alternative A better world is possible.

Capitalism operates purely on the basis of blind profit and competition. This is the real lunacy of capitalism. Socialism has to further develop technology and science. Two-thirds of the world's population live in absolute poverty. Socialists are not interested in sharing out the misery, we want a decent life for all. A socialist society would harness technology to lower the number of hours it is necessary to work. This would give working-class people more time to participate in running society. Combined with a massive programme of socially necessary projects - such as increasing the numbers of teachers, doctors, and nurses - unemployment could be eliminated. However, there does not have to be a contradiction between this and safeguarding the planet. What is needed if we are to save the world is to develop alternative technologies that did not harm the environment. This could only be achieved on the basis of socialism. 

The UN adopted a treaty, the Convention of the Rights of the Child, guaranteeing children’s rights and one hundred and ninety-three countries have ratified the treaty yet millions are still deprived of food, shelter, and clean water. There is no reason to doubt the good intentions of UNICEF and all the charities but it must be obvious that we need more than good intentions. This is just another example of a reform not working, not fulfilling its promise. It doesn’t matter whether a reform is proposed by local, national or international governments, if it tries to make capitalism solve the problem, it will fail. Why? Because the problems are created by capitalism, are natural consequences of its normal operation. Capitalism is a system designed to produce surplus value, profit, that goes into the pockets of the investors, without regard to how, when, or where that is done, and it is very successful at doing that. Food, housing, medical care, clean water, etc., are only produced if there is a reasonable expectation of profit, and, if not, production does not occur, or, in some cases, unsold surpluses are destroyed. Thus anyone without the ability to pay must do without, even the necessities. That’s the way the system is. No amount of reforms, band-aid, or food-aid, is going to change that. Only COMMON OWNERSHIP of the production and distribution of wealth, where we all have control, can bring the obvious common sense reality of looking after our children properly. Common Ownership means that the resources of the world and the means to produce useful goods from them would be owned by everyone and, therefore, by no one. All humanity would be producers meeting as equals to decide what, how, and where to produce based solely on mankind’s needs. Distribution of goods and services would deny no one access to what they needed. This system would end the present class system and render money, trade, employment, exploitation, want, and war obsolete.

The Socialist Party appeals to the voters to their class interests. The Socialist Party candidates nominees make no pretence of attempting to serve both capitalists and workers. That is a political sophistry which we leave in the hands of the political opportunists for capitalism. Our overwhelming numerical superiority allows us to expect our will to be carried out. It is only after having the social means of existence under collective control that we would, at last, ensure that their management is used no longer in the vested interests of today’s owners, but, this time, truly in the interests of all. Only then will we be in a position of realising a world in which the present system of competing states will be supplanted by a world community without borders, the wages system by voluntary labour, buying and trading by free access to the wealth produced, the competitive system supplanted by cooperation, the class system by social equality. 

Anchored To Poverty

On May 6 the Toronto Star ran an article focusing on the plight of neighbourhood malls, which are in decline. The two most likely reasons are the anchors pulling up anchors and on-line shopping.

Target has been in and out of Canadian malls for two years leaving a trail of debt and unemployment behind them. Sears has closed 11 department store anchor locations across Canada since 2012.

Market research firm IBIS-World issued a report which predicted this trend would continue for the next five years, ''Profit has suffered over the five years to 2016, as many industry operators have slashed their selling prices in order to remain attractive to customers'', the report said.

Mary Mowbray, of group sales for Colliers International, added, ''Malls, used to rely on their anchors and the anchors are changing faster than anyone imagined they would''. This is another indication that under capitalism no one really knows what will happen, but you can bet that with the economy the way it is now it won't be good. It's so bad even mall owners are getting out of the mall business.

Canada's top real estate development and investment firms have reduced their mall portfolios by half in recent years. A spokesman for one real estate consultancy said, ''Retailers don't want to have 600 stores anymore in a country. They are aiming for something closer to 300. The growth of online sales is a major factor. According to an estimate by Colliers, online sales of 23 billion in 2014 replaced 76.7 million square feet of stores. That is roughly the equivalent to the shopping centre inventories of Vancouver, Halifax, Ottawa and Victoria, the estimate said. What no report or estimate did say was that these days millions of working class folk just don't have the money to shop for more than their basic needs and some haven't enough to do that.

 Steve and John.

Understand today - Visualise tomorrow

ROBOTS FOR SOCIALISM

Down through the ages, the imagination of mankind has been fired with the great vision of a world free of war and strife, without national rivalries, without racial and religious strife. The ideal of the “Brotherhood of Man” has inspired struggles against inequality and oppression, appearing again and again 

The technology exists to produce all that we need for a peaceful, orderly world and the true flowering of the human intellect and spirit. Our goal is to re-organise society. Our vision is of a new, cooperative society of equality, and of a people awakening. The revolution we need is possible. We invite all who see that there is a problem and are ready to do something about it to join with us. Only by engaging the hearts and minds of people can we win this social revolution. Our task is teaching people about the nature of this capitalist system and what kind of political organisation we need. We seek to transform people into conscious thinkers who become aware of themselves as indispensable makers of history and participate in the liberation of humanity.

Social revolutions come about can ultimately be traced to the economy. Everyone knows the economy is undergoing a profound change. This change is fundamental and irreversible; it is so great it is causing great change in every aspect of life. The content of the change in the economy is the replacement of human labour by new and ever expanding technologies such as automation. All the necessities of life must be paid for with money. We make money by going to work. If the robots do the work, then how will we get the food, housing, and clothing we need? If there is going to be production without wages, then there must be distribution without money. We must guarantee that the changes result in a better life for the people. We must guarantee the high-tech revolution provides for the common good through common ownership.

The worker's commodity is what he or she sells, their ability to work, is. Like a chair or an automobile, our ability to work is worth the cost of its production. Like the chair or automobile, its cost of production is determined by how much labour went into producing it. The secret of profit is this: Labour produces more than it costs to create. Every worker knows, even if he or she can’t explain it, that labour cranks out more value than it consumes. So a system evolved in which everyone bought and sold. The capitalist buys the elements of production, the worker buys the elements of life. The worker sells his or her ability to produce, the capitalist sells the produce. Every employer understands that the surest way to increase profits is to have the worker produce more for the same amount of wages. Every advance in machinery made the workers more productive and made more of them unemployed in a mad scramble to increase profit by cutting labour costs. Today the machinery are no longer mere labour-saving but labour-replacing. Robots force the worker out of the factory. Expanding sections of the working class are permanently unneeded. The new mode of production no longer needed a reserve army of unemployed. It is now clear that a new society must be built.

The mission of the Socialist Party is so to organise the mechanism of production that wealth can be abundantly produced as to free mankind from want and the fear of want, from the brute’s necessity of a life of arduous toil in the production of the brute’s mere necessaries of life. Socialist philosophy has made this clear. The Socialist Party is a is a revolutionary political party of the working class. We do not believe that the social or political maladjustments can be remedied by mere reforms in the manner of exploiting labour, but only by the complete abolition of the system of labour exploitation. When the workers awake to their class position they can by the conquest of the political machinery, recast society as they wish.  We, of the Socialist Party, have no other aim than to give the workers the knowledge that will enable them to act. Because we think that conditions are ripe for Socialism now, and only knowledge is lacking, we are not prepared under any circumstances whatever to divert the workers' attention from the main object; we do not aid the capitalist class, nor do we seek their aid, because we consider these things will not serve any useful purpose; we do not endeavour to interest the workers in the administration, nor in the reform of the capitalist system, because we regard the one as a purely capitalist question, and the other as a means of prolonging the system which we are bent on destroying; we do not formulate immediate demands, because we know that the capitalists will not yield one jot of their position unless they are compelled, by circumstances, or unless the yielding is conceived by them in their own interests. Reforms of the latter type will be introduced by the capitalists and imposed by them, irrespective of our wishes; and when we are strong enough to challenge them we shall formulate the only demand worth making, the final demand. All who are prepared to fight for this are invited to unite with us for that purpose.

Intense Wage Struggle.

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 The Calgary Herald 05.12.2017 tells us "WestJet pilots poised to unionize amid intensifying worker unrest."

Wait, what's going one here? Was there ever a time earning wages under capitalism wasn't intense? Do tell! With Westjet's shares falling 4% over this wee tussle over wages and conditions, it is not surprising to read that WestJet CEO of Canada's budget airline vows to "go down fighting ..." Bully for you, mate! What a blinking hero! Those damn nuisance workers: Take it in the Chin!

Like a feral scourge that must be eradicated, what we see here is no different the world over: when decent working class folk struggle to stay afloat in a sea of swindling buccaneers, buccaneers who use every trick in the book to extract profit via the 'master and servant statutes' of old (labour law!) tipping the balance of power their way to dash the economic brains out the working class almost every time. And why not! It's their system! Those enterprising captains of industry fought hard, lying through their teeth to suck workers into letting them run civilization in their own interests – the interests of parasitical capital.

Good luck to you all fellow workers of Westjet. If you get your deserved gains, let's not forget to knock out the system that lets bosses everywhere exploit and keep us all in positions of senseless servitude! 

Steve and John.

Reforms won't solve our problems

Our society is divided. Our planet is under threat. Our communities are suffering. The interconnected environmental, energy, economic, and inequality crises of the 21st century are posing complex and often-unpredictable challenges to communities around the world.  It’s time to build. Meaningful change will not happen until we adopt a world-view that seeks to change the root causes of the many social ills that afflict present-day society. Hunger, poverty and pollution are not technical problems in and of themselves, since solutions already exist to technically solve and provide for each of these. Our greatest challenge isn’t the technical application of solutions to create abundance for the world’s population. It is persuading and convincing our fellow-workers that these are feasible and socialism is possible. This task of education to instill awareness is so massive and important that it cannot be understated.

Today, there are repetitive occupations which simply do not need to exist given the state of automation and robotics. Not only would automation reduce the mundane burden and allow more free time for people, it also would, more importantly, increase productivity. Machines do not need breaks, vacations, sleep, etc.. The use of mechanization on its own means to create many forms of abundance on this planet, from food to physical goods. However, to do this, the wage-labour system we have must end. The reality is that the wages system is stifling progress in its requirement to make profits for the employing class.

The concept of property is a fairly new social concept. Before the neolithic revolution, as extrapolated from current hunter and gatherer societies existing today, property relationships did not exist as we know them. Neither did money. Communities existed in an egalitarian fashion, living within the carrying capacity of their regions and the natural production built in. It was only after direct agricultural development was discovered, eventually proceeding with resource acquisition by ship traders and the like - up to modern day power establishments and corporations - that property became a highly defined staple of society as we know it today.

There is growing view among environmentalists that the affluent regions of the global economy must dramatically reduce overall resource and energy consumption levels – that is, undergo a process of ‘degrowth’ – if humanity is to bring about a sustainable world order. On the other hand, we have a growth economy that cannot go two steps in this direction without causing huge economic and social problems. As well as there are vast numbers of poor who require to be brought up to decent levels of living standards. If we need to degrow the economy, as it appears we do, how is that done without causing utter social chaos and societal breakdown? The World Socialist Movement say it must be done by creating a rational steady-state economy.

Our present system is the capitalist market economy.  This system has certain defining features that mark it out as unique compared to other economic systems humans have devised.  It is a system in which a) most (if not all) the major means of production are privately (these days corporately) owned by a small minority of the population; and b) where the fundamental economic problems (what, how, and for whom to produce) are solved “automatically”, through the price mechanism, rather than through conscious social decisions. Most importantly the system is also characterised by a growth compulsion, to expand. Due to competition, all firms – particularly large shareholder firms – are under constant pressure to invest in new techniques, methods of production and products, to improve competitiveness and their sales figures. If they fail to do this, they not only risk profits margins but also eventually being taken-over by other firms, or made bankrupt. Since no firm wants to perish, and since all must expand if they want to continue to exist, a general growth compulsion arises, not just for individual firms, but for the macro economy as whole.

So, while almost everyone wants growth, it is also true that the system needs growth for its basic functioning. In fact, the system cannot possibly tolerate even a slow-down in the rate of growth, let alone a contraction. The famed ‘efficiency’ of the market system only works well (if at all) when there is a buyers’ market, leading to strong competition between suppliers to meet customer demand. But in a contraction scenario, most markets would be ‘suppliers’ markets, as there would be, in general, a shortage of supply relative to demand. This would mean even poorly run, high cost firms would be able to survive. And, as with any market economy, you would still have a situation where increasingly scarce resources were tended to be allocated to meeting the money backed demands of the already wealthy, rather than to meeting the vital needs for all – a recipe for social chaos in a context of heightened scarcity. When capitalism approaches a ‘steady state’ of zero GDP growth the outcome for society at large is ugly. The situation is characterised by capital destruction, mass unemployment, devastated communities, growing poverty, foreclosures, homelessness and environmental considerations shunted aside in the all-out effort to restore growth.

Herman Daly argues that we can do so, while retaining a basically capitalist system, on the condition that the state steps in to play a far more active regulatory role than at present. Daly proposes that the state impose escalating resource depletion quotes, that can be traded in a market, while retaining private enterprise and the market system. Socialists argue, however, that this will not work. The contraction of the economies of the world must occur in an orderly way. Otherwise there will be unbearable breakdowns of whole societies. An orderly contraction can only take place in a planned economy, not in a capitalist market economy. A planned economy can consciously use labour-intensive technologies and methods, if necessary, which result in less use of resources. A socialist economic framework will be necessary if we are to contract the economy in an orderly, peaceful and socially just way. In arguing for large-scale industrial planning, we are not saying that we should nationalise family farms, local artisans, groceries, bakeries, neighbourhood restaurants and repair shops, workers’ cooperatives, and so on. Small producers aren’t destroying the world. But large-scale corporations are. If we want to save the planet, the corporations would have to be socialised, and completely reorganised and repurposed. This will be based on the active participation and cooperation of most, if not all, ordinary citizens. Active and inclusive participation by all (or at least most) is a crucial pre-requisite and it simply cannot be imposed ‘top-down’ via the State even if it wanted to. The revolution happens when ordinary citizens take it upon themselves to start building the new world. Unless participants within the socialist movement become aware of, and begin advocating, the eventual need for an orderly process of revolution it will not achieve a sustainable society. Capitalism itself must go onto the trash-can of history. Socialists must doggedly go on raising awareness wherever we can. Even if it does not feel like it, every conversation counts.

The Socialist Party understands the true nature of the challenges we as a society face, what the underlying, systemic forces are at play. Acting without this understanding is like putting a band-aid on a life-threatening injury. The Socialist Party supports the principle, according to one religious idiom, all God’s children deserve a fair share of the Earth’s bounty. Let us openly and loudly declare our commitment to the death of poverty and the birth of socialism.  Onward to the cooperative commonwealth.

Homelessness. A Continual Feature.

 About one hundred years ago the Parkdale neighbourhood was a hang out for Toronto's rich and infamous, but these days it's one for folk who do have a pot but not a lot more. In Parkdale, there are 198 rooming houses, bachelorette buildings, community non-profit buildings that hold 2715 people. Bachelorettes are what are sometimes called micro-apartments. About 60 of these are at risk of being sold or converted into higher cost housing which would mean 818 people would lose their homes.

What has caused this is Toronto's present red hot real estate market which makes any dump that can be gussied up attractive to the developers. We all know its a bubble and like all bubbles will eventually burst, but the question is will it burst it time to save the residents who will be told to.''find a new home''.

For most of them, it won't be easy considering many receive Ontario Disability Support which pays the grand sum of $479 a month towards rent and people on Ontario Works receive up to $374.

The study on real estate speculation, upscaling and conversion, conducted by the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust, was given the hilarious title,''No Room For Unkept Promises - Parkdale Rooming House Study'', One can bet if they promise to kick you out on the street they will do exactly that.

One resident said, ''We are hanging on by a thread, I have this feeling that in 10 years Parkdale will be unrecognizable and I won't be here and I want to be here.'' It could well be that Parkdale will go back to being what it used to be, a residential area for capitalists, which will be another example of how little things change under capitalism despite its technological advances.

Another thing that won't change is people being made homeless. 

Steve and John.