ProleCat

"CARING" CAPITALISM

2010-02-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has compared giving people government assistance to "feeding stray animals." Bauer, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor ( of South Carolina), made his remarks during a town hall meeting in Fountain Inn that included state lawmakers and about 115 residents. "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food suply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behaviour. They don't know any better," Bauer said."
( Greenville News, 23 January) RD

Jewish and Israeli opposition to Israel's Gaza slaughter

2009-01-21T23:59:00.000-08:00

Jewish and Israeli opposition to Israel's Gaza slaughter

Israel's young conscientious objectors (shministim) tell why they refuse to serve in an army that occupies ``another people'', the Palestinians.

INDIAN CLASS DIVISION

2008-12-10T04:57:00.000-08:00

"India might have more billionaires on the Forbes 400 than ever before, but 80% of its population still lives on less than $2 a day. Public schools are ineffective: 40% of enrolled 8- to 11-year-olds cannot read a page. More than 440 million Indians, 40% of the population, are under 18, and it is not clear how India will generate enough jobs over the next two decades to employ them."
(Time, 4 December) RD

SIGN ON OR STARVE

2008-12-10T04:55:00.000-08:00

"Sgt. Ryan Nyhus spent 14 months patrolling the deadly streets of Baghdad, where five members of his platoon were shot and one died. As bad as that was, he would rather go back there than take his chances in this brutal job market. Nyhus re-enlisted last Wednesday, and in so doing joined the growing ranks of those choosing to stay in the U.S. military because of the bleak economy. "In the Army, you're always guaranteed a steady paycheck and a job," said the 21-year-old Nyhus. "Deploying's something that's going to happen. That's a fact of life in the Army — a fact of life in the infantry." In 2008, as the stock market cratered and the housing market collapsed, more young members of the Army, Air Force and Navy decided to re-up." (Yahoo News, 2 December) RD

HIGH STREET BARGAINS

2008-12-10T04:54:00.000-08:00

Beautifully coloured magazines with gorgeously gowned young women photographed in exotic locations will be used to advertise the wares of multi-millionaire chain stores, but behind this glossy facade lurks the realities of modern capitalism. "Workers producing clothes in Bangladesh for some of the UK's biggest retailers are being forced to work up to 80 hours a week for as little as 7p an hour, according to a report published today. The study from War on Want claims that conditions in six factories supplying Primark, Tesco and Asda are worse than they were two years ago when the charity carried out its first investigation. Based on interviews with 115 workers in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, today's report claims many were struggling to survive on meagre wages and some were subjected to physical and verbal abuse."
(Guardian, 5 December) RD

Socialist Standard December 2008

2008-12-09T09:00:00.001-08:00

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

editorial: contents:
Also available as HTML (image lite) and PDF

Pages: 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

THE UNTOUCHABLES

2007-11-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

The plight of Guzar Ahmed seems almost idyllic when compared to the fate of the following Indian woman.
"Soon after she was married, at the age of 10, Usha Chaumar began collecting human excrement for a living - as her mother and her grandmother did before her. Every day for the next 20 years she gathered night soil from 20 houses without lavatories in the state of Rajasthan, carrying it in a pan on her head to the nearest dump. She was paid 200 rupees (£2) a month - the money usually dropped at her feet so that her hands did not touch her employers." (Times, 2 November)
Apparently there are estimated to be 500,000 Indian Untouchables who still earn a living this way. The Indian government have promised to eradicate open-air defecation by 2012, but as this is the same government who say that talk of children in sweat shops is exaggerated we wouldn't put too much store by such a claim. RD

SWEAT SHOP INDIA

2007-11-08T06:01:00.000-08:00

Behind the amazing development of capitalism in India lies the harsh reality of child exploitation. "Delhi children's rights activists said that they had received 70 boys who were embroidering garments in small squalid factories in the Indian capital. The boys aged 8 to 14, were mostly the children of farmers in Bihar, India's poorest eastern state. They had been brought to Delhi to make saris worn by Indian women. Gulzar Ahmed, 12, said that he was paid 3,000 rupees (£36) a month for working up to 15 hours a day. The activists, from the Save the Children Mission, said that the children would be returned to their parents. The Indian Government has accused activists of exaggerating the problem of child labour." (Times, 2 November)
We imagine the prospect of one of the government's children working in a sweat shop at 12 years of age is so remote they are unconcerned about poor farmers' kids. RD

Police leaders attack calls for greater use of civilians

2007-11-07T20:55:00.000-08:00

They must have got their act together at some Grand or Super Masonic Lodge somewhere, but the Cop-Bosses have joined up, in opposing the use of more civilians, to pretend that they operate in the public's interest in general.

The real danger,is in showing that the police arent necessary at all,to the general population, as this consists of people who are personally, generally,law abiding, self policing, socially motivated individuals,well programmed by school,church and media to be good citizens and,unfortunately for their own class interests, accommodating of their own exploitation by the people ,whose real interests are served by the coppers,the rich and powerfull capitalist class.

If there are only a few of them,civilian citizen workers,they can be 'pretend cops' enough for people not to notice, but if there are thousands of them,then word might get out.
We really dont need cops.We could be our own 'pretend cops'.

The really difficult ,thuggish work done 'by' the cops is usually reserved to be done 'on', poorer people whose desperation,tempts them to try short-cuts to accumulate enough to live on reasonably,but can't get their act together enough to do it within legal bounds, owing to the system being more loaded against you, the poorer you are.

Even when getting pissed to blot out the degradation of their everyday existence,these poorer workers can be subject of just cordial foot-breaking ,as in general again they won't remember, or be believed the next day, even if they survive.

This is just teaching 'respect' for capitalisms enforcers,when the bairns have grown up and forgotten the nice police bobby who came to their classroom..

There is a systematic failure of capitalism in that, it cannot provide to meet human needs.It can only do so at a profit. The consequences of this means, a socially created struggle ensues to maximise ones advantage,which puts us in competition with each other, for access to the means of living.

Common-ownership and democratic control of all our wealth making potential,with free access to it,rather than redistribution,according to our self defined needs,will ensure a civilised society, un-alienatated from ,the products of our labour and each other by class or privelege of access,and which will not need any thuggish reinforcement, as the end product.

Socialism's organising tenet is,"From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs".

A wholy different mindset would exist in a population which was self organised in this way .

Capitalism needs thugs to deal with its social consquences, but we dont need them.
This brutalised aspect of police-work can readily be provided in capitalism by a, socially hardened ,conditioned, private thug army of such as they use in Iraq.It is a system of society which has to deliberately ration access to wealth along priveleged lines.

Normal people wouldn't do it.

The sooner they join with us in recognising that their demands have to be set against a well entrenched economic and social system, based on class privilege and property and governed by the overriding law of profits first,then they can turn their natural talents into creating,accessing and distributing the common wealth.

Not an enforcer in sight in socialism.

Anyway the spin is here to be seen.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1813920.0.0.php

If you scroll down to comments on the above linked page you'll see comrade prolerat has paid a visit,with nicked statistics from class warfare to emphasize some current concerns at what the cops get up to when they are allowed out in our streets.Maybe we should tag cops?
MC

2007-07-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Some Prolecat Comments on the BBC site.

DEBATE:

How safe do you feel in the UK?

SENT:

01-Jul-2007 14:11

COMMENT:

I'm pleased to see most contributers to this have been reasonable and are showing some perspective.If we look at suicide bombers worldwide,we find, surprisingl,most terrorist operatives are psychologically normal and secular even in Muslim states. Their attacks were always premeditated and the perpetrators were aware of the consequences of their actions to themselves and others.There is a timely article on this at http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/jul07/ Well worth a look.Keep the heid everybody.

DEBATE:

Has Blair failed to influence Bush?

SENT:

19-Dec-2006 16:16

COMMENT:

How influential is the UK these days? As the worlds biggest arms dealer ,next to US, rather. Mr Bush overlooked & the Mr Blair loyalty? Silly questions from the BEEB.You seem to regard the personal as important.What trivialisation of news. Europe? In a Global capitalsm,any prime minister will do what it takes to serve their masters interest.War is just business as usual. Abolish capitalism and war at one stroke. http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb
Click to view comment

DEBATE:

Has Blair failed to influence Bush?

SENT:

19-Dec-2006 15:48

COMMENT:

It really doesn't matter if it was Blair ,Brown or Mr Blobby was the head of the U.K. government.War is caused in a capitalist society over ,strategic influence,raw materials or trade routes.In Iraq's case it was about oil,oil and oil.Historical amnesiacs would do well to remember that Saddam came to power via CIA assistance and was financed and chemically-armed by the West for many years in his war against Iran. Successive American and British governments turned a blind eye to his atrocities.

2007-07-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Nicked from WSM Forum
It is however difficult to know what to do when you find yourself in
the surreal Alice in Wonderland world of 21st century world
capitalism or British capitalism.

On the day that our dear leader Tony Bliar was announced `Peace
Envoy' to the Middle East, with no sense of sick irony by the BBC,
I went out with some friends and we discussed it. When something
absurd happens, you attempt to parody it with a satirical example
like;

"appointing Emperor Nero to be the chief fireman of Rome, and add to
that the notion of having the fox look after the henhouse."

As was suggested in a recent post elsewhere.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17956.htm

We all decided that there was no satirical comparison available to
our considerable collective imaginations that could do it justice.
Robert Fisk subsequently understated it I think when he said;

"I suppose that astonishment is not the word for it. Stupefaction
comes to mind. I simply could not believe my ears."

The expression `lost for words' comes to mind. When I listen to
those serious straight faced talking heads on the BBC, I often end
up concentrating on the expressions on their faces, the inflexions
in their dialogue and the body language, to try to figure out what
must be going on in these `intelligent' peoples heads.

I suppose maybe the best paid prostitutes are the ones that can most
convincingly fake it , with `Oh what a big boy you are' and such
like, although I have no personal experience of anything like that.

National pride can be a pernicious thing although it does not always
have to be negative. I have noticed, having travelled around the
globe a bit, that especially when you get away from the tourist
traps that the natives are always keen to create a good impression
of their own community. This is often expressed with an enthusiastic
attempt to be especially helpful to visitors in order to create a
good impression of the excellence of their own community.

I suppose courage and determination to face up to the cruel
adversities that life throws at you is an admirable trait that
everyone would like to think of as innate, or at least as part of
your national cultural heritage.

But these kinds of things are always relative.

I am being embarrassed.

Britain is on a critical security alert, the nation is in crisis, a
car has caught fire at Glasgow airport.

Endless loops on the BBC news have attempted to terrify us, to small
effect I am pleased to say, that our very existence is at peril.

Meanwhile in Iraq millions have fled their homes in real terror and
hundreds of thousands are dead. Whilst Iraq really does burn the
talking heads of the BBC continuously fiddle over a burning car.

I thought I would never be able to live down the national ignominy
of our brave `Royal Marines', our toughest of the tough, complaining
about being forced to wear pyjamas by the wicked Iranians.

Will there be no end to this national humiliation।
Dave B

2007-06-06T04:13:00.000-07:00

It's Sick , isn't it ?

Around 10,000 people in the UK, mainly of black, Asian and Mediterranean origin, have sickle cell anaemia. Another 800 have the most dangerous form of thalassaemia, a similar disease. Sufferers of the two conditions must undergo regular blood transfusions.

Part of the treatment can either be 2 pills a day that cleanses their blood of life-threatening excess iron - a side effect of the frequent blood transfusions needed to treat the disease -- or alternatively , insert a needle into their stomach for eight to 12 hours a night at least five nights a week .

While the drug is available in Scotland, most patients in England are not able to get it because local NHS organisations are refusing to pay for a drug that costs £10,000-£15,000 for a year's supply for a young person. So now it's back to these injections which many families find highly stressful and do only infrequently, thus endangering the child's life.

Dr Farrukh Shah, a consultant haematologist at the Whittington Hospital in London, said: 'All patients who would benefit from Exjade should get it without arguments about who's going to fund it. They are being made victims of NHS internal politics. It's all down to people passing the buck financially between hospitals and Primary Care Trusts.... It's distressing for patients and their parents. Patients are struggling to maintain the needle treatment and desperately want to get Exjade, but many can't. When I tell them that their PCT has refused to pay for something that would make their life a whole lot easier in many ways, many end up crying.'

Vanessa Bourne of the Patients' Association said :"..you can't expect a parent to put a needle in their child's stomach every night because that treatment is so horrible to administer. Would PCT bosses, as parents, wish to do this to their child every night?..."

And while we are constantly admonished to care for our young , Capitalism simply counts up the pounds and the pence .This is an example of what the Socialist Standard was referring to in The Voice From the Back column.(See below)

SO WHATS NEW?

"British doctors will take the historic step of admitting for the first time that many health treatments will be rationed in the future because the NHS cannot cope with spiralling demand from patients." (Observer, 5 May) What is historic about that? Everything that is produced inside capitalism whether it be food, clothing, shelter, education or health care is always available to the rich, and they make sure they get the absolute best. How often at your local doctor's surgery or emergency ward in a hospital have you found yourself rubbing shoulders with millionaires?

Thanks to Alan

2007-03-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Here we go again. Another Red Nose Day is with us.
2007 and there are tens of thousands of charities in this country
alone. What does this say about this so-called civilisation we are told
we live in?
With the productive capacity of Capitalism, the above should be
unnecessary. However, we live in a world where the means of life are
owned by a tiny minority, and access to life is on the basis of, "can't
pay, then can't have".
It is a "Red Face Day", for all of those who tell us how great
Capitalism is. It is also a vindication for people who are realists, and argue for
a change of society and the relationships involved. Who argue for a
society, where the means of producing the things we need to live are
owned by us all, collectively,without buying and selling,waged labour or capital.Socialism in other words.

2007-03-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

Please redistribute - especially
to priests, bishops and secondary school religious teachers.

In order to prove that Jesus Christ existed, one must have basic historical
facts that can be agreed upon in official records. Though it doesn't
necessarily make Jesus a historic figure to assign him a birthplace or a
birthday, it's a good start. Unfortunately, neither the bible nor church
documents can sustain the claim that Jesus was born on the twenty-fifth of
December (a date assigned to most of the saviours of the ancient world,
including: Adonis, Attis, Pan, Bacchus, Osiris and Dionysus among countless
others). Even the Bible cannot agree with itself, in Luke (1.199), Jesus is
said to have been born during the time of Quirinus, making his birth a
fourteen-year difference from the time of Matthew (1.199).

So the day and year aren't known exactly; so what! That doesn't mean
anything. Unless one realises that his most intimate friends supposedly
wrote the gospels during the lifetimes of his mother and siblings
Understanding that Jesus' birth is not verifiable through any written
document is essential to knowing that he wasn't a real person and only a
Universal sun myth (consider this: Jesus' death was accompanied by the
darkening of the sun, his resurrection happens to be the date of the vernal
equinox, and that this date has progressively shifted from the 25th December
to the 6th January). (3.272).

What about the events surrounding his birth? Are they real? No, and they can
easily be refuted with a little knowledge of world mysticism and language.
In the Gospels, the word for stable is Katalemna, but this word's actual
meaning is a temporary shelter or cave (1.32). Among the babies born in a
cave is Pan, Mithras, and Zeus (again...there are many more). The birth of
Mithras was said to have been witnessed by three shepherds, equivalent to
Jesus' three wise men (1.33). Even the presents offered unto Jesus were
those offered to Adonis, whose sacred incense was myrrh.

The town of Bethlehem was the supposed birthplace of this supposed saviour.
The name Bethlehem means 'house of bread'. Adonis was the god of corn and
the god of bread. The star that the three wise men had followed to the birth
of Jesus was, in Egypt, a yearly omen of the flooding of the Nile. The
flooding of the Nile is associated with the 'world renewing power of Osiris,'
so it is obvious that this star symbolised in the ancient world the 'coming
of the lord' (1.33).

What of the miraculous virgin birth? It seems that this too is simply an
appropriation of mythology. Throughout most of the ancient religions it is
extremely common to have a god impregnate a virgin woman (3.275). From China
to Siam and even Mexico to Palestine, all gods chose the method of
impregnating virgin women to come into this world. Jesus was born to Mary,
Buddha to Maia (as well as Hermes), Agni to Maya, Adonis to Myrrha, Bacchus
to Myrrha, and so on (2.301). Most, if not all of these women, ascended to
heaven and each were known as 'Queen of Heaven'.

What about the surrounding situation of this god-man's death? Well, 'Good
Friday falls not before the spring equinox, but as soon after the spring
equinox as the full moon allows, thus making the calculation depend upon the
position of the sun in the zodiac and the phases of the moon.' (3.273). What
did that mean? It meant that the festival originally designed to celebrate
the Pagan goddess of fertility, Oestera, has become what the Christians now
call Easter. Needless to say, the eggs and rabbits are symbols of fertility
and NOT Jesus' crucifixion.

This calls into question whether or not Jesus was in fact crucified. Cross
has a general meaning of stake in the New Testament. Jews used to display
the bodies of those they had stoned to death on stakes. In the Acts of the
Apostles, Peter says that Jesus was "hung on a tree", and so does St Paul in
his letter to the Galatians. Attis and Adonis were both hung on a tree as
well, the latter being known as "He on the tree."

Before the crucifixion, both Jesus and Dionysus wore purple robes, crowns -
the former of thorns, the latter of ivy - and both were given wine to drink.
Jesus dies next to two thieves. One goes up to heaven with him and the other
goes to hell. Eleusis, as well as Dionysus and Mithras, have on their side
two torch-bearers, one pointing the torch upwards and the other pointing the
torch downwards (symbolising the ascent to heaven and the descent to hell)
(1.51). The story originates with the Greek brothers Castor and Pollux,
which on alternate days are given the name "The Sons of Thunder," which in
the gospel of Mark are what Jesus calls James and John.

Aside from this immense amount of evidence showing that Christians merely
thieved the ideas from their predecessors, there is much more found in other
religions. In fact there are fifteen crucified saviours, inclusive of
Krishna, Odin, Hesus (not Jesus), Quetzalcoatl, Criti, Baili, and Indra
(2.352). Therefore, the crucifixion is an appropriation of Pagan symbolism
(the cross originally symbolising spirit in the centre of the four
elements). Early Christians and Buddhists wore the swastika because it was a
good luck sign meaning "it is well" in Sanskrit. As the Church grew in power
they wanted to instil a sense of guilt and therefore changed their symbol
into a slaughtered lamb, and then a crucified saviour paying for the sins of
the world.

The Jesus story can not even stand up to the criticism of a rational and
fairly knowledgeable person, so how can the rest of the beliefs contained
within the bible be true? Well, even though the literary works written down
during the time of Jesus' supposed birth to a century after can fill
libraries, its interesting to know that neither Jesus nor the twelve
disciples are mentioned - and Christianity only get a few paragraphs at the
most (1.133). So how is it that Christians can ascertain that there were
twelve disciples? Because there have been few god-saviours who did not have
twelve apostles or messengers.

Numbers were very important to ancient mythological stories, especially the
numbers 12, 7, 3 and 40. For instance, Jacob had twelve sons, there were 12
tribes of Israel, twelve months in the year, 12 gates or pillars of heaven
and the Jews were in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus fasted for 40 days;
from the resurrection to the ascension were forty days. Moses was on the
mountain with God for 40 days. Noah and Hercules were swallowed by a whale,
at exactly the same place - Jappo - and were inside the whale for 3 days,
the same number of days between the crucifixion and the resurrection of
Jesus. The feeding of the five thousand - a miracle interestingly also
performed by Elisha in 2 Kings 43-44 - happened with 2 fish and five loaves
of bread, equalling seven. In Mark Mark 4:11 and Luke 8:10 Jesus is trying to make his
disciples understand that his stories are meant to be taken as complex
allegories involving numbers. Jesus says: "To you it is given to know the
Mysteries of the Kingdom of God. But to the rest of them it is only given in
allegories." In Luke 8:1, Jesus admits to speaking in riddles and parables
yet only the literal world has been spoken for centuries. Perhaps the
message has been "misrepresented" by religious authorities on purpose.

Early Church fathers Origen and Clement tried to establish Christianity
amongst Pagans by using the argument that it would be absurd to believe in
Paganism and not Christianity. Why would it be absurd? Because of the
extreme similarities that they themselves acknowledged (3.273). As a result
of the likeness between Pagan religions and Christianity, the latter
continued to grow. Alterations of biblical documents, addition of forgeries,
and addition of previously held heretical books and the omission of parts of
the Bible became a norm in the Church.

Eventually fanatics came up with the idea known as Diabolical Mimicry to
refute the Pagan claim that they were using their ideas to gain power
(1.26). Diabolic Mimicry holds that the devil knew the Jesus story thousands
of years before and so had created religions similar to Christianity in
order to keep people astray from the one true saviour. Unfortunately, for
the masses, Christian dogma had won favour with the Roman politicians and
this idea was forced onto the people through heresy hunting (the killing of
anyone who held different ideas to the Church) mass slaughters (of Pagan
followers, "witches", and other freethinkers), war and repression (1.244-6).
All Pagan books were ordered to be burned. Pope Gregory VII burned the
Apollo Library. Emperor Theodosius burned 27,000 ancient scrolls. Ptolemy
Philadelphius burned 270,000 ancient documents and after 1233 more than
25,000 were burned (even some in the new world). The tragedy is that most of
the works burned had nothing to do with Paganism - they were scientific
documents seized by illiterate peasants.

So what is the true legacy of the Church after two thousand years? A Church
built upon the ruins of an old Pagan temple that symbolises racism, sexism,
homophobia, sexual repression guilt, organised crime and HATE!

Sources:

1. The Jesus Mysteries by Timothy Freke and Peter Ghandi.
2. Deceptions and Myths of the Bible by Loyd M Graham.
3. The Truth About Jesus by M.M Mangasarian, found in You Are being Lied To,
edited by Russ Kick.

____________

"Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real
distress and also the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of
the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the
spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

To abolish religion as the illusory happiness of the people is to demand
their real happiness. The demand to give up illusions about the existing
state of affairs is the demand to give up a state of affairs which needs
illusions. The criticism of religion is therefore in embryo the criticism of
the vale of tears, the halo of which is religion."

1818 - 1883 - Karl Marx

How to Make Socialists: Lenin’s View

2007-01-22T00:32:00.000-08:00

This article below from the Socialist Standard February 1933 is a timely reminder to workers and others that some of the tactics and methods which left -wing parties claim are orthodox,"boring from within" workers struggles,concentrating upon," immediate demands", and so on,do not always stem directly from Lenin ,but may indeed be distortions of his own writing on the matter.There are of course different interpretations and Lenin himself often contradicted in action his own previous statements as events dictated to him.The links in the text allow you to make up your own mind as they take you to the work in question.
M.C.

How to Make Socialists: Lenin's View

Most of the Communists who say that the way to make Socialists is not to theorise, but to concentrate on "immediate demands" in the day to day struggle against the employers are quite unaware of Lenin's view on the subject. He set it out at some length in an article, "The Working Class as Champion of Democracy," written apparently about 1901 and recently republished in What is to be done (Martin, Lawrence, Ltd., 175 pages, 2s.).Wikipedia Commentary

In this article Lenin vigorously rejects the policy of concentrating on immediate demands. He

points out that any trade union secretary does this work admirably (he mentions Robert Knight, who was a Boiler Makers' official well-known in England). He contrasts Knight, the trade union secretary who "conducts the economic struggle against the employers and the Government" with Liebknecht, who "engaged more in the propaganda of brilliant and finished ideas." Lenin plumps for Liebknecht's method and rejects Knight's.

Lenin writes: —

"The economic struggle merely brings the workers 'up against' questions concerning the attitude of the Government towards the working class. Consequently, however much we may try to 'give the economic struggle itself a political character,' we shall never be able to develop the political consciousness of the workers ... by confining ourselves to the economic struggle, for the limits of this task are too narrow." — (Page 76.)

"The workers can acquire class political consciousness only from without, that is only outside of the economic struggle, outside of the sphere of the relations between workers and employers." — (Page 76.)

"Robert Knight engaged more in 'calling the masses to certain concrete actions,' while Liebknecht engaged more in 'the revolutionary explanation of the whole of modern society or various manifestations of it.'" — (Page 78.)

The whole article is well worth reading. It will be noticed that here, as on certain other questions, Lenin's view was nearer to the S.P.G.B.'s view than to that of the Communist Parties.

(Socialist Standard, February 1933).

2007-01-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

contents

Page 1

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Page 6

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Page 8

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Page 11

Page 12

Page13

Page 14

Page 15

Page 16

Page17

Page 18

Page 19

Page 20

3 Editorial
Think globally, act globally
4 Pathfinders
Monkey business
4 Pathfinders
Page as an image
5 Letters

 Obituary
 Contacts
 Details

6 Free Market Guru Gone Wrong
The death of the economist Milton Friedman at the age
of 94 last November has robbed the free-market of perhaps
its greatest advocate of modern times,but his views were
wrong in theory and a failure in practice

9 Adam Smith: capitalist icon?
Money makes this capitalist world go round. So the
Bank of England's decision to feature Smith's face on
its twenty-pound notes, starting this spring, certainly
seems appropriate .

11 Might is right
Everybody is talking about "human rights" these days,
but what are they and will they always need protecting?

13 Iraq in chaos
According to reports in the papers and on the television,
Iraq is now falling apart. Why?
13 Cooking the Books 1
Who's to blame for carbon
emissions?

15 Zionism and anti-semitism
Two dangerous ideologies that thrive on each other.

16 Nonprofit Production: Wave of the Future
Why not extend the principle of production for
need to the world economy as a whole?
16 Cooking the Books 2
Global turbulence

17 Reviews 
Democracy and Revolution;Bad Food Britain;
Tricks of the Mind
18 Meetings
 O.& D.O.P.  Our Object and Declaration of Principles.
 50 Years Ago     Day-To-Day Runners Of Capitalism
19 Greasy Pole
Saying sorry
 20 Voice from the Back
  Patents and profits; Hollywood and
reality;  Growing old disgracefully
20 Free Lunch by RIGG
Cartoon.

   Socialist Party   Top  Front page Back page  Editorial  Index Back-Issues & links

Climate Change

2006-12-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

Climate Change (this is the text of a leaflet distributed recently.)
The Market System Must Go

"Climate change presents a unique challenge to economics: it is the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen".

So confirms government adviser, Sir Nicholas Stern, in his report on the Economics of Climate Change published earlier this week. Only instead of concluding that the market system must go he wants to give it a second chance through "green taxes" and especially "carbon trading" (trading in permits to emit carbon dioxide).

But "green taxes" and "carbon trading" are not the solution. These are just tinkering with the market system whereas if carbon emissions are to be stabilised and the consequences of global warming tackled effectively it is the whole market system of competitive production for profit that must go. It has to be replaced by a world without frontiers where the Earth’s natural and industrial resources have become the common heritage of all humanity, and so can be used to produce directly and solely for use not profit. Buying and selling needs to be replaced by giving and taking in accordance with the principle of,
"from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs".
Socialist Party

2006-12-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

Capitalism continues in its glorious splendour.

There is of course nothing new to this story which appears below save the fact of cadmium poisoning being a newish form of poisoning due to work on batteries for PC's and other commodities.It used to be lead poisoning which battery workers were subjected to ,as well as plumbers and people in the building trade. Don't anyone get the idea that before this mad rush for growth in the Chinese economy, capitalism didn't exist.It did, in the form of state capitalism and continues in this way with a massive state intervention and some private enterprise also.

It matters little whether the economy is run by Maoist government officials or if it is "liberalised". The lot of workers will remain very constant, in the advanced economies or the emergent ones.Profit rules and lives are cheap, unless you own and control sufficient of the wealth in the first place you are doomed if born poor to die so with health results accordingly.
'Poisoned' Chinese workers sue

More than 100 female factory workers in southern China are suing their former employers over suspected cadmium poisoning.

The women worked in nearby battery factories in Guangdong, according to state media.

Three people have reportedly died as a result of the cadmium poisoning, and others have fallen ill.

Vaporised cadmium can cause flu-like symptoms when inhaled, and in extreme cases can damage the kidneys.

Workplace health disputes are common in China, where safety levels are often lax.

voice fromthe back

2006-12-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

LAND OF THE FREE?

The following report from Washington paints a dreadful picture of modern capitalism. "In the world's biggest economy, one in eight Americans and almost one in four blacks lived in poverty last year, the US Census Bureau said on Tuesday, releasing a figure almost unchanged from 2004" (Reuter, 29 August), The report went on to say: "In all, some 37 million Americans lived below the poverty line, defined as having an annual income around $10,000 (£5,300)) for an individual or $20,000 (£10,600) for a family of four." 200 quid a week for a family of four, and they wonder why they have a crime problem?

HOMELESS IN BRITAIN?

The Department for Communities and Local Government announced that the number of homeless families in England had dropped to 19,430 between June and April this year, down 29 percent on the same period in 2005, but charities have queried these figures. "There are as many as 380,000 hidden homeless people, predominately single, in Britain living out of sight," says Duncan Scrubsole, head of policy and strategy at Crisis" (Inside Housing , 15 September). Adam Sampson, the chief executive of Shelter, also queries the government's figures. "Any drop in new cases is to be welcomed, provided this is brought about by genuine work to prevent people from losing their homes in the first place, rather than preventing them from registering to get the help they need" (Times, 19 September). Anyone taking the government figures at face value, should remember the old saying "figures don't lie, but liars can figure."

FAT CAT BRITAIN

When the Labour Party came to power we were told "things can only get better" and so they have - for the super rich. "A global survey of the lists of the wealthiest people in 27 leading countries shows that Britain and Switzerland have by far the biggest communities of foreign-born super-rich in the world. Switzerland, with its reputation for banking secrecy and strict regulations, has long been regarded as a magnet for multi-millionaires. But Britain, with the special attraction of tax incentives for billionaires from overseas, is fast catching up as a new refuge for the rich" (Sunday Times, 24 September). Britain now has more billionaires per head of its population than America. Was this what members of the working class envisaged on election day when they sang "things can only get better"?

INTERESTED IN INTEREST?

The Koran prohibits something called riba, loosely translated as interest and this has hindered the development of capitalism. Something similar happened in medieval times when the christians banned usury, but the theologist soon found a way around that and now we have thriving banks in the Vatican. Islam theology may have taken a little longer but now they have joined the capitalist bandwagon. "Islamic banking scholars have found ways of accommodating their philosophical abhorrence of money as a commodity with the need to create financing tools. Typically, this involves converting interest into a rent or a profit share" (Times, 30 September). The Koran may hold sway in the mosque, but outside in the real world capitalism dictates.

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

Being homeless in Britain may be awful, but think how much worse to be sleeping rough in a Russian winter. That is a problem that does not confront the Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko to judge by this item. "At a palace in St Petersburg, which has been converted into a disco for the night by Moscow's most fashionable party organisers, the vodka flows and a New York disco diva sings Thank You for the Music, while ballet dancers pirouette around her. ... Roustam Tariko, the man picking up the $3 million (£1.6 million) tab for the party, turns to me: ‘People like you are already tired of $100,000 parties. They are nothing special for you’" (Times, 7 October). If a Moscow winter proves too severe he can always flee to his house in New York or Sardina, an escape that is impossible for the Russian homeless.

A HANDFUL OF PENNIES

It is reckoned that 1.9 million children under the age of five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases and that the means of saving their lives only cost a couple of pence. "The result, according to the World Health Organization (WHO): 3 million people a year still die from diarrhoeal complications, including 1.9 million children under the age of five, or 17% of the estimated deaths in that age group"(Time, 16 October). All that is required is a large pinch of salt and a fistful of sugar dissolved in a jug of clean water, but in the crowded cities and remote areas of the world's poorest this has proved impossible. Capitalism breeds poverty and ignorance and makes this madness possible. The establishment of world socialism will almost immediately save these 3 million people from premature death.

Socialist Party

Breaking News

2006-11-02T23:24:00.000-08:00

Oh what a lovely war

Abu Ghraib Offender Heads Back to Iraq

Torture indispensible.

--A military dog handler convicted for his role in the prisoner abuse scandal has been ordered back to help train the country's police. 02 Nov 2006 One of the men [Sgt. Santos Cardona] implicated in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal is returning to the scene of the crime. The U.S. military tells TIME that one of the soldiers convicted for his role in Abu Ghraib, having served his sentence, has just been sent back to serve in Iraq. His 23rd MP Company has been selected to train [!?!] Iraqi police.

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2006-10-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

New Blog on the Block - Formerly African Socialist

Head over from the links above or from here

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2006-10-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

Voice From the Back

Never Steal Anything ...

The owning class through their schoolrooms and churches are forever telling young workers never to steal, but in reality the capitalists turn out to be the biggest thieves of all. “Fraud is costing British business £72 billion a year, according to a report out this week. Despite the warning of recent corporate scandals involving Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat and Refco, UK companies are still estimated to be losing 6 per cent of their annual revenue to fraud and corruption, says a study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and international lawyers Mishcon de Reya.” Observer (20 November) £72 billion a year! It seems to be a case of never steal anything .. small.

Room At The Top
Good news for the homeless in France, according to a recent report on hotels that have some vacancies. “The least expensive room at the George V, is about £390 per night including bedroom, bathroom and breakfast. The most expensive suite at the Plaza Athenee costs almost £10,000 per night and includes four rooms and breakfast.” Times (30 November)

Old, Cold And Hungry
Malnutrition amongst elderly Scots has soared in the past ten years and pressure groups blame the Scottish Executive for allowing pensioners to live below the poverty line. In 1995, 40 Scots died from malnutrition, but last year that figure had soared to 99.” Times (21 November) Even more alarming figures have been released for the UK by the charity Age Concern. “150,000 people over 65 have died as a result of the cold in the past five years.” Times (25 November)

The Slaughter Of The Innocents
Capitalism’s record of murder is even more horrific when looked at from a world perspective. “Nearly six million children die from hunger or malnutrition every year, The Food and Agriculture Organisation says. Many deaths result from treatable diseases such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and measles, the agency said. They would survive if they had proper nourishment, the agency says in a new report on world hunger.” BBC News (22 November)

Our Masters’ Voice
The Confederation of British Industry expresses the views of the British capitalist class. Here for instance is Sir Digby Jones, the chairman of the CBI, on trade unions and international competition: “Trade unions in the private sector in the 21st century will become largely irrelevant.... There are 1.3 billion Chinese out there who want your lunch and a billion Indians who want your dinner.” Times (22 November). Sir Digby is of course indulging in wishful thinking, he knows that the British working class’s greatest protection against the profit-mad owners on the industrial front is the union. A greater threat to all the capitalists of the world would be the world’s working class uniting politically. (See Rigg’s view below).

Ah, Progress
The rapid growth of capitalism in China and India has been greeted with acclaim by all its supporters. There is another side to the story though, illustrated by two recent developments as reported in the Observer (27 November) The Chinese city Harbin, population 3.5 million, has had no water supply for four days because of the pollution caused by 100 tonnes of benzene - a colourless, odourless carcinogenic chemical - spilling into the river upstream after an explosion at the local chemical factory. “The poisoning of the Songhua river has exposed the murkier side of China’s spectacular economic growth; the emphasis on business rather than environment, the tendency to cover up health risks and splits within the government.” From India comes news of the exploitation of children to feed the rapacious growth of capitalism. 400 children were found working in factories in Delhi. “Housed in a night shelter for beggars, the embroidery workers, aged 5 to 14, were waiting yesterday to hear their fate.”

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2006-10-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

What is Socialism?

///What is Socialism?///

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Central to the meaning of socialism is common ownership. This means the resources of the world being owned in common by the entire global population.

But does it really make sense for everybody to own everything in common? Of course, some goods tend to be for personal consumption, rather than to share—clothes, for example. People 'owning' certain personal possessions does not contradict the principle of a society based upon common ownership.

In practice, common ownership will mean everybody having the right to participate in decisions on how global resources will be used. It means nobody being able to take personal control of resources, beyond their own personal possessions.

Democratic control is therefore also essential to the meaning of socialism. Socialism will be a society in which everybody will have the right to participate in the social decisions that affect them. These decisions could be on a wide range of issues—one of the most important kinds of decision, for example, would be how to organise the production of goods and services.

Production under socialism would be directly and solely for use. With the natural and technical resources of the world held in common and controlled democratically, the sole object of production would be to meet human needs. This would entail an end to buying, selling and money. Instead, we would take freely what we had communally produced. The old slogan of "from each according to ability, to each according to needs" would apply.

So how would we decide what human needs are? This question takes us back to the concept of democracy, for the choices of society will reflect their needs. These needs will, of course, vary among different cultures and with individual preferences—but the democratic system could easily be designed to provide for this variety.

We cannot, of course, predict the exact form that would be taken by this future global democracy. The democratic system will itself be the outcome of future democratic decisions. We can however say that it is likely that decisions will need to be taken at a number of different levels—from local to global. This would help to streamline the democratic participation of every individual towards the issues that concern them.

In socialism, everybody would have free access to the goods and services designed to directly meet their needs and there need be no system of payment for the work that each individual contributes to producing them. All work would be on a voluntary basis. Producing for needs means that people would engage in work that has a direct usefulness. The satisfaction that this would provide, along with the increased opportunity to shape working patterns and conditions, would bring about new attitudes to work.

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2006-10-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

Will socialism come & when?

///Socialism will come///

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Monday, October 23, 2006

When a majority ,want it and are willing to work for to bring it about. Socialism will be established by the conscious actions of men and women,without leadership, opting to eliminate, social classes, buying and selling, markets, nations states, government over people and organising politically for the establishment of a free access , commonly owned and democratically controlled co-operative world commonwealth,whose organising tenet will be ,

"From each according to their ability ,to each according to their needs."

It is your revolution and you have to make it.

Don't follow Leaders.

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2006-10-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

Marx a veggie?I dont think.

‘The creatures, too, must become free’: Marx and the Animal/Human Distinction

It has been claimed that Marx completely lacked respect for animals, thinking of them as inferior beings. Lawrence Wilde argues that, on the contrary, Marx had a respectful attitude towards animals and non-human nature in general. Marx’s attitude to the non-human is intrinsic to his humanistic outlook, grounded in an understanding of the human essence, for which maltreatment of animals is contrary to a communistic vision. Wilde approaches the question of Marx’s attitude to animals and nature within the wider context of Marx’s ethics.

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More Marx Myths and Legends

2006-10-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

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2006-10-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

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Monday, October 23, 2006

‘The creatures, too, must become free’: Marx and the Animal/Human Distinction

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