Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.2

April 2((5

socialist standardwebsite: www.worldsocialism.org

contents

*If the unthinkable happened sadists might findpleasure in the downfall of a politician asplausible, dishonest and obsessive as Blair. Butwhat then? AGreasy Pole6 page 19

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Subscription Orders should be sent to The SocialistParty6 52 Clapham HighStreet6London SW4 7UNRatesOne year subscription InormalrateJ £12 One yearsubscription IlowLunwagedJ £7Europe rate £15 IAir mailJRest of world £22 IAir mailJVoluntary supporterssubscription £20 or more.Cheques payable to TTheSocialist Party of Great Britain’.

The Socialist Party of GreatBritainThe next meeting of theExecutive Committee will beon Saturday 2nd April at theaddress below.Correspondence should besent to the General Secretary.All articles6 letters and noticeshould be sent to the editorialcommittee at: The SocialistParty6 52 Clapham High street6London SW4 7UN tel. 0207622 3811 emailspgb@worldsocialism.org

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Could We Organise Things Without Money?When everything has a price6 it’s supposed to be easy to count costs.So what happens when you take price out of the equation^

FEATURES

O(

EDITORIAL RCONTACT DETAILS R

PATHFINDERS 4RED SNAPPER 5COOKING THE BOOKS O W

COOKING THE BOOKS 2 O5

REVIEWS OY

5( ZEARS AGO O7PARTZ NEWS O\

GREASZ POLE OWFREE LUNCH 2(

REGULARS

What is Common Ownership?Public ownership is simply capitalism run and controlled by the state.This is not socialism. So how is common ownership different^

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The Rise and Fall of the NHSInstitutions6 like empires6 have their ups and downs6 and manycollapse or are overthrown. The decline of the NHS could be terminal.

O2

The Profit Motive: a Case Study If investors make a profit6 workers benefit6 apparently. But often at theexpense of other workers. Steve Trott looks at a case in point.

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What Socialism MeansPieter Lawrence explores the meaning of a much-maligned and oftenincorrectly-defined term.

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MEETINGS O\

VOICE FROM THE BACK 2(

EditorialPolitics today is a game of Ins and Outs inwhich gangs of professional politicianscompete with each other to attract votes,the gang securing a ma;ority of seats inparliament assuming responsibility forrunning the political side of the profitsystem.

To win votes they have topromise - and be believed - to improvethings both for the population ingeneral, as by managing the economyso as to avoid slumps and crises, andfor particular groups within thepopulation.

When the economy is expandingor even ;ust ticking over the Ins havethe advantage. They can claim that thisis due to their wise statesmanship andprudent management. Cuch claims arefalse as the economy goes its own way -expanding or contracting as the prospect ofprofits rises or falls - irrespective of whichgang of politicians is in office. But makingsuch claims can backfire as, when theeconomy falters, the Outs can blame this onthe incompetence and mismanagement ofthe Ins. But that's not true either sincepoliticians don't control the way theeconomy works.

The Labour politicians who took overfrom the Tories as the Ins in GHHI havebeen lucky in this respect. In the past,Labour periods in office had happened tocoincide with the downturn phase of theeconomic cycle, but the last election in200G and the coming election this yearhave happened to coincide with theeconomy ticking over. Co, instead of havingto live up to their previous reputation ofbeing the party of austerity, they have beenin the position of being able to offer a fewcrumbs to voters.

But throwing crumbs to the people Korto carefully targeted sections of the peoplewhose votes could swing thingsL is not the

main purpose of government. Marx oncewrote that the government is Nbut acommittee for managing the common

affairs of the whole bourgeoisieN. And it'sstill true. The function of any governmentis to manage the common affairs of thecapitalist class as a whole. This involves anumber of things. Custaining a context inwhich profit-making can continue.Cpending the money raised from taxes Kthatare ultimately a burden on the capitalistclassL in a prudent way on things that willbenefit the capitalist class as a whole, suchas providing them with an educated,relatively healthy and so productiveworkforce. Maintaining - and if need beusing - armed forces to protect sources ofraw materials, trade routes, investmentoutlets and markets abroad. That's whatmost government spending goes on, andbalancing this against income from taxes iswhat budgets are essentially about.

It is only because wage and salaryworkers, active or retired, have the vote

that, occasionally if there's a small marginof money spare, a few crumbs are offeredto some section or other of the electorate.

No doubt, the pensioners, the homebuyers and the families offered a fewhundred extra pounds a year willaccept these crumbs cast before themby Gordon Brown in his pre-electionbudget. Hopefully, they won't acceptthem as bribes to vote for his particulargang of politicians, but simply becauseit would be stupid not to.

Nowadays most people havelearned by experience and are rightly;ust as cynical about the politicians andtheir promises - and crumbs - as arepoliticians about how they get peopleto vote for them. But cynicism is notenough. This should be turned into

re;ection. The game of Ins and Outs, todecide which gang of professionalpoliticians should manage the commonaffairs of the capitalist class, only continuesbecause most of us agree to take part in it.But by voting for them we in effect givethem the power to keep the capitalistsystem going. And that, not whichparticular gang of politicians happens to bein office, is the cause of today's problemssince built-in to capitalism is puttingmaking profits before satisfying people'sneeds.

Cocialists are only too well aware thatmost people put up with capitalism, and goalong with its political game of Ins andOuts in the hope of getting a few crumbsout of it, because they see no practicablealternative. But there is an alternative, aswe explain in the articles in this issue.Politics should be more than individualsdeciding which politicians to trust todeliver some crumbs that they think willbenefit them individually. It should beabout collective action to change society.About taking over the whole bakery.

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200. 3

!"#$%&'()*S#,(-'.&(./-'0-'(12t4al#/o28o2#94a2c;<Torres:Vichard Botterill, 2G AshwellPark, Harpenden, Herts AL5 5CG. Tel:0G582 I6ZH2H.email:richardbotterill[hotmail.com.2nd Wed. I.30pm. Penderel Oak\s pub,286-288 High Holborn, London WTG]IHG. *2=i1l8#a28#)a4i2?1@#94a2c;< Tues.8pm. Angel Tommunity Tentre,Vaynham Vd, NI8. Torres: GI DorsetVoad, N22 ICL.email:;ulianvein[blueyonder.co.ukSoAt;#/o28o2#94a2c;< Gst Mon.I.Z5pm. Head Office. 52 Tlapham HighCt, CWZ I_N. Tel: 020 I622 38GG.B1st#/o28o2#94a2c;< Gst ` 3rdTues.8pm, Thiswick Town Hall,Heathfield Terrace KTorner Cutton TourtVdL, WZ. Torres: 5G Gayford Voad,London WG2 HBaDiElico< T. Trinder, 2Z Greenwood Tt,G55 Tambridge Ctreet, CWG Z]b. Tel:020 I83Z 8G86FG0/&'0S$i4Ei2?;aE#94a2c;< Thur. 8pm, TheCquare Peg, Torporation Ctreet. Tel:Von Took, 0G2G 533 GIG2'-%.)*&S.'o4t;1ast#94a2c;< Torres: JohnBissett, G0 Ccarborough Parade,Hebburn, Tyne ` Wear, Ne3G 2AL. Tel:0GHG Z22 6HG5 email:;ohnbissett[blueyonder.co.uk'-%.)B*S./a2cast14#94a2c;< P. Channon, IGToniston Voad, Lancaster LAG 3NW.

email: lorna[kaibosh.freeserve.co.ukFa2c;1st14#94a2c;<#Paul Bennett, 6Burleigh Mews, Hardy Lane, M2G ILB.Tel:0G6G 860 IG8H.$olto2< Tel: H. McLaughlin, 0G20Z8ZZ58H.(AE94ia< Brendan Tummings, GHbueen Ct, Millom, Tumbria LAG8 ZBG%oc;8al1< V. Thadwick, 0GI06 522365SoAt;1ast#Fa2c;1st14< enquiries:Blanche Preston, 68 Fountains Voad,M32 HPHH-%"S)G%*)A8814s=i1l8< Vichard Vainferd, 28Armitage Vd, Armitage Bridge,Huddersfield, West aorks, HDZ IDP)All< geith Ccholey. Tel: 0GZ82 ZZ65GSIiJto2< V Tooper, G Taxton Garth,Threshfield, Ckipton BD23 5eh. Tel:0GI56 I5262GS-!.)KS-!.)*&S.KS-!.)B*S.$oA421EoAt;#a28#*ast#0o4s1t< PaulHannam, G2 gestrel Tlose, _pton,Poole BHG6 5VP. Tel: 0G202 632I6H$4i?;to2< Torres: cio 52 Tlapham HighCtreet, London CWZ I_N$4istol< Chane Voberts, 86 High Ctreet,Bristol BC5 6DN. Tel: 0GGI H5GGGH(aE94i8?1< Andrew Westley, G0Marksby Tlose, Duxford, TambridgeTB2 ZVC. Tel: 0G223 5I02H2(a2t149A4@< Vob Tox, Z CtanhopeVoad, Deal, gent, TTGZ 6AB/Ato2< Nick White, 5H Heywood Drive,L_2 ILP%184At;< Harry Cowden, 5 Tlarence]illas, Vedruth, Tornwall, TVG5 GPB.Tel: 0G20H 2GH2H'-%.)*%'#G%*/&'0

$1l=ast< V. Montague, G5G TavehillVoad, BTG5 GBL. Tel: 028H0 586IHHS(-./&'0*8i29A4?;#94a2c;<Gst Thur. 8-Hpm.The buaker Hall, ]ictoria TerraceKabove ]ictoria CtreetL, edinburgh. J. Moir. Tel: 0G3G ZZ0 0HH5Llas?oM#94a2c;< Gst and 3rdWednesday of each month at 8pm inTommunity Tentral Halls, 30Z MaryhillVoad, Glasgow. Vichard Donnelly, GG2Napiershall Ctreet, Glasgow G20 6HT.Tel: 0GZG 5IHZG0H email:richard.donnellyG[ntlworld.com&@4s;i41N D. Trainer, 2G Manse Ctreet,Calcoats, gA2G 5AA. Tel: 0G2HZZ6HHHZ. email:derricktrainer[freeuk.com0A2811< Ian Vatcliffe, G6v BirkhallAve, Wormit, Newport-on-Tay, DD68Pj. Tel: 0G328 5ZG6Z3B1st#/ot;ia2< 2nd and Zth Weds inmonth, I.30-H.30. Lanthorn TommunityTentre, gennilworth Vise, Dedridge,Livingston. Torres: Matt Tulbert, 53Falcon Brae, Ladywell, Livingston,West Lothian, eH5 6_W. Tel: 0G506Z6235HB&/*SSMa2s1a#94a2c;< 2nd Mon, I.30pm,_nitarian Thurch, High Ctreet. Torres:Geoffrey Williams, GH Baptist WellCtreet, Waun Wen, Cwansea CAG 6FB.Tel: 0GIH2 6Z362Z(a48i==#a28#0ist4ict< John James, 6IVomilly Park Voad, Barry TF62 6VV.Tel: 0GZZ6 Z05636

G'.*%'&.G-'&/#(-'.&(.S&O%G(&LaE9ia< Bo4l8#o=#O411#&cc1ss< cio 2GDobson Ct, Ben;ul."12@a. Patrick Ndege, PO Box 56Z28,Nairobi'aEi9ia< Anthony Amugongo, PO BoxG502, Oshataki.!?a28a. Cocialist Tlub, PO Box 2GI,gabale. email: wmugyenki[yahoo.comSMaPila28<Mandia Ntshakala, PO BoxH8G, Mankini*!%-D*012Ea4I< Graham Taylor, Cpob;ergve;2Z, Dg-8220, Brabrand.L14Ea2@. Norbert. email:weltsokialismmus[gmx.net'o4Ma@. Vobert Ctafford. email:hallblithe[yahoo.com

(-FD&'G-'#D&%.G*S-Q*%S*&SBo4l8#Socialist#Da4t@#o=#&Ast4alia< cioVod Miller, 8 Graelee Tourt, gingston,Tasmania I050, Australia. email:commonownership[yahoo.com.auSocialist#Da4t@#o=#(a2a8aKDa4tiSocialist1#8A#(a2a8a< Box Z280,]ictoria B.T. ]8j 3j8 Tanada. email:CPT[iname.comBo4l8#Socialist#Da4t@#R'1M#S1ala28TP.O. Box GH2H, Auckland, NI, Newhealand. email:wspnk[worldsocialism.org Bo4l8#Socialist#Da4t@#o=#t;1#!2it18Stat1s#P.O. Box ZZ02ZI, Boston, MA02GZZ _CA. email:wspboston[mindspring.com

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The Game

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Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.Z

Will there bereligion insocialistsociety?Opinions are divided.Religious people obviouslythink there will bereligion no matterwhat economicarrangementsexist. Socialiststend to regardreligion as themindas desperateattempt to inventunfalsifiableexplanations for adisordered andinsane reality6and they alsopoint to religionaslong history ofbeing used byruling elites tocontrol ignorantand fearfulpopulations.

History indicates that themore a society knows aboutthe world through science theless religious it becomes. InBritain today hundreds ofparishes have fewer than tenin the congregation6 manychurches have closed downIsome of them to becomepubs6 encouraginglyJ whileothers are closed through thewinter or used as derelicthang-outs for drug addicts andprostitutes @AAB1"C.;s6 Jan19J. The raging controversyover allowing homosexuality inthe Anglican church is partlyinformed by the sheer difficultyof getting any priests at all.The average age of a priest is686 and in ten years half ofthem will be dead. In Francethere are so few ordinationsthat priests are being importedfrom Senegal and Burkina

Faso to mind parishes with 40churches but congregations offive. These African priestsblame western security andcomfort IdJ6 since back homethey can get 5000 to a Sundaysermon IAAB"Dadio"E6 Jan 6J.

The question is alsoopen from a scientificperspective. Evolutionary

biologists havetaken upE.O.Wilsonasidea thatreligion has anevolutionaryadvantage6and gonelooking for thegeneticevidence. ThegeneticistDean Hamer inaThe GodGenea evenclaims to havefound the holygene itself6VMAT2 IC.;ForG"Hi<.s6Feb 19J while

the neuropsychologist MichaelPersinger claimed to be ableto produce religious states inpeople by stimulating theirtemporal lobes with magnetsIIcono<ist6 Dec 166 04J6although later research usingdouble-blind techniques hasrefuted this claim. Evidencesupposedly citing identicaltwinsa similar levels ofspirituality are scarcelyconclusive since aspiritualitya6 ifit exists6 can not be measured.

Socialist society is likelyto be full of parties6celebrations and seasonalrituals6 because theyare funand because we all like to findmeaning in life6 but thereas noscientific evidence thatsocialists are ever likely to bemore cosmic than sun-worshippers in a beachparadise.

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The need for a radically newenergy technology is not ;ustpressing. As India, Asia andThina rapidly industrialise, it'sbecoming a crunch issue. IfThina were to burn coal at thecurrent _.C. level of two tonsper person, the country woulduse 2.8 billion tons per year--more than current worldproduction of 2.5 billion tons.

And if the Thinese use oilat the same rate as Americansnow do, by 203G Thina wouldneed HH million barrels of oil aday. The world currentlyproduces IH million barrels perday and may never producemuch more than that KYahooNews, March HL

Nuclear fission is firmlyback on the agenda, withLabour and Tory hedging on thesub;ect and only the unelectableLib-Dems against. But thewaste problem is unsolved andwaste free nuclear KhotL fusionis still decades and hundreds ofbillions of dollars away. If onlythere was another way.

For scientists, itwas like the momentCir Perceval murmursthe fateful words inging Arthur's ear:NCire, I have seen it.The Grail. I had it inmy very hands.NWhen the world's firstsuccessful cold fusionexperiment wasannounced in GH8H thescientificestablishment droppedits collectiveclipboard, rubbed itshorn-rimmed glassesand gasped. It couldn't

be. Told fusion, at lastl Indeedit couldn't, and alas, it wasn't.Like Cir Perceval, the team atOak Vidge in Tennessee foundit and lost it again. Nobodycould reproduce the experiment.

Told fusion - the ability toconvert matter into energy thesame way the sun does it, butwithout the temperatures - is sofantastic an idea that everybodywants it to be true. A singlematch will light a cigarette, butthe mass of that match, ifconverted according toeinstein's equation 'energy mMass times the speed of light',would light London for months.Forget Nobel prikes, thescientist who delivers success atthis will be famous forever forabolishing the world's energyproblems - forever.

The idea of fusing heavyhydrogen nuclei at temperaturesless than G0 million degreesgelvin goes against everyscientific principle. Told fusionwas off the agenda. And then,

incredibly, with anew techniquecalledsonoluminescence,it seemed possibleagain. By focusingsound waves intobubbles inacetone,experimenters,again at OakVidge, foundbubbles formingwith fantasticlevels of heat, upto G0,000 gelvin.The process hasbeen called the'star in a ;ar'.

But was itfusionn BBTHorizon decidedto recreate theexperiment intobubble fusion KFebGIL and got anegative result.Improved timingsshowed nogeneration ofneutrons, one suresign of fusion.Another problemwas that G0,000 g

is orders of magnitude too lowfor fusion. But the controversyrages on. The sun's surface isonly I,000g because all thereal heat is indoors, andnew measurements suggestit may be the same withbubble fusion, with newbubbles in sulphuric acidbeing the hottest everrecorded KNew Scientist,March 5L.

What's interesting isthat infinite energy wouldbe as uncomfortable tocapitalist markets as it is toscientific orthodoxy. Itcould never be allowed toget out. If bubble fusionever becomes proved, wecan absolutely rely on onething - our electricity billswon't go down. Newtechnology tends to deliverwealth upwards, to the richwho own and control it,

not downwards to the rest of us.An orgy of free energy wouldstill have to wait for socialistsociety to be realiked.

!yes on the pri-e: /usi 1aleyarkhanclaims to ha7e performed bubble fusion.<ritics say it=s >ust hot air.

What wouldsocialistsociety doaboutnuclearenergy?

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Shrinking congregations:the Pope tries to spot a<atholic.

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200. 5

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! I don’t think we should bebattering this subgect to death.hMartin"McJ'inn.ss"to"2o4nK'<*4ri.s9"on"LD!"<.<M.rs";4o<'rd.r.d"DoM.rt"McBartn.r3"M39".r9Matt.rin0"4i<"to"d.at45"AAB"DE9Marc4"N9"?5OOa<5

!It will be scrapped. I amdetermined to ensure that

the rights of those who play by therules are respected.i Mic4a.l"Ko;ard"on"t4."K'<anDi04ts"!ct9"H4."J'ardian9"Marc4"1N5

!People who have beenarrested say theyave been

brutalised - the tactics used arebeyond belief.i Pr"Da#i'lla4"Aidar9"r.0ional"dir.ctoro#"t4."!#04an"Lnd.*.nd.nt"K'<anDi04ts"Bo<<ission9"on"t4.tr.at<.nt"o#"d.tain.ss"M3"t4."QS"in!#04anistan5"J'ardian9"Marc4"1N5

!Afghanistan is beingtransformed into an

enormous US gail.i Cad.r"Cad.r39"o#"t4."K'<an"Di04tsBo<<ission5"J'ardian9"Marc4"1N5

!One might have expected alittle humility from the Bush

administration after its destructionand occupation of Iraq.i Sinds.3"J.r<an9"conT.nor"o#"Marc41Nt4Us"antiV;ar"*rot.st"in"Sondon5Lnd.*.nd.nt9"Marc4"1N5

!Iave not seen anything likethis since the Julius

Streicher Naji campaign againstJews.i MiG."2.<*son9"M.dia;is.9"on"H4.S'nUs"r.c.nt"ca<*ai0n"a0ainstHraT.ll.rs5"MMc5co5'G9"Marc4"115

!War on gipsy free-for-alli. H4."S'n9"Marc4"N

!The man who gave us thedodgy dossier is now giving

us The Big Lie.... The man israttled.hSia<"Wox9"coVc4air<an"o#"t4."Hor3*art39"Lnd.*.nd.nt9"Marc4"1N

Einstein and SocialismThis year sees a double anniversary for Albert Einstein: fifty years this monthsince his death, and one hundred since the publication of his first seminalpapers on quantum theory and relativity. No doubt there will be fulsome, andwell-deserved, tributes to one of the great names of twentieth-centuryscience. But it is likely that there will be little if any reference to Einstein'spolitical views, especially his opposition to capitalism, including hisacceptance of the labour theory of value.

In 19496 Einstein published anarticle aWhy Socialism^a in the first issueof the American left-wing gournalMont4l3"D.Ti.;. It is available on theweb at various places6 e.g.http:YY;;;5<ont4l3r.Ti.;5or0YZN?.inst54t<5 In it he argued that class society isan instance of athe predatory phasea ofhuman development Iin ThorsteinVeblenas phraseJ. Yet humans dependon society to provide food6 clothing6 ahome and so on. We have a fixed andunalterable biological constitution6 butduring our lives we acquire a aculturalconstitutiona which is subgect to change.Anthropological research shows thatpeopleas social behaviour differs greatly6so our biological make-up does notdetermine the way we live.

But small groups of humanscannot be self-sufficient: amankindconstitutes even now a planetarycommunity of production andconsumption.a This dependence onsociety6 however6 is seen as a threat toour existence rather than as a positiveasset. This is largely due to atheeconomic anarchy of capitalist societya.All those who do not share in theownership of the means of production6Einstein calls workers. Workersa wagesare determined not by the value of whatthey produce but by their minimum

needs. As private capital becomes moreand more concentrated6 it achieves apower that even democratic politicscannot check.

Under capitalism6 he continues6production is for profit6 not use.Unemployment exists almost always6and workers are in fear of losing theirgobs. Unlimited competition results in anenormous waste of labour. The worstevil of capitalism6 he says6 is theacrippling of individualsa6 as educationinculcates competitive notions.

Having given a pretty decentsketch of how capitalism works and ofwhatas wrong with it6 Einstein goes on toadvocate a planned economy whichguarantees a livelihood to everyone andadgusts production to the needs of thecommunity. But a planned economy6 herecognises6 is not socialism6 as it mayinvolve athe complete enslavement ofthe individuala Iso perhaps he hadRussian-style state capitalism inmind^J. And after a few misguidedremarks about so-called problems ofsocialism Ihow to limit the power of thebureaucracy^ etcJ6 Einstein closes hiscontribution. Itas a shame that he is soinconclusive6 but his article is still wellworth reading6 even if you canat getthrough it at the speed of light.PB

6 Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.

!Although the word socialism isitself more or less modern, itsmeaning can be said to go backto early religious sects of the

ancient world and was taken up by religiousdissidents in mediaeval times. Wordsattributed to John Ball during the Peasants'Vevolt of G38G capture its meaning verywell: NMy friends, things cannot go well inengland, nor ever, until everything shall beheld in common, when there shall be neithervassal nor lord and all distinctions levelled,when lords shall be no more masters thanourselves.N

But it was not until the GHth Tenturythat the concept of socialism KorcommunismL was developed by utopiansocialists and then more systematically byMarx and engels. Cince the early GHthTentury socialism has meant an alternative,classless society which can be set out underthree main headings as follows:-

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These features of socialist societywould be dependent on each other andcould only operate together as basic parts ofan integrated social system. Incombination, these define a way oforganising society that in every importantaspect of production, distribution, decisionmaking and social administration, is clearlydistinguished from the operation ofcapitalist society.

G. Tommon ownership means that theentire structure of production and all naturalresources be held in common by all people.This means that every person will stand inequal relationship with every other personwith respect to the means of producing thethings we need to live, that is, mines,industrial plants, manufacturing units, allland and farms, and all means of transportand distribution. This also means thecommon ownership of all natural resources.

Perhaps Ncommon ownershipN is partly amisnomer because what is meant is thatmeans of production and resources wouldnot be owned by anyone. In place of theproperty relationships of owners and non-owners, means of production will simply beavailable to the whole community to beused and developed solely for the needs ofall people.

2. Democratic control means thatsocial policy would be decided bycommunities. In place of rule bygovernments, public decisions would bemade by people themselves. One greatadvantage of democratic practice insocialism would be not only theorganisation of decision making but also thefreedom to carry out those decisions. Thisfreedom of action would arise from directcontrol of community affairs following theenactment of common ownership andremoval of the economic constraints of thecapitalist system. Without powers of actiondecision-making is meaningless.

3. Production solely for use means;ust what it says. People in socialismwould be free to co-operate voluntarily witheach other in producing goods directly forthe needs of the community. This would beuseful labour co-operating to produce usefulgoods solely for consumption. Productionsolely for use would replace production forsale at a profit. Things produced for saleunder the capitalist system are of courseintended to supply a need of one kind oranother but as commodities they areproduced primarily with a view to moneygain and the increase of money capital. As ageneral rule the market system is a systemof 'no profit no production'. In socialism thisprofit motive would be entirely removed.

In a moneyless socialist society the factorsof production would operate only in a usefulform and not as economic categories with aprice. Labour would not be wage labourserving the interests of an employer butwould be free labour. People at workwould be creating only useful things and noteconomic values from which profit isderived.

There should be no doubt that thesebasic features that define socialism clearlydistinguished it from the capitalist system.Tommon ownership of means of productionwould be in direct opposition to private,corporate or state ownershipo democraticcontrol would be fundamentally differentfrom rule by governmentso production forneeds would be in direct opposition toproduction for sale at a profit. Thesecontrasting features of the two systemscannot be operated togethero they aremutually exclusive. The mistaken idea thatthey can be operated together has been ama;or cause of political confusion aboutwhat socialism means.

Production solely for needsWhat is meant by needs should not be

understood as mere personal consumption.It should not suggest a rampant consumeristculture. Production for needs would includea wide range of considerations such as theneed to protect and conserve theenvironment. In defining socialism weshould emphasise that it will provide forone vital need in a way that is impossibleunder the capitalist system. This is theneed of peoples throughout the world tobring the organisation of their communityaffairs under their own democratic controland to develop them in the interests of thewhole community.

It was with the emergence of thecapitalist system that society lost its directcontrol of its productive resources. Inprevious societies, accepting that they wereruled by privileged classes in their owninterests, it was often the case thatproduction was at near maximum capacitygiven the technology and resources

What socialism means

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Be7elling distinctions: the peasants= re7olt !ngels and CarD Inherently unpredictable: the market

*To live in aclassless societywould be in theinterests of all itsmembersA

I

available and this determined what could bedistributed. In times of good harvests thewhole community could benefit in someshape or form. But with the development ofthe capitalist system this was eroded aswhat is produced depends crucially on whatcan be sold. This means that distributionthrough sale in the markets determinesproduction and this is always less than whatcould be produced.

Market capacity is inherentlyunpredictable. If toomany goods areproduced for a marketand they remainunsold, a crisis andrecession may occurwith reducedproduction, increasedunemployment,bankruptcies, and largescale writing-off ofcapital values. Despitethe many attempts thathave been made, notheory of economicmanagement has ever been able to predictor control the anarchic conditions of themarket system. This is rule by marketforces which serve minority interests andwhich generate the insecurities, crises andconflicts that shape the way we live. Thefact that we have great powers ofproduction that cannot be organised andfully used for the benefit of all people hasdevastating consequences and is at the rootof most social problems.

In this way, the capitalist systemplaces the production of goods and services,

on which the quality ofall our lives depends,outside the direct controlof society. Tontrary tothis, a socialist systemwould bring the entireorganisation ofproduction anddistribution underdemocratic socialcontrol.

Social classA further basic

distinction between thetwo systems is thatwhereas the capitalistsystem is inherentlyclass ridden, insocialism, socialrelationships of commonownership and equalitywill end class divisions.Much discussion of classcentres on varioussociological differencesbetween groups whichmay be useful for somepurposes. However,sociological differencescan tell us little whenseeking to explain howproduction is organised

Come evidencemay suggest,superficially, that we livein a society of greaterequality. For example,we can accept that not solong ago NtoffsN werepeople who played golf

and went on motoring holidays, touring theTontinent. Now, many people from allwalks of life do these things. This showsthat these pursuits have become relativelycheaper and that some working people arenow able to en;oy them, but this in no wayalters the economic relationships ofproduction. It does not alter the economic,class relationship between capital andlabour which dominates the way we live. Atthe point of production, the workers andtheir employers who may be sharing a golfcourse in their leisure time remain in a

relationship ofconflicting economicinterests which,whilst it continues,must alwayscondemn our societyto the class divisionsof strife and to themany uglycomparisons that wesee of poverty amidstluxury. Tlass is asocial relationshipthat invades and hasa corrupting

influence on every part of our lives.An economic definition of class based

on the categories of capital and labour in asystem of commodity production is basic toour explanation of how we produce anddistribute wealth and the economic motivesthat are involved. Cocial class defined aseconomic relationships is a key to how theoperation of the market puts profit beforeneeds and places constraints on all ouractivities. Our lives and the quality of oursociety depend upon our relationships ofproduction and on the services we can

provide. An analysis using economiciclasscategories tells us who gets what from thepool of wealth that is made available andhow a privileged class has accumulatedgreat wealth and propertyo it thereforeexplains the great social differences that wesee about us.

In addition, we find that increasingly,giant global corporations own and controlthe world production of goods and servicestogether with the natural resources of theplanet. The sole ob;ect is to amass greaterconcentrations of capital and to increasetheir economic and political powers.

We live in a society of deep classdivisions with a conflict of economicinterests between those who work theproductive system and those who own it.This economic conflict can only bereconciled by the relationships of equalityand cooperation that would integrate thecommunity in socialism.

Whilst it is right to feel outrage at thegreat class divisions that exist socialists donot come to this question in a negative spiritof class hostility. The aim is to end it. Tlassconflict has gone on for too longo there hasbeen too much strife and we have to healthe wounds of history through entirelydemocratic means.

Tlass society is both morally andmaterially indefensible. It need not linger onand on as part of an outdated system. Anethical society would be one in which allpeople would live their lives, free from thedisadvantages of under privilege and classin;ustice. To live in a classless societywould be in the interests of all its members.Freedom for every person to develop theirskills and talents on equal terms couldbenefit everyone. equality has the potentialto enrich all our lives and would be a basisfor a true community of shared interests.

Socialism - a human-centred wayof life

Having set out what socialism means,and having set out features that distinguishit clearly from capitalism, these can besummarised as one all important difference.Whereas the capitalist system works forsectional economic ends that are alien to theinterests of the whole community, a socialistsystem would be wholly dedicated to theinterests of all people. There would also bea difference of complexity and simplicity.Whereas, working within the complexeconomic limitations of the market system,our endeavours are frustrated and oftenblocked by the barriers of costs, in asocialist society, communities would be freeto set up their goals and then organise theirresources of labour, materials andtechnology to achieve them in astraightforward way. People in socialismwould need only to work with the materialfactors of production and not any economicfactors.

Given the control of human affairs thata socialist system would bring, people insocialism would be able to take charge oftheir destiny. What is undeniable is that weare a species with great talents. In science,technology, in art, crafts and design we cancall upon a wide range of great skills. Thepoint now is to release these for the benefitof humanity."

DG*.*%#/&B%*'(*

*What is undeniableis that we are aspecies with greattalents... The pointnow is to releasethese for the benefitof humanityA

<risis of capitalism: the depression

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.

8 Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.

!The basis of any society is theway its members areorganised for the productionand distribution of wealth.

Where a section of society controls theuse of the means of production6 thenthere is a class society. Another way ofputting this is that the members of thissection or class own the means ofproduction6 since to be in a position tocontrol the use of something isefectively to own it6 whether or not thisis accompanied by some legal titledeed.

It follows that a classless society isone in which the use of the means ofproduction is controlled by all membersof society on an equal basis6 and notgust by a section of them to theexclusion of the rest. James Burnhamput this rather well in a passage in hisbook H4."Mana0.rial"D.Tol'tion/

iFor a society to be aclasslessa

would mean that within society therewould be no group Iwith the exception6perhaps6 of temporary delegate bodies6freely elected by the community andsubgect always to recallJ which wouldexercise6 as a group6 any specialcontrol over access to the instrumentsof productionl and no group receiving6as a group6 preferential treatment indistributioni

In a classless society everymember is in a position to take part6 onequal terms with every other member6 indeciding how the means of productionshould be used. Every member ofsociety is socially equal6 standing inexactly the same relationship to themeans of production as every othermember. Similarly6 every member ofsociety has access to the fruits ofproduction on an equal footing.

Once the use of the means ofproduction is under the democratic

control of allmembers ofsociety6 classownershiphas beenabolished.The meansof productioncan still besaid tobelong tothose whocontrol andbenefit fromtheir use6 inthis case tothe wholepopulationorganised ona democraticbasis6 and soto beicommonlyownedi bythem.Common

ownership has been defined as:iA state of affairs in which no

person is excluded from the possibilityof controlling6 using and managing themeans of production6 distribution andconsumption. Each member of societycan acquire the capacity6 that is to say6has the opportunity to realise a varietyof goals6 for example6 to consume whatthey want6 to use means of productionfor the purposes of socially necessaryor unnecessary work6 to administerproduction and distribution6 to plan toallocate resources6 and to makedecisions about short term and longterm collective goals. Commonownership6 then6 refers to everyindividualas potential ability to benefitfrom the wealth of society and toparticipate in its runningi IJean-ClaudeBragard6 !n"LnT.sti0ation"o#"MarxUsBonc.*t"o#"Bo<<'nis<9 hisemphasisJ.

Even so6 to use the wordiownershipi can be misleading in thatthis does not fully bring out the fact thatthe transfer to all members of societyof the power to control the productionof wealth makes the very concept ofproperty redundant. With commonownership no one is excluded from thepossibility of controlling or benefitingfrom the use of the means ofproduction6 so that with reference to

them the concept of property in thesense of exclusive possession ismeaningless: no one is excluded6 thereare no non-owners.

We could invent some new termsuch as ino-ownershipi and talk aboutthe classless alternative society tocapitalism being a ino-ownershipisociety6 but the same idea can beexpressed without having to do this ifcommon ownership is understood asbeing a social relationship and not aform of property ownership. This socialrelationship-equality between humanbeings with regard to the control of theuse of the means of production-canequally accurately be described by theterms iclassless societyi andidemocratic controli as by icommonownershipi since these three terms areonly different ways of describing it fromdifferent angles. The use of the termicommon ownershipi to refer to thebasic social relationship of thealternative society to capitalism is not tobe taken to imply therefore thatcommon ownership of the means ofproduction could exist withoutdemocratic control. Common ownershipmeans democratic control means aclassless society.

When we refer to the societybased on common ownership6 generallywe use the term isocialismi6 though wehave no obgection to others usingicommunismi6 since for us these termsmean exactly the same and areinterchangeable. Not state ownership

Common ownership is not to beconfused with state ownership6 since anorgan of coercion6 or state6 has noplace in socialism. A class society is asociety with a state because sectionalcontrol over the means of productionand the exclusion of the rest of thepopulation cannot be asser ted withoutcoercion6 and so without a special

John Major didn6t believe in :class society6,Margaret Thatcher didn6t even believe in:society6, but private ownership is the definingfactor of both. Meanwhile the concept ofcommon ownership has only resulted in feeblenationalisation programmes. So, the question is:

What iscommonownership^

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Socialist Standard '(r)* 200. H

organ toexercise thiscoercion. Onthe otherhand6 aclasslesssociety is astateless society because such anorgan of coercion becomesunnecessary as soon as all members ofsociety stand in the same relationshipwith regard to the control of the use ofthe means of production. The existenceof a state as an instrument of classpolitical control and coercion is quiteincompatible with the existence of thesocial relationship of commonownership. State ownership is a form ofexclusive property ownership whichimplies a social relationship which istotally different from socialism.

Common ownership is a socialrelationship of equality and democracywhich makes the concept of propertyredundant because there are no longerany excluded non-owners. Stateownership6 on the other hand6presupposes the existence of agovernment machine6 a legal system6armed forces and the other features ofan institutionalised organ of coercion.State-owned means of productionbelong to an institution which confrontsthe members of society6 coerces themand dominates them6 both as individualsand as a collectivity. Under stateownership the answer to the questioniwho owns the means of production^i isnot ieverybodyi or inobodyi as withcommon ownershipl it is ithe statei. In

other words6 when a state ownsthe means of production6 themembers of society remain non-owners6 excluded from control.Both legally and socially6 themeans of production belong not tothem6 but to the state6 whichstands as an independent powerbetween them and the means ofproduction.

The state is not anabstraction floating above societyand its membersl it is a socialinstitution6 and6 as such6 a group ofhuman beings6 a section of society6organised in a particular way. Thisis why6 strictly speaking6 we shouldhave written above that the stateconfronts most members of societyand excludes most of them fromcontrol of the means of production.For wherever there is a state6there is always a group of humanbeings who stand in a differentrelationship to it from mostmembers of society: not as the

dominated6 nor as the excluded6 but asthe dominators and the excluders.Under state ownership6 this groupcontrols the use of the means ofproduction to the exclusion of the othermembers of society. In this sense6 itowns the means of production6 whetheror not this is formally and legallyrecognised.

Another reason why stateownership and socialism areincompatible is that the state is anational institution which exercisespolitical control over a limitedgeographical area. Since capitalism is aworld system6 the complete stateownership of the means of productionwithin a given political area cannotrepresent the abolition of capitalism6even within that area. What it doesmean is the establishment of some formof state capitalism whose internal modeof operation is conditioned by the factthat it has to compete in a world marketcontext against other capitals.

Since today capitalism isworldwide6 the society which replacescapitalism can only be worldwide. Theonly socialism possible today is worldsocialism. No more than capitalism cansocialism exist in one country. So thecommon ownership of socialism is the

common ownership ofthe world6 of its naturaland industrialresources6 by thewhole of humanity.Socialism can only bea universal society inwhich all that is in andon the Earth hasbecome the commonheritage of allhumankind6 and inwhich the division ofthe world into stateshas given way to aworld without frontierswith a democraticworld administration aswell as local andregional democracy."&0&F#$!G("

<ommon Fwnership H No !Dclusion Jones

Burnham: aFor asociety to be'classless' wouldmean that withinsociety therewould be no

group which wouldhave any special

control overaccess to theinstrumentsof

production; and nogroup receivingpreferential treatmentin distributiona

The otherAdam SmithGordon Brown grew up inthe Ccottish seaside townof girkcaldy where hisfather was a minister inone of the local kirks.

Adam Cmith was born there in GI23,though his father was a customs official. InFebruary, at Brown's invitation, AlanGreenspan, chairman of the _C FederalVeserve Board, visited girkcaldy to delivera lecture on Adam Cmith.

Cmith's Wealth of Nations was, saidGreenspan, None of the great achievementsin human intellectual historyN. Cmith'sview that capitalists should be allowed bygovernments to pursue profits unhinderedsince, Nled by an invisible handN, thisresulted in the Npublic goodN beingpromoted had, he argued, became Nthe soleremaining effective paradigm for economicorganisationN KThe Times, I FebruaryL.

That's the side of Cmith that ispromoted by free-marketeers such as theAdam Cmith Institute. But that's only oneside of his theories. Do the free-marketeers- does Greenspan - know that the Wealth ofNations opens with a declaration thatuseful things are produced by labour: NTheannual labour of every nation is the fundwhich originally supplies it with all thenecessaries and conveniences of life whichit annually consumesNn Or that Cmith wenton to expound a labour theory of value:NLabour is the real measure of theexchangeable value of all commoditiesNKBook I, chapter ]Ln

Cmith even went so far as to identifyprofits as deriving from the value added byworkers in the process of production:

NAs soon as stock has accumulated inthe hands of particular persons, some ofthem will naturally employ it in setting towork industrious people, whom they willsupply with materials and subsistence, inorder to make a profit by the sale of theirwork, or by what their labour adds to thevalue of the materials . . . The value whichthe workmen add to the materials . . .resolves itself . . . into two parts, of whichone pays their wages, the other the profitsof their employer upon the whole stock ofmaterials and wages which he advancedNKBook I, chapter ]IL.

Cmith's labour theory of value wasrefined by David Vicardo and used byearly critics of capitalism to argue that thecapitalists were exploiters who robbed theworkers of a part of the product of theirlabour. Marx took over and furtherdeveloped this labour theory of value asthe basis for his analysis of capitalismwhich saw the capitalists' pursuit of profitas seeking to extract a maximum of unpaidlabour from the working class.

The Npublic goodN which Cmithargued was promoted by letting capitalistspursue profits was an increase in the totalamount of wealth in existence. Marx didn'tdeny this, but argued that under capitalismthis increase was inevitably unevenlydivided: more went to capitalists asaccumulated capital than to the actualwealth-producers as increased wages KifthatL. What Cmith's Ninvisible handN did, ifyou like, was to build-up in this way thematerial basis for a socialist society ofcommon ownership and democraticcontrol. Which is the Nsole effectiveparadigmN for ensuring that the productiveforces built up under capitalism can beused for the benefit of all.

Cooking the Books (O)

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.G0

!What distinguishes the Cocialist Party from the leftists isthat when we talk of common ownership we do not ;ustinclude the means of production, but also, specifically,call for the common and democratic control of the means

of distribution. equal access to the common store withoutrequirement of exchange or payment is one of the things weconsider to be the hallmark of genuine socialism. After all, youcannot buy something you already own.

To people living in a society where everything has a price,where access to any aspect of our society from necessities to leisureand culture comes with a price tag, such a system seems alien, orpossibly even naively utopian. Tlever apologists of gross inequalityand privilege even try to claim that it iscategorically impossible to organise provision ofany good or service without the vital signals ofmonetary exchange or market haggling.

Cocialists are loath to draw up blue-prints ofthe future. It would be undemocratic for a handfulof us now without access to the exact details ofavailable resources and conditions to try anddraw up rigid plans. We also recognise thatthere may not be one single way of doingthings, and precise details and ways of doingthings might vary from one part of the worldto another, even between neighbouringcommunities. Of course, we can reachlogical conclusions based on basicpremises - that socialism will benecessarily democratic, for example - andcan outline broad principles or optionsthat could be applied. That is, we do nothave to draw up a plan for socialism, butbroadly demonstrate that it is possible.

We draw upon scientific methods, thatis, we do not come up with a dream andtry and fix it to reality, but, rather, welook to the real world to see how it is,and how it could be. Just as the market- the central feature of capitalism - pre-dated the explosion of that societyacross the globe, so too are principlesand practices that socialism could use latent in our world today.That is, provision of services based on free access at the point ofuse are more common in the world today than the ideologues ofcapitalism would have us believe.

Tonsider shopping in socialism. A person would walk intothe store, browse the shelves, select what they want, and thenarrange to take it away. They would take as much as they think

they would need, sure in the knowledge that more will be readilyavailable should they need more not to try and take and hoardeverything. If what they want is not available, staff and procedureswould be on hand to obtain the goods from another source. Beforethey go, they could let the store crew know what they've taken, sothat both the staff and other consumers would know what was andwas not available from the inventory.

Put like that, it sounds convoluted, but it is what happenseveryday in local public libraries throughout Britain. _nder the

Libraries, Archives and Museums Act of GH63, local authoritiesmust provide books and magakines free of charge, and obtainKby purchase if necessary, but usually from other librariesLanything they do not have immediately to hand. Turrently,over 60 percent of library patrons get what they want from;ust cold calling into their local branch.

Big businesses provide a similar service. Blockbustersvideo stores provide rental goods for a charge per loan.Libraries too provide videos, and the difference betweentheir operating parameters is clear. Big video storesoverwhelmingly stock the latest hits in huge bundles, witholder or niche films harder to find, while local librarieshave a wider range of stock. Market provision leads to

conformity more than conscious service. Libraries, however,are compelled by competition law not to undercut videostores Kwhich they could doL. That is, they are preventedfrom out-performing commercial rivals by legal fiat.

Libraries exhibit a number of non-monetarytechniques for allocating resources, which they mix tovarious degrees, and each of which would be suitable foruse in socialism. Library staff use published data to

provide items to fulfil the publicly stated service level agreement interms of the stock that users can assume they will find in the library.Once the stock is there, users can take it from the shelves on a first-come first served basis. If it is already taken, they can be put into aqueue to receive it next, or they can order one to be brought in fromanother institution. If an item is highly popular, its terms ofavailability may be restricted to enable more people to have access

Corganiswithout

How would commonownership and democraticcontrol work in practice?Without a price mechanismsome critics do notunderstand how signals canpass from the user to theproducer or how decisionsabout production can bemade. Yet such non-marketsystems already exist evenwithin capitalism and a studyof these can give usefulinsights into the practicaloperation of a socialistproduction and distributionsystem.

Whaddya mean, you won’t haggleover economic calculation? I’mtelling you it’s a categoricalimpossibility mate. Now are youtelling me this isn’t worth tenshekels?

to it, and people always have the option of trying a different sourceof information. In some libraries, if some users have particularneeds, they may have their borrowing limit increased to be able totake more items out.

That is, a mix of queuing, lottery and rationing are used invarious mixtures to maximise the use of resources. Alongside this,

the library catalogue - the inventory ofavailable stock which includes its currentlocation and status - can be used to co-ordinate between both library users andstaff so that everyone can control theiruse of the library and its goods. Thisinformation, unlike market informationwhich travels at the speed of goods tomarket, travels at the speed of light.Today, it is possible to discover, via theinternet, that the Communist Manifesto isavailable in the Mary L. Took PublicLibrary in Waynesville Ohio, shelved inthe social sciences section. If that bookwere not available in a local library, itwould be possible to ask them, possiblyultimately, to obtain it from this source.

even the ob;ections that theselibraries exist within capitalism doesn't bear much scrutiny.Although they must buy their books, it is possible to calculatehow much would need to be spent to maintain the agreed stocklevels, and set the budget accordingly. Publishers often tailortheir print runs to their expectations of the number of librariesthat will stock a title Kand will often cancel titles if too fewinstitutions do not order it via pre-publication dataL. The moneylargely follows the quality management.

Come parts of library management now might not beneeded. Turrently, a lot of personal detail is held by libraries inorder to help protect their stock and monitor its usage. Togeneralise this might require some sort of identity registration,which some people may or may not find ob;ectionableo but eventhen, an anonymous system like loyalty cards wherein the bearerof the card can simply record information whenever they removestock could be used to see what combinations of goods peoplegenerally withdraw in so as to help ordering and stocking thestores. Again, this is a detail that can be left to the people whowill live in socialism, but it is clear that we do not need anauthoritarian state dictating each person's precise ration as somecommissars of capitalism might pretend.

This is ;ust one, almost random example of the ways inwhich workers, with all their skills and experience of co-operating to run capitalism in the interests of the capitalists,could begin to run society in their own interest. We do not needto build the new society in the womb of the old, that is herealready. What we need is to decide that we have the way to

actively declare an end to unnecessary want, and build a free co-operative commonwealth so that Npoverty may give place tocomfort, privilege to equality and slavery to freedom.N"DG"#SF**.

Socialist Standard /'(r)* 200.012342r2005

GG

Could wese thingsmoney^

Blockbusterprofits

!The cinema andvideo industries maketwo things: filmsand, more

importantly, money. Ched-loadsof it and over a long period. Inthe GH20s The Birth of a Nationcost _nited Artists pGG0,000 toproduceo it eventually grossedsixty million Kthanks due to L.Menand in the I February issueof the New Yorker for that andsome other facts in this articleL.More recently, Titanic took inpG.85 billion at the box office -many times what it cost. Ofcourse some films don't makemoney and some even lose it.But overall Hollywood,Bollywood and lesser-knownqwoods\ are oligarchiesdesigned for the enrichment ofthe oligarchs.

It isn't ;ust the moviebusiness that seeks and makes a

profit from movies. The key tothe system is marketing. A lotof money is spent on creatingNbukkN - a diffused sense in thepublic that a particular movie ison the way. Previews are partof NbukkN, as is NcoverageN offorthcoming movies in mediaoutlets that are often owned bythe same conglomerate thatowns the studio. The makers ofJurassic Park sold a hundredlicences for a thousand dinosaurproducts.

The content of the filmsand videos reflects conditions inthe world of which they arepart. Coon after HiGGHollywood temporarilyabandoned the hyperviolentspectacles that dominatedcinema in the late GHH0s. Thepublic was thought to be in needof escape from such horrors.However, by 2003 it was areturn to business as usual.Daredevil, Cold Mountain,Gods and Generals and TheCore offered spectacles of

contemporary, futuristic orhistorical destruction andcarnage.

A recent British study ofblockbuster audiences Kby M.Jancovich, and L. Faire, 'Thebest place to see a film', inMovie BlockbustersL indicatesthat at least some audiences arenot happy with the conditions inwhich they are payingcustomers. Apparently a fairlycommon complaint is that thecinema is an emotionally coldplace. The audience is a massbut not a community. There'sno place to interact with oneanother or talk aboutthe film afterwards.

What of thefuture of the cinemaand the video insocialismn To someextent I go alongwith the safe butinsipid view thatNthe people at thetime will decideN.But I'd like to be a

bit braver Kor more foolhardynLthan that. I endorse Menand'sre;ection of films that includeany combination of wikards,slinky women of few words,men who can expertly driveanything or leap safely from thetop of anything, characters fromcomic books, explosions, acomputer whikk with attitude, oran incarnation of pure evil. Ihope there will be more filmslike Mike Leigh's ]era Drake, amoving and beautiful depictionof British working-class life inthe GH50s."S.&'#D&%"*%

*(Non-marketdistribution)soundsconvoluted,but it is whathappenseveryday inlocal publiclibrariesthroughoutBritain.A

Kera Lrake: No bombsM bangs orbusted blocksM >ust good filmHmaking.

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200..

!The National Health Cervice istrumpeted as the finestachievement of the LabourParty throughout its entire

history. For years Labour supporterswhen tackled on the non-socialist andpro-capitalist nature of the Labour Partywould reply with the one riposte, 'Ah, butwhat about the NHCn' Vegarded bymany Labour supporters as a socialistmeasure and holding out a promise ofsolving one of the most distressingproblems of being a worker, being lookedafter when you were ill, it is hardlysurprising that it was seen as a huge stepforward in working class emancipation.One reform out of the multitude ofreforms put into practice by a reformistparty has survived - has it workedn

What did the NHC claim to do at itsinceptionn Its chief architect AneurinBevan was very sure of his aims: it wasto be an institution which would takecare of all the medical needs of theworking class for evermore and, holdyour breath, without charge. Howeverexpensive the treatment might be medicalattention could be obtained for all. Forfreel But it left a question hanging in theair, why was it only the working classwho needed this ambitious solutionnThere was no problem for the capitalistclass, who didn't need a health service.They could obtain all that was availablefrom existing medical services by payingfor it.

However, in the context of the timeand given the pro capitalist inclinationsof the Labour Party it was a bold, evenvisionary solution to the poor state ofhealth of the mass of the working classafter a long period of economicdepression followed by six years of war.A situation, that had already been aserious cause of concern for governmentbefore the war. KThough in some respectsthe wartime diet plus the fact thatunemployment had virtually ended forthe duration had improved healthstandardsL. The NHC plan struck animmediate chord with the mass of theworking class who saw in it a promise

for massive changes for the better in thepost-war period. Tarried away by the

prospect of free teeth andglasses for all, the NHChelped to allay the grimyears of rationing andshortages and helped to

secure a second term for theLabour Government.

Bevan is usually given sole creditfor the NHC, but thereal picture is slightlydifferent. Like itscompanion, theBeveridge scheme forsocial security, it wasimplemented by theLabour Party but had the support of otherparties, who generally recognised thatsome form of welfare was badly needed.Co the NHC did not spring from nothing,as with the big bang theory of the_niverse.

There had been health provision forthe working class before the war that wasfree of charge, but it had been veryhaphakard, with some areas over suppliedand others very badly neglected. Also itrelied upon charity. It was not there byright and most people saw a bigdifference. Bevan promoted a schemethat would abolish the stigma andunpredictability of charity and wascomprehensive and open to all. And he

had to fight for it, even againstopposition within his own party, andfrom the British Medical Association,who saw a threat to their own powerwithin a government run scheme. Butonce the scheme had been publicisedthere was no going back.

aet those were minor obstaclescompared to a force that neither Bevannor the Labour Party has ever properlyunderstood, the forces of capitalisteconomics.

Money problemsThe NHC had to be paid for, and the

money had to come from the capitalistclass. ever since its inception the historyof the NHC has been a story of trying toprovide adequate funding. everygovernment has looked for ways to findthe money and cut the costs, and everygovernment has failed. The original set-up has been modified, tinkered with oraltered repeatedly, all, we are told in theinterests of efficiency. And everygovernment produces a fresh plan with afanfare of trumpets that promises to solveall problems. Bevan initiated a reformthat would prove to be one of the biggestheadaches of all time for his own party orfor any party trying to run capitalism,including Margaret Thatcher, whothought she had the magic formula tosolve all problems, privatisation, but

The Rise and Fall of theNHSBan"ca*italis<".T.r"r'nt4."CKS".##.ctiT.l39"or"isSaMo'r\s"1NE?"#la0s4i*doo<.d"al;a3s"tonaTi0at."dan0.ro's;at.rs]"BFD"inT.sti0at.s5

G2

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200. G3

ended up by spending as much as anyone. In truth there are many factors

within capitalism which augur badly forthe NHC. Although the trend for well-established capitalist countries is to move

from a productioneconomy to a serviceeconomy, this can haveproblems.Manufactured goods,once they are into fullmass productiongenerally go down inprice, because theyembody less labour-power. This is why theabsolute standard ofliving of sections of theworking class hasimproved.

But not allwealth can be mass-produced. Many ;obsthat require intensivelabour-power cannot bemade more productiveby technology. Butwages paid have tocome into line withthose of productionworkers where fewerworkers still produce asmuch or more. This iswhy it is so expensiveto have such things aselectrical or buildingwork done. Nursingcomes into thiscategory: you can'treplace a nurse by amachine Kalthough theydo their bestL. Co, ifthere are going to beenough nurses to run a

health service the total cost of nursingcare has to go up. In addition to which,nurses have to be trained to manage theincreasing technical demands of modernhealth care.

The government try to overcomethis problem by the well-used tactic ofrecruiting from countries with lowerwages, such as the West Indies, CouthAfrica and Poland. Another tried andtested solution favoured by employers isthat of up-grading, i.e. allowing sometasks to be undertaken by those notpreviouslyregarded as havingthe necessaryskillso forexample,encouragingnurses toundertake minorsurgery, thusrelieving somepressure ondoctors.

But this isminor, comparedto the increasingcosts of drugtreatment, whichhave risen to astronomical proportionssince the NHC was founded. When Bevandreamed up his panacea for the workingclass of Britain, which was going to be

the envy of the world, the practice ofmedicine was not as advanced as it istoday. Drug treatment, as we know ittoday, apart from the heavy reliance onaspirin and the wartime use of penicillin,was unknown. Modern medical sciencewas more or less born during the CecondWorld War and it has made giant stridessince, especially with regard to costs.Developing a modern medical drug cancost millions of pounds. And, as everyreader of any newspaper must havenoticed, new, 'wonder drugs' are launchedwith astonishing frequency, generallyleading newspaper articles somewhereasking indignantly, NWhy cannot this lifesaving drug be made available to anyonewho needs itnN The pressures on the NHCare relentless, all of them making forincreasing costs.

Population trends are swelling thenumbers of old in relation to the young,and as we all know older people tend tohave more illnesses, and their illnessesare more likely to take the form ofexpensive operations such as hipreplacements. All these items are creatingbig problems for the NHC. and resultingin intensive press coverage, most of ithighly critical, especially when it comesto waiting lists. It must be pointed outthat this does not ;ust apply to the NHC.Other capitalist institutions, paid for outof taxation levied upon the wealthy, arebeing cut, notably the armed forces, thepolice force and the fire service. Andprivate Kmore or lessL firms, which cannotapply technology to reduce costs Kread,manpowerL, like the post office, arecutting the numbers of branches. Co,what does the future hold for the NHCand its equivalents in other capitalistcountriesn

DeclineAs the longest running institution of

its kind the NHC is probably the creakiestin europe, but there is nothing specialabout British capitalism that makes itmore likely than any other to undergodecline. Most european countries arealready showing signs of strain in fundingtheir welfare systems and what applies tothe _g must inevitably follow with them.

The conclusion must be that to fulfilthe professed aims of Bevan for a healthservice that would cover the needs of the

working class was nevermore than a pipe dream.No government willdare to upset theirmasters to the extentnecessary to maintain adecent health service.The most likelyprognosis is that it willcarry on much as nowwith an increasing biastowards privatehospitals and treatmentthat is paid for at thepoint of consumption.In fact it never lived upto its hype from the

beginningo within months charges werebeing introduced for dental and opticalservices. There is no such thing as anadequate health service within a capitalist

system of society and there never can be.It seems the current trend is to go back tosomething similar to pre NHC. and have atwo tier system where what you get willbe what you pay for. The rise in privatehospitals and health insurance is a potent

symbol of this trend. No doubt most workers will

conclude that any deficiencies in the NHCcan be put right by a change ofgovernment and that it lies within thepower of the political process to achievea viable health system. This is a fallacy.The money system we live under isinherently biased towards satisfying thedemands of a minority ruling class whoare only concerned with having a workingclass fit enough to go to work and fighttheir wars for them. Tapitalism cannever be run in the interests of thema;ority and in any case will alwaysthrow up new problems of ill health as itprogresses. The rickets and tuberculosisof the ]ictorians are being replaced bymore sophisticated illnesses such as heartfailure, stress and obesity of a moremodern age, not to mention AIDC.

In a socialist society where thecapacity for wealth production,unhampered by the colossal wasteendemic to this one, can be released tothe full, human values will predominateand energy can be concentrated on thecauses of disease and its prevention.Issues such as the need forpharmaceuticals to make billions ofpounds in profit will not exist. The NHChas managed to carry on so far as a moreor less viable service largely due to thededication and hard work of its membersbut this cannot last forever."(H%##

*The rickets andtuberculosis of theVictorians are beingreplaced by moresophisticatedillnesses such asheart failure, stressand obesityA

Peaks and troughs: a newlyHopenend wardin 1OPQ abo7e andM belowM a newlyHclosinghospital in more recent times

.;1J4o=itEotiU1Na#cas1stA8@!

In January Cony, themultinational electronicscorporation, announced it is todeclare 300 redundancies at its

two factories in south Wales - 80 from theBridgend factory, producing cathode raytubes, and 220 from the T] factory ad;acentto the MZ at Pencoed - a move that almostcertainly signals the imminent closure of anoperation that once employed 3,300working people. This latest news will be ofno surprise to those working in the twofactories where Cony has been quietlyshedding ;obs since the late GHH0s.

Production from these factories relieson 'old' tube technology and, as aspokesmanexplained, NThemove away fromTVT-based T]saccelerated lastyear with flat panelproducts nowaccounting for around half the _g marketNKGuardian, 2G JanuaryL. It is now evidentthat the managers employed in Japan tomake profits for shareholders had decidedby the late GHH0s that investment to supportflat screen televisions would go elsewhereand after 30 years have decided to call it aday in Wales. Co where did it all go wrongn

Cony's Bridgend factory, officiallyopened by Prince Tharles in GHIZ, was thefirst ma;or manufacturing venture in the _gby a Japanese multinational corporation.The main imperative of capitalism is toexpand - a fact well understood in Japanwhere by GHI2 the country had the largesttelevision industry in the world producing inexcess of 8 million sets a year and adomestic market on the verge of saturation.Japanese exports had already devastated theAmerican television industry and while _gimports of Japanese colour T]s were rising,_g manufacturers found some comfortunder a GH62 treaty that limited imports ofJapanese televisions.

Cony needed unrestricted access toeuropean television market and the _ggovernment was on the verge of ;oining theeuropean economic Tommunity KeeTL.Assembling televisions inside europe wouldcircumvent the agreement limiting importsand end the stream of accusations fromeuropean manufacturers that Japanesetelevisions were being 'dumped' on the

market at 'uneconomic' prices. Welcomed

The British government was friendlyto Japanese investment and politiciansquickly warmed to the prospect of new ;obs.This, combined with financial grants madeavailable to ease ;ob losses in traditionalcoal and steel industries, an establishedmarket and a region crying out foremployment made Wales an attractiveproposition. Bridgend was to be Cony'sassembly base to compete in the eeT, aventure viewed by Britain's partners ineurope, particularly in Holland - the homeof Philips - as a 'Tro;an Horse,' an aptdescription for a company importing H0percent of its components from Japan. InGHI6 the British government, under pressurefrom the eeT and the european televisionindustry, moved to protect 'home'producers. It agreed thatunless 50 percent by value ofcomponents had europeanorigin, sets could not claim tobe 'British-made' and wouldtherefore count towardsJapanese import quotasagreed between the twoindustries. By this time,however, Cony wasoperational and employingover 500 people andcompliance with this 'originrule' was quietly forgotten.

Other Japanesetelevision manufacturersfollowed and by GHII Britainhad 'overcapacity' in both setand component manufacture.The Vadio Industry Touncilmade representations togovernment for protectionand again policy was altered. In futureinward investment was to be encouragedprovided it either took over existingcapacity or resulted in ;oint ventures withestablished manufacturers - hence Vank-Toshiba and GeT-Hitachi. But by GHIH itwas apparent that British televisionmanufacturers were unable to compete withJapanese design and manufacturingtechnology and in October GH80, Pye atLowestoft was shut with the loss of G,G00;obs. Despite the higher wages paid toJapanese workers, Nthe direct labour cost ofa set made in the _g was almost doublethat of one made in Japan because the

Japanese set took G.H hours to make and theBritish one 6.G hours.N Kgeith Geddes, TheCetmakers, GHHGL Japanese television setsincorporated 30 percent fewer componentsby making greater use of integrated circuits,and automatic insertion accounted for 65percent of components against G5 percent inthe _g. These advantages forced a spate offactory closures and 'consolidations' aseuropean producers tried desperately tocompete.

Cony's output at Bridgend had nowincreased to a level that ;ustified investmentin a tube-manufacturing factory, builtalongside the television factory and openedin GH82. This expansion was essentialbecause Cony holds patent rights to acathode ray tube - NTrinitronN -fundamentally different from its competitorsand available only from Cony in Japan.

Local production was needed to reduceenormous importation costs. Furtherexpansion to tube manufacturing came inGH8H when the television factory wasrelocated to a site 3 miles away allowing thetube factory to double in sike. The newtelevision factory - hailed as Cony's'european Flagship' - was constructed onformer farmland in Pencoed and opened inGHH2 at a cost of r30 million. By the earlyGHH0s Cony had a ma;or share of theeuropean television market and was lockedin bitter competition with Philips. Outputpeaked at about G.I5 million televisions and

Sony 1KsM a 7iew toa killing.

<athode /ay1ubes H solast year...

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200..GZ

computer monitorswere added to theproduction line-up.The combinedturnover of bothplants wasapproximatelyr800 million.

But thenthings started to gosour. Intensecompetition frommanufacturersproducing highquality, low costtelevisions and thecollapse of a ma;ormarket in Vussiastarted to eat awayat profits. Themarket demandedcost reductions,and Cony - whichhad traded for solong on a brandname that

marketing gurus had made synonymouswith quality and price premiums - could notdeliver, at least in Wales. A further threatemerged as Cony's recently openedtelevision-factory in Barcelona, employingthe latest technology, gathered momentum.

The 'centre of gravity' of the europeanT] market was moving eastwards andfactories in Wales were no longer suitablyplaced. The company then negotiatedgenerous grants and tax concessions and,eager to exploit cheap labour, opened newfactories in Hungary and Clovakia toimprove competitiveness in the growingeast european market that had once beensupplied by the Pencoed factory. Thefactories in Wales had served their purposeand utilising 'old' technology were now tobe run-down while 'new' technology andinvestment went elsewhere. The workforcenow lived under threat that productionwould be transferred unless profitsimproved, serving to keep wages andbenefits fixed, while the trade union,effectively anaesthetised since the GHI0s,collaborated with management on pro;ectsto increase profits. Desperate to cut costs,investment in manufacturing was slashedointernal component production contractedout, permanent workers were replaced bytemporary employees and leavers notreplaced. Discipline became oppressive andworkers grew demoralised and indifferent tothe continuous demands to improveperformance. The company's reputation asan employer plummeted and officialredundancies were first declared in April2000. The bottom line

Co who is to blamen Why did thebubble burstn It would be easy to blamelocal management employed to squeekeprofits from working people or theworking people who became dispirited orperhaps even market conditions. But allthis evades the fundamental issue thatwe live in an economic system thatdemands that corporations must roamthe world in pursuit of lower costs toremain competitive to increase profitsfor shareholders. Cony, like anyother corporation with globalaspirations, cannot stop to consider how itsworking people, many employed since thebeginning in GHIZ, are to survive when thefactories in Wales close, as they must surely

do in the near future. The fact that Walesalready suffers dire poverty and comparable;obs will virtually impossible to find is ofno consequence on the balance sheet, wherethe only consideration can be the bottomline. It should not be forgotten that thesocial cost of Cony's years of successfulprofit-making in Wales was achieved at theexpense of forcing thousands fromemployment in factories across europe withall the misery and trauma this entails. Thewheel has turned full circle and it is now theturn of people employed by Cony in Walesto by abandoned, cast aside in the pursuit ofgreater profits. This is capitalism.

In capitalist society there can be noallegiance or loyalty to a workforce orcommunity. Production is motivated solelyby profit, regardless of the socialconsequences. As a recent article in theeconomist states, 'corporate socialresponsibility' - Na kinder, gentlercapitalism,N is a non-starter. Instead, welearn:

NThe goal of a well-run company maybe to make profits for its shareholders, butmerely by doing thatsthe company is doinggood works. Its employees willingly workfor the company in exchange for wageso thetransaction makes them better offN K22JanuaryL.

Now we are asked to shallow theoutrageous proposition that capitalism has abenevolent social purpose - but try telling

that to the people until recently employedby Cony or those formerly employed by thethousands of other companies that haveshed working people when higher profitsare demanded. The choice is starko theworking class either sells its labour powerin return for wages or salaries or goeswithout the essentials of life. This is notwillingness but compulsion. It is wageslavery.

Tapitalism has outlived its usefulnessand must be immediately replaced bysocialism. Tapitalism divides the world'spopulation into two classes, the ma;oritywho sell their labour power in return forwages and salaries and those who own themeans of producing wealth and live onprofits. It is class struggle where workerswill always be the losers, with theimpending closure of Cony in south Wales atestimony to opposing class interests ofworkers and owners. As ex-Cony workersgo about rebuilding their lives, they, andworking people everywhere would do wellto reflect on the fact that capitalism cannotoperate in any other way and is incapable ofbeing reformed to do so. Like millionsbefore them, capitalism has condemnedthese workers to an uncertain future,breeding the stress and anxiously that islinked to a Jobcentre interview likely to leadnowhere. "S.*Q*#.%-..

RageHend atSridgend: Tirst

Sony gi7ethM thenSony taketh awayM

then Sonyin7esteth

somewhere else.

Whatclasslesssociety?At one time6 a longtime ago now6 whenthe Labour Party stillretained some sort ofvague commitment tobeing opposed to the

workings of capitalism it used to say thatit favoured the redistribution of wealthfrom the rich to the poor. They weregoing Ithey saidJ to establish a moreequal society by taxing the rich and usingthe money to provide better publicservices for the rest of us.

Actually6 in the last century therewas a long-term trend towards a lessuneven distribution of wealth ownership.But this did not result from any deliberatepolicy on the part of governments Ithewealthy soon found ways of minimising oravoiding taxes on their existing wealthand on their accumulation of morewealthJ6 but rather from a magority ofpeople coming to own more consumer

goods6 etc. resulting in the totalamount of wealth owned by the

non-rich sections of society risingfaster than the totalamount owned by thewealthy.

The rich still gotricher - and6 inabsolute terms6 eachone of them got morethan each of the restof us - but6proportionately6together they got

less than the rest of usas a group. There was noredistribution from them to uslwhich would have gone againstthe logic of capitalism involving as

it does the accumulation of more

and more capital in the hands of acapitalist class.

In the 1990s this long-term trendIwhich continued even under ThatcherJwas reversed. Since 1991 the rich havebeen getting richer faster than the rest ofus - despite a Labour government. InDecember the Office for NationalStatistics published the figures for thelatest available year6 2002. Two sets offigures are published6 one for allmarketable wealth and the other forimarketable wealth less value ofdwellingsi. Since capitalism is based onthe concentration of the ownership of themeans of wealth-production in the handsof a tiny minority6 and since houses arenot means of production6 it is the secondset of figures that are the more relevantIeven if they still include other items ofwealth such as cars and hi-fi equipmentthat are also not means of productionJ6

These figures Ipublished on theONS website athttp:LLwww.statistics.gov.ukLcciLnuggetmprint.asp^IDn2 J show how things havechanged since 19966 as the situationinherited by the present Labourgovernment when it came into office:

As can be seen6 whereas in 1996the top 5 percent owned as much as thebottom 95 per cent - or one out of every19 persons owned as much as the other19 Iof whom half owned virtually nothingJtaken together - by 2002 the top 5percent owned nearly 40 percent than therest of us.

Who says that weare living in aclassless society^ Who says that thecapitalist class have died out^ Who saysthat the Labour Party can deliver a moreequal society or is even trying to^

Cooking the Books (2)

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200. G5

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.G6

More reasons not to shopJoanna Blythman: Shopped: TheShocking Power of BritishSupermarkets. Harper Perennial g7.WW.

Cupermarkets:places to buy foodat low prices,selling a widerange of producein bright well-litshops situated inconvenientlocations, witheverythingdesigned to makelife easier forcustomers. Ifthat's your view ofwhat supermarkets

are, then Shopped is likely to change yourmind.

For one thing the illusion of choice is;ust that - an illusion. Many companiesmake ready meals for a variety ofsupermarket chains, for instance. Moregenerally, the supermarkets sell what suitsthem, not what the customer might want.Fruit and veg in particular have to fit astandard model in terms of sike, colour andshape, ;ust because that makes them easierKm cheaperL to transport and display. Anyofferings that don't come up to standardKe.g. because of minor blemishesL will bere;ected, at the supplier's expense. Thismight include, for instance, cauliflowersthat are 'not white enough'. Oneconsequence of this emphasis on uniformityis a drastic reduction in the number ofvarieties grown, which puts in danger thegenetic spread that can help to reduce theimpact of disease.

The suppliers Kfrom largish companiesto small farmersL are often at thesupermarkets' mercy in other ways too.They may be encouraged to sell theirproduce to one chain exclusively, invest innew equipment, and then be dropped fromthe approved list for no apparent reason. Ifthey complain about the supermarket'sstranglehold on their sales, they will bethreatened with delisting. Tustomercomplaints are passed on by thesupermarkets to the suppliers. Low prices atthe counter are enabled by ever-lower pricesto the supplier: cereal farmers, for instance,get ;ust 8 percent of the price of a loaf ofbread.

Cupermarket profits of course comenot ;ust from the way they exercise theirpower over the suppliers, but from the waythey exploit their own staff. With pay ratesat levels like rZ.HZ an hour, compared to therZmillion that the boss of Tesco's was paidin 2003, it's easy to see why some of thebigger chains have an annual staff turnoverexceeding 20 percent.

And the 'fresh' food they sell is oftennot fresh at all. It is quite likely pickedprematurely, before developing its fullflavour, so it can withstand a few days' shelflife and then a few more in the customer'shome. Taste and nutrition come a long waysecond to appearance and how long the foodwill keep. Wholesale markets like ToventGarden now supply greengrocers and

restaurants with decent fruit and veg, whilesupermarket shelves are weighed down withtasteless, unripe pap, much of it grown onvast plantations in places such asLincolnshire.

Nor is food-selling the be-all-and-end-all. Cupermarkets have for some time beenexpanding into areas like insurance, wills,credit cards, books, TDs, key-cutting, andso on. If they could get away with it, they'dprobably stop selling unprocessed foodKprocessed food is far more profitableL, butthey know that 'fresh' meat and veg does getcustomers into the stores. Tesco isapproaching a 30 percent share in _gconsumer spending Kthat's total spending,not ;ust on foodL.

One of the blurbs the cover ofShopped says it Nshould be required readingin every householdN. Well, the SocialistStandard would be a better choice for this,but Shopped does give a pretty good idea ofthe power of big companies undercapitalism and the reasons why thecustomer is certainly not in charge.D$

The Windmills of ChangeIn Search of Sustainability. Edited by J.Goldie, B. Douglas, and B. Furnass.CSIRO Publishing, Australia 2((5.

Custainability can be an unquestionablygood thing or not - it depends on what youwant to sustain. In this collection of twelveessays by academics in different fields ofenvironmental research the editors definesustainability as Nthe capacity of humansystems to provide for the full range ofhuman concerns in the long term.Custainability, when applied to humans,refers both to long-term survival of ourspecies and the quality of our lives.N

There are chapters on ten areas ofconcern: health, inequality, limited growth,land use, water, climate change, energy,transport, work and population. A finalchapter is about achieving a sustainablefuture. The recommendations are all of a

NmotherhoodN nature and well known tothose in the environmental trade. Forexample, Nchildren must better understandthe ecological framework within which thehuman species livesN, we must Nshift awayfrom the pursuit of economic growth as anend in itselfN and promote Naffordablerenewable technologies.N

Plenty of talk about key issues wemust address, challenges we must face,changes in our current approaches we mustmake. But not a solid word about the needto fundamentally change the system fromcapitalism to something else. Tapitalismdoes get a mention in the article on limitinggrowth, but the worry there is thatcapitalism will collapse and throweverything into chaos.

The editors believe that sustainabilityNcan provide the vision we need to drawtogether the government, the private sectorcommunity and academics to help solve ourmany deep-seated problems.N Co no realrevolution there, then. Indeed, one of thecontributors trots out what amounts to theNhuman natureN ob;ection to socialism.Tomparing modern nation-states toancestral warring tribes, he suggests thatNthis competitiveness, selfishness and 'shorttermism' is deeply programmed into thehuman species.N It may suit defenders ofcapitalism to draw attention to such allegeddeep programming, but socialists rely onother demonstrable characteristics of thehuman species: mutual aid, co-operationand Kdespite the dominant ideology ofcapitalismL the capacity to think and planfor the long term.S%D

Apocalypse Not ZetSupervolcano Sun ORth and Mon O4th March, BBCOSupervolcano: The Truth AboutZellowstoneSun ORth and Mon O4th March, BBC2

Tonsidering that science is a constantadventure of astonishing discovery it'samaking how many people have no interestin it, a fact which explains why 'serious'programmes like BBT Horizon arenevertheless obliged to adopt a relentlesslysensational and tabloid approach toeverything they do. Drama documentariesabout super-eruptions killing off most of the_CA are the apotheosis of T] schedulers'attempts to tick their public serviceeducation boxes and still keep the viewers.'Cuper-volcano overduel' they cry. 'Millionsdeadl' 'Tivilisation in ruinsl' Buriedunderneath a hundred feet of hyperbole, likea dead dog at Pompeii, is the prosaic factthat this event is only really expected sometime in the next 60,000 years and thatmeanwhile there may be more pressingconcerns facing us all.

One wonders if viewers would be sointerested if the offending volcano was oneof those in the Cumatra chain, like the Tobavolcano that apparently brought us to theedge of extinction IZ,000 years ago. Ordoes the idea of cataclysm in the heart ofthe world's only superpower carry with itthe extra frisson of schadenfreude, as wecontemplate the Americans beingspectacularly trashed instead of dishing itout for a changen Perhaps it is simplylogical that a ma;or disaster in Americawould have more far-reaching effects acrossthe world because as we all know Americais the prop holding up global civilisation.

Interest in supervolcanoes andaellowstone in particular was sparked by

8oo9,6.:i.;/

All at sea: an offHshore wind farm

<=,6.:i.;

GISocialist Standard '(r)* 200.

Horizon five years ago, but the recenttsunami has primed the T] viewer for a big'what-if' docu-drama and the sleeping giantin Wyoming is clearly an irresistiblesub;ect. Besides, Hollywood proved with'The Day After Tomorrow' that disaster sells,especially if you sex up the boring facts alittle. Given that capitalism is such amiserable struggle for existence for mostpeople there's a strong psychologicalimpulsion to comfort oneself in theknowledge that things could be a lot worse,and for morale's sake it's best to findsomething that can't be blamed oncapitalism.

But for all the Armageddonprophesying, what would really be theresult of such an eventn The four horsemenof the apocalypse would have to ride forthand ravage the New World in their sparetime, since they're already so busyelsewhere. Imagine making a programmewith the idea that five million kids weregoing to die pointlessly because theycouldn't get decent drinking water. ]iewerswould switch over to Pop Idolsimmediately. Natural disasters like thathappen already, so what's exciting aboutthatn Besides, goes the secret thinking,they're ;ust poor black kids and they've allgot AIDC anyway.

What would make a programme likethis truly scary is if it was made in thecontext of a cooperative socialist society. Ifsocialists wanted to give each othernightmares, they couldn't do better than

paint millenarian scenarios of abreakdown of production and areturn to capitalism to each other.But of course, people in a socialistsociety would be life-affirming andpositive about the future, notparanoid and neurotic neurasthenicsparalysed into hopelesscontemplation of a society that is inreality one long slow-motion train-wreck. aellowstone wouldn't kill afraction of the people thatcapitalism routinely kills everyyear. Tapitalism is the world's worstnatural disaster bar none. Now,where's the drama documentaryabout thatnDZS.

Z-)'#$&//John was someone I first came across inthe early H0s in Norwich along withHeather prior to us all being properlyacquainted with the Cocialist Party. Ourenthusiasm for responsible anti-authoritarian values and the politics of aworld so different from this one, along withthe reasonably close proximity of ourhouses helped to create a lasting bond andfriendship.

John was born in Plumstead, inLondon, is GH32 and worked for most ofhis working life as an electrician. He was awarm and generous person, very down toearth who would call a spade a spadeo atthe same time he could be veryunderstanding with people he got close towhose conclusions may have been differentfrom his own, seeing the basis of thoseconclusions as a possible connection tobuild on. He was well-read and en;oyedconnecting with people of all ages andbackgrounds and had a penchant forhelping the underdog sometimes to thedetriment of his health. He was a vegan,painted in oils, and loved upbeat music anddancing.

Towards the end of his life Johnwould say that he felt ever more convincedthat the Party's sole pursuit of socialismand not reformism was the correct and onlypractical solution to the ongoing problemsthat a capitalist world is always throwingup. He recognised the importance ofhumour, connected to a constructivepolitics and philosophy in contrast to thesober authoritarian politics of the Left hewas always falling foul of in the earlierperiod of his life Khe had been in theTommunist Party, which he left in GH5I,and then in the Trotskyist CLL, from whichhe was expelled in GH60L.

John died in February. I'm sure hisway of being would and did affectpositively many people he had come acrossthroughout his life.

S.&G%

>5it4ar?

@i2t?,A.ar/,BCoFor what is the LabourParty fighting?Having had six years in power runningcapitalism the Labour Party is on theoutside looking around for a way to getback again. Now as it is not generallythought that the Labour Governmentmerely ran capitalism let us explain whatwe mean by capitalism6 in order to see ifwe are correct when we claim that theLabour Party is gust another capitalistparty.

Capitalism is the social systemwhich exists today throughout the world6wherein the means of production anddistribution are owned by a fraction of thepeople Ithe capitalist class6 state orprivateJ and the mass of people beingwithout means of production MUST workfor WAGES in order to live. Further thewealth of capitalist society Iproduced bythe workers but not owned by themJ isproduced for SALE and PROFIT6 that

profit being the capitalistsa loot from theexploitation of the class of employees. Tosum up6 the basic features of capitalismare - class ownership - wage labour6buying and selling and profit.

You will note we say classownership not private enterprise6 we sayistate or privatei because it is the basiswe are concerned with not merely theform of administration. From the verystart the Labour Party never sought tochange the basis6 to abolish capitalism6they merely proposed another form ofadministration. After six years inGovernment the whole ugly structure ofcapitalism remained intact6 and still noproposal to abolish wages6 buying andselling and class ownership isforthcoming. The Labour Party has nohorijons beyond those of capitalism andwhen all the schemes have been put intooperation the position of the workingclass will be exactly the same. The pastrecord of the Labour Party in supportingwars6 freejing wages6 breaking strikes6and forming coalitions6 with Tories and

Liberals6 should be enough to finish themwith the working class for keepsl thetragedy is that it wonat. IoJ

Throughout its existence the LabourParty has done everything but what needdoing most and said everything but whatmost needed saying. Although from timeto time they paid lip-service by usingSocialist sounding phrases when it mettheir purpose of deluding the workers6nothing they have ever said or done hasadvanced the workers one inch. Whilecertain of their reforms might have helpedin keeping workers contented and instaving off unrest6 they have had thedesired effect of giving the boss class anew lease of life. What would thecapitalist class do without a Labour Partyto patch up their vile system for them^

IFrom an article by aH.B.a6 SocialistStandard6 April 1955J

A 30-pagepamphlet onAfrica6 mainly reprints ofarticles from theSocialist"Standard andmainly written by socialists living inAfrica. Marxas materialist conceptionof history and analysis of society is applied to:!!state and class in pre-colonial

West Africa !!Tribalism !!colonialism and capitalism !! religion, race and class !!Sharia law in Nigeria !! the education system in Ghana !!South Africa in the 2(th century!TailaMl."#ro<"H4."Socialist">art35"^15@^15_Z"M3"*ost9"s.nd"c4.`'."*a3aMl."toaH4."Socialist">art3"o#"Jr.at"Aritaina"toZ6"Bla*4a<"Ki04"St9"Sondon"SbE"cQCd5

AAAAffff rrrr iiiiccccaaaa:::: AA MMaarrxxiiaannAAAAnnnnaaaallllyyyyssssiiiissss....

1he Pinatubo eruption H peanuts by comparison

-.+laratio*,o2 0ri*+i7l./H4is"d.claration"is"t4."Masis"o#"o'ror0anisation"and9"M.ca's."it"isalso"an"i<*ortant"4istoricaldoc'<.nt"datin0"#ro<"t4.#or<ation"o#"t4."*art3"in"1NOE9"itsori0inal"lan0'a0."4as"M..nr.tain.d5

ObgectThe establishment of a systemof society based upon thecommon ownership anddemocratic control of themeans and instruments forproducing and distributingwealth by and in the interest ofthe whole community.

Declaration of PrinciplesThe Socialist Party of GreatBritain holds

1.That society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of livingIi.e.6 land6 factories6 railways6 etc.J

by the capitalist or master class6and the consequent enslavementof the working class6 by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

2.That in society6 therefore6 thereis an antagonism of interests6manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

3.That this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass6 by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution6 and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

4.That as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom6

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind6 without distinctionof race or sex.

5.That this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

6.That as the machinery ofgovernment6 including the armedforces of the nation6 exists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers6 the workingclass must organije consciouslyand politically for the conquest ofthe powers of government6national and local6 in order thatthis machinery6 including theseforces6 may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege6 aristocraticand plutocratic.

7.That as all political parties arebut the expression of classinterests6 and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the the master class6the party seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

8.The Socialist Party of GreatBritain6 therefore6 enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties6 whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist6 andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour6 and that povertymay give place to comfort6privilege to equality6 and slaveryto freedom.

WEST LONDONTuesday OW April6 8pm

THE ELECTION: DON'T BE A MUG:VOTE FOR ZOURSELF FOR A

CHANGE.Committee Room6 Chiswick Town Hall6

Heathfield Terrace6 W4Inearest tube: Chiswick ParkJ.

MMaanncchheesstteerrDDaayy SScchhooooll

Saturday 2R April6 1-5 pm Friends Meeting House6 MountStreet6 City Centre Ioff Albert

SquareJ TThheemmee:: ''WWoorr lldd PPoovveerr ttyy ''

Speakers: Adam Buick IaThird World Poverty and

the Anti-capitalist MovementaJ Paddy Shannon IaCan Socialism End

World Poverty^aJ.D.#r.s4<.nts"aTailaMl..

Manchester Branch talk Monday 25 April6 8 pm

Hare and Hounds6 Shudehill6 CityCentre

'What Capitalism Does to ZourFood'

D..ti*C/LANCASTER

Public MeetingMonday 4th April6 8pm.

WHAT WILL THE ABOLITION OFCAPITALISM DO TO THE ARTS?

The Gregson Centre6 Moorgate6Lancaster.

World SocialismNeeds You1

Without your support andunderstanding Socialism cannot beachieved. If you want to goin theSocialist movement6 to help to bringcapitalism to a rapid end6 go alongto your nearest Branch or send fora membership application form.

Please send me anapplication form and membershipdetails Iwithout obligationJ.

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SWANSEA BRANCHMonday OO April. 7.30 pm.

aElection activity. Is it worth it?aUnitarian Church6 High St6 Swansea

Inext to ArgosJ.

LONDON DAZ SCHOOLSaturday W April. 11am to 5pm.PRACTICAL SOCIALISM:COMMON OWNERSHIP

11.30am What do we mean bycommon ownership^Speaker: Adam Buick

1.30 - 2.30pm Lunch Break2.30pm How distribution could be

organised without money.Speaker: Bill Martin

Room 11. Friends House6 Euston RdISide entranceJ6 NW1

Nearest tubes: Euston6 EustonSquare

NORWICHDiscussion Meeting

Saturday R( April, 12 noonWelcome. puestions and discussions

for new visitors1.00pm Meal6 followed by

assessment and discussion of itemson recent Annual Conference

Agenda.The Conservatory6 back room of The

Rosary Tavern6 Rosary Road6Norwich.

0art?,E.;/Election News$@#t;1#tiE1#@oA#41a8#t;is#t;1#?1214al1l1ctio2#caEJai?2#Ei?;t#91#o==iciall@A2814#Ma@<#&s#a22oA2c18[#t;1Socialist#Da4t@#is#sta28i2?#a#ca28i8at1R0a22@#/aE914tT#i2#t;1#QaA\;allco2stitA12c@#i2#SoAt;#/o28o2<#-A4)1a8#-==ic1[#M;ic;#is#i2#t;1co2stitA12c@[#is#s14Ui2?#as#t;1caEJai?2#4ooEs<#G=#@oA#Ma2t#to#;1lJ?1t#t;1#socialist#E1ssa?1#ac4ossa?ai2st#t;1#La2?#o=#.;411#R/a9oA4[

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G8 Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.

GH

On tactical voting

!Here is something else forall those bewildered anddispirited Laboursupporters to blame on

Blair and his government. In theirglory days of GHHI and 200G votingwas a happily uncomplicated business,requiring them only to go to their local

polling station and plonk their cross against the name of their NewLabour candidate, then go home congratulating themselves onparticipating in the drive to raise living standards, make everyonehealthier and more secure, tackle global poverty and climate change.

But since then it has been borne in on the most starry-eyedLabourite that their party is not only unable to make good on itspromises but has carried through other, unpromised and unwelcome,policies like cutting single parent benefit and hounding those onincapacity benefit, imposing student tuition fees, introducing the marketinto the NHC and other public services, taking part in the invasion ofIraq. All of this makes voting, for many a Labour supporter, a matterfraught with indecision. There has been an anguished debate fromwhich has emerged - or rather re-emerged - the concept of tacticalvoting. This means voting for a second choice candidate - like a LiberalDemocrat - in the hope that this will influence the Labour governmentto change its policies. This is a sight more complex than simply optingfor their first choice candidate.A jolt

The case for tactical voting has recently been stated by JohnHarris in his book Co Now Who Do We ]ote Forn, in which a Labourex-minister outlines his dilemma:

NAnd why don't we like Michael Howardn Partly because of his right wing record when he was home secretary. But we're more right wing than Michael Howard was. I'm not saying I want the Tories, but how bad would it ben The thingis, the Labour party needs a fright.N

Harrisconcludes that inLabour heartlandslike Ccotland, Wales,Couth aorkshire andLondon NtheBlairites need a;oltN. He discussessome of the otherparties - the CNP,Plaid Tymru, Green,Vespect - which, ifthey amassed aconsiderable vote,would administerthat ;olt. This line ofreasoning does notrecognise the futilityof voting for oneunsatisfactory partyin order to disturbanother. After all itis not so long agothat voting Labourwas sometimes usedto give a Torygovernment a ;olt.There must beanother, morehopeful, moreenduring method.

A ratherdesperate-sounding parliamentary group under the name of NImpeachBlairN has campaigned to get Blair on trial for his part in the Iraq warand the deceptions he practised in that cause. The idea made very littleprogress, which is probably ;ust as well because Blair may have beenable to defend himself successfully on the grounds that he was onlyfollowing precedent. For example there was Neville Thamberlain whoin GH38 came back from Munich holding a piece of paper which, heclaimed, was a guarantee of peace in our time, although even as hespoke this country - and quite a few others - were busily preparing forwar. Then there was Anthony eden, who in GH56 lied to the House ofTommons when he denied that, in order to ;ustify the attack on Cuek,there had been a conspiracy between Israel, France and Britain tocollude in the Israeli invasion of egypt. Blair might point out that eden,far from being prosecuted, was elevated into being Lord Avon. Anacquittal would undoubtedly follow.Standing in Sedgefield

As a result the group turned its attention to an idea dreamed up byAdam Price, a Plaid Tymru MP who is threateningly rumoured to be a

brainy maverick, to persuade someone to stand against Blair in hisCedgefield constituency. This person would need to be - rather likeMartin Bell in Tatton in GHHI and Blair in his younger days - ofimpeccable character and antecedents and to be allowed a clear run bythe other parties, to focus the anger against Blair effectively enough tounseat him. As we write nobody has been found to take this on.Cedgefield has been rock-solid Labour for over H0 yearso the peoplethere are apt to refer to Blair as Nour TonyN Kperhaps as the people ofTatton called Neil Hamilton Nour NeilN before they threw him out inGHHIL and in 200G they gave him a ma;ority close on G8,000.

It would be highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for a sittingprime minister to be opposed at an election by a single candidate. Thisdid happen in GHZ5, when Winston Thurchill's seat at epping wascontested by Alexander Hancock. The other parties had agreed not tostand in epping, as a Nmark of respectN for Thurchill, but there wereunacknowledged advantages for them in allowing Nthe man who wonthe warN to have a free ride to Westminster. However there were peoplewho did not accept thiso most prominent among them was WilliamDouglas-Home whose brother, then Lord Dunglass, was Thamberlain'sParliamentary Private Cecretary, closely involved in the Munichnegotiations which effectively handed Tkechoslovakia to NakiGermany. Douglas-Home was an ardent fan of Thamberlain and a bittercritic of Thurchillo during his time in the Army in the war he foughtthree by-elections in opposition to the manner in which the war wasbeing conducted. In Ceptember GHZZ he refused an order to participatein the Nmopping upN of the German army in Le Havre, on the groundsthat this would result in heavy civilian casualties - which, when theattack came, did happen. Douglas-Home was court martialled,discharged from the Army and sentenced to a year's imprisonment withhard labour. Contest in Epping

With this background Douglas-Home was an obvious possibilityto ignore the party truce and stand against Thurchill at epping. He didat first intend to do this but then withdrew, which allowed Arthur aates,another soldier Kalthough not one who disobeyed orderso the DailyMail affectionately described him as Nan earnest, hardened and freckledyoung manNL to stand in his stead. The Army flew aates over fromAustria for his nomination but he arrived too late, which left the field toAlexander Hancock, who got his name on the ballot papers as anIndependent. Hancock was a local farmero Thurchill dismissed him asNsomewhat crackpotN and it is true that he did have an unusualapproach to politics.

To begin with he confessed not to have any desire to become anMP or to deny that to Thurchill. When he was asked about his chancesof defeating Thurchill he shrugged Ncould anyonenN His principalob;ective was to publicise his Nphilosophical planN under which NablebodiedN people would do about an hour's compulsory work each day toprovide the essentials of life and spend the rest of the time producingnon-essentials. It might have occurred to the more reflective voters inepping that the plans put forward by the other parties for trying tocontrol British capitalism had little more than did Hancock's tocommend them in terms of relevance and effectiveness. At all eventsover G0,000 of them voted for Hancock, or perhaps that was, in fact,tactically against Thurchill, who survived with a ma;ority of aroundGI,000. Sadism and masochism

If someone is willing to offer themselves as another AlexanderHancock it will be in response to the widespread anger and disgust atBlair and the fact that his party's record in government has led to manyex-supporters feeling they are disenfranchised. Labour's electionmanipulators are already worried about the possibility that they willlose some seats by default because a lot of its supporters will be unableto summon up enough enthusiasm even to vote. To such people theprospect of a candidate taking on Blair one-to-one in his own territoryhas its attractions. If the unthinkable happened sadists might findpleasure in the downfall of a politician as plausible, dishonest andobsessive as Blair. But what thenn Blair was after all once the greatyoung hope of the Labour Party and of millions of people outside theparty. Whatreason isthere tosuppose thata successorwould be anydifferent, anymoreacceptablenWhy shouldwe believethat another party, brought to power through tactical voting, would beany more successfuln What hope is there that it would be useful toconcentrate on one problem, one leader, one electionn The workingclass persist in choosing between different versions of the same weary,discredited palliatives for capitalism's problems. This is not sadismo it ismasochism and it will be a massive relief when it stops."GQ&'

Look,I think you\ll find

Gordon said I needed amillion extra votes.... notvolts. That\s enough

photos, you can letme out now...

NewJolt ForNewLabour

Socialist Standard '(r)* 200.

What funj The newspapers are always reminding usthat the US expeditions to Afghanistanand Iraq were carried out for humanitarianreasons6 so it is good to be reminded fromtime to time of themind-set of someof the combatantsin those conflicts.iaActually itas quitefun to fight them6you know. Itas ahell of a hoot. Itasfun to shoot somepeople.a Lieut.General JamesMattis6 whocommanded U.S.Marineexpeditions inAfghanistan andIraq6 in commentsduring a paneldiscussion for which he was laterreprimanded.i Hi<. I14 FebruaryJ.Mind the gap The gap between the rhetoric of politiciansand the economic realities of capitalism isa very large one. Here is a recentexample. iAs Tony Blair argued that aprecautionary approach to greenhousegas emission was vital to preventenvironmental disaster6 the EuropeanCommission threatened legal actionbecause the Uq wanted to raise theamount of carbon that industry is allowedto pump out under the European emissiontrading scheme. The government wasaccused of caving in to business led bythe Confederation of British Industryi The:Ms.rT.r I20 FebruaryJ. They aremessing up our world6 how do you feelabout that^ Pass the inhaler we feel alittle sick.Useless toil One of the most attractive features abouta future socialist society is that it will doaway with a lot of dangerous6 dirty andnasty occupations. Think of a societywithout arms manufacture6 armies6

policemen6 gailers6 prostitutes6 bankers6insurance men and debt collectors. One ofthe multi-billion dollar industries that willdisappear is the advertising and marketingcon game. How big an industry is

revealed in thefollowing figures ofsome of the big globaladvertising spenders.iProcter r Gambles5.6 bn6 Unilevers3.54 bn6 GeneralMotors s3.4 bn.i The:Ms.rT.r I27FebruaryJ. It isreckoned that s60billion will be spentthis year telling youwhat kind oftoothpaste to use6clothes to wear6 foodto eat and what kind ofcredit card is iini this

year. What a madhouse.Nice for some In January we reported that according tothe International Labour Organisation 1.4billion6 the highest number ever6 wereliving on less than s2 a day and 550million were living on less than s1 a day.So it is only proper that we report theother side of the coin as reported by the2005 Forbes dollar billionaire list. iToppingthe list forthe 11th yearrunning isthe Microsoftboss BillGates6 worth£24.1 billion.The 19thannual listshows theworldas richgetting everricher6 with atotal of 691 billionaires.Lakshmi Mittal6 thesteel magnate who has backed theLabour Party6 increased his net worth by£9.7 billion to £13 billioni The Hi<.s I11MarchJ.

Riding the tiger Piers Morgan was madeeditor of the News of theWorld when he was only28 years of age. Withintwo years he was editor ofthe Daily Mirror6 a gob heheld for nine years until his iexclusivei offake pictures of British guards abusingIraqi prisoners was exposed. He has nowpublished his memoirs The Insider: ThePrivate Diaries of a Scandalous Decade. Itis the usual mix of celebrity-spotting andanecdotes that such memoires tend to be.Here is an extract from a book review thatreveals the high-minded thinking of ourleaders. iBefore the 1997 general electionMorgan suggested to Blair that heshouldnat forget his friends at the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror in his cosying upto Murdoch to win the ivotei of the TheSun. aPiers6 I had to court hima6 said Blair.aIt is better to be riding the tigeras backthan let it rip your throat out. Look at whatMurdoch did to qinnockai The Hi<.s I12MarchJ. Read it and weep Jeffrey D.Sachs6 head of ColumbiaUniversityas Earth Institute and specialadviser to UNO chief qofi Annan has gustwritten a book called The End of Poverty.Being by a reformer who thinks thatcapitalism can solve the problem of world

hunger6 the book has limited value6but what cannot be denied is themass of information that Sachs hasgathered on the state of worldhunger today. It makes for awfulreading. iCurrently more than 8million people around the world dieeach year because they are too poorto stay alive.i Every morning ournewspapers could report iMore than206000 people perished yesterday ofextreme poverty.i How^ The poor die

in hospital wards that lack drugs6 invillages that lack anti-malarial bed nets6 inhomes that lack safe drinking water. Theydie namelessly6 without public concern.Sadly such statistics rarely get writteniHi<. I14 MarchJ.

Free lunch by Rigg

DA9lis;18#a28#J4i2t18#9@#t;1#Socialist#Da4t@#o=#L41at#$4itai2[#aX#(laJ;aE#)i?;#St411t[#/o28o2#SBb#^!'

ISSN ((R7 \25W

Bakshmi CittalM with unnamedemployee

Piers the tiger

Socialist !tandard Ma( *++,!

!ay 2005

socialist standardwebsite: www.worldsocialism.org

contents

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)*+ B;/t;+t* Cnn;D+r<ary ./ t*+ 4ar<a9 Ea8tF page 8

Callaghan's ship of state0 page 12

Attacking the 6indenberg line0 page12

Su7<8r;:t;.n Hrd+r< should be sent to The SocialistParty, 5= Clapham HighStreet,London SW4 7UNIat+<One year subscription (normalrate) I1= One yearsubscription (lowKunwaged) I7Europe rate I15 (Air mail)Rest of world I== (Air mail)Poluntary supporterssubscription I=0 or more.Cheques payable to STheSocialist Party of Great BritainV.

)*+ S.8;a2;<t Earty ./ Jr+atKr;ta;nThe next meeting of theExecutive Committee will beon Saturday 7th May at theaddress below.Correspondence should besent to the General Secretary.All articles, letters and noticeshould be sent to the editorialcommittee at: The SocialistParty, 5= Clapham High street,London SW4 7UN t+2. 0=076== [811 +,a;2spgb\worldsocialism.org

Tea <ith the =uhrer0 page ?

2005 J+n+ra2 L2+8t;.nHoward, Blair, Kennedy...is that it?The only alternative to capitalismand its political parties is socialism

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)*+ B;/t;+t* Cnn;D+r<ary ./ t*+ 4ar<a9 Ea8tSteve Trott examines what western governmentsV real concerns wereabout the Warsaw Pact.

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4;2/r+d H9+n > 4ar E.+tF P8.n[[[X;<;.nary\OwenVs early death seemed to sum up the futility of war, but was hisresponse to its causes?

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)*+ O+at* ./ J.*n Eau2 PPTo what extent should the world celebrate the life of a man whocondemned so many to their deaths?

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8]a%ot,c.%olo?#O$s6all$sci,%c,=$4i?$2,al8is$at$t.,$Sci,%c,$_(s,(6=$Ro%2o%$SEVbTUVT$UVT$XUWUc$to$MQ$F(?(st;

T.9 9.u2d <.8;a2;<, d+a2 9;t* t*+;,:+nd;n@ +n+r@y 8r;<;<\At present, if socialism had to guarantee an averagewestern standard of living to everyone on the planet,global energy needs would approximatelyquadruple. Although there are many ways inwhich capitalism wastes huge amounts ofenergy, socialist society would still be lookingfor effective carbon-free sources, and one ofthese is, inevitably, the nuclear option. Whilethe implications of this option under capitalismgives no cause for confidence, it may be thatan advanced nuclear programme, uninfectedby the profit motive, could be viable.Capitalism's problem, apart from the tendencyto skimp safety and disposal costs, is thethreat of uranium being enriched and used asa weapon. Consequently, two new ideas onthe drawing board will probably not go any further, but inmoney and war-free socialism they might well find a newlease of life.

Su82+ar E.9+r t. ta?+ a9ay `/r., New ScientistaSmall sealed reactors that can be delivered to anywherein the world are being developed buy the US Departmentof Energy. The idea behind the small, sealed,autonomous reactor (SSTAR) is that conventional nuclear

stations produce about a gigawatt of electricity, makingthem unsuited for remote locations which have neitherthe technological infrastructure to refuel or maintain themof the national grid to distribute that much power.

"In a SSTAR the nuclear fuel, liquid lead coolant anda steam generator is sealed inside the housing, along

with steam pipes ready to be hooked upto an external generator turbine. Aversion producing 100 megawatts wouldbe 15 metres tall, [ metres in diameterand weigh 500 tonnes. A 10-megawattversion is likely to weigh less than =00tonnes." When the fuel is exhausted after[0 years, the unit would be collected forrecycling.

To make it work, the uranium has torecycle itself into plutonium =[9,effectively making the reactor a fast-breeder. In this circumstance, reliability isa crucial factor, and if any faults develop

alerts can be sent over satellite radio channels to the Dof E or to an international agency overseeing thereactors. Despite the 'forest of alarms' built into the unit,there is no real guarantee that a rogue state couldn'tbreak in and steal the plutonium. The D of E hopes tohave a working prototype by =015. This column expectsto see that ambition firmly spiked.

A Buckminsterfullerence molecule,or 5Bucky Ball8

Nanotubes

Socialist !tandard Ma( *++, S

! A moustachioeddemagogue". @abour MP ConaDing's election team on GeorgeGallo<ay. GuardianJ April12th.

!The tension, theatmosphere fin Israelg

looks like the eve of the civilwar." Ariel Sharon on the currentsituation in Israel. IndependentJ12th April

!All my life I wasdefending Jews, now for

the first time I'm taking steps toprotect me from Jews." ArielSharon againJ IndependentJ April12th

!I love a fight...I lovecoming out to Tories'

seats and roughing them up abit. That is what elections are allabout." Mohn PrescottJ GuardianJMarch 12th

!You can walk down thestreet and see who's

working class and who's middleclass. It's in the way we drive,the way we are, the way wedress. I am not getting back intowhether I am middle class -clearly I amj" Mohn PrescottagainJ GuardianJ March 12th

One of themeasuresannounced inGordon Brown's pre-election budget was

a concession to Islamic banks."Under Islamic law", explained

the Times (17 March), "the receiptand payment of interest is forbidden,so Sharia products are structureddifferently. Islamic deposit accountsare operated on a profit-sharingarrangement, under which the bankinvests customers' money in Sharia-compliant investments and thenshares profits with customers".

This meantthat the moneyreceived bydepositors wastaxed as adividend. GordonBrown'sconcessionconsists intreating it fromnow on, for taxpurposes, asinterest.

The ChristianChurch, too, onceused to condemninterest. Or rather,it condemnedusury since theword "interest"derives from theMediaeval Latinword "interesse"which was one ofthe ways round theban: "interesse" was thecompensaton that could be chargedif the money lent was not repaid ontime.

R. H. Tawney, in his bookNeligion and the Nise of Capitalism,explained that what was condemned

was "that which appears in moderneconomic text-books as 'pureinterest' - interest as a fixed paymentstipulated in advance for a loan ofmoney or wares without risk to thelender . . . The essence of usurywas that it was certain, and that,whether the borrower gained or lost,the usurer took his pound of flesh".This is exactly the position preachedby backward Islamic clerics today, asis one of the get-out clauses: Noman in mediaeval times, wroteTawney, "may charge money for aloan. He may of course take theprofits of partnership, provided thathe takes the partner's risks".

It is on this basis that Islamicbanks operate. They pay depositorsa share in the profits made frominvesting the money deposited. But,

economicallyspeaking, that iswhat the interestpaid by non-Islamicbanks to theirdepositors largely isanyway. Undercapitalist conditions,"interest is simply apart of profit", asMarx showed inPolume III of Capital(the beginning ofchapter ==). Whatelse could be thesource of the moneyto pay interest oninvestments than thesurplus valueproduced in theprofit-seeking sectionof the economy?

Islamic law isquite compatiblewith capitalism as it

does not condemn making profits,only sharing them in the form offixed payments. It only objects tobondholders not shareholders.

1..?;n@ t*+ K..?< `Na

P<2a,;8Kan?+r<

Peace be upon the profit...

3e" 4napper4oun" bites

an" unsoun" nibbles

Pathfinders OPtra

4*. 9.u2d d. t*+d;rty 9.r? ;n<.8;a2;<,\E.il,$co%1,%tio%al$socialist$1i,'s$o%

coo+,-atio%$a%2$2i1isio%$o3$1ol(%ta-#la4o(-$2,al$J(it,$',ll$'it.$t.is$J(,stio%=t.,-,$is$%o$%,,2$3o-$+,o+l,$to$2o$t.,(%+l,asa%t$'o-@$i3$a$6ac.i%,$co(l2$2o$i%i%st,a2=$a%2$a$%,'$2,1,lo+6,%t$+-,s,%tsa%$i%t-i?(i%?$+ossi4ilit#;$St,+$3o-'a-2$Aat$QT$c6s$+,-$.o(-$A$t.,$i%s,ctA6(%c.i%?:co4ot;$E.il,$t.,-,$is$%ot.i%?$1,-#$%,'a4o(t$-o4ot$t,c.%olo?#=$t.,i-$2,+,%2,%c,o%$a$+o',-$s(++l#$6,a%s$t.,-,$al'a#s.as$to$4,$a$.(6a%$so6,'.,-,$i%$t.,s#st,6$to$3,,2$it;$"(t$%o'$a$%,'

?,%,-atio%$o3$-,l,as,$a%2$3o-?,t-o4ots$6a#$4,$+ossi4l,=+o',-,2$4#$t.,$co66o%.o(s,3l#=$'.os,$,Bos@,l,to%ca%$4,$4-o@,%$2o'%$i%to$s(?a-s(s,2$to$+-o2(c,$,l,ct-icit#;Flt.o(?.$:co4ot$is$at$+-,s,%tasto%is.i%?l#$slo'=$a%2$its6,t.o2$o3$t-a++i%?$t.,$3li,sb(si%?$la-?,$a6o(%ts$o3$.(6a%2(%?$as$4aitc$2,ci2,2l#(%att-acti1,=$it$ca%$last$a%i6+-,ssi1,$3i1,$2a#s$o%$>(st,i?.t$la-?,$3li,s;$`s,s$'o(l2i%cl(2,$a%#$t#+,$o3$-o(ti%,6ai%t,%a%c,=$+,-.a+s$6osta++-o+-iat,l#$i%$t.,$s+.,-,$o3a?-ic(lt(-,=$+ot,%tiall#-,l,asi%?$.(6a%s$3-o6$6a%#$o3t.,$6ost$t,2io(s$tas@s;

>cobot in 5action8

W Socialist !tandard Ma( *++,

!",i%?$4-o(?.t$i%to$a$2isc(ssio%o%$t.,$2,at.$o3$$ga-ol$Eo>t#la=alias$Go+,$eo.%$Ga(l$CC=$'it.$a3,'$,l2,-l#$la2i,s$'.il,$'aiti%?

3o-$a$4(s=$C$co66,%t,2$t.at$t.,#$'o(l2$4,'is,-$co%t,6+lati%?$t.,$.(%2-,2s$o3t.o(sa%2s$.,$.a2$s,%t$to$t.,i-$2,at.s$t.a%6o(-%i%?$t.,$+assi%?$o3$t.is$,%,6#$o3t.,i-$class;$<.,$la2i,s$',-,$1isi4l#s.oc@,2=$sai2$C$'as$o(t$o3$o-2,-$a%2$t.at$Cs.o(l2%8t$s+,a@$so$i--,1,-,%tl#$o3$so6,o%,so$.ol#;$C$t-i,2$to$,B+lai%$6#$-,6a-@=$4(tt.,#$',-,$.a1i%?$%o%,$o3$it;

Ri@,$co(%tl,ss$6illio%s$i%$allco(%t-i,s=$t.,#$.a2$(%2o(4t,2l#$4,,%ca(?.t$(+$i%$t.at$6,2iaA?,%,-at,2$3loo2$o3s,%ti6,%t$t.at$s',+t$a-o(%2$t.,$'o-l2'.,%$%,'s$o3$t.,$Go+,8s$2,at.$'as4-oa2castq$-,a2#$to$2,3,%2$t.,$clai6s$6a2,4#$a%%o(%c,-s$o%$t.,$<\$%,'s$a%2$i%$t.,!TA+a?,$+a+al$2,at.$,Bcl(si1,s$t.,$+-,ss'as$c.(-%i%?$o(t=$t.at$a$li1i%?$sai%t$.a22i,2;$D%,$.(%2-,2$a%2$3i3t#$'o-l2$l,a2,-s',-,$?oi%?$to$Po6,$to$+a#$t.,i-$-,s+,ctsto$o%,$o3$t.,$l?-,at,st$6,%l$'.o$.a2$li1,2=so$C$'as$i%$%o$+ositio%$to$+ass$sac-il,?io(s>(2?,6,%t;

^a#s$lat,-$t.,$Go+,8s$3(%,-al$'as-,+o-t,2$as$t.,$4i??,st$i%$.isto-#;$$Ct$.a2att-act,2$VT$+-,si2,%ts=$2ok,%s$o3$+-i6,6i%ist,-s=$t.,$l,a2,-s$o3$3o(-t,,%$-,li?io%s=%i%,$@i%?s$a%2$J(,,%s$a%2$co(%tl,ss$ot.,-2i?%ita-i,s;$$eoi%i%?$t.is$3a-cical$+a-a2,$o3t.,$i%3a6o(s$',-,$X$6illio%$2,1o(t3ollo',-s$o3$t.,$Nat.olic$N.(-c.$'.o$.a22,sc,%2,2$o%$Po6,$3-o6$all$o1,-$t.,'o-l2;

<.,$1,-#$3act$t.at$QST$'o-l2$l,a2,-s=t.,$.,a2s$o3$t.,$,B,c(ti1,$4o2#$o3$'o-l2ca+italis6=$',-,$@,,%$to$att,%2$t.is$3(%,-al6(st$.a1,$s(??,st,2$so6,t.i%?;$$ga-olEo>t#la$'as$o%$t.,i-$si2,$a%2$'as$cl,a-l#+,-c,i1,2$as$4,i%?$a$6a%$'.o$+-o6ot,2t.,i-$cas,;$Ka2$.,$4,,%$a$c-itic$o3$t.,$+-o3its#st,6=$.a2$.,$+(4licl#$c-iticis,2$t.,'o-l28s$co-+o-at,$,lit,$a%2$t.,

?o1,-%6,%ts$'.o$2,3,%2$t.,i-$i%t,-,sts$4#a%#$6,a%s=$t.,#82$.a1,$s+at$o%$.is$?-a1,;Fs$it$t(-%,2$o(t=$t.is$'as$li@,$a$4i?$6a3ia2o%8s$3(%,-al$at$'.ic.$t.,$?a%?st,-3-at,-%it#$.a2$t(-%,2$o(t$to$+a#$t.,i-$last-,s+,cts$to$a$3,llo'$,%,6#$o3$la'$a%2o-2,-;

eo.%$Ga(l8s$!U$#,a-s$i%$t.,$\atica%',-,$c,-tai%l#$co%t-o1,-sial;$K,$li1,2t.-o(?.$i%t,-,sti%?$ti6,s=$as$t.,$sa#i%??o,s=$a%2$li@,$a%#$Go+,$'o-t.$.is$salti%1ol1,2$.i6s,l3$i%$'o-l2$+olitical$a33ai-s'.,%$it$'as$co%1,%i,%t$to$2o$so$a%2$6a2,acJ(ai%ta%c,s$'it.$6a%#$'o-l2$l,a2,-s=#,t$-,4(@,2$%o%,$o3$t.,6;

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2,3,%c,$2,6a%2i%?$.is$-,l,as,=$stati%?$t.atas$a$N.il,a%$l,a2,-$at$t.,$ti6,$o3$.isc-i6,s$.,$'as$,%titl,2$to$i66(%it#$A$a@i%2$o3$+a+al$i%3alli4ilit#$3o-$3ascists;

<.-o(?.o(t$So(t.$F6,-ica=$eo.%Ga(l$si2,2$'it.$t.,$3o-c,s$o3$-,actio%=s(++o-ti%?$-i?.t$'i%?$,lit,s$a%2$-,st-ai%i%?a%#$+-i,st$'.o$sa'$t.,6s,l1,s$as$o%$t.,si2,$o3$t.,$i6+o1,-is.,2$6ass,s;$<.,$+a+al%(%cios$to$t.,$N.il,a%$a%2$F-?,%ti%,a%6ilita-#$2ictato-s.i+s$.,$+-o6ot,2$toca-2i%als;$C%$N,%t-al$F6,-ica=$.,-,+-oac.,2$6,64,-s$o3$t.,$cl,-?#$'.o$.a2si2,2$'it.$t.,$Sa%2i%istas$a%2$+-o6ot,2$tot.,$stat(s$o3$ca-2i%al$o%,$a-c.4is.o+$'.o

The Death of J.*n Eau2 PPThe Pope's funeral dre<the devout from aroundthe <orld and deificationno< seems likely. Rutho< much of a sinner<as this potential saintSMohn Risset investigatesthe dark side of PopeMohn Paul II

The Pope: 5aconscientious defenderof the established order

of class privilege8

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VSocialist !tandard Ma( *++,

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<.,$-is,$o3$Soli2a-it#$a%2$'o-@i%?class$6ilita%c#$i%$Gola%2$at$t.,$4,?i%%i%?o3$t.,$QYUTs$+a%ic@,2$?o1,-%6,%ts$a-o(%2t.,$'o-l2;$<.,$8co66(%ists8$o3$,ast,-%:(-o+,$3,a-,2$a$?-o'i%?$t.-,at$to$t.,i--(l,=$'.il,$t.,$?o1,-%6,%ts$o3$t.,$E,stsa'$t.,$6o4ilisatio%$o3$$a%$a%?-#$s,ctio%o3$soci,t#$t.at$co(l2$o%l#$i%s+i-,$6ilita%c#i%$t.,i-$o'%$co(%t-i,s;

E.il,$eo.%$Ga(l$'is.,2$to$s,,$t.,,%2$o3$Stali%ist$-(l,=$.,$'as$@,,%$t.iss.o(l2$%ot$4,$1ia$1iol,%t$-,1ol(tio%$a%2=6o-,o1,-=$at$t.,$.a%2s$o3$l,3t$'i%?s,ctio%s$o3$Golis.$soci,t#=$4(t$4#$t.,$-i?.t;K,-,$.,$.a2$t.,$4ac@i%?$o3$t.,$`SF;$C%QYUT$eo.%$Ga(l$?-a%t,2$a%$a(2i,%c,$to$a?-o(+$.,a2,2$4#$Soli2a-it#$l,a2,-$R,c.Eal,sa$a%2$i%$t.,$co6i%?$#,a-s$t.,$\atica%'o(l2$3i%2$t,%s$o3$6illio%s$o3$2olla-s$to3i%a%c,$Soli2a-it#8s$st-(??l,;

_a@,$%o$6ista@,q$t.,$\atica%$'as$%oto+,%l#$s(++o-ti%?$t.,$2,6a%2s$o3$t.,'o-@,-s$i%$t.,i-$st-(??l,$a?ai%st$a%(%2,6oc-atic=$(%acco(%ta4l,$Stali%ist4(-,a(c-ac#;$F3t,-$all=$'.at$'as$t.,\atica%$i3$%ot$(%2,6oc-atic=$(%acco(%ta4l,a%2$4(-,a(c-aticH$C%st,a2=$its$ai6$'as$toco%tai%$t.,$6o1,6,%t=$to$s,,$it$.a2$t.,?(i2a%c,$o3$%atio%alistic$a%2$-i?.tAl,a%i%?Nat.olic$i2,olo?(,s$a%2$to$,%s(-,$itsco%3-o%tatio%$'it.$t.,$Golis.$l,a2,-s.i+2i2$%ot$?,t$o(t$o3$.a%2$a%2$'i%$la-?,-i%t,-%atio%al$s(++o-t$3-o6$'o-@,-s;

_a%#$%,'s$co66,%tato-s$-,3,--,2$tot.,$XVM$4,ati3icatio%s$(%2,-$t.,$eG$+a+ac#=a$3i?(-,$t.at$is$t'ic,$t.,$%(64,-$o3$sai%ts6a2,$i%$t.,$+-,1io(s$XTT$#,a-s;$D%,$ca%o%l#$ass(6,$t.at$'it.$6o-,$social+-o4l,6s$3aci%?$.(6a%it#$t.a%$at$a%#$ti6,i%$its$.isto-#$t.,$Go+,$t.o(?.t$',$%,,2,2a%$i%c-,as,$i%$t.,$%(64,-$o3$sai%ts$to$+-a#to$3o-$.,l+$i%$sol1i%?$t.,6;

Ko',1,-=$a6o%?$t.os,$4,ati3i,2$a%2,l,1at,2$to$t.,$-a%@s$o3$t.,$sai%ts$4#$eo.%Ga(l$CC$$'as$t.,$a%tiAS,6it,$Go+,$Gi(s$Cja%2$Go+,$Gi(s$jCC=$$t.,$latt,-$4,i%?$t.,sa6,$Gi(s$'.o$colla4o-at,2$'it.$t.,3ascist$-,?i6,s$i%$S+ai%=$Ctal#$a%29,-6a%#;$Gi(s$jCC$o-2,-,2$t.,$Nat.olicN.(-c.$i%$]aki$9,-6a%#$to$st,,-$cl,a-$o3+olitical$acti1it#=$to$clos,$its$+olitical+a-ti,s$a%2$to$sti3l,$its$%,'s+a+,-s;$Kitl,-'o(l2$-,3,-$to$t.is$Ga+al$6o1,$as$la$?-,atac.i,1,6,%tl$a%2$o3$,%o-6o(s$a21a%ta?,i%$t.,$l3i?.t$a?ai%st$i%t,-%atio%al$e,'-#l;`%2,-$Gi(s8$'atc.3(l$,#,=$t.,$Nat.olicN.(-c.$',%t$o%$to$colla4o-at,$i%$t.,l-acial$c,-ti3icatio%l$o3$all$9,-6a%s$a%2

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D%,$sca%2al$t.,$+-,ss$t,%2,2$to$st,,-cl,a-$o3$A$a%2$o%,$.(6iliatio%$eo.%$Ga(l'as$@,,%$to$-i2,$o(t$o%$4,.al3$o3Nat.olicis6$A$'as$t.,$s,B(al$a4(s,sca%2als$co%c,-%i%?$+-i,sts$a%2$N.(-c.o33icials;$Si%c,$t.,$QYSTs=$X=XST$cat.oliccl,-?#$i%$t.,$`S$alo%,$.a1,$4,,%$acc(s,2o3$6ol,sti%?$c.il2-,%;$<.,$all,?atio%s$.a1,+,-sist,2$2o'%$t.,$#,a-s$i%$s+it,$o3$a

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The division of >urope during theCold War

Socialist !tandard Ma( *++,QT

Hur 1and;dat+0<!an;/+<t.As is our usual policy, we arestanding one token candidate in thegeneral election, in the Pauxhallconstituency in South London, tochallenge all the pro-capitalist partiesand ensure that the voice of socialismis not entirely lost amidst therecriminations of the professionalpoliticians about how to runcapitalism.

The Socialist Party is contestingthis election as a part of ourcampaign to establish a new systemof society: one based on the commonownership and democratic control ofthe means and instruments forproducing and distributing wealth byand in the interest of the wholecommunity.

That is our sole object.By common ownership we don't

mean that everyone should have toshare a toothbrush, but that in asociety built upon our mutual effort,we should all benefit and have a sayin how it is run.

We currently live in a system ofsociety based on a tiny number ofpeople owning the productive wealthof our world, organised and run by ahandful of bosses for their benefit.Their profits come first, our needscome second.

In Pauxhall nearly half of allworkers are employed inadministering business as comparedwith only a quarter in social servicesand looking after ourselves (derivedfrom =001 Census).

It seems we're so busy takingcare of business that we don't havetime to take care of ourselves.

Because of this we have endlessproblems of poverty, poor servicesand all the issues politicians love tospend time telling you they can solve,if only given the chance.

We don't believe any politiciancan solve these problems, as long asthe flawed basis of our societyremains intact. In fact, we believeonly you and your fellow workers cansolve these problems.

We believe that it will take arevolution in how we organise ourlives, a fundamental change. We wantto see a society based on the factthat you know how to run your lives,know your needs and have the skillsand capacity to organise with yourfellows to satisfy them.

You know yourselves and yourlives better than a handful of bossesever can. With democratic control ofproduction we can ensure that lookingafter our communities becomes apriority, rather than something we doin our spare time.

We all share fundamental needs,for food, clothing, housing andculture, and we have the capacity toensure access to these for all, withoutexception.

If you agree with this aim, thenwe ask you to get in touch with us,get involved and join in our campaignto bring about this change in society.Together, we have the capacity to runour world for ourselves. We need tobuild a movement to effect thatchange, by organising deliberately totake control of the political officeswhich rule our lives, and bring theminto our collective democratic control.

Our candidate makes nopromises, offers no pat solutions, onlyto be the means by which you canremake society for the common good.

Oanny Qa,7+rt)*+ S.8;a2;<t Earty 1and;dat+

The campaign office is our 6eadCffice at T2 Clapham 6igh StreetJ SWVWUN. This <ill be open every day andevening during the election period. SoJ ifyou <ant to help call in Zthe nearesttube station is Clapham North[ or phone\2\W ?22 ]^11 or emailspgb_<orldsocialism.org

If you don't live in `auPhall and<ant to sho< that you reaect the policiesof the profit system and understand and<ant the real socialist alternativeJ the<ay to do so is to <rite bSH1PCQPS!bacross your ballot paper.

The Socialist Party is also standinga candidate in the ceneside <ard in thecurham County Council elections alsobeing held on T May. cetails and offersof help to0 Steve ColbornJ V? IvyAvenueJ SeahamJ SNW ^N=.

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As one of the most popularand widely-read poets ofWorld War One, WilfredOwen’s legacy is a body ofwork deeply critical of warand its effects. But whatwas his attitude to theultimate causes of war?

Bilfred -Men V MarpoetW icon < < <XisionaryY

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Limping home: a scene from theAmerican Civil War film5Shenandoah8

)*+ B;r<t ./ !ay"Then turn, and be not alarm'd O

Libertad-turn your undying face,To where the future, greater than

all the past,Is swiftly, surely preparing for you."WALT WHITMAN

It is sixty-five years since half amillion people poured though London,"an interminable array with multitudinousbanners," on the first International MayDay. No celebration, no insubstantialpageant this: column upon threadbarecolumn they came, signifying andexpressing labour's strength andlabour's aspirations, with an eight-hourday as their rallying call. For sixty-fiveyears it has continued, but the columnsare small now. And the eight-hour day?They have it and, so generous is life tothe working class, work overtime.

May Day is workers' day, the dayof our class. However hollow the criesand futile the demonstrations, it remainsthe anniversary of protest, a continualreminder of exploitation and subjection."Class" is the reason and the theme ofMay Day - class in its fullest, truestsense. The working class is not thelabourers or the artisans or themachine-minders: it is all people towhom wages are life. The working classis international: so is its cause. Amongthe cries and chants and slogans of MayDay, only one has meaning: "Workers ofall countries unitej"

Class consciousness was nevermore needed than now. Sixty-five yearshave seen war, dereliction, fear anddisaster; today mankind is under ashadow without precedent. The workingpeople of the world have it in theirhands to end poverty, fear, hatred andwar. Nationalism is not their interest buttheir rulers'; submission is taught, notconceived. That is where the tragedy ofthe May Day processions lies. Thehundreds of thousands who paradedtheir rights in 1890 lined the streetsagain seven years later, still threadbare,still of one mind - to cheer and wavestreamers for their nueen.

To the Socialist, class-consciousness is the breaking-down ofall barriers to understanding. Without it,militancy means nothing. The conflictbetween the classes is more than astruggle for each to gain from the other:it is the division which reaches across allothers. The class-conscious workingman knows where he stands in society.His interests are opposed at every pointto those of the capitalist class; his causecan only be the cause of revolution forthe abolishing of classes. Without thatunderstanding, militancy can mean little.It is not mere preamble that the SocialistParty's principles open by stating theclass division in capitalism: it is the all-important basis from which the rest mustfollow.

(Front page article by R. Coster,Socialist Standard, May 1955)

8ift9 :ears ;go

Socialist !tandard Ma( *++, QS

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A [0-pagepamphlet onAfrica, mainly reprints ofarticles from theSocialist Standard andmainly written by socialists living inAfrica. Marx's materialist conceptionof history and analysis of society is applied to:!!<tat+ and 82a<< ;n :r+>8.2.n;a2

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-eclaration of 0rinciplesThis declaration is the basis of ourorganisation andJ because it isalso an important historicaldocument dating from theformation of the party in 12\VJ itsoriginal language has beenretained.

Object)*+ +<ta72;<*,+nt ./ a <y<t+,./ <.8;+ty 7a<+d u:.n t*+8.,,.n .9n+r<*;: andd+,.8rat;8 8.ntr.2 ./ t*+,+an< and ;n<tru,+nt< /.r:r.du8;n@ and d;<tr;7ut;n@9+a2t* 7y and ;n t*+ ;nt+r+<t ./t*+ 9*.2+ 8.,,un;ty[

Declaration of Principles)*+ S.8;a2;<t Earty ./ Jr+atKr;ta;n *.2d<

1.That society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of living(i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.)

by the capitalist or master class,and the consequent enslavementof the working class, by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

=.That in society, therefore, thereis an antagonism of interests,manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

[.That this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass, by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution, and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

4.That as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom,

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind, without distinctionof race or sex.

5.That this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

6.That as the machinery ofgovernment, including the armedforces of the nation, exists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers, the workingclass must organize consciouslyand politically for the conquest ofthe powers of government,national and local, in order thatthis machinery, including theseforces, may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege, aristocraticand plutocratic.

7.That as all political parties arebut the expression of classinterests, and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the the master class,the party seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

8.The Socialist Party of GreatBritain, therefore, enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties, whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist, andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour, and that povertymay give place to comfort,privilege to equality, and slaveryto freedom.

Ceetings

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SEHI) PS C SP1V SH1PL)W "To amuse or recreate oneself, by activeexercise in the open air; to take part insome game or play; to frolic or gambol."The Shorter CPford Onglishcictionary. That is an

adequatedescription of sport

before the advent of capitalism, it is whollyinappropriate today. Jose Canseco theformer batsman of the Oakland Athleticstells all in his expose of modern baseball,Juiced. "Why did I take steroids? Theanswer is simple. Because myself andothers had no choice if we wanted tocontinue playing. Because Major LeagueBaseball did nothing to take it out ofsport," he wrote. "Before they were swornin, the committee heard emotionaltestimonies from parents of promisingyoung baseball stars who had killedthemselves while taking steroids. Healthofficials say that suicidal tendencies areone of the side-effects of steroid use" TheTimes (18 March). Just another exampleof capitalism destroying everything ittouches, even baseball.

KQLSSLO CIL )TL EHHI"A bishop in eastern Spain has cut hisparish priests' stipend by [0 per cent afterhis dioceses lost up to p10 million (I6.8million) on the stock market. He advisedthem to find the difference by puttingcollection boxes in their churches" TheTimes (1 April). Really good thinking,Bishop. But how does that fit up with theusual homilies you give the poor about"do not thirst after the material things oflife". It seems that it is a good idea for

priests to tell punters but not necessarily agood one for the punters to tell the priests.

4LQ1H!L )H )TLSL ILBMJLLS A great deal of publicity is given todesperate workers travelling half the worldto get a job in the UK but little is said ofanother group of immigrants who arewelcomed with open arms to theseshores. "Seven of the top richestbillionaires in Britain come from overseas,according to the Sunday Times Rich Listout tonight. The survey reveals thatforeigners outnumber Britons at the top ofthe list, with steel tycoon LakshmiMittal topping the table with anestimated wealth of I14.8 billion.Chelsea Football Club owner andoil magnate Roman Abramovichdrops to second place, but hiswealth has held steady over theyear at I7.5 billion" TheScotsman ([ April). Why do wenever hear about restrictions ofmovement or of the introductionof Identity Cards for thesepeople?

C SP1L QP))QL LCISLIThe death of the Pope was supposedto fill the world with grief according tothe newspapers, but there was one groupof entrepreneurs that were rubbing theirhands in glee. "With Pope John Paul II'sfuneral expected to draw up to = millionpeople, at least one consumer group isaccusing cafes, restaurants, grocerystores and hotels near St Peter's Squareof boosting prices to gouge tourists andpilgrims. ... OrlandoSalvio, a waiter at arestaurant near St Peter's.said businesses are eagerto cash in. 'Here everyoneis happy - they're sad in away, but happy in another,'he said. 'Obviously, thebusiness owners are thehappy one'" fahoo Ne<s(4 April). A papal death canbe good business forsome.

SH4 TL )LQQS MS"Former UN chief weapons inspectorHans Blix said Wednesday that oil wasone of the reasons for the US-led invasionof Iraq, a Swedish news agency reported.'I did not think so at first. But the US isincredibly dependent on oil,' news agencyTT quoted Blix as saying at a securityseminar in Stockholm. 'They wanted tosecure oil in case competition on theworld market became too hard'" Canoenetwork: Cne<s (6 April). So eventually aspokesman for the capitalist class getsround to saying what socialists have been

saying all along.

OWPSJ BHI EIHBP) "The drug industry receiveda pasting this week and itwasn't entirely undeserved.MPs accused it ofcultivating a reliance onmedicine in the UK by over-promoting products andtrying to find new markets bycategorising more and morepeople as in need oftreatment. ... we have beensold the idea that a drug ismiraculous, only to be scaredsilly months later and told that

it might kill us. The recent withdrawal ofthe anti-arthritis drug Pioxx, once hailedby doctors as safe and now linked tothousands of deaths, is a case in point"The Times (9 April). "Over-promoting" and"finding new markets" is looked upon asgood marketing strategy inside capitalism.A few deaths is hardly going to stop the

drive for bigger andbigger profits. Sorryabout your mother, bythe way.

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]ar movies traditionally endwith a wide-shot of a carnage-strewn battlefield, with theweary, tattered and bloodied

victors staring gla8edly across it,wondering about the pointlessness of it all.Was it really worth the valour, thebloodshed, the aches and the pains?

So too was the image of the newlyre-elected ?abour government, as its foot-soldiers clambered leadenly on to thesummit of their high command's chosenobjective, Third Term Hill. Never beforehas the ?abour Party succeeded inclaiming this pri8e - all other attemptswere wrecked by landmines and pit-fallslike wages policies, unemployment,national debt, and the like.

Gnder Tony Blair's leadership the?abourites realised that even presenting aminimal challenge to capitalist orthodoxywould fatally undermine their charge.Instead, they have stuck behind him asthey marched single file up the straightand narrow path of capitalist politics, andthus their faction of the Capitalist Partyhas managed to scale the heights oncemore.

The voters rewarded their adherenceto capitalism. The message of the electionwas - forget war, forget asylum, forgetcouncil tax, the British electorateoverwhelmingly expressed their supportfor the wages system's continuingexistence. Certainly, these other issuescaused a few ?abour extras to die suitablydramatic deaths by the wayside, but theheroic brothers and sisters of New ?abour

are now definitively over the hill.Lrom that vantage point, they can see

the eternal struggles before them. ?oomingeconomic slow down, which will crushtheir 'No return to boom and bust' armour.Their shield of the NHS will get smashedby the increased need to build up privatesector health facilities. Their troops willgrow mutinous as Major Blunkett willorder them to fire on their pensions - adesperate attack on workers' pay andconditions to protect capital's profits.

The ?abour Party has been in officefor eight years now. The old Torygoverning elite are in tatters, yet nothinghas changed. ?abour accepts and applaudsthe need for profits. But the demands ofthe state for money are tempered by thefact that the only way to get it is bydigging into the profits of the capitalists.

In a social system geared towardsmaking profits for the wealth owners anypolicy that cuts into profits will cause thesort of political turbulence that haswrecked previous ?abour governments. Totry and appease their base - to build the'public services' they have put at the heartof their campaigns - they have had toincreasingly turn to the private sector, toshowing private capitalists how they cantake a cut of the tax cake if they join thestate in providing the services.

This happy alliance has seen PublicPrivate Partnerships (PPP) and PublicLinance Initiatives (PLI) meaning that thestate has not had to increase its nominalsi8e along with its real si8e. The wealthstays firmly in the hands of the private

capitalists. That has been New?abour's secretweapon. So long asthe economicweather held, thisalliance was good.If that weatherchanges - theunpredictableuncontrollable economic cycle turns nasty- then ?abour will have to choose betweeneating into diminishing profits or turningtheir fire on the workers and voters whoput them in office. Not that there's anydoubt about which option they will go for.

Their new found focus onunmeasurable things like 'respect' - whichsounds remarkably like John Major's 'Backto Basics' - means their devotion to soundand fury has increased. The hollow buglecalls of a desperate commander trying tosound in control.

That glorious leader, though, is nowfatally wounded - a Nelson tenderly kissedby his hardy ?ieutenant Brown. He willquit the field to retire to his millionairelifestyle as reward for service tendered.While he limps on, though, voices fromthe ?abour back will begin to murmur -what was the point? Why all the bluster,the fighting and battling just to takeanother forsaken hill in a pointlesspolitical war that makes a lot of noiseabout making very little change?

Gntil the banner of a consciouslysocialist movement, though, takes the fieldwhat looks like a war movie to some, willremain a horror flick for the rest of us.

!"#ialist Standa&d 'une +,,- R

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/-'0-'(1ntra6 /7nd7n 9ran:;<Corres:Tichard Botterill, 21 AshwellPark, Harpenden, Herts A?W WSX. Tel: 0>5@2 B6DE2Eemail:richardbotterillYhotmail.com.2nd Z [th Mon. 7.R0. Carpenters Arms,Seymour Place, W1 (near Marble Arch) *nFG16d and )arGnH1y 9ran:;< Tues.^pm. Angel Community Centre,Taynham Td, NI^. Corres: 17 DorsetToad, N22 7S?.email:julianveinYblueyonder.co.ukS7ut; /7nd7n 9ran:;< 1st Mon.7.[Wpm. Head `ffice. W2 ClaphamHigh St, SW[ 7GN. Tel: 020 B622K@>>L1Mt /7nd7n 9ran:;< 1st Z RrdTues.^pm, Chiswick Town Hall,Heathfield Terrace (Corner SuttonCourt Td), W[. Corres: W1 XayfordToad, ?ondon W12 9BbNGO6G:7< C. Trinder, 2[ Xreenwood Ct,1WW Cambridge Street, SW1 [cd. Tel: 020 B@KD @>@6

PQ0/&'0S$GrOGnH;aO 9ran:;< Thur. ^pm, TheSquare Peg, Corporation Street. Tel:Ton Cook, 0>2> 5KK >B>2

'-%.)*&S.'7rt;1aMt 9ran:;< Corres: JohnBissett, 10 Scarborough Parade,Hebburn, Tyne Z Wear, NER1 2A?. Tel: 0>E> D22 6E>5 email:johnbissettYblueyonder.co.uk

'-%.)L*S./an:aMt1r 9ran:;< P. Shannon, 71Coniston Toad, ?ancaster ?A1 RNW.

email: lornaYkaibosh.freeserve.co.ukPan:;1Mt1r 9ran:;< Paul Bennett, fBurleigh Mews, Hardy ?ane, M217?B.Tel: 0>6> @60 B>@E$76t7n< Tel: H. Mc?aughlin.0>20D @DD5@E(uO9rGa< Brendan Cummings, 19dueen St, Millom, Cumbria ?A1^ [BX%7:;da61< Tel: T. Chadwick. 0>B06 522K65S7ut;1aMt Pan:;1Mt1r< Enquiries:Blanche Preston, f^ Lountains Toad,MR2 9PH

R-%"S)Q%*)udd1rMFG16d< Tichard Tainferd, 2^Armitage Td, Armitage Bridge,Huddersfield, West borks, HD[ 7DP)u66< geith Scholey. Tel: 0>D@2 DD65>SSGTt7n< T Cooper, 1 Caxton Xarth,Threshfield, Skipton BD2R WEh. Tel: 0>B56 B5262>

S-!.)US-!.)*&S.US-!.)L*S.$7urn1O7ut; and *aMt 07rM1t< PaulHannam, 12 gestrel Close, Gpton,Poole BH1f WTP. Tel: 0>202 6K2B6E$rGH;t7n< Corres: cio W2 ClaphamHigh Street, ?ondon SW[ 7GN$rGMt76< Shane Toberts, ^f High Street,Bristol BSW fDN. Tel: 0>>B E5>>>EE(aO9rGdH1< Andrew Westley, 10Marksby Close, Duxford, CambridgeCB2 [TS. Tel: 0>22K 5B02E2(ant1r9ury< Tob Cox, [ StanhopeToad, Deal, gent, CT1[ fAB/ut7n< Nick White, W9 HeywoodDrive, ?G2 7?P%1drut;< Harry Sowden, W Clarencecillas, Tedruth, Cornwall, TT1W 1PB.Tel: 0>20E 2>E2

'-%.)*%' Q%*/&'0$16FaMt< T. Montague, 1W1 CavehillToad, BT1W 1B?. Tel: 02@E0 5@6BEE

S(-./&'0*dGn9urH; 9ran:;<1st Thur. ^-9pm.The duaker Hall, cictoria Terrace(above cictoria Street), Edinburgh. J. Moir. Tel: 0>K> DD0 0EE5JIMMbYjmoir29.freeserve.co.ukBranch website:http:iigeocities.comiedinburghbranchiV6aMH7W 9ran:;< 1st and RrdWednesday of each month at ^pm inCommunity Central Halls, R0[Maryhill Toad, Xlasgow. TichardDonnelly, 112 Napiershall Street,Xlasgow X20 fHT. Tel: 0>D> 5BED>0EEmail:richard.donnelly1Yntlworld.com&yrM;Gr1X D. Trainer, 21 Manse Street,Salcoats, gA21 WAA. Tel: 0>2EDD6EEED. derricktrainerYfreeuk.com0und11< Ian Tatcliffe, 1f Birkhall Ave,Wormit, Newport-on-Tay, DDf ^Pj.Tel: 0>K2@ 5D>6DKL1Mt /7t;Gan< 2nd and [th Weds inmonth, 7.R0-9.R0. ?anthornCommunity Centre, gennilworth Tise,Dedridge, ?ivingston. Corres: MattCulbert, WR Lalcon Brae, ?adywell,?ivingston, West ?othian, EHW fGW.Tel: 0>506 D62K5EEmail: mattYwsmweb.fsnet.co.uk

L&/*SSWanM1a 9ran:;< 2nd Mon, 7.R0pm,Gnitarian Church, High Street. Corres:Xeoffrey Williams, 19 Baptist WellStreet, Waun Wen, Swansea SA1 fLB.Tel: 0>BE2 6DK62D(ardGFF and 0GMtrG:t< John James, f7Tomilly Park Toad, Barry CLf2 fTT.

Tel: 0>DD6 D056K6

Q'.*%'&.Q-'&/ (-'.&(.S&Y%Q(&VaO9Ga< L7r6d 7F Yr11 &::1MM< cio 21Dobson St, Benjul."1nya. Patrick Ndege, P` Box Wf[2^,Nairobi!Handa. Socialist Club, P` Box 217,gabale. Email:wmugyen8iYyahoo.comSWaZG6and< Mandia Ntshakala, P` Box9^1, Man8ini

*!%-N*01nOarS< Xraham Taylor, Spobjervej17R, Dg-^220, Brabrand.V1rOany. Norbert. Email:weltso8ialismusYgmx.netTristan Miller. Email:psychonautYnothingisreal.com'7rWay. Tobert Stafford. Email:hallblitheYyahoo.com

(-PN&'Q-' N&%.Q*S-[*%S*&SL7r6d S7:Ga6GMt Narty 7F &uMtra6Ga<P. `. Box 12ff North Tichmond R121,cictoria, Australia.. Email:commonownershipYyahoo.com.auS7:Ga6GMt Narty 7F (anadaUNartGS7:Ga6GMt1 du (anada< Box [2^0,cictoria B.C. c^j Rj^ Canada. Email:SPCYiname.comL7r6d S7:Ga6GMt Narty \'1W ]1a6and^P.`. Box 1929, Auckland, NI, Newhealand. Email:wspn8Yworldsocialism.org L7r6d S7:Ga6GMt Narty 7F t;1 !nGt1dStat1M P.`. Box [[02[7, Boston, MA021[[ GSA. Email:wspbostonYmindspring.com

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6o"n3%an3%A"r4f%1"t%no%?hange

A socialist society will be one inwhich all people will be free toparticipate fully in the process ofmaking and implementing policy.Whether decisions about constructinga new playground, the need toimprove fish stocks in the North Sea,or if we should use nanobots toimprove our lives, everyoneeverywhere will be able to voice theiropinion and cast their vote. However,the practical ramifications of thisdemocratic principle could beenormous. If people feel obliged toopine and vote on every matter ofpolicy they would have little time to doanything else. On the other hand,leaving the decision-making process toa system of elected executive groups orcouncils could be seen as going againstthe principle of fully participatorydemocracy. If socialism is going tomaintain the practice of inclusivedecision making (which does not putbig decisions in the hands of smallgroups) but without generating a crisisof choice, then a solution is required,and it seems that capitalism may haveproduced one in the form of'collaborative filtering' (CF) software.

This technology is currently usedon the internet where a crisis of choicealready exists. Faced with a super-abundance of products and services,CF helps consumers choose what tobuy and navigate the huge numbers ofoptions. It starts off by collecting dataon an individual's preferences,extrapolates patterns from this and thenproduces recommendations based onthat person's likes and dislikes. If youhave already made purchases via theinternet then you are probably familiarwith the statement 'People who likedthis product also likedK', which is CFat work. As well as makingrecommendation on what you shouldbuy, it also suggests what you may liketo watch on telly, what concert toattend or where to go on holiday.

With suitable modification, this

technology could be of use to socialism- not to help people decide what toconsume, but which matters of policyto get involved in. A person's tastes,interests, skills, and academicachievements, rather than theirshopping traits, could be put throughthe CF process and matched toappropriate areas of policy in theresulting list of recommendations. Afarmer, for example, may berecommended to vote upon matterswhich affecthimLher, andmembers of thelocal community,directly, or ofwhich sLhe islikely to havesome knowledge,such as increasingyields of aparticular crop,the use of GMtechnology, or theresponsible use ofland by ramblers.The technologywould also putthem in touch with other people ofsimilar interests so that issues can bethrashed out more fully, and may eveninform them that 'People who voted onthis issue also voted onK'

The question is, would a personbe free to ignore the recommendationsand vote on matters sLhe has littleknowledge of, or indeed not vote atallO Technology cannot resolve issuesof responsibility, but any system,computer software or not, which helpsreduce the potential burden of decisionmaking to manageable levels would

!ow would people*ote,!"e traditio+al ima.e o/ "u.e 1ro2d32it" t"eir "a+d3 u4 i+ 1ou+1ilmeeti+.35 or 6ueue3 o/ 4eo4le li+i+.u4 to 4ut a 4ie1e o/ 4a4er i+ a bo85i3 ob9iou3l: be1omi+. old;/a3"io+ed5e9e+ i+ 1a4itali3m< !"e =>.o9er+me+t5 alo+. 2it" ma+: ot"er35"a3 bee+ to:i+. /or a lo+. time 2it"t"e idea o/ .reater 4ubli14arti1i4atio+ t"rou." e;demo1ra1:a+d e;9oti+.< ?a+: ?@3 alread:mai+tai+ 2eb3ite3 a+d ma+: moreare bei+. e+1oura.ed to i+tera1t 2it"t"e 4ubli1 i+ t"i3 2a:<

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2ill a1tuall: tra+3late i+to .e+ui+e4arti1i4atio+5 .i9e+ t"at 1a4itali3m i3o+l: i+tere3ted i+ .i9i+. u3 a 3a:2"e+ t"e i33ue at 3taEe doe3+Ttreall: matter< Ao+et"ele3351a4itali3mT3 dri9e to maEe it3demo1rati1 /orm3 looE more4arti1i4ator: ma: be doi+.3o1iali3mT3 2orE /or it5 3o t"at i+ t"e/uture t"e te1"+olo.: to debate5di34ute5 a44eal5 1om4lai+51o+/ere+1e a+d 9ote 2ill all be i+4la1e ; at t"e tou1" o/ a 4"o+ebutto+<

Co#l% too m#ch +oting /e /a% 2or4o#5

-ouldpeople insocialismspend allda4 *otingone*er4thing,

67cl#si+e9 incon+enient9 time:cons#mingan% ;;; ol% hat;

Socialist Standard June 20054

!"#$%&'()*+

!o#iali't Sta$%a&%' ()$*'+,,- !

! ! #on&t (ook (ike ,-i((ion,ire/ ! #on&t ,ct (ike ,-i((ion,ire/ ! ,- not ,-i((ion,ire12 !eorge !alloway, ,EPECT MP,ahead of addressing theWashington senators who haveaccused him of receivingvouchers for millions of >arrelsof oil from Saddam HusseinAsregimeB Daily Mail, May DEthB

!They chose -e1 C,n&tyo8 9in# it e:en ;ithin

yo8rse(9 e:en to congr,t8(,te-e=2!eorge !alloway again on hiselection victory to FeremyPaGman, from The !uardian,May EthB

!>e e?pect theRe:o(8tion ;i(( cre,te

entire(y ne; genres to e?p,n#the #e9inition o9 :i#eo g,-es/2he s,i# to (o8# cheers in theh,((1Hintendo president Satoru Jwata,on a new console, KKCTechnology, May DE

!Peop(e re-e-Cere# ;hythey h,# (ost tr8st in

Tony B(,ir/ C8t they co8(#n&t see,ny re,( #i99erence Cet;een theTories ,n# E,Co8r/ so ;e (osto8t on th,t12 Lynton Cros>y, Tory Partycampaign director, Jndependent,May MN

!A st8#ent ;ho-isCeh,:es gets t;o

:erC,( ;,rnings/ then #etention9or one ho8r ,n# 9in,((y , #,y inthe iso(,tion 8nit1 !t is :ery r,reth,t , st8#ent gets sent there 9orthree #,ys1Sir DeGter Hutt, eGecutiveheadmaster of three schools inKirmingham, where he hasintroduced isolation rooms,Sunday Times, May DO

Red SnapperSound bites

and unsound nibbles

Ho# free is our free time? S#$%a'%(t %d,a( #-t,n -#$u( #n t0, natur, #- ,23'#y2,nt %n $a3%ta'%(25 6ut 70at a8#ut #ur t%2, a7ay -r#2 7#r9: 70,n 7, tryt# -#r;,t a8#ut #ur un-u'-%''%n; #r (tr,((-u' <#8(= >#7 d#,( t0, $a3%ta'%(t (y(t,2 ? and %t(%d,#'#;y ? %n-'u,n$, 70at 7, d# %n t0, ,@,n%n;( and at 7,,9,nd(= A, 2%;0t ;# t# t0, 3u85 Br t0, -##t8a'' ;r#und5 Br t0, $%n,2a5 Br 7, 2%;0t <u(t(2#9, a <#%nt and 7at$0 t0, 3arad, #- $,',8r%t%,( #n t,',@%(%#n5 C0, 2,d%a 3'ay( a 2a((%@, 3art %n #ur $u'tur,5 C,',@%(%#n:t0, %nt,rn,t: n,7(3a3,r( and 2a;aD%n,( ? a'' #--,r u( 7%nd#7( #n t0, r,(t #- t0, 7#r'd5 6utt0%( $#2,( at a 3r%$, 70,n 70at 7, (,, %( (0a3,d 8y t0,$a3%ta'%(t 3r,#$$u3at%#n( #- 2,d%a ;%ant( '%9, t0, 66E and t0, F#G H,t7#r95 >#7,@,r: ,@,n7%t0%n t0, 2a%n(tr,a2 2,d%a: ant%I$a3%ta'%(t %d,a( $an (#2,t%2,( 8r,a9 t0r#u;0: %n 3#3u'ar2u(%$ a( 7,'' a( %n %n@,(t%;at%@, <#urna'%(25.ur #eekend of talks and discussion looks at ho# entertainment and culture in capitalism shape our ideas and behaviour, reinforcing ouracceptance of the statusquo. A, a'(# d%($u(( 0#77, 2%;0t ,nt,rta%n #ur(,'@,(%n a (#$%a'%(t (#$%,ty5 A#u'dt0,r, 8, ',(( #- a d%(t%n$t%#n8,t7,,n ,nt,rta%n2,nt and 7#r9: a(A%''%a2 J#rr%( ar;u,d=What culture #ould #e create#ithout the dictates of bigbusiness?

Resi#enti,( ,tten#,nce(inc1 ,cco--o#,tion ,n#,(( -e,(s) costs IJJK1LonMresi#enti,( ,tten#,nce(inc1 -ost -e,(s) costsINK1 Concession,ry r,tes ,re ,:,i(,C(e1 To con9ir- yo8r Cooking/ sen# , cheO8e orpost,( or#er 9or IJK -,#e o8t to the Poci,(ist P,rty o9 Qre,t Brit,in to Ron Cook/ JJR,gger E,ne/ >est Bro-;ich/ BSJ TBT1 Pt,te ;hether yo8 reO8ire , sing(e or t;inroo- ,n# :eget,ri,n -e,(s/ ,n# inc(8#e yo8r cont,ct #et,i(s1 Uor -ore #et,i(s/ te(1KJ2J WWN JSJ2 or eM-,i( yesM8topi,XC(8eyon#er1co18k

Talks include:The @ommodification of @ultureAAdam Cuick

The De#s MediaASteve TrottAntiGcapitalism in the Mainstream MediaACrian Hardner

DrugsAMike FosterMusic and KrotestAKaddy Shannon

Mntertainment in SocialismAStan Karker

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Richard Cotterill XNZ]^ O[_Y^Y

!"#I%& (P

6 !"#$%&$'( Standard June 2005

!he recent success of MalcolmGlazer, the US tycoon, in gaining a75 per cent controlling interest inManchester United has once again

propelled the club into the media spotlight,and for reasons most of its fans findabhorrent. Long used to the idea that Unitedwas 'their' club, they have found out thatwhat seemed to be 'their' club was not reallytheirs at all. It is, of course a common andunderstandable illusion: 'our street' is anexpression of affinity more than a statementregarding ownership, 'our town', 'our city'and 'our club' likewise.

It is clear that the vast majority ofManchester United fans oppose the Glazertakeover, and many thousands have workedtirelessly to try and stop it, but to littleeffect. In the market economy money talks,and Glazer has shouted the loudest.

In a sense, the fears of United fans areunderstandable. Although Glazer claims tobe a United fan there is little evidence ofthis (his interest previously has been in USbaseball) and a lot of evidence that he isreally in it just to make money. Most of thecapital he has used to buy his stake in theclub is loan capital, most likely amountingto around £540 million if reports are to bebelieved, and he is keen to recoup thesemonies and pay off his creditors as quicklyas possible. One of his key aims appears tobe to ensure that what is already the mostrecognisable brand name in football has aneven wider audience and depth ofpenetration in terms of its marketing andmerchandising across the world. The otheris to negotiate separate, lucrative TV dealsfor the club outside of the existingarrangements for the Premiership and othercompetitions. Overturning the existingfinancial set-up at United by stealth andangering the long-existing and highlysuccessful management team are by-products of a wider game plan - to makemore profit out of an already highlyprofitable venture.

AdministrationWhatever problems face Manchester Unitedat present, they pale into insignificancecompared to those of many of the clubslower down the food chain. The collapse ofITV Digital financially devastated a numberof Football League clubs, to whom theywere the principal sponsor, and in totalmore than 30 league clubs have now goneinto administration in recent years - over athird. The creation of the Premier Leaguehad previously exacerbated an alreadyexisting tendency for the rich clubs to getricher while the poorer ones got poorer, andthe collapse of ITV Digital was almost thelast nail in the coffin for many.

As football clubs across the UK ailed,so the vultures circled. And most of thosevultures took the form of propertyspeculators, attracted by the land that wasthe principal asset of the clubs. Clydebank,

Wimbledon, Chester and York are just threeof the clubs who became notable victims ofthese predators, with Clydebank beingkilled off by them completely.

The stories of two other clubs thoughare more illustrative than most, combiningmany of the defining characteristics ofinstitutions that fall prey to the worstaspects of market forces at work in sport.Both are also smaller clubs that havenevertheless punched above their weight infootballing terms and have a higher profilethan their size might otherwise suggest,both have occupied land in prime positions

with a high redevelopment potential, andboth have been subjected to highlyunderhand takeovers that have driven them -possibly deliberately - to the brink offinancial ruin.

BrightonBrighton and Hove Albion is a club that hasnow been in crisis for ten years, followingthe sale of their former home, the GoldstoneGround, a sale which was pushed throughwithout the club having another ground toplay at. The two men responsible for thiswere the Chief Executive David Bellotti andclub director Bill Archer. Bellotti, a formerLiberal Democrat MP for neighbouringEastbourne, showed that the Lib Dems arenot all about respect for the environmentand high ideals associated with fighting forthe worst off in society - the GoldstoneGround became a retail park dominated by aBurger King and Bellotti was literallychased out of the ground in Brighton's lastseason there by irate fans.

After a hugely unsuccessfulgroundshare at Gillingham, Brightonreturned home to their present site at theWithdean Stadium, little more than anathletics track with a pitch in the middle andsome temporary stands. For a variety oflogistical reasons, the only really viablevenue for Brighton's proposed new groundis on land at Falmer just outside the city,and for several years now a running battlehas ensued to try and secure permission forthe club to move there, culminating in alengthy and messy public enquiry and thenthe involvement of the Deputy PrimeMinister John Prescott.

While the move to Falmer may still besome way off, what is most interestingabout the Brighton story is not just the wayin which the club was fleeced to line thepockets of property developers and kickedout of its ground, but the way in which theirfans organised themselves to ensure theclub's survival. They became the backbone

/football has becomeinfested b6 the sortof parasites whoseidea of fun is makingmone6;

!he<oliticalFootballIn the mar*et econom-mone- tal*s0 and USt-coon 4alcolm 5lazerhas shouted the loudest.

7!"#$%&$'( Standard June 2005

of the Fans United organisation which fightsfor the interests of football fans in the UKand attempts (increasingly successfully) toencourage fans to leave their tribal loyaltiesaside and to support club's battling againsthostile takeovers and property speculators.

>re?hamWrexham FC's fight against propertyspeculators is more recent and the club stilloccupies its Racecourse Ground home,albeit under notice of eviction. In 2002 amajority stakeholding in the club wassecretly bought by a company owned byAlex Hamilton, a former struck-off solicitorfrom Manchester, who - without making hisownership public - installed his thenbusiness partner Mark Guterman aschairman and front man. Guterman already

had a dubious record as the man whotook local rivals Chester City intoadministration after wages and InlandRevenue demands had gone unpaid andthe water board had arrived to cut offthe supply.

Within a couple of years exactlythe same sequence of events unfolded atWrexham until the club's fans organiseda 'red card protest' directed at Gutermanat their last home match of the 2003-4season, interestingly enough againstBrighton, whose fans supported itenthusiastically having been in a similarsituation themselves. At this pointHamilton sacked Guterman andinstalled himself as Chairman, havingalready been outed as the real owner ofthe club, and after secret plans toredevelop part of the Racecourse landand rotate the pitch 90 degrees had beenuncovered.

Since then developments havebeen peculiar enough to have graced theplot lines of the likes of Dallas orDynasty. Hamilton, whose bizarre anticsin life had years before been unmaskedby !"i$at'()*', was revealed to havetransferred ownership of the RacecourseGround and surrounding land from the

club itself to one of his own companies forthe princely sum of one pound. Thishappened without consulting the WrexhamFC shareholders, thereby stripping the clubof its major asset in an act described byBBC's Week In Week Out as 'completelyillegal'. In an increasingly bizarre series ofevents he was banned from the ground bythe police on matchdays, describedWrexham fans as 'luddites', 'lowlife' and'detritus' and stated that his battle with themto remove the club from the Racecourse was'the most fun I've had with my clothes onsince I was 21 years of age'.

The club's remaining directorseventually forced his resignation from thechairmanship which then allowed them toput the club into the relative safety ofadministration, from which position theadministrators have so far managed to resistHamilton's attempts to move the bulldozersin and raze the site for a retail development

- a development that could net him as muchas £15 million for a paltry initial outlay. Alegal battle over owed money with formerchum Mark Guterman is ongoing, as arepolice investigations reportedly into missinggate receipts, under-declared attendancesand other irregularities, recently culminatingin a High Court injunction battle byGuterman and Hamilton over access toaudio tapes made by a Wrexham fan.

@one6 talksWhile someone like Hamilton may be ahighly idiosyncratic individual, herepresents something much more routineabout the world of business. In a societywhere common endeavour and sharedidentity count for little where there is aquick buck to be made, it can be no surprisethat football has become infested by the sortof parasites whose idea of fun is makingmoney, especially at other people's expense.The market economy creates the conditionsin which they can prosper and seize controlof assets that communities often mistakenlythink are theirs already. The people ofBrighton, Wrexham and many others townsand cities across Britain have recently beenfinding this out the hard way.

One encouraging aspect of this thoughis the vigorous resistance people have hadto offer and of the radicalisation of theirideas in the process. 'Kick PropertySpeculators Out of Football' and 'FootballNot Profit' are the kind of banners that arecurrently seen at soccer grounds up anddown the country, indicative of anothergroping attempt by the victims of themarket economy to make sense of what ishappening and to identify problems to beovercome.

Unfortunately, those problems cannever be overcome within the confines of asystem that rewards vultures like Glazer atUnited, Archer and Bellotti at Brighton andHamilton at Wrexham as a matter of course,and which summons up new rich pickingsfor parasites to squabble over on aseemingly daily basis.!DAP

Where you havegeneralised productionfor the market, theproduction anddistribution of wealth

escapes from human control and comes tobe dominated by economic laws - such as"no profit, no production", "minimisecosts", "maximise profits", "accumulatemore and more capital" - which imposethemselves on those taking day-to-dayeconomic decisions as if they were naturallaws.

In fact, early students of how thecapitalist economy worked such as AdamSmith and David Ricardo thought that theyreally were studying natural laws, but Marxpointed out that this was only theappearance: the economic laws ofcapitalism only arose out of the particularsocial and economic basis of capitalismunder which the means of productionbelonged to a minority class and where

everything was produced for sale on amarket with a view to profit. If capitalismwere to be abolished, these economic lawswould cease to operate; on the other hand,they would continue to operate as long ascapitalism existed.

In this sense Colin Hines, aneconomic adviser to the Green Party, wasright when he wrote in the Guardian (25April) that "Globalisation is not likegravity", meaning by globalisation theeffects of the pressures exerted on thehome economy by competition on theworld market:

"The fact that countries with highercosts haven't a hope of competing withthose where labour ischeap seems crushinglyobvious".

Yes, it is, and this isone of the economic lawsof capitalism, but he thenwent on:

"Yet in Britain, onlyone party has grasped it:the Greens. They haverealised that to helpworkers worldwide we

must stop gearing economies to ruthlesslyout-compete each other. We need newgoals: maximising self-reliance andensuring that trade rules are governed by apro-poor approach . . . Trade rules must berewritten to discriminate in favour ofdomestic production".

But the existing trade rules, as forinstance embodied in and enforced by theWorld Trade Organisation, are not just avoluntary policy option, but essentially areflection of the economic laws ofcapitalism. Globalisation may not be likegravity, but it's not like putty either. In fact,as long as capitalism lasts, it is like gravity.If the Green Party thinks that the trade

rules/economic laws ofcapitalism can be changedso as to stop ruthlesscompetition on the worldmarket, and to be governedby a "pro-poor approach" orto permanently discriminatein favour of higher-costdomestic production, thenthey must be living on adifferent globe to the rest ofus.

Aooking the Books BCD

>hat is likegravit6?

! #nite( )*n +*,es he/ 0oint

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But how many ended up voting Labour anyway?

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pages. The government0 too0 is there toadminister the system on behalf of thecapitalists0 something they do irrespectiveof which party is occupying 1; <owningStreet.

In fact0 though0 there is a sense inwhich the government does not run thesystem at all ? rather0 the capitalist systemruns the government0 by limiting theactions that can be ta@en. The capitalistsand their governments can propose whatthey li@e0 but it is the capitalist economythat disposes. Raising of interest rates0increased unemployment0 devaluation ?

these may not bewhat governmentswant to do0 but maywell be what theyare forced to dobecause capitalismleaves them nochoice.

There are atleast three reasons0then0 why capitalistdemocracy does notmean that wor@ersare in charge of theirown lives. They aretoo poor to be ableto do what they wantto do0 being limitedby the siBe of theirwage pac@ets. Theyare at the bec@ andcall of theiremployers inparticular and of thecapitalist class in

general. And they are at the mercy of aneconomic system that goes its own sweetway without being subDect to the control ofthose who suffer under it.

In contrast0 Socialists advocate away or organising society that will result inreal democracy0 where people genuinelyrun their own lives and are not pushedaround by bosses. Firstly0 Socialism willdo away with the ineFuality of capitalism.With free access to what has beenproduced0 everybody HthatIs absolutelyeverybodyJ will be able to decide on theirown consumption0 living conditions0 andso on. There will no longer be a forcedIchoiceI between a new car and a summer

holiday. Poverty will no longer limitpeopleIs lives and eLperiences.

Secondly0 there will be noemployment0 no employers and nocapitalist class. Nobody will therefore beable to ma@e decisions about thelivelihoods Hand0 indeed0 the very livesJ ofothers. Nobody will have privileged accessto the media and means ofcommunication and so be in a specialposition to influence the views of otherpeople.

And thirdly0 the uncontrollability ofthe capitalist economy will be a thing ofthe past. Production will be for use0 not forprofit0 and there will be no more gluts orIoverproductionI. With all theparaphernalia of money0 accounting0interest rates and the bottom line doneaway with0 there will be no obstacles topeople producing what is wanted.

More positively0 Socialism will involvepeople ma@ing decisions about their ownlives and those of families0 friends andneighbours ? decisions unencumbered byso many of the factors that have to beta@en into account under capitalism. Themeans of production Hland0 factories0officesJ will be owned in common0 andeverybody will help to determine how theywill be used. This need not mean endlessmeetings0 nor can we now give a blueprintof how democratic decision?ma@ing inSocialism will wor@. Ouite li@ely there willbe administrative structures at differentlevels0 local0 regional and so on. This willnot Dust be the trappings of democracy butthe real thing ? people deciding about andrunning their own lives0 within a system ofeFuality and fellowship.!!"#$%&'(('))

,%-it%.is/0s re%. voti(4 -%-ers

Socialist Standard Jun) 200-!"

#n !" Ma() t+e -ranian go2ern3ent4egan 5+at 3a( t6rn o6t to 4e af6ll94lo5n glo4al crisis 5+en itanno6nce< t+at it is to contin6e

5it+ its n6clear progra33e> ?lt+o6g+@e+ran clai3s it is intent on forging a+ea<an< enric+ing 6rani63 for ci2il p6rposes)t+e A6s+ a<3inistration is re+as+ing one oft+e lies t+at it 6se< to in2a<e -raBC na3el()t+at -ran 5ill 4e 3an6fact6ring n6clear5eapons t+at it 3a( 5ell gi2e toterrorists>

@+e -nternational?to3ic Dnerg( ?genc()5+ic+ carries o6treg6lar inspectionsin -ran) recentl(iss6e< areport<eclaring t+atit +as fo6n<no proof of an6clear5eaponsprogra33e in -ran>Moreo2er) accor<ing tot+e E6clear Eon9Proliferation @reat() to 5+ic+-ran is a signator( an< to 5+ic+t+e GH cocIs a snoot) non9n6clearco6ntries <o in fact +a2e t+e rig+t toenric+ 6rani63 for peacef6l p6rposes) oncon<ition t+e( infor3 t+e -?D? of t+eirprogress>

@+ere is not+ing to s64stantiateJas+ingtonKs clai3s t+at -ran is intent on

pro<6cing a n6clear arsenal)(et 4efore t+e -raBi 5ar is finis+e<) t+e+a5Iis+ neo9conser2ati2e 3isinfor3ation3ac+ine is at 5orI creating fear t+at t+e GHis in <anger fro3 -ranian n6Ies 6nless) 5eare s6ppose< to infer) ?3erica pre9e3pti2el( attacIs -ran>

Jas+ington +as arg6e< t+at 5it+ all itsoil -ran <oes not nee< n6clear energ( 9 astate3ent t+at s3acIs of +(pocris( for3an( reasons) not least 4eca6se it 5asJas+ington t+at ent+6siasticall( enco6rage<t+e H+a+Ks n6clear progra33e in t+e !LM"s9 an< t+at its <esire to contin6e its n6clearresearc+ is clear e2i<ence of its 3alicio6sintentions> ?gain) 5+ilst t+e GH so6n<s offa4o6t ot+er co6ntries +a2ing a<2ance<<efence s(ste3s) 5e fin< t+at t+e 4iggeststocIpiler of n6clear) c+e3ical an<

4iological 5eapons is t+e GH itself)an< 5+ic+ +as a pro2en tracI

recor< of +a2ing 6se< t+e3>@+e 5orl<Ks n634er one

rog6e state 9 t+e GH 9f6rt+er3ore feels free

to r644is+ t+en6clear test9

4an treat(so its

5eapon scientists can en+ance t+e GHKs ne5t+eatre n6clear 5eapons an< to <e2elopspace94ase< 5eapons s(ste3s capa4le ofanni+ilating 5+ole ar3ies in an instant>

-ran 9 not so long ago na3e< 4(Presi<ent Neorge J> A6s+ as one9t+ir< oft+e OaPis of e2ilO 9 is s6rro6n<e< 4( GHtroops in ?fg+anistan an< -raB Qco6ntriest+at +a2e 4een flattene< 4( ?3erican4o34s in t+e past fo6r (earsR) not to3ention t+e Sift+ Sleet an< n63ero6s GH4ases in t+e so6t+ern N6lf Htates> Eat6rall(-ran feels a little t+reatene< so it co6l< 4et+at @e+ran is 5orIing on t+e ass63ptiont+at t+ose co6ntries t+at possess n6clear5eapons 9 -srael) T6ssia) -n<ia) PaIistan)U+ina) an< Eort+ Vorea 9 generall( gettreate< a lot 4etter 4( t+e GH t+an s3allerco6ntries t+at <o not>

-n t+e r6n96p to t+e in2asion of -raB)Gn<ersecretar( of Htate Wo+n Aolton 5ascre<ite< 5it+ t+e 5or<sC Oreal 3en 5ant togo to -ranO> -raB) it 5as s6ggeste<) 5as X6stt+e first stage of a fi2e9(ear plan> -ran) 5it+a larger pop6lation an< 4etter <efences(ste3s 5o6l< certainl( not 4e as placi< afoe as t+e -raBi forces 5ere an< GHcas6alties 5o6l< 4e 3an( ti3es t+oses6ffere< <6ring t+e in2asion of -raB 5eret+e GH to la6nc+ an in2asion of -ran> Ho)lea2ing asi<e t+e fallacio6s arg63ent t+at-ran is intent on 46il<ing n6clear 5eapons itcan sell to ene3ies of t+e GH) 5+at ot+erreasons co6l< t+ere 4e for t+ese Kreal 3enK to5ant to attacI -ranYEconomic competition

? (ear ago t+is 3ont+ -ran anno6nce<plans to set 6p an international oil ePc+angeQor 4o6rseR <eno3inate< in t+e e6roc6rrenc( an< t+at t+is 5o6l< 4e in operation4( Z""[> Sor se2eral (ears oil9pro<6cingan< cons63ing co6ntries +a2e ePpresse<t+eir interest in tra<ing t+ro6g+ s6c+ anePc+ange so) logicall() s6c+ an oil 4o6rse5o6l< 2ie 5it+ \on<onKs -nternational

Petrole63 DPc+ange Q-PDR as 5ell asco3peting 5it+ t+e Ee5 ]orI

Mercantile DPc+ange QE]MD^R)4ot+ of 5+ic+ are o5ne< 4( GHcorporations>

Hince t+e GH Dollar +as4een so far t+e glo4al stan<ar<3onetar( f6n< for oilePc+ange) oil cons63ing

co6ntries +a2e +a< littlealternati2e 46t 6se t+e `GH to pa(

for t+eir oil) forcing t+e3 to Ieep t+e<ollar as t+eir reser2e f6n< in t+eir central

4anIs) t+6s 6n<erpinning t+e ?3ericanecono3(> A6t 5ere -ran an< ot+er oil9pro<6cing co6ntries presente< 5it+ t+e e6roas an alternati2e c+oice for oil ePc+ange t+e

!ill$ran )bene,t).

After the ongoingdebacle of the Ira2iinvasion, many people9ill be aghast at USthreats against Iran.Are they serious>

Socialist Standard Jun) 200-./)01)r2002

!!

?3erican econo3( 5o6l< go t+ro6g+ a realcrisis> -t is possi4le t+e crisis co6l< co3e att+e en< of Z""a an< t+e co33ence3ent ofZ""[ 5+en oil in2estors 5o6l< 4e face<5it+ t+e option of pa(ing `a"b a 4arrel ofoil at t+e ?3erican QE]MD^R an< at\on<onKs Q-PDR) or cdM a 4arrel at t+e-ranian oil 4o6rse> H6c+ a c+oice 5o6l<re<6ce tra<e 2ol63es at t+e GH Dollar9<epen<ent QE]MD^R an< at t+e Q-PDR> ?tri63p+ant -ranian 4o6rse 5o6l< soli<if(t+e petro9e6ro as one 3ore glo4al oil9transaction c6rrenc() t+6s en<ing t+epetro<ollarKs s6pre3ac( as t+e fore3ostinternational oil c6rrenc(>

@+e international tra<e of oil inpetro<ollars +as Iept t+e GH <ollarartificiall( strong for d" (ears) ena4ling t+eGH to a3ass 2ast foreign9f6n<e<go2ern3ent <e4t an< tra<e <eficits>J+ate2er @e+ranKs 3oti2es) 5e cannotignore t+e fate of neig+4o6ring -raB) 5+ic+

+a< alrea<( 4eg6n totra<e in e6ro<ollars

4efore t+e allie< in2asion> #ne ofJas+ingtonKs o4Xecti2es in -raB 5as toinstall a pro9GH stooge go2ern3ent an< set6p 3ilitar( 4ases 4efore t+e onset of peaI of5orl< oil pro<6ction) 5+ile at t+e sa3e ti3econ2erting -raB 4acI to t+e petro<ollar) t+6sfr6strating #PDUKs <esire to 4egin 6sing t+ee6ro as an alternati2e c6rrenc( of oiltransaction> -n<ee<) one of t+e first stepstaIen 4( -raBKs pro2isional go2ern3ent 5asin ret6rning t+e co6ntr( to t+e `GH oilstan<ar<>Geopolitics

Je 36st also looI to GH geopoliticalstrateg( if 5e seeI t+e reason 5+( -ran isseen as a t+reat> @+e co6ntr() for one t+ing)is strategicall( place<) stra<<ling t+e Mi<<leDast an< Uentral ?sia an< 36st 4e at leastne6tralise< if t+e GH is to control t+eregionKs oil s6pplies QitKs not so 36c+ t+att+e GH 5ants all t+e oil) rat+er t+e GH5is+es to 4e in control of its <istri46tion) to5+o3) an< on its o5n ter3sR>

@+e GH is serio6sl( concerne< a4o6t

t+e onset of peaI oil pro<6ction Q5+ic+ePperts sa( 5ill co3e 5it+in ten (earsR) t+atePtant reser2es 5ill pro4a4l( 4e gone 5it+int+irt( (ears) an< t+at long 4efore t+at ti3eU+ina 5ill +a2e t+e sa3e oil <e3an<s as t+eGH> U+ina is alrea<( sec6ring long9ter3 oilcontracts 5it+ Ha6<i ?ra4ia) Eigeria an<eenef6ela) seeIing o6t oil contacts 2iaUana<a an< +as pre2io6sl() so3e5+ata6<acio6sl() 3a<e a 4i< for t+e GH oilco3pan( Gnocal> -t is t+6s i3perati2e forGH capitalists t+at a rising co3petitor 9U+ina) itself t+e 5orl<Ks c+ief cons63er ofgrain) 3eat) steel an< coal 9 is pre2ente<fro3 gaining a tig+ter strangle+ol< on 5orl<reso6rces> @+e t5o co6ntries 3a( appear to4e on frien<l( ter3s) 46t 4ot+ are XocIe(ingfor position in ePpectation of a s+o5<o5n>

Sor GH capitalis3) t+ere is 36c+ atstaIe> H+o6l< U+ina gro5 in econo3icstrengt+) sell off its <ollar +ol<ings) GH5orl< <o3ination 5ill 4e t+reatene<>@+erefore) to protect f6t6re GH glo4alreso6rce flo5s) -ran +as to 4e 5arne< 4( GHgangster i3perialists 9 <onKt 3ess 5it+ o6rinterestsg <onKt r6n a racIet on o6r t6rf5it+o6t o6r per3issiong <onKt <eal 5it+anot+er 3o4>

Preparations to t+reaten) an< ifnecessar() attacI -ran are 5ell 6n<er 5a(> -nW6ne of last (ear) -srael tooI <eli2er( ofal3ost a)""" Os3art 4o34sO fro3 t+eGnite< Htates) 4o34s capa4le of penetratingsiP9foot concrete 5alls s6c+ as t+ose t+atco6l< 5ell encase -ranian n6clearinstallations> @+ere +a2e also 4eenn63ero6s reports of clan<estine GHreconnaissance 3issions insi<e of -ran) an<of GH sp( <rones 2iolating -ranian airspace>

?s 5e approac+ t+e final (ear ofA6s+Ks KSi2e9(ear planK) ePpect 5ar t+reatsin t+e Mi<<le Dast to feat6re pro3inentl( int+e +ea<lines of t+e 5orl<Ks press> Je +ope5e are 5rong 9 for t+e saIe of t+e +6n<re<sof t+o6san<s of 5orIers t+at 5o6l< <ie as ares6lt of a GH attacI 6pon -ran 9 a4o6t 5aract6all( 4reaIing o6t 46t +istor( s+o5s t+at5+ere t+e interests of 3ega946siness aret+reatene<) spilling 4loo< is of noconsi<eration> !

S6rt+er info a2aila4le atC+ttpChh555>glo4alresearc+>caharticleshU\?i!"?>+t3l+ttpChh555>infor3ationclearing+o6se>infoharticlejdai>+t3+ttpChha3in>orghin<eP>+t3l!O#N B'SS)TT

/rom2or34hop tocountinghou4e@+e <e3ise of To2er 9t+e 36c+9la6<e<

co3petition t+at is 46ilt9in to capitalis33eans t+ere are losers as 5ell as 5inners 9+as re2i2e< t+e <e4ate a4o6t t+e <ecline of3an6fact6ring in<6str( in Aritain>Matt+e5 Parris) t+e for3er @or( MPt6rne< Xo6rnalist) recalle< a <e4ate +e +a<last (ear 5it+ fello5 @i3es col63nist?natole ValetsI(CO- asIe< 5+et+er it reall( 5as tr6e t+attra<e 4alance <i<nKt 3atter) an<3an6fact6ring t+ings <i<nKt 3atter) an(3ore> ?natole arg6e< t+at 5+ere in t+e5orl< an ite3 is 3an6fact6re< is6ni3portant as long as 5e get t+e profits> -t+inI ?natole 5on t+at <e4ateO Q@i3es) L?prilR>@+e O5eO in B6estion of co6rse is not t+e5age an< salar( 5orIing class li2ing an<5orIing in Aritain 46t t+e Aritis+ capitalistclass> ?n<) fro3 t+eir point of 2ie5)ValetsI( 5as rig+tC all a partic6lar gro6pof capitalists nee< 4e intereste< is t+ea3o6nt of profits t+e( can raIe in> A6t it isstill tr6e t+at 5it+o6t 3an6fact6ring 9so3e5+ere in t+e 5orl< 9 t+ere 5o6l< 4eno profits to raIe in> @+e original so6rce ofall profits is t+e s6rpl6s 2al6e pro<6ce< int+at section of t+e econo3( t+at c+angest+e for3 of 3aterial t+ings) an< 5+ic+incl6<es) 4esi<es 3an6fact6ring proper)agric6lt6re) 3ining) 46il<ing an<transportation>Uapital in2este< in ot+er acti2ities s6c+ as4anIing) ins6rance) 46(ing an< selling)a<2ertising) cons6ltanc( an< t+e liIe)5+ic+ <o not pro<6ce an(t+ing Q<espitet+e3 calling t+e3sel2es an Oin<6str(OR)gets a s+are of t+e s6rpl6s 2al6e pro<6ce<in t+e pro<6cti2e sector> Aasicall() rat+ert+an pro<6cti2e capitalists in2esting a partof t+eir capital in financing t+ese acti2itiesessential to capitalis3 as t+e( 5o6l<ot+er5ise +a2e to) a sit6ation +as e2ol2e<5+ere4( t+ese acti2ities +a2e 4een +i2e<off) as it 5ere) to separate capitalists 5+ospecialise in t+e3>@+e price t+e pro<6cti2e capitalists +a2e to

pa( for not +a2ing to 4e t+eir o5n 4anIers)ins6rers) sellers) a<2ertisers) etc is t+at t+e(+a2e to s+are so3e of t+eir s6rpl6s 2al6e5it+ t+e capitalists 5it+ 3one( in2este< int+ese acti2ities> @+is co3es a4o6t) as MarPePplaine< in t+e first part of eol63e --- ofUapital) 3ore or less a6to3aticall( t+ro6g+co3petition a3ongst capitals to o4tain t+e4est rate of profit res6lting in all capitalsten<ing to recei2e t+e sa3e rateirrespecti2e of 5+et+er t+e acti2it( inB6estion is <irectl( pro<6cti2e of s6rpl6s2al6e or not>@+is is t+e sense in 5+ic+ ValetsI( is rig+t5+en +e sai< t+at O5+ere in t+e 5orl< anite3 is 3an6fact6re< is 6ni3portant aslong as 5e get t+e profitsO> @+e <o3inantsection of t+e Aritis+ capitalist class an< itsste5ar<s) t+e go2ern3ent of t+e <a() +as<eci<e< to go along 5it+ t+e econo3ictren< for t+e 3an6fact6re of certain goo<sto 4e transferre<) 4eca6se of lo5erpro<6ction costs) to ?sia or Ho6t+?3erica) an< to get its s+are of t+e s6rpl6s2al6e pro<6ce< t+ere 4( concentrating onpro2i<ing ser2ices at 5orl< le2el t+at areessential to capitalis3 46t intrinsicall(non9pro<6cti2e) 3ainl( in t+e fiel<s of4anIing an< cons6ltanc(> -tKs a sign t+at 5eare alrea<( li2ing in one 5orl< fro3 anecono3ic point of 2ie5>@+e <ecline of 3an6fact6ring in Aritain3eans a c+ange in t+e co3position of t+e5orIing class +ere 46t it <oes not 3eant+at t+ose 5orIing in t+e non9pro<6cti2esector of t+e econo3( are not ePploite<>@+e( are) to t+e ePtent t+at t+e( are pai<less t+an t+e s+are of 5orl< s6rpl6s 2al6et+eir 5orI proc6res for t+eir e3plo(ers>

:oo3ing the ;oo34 <=>

Sweatshops - sewing what others will reap

Socialist Standard June 2005512

Alot of people were happy, or at leasthopeful, about the TV series JamieOliver's School Dinners. To beginwith there was the famous chef

himself, whose on-screen success persuadedthe supermarket giant Sainsburys to go backon their intention of ditching Oliver as thestar of their TV ad campaign and insteadgive him a contract for another series,boosting his pay to £1.2 million. This wasbecause Sainsburys were also happy; whileJamie was lambasting school dinners theirsales of organic produce went up by 12percent a week. Cherie Blair was happy; heropinion of the dinners her son Leo eats atschool was: "They're not terrific, to behonest. I am seriously thinking aboutsending him with a packed lunch". Theteachers had to be happy in view of theevidence - which was available a long timebefore Oliver got interested in the subject -that nutrition affects a child's behaviour andresponse to learning. A study Food ForThought (2003) by Derek Gillard reportedthat in 1999 two schools in South Londonand the Young Offenders Institution inAylesbury, both behaviour and achievementwere better when diets were improved.Finally, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly washappy because, far from being embarrassedby the exposure of dietary deficiencies inthe schools, she was able to claim that shehad thought of it first, that when she tookover at Education one of the first problemsshe wanted to tackle was that kids werebeing fed fattening, poisonous rubbish inschool.

AdvertisingOn the other hand there were those whowere not happy at what Jamie did. Ex-Education Secretary David Blunkett did notappear to be delighted; in a rare andoverdue spasm of less-than-ferventpenitence he had to confess that while hewas in charge of the schools he "probably"had not done enough to improve the pupils'food. The £280 million promised by RuthKelly, perhaps in a flush of pre-electionfever, to improve ingredients and stafftraining, seemed likely to provoke stresses

among local and national government aboutwho would have to make that kind ofinvestment. Then what about the companieswho make some of the food, like theinfamous Turkey Twizzlers and FishPortholes? Firms like Bernard Matthews,whose persistent catch phrase is "They'reBootifool", would not have welcomed thevengeful threat to their access to thatbountiful market of under-nourishedchildren.

Just how bountiful can be gauged bythe money poured into advertising by thefood industry. In 2001 nearly £200 millionwas spent on promoting chocolate, sweetsand crisps - some of which presumablywent to ex-football star Gary Lineker for hisrole advertising Walkers Crisps. In 2002McDonald's advertising bill came to £42million, including payments to Alan Shearer- another football hero - for his appearancein their TV campaign. And then there werethe firms who prepare and dish out thoseawful school dinners; they were unhappyabout the threat to their contracts with localeducation authorities and some of themmade it clear that they were not about tosurrender their rights without a fight. One ofthese is a company called New Schools but

they do not actually get to heating theburgers or cooking the Turkey Twizzlersbecause they have sub-contracted it toanother company called Atkins AssetManagement, who in their turn have sub-contracted it to an outfit called Scolarest.

ProtestThe Guardian of 25 April reported on aprotest about the food supplied by Scolarest

in the London Borough of Merton. Scolarestclaimed they had not had any complaintsabout the food and warned that any schoolstrying to opt out of their contracts may haveto pay the equivalent of a year's profit ascompensation. Meanwhile angry andanxious parents were in no doubt about thequality of what Scolarest supplies. Onemother wrote to the newspaper that herchildren "have rarely eaten school dinners attheir Merton school because of the poorquality of the contracted-out, underfundedprovisions" and a teacher at Merton, whohas three sons at schools there, said "theunbalanced diet in our schools is affectingthe health of our children now and willchange their health for years. They deservebetter". Unhappily, the protests wereenergised by the assumption that food isproduced and processed - by Scolarest,McDonalds or whoever - in order to nourishpeople. That is a nice idea but it does not fitin with the logic of capitalism's priorities."For contractors," said the MP whoseconstituency includes Merton, "what mattersis the bottom line".

An official concern over standards ofchildhood nutrition is not new. A particularincentive to tackle the problem was the factthat over a third of the volunteers to join theArmy in the Boer War were too small,undernourished or sick to be allowed to takepart in that imperialist enterprise. This wasserious, as it cast doubt on how Britishcapitalism would fight its future wars ofwhich, it was assumed, there would bemany. Better, ran the reasoning, to startfeeding the children now. The advent ofcompulsory education was another spur toaction; in 1889 the London School Boardset up the Schools Dinner Associationwhich supplied cheap, or in some cases free,school meals. In haste a Committee onPhysical Deterioration was established andfrom that there emerged the 1906 Education(Provision of Meals) Act, which encouragedlocal authorities to provide meals at schools,on the well-founded assumption that thechildren were unlikely to get them at home.The policy was developed between the wars

Let them EatSchool Dinners

“companies fight tosafeguard theirprofits at the cost ofmalnourishingschool kids”

From left: measuring the physicaldevelopment of the futureworkforce in the 19th century;school dinners helped feed themup for war. A typical modernschool canteen, and its patrons inthe classroom.Inset: schooldinners providers Scolarest

Socialist Standard June 2005 13

until the 1944 Education Act set out thatevery child in a maintained school shouldbe provided with a meal, the full cost ofwhich was met by the state.

Poverty The 1964 Labour government began theretreat from this high spot in educationservices in 1967, when they withdrew the100 percent grant for school meals. In 1978a White Paper on public expenditure optedfor halving the £380 million cost ofproviding school meals, which led to thelowering of standards and the introductionof junk food. The big assault came with theThatcher governments, which abolished thestatutory duty on Local EducationAuthorities to lay on meals for all schoolchildren and then introduced compulsorycompetitive tendering. This opened the wayfor the private companies which, to screwthe largest possible profit from thearrangement, introduced the cafeteriasystem and the provision of junk fast foodlike burgers and chips. The day of Scolaresthad dawned.

The link between nutrition and healthand behaviour seems so obvious and theevidence for it seems so overwhelming, thatit hardly needs to be established throughinvestigation. Booth and Rowntreesurveyed the extent of the deeper levels ofpoverty in London and York respectively inthe late 19th and early 20 centuries but thelimits to the usefulness of their work can begauged by the fact that when Booth beganto collect his data he thought the extent ofdeprivation to be over-estimated and that inany case the condition of many of those inpoverty was self-inflicted. The problemtoday is critical but in many respectsdifferent. As Jamie Oliver and many othershave found, malnutrition is not always amatter of lack of food but of having accessonly to food which may be filling but isnutritionally deficient. That is itself relatedto working class poverty. At a Diet andHealth Forum in October 2003 Julia Unwin,Deputy Chair of the Food StandardsAgency, said

"Children a century ago were notgetting enough of the right things to eat.British children today are eating too muchof the wrong things. Within the last monththe Health Development Agency hasspelled out in chilling detail the scale of theproblem we face…And hardest hit are thoseworst placed to react - children living insocially deprived circumstances. We aretalking here about a disease of poverty."

So Jamie Oliver may not have beenaware of what he was cooking up, when heset out to expose school dinners on TV.Malnutrition is an aspect of poverty, whichis an inescapable reality of capitalism'sclass society. Food is a commodity -produced for sale and profit - like all ofcapitalism's wealth. That is why thecompanies could fight to assert the legalright to safeguard their profits, even at thecost of malnourishing school kids. It is atypically tragic mess of this social system,that children can be starved as they arefed.!

IVAN

The first attempts by early humans,some 35,000 years ago, to representaspects of their lives through cavepaintings show that art served a

useful social function, as did the use ofearly jewellery to enhance sexual attraction.Many of the purposes of art in capitalist andpre-capitalist societies, such as self-expression, beautification, recording history,education, entertainment and socialcomment, will doubtless exist in socialism,although perhaps not as we now recognisethem.

The nature of post-capitalist art hasbeen discussed by Engels, Marx and Morris,to name only three. As an artist himself,William Morris was particularly enthusedby this subject. In Art and Socialism (1884)he contested that "the greater part of thepeople have no share in Art" because"modern civilization" had suppressed it.Defining art as "the expression by man ofhis pleasure in labour", Morris believed thatart should be the intrinsic part of the labourprocess it had been before the capitalistdivision of labour had divided art fromcraft, and when craftsmen still worked witha sense of beauty. Socialism would not haveart as such but 'work-art', and people wouldproduce objects that were not merely useful,but also had some artistic merit.

Looking at society as it nowstands, it is a fact that most children andyoung people are very creative. For many,childhood will prove to be the most creativetime of their lives. As they get older,however, their creative output lessens untilby adulthood they engage in few artisticpursuits. Instead of producing art, they

consume it in all its various forms, andsome go on to learns skills of appreciationand criticism. Most, after their formaleducation is complete, rarely put pen topaper, brush to canvas, or whatever.Creativity seems to have withered away,perhaps because after years of secondaryschooling when they are prepared for life asan adult worker in capitalism, creating art -unless they intend to become employed asartists - seems to lack purpose. When theyoung adult emerges from the educationsystem, art is not likely to be pursued for itsown sake, for what is to be gained by it?The chances are that the nearest a personmay come to creativity is in an art therapyclass, when it is used as a form of curative.But once the troubled mind has beensoothed, it's back to a life devoid ofcreativity.

In contrast to this, socialism mayprove to be an artistic renaissance in whichmore people produce more art than in anyprevious time in history. The things whichhistorically have prevented them creatingart will no longer exist: schooling, the artinstitution's failure to take seriously someforms of art, the art industry's failure to seebeyond the profit motive, and people whomay think that there is little point creatingart unless someone is prepared to cross theirpalms with silver. But it will not be arenaissance in the style of the 16th and 17thcenturies, which was restricted to an artisticand scholarly elite, and which had very little

Art in Capitalismand SocialismWill socialism be a society in which people passivelyconsume rather than actively create art? In a post-capitalist society, will art exist at all?

Above left: modern art at the Tate Modern.Above right: the cathedral-like entrance tothe same gallery

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Solidarity forTwenty-FiveYears

Cornelius Castoriadis

Brinton/s 0For Workers/ Power/

Socialist Standard June 200516

!"t$%&'(t)*+%&a-italis1&a-italis12%3+%4icto*%72%8i--it29o)tl':;'%<*o(ti'*s%o=%>olitical?co(o1+2%@A"2

Lippit's main theme is that capitalism - as asystem in which "a portion of the profitsreaped through the sale of goods andservices is reinvested, swelling the capitalstock, incorporating new techniques in theprocess, and permitting larger sales andprofits in the future" - could well continuefor another three and four hundred years butthat it will ultimately prove incompatiblewith human life on Earth. This is becauseits dynamic of continuous expansion andaccumulation will come up against the factthat the Earth's resources and capacity toreabsorb waste are finite. This, according tohim, is the basic contradiction of capitalism,not anything within its own economicmechanism or social relationships.

Lippit argues that up to nowcapitalism has always been able toovercome periods of slump and stagnationresulting from profits falling or marketsshrinking. Such periods have always provedto be temporary and in time have alwaysbeen overcome by the emergence of newfavourable social, political and economicconditions for capital accumulation. Muchof the book is devoted to describing whatthese have been over time in America,Europe and Asia. He expects this pattern tobe repeated in the future and sees nointernal economic or social contradictionwithin capitalism that will prevent itcontinuing for centuries. In fact, he expectsit to do so. Meanwhile the globalenvironment will continually deteriorateuntil human life as we know it becomesimpossible (he speculates that, with theozone layer destroyed, humans may have tolive and work underground).

It's a pessimistic scenario, but howrealistic is it? We ourselves have long heldthe view that capitalism will never collapseof its own accord for purely economicreasons and that it will continue to gothrough its cycle of booms and slumps untilthe working class put an end to it. So, intheory, capitalism could indeed continue forcenturies. Obviously, we don't think it needdo, or will, since we think that the classstruggle between workers and capitalistsbuilt in to capitalism will lead to theworkers putting an end to it before then.Lippit says that this is utopian as workers,and even the destitute populations of theThird World, will continue to supportcapitalism as long as it continues to improvetheir living standards, however slowly (ashe thinks it will). The crunch will onlycome, he contends, when capitalaccumulation, and the slow long-runimprovement in living standards it brings,will no longer be possible for ecologicalreasons but that this won't be for severalcenturies.

So what are we supposed to do in themeantime? And what sort of system willthen replace capitalism? Lippit's view isthat, when the time comes, capitalism willhave to be replaced by "a social formationthat is consistent with a modified stationarystate", by which he means one with stablepopulation, production and consumptionlevels. This implies "first and foremost", he

says, that "production must be undertakenfor the use values it affords, rather than forprofit":

"The focus of innovation would be onminimizing throughputs rather than onmaximizing output. The point would not beto bring an end to scientific creativity andinnovation, but to channel it in directionsthat maintain and hopefully improve theecological balance on which themaintenance of human life depends".

We would argue that this "socialformation" could only be one based on thecommon ownership of the Earth'sproductive resources, natural and industrial,by the whole of humanity, i.e. worldsocialism, for how could production be re-oriented towards use instead of profit unlessthe means of production had first ceased tobe the exclusive property of individuals,corporations or states? But we don't seewhy humanity has to wait till capitalism hasnearly destroyed the planet to institute this.It could be instituted now, so avoiding notonly the environmental degradation that willoccur if capitalism continues for anotherthree or four centuries but also all the warsand the destruction and misery they bringthat will occur during this period too; at thesame time, world hunger could beeliminated much more quickly within thisframework than Lippit thinks willeventually happen under capitalism.A"#

B$'%8i='%o=%C(cl'%Do'Stali(F%a%Gio;*a-$+2%9oG'*t%S'*Hic'2%"!I-a;'s2%Jac1illa(2%@!"2%KS3L%MNNO!A!OI

Service deliberately, andbravely, tries to dig forthe true story of Stalin'slife beyond thehagiography ordemonography thatusually represents him.

He presents thecase that Stalin, orJoseph Dzughashvili, orSoso, or Koba - as he

was variously known - was a centralcharacter in the pre-revolutionary Bolshevikparty. He was keen acolyte of Lenin, ahardman - he organised the campaign ofbank robbery and extortion in the Caucasianareas of the Tsarist empire at Lenin's behest,even when the latter promised to cease suchactivities. He edited Pravda, was on theBolshevik central committee and wasLenin's close collaborator on the 'NationalQuestion'.

He was imprisoned several times, andthough taciturn with fellow prisoners, hetook his beatings at the hands of prisonguards with equanimity. During the civilwar, he commanded the Red Army on thesouth fronts, where he proved to be aruthless if not effective commander.

So, hardly the grey man Trotsky likedto pretend him to be - but Trotsky couldhardly criticise Stalin for brutality, when hewas as nearly as ruthless. In fact, Servicemakes a good case that Stalin rose to poweras part of a stop-Trotsky faction.

Stalin was able to present himself asthe acme of Leninist orthodoxy, andpossibly - and Service does make this case -believed he really was creating some form

of socialism in the Soviet Union. Socialists- unlike Leninists - have no need to shyaway from this fact. Our argument neverwas that Stalin was a bad man, a monster(although, obviously, he was) but that hewas acting upon a false and dangeroustheory - that a band of dedicated leaderscould force the world to socialism.

Service makes clear that much ofStalin's apparent paranoia was based on thesimple fact that he and his fellows had risento power suddenly and almost out ofnowhere against the might of Tsarism. Hebelieved, apparently, that a similar cabalcould unseat him - what comes round goesaround.

His callousness was relentless, rangingfrom bullying subordinates at informalparties, to personally poring over the list ofnames and faces of victims of his terror.Service alleges a desire to be at the centreof things, to assert himself that grew fromchildhood and was fostered by hismembership of the Bolshevik party. As henotes, Stalin was among the few genuinelyworking class members of the innersanctum of the party - which goes to showthat having genuine workers in chargedoesn't make that much difference.

In his desk, when he died, were somekeepsakes - a letter from Bukharin beggingto know why he Stalin wanted to murderhim when he was already politically dead,and a letter from Tito, threatening to try andassassinate him if he didn't stop trying tobump the Yugoslav dictator off - as Servicenotes, one gangster to another. Even hisintimate moments were blood-soaked andruthless.

This is a tidy account of the life of autopian who thought that through ruthlesswill alone he could shape the world. As insome parts of his former empire, his statuesare being resurrected and his reputationrepaired, it also serves as a timely warningagainst leaders past, present and future.$S

K(:ict1'(t%o=%PloGal%&a-italis17a*Qi(Rs%Li;$t1a*'%%

On an elevated plateauin western Africa'sGreat Rift Valley liesLake Victoria, thesource of the RiverNile and the second-largest freshwater lakein the world. The lakesupports hundreds ofanimal species foundnowhere else on earth -or at least it did up

until the 1960s, when commercial fishermenintroduced the Nile perch, in an attempt toimprove fishing yields. The Nile perch is avoracious predator and within years hadcompletely wiped out many of the nativespecies.

Almost as devastating has been theeffect on the local human population, whichis among the highest-density in the world.With the decline of indigenous fish stocksand the population explosion of the Nileperch, many of the millions of Africans wholive and work around Lake Victoria havebeen displaced from their traditional

Book Reviews

Film Review

17Socialist Standard June 2005

farming and fishing occupations. Out ofeconomic necessity, they have been forcedto accept positions as wage-labourers forlarge-scale Nile perch fisheries and packingplants. Meanwhile, processing of theinvasive perch, whose flesh is much oilierthan those of native species, has led to anincrease in demand for firewood to dry themeat. This has resulted in widespreaddeforestation and the pollution of LakeVictoria from runoff.

This sorry state of affairs is chillinglydocumented in Darwin's Nightmare, whichpremiered at the 2004 Toronto Film Festivaland is now gradually seeing wide releaseacross Europe. Director Hubert Sauperpresents us with contrasting images toreinforce the human devastation of thefishing communities in and around theTanzanian city of Mwanza. We are takeninside the booming fish processingfactories, where 500 tons of Nile perch arefilleted and packed for export to Europeevery day; meanwhile, two millionTanzanians find themselves gripped by adeadly famine. We see fishermen andprostitutes wasting away from AIDS; thelocal Christian clergy, steadfast in theirreligious superstitions on sex, refuse toadvocate the use of condoms. Ananimatronic fish in a fat factory owner'soffice croons out "Don't Worry Be Happy''while the starving street-children outsidecome to blows over the apportionment of ameagre can of rice. Those who failed tosnatch a handful assuage their hunger bymelting down and inhaling the plasticmaterial the factory uses to package its fish.

Perhaps the most memorable andhorrific scene in the movie comes afterSauper interviews a factory official on abalcony overlooking the premises. Thecamera pans across the grounds andfocusses on a rickety truck being loaded upwith fish offal. "Don't film that truck,'' barksthe official. Some days later, though, Saupersecretly follows the truck to a dirty, stinkinglandfill where its foul cargo is dumped. Theair is thick with the ammonia of decayingfish, and hordes of maggots feast upon therotting carcasses. A group of mud-cakedwomen, crippled and sick from years ofbreathing the noxious fumes, crowd aroundthe pile of offal the truck has left behindand get to work. Every scrap of fish - nomatter how badly decomposed, muddy, ormaggot-infested - is carefully collected andhung up to dry on densely-packed woodenframes. The factory-processed perch filletsare beyond the means of most Tanzanians tobuy, so millions must instead subsist on thisdecaying factory refuse.

Impressively, Sauper does not singleout any one person or group of people asevil-doers - not even the factory owners.Rather, the interviews and scenes depictedin the film lead the viewer to the inevitableyet unspoken conclusion that the capitalistsystem of exploitation itself is the culprit."[W]herever prime raw material isdiscovered, the locals die in misery, theirsons become soldiers, and their daughtersare turned into servants and whores,'' writesSauper on the film's website(http://www.coop99.at/darwins-nightmare/)."It seems that the individual participantswithin a deadly system don't have uglyfaces, and for the most part, no badintentions.''

If the film has any fault, it is that itoffers no solution to the problems itdocuments. Sauper is not at all optimistic:

"The old question, which social andpolitical structure is the best for the worldseems to have been answered. Capitalismhas won,'' he writes with a depressing air offinality. In doing so he parrots the oldsocial-Darwinist attitude that class society ismerely "survival of the fittest'' as applied toeconomic competition between individuals,and that capitalism is the natural order ofthings. It is a discredit to Sauper's talents asa researcher and observer of humanbehaviour that he has no retort to thisuntenable point of view.

Despite the filmmaker's pessimism,the documentary itself stands up well on itsown as a merciless indictment of globalcapitalism. After watching Darwin'sNightmare, anyone who professes to see nocausal relationship between capitalism andthe poverty of Africa will be forced to thinkagain.&ri)tan .ill0r

>*iso('*Rs%Sto*+In the summer of 1953 Rupert Croft-Cooke, a novelist by profession, wasarrested on a charge ofhomosexuality. A few months later heappeared before the Duarter Sessionsat Lewes, was found guilty on somecharges and not guilty on others, andsentenced to nine months'imprisonment. Apart from a few daysat Brixton he served out his sentence(actually six months, allowing forremission) in Wormwood Scrubs. Hisbook, MThe Verdict of You All,M is thestory of his experiences there.

Rupert Croft-Cooke, to judge bythe scraps of personal informationscattered throughout his book, has notbeen too hardly dealt with by life.Well-educated, much-travelled, a loverof things good to eat and drink, hewas living a well-ordered andcomfortable existence in the Sussexcountryside until he was rudelyawakened one night by the villagepoliceman and two detectives. These,after due observance of the usuallegal ceremonial, took him off to thelocal police station, and from then onhe found himself in a world he hadhardly known existed. MThe Verdict ofYou AllM records his reactions to, andobservations of, this world into whichhe was so suddenly and so rudelythrown, an alien world inhabited bybeings he had heard about onlythrough the crime stories ofnewspapers, a world a million milesremoved from the bright andcomfortable surroundings he had beenaccustomed to enjoy.

To those who cherish comfortingdelusions about the wonderful reformsthat are supposed to have beenwrought in our prisons, this book willcome as a shock. The tale told by theauthor is of a penal system grim,drear, unimaginative, mean, anddegrading - to prisoner and keeperalike. It tells only of WormwoodScrubs and Brixton the first a prisonfor first offenders serving sentences ofsix months and over, the second formen sentenced to less than sixmonths ( . . . )

If it is, in fact, an essentiallyreliable and authentic account of lifeas it is actually lived in such prisonstoday, then it is a downright,uncompromising challenge to all thefine words that have been said aboutthe reforms in our penal system. If it isbut half true, it is a grim and sorryreflection on the efforts of thosereformers who have laboured over theyears to improve conditions in ourprisons.

(Article by S. H., SocialistStandard, June 1955)

Fifty Years Ago

#0n1n .utun3iFellow comrades, we in the WorldSocialism Movement Uganda Group, bringto you the bad news of the death ofcomrade Mutungi. Comrade MutungiBenon died on Saturday 7 May, a weekafter having sustained neck spine injuries ina motor accident.

I knew Benon Mutungi as early as atthe age of eleven when we were in primarythree(1974). At that young age his characterwas already formed. He was outrightlycourageous, brilliant, honest and a generouspupil. This has been his character allthrough his life.

We later joined the same secondaryschool and later joined the same university- Makerere University. In 1986 in the yearhe joined university, he fell sick. He couldnot continue his studies for a period ofseven years. After this break he went backto University to pursue his studies andfinished his course (Bachelor of Arts,Geography) excellently. He was called backand did a masters degree.

Comrade Mutungi joined the WSMUganda in 2000 after having been readingsocialist literature for several years. He wasan active comrade in most of our activities.He started the "socialist phone-inprogramme' on the FM Radio in this townof Kabale,writing to the main two Uganda'sleading newspapers, advertising in thepapers the case for socialism, lending outsocialist literature and distributing leaflets,debates and many forms of activities. Onreturn from Ireland for a second mastersdegree, he was requested to work asAssistant Secretary of the WSM Ugandagroup, a job he took over enthusiastically.

Benon died at the age of 41. Heleaves a widow and four children aged 9, 7,4 and nine months respectively. In his ownwords at his death bed Mutungi had this tosay: "I don't think the Uganda government Iknow has ever made it a priority to investin medical equipment to sustain the lives ofMutungi cases. Unless such equipment hasbeen brought into the country a few daysago. What worries me is leaving the worldstill insane and worst of all leaving my veryyoung children in such an insane world".

.u340n5i 6)78a0l9Secretary WSM Uganda Group.

Obituary

!eclaration of -rinci.les!"is declaration is t"e /asis of o1rorganisation and3 /eca1se it isalso an i4portant "istoricaldoc14ent dating fro4 t"efor4ation of t"e part6 in 789:3 itsoriginal lang1age "as /eenretained;

ObjectThe establishment of a systemof society based upon thecommon ownership anddemocratic control of themeans and instruments forproducing and distributingwealth by and in the interest ofthe whole community.

Declaration of PrinciplesThe Socialist Party of GreatBritain holds

1.That society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of living>i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.@

by the capitalist or master class,and the consequent enslavementof the working class, by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

C.That in society, therefore, thereis an antagonism of interests,manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

D.That this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass, by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution, and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

4.That as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom,

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind, without distinctionof race or sex.

5.That this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

6.That as the machinery ofgovernment, including the armedforces of the nation, exists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers, the workingclass must organize consciouslyand politically for the conquest ofthe powers of government,national and local, in order thatthis machinery, including theseforces, may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege, aristocraticand plutocratic.

J.That as all political parties arebut the expression of classinterests, and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the the master class,the party seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

8.The Socialist Party of GreatBritain, therefore, enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties, whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist, andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour, and that povertymay give place to comfort,privilege to equality, and slaveryto freedom.

Meetin1s

18 Socialist !tandard June +,,-

Lancaster Branch MeetingMonday 6 Pune 8pmThe Gregson Centre, Moor Lane, Lancaster What will constitute criminal beha?iour in asocialist society@

London BranchesDayschoolSaturday C5 Pune, 11am to 5pm

THE POSTEWAR LABOUR GOVERNMENT: HOPE AND DECEPTION

11.00 Welcome. Tea, coffee, biscuits.11.30 HOW LABOUR GOVERNED 1945E1951

Speaker: Steve Trott.13.00 Lunch break14.00 DOUBLEEDEALING DEFENCE:LABOUR

AND THE ATOM BOMBSpeaker: Richard Headicar

15.15 Tea break15.30 TONY BLAIR: THE GOD THAT FAILED

Speaker: Simon Wigley.Room 11, Friends House, 1JD Euston Road >side entrance@, NW1.Nearest tubes: Euston,Euston Square.

Central LondonMonday CJ Pune, J.D0pmTHE CLASS STRUGGLE IN HISTORY NO. 1: THE SPARTACUS SLAVE REVOLTSpeaker: Bill Martin.Carpenters Arms, Seymour Place, W1 >nearest tube: Marble Arch@.

Manchester Branch Meeting Monday CJ Pune, 8pm Hare and Hounds, Shudehill, City Centre VGlobalised Capitalism and World SocialismV

19Socialist Standard (un* 2005

Hard work,decencyandpoliticians

Are you decent? Are you hard-working? Do you alwaysplay by the rules? If you can tick the "Yes" box in answerto these questions you should be aware that our politicianshave it in mind to look after you. Both Blair and Howard

are agreed that you are a specially deserving case. In a recentspeech Michael Howard told us that the Britain he believes in

"will give hard-working families the support they deserve.Those people who play by the rules, pay their taxes, respectothers…"and he complained in the Tory election manifesto that

"instead of rewarding families who do the right thing, work hardand pay their taxes, Mr. Blair's government takes them for granted."

This in spite of the fact that Blair has already told the 2004Labour conference that his government planned to change Britainfor better, into a country

"where hard working families who play by the rules are notgoing to see their opportunities blighted by those who don't."And he followed this up in Labour's manifesto, which he said was

"a plan to improve the lives of hard-working families…(and)building communities strong and safe for those who play by therules."But plans to celebrate would be premature. From past experienceany promise by a politician to improve your prospects needs to bereceived warily.Abbey Bank

When Blair and Howard talk about their ambitions to improvethe lot of hard working families they are overlooking the people -there are thousands of them - whose dearest wish is to work hardfor an employer but who are denied this on the grounds ofprofitability. That was the case with MG Rover and with a morerecent, less publicised, example of the Abbey Bank. This bank wasonce the Abbey National Building Society, whose business waslocking workers into a lifetime of debt in order to havesomewhere to live. They advertised themselves with acatchy jingle about getting the habit for being anAbbey debtor, a slogan about Abbey making lifesimpler and a comforting logo of a cheery familystriding confidently into the future protected by anumbrella in the form of the roof of a house. That waswhen working for a building society gave someone ajob for life, which encouraged them to work that bitharder for their employer.

Then the Abbey National became a bank, whichplunged them into a savagely competitive industrywhere they found it hard to survive, let alone prosper.The hoped-for remedy was to be taken over by theSpanish bank Santander, who took a more robust viewof the processes of employment and the reasons forpeople working for them - and presumably of thecomplacent delusions fostered by that advertisingjingle and the company logo. A principal concern for Santander wastheir new acquisition's cost/income ratio, which persuaded them thatthere had to be some economies. These involved getting rid of afew thousand employees, which must have dissolved a lot of ideasabout the bank being a kind of charity.Originally Santander intended to cut about 3,000 jobs but recentlytheir boss, Francisco Gomez-Roldan, announced that another 1,000would have to go, which may not be the end of the redundancies.The finance services union Amicus angrily described the sacking as"an example of worst practice" but of course right - the right of anemployer in the class relationships of capitalism - was onSantander's side. Gomez-Roldan was unmoved. "We want to be astrong competitor" he argued, "We have to manage the cost/incomeratio". So a few thousand hard working people, who would like tobe allowed to continue in that way, are joining the dole queues.Meanwhile, Santanders' profits rose by 38 percent, to £820 million,in the first quarter of this year. And that logo? It too has been maderedundant and is being replaced with another - of red flames -which will soon be on all the country's High Streets.Deception

Decency is another human characteristic which Blair and

Howard promise to see appropriately rewarded. How do they matchup in this? Howard was one of the more prominent figures in theTory governments of the 1980s and 1990s and during that time hedid not amass a reputation for fastidious devotion to the truth. Afterthe defeat of the Major government in 1997 he languished incomparative obscurity until the final months of Iain Duncan Smith'sdisastrous leadership. As desperate Tory MPs began to manoeuvreto get rid of Duncan Smith, Howard was asked whether he wouldbe willing to stand for the leadership. His reply was an emphatic"no," saying that he could not imagine any circumstances, even ifDuncan Smith resigned, in which he would be a candidate. Soonafter that Howard was engaged in a conspiracy with other Toryleaders to nominate him and, circumventing the rule which laiddown that the leader must be elected by the party membership,ensure that he got the job because he was the only candidate. Thisgave the Tories in Parliament the leader they wanted and avoidedanother Duncan Smith experience but it was an example ofdishonest political manipulation.

Lies and inconsistency were an important issue in the lastelection, largely centred on Tony Blair and his deceptions over Iraq,tuition fees and the like. At a post-election meeting of Labour MPsGlenda Jackson recounted a common experience: "I was told on thedoorstep time and again that they cannot vote for me while TonyBlair remains leader". But this kind of attack on the leadershipconcealed the fact that among the doubters in the Labour Partythere was considerable inconsistency, not to say deceit. Let us takethe example of Tony Benn, who for a long time has claimed to bethe passionate, undying defender of true Labour Party values. LastDecember he was, as expected of him, complaining that the Iraqwar was based on "a blatant lie about Saddam's possession ofWMD" and he described the war as "deeply immoral andunwinnable". Again as expected of him, he has consistentlyattacked Labour's "shift, by stealth, towards privatisation in health,housing and education". These doubts should be enough topersuade anyone to leave the party and go into opposition against it.But when the election came Benn proved how adaptable hisprinciples are, by telephoning wavering Labour voters to forgiveand forget and get down to the polling station and vote for anotherperiod of Blair government, with its wars, its privatisation, its lies."I am supporting Labour candidates up and down the country" washow he airily put it.Coercion

In February 2002 Transport Secretary Stephen Byers had toapologise for telling a lie on TV about hisresponsibility for sacking his press chief MartinSixsmith. Byers' indefensible deception wasjustified by the then Education Secretary EstelleMorris by a peculiar, but convenient to Blair'sLabour Party, definition of a lie:

"It (Byers' lie) wasn't an attempt to deceive -he couldn't possibly have thought that peoplewouldn't have known…What I call a lie is whenyou say something to somebody and hope to getaway with it because they won't find you out."

That feeble and transparent attempt atpropping up the unsupportable was all the moreremarkable because of Morris' reputation as anunusually honest politician, the woman wholater resigned from her Cabinet job admitting

that "I just don't think I am as good at it as I wasat my last job" and who did not stand at the last

election because she could not endure the high profile mediascrutiny. In that sense she was an exceptional presence in thepolitical jungle but in another - her readiness to excuse andencourage blatant deception - she was completely typical.

The "hard work" and "decency" we are supposed to conformto and the "rules" we are driven to keep are fashioned by the needsof this class society in which privilege exists by virtue of minorityownership of the means of life. That system of property rights issupported by its "rules" - a huge complex of coercive laws andpunishment - which defines concepts such as "hard work" and"decency". Political leaders like Blair and Howard work to justifythat coercion and to encourage the working class - the voters - toacquiesce in its continuation. But they could not do that through anyclear and consistent statement of reality; to justify the capitalistsystem relies on a repetition of false arguments. So the politicianswho manage capitalism impose on the workers their own flexibleinterpretation of the rules. They need to lie, to evade, to conceal, tomanipulate, because they could not do their job, at which they arenotably hard-working, in any other way. !I"#$

When is a lie not a lie? Er...

P"#lis'ed and printed #0 t'e 1ocialist Part0 of 5reat Britain7 89 Clap'a; <ig' 1treet7 London 1?@ ABC

A Money Saver To mark the retirement, at ./ years of

age, of Sir Richard Doll, oneof the scientists who helpedto propagate the connectionbetween lung

cancerand

smoking,The Obser&er

Maga?ine @/4 AprilCran an article on the

subject. It recalls that DollGsreport of 1.IJ met a very unenthusiasticresponse from the government. "TheDepartment of Health considered thereport for a year. "They set up an inter-departmental committee to advise on whatshould be done", Professor Doll recalls."This said - and IGve seen the report - thatit should be very serious if smoking wasreduced, not because tax would decrease,but because they like people to die off atJI to save their pensions."Could the cynicism of theruling classGs lackeys bemore obviousR Their idea ofthe perfect worker is onewho left school at 1I yearsof age, worked for IS years,two nights and a Sundayovertime and the day hewas due to collect his oldage pension dropped deadin the Post Office. Money Making Kills A couple of workers, one from Invergowrieand one from Fife died in a horrific "so-called" accident. They died trying to get acouple of bob for their wives and kids.They died on an off-shore "accident". Hereis what the regional officer of Amicus, thetrade union had to say: "In March /SSWmyself and another official put a complaintin about the lack of maintenance onShellGs Brent Charlie and Delta platforms.The Health and Safety Executive thenstated in August /SSW that there was noimmediate risk. Three weeks later, twoguys were killed." The Times @/8 AprilC.We should mention that Shell were fined\.SS,SSS for negligence, although as the

TU official mentioned, "In just an hourShell will have made more than what theywere fined." But, what about the guys thatdied, and what about their familiesR Told you, didn't we? After all the nonsense about "weapons ofmass destruction" and "regime change",the real reason for the conflict in Ira^ hasemerged. It is interesting to note thatwhen _ordon Brown eventually cameclean. The Guardian was not shocked orindignant, but could make a feeble jokeabout the deception. "Speaking on BBC1GsBreakfast programme about the war inIra^, _ordon Brown said the governmenthad done what it thought was best forBritain. GWe believed we were making theright decisions in the British nationaleconomic interests,G the Chancellor added.So was Michael Moore right that it was allabout oilR Or is the city commoditiesmarket going heavily into date and palm-nut futuresR" The _uardian @4 MayC.

Our Betters (1) Here are a couple ofexamples from thesame newspaper ofhow the owning classlive. "In a nation @IndiaCwhere the averageincome is still lessthan

\WSS ayear,RollsRoyce

has opened a dealership tosell its \/IJ,SSS Phantomcar after an absence ofmore than half a century."... "Princess Michael ofKent, the loose cannon ofthe Royal Family, has firedanother embarrassingsalvo, this time claimingshe may leave Britain andthat life is too boring nowfoxhunting is banned. Thenews that she dreams ofmoving to France wherehunting is legal, will

doubtless delight critics of the gaffe-pronePrincess, who once allegedly told a groupof noisy black diners in a New borkrestaurant to "go back to the colonies"The Times @. MayC. Off to France are yousweetheartR Bon voyage, Princess.Our Betters (2) The owner of British Home Stores has areason to celebrate - it is his sonGs barmit?vah, so he doesnGt want to lookpenny-pinching. "Phillip _reen, thewealthiest and ^uite probably the mostflamboyant man in British retailing history,has flown more than /SS guests to thesouth of France for his sonGs bar mit?vath"The Times @14 MayC. According to theirreport Mr _reen will spend about \4million on the bash. We reckon that this isconsiderably more than the salesgirls inBritish Home Stores will spend on theirnights out in a lifetime of toil in his stores,but then Mr _reen has a reputed fortuneof \W.W billion. We imagine that this is agreat deal more wealth than his minimum,or slightly above it, wage earners havemanaged to accumulate. There are manyaspects of capitalism that make us vomit,this is one of them. Another is that he hasengaged Beyonce and DestinyGs Child toperform at the shindig. Serves his sonright, at least his daddyGs wage slaveswould have shown better taste.

SeePage 5fordetails

851 years to buy this, providedthe Indian doesn’t spendanything on food meantime

Free lunch by Rigg

ISSN 0037 8259

!ocialist Sta$%a&% '(l*+,--.2

July 2005

socialist standardwebsite: www.worldsocialism.org

contents

)repeated demonstrations do little more thanconfirm the continuity of the system. The point isto change society, not to appeal to the doubtfulbetter nature of its power structures.>

Showbiz Re-visits World Poverty, page 6

Carry on suffering: Greasy Pole,page 19

Seeds of destruction: Marketing theSuicide Seed, page 14

Subscription Orders should be sent to The SocialistParty, 52 Clapham HighStreet,London SW4 7UN.

RatesOne year subscription (normalrate) £12One year subscription(low/unwaged) £7Europe rate £15 (Air mail)Rest of world £22 (Air mail)Voluntary supporterssubscription £20 or more.Cheques payable to ‘TheSocialist Party of Great Britain’.

The Socialist Party of Great Britain

The next meeting of theExecutive Committee will beon Saturday 6th August at theaddress below.Correspondence should besent to the General Secretary.All articles, letters and noticeshould be sent to the editorialcommittee at: The SocialistParty, 52 Clapham High street,London SW4 7UN.tel:020 7622 3811 e-mail:spgb@worldsocialism.org

Unwitting supporters of capitalism?page 6

Iraq, Imperialism and the Anit-War CampaignWithdrawing US, British and Australian troops would only happen ifthe price gets too high, and then Iraq will be drowned in a new bloodbath.

FEATURES

12

EDITORIAL 3PATHFINDERS 4

CONTACT DETAILS 5COOKING THE BOOKS 1 7COOKING THE BOOKS 2 13

REVIEWS 16

50 YEARS AGO 17LETTERS 18

GREASY POLE 19VOICE FROM THE BACK 20

REGULARS

Who Are the Anti-Capitalists?How anti are the anti-capitalists, and what is the nature of theYbetter worldZ they advocate?

10

Marketing the Suicide SeedA seed crop that is unable to propagate? What kind of insanity isthis? But capitalism has priorities other than plain common sense.

14

Enough For AllWorld population is likely to reach 10 billion by 2050. Can the planetreally support so many people? Paul Bennett investigates.

15

Making Poverty History or Helping Capitalists ExploitAfrica?Does the G8 consider Africa to be the next frontier for investment?

8

MEETINGS 18

FREE LUNCH 20

Showbiz Re-visits World PovertySince Live Aid in 1985 there has been an enormous increase in worldpoverty. Against this, what can Live 8 really achieve?

6

Editorial

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_

Pathfinders

Will Socialism be aGadget GeekesParadise?William Morris's News From Nowhere(1890) famously describes adeliberately low-tech socialist society inwhich people have eschewed thebenefits of technology and adoptedsimple ways of doing things, althougharguably he cheats by powering his'force barges' with some mysteriousenergy source he never explains, thushiding his technology rather than reallyabolishing it. Nonetheless, this isunusual in that most portraits of thefuture, whether socialist or not, depict asociety of advanced technologicalsplendour in which all our needs aremet by a range of technical apparatusesonly a voice-command away. Theamount of electronic appliances in theaverage household now massivelyoutweighs that of fifty years ago, andhalf a century from now we mayshudder at the poverty of gadgetrysuffered in the early 21st century. Whilstit is true that all our digital delights areproducts of capitalism, it is notnecessarily the case that a socialistsociety will produce an equal amount ofhigh-tech gadgetry. Because socialistproduction will meet real rather thanfalse needs, it could be that socialismmight be a low-gadget society.

In 1995 few peoplewere demanding aportabletelecommunicationsdevice small enoughto slip into the pocket.Fewer yet desired onethat could take stilland moving imagesand transmit them atlight-speed around theworld. Once the sine

qua non of Yuppies!"Pod " Peer

prestige orpracticalprod1ct2

and then the plaything of the young,mobile phones have achievedphenomenal penetration into our lives andour psychologies to the extent that peoplenow look back to those pre-cellular daysand wonder how on earth we managedwithout them. While the same could besaid for many other products, mobilephones are unique due to the speed oftheir success and saturation of thetelecommunications market, and theunparalleled innovativeness of theirfunctions and features.

Much of that innovativeness,however, is market-driven, and if yourmobile has a built-in video camera it'sprobably because profit, not patrons,clamoured for it. People's belief that theyneed a mobile is a telling example of thephenomenon of an artificially created

need, that is, the perceived need for aproduct stimulated not by genuinenecessity but by the manipulation of ourpsychology by a producer battling forfinancial success in a competitive market.Although mobile phones, i-Pods, palm-topPCs and so on can satisfy some actualneeds, it is mainly sociologically- andpsychologically-induced perceived needsthey actually satisfy, such as the need forconforming to group norms, the desire forprestige, and the belief that a productbrings contentment. And because theseitems are produced to satisfy manipulatedneeds, they can have little use value.

So if socialism will be a society thatrelies far less on gadgets, it is onlybecause it will be a more honest societythan the present one, without artificialscarcity or artificial needs.

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3he 53L57 particle ph8sics detector9 part ofthe ;1lti" billion dollar effort to find a particlenobod8 is s1re exists?

!ocialist Sta$%a&%+ '(l*+,--. 5

Talk about socialism

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SOUTH/SOUTHEAST/SOUTHWESTBournemouth and East Dorset. Eau-Tanna&< `2 He$tre- @-'$e< O0t'n<E''-e ?T`6 5CE9 :e-M 01202 632769Brighton. @'rre$M 3o' 52 @-a0"a&T#5" Street< i'nd'n SP_ kOKBristol. S"ane C'7ert$< L6 T#5" Street<?r#$t'- ?S5 6[K9 :e-M 0117 9511199Cambridge. Bndre+ Pe$t-e;< `0carJ$7; @-'$e< [u81'rd< @a&7r#d5e@?2 _CS9 :e-M 01223 570292Canterbury. C'7 @'8< _ Stan"'0eC'ad< [ea-< Hent< @:`_ 6B?Luton. K#3J P"#te< 5d Te;+''d[r#Fe< iO2 kiERedruth. Tarr; S'+den< 5 @-aren3ef#--a$< Cedrut"< @'rn+a--< :C`5 `E?9:e-M 01209 219293

NORTHERN IRELANDBelfast. C9 c'nta5ue< `5` @aFe"#--C'ad< ?:`5 `?i9 :e-M 02890 586799

SCOTLANDEdinburgh branch.`$t :"ur9 LDd0&9:"e muaJer Ta--< f#3t'r#a :erra3e]a7'Fe f#3t'r#a Street^< Ad#n7ur5"9 J9 c'#r9 :e-M 0131 440 0995JRccjlY&'#r2d91ree$erFe93'9uJ?ran3" +e7$#teM"tt0Moo5e'3#t#e$93'&oed#n7ur5"7ran3"oGlasgow branch. `$t and XrdPedne$da; '1 ea3" &'nt" at L0& #n@'&&un#t; @entra- Ta--$< X0_car;"#-- C'ad< 6-a$5'+9 C#3"ard['nne--;< ``2 Ka0#er$"a-- Street<6-a$5'+ 620 6T:9 :e-M 0141 5794109A&a#-Mr#3"ard9d'nne--;`lnt-+'r-d93'&Ayrshire: [9 :ra#ner< 2` can$e Street<Sa-3'at$< HB2` 5BB9 :e-M 012944699949 derr#3Jtra#nerl1reeuJ93'&Dundee. Ran Cat3-#11e< `6 ?#rJ"a-- BFe<P'r&#t< Ke+0'rtD'nD:a;< [[6 LEp9:e-M 01328 541643West Lothian. 2nd and _t" Ped$ #n&'nt"< k9X0Dd9X09 iant"'rn@'&&un#t; @entre< Henn#-+'rt" C#$e<[edr#d5e< i#F#n5$t'n9 @'rre$M catt@u-7ert< 5X Ia-3'n ?rae< iad;+e--<i#F#n5$t'n< Pe$t i't"#an< AT5 6OP9:e-M 01506 462359A&a#-M &attl+$&+e791$net93'9uJ

WALESSwansea branch. 2nd c'n< k9X00&<On#tar#an @"ur3"< T#5" Street9 @'rre$M6e'11re; P#--#a&$< `d ?a0t#$t Pe--Street< Paun Pen< S+an$ea SB` 6I?9:e-M 01792 643624Cardiff and District. J'"n Ja&e$< 6kC'&#--; EarJ C'ad< ?arr; @I62 6CC9

:e-M 01446 405636

INTERNATIONAL CONTACTSAFRICAGambia. World of Free Access. 3o' 2`['7$'n St< ?enYu-9Kenya9 Eatr#3J Kde5e< EQ ?'8 56_2L<Ka#r'7#Uganda9 S'3#a-#$t @-u7< EQ ?'8 2`k<Ha7a-e9 A&a#-M+&u5;enW#l;a"''93'&Swaziland. cand#a Kt$"aJa-a< EQ ?'8dL`< canW#n#

EUROPEDenmark. 6ra"a& :a;-'r< S0'7YerFeY`kX< [HDL220< ?ra7rand9Germany9 K'r7ert9 A&a#-M+e-t$'W#a-#$&u$l5&89net:r#$tan c#--er9 A&a#-M0$;3"'nautln't"#n5#$rea-93'&Norway9 C'7ert Sta11'rd9 A&a#-M"a--7-#t"el;a"''93'&

COMPANION PARTIESOVERSEASWorld Socialist Party of Australia.E9 Q9 ?'8 `266 K'rt" C#3"&'nd X`2`<f#3t'r#a< Bu$tra-#a99 A&a#-M3'&&'n'+ner$"#0l;a"''93'&9auSocialist Party of Canada/PartiSocialiste du Canada. ?'8 _2L0<f#3t'r#a ?9@9 fLp XpL @anada9 A&a#-MSE@l#na&e93'&World Socialist Party (New Zealand)E9Q9 ?'8 `d2d< Bu3J-and< KR< Ke+nea-and9 A&a#-M+$0nWl+'r-d$'3#a-#$&9'r5 World Socialist Party of the UnitedStates E9Q9 ?'8 __02_k< ?'$t'n< cB02`__ OSB9 A&a#-M+$07'$t'nl&#nd$0r#n593'&

/ontact 2etails

6 !ocialist Sta$%a&% '(l*+,--.

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Show Biz Re-visitsWorld Poverty

Can Live 8 and the host of attendant charitiescampaigning this month really make a difference toworld poverty?

)protest tends to seta stage for furtherprotest and furtherdemonstrations>

k!ocialist Sta$%a&%+ '(l*+,--.

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PIETER LAWRENCE

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Cooking the Books (1)

The Right toWork AllHours

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JOHN BISSETT

)The protesters at theG8 are united insupporting capitalism>

!ocialist Sta$%a&% '(l*+,--.

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`0

Who Are the Anti-Capitalists?

Does the anti-capitalist movement really want "anotherworld" as it claims, or just another form of capitalism?

5nti"globalisation protesters in Mashington9NOOO?

!ocialist Sta$%a&%+ '(l*+,--.o01231& ,--4 ``

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ADAM BUICK

)The anti-capitalistmovement isdoomed to failure>

Pa;es B1rnha;

!ocialist Sta$%a&% '(l*+,--..`2

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Iraq,imperialismand the anti-warcampaign

)We may beginto take Iraqidemocracy andsovereigntyseriously whenthe USgovernment iswilling toaccept an orderfrom an electedIraqigovernmentthat US forcesleave Iraq.>

!ocialist Sta$%a&%+ '(l*+,--. `X

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Maiting in the wings2

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Cooking the Books (2)

!ocialist Sta$%a&% '(l*+,--..

In the second week of February the UnitedNations convened a meeting in Bangkok that,despite its importance, failed to makenewspaper headlines or feature anywhere in

news broadcasts. The lack of apparentnewsworthiness, however, belies the meeting'ssignificance, for in time the issue under discussioncould well turn out to have profoundconsequences for the world's food supply.

At this meeting the Canadian governmentattempted to overturn the 1998 internationalmoratorium on the commercialisation of 'sterilegene technology.' The Canadian delegation,acting on behalf of the multinational seedcompanies as well as the US government - not aparty to the UN Biodiversity Convention - fiercelyattacked a UN report which urged governmentsthroughout the world to ban this particularly nastybranch of GM technology. A reversal of the currentmoratorium would permit the unleashing of what isknown as the Terminator seedwith devastatingconsequences to farmers,particularly in theundeveloped world.

So why should this issuecause so much concern? TheUS Department of Agriculturefirst developed Terminatortechnology in conjunction withmultinational seedcorporations in the late 1990s.The primary inventor of thistechnology, Melvin J. Oliver ofthe United States Departmentof Agriculture, explained: "Ourmission is to protect USagriculture and to make uscompetitive in the face offoreign competition. Withoutthis, there is no way ofprotecting the patented seedtechnology"(www.earthisland.org). The avowed aim was toprotect the investment in the production ofsuperior genetically modified seeds. It gavescientists the ability to modify plants that wouldproduce seeds that grow to maturity but would beincapable of germinating if planted. Put simply,this means that while farmers will get a good cropin the first year of sowing, if they try to saveharvested seed for planting in the following yearthe crop will be sterile, hence the name'Terminator'.

When the discovery was made public in1998 it provoked global condemnation, particularlyfrom Asian and African countries and the UNConvention on Biological Diversity was compelledto impose a moratorium on its furtherdevelopment. To all intents and purposes, theissue seemed closed, although this did not deterthe seed corporations from continuing theirresearch and registering patent rights over areasof this technology.

Better than patentsCommercialising Terminator would have a

devastating impact on an estimated 1.4 billion ofthe world's poorest farmers who depend on 'savedseeds' and who exchange seed to develop newvarieties suited to their growing conditions as aprimary source of seed stock, and hence food. Inpractice genetically modified Terminator seeds willbe neither affordable nor relevant to the needs of

farmers in the undeveloped world. Terminator or'suicide seeds' have been developed to preventthe successful sowing of 'saved seeds,' with aview to forcing farmers to purchase new seedevery year and making them reliant on the seedmarket dominated by the gene corporations. As ameans of controlling seed usage this biologicalsolution is more permanent and infinitely moreeffective than patent or legal restrictions that seekto deny farmers the right to raise their own seedbank. In short Terminator has been developedsolely to maximise the profits of the seed industry.

Half of the world's population cannot affordto buy new seed every year and typically dependon 'saved seed' and their skills to adapt a blend ofvarieties to suit growing conditions. Reversing themoratorium would enable the profit-seeking seedindustry to enter completely "new sectors of theseed market - especially in self-pollinating seedssuch as wheat, rice, cotton, soybeans, oats andsorghum" (www.earthisland.org). Until recentlyagribusiness had paid scant regard to crops grownin undeveloped countries, mainly because theindustry had been unable to control seedreproduction. Those advocating sterile genetechnology claim it could be a boon toundeveloped countries because the corporationsthat have developed new and better seed wouldthen have the means of protecting theirinvestment and could concentrate on thedevelopment of seeds suited to undevelopedcountries, hitherto ignored, without having thisinvestment undermined.

There can be little doubt that if Terminator isbrought to market the logic of profit will mean themultinational seed corporations will seek tointroduce genetic seed sterility into all geneticallymodified seeds offered for sale. Within a shorttime this could mean that the world's two mostimportant food crops - wheat and rice, on whichthree-quarters of the world's poorest peopledepend - would come under the control of theseed monopolies. The notes to the first Terminatorpatent lodged by Delta and Pine Land explainedthat the company intended to make its technologywidely available to competitors, but this was so asto penetrate the market with Terminator seed asquickly as possible and across as many varietiesof crops as is feasible.

Investment follows profits and if the staplecrops of the undeveloped countries can be 'tiedup' by Terminator, investment will pour into theseed corporations commercially producing seedwhere market sales can be guaranteed year onyear. It can be no coincidence that the agriculturalchemical corporations including DuPont, DowCorning, Novartis, AgroEvo, and Monsanto haveacquired major interests in the seed breedingindustry where the ten largest corporations control40 percent of the global seed market.

Not surprisingThe UN Bangkok meeting did not, however,

Marketing thesuicide seed

!ocialist Sta$%a&%+ '(l*+,--. `5

conclude in the way the seed corporationshad expected. Governments nurturing GMindustries not as advanced as those of theUS and Canada intervened to thwart theintentions of Canadian government andthe multinational corporations. We shouldnot be surprised by the stance of theCanadian government because it is therole of governments to act in the interestof the class who live by profit and it is onlydoing what is wanted by its masters. Buteven though the de facto moratoriumremains intact the Terminator issue is still

on the negotiating table. Itwill be discussed at thenext UN Convention ofBiodiversity in March 2006and the meeting of the G8in Scotland this monthand every otheropportunity thereafter. Themultinationals smell bloodand have moved up agear to bring the 'suicideseed' to market.

It is unimaginablethat in any sane societyscientists in GMtechnology would wish toidentify and develop aterminator gene - only asociety motivated by profit

could consider this worthwhile with noother conceivable purpose than to boostprofits to those who sell it. But this iscapitalism.

It is often claimed that science isneutral - being neither good nor bad. Thisis an abstraction that ignores the socialrelations, the social context in whichscience develops and fails to address thequestion - 'who benefits '? Technology isalmost always directed to themaximisation of profit and frequently has adetrimental impact on the environment or

human well-being. With the pool ofscientific knowledge reputedly doublingevery twelve months people tend to beintimidated by 'science,' with no choice butto place reliance on so-called 'experts'who generally conceal a vested interestwhen urging a particular development.The real decisions that influence the worldare made in secret and because we live ina society where the interests of the classthat own the corporations and companiesreign supreme, maximising profits willalways head the agenda.

The prudent application of GMtechnology could be of some benefit tohumanity and may be developed insocialism where food will be producedsimply to feed people and not for profit.But like so many other scientificdevelopments, the emergence ofTerminator demonstrates that certainareas of science can become extremelydangerous when left in the hands of thosewhose only motivation is profit. Incapitalism profit will always prevail overhuman need and research will normally befunded only into areas where profit can bemaximised - regardless of theconsequences on human welfare and theplanet on which we depend. !STEVE TROTT

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1''d t' Jee0 0e'0-e a-#Fe and $at#$1; t"e#r ta$te 7ud$ 7e a&atter '1 3utDt"r'at 3'&0et#t#'nZ P";< #ndeed< $"'u-d -#1e #n5enera- 7e a &atter '1 3'&0et#n5 +#t" 't"er$ and t"ere7;7e#n5 e#t"er a +#nner 'r a -'$erZ @'&0et#t#'n &a; 7e 1#ne 'nt"e 1''t7a-- 1#e-d 'r t"e 7ad&#nt'n 3'urt< 7ut #t #$ n't t"e +a;t' 'r5an#$e t"e 0r'du3t#'n '1 1''d 'r an;t"#n5 e-$e9 Ee'0-e 3an+'rJ t'5et"er D +#t" ea3" 't"er and +#t" t"e 0-anet 'n +"#3"+e a-- -#Fe D t' &aJe t"at +'rJ &'re 0-ea$ant and enY';a7-eand t' 0r'du3e t"#n5$< #n3-ud#n5 1''d< t"at 0e'0-e rea--; +ant9?ut t' a3"#eFe t"at +#-- need a reF'-ut#'n #n t"e +a; t"e +'r-d#$ 'r5an#$ed9 !PAUL BENNET

Enough for All

5 balanced diet for h1;anit8 is not be8ond 1s

)Why should thework ofproducing foodto keep peoplealive and satisfytheir taste budsbe a matter ofcut-throatcompetition?>

7terile seeds "1ni;aginable in an8 sanesociet89 b1t capitalis; isnot a sane societ8

!ocialist Sta$%a&% '(l*+,--.`6

MAKEJ.K:3A:K are part of the0issentL NetworM of resistanceagainst the G?O The groupadheres to the PallmarMs of

Peoples' Global Action which call for arejection of capitalism through civildisobedience and non-violent direct actionO

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j'ur$ 1'r +'r-d $'3#a-#$&E#er$ T'7$'n

Book 5eviewsOpen letter to some anti-capitalists Radical Politics in Modern Ireland.

The Irish Socialist Republican Party1896-1904. David Lynch. IrishAcademic Press. i39.

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Africa: a Marxian AnalysisA 30-page pamphlet written by socialistsliving in Africa consisting mainly ofreprints from The Socialist Standard.Marx’s materialist conception of historyand analysis of society is applied to:

!!""State and class in pre-colonial West Africa

!!""Early 20th Century South Africa!!""Colonialism and Capitalism!!""Religion, Race and Class!!""Sharia Law in Nigeria!!""Education system in GhanaAvailable from The Socialist Party, 52Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN£1 (£1.35 by post). Cheques payable to ‘The Socialist Party of Great Britian’

`k!ocialist Sta$%a&%+ '(l*+,--.

Is it Foolish?The following appeared in the

Stratford Express (3 June 1955):-

"HOW FOOLISH"

"It seems so simple to put a crossagainst the name of a chosen candidate- so simple that it is almost impossible togo wrong. Yet in these local divisionsscores of people wasted their votes byspoiling papers in one of a variety ofways. In one of the West Ham divisions,for instance, there were 40 spoilt papers.Some people had added their name andaddress; some had scrawled the lettersS.P.G.B. (Socialist Party of Great Britain)on the paper, while others had voted foreach of the candidates and a few hadput the paper in the ballot boxcompletely blank. An indication of theirstate of mind, perhaps!"

It is, of course, the reference to theS.P.G.B. that concerns us, and it has tobe taken in conjunction with thestatement that it is "so simple to put across against the name of a chosencandidate." But suppose you don'tchoose either candidate. Suppose youare one of the million and a half formerLabour voters who could discern so littledifference between the parties that itwasn't worthwhile voting.

Or, again, suppose you are aSocialist and do not want Capitalism atall, not Labour-administered Capitalismor Tory-administered Capitalism? Whatshould you do then? Is it foolish to showon the ballot paper what you do want? Ithas any rate had the merit that it caughtthe attention of the Stratford Express.

Of course Socialists would prefer tohave their own Socialist candidates tovote for, but the Labour, Tory and Liberalparties, by agreement on the £150deposit, made it very difficult for a smallorganisation to enter the field.

(From The Socialist Standard, July1955)

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Britain in Numbers: The EssentialStatistics by Simon Briscoe(Politico's, 2005) £14.99

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A Country Walk in HertfordshireSunday 17 July 2005 at

11.00am

Six and a half miles, including apub stop

Meet at Bishopes Stortford RailwayStation (by rail: London Liverpool

Street to Bishopes Stortford).

Further Information:Vincent Otter

07905 791638 or 020 8361 3017Richard Botterill

01582 764929

2eclaration of PrinciplesThis declaration is the basis of ourorganisation and, because it isalso an important historicaldocument dating from theformation of the party in 1904, itsoriginal language has beenretained.

ObjectThe establishment of a systemof society based upon thecommon ownership anddemocratic control of themeans and instruments forproducing and distributingwealth by and in the interest ofthe whole community.

Declaration of PrinciplesThe Socialist Party of GreatBritain holds

1.That society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of living(i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.)

by the capitalist or master class,and the consequent enslavementof the working class, by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

2.That in society, therefore, thereis an antagonism of interests,manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

3.That this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass, by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution, and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

4.That as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom,

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind, without distinctionof race or sex.

5.That this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

6.That as the machinery ofgovernment, including the armedforces of the nation, exists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers, the workingclass must organize consciouslyand politically for the conquest ofthe powers of government,national and local, in order thatthis machinery, including theseforces, may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege, aristocraticand plutocratic.

7.That as all political parties arebut the expression of classinterests, and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the the master class,the party seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

8.The Socialist Party of GreatBritain, therefore, enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties, whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist, andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour, and that povertymay give place to comfort,privilege to equality, and slaveryto freedom.

Meetings

`L !ocialist Sta$%a&% '(l*+,--.

VOTING AND DEMOCRACY;MEANS AND ENDS:"e June Pathfinders 0a5e +a$ #n t+'0art$ UP'u-d 0e'0-e #n $'3#a-#$& $0enda-- da; F't#n5 'n eFer;t"#n5ZU ]$&a--0r#nt^ and UT'+ +'u-d 0e'0-e F'teZU]7#55er 0r#nt^9 :"e $&a-- 0r#nt t'-d u$a7'ut U3'--a7'rat#Fe 1#-ter#n5U ]@I^$'1t+are9 [eFe-'0ed 1'r 3a0#ta-#$t&arJet#n5 0ur0'$e$ and 0r'du3#n5re3'&&endat#'n$ 7a$ed 'n 0e'0-e/$ -#Je$and d#$-#Je$< @I 3an a00arent-; 7e u$ed #n$'3#a-#$& t' $t'0 u$ F't#n5 a-- da; 'neFer;t"#n59

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B33'rd#n5 t' a `dL0/$ 0'0 $'n5<F#de' J#--ed t"e rad#' $tar9 Rt d#dn/t9 ?''J$are $a#d t' 7e 'n t"e +a; 'ut9 :"e; aren/tD 7ut t"e; d' "aFe ne+ te3"n'-'5;3'&0et#t'r$9 :"#$ a00-#e$ t' de7at#n5<d#$0ut#n5< a00ea-#n5< 3'&0-a#n#n5<3'n1eren3#n5 and F't#n59 j'u 3an d't"e$e t"#n5$ d#re3t-;< &'re 'r -e$$ 1a3eDt'D1a3e +#t" 't"er 0e'0-e9 Qr ;'u 3an 5' a-#tt-e 'r a -'n5 +a; 'n t"e r'ad t' "u&anDt'D&a3"#ne Ure-at#'n$"#0$U9 :"e 3"'#3e #$;'ur$9 S:BK EBCHAC ]7; eD&a#-^9

Letters

ChiswickTueday 19 July 8pmShowing of film C5P!35L!7M 5SD U!D7V73WCCCommittee Room, Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace(corner Sutton Court Road), W4(nearest tube: Chiswick Park)

Edinburgh BranchSunday 3 July, 3pm

The G8 SummitQuakers Friends Meeting House, Victoria Terrace(above Victoria St.)contact email JIMMY@jmoir29.freeserve.co.ukmatt@wsmweb.fsnet.co.ukajsc21755@blueyonder.co.uk

Manchester BranchMeetingsMonday 25 July, 8pm Discussion on CharitySaturday 30 July, 2 pmWhy You Should Be a SocialistHare and Hounds, Shudehill, City Centre

Lancaster BranchMonday, 18 July, 8pm (ring to confirm)What will constitute criminal behaviourin socialism?The Gregson Centre, Moor Lane, LancasterEnquiries: 01524 383798

`d!ocialist Sta$%a&%+ '(l*+,--.

Labourwins in1945It was the war whatdone it

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'1 0a0er +"#3"< "e a$$ured u$< $"'+ed t"at "e "ad 3-eFer-; arran5ed 1'r0ea3e #n 'ur t#&e9 B ;ear -ater +e 1'und #t +a$ #n 1a3t +ar #n 'ur t#&e<+#t" $er#'u$ Nue$t#'n$ a7'ut t"e @"a&7er-a#n 5'Fern&ent D a7'ut #t$3'&0-a3en3;< #ne0t#tude and 3'--u$#'n +#t" KaW# 6er&an;9

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5ttleeGs NOXYLabo1rBovern;ent "[1st as 3or8 backthen

Brazilian GenocideBrazil had an estimated six millionindigenous people when the Portuguesearrived in 1500. Today there are 700,000out of a population of 183 million. Indiantribes have been frequent victims ofmassacres and agents from Brazil'sNational Indian Foundation fear that moretribal groups are in danger of genocide.They base this on a local court rulinglifting the protection order on tribal landsthat allows loggers and ranchers newaccess. "A boom in prices for SouthAmerican beef, soy and timber hassparked a surge in land grabs directedagainst indigenous groups by ranchersand loggers inother parts of thecontinent aswell." (Times, 18May) More profitsequal moredeaths, it wasever so.The CrazySociety Only capitalismwith its rapaciousdrive to makemoney couldproduce thefollowing crazysituation. "Whitewristbands soldby the MakePoverty Historycoalition weremade in Chinesefactories accusedof using forced labour, it has beendisclosed. The fashionable whitewristbands, worn by celebrities andpoliticians, including Tony Blair, weremade for a coalition of charities as asymbol of its 2005 campaign to endextreme poverty." (Independent, 30 May)As long as there is a couple of bucks tobe made, there is nothing the owningclass won't stoop to!

The New Elite "South Africa's mining magnates andmillionaires have been meeting in theimposing Rand Club in downtownJohannesburg for more than a century. ...Built on the wealth of the largestgoldmine in the world and the sweat ofblack labour, the club's membership was,until a few years ago, closed to SouthAfrica's blacks. But these days, there's anew breed of tycoon walking the club'swood-panelled corridors and sippingwhiskey in its stuffed leather chairs. Ablack elite has crossed over from politicsand the ruling African National Congress(ANC). Rand Club members over the

past few years haveincluded CyrilRamaphosa, 52, oneof South Africa'srichest men, who wasonce touted as apossible successor toNelson Mandela, andTokyo Sexwale, also52, another politicianturned capitalist."(Time, 6June) Theresult of all thoseyears of sacrifice andeffort by workers toget rid of apartheidhas come to this! Rich Pickings The gap between therich and the rest ofsociety is widening all

the time as theresearch in the USA by

The New York Times indicates. " A newbreed of fabulously rich American isleaving the rest of the countryfar behind, in part because ofPresident Bush's tax cuts. The"hyper-rich", 145,000 taxpayersearning an average n3 million(£1.65 million) a year, have seentheir earnings soar while their taxburden has decreased significantly inrecent years. Their share of the national

income has doubled in the past 20 yearswhile 90 per cent of taxpayers have seentheir share fall." (Times, 6 June) Thereport goes on to give some examples of

the wealth of these capitalists - BillGates, Microsoft owner n48 billion,Warren Buffett, investment magnate n41billion, Paul Allen, Microsoft co-foundern20 billion and five members of theWalton family (Wal-Mart owners) n18billion each. Land of the free? How The Other 5 PercentLive As you worry about paying the rent, themortgage or your payments on the creditcard think about the owning class andtheir problems. "Mrs Wildenstien told herlawyers; during a cruise in the WestIndies, the family's yacht was caught upin a storm. The crew tried to enter portsin Haiti and San Domingo but these weretoo small for the vessel. Finally, theystruggled into a bay in one of the VirginIslands. To mark their lucky survival,Daniel bought the island." (Observer,12June) See how lucky you are, fellowworkers. You don't own a yacht too big toget in to Haiti or San Domingo, do you?

Produced and published by the Socialist Party of Great Britain` 52 Clapham High Street` London SW4 7UN

Free lunch by Rigg

ISSN 0037 8259

La1ghing all the wa8 tothe bank " 5llen \ Bates

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Editorial

+he recent tra*matic events inLondon provide a poi3nantreminder o4 the depths o4 an3er54r*stration and o*tra3e simmerin3

beneath the o*tward demeano*r o4 manypeople who are leadin3 apparently normallives: ;hen s*ch e<treme acts o4 violence5with their tra3ic reperc*ssions5 happen soclose to home5 they *nderstandablyimpin3e more ac*tely on o*r conscio*snessand to*ch *s in a 4ar more personal way:=trai3htaway o*r tho*3hts becomecrowded with the names and 4aces o4 any4amily or 4riends who mi3ht possibly havebeen travellin3 near the a44ected area andwe an<io*sly seek ass*rance o4 their well?bein3:

Fort*nately s*ch barbaro*socc*rrences remain comparatively rare inLondon or the other maAor cities o4 ;esternB*rope b*t in some parts o4 the world5 alas5they are an almost daily e<perience:

Any hal4?decent5 sensible h*manbein3 D*ite properly deplores the invidio*s5mis3*ided Eeal ? be it personal5 political orreli3io*s ? that spawns s*ch a terrible5*nreasonin3 thirst 4or bloody retrib*tion inthe name o4 whatever inA*stice or absol*tetr*th: Political leaders5 o4 co*rse5 waste notime in makin3 a sanctimonio*s responseby ro*ndly condemnin3 the Gevil terroristsGand Gbrain?washed 4anaticsG: Ho*btlesstheir perception o4 the p*blic mood isacc*rate b*t the weasel words o4 politiciansass*min3 the hi3h moral 3ro*nd are an*nwelcome encroachment: They intr*de*pon the very real sympathy and 4eelin3 o4

s*pport we reserve 4or the victims o4 s*chatrocities by ind*cin3 another kind o44eelin3 alto3ether: one o4 pro4o*nd na*sea:

The breathtakin3 hypocrisy withwhich these serial perpetrators o4 *ltimate5o44icially sanctioned5 state violence5deno*nce those who5 *no44icially5 p*rs*esimilar tactics ? which5 tho*3h horrendo*s5are on a 4ar small scale ? is tr*ly stomach?ch*rnin3: They *ni4ormly assert that onlywarped minds5 with a callo*s disre3ard 4orh*man li4e5 wo*ld deliberately choose todetonate bombs in an environment Ks*ch asa t*be trainL speci4ically selected to ca*sethe most dama3in3 e44ects andindiscriminately kill or inA*re the 3reatestpossible n*mber: And witho*t 3ivin3 anyprior warnin3: And in the r*sh ho*r whenthe ma<im*m n*mber o4 people wo*ld bee<posed:

=tate?approved violence has been

responsible 4or tens o4 millions o4 deaths:The ethics o4 Gle3itimateG or GA*stG warhave no bottom line: M4 there ever was s*cha bottom line5 the sat*ration bombin3 o4Namb*r35 Hresden and Tokyo5 3eneratin3the new military tactic o4 4ire?storms5certainly pl*mmeted below it: These raidsres*lted in vast n*mbers o4 victimse<ceedin3 by 4ar any previo*s tally:

=i<ty years a3o5 this month5 on the OthA*3*st PQRS5 the Tapanese city o4Niroshima was virt*ally 4lattened ?*nnecessarily ? by a sin3le atomic bombcarried by a sin3le plane: Three days later5another atomic bomb was dropped onNa3asaki:

The city o4 Niroshima wasspeci4ically selected Ktho*3h obvio*sly notby warped minds with a callo*s disre3ard4or h*man li4eL as a tar3et with anenvironment likely to ca*se the mostdama3in3 e44ects and indiscriminately killor inA*re the 3reatest possible n*mber:Many o4 its b*ildin3s were composed o4paper5 wood and straw: Mock?*p str*ct*resb*ilt 4rom similar materials had earlier beenerected in the Wtah desert 4or testin3incendiary potential: Also5 Niroshima hadbeen spared any previo*s aerialbombardment so that the precise e44ects o4the e<plosion co*ld be determined:

The bomb was dropped at X:PS am5witho*t prior warnin3: Mn the r*sh ho*rwhen the ma<im*m n*mber o4 people weree<posed: The o44icial recorded n*mber o4deaths 4rom the bomb is PXO5 QRY:

Socialist Standard August 2005 Z

HoNb/0#$6 HoNber$ a0< a HoNb

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Contact Details

Hiroshima

Socialist Standard August 2005R

PathfindersY$ So1/a9/$%+:eor2S1/e0%/;/1dGNobody has yet proven that thise<periment was sa4e5G says MarinaBay's lawyer Ale<ander Molokhov5in the 4irst day's Moscow hearin3o4 the amate*r astrolo3ist's kPaYmlaws*it a3ainst Nasa5 la*nchedho*rs a4ter the s*ccess4*l collisiono4 the probe Heep Mmpact into thecomet Tempel P: Bay's claim thats*ch cosmolo3ical 'vandalism' hasaltered the world's horoscopetowards possible disaster can alsonot be proved 4alse5 and s*ch lacko4 proo4 is clearly eno*3h in theeyes o4 some lawyers to startproceedin3s these days5notwithstandin3 Nasa missionen3ineer =hadan Ardalan's c*rtdismissal: GThe analo3y is amosD*ito hittin3 the 4ront o4 anairliner in 4li3ht: The e44ect isne3li3ible:G KBBC News bnline5R T*lyL:

The Moscow co*rt is*nlikely to be bambooEled bys*ch chancers5 b*t the attack onscience is common eno*3h:donlt do it *nless yo* can proveit is sa4e:The problem is thatscience5 with the *s*al e<ceptiono4 mathematics5 can neveract*ally prove anythin35 anapparent loophole e<ploited byeveryone 4rom QhPP conspiracytheorists to neo?creationist

Mntelli3ent Hesi3n advocates: Now the law is bein3 askedto test the assertion that astronomers can't prove whileastrolo3ers don't have to:

=ocialists have every sympathy with scientists who4ind themselves *nder attack 4rom *nscienti4ic preA*diceand blatant opport*nism5 since this is not very dissimilar4rom o*r own e<perience: For a theory to be valid itsho*ld accord well with the 4acts5 and o44er one a way todisprove it: Th*s reli3ion and creationism are not validscienti4ic theories5 whereas evol*tion and 3ravity are:=ocialist theory 4its the 4irst criterion5 b*t what abo*t thesecond? Ms it possible to disprove it? Perhaps: M4 capitalism4ed5 clothed and looked a4ter its people in peace andwitho*t coercion5 socialism wo*ld not be disproved b*t itwo*ld be *nnecessary: M4 3enetic research *ncovers anirred*cible a33ression or pro4it?seekin3 3ene5 socialismco*ld be said to have been disproved: B*t nobody has yet4o*nd this 3ene5 or shown any other evidence that wo*ldmake socialism *nviable: Meanwhile5 like Marina Bay andher enterprisin3 lawyer5 o*r opponents e<pect *s to proveeverythin3 we say while they are not obli3ed to provideany evidence in s*pport o4 their ar3*ment5 and indeedairily dismiss the very lar3e vol*me o4 evidence a3ainstthemselves:

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Socialist Standard August 2005

T:a% abou% :uNa00a%uredHear Bditors\eadin3 the article GTalk abo*t =ocialismG inT*ly's !ocialist !tandard M be3an to wonder inwhat5 and how many5 di44erent wayssocialists approach the ar3*ment o4 Gh*mannat*reG:

GPeople are nat*rally laEy h3reedyha33ressiveG5 etc: ? how easily these phrasestrip o44 the ton3*e5 *s*ally be4ore the brainhas been p*t into 3ear: Aren't we all at sometime5 in certain circ*mstances5 laEy5 3reedy5a33ressive? M wo*ld s*33est we are all acomple< blend o4 G3eneral psycholo3icalcharacteristics5 4eelin3s and behavio*raltraitsG KConcise b<4ord Hictionary re: N*mannat*reL:

These are some o4 my Gh*man nat*re?an alternative viewG?

Cooperation ? c*rrently in the maAorityworld s*bsistence 4armers and the likealready cooperate in 4amily 3ro*ps to providebasic needs5 not b*yin3 and sellin3 b*tsimply prod*cin3:

Cooperationhhospitality ? many c*lt*resin the world have a very stron34amilyhcomm*nity wel4are ethos and basetheir daily lives on workin3 to3ether 4or thebene4it o4 all: Most o4 these people live in themaAority world and altho*3h they have littlethey share what they have Keven withstran3ersL:

^enerosity and Compassion ? 4rom theminority world where most people's lives are3enerally less harsh a lar3e n*mber o4 peoplewillin3ly donate KmoneyL on a re3*lar basisin the hope o4 easin3 other people'sdi44ic*lties5 e:3: child sponsorship5 AMH=pro3rammes5 clean water pro3rammes:

CompassionhBmpathy ? in areashtimeso4 maAorhnat*ral disasters vol*nteers arenever lackin35 nor slow to o44er assistance5whether practical or monetary:

^ivin3h=harin3 ? h*3e armies o4 re3*larvol*nteers at home and abroad are at work tohelp and improve people's lives5 e:3: li4ts tohospitalsn shoppin3 4or the old or disablednyo*th workers in cl*bs and sportsassociationsn parents' associations linked toschools5 playschools etc: 4or better ed*cationand 4acilitiesn or3aniEers o4 charity events:

ces5 a lot o4 this is to raise moneyoBeca*se that is the system now: B*t these aree<amples o4 people 3ivin3 time 4reely toor3aniEe events5 bake cakes5 en3a3e in sportsand other promotional events 4or altr*isticreasons:

=harin3 ? cooperatives o4 cons*mers inlocal areas p*ttin3 in time on a re3*lar basisto bene4it themselves and the comm*nity:

Cooperation ? barterin3 systems wherepeople swap skills?a 4ew ho*rs ironin3 4or therepair o4 a water leak:

An observation abo*t retired5 i:e: not?workin3?4or?money people: many will say it'sthe best time o4 their lives and that they don'thave eno*3h time to 4it everythin3 in: Andwhat are they doin3? They are o4ten involvedin the kind o4 activities they act*ally enAoy5takin3 care o4 the 3randchildren5 helpin3 o*teven older 4olk in the comm*nity5 3rowin3ve3etables5 involvin3 themselves in on3oin3ed*cational proAects5 havin3 an occasionalholiday: Mn 4act5 3enerally playin3 a part inthe comm*nity in ways which wo*ldadmirably s*it a socialist society:

=o5 as 4ar as thin3s are now5 in this non?socialist5 totally capitalist world5 yes5 o4co*rse there are those who are 'laEy'5 '3reedy'5

'a33ressive' and M believe vol*mes co*ld beand have been written by anthropolo3ists3ivin3 per4ectly 3ood reasons 4or s*chbehavio*rs in o*r concrete A*n3les andh*man Eoos:

M pre4er to call attention to theind*strio*sness5 3enerosity5 andcompassionate aspects o4 h*man nat*re:

;orkin3 to3ether 4or the common3ood?

cesoPeople can do it5 people do do it ? it's all

part o4 that wonder4*l diversity called N*manNat*re:

JANET SURMAN, TURKEY

No%:/0#c$ 1:a0#e<Hears BditorsTwenty years a3o5 there was a hi3h pro4ilepop concert or3anised by the Live Aid 3ro*p5to help the 4amine in Bthiopia: Now twodecades later nothin3 has chan3ed:

The Live X concerts addressed thee44ects o4 poverty not it ca*ses: Wnless thepresent social system has chan3ed5 4or manymore decades down the line there will bemore Live Aids5 more ^X s*mmits on thispoor continent5 and more Bonos and Bob^eldo4s5 yet all their cries 4or billions to bespent on aid are still *nlikely to make morethan the smallest dent in the deprivation:

Altho*3h there is criminalincompetence o4 A4rica's post?colonial blackelites Kthe people who call themselvespresidents5 prime ministers5 and in someinstances kin3s and princes o4 the continenthave wa3ed war on their own people andpl*ndered the continent's wealth to everb*l3in3 Bank acco*nt in =witEerlandL5 themain problem o4 the continent is capitalism:

Mt is common knowled3e that *p to two?thirds o4 the world's pop*lation are h*n3ry5while millions act*ally die 4rom starvationeach year: ;hy in a world o4 potential plentyis so elementary a h*man need as 4oodne3lected 4or some many people?

=ome wo*ld deny that we live in aworld o4 plenty and claim that the ca*se o4world h*n3er is nat*ral scarcity: That in otherwords5 some people starve simply beca*senot eno*3h 4ood can be prod*ced:

Mn the present state scienti4ic knowled3eand prod*ctive techniD*es5 eno*3h 4oodco*ld be prod*ced adeD*ately to 4eed thepop*lation o4 the world:

;orld maln*trition then is not a nat*ralb*t a social problem: Mts ca*se m*st be so*3htnot in any lack o4 nat*ral reso*rces b*t in theway society is or3anised: ;orld societyeverywhere rests on the basis o4 the reso*rceso4 the world5 nat*ral and man*4act*red5 byvery rich minorities:

\ock stars or any other celebrities willnot pers*ade the rich class to make worldpoverty history: Mt's in 4act the world marketsystem that r*led the world: Actin3 like anat*ral 4orce beyond h*man control5 it hasm*ch power than any national 3overnment:

The market creates an arti4icial scarcityand or3anised waste that is responsible 4orpoverty and h*n3er in the world today: Thelaw that 3overns everywhere is Gno pro4it5 noprod*ctionG:

MICHAEL GHEBRE, LONDON NW1

Le%%er %o HobHear BditorsBelow is a letter M sent to Bob ^eldo4:

Hear Bob5M deeply respect yo*r sincerity incampai3nin3 4or the end o4 poverty thro*3hthe world: My *nderstandin3 o4 poverty isthe ins*44iciency o4 the necessities o4 li4eleadin3 to an inability to enAoy the wealthpotentially able to be created in ab*ndanceby h*mankind5 incl*din3 leis*re p*rs*its5the arts and the basic necessities incl*din3shelter5 warmth5 4ood and water and the4reedom 4rom illness: This deprivation leadsinevitably to h*n3er and disease: M believethat this ins*44iciency is lar3ely ca*sed bymoney:

As M am s*re yo* will a3ree5 it isimportant to *nderstand that wide?scaleh*n3er and even 4amine can occ*r when theavailable 4ood s*pplies are not necessarilyless than s*44icient to 4eed the people theysho*ld be intended 4or: For e<ample thewell?known st*dy o4 the PQRZ Ben3alFamine by Armatya =en5 which M am s*reyo* are 4amiliar with5 showed this clearly:bther 4amines in recent times have occ*rredwhen there has been a s*44iciency o4 4ood:Mndeed 4ood e<portin3 4rom Bthiopiacontin*ed d*rin3 the 4amine o4 the PQXY's:

Mt is also important to *nderstand thatnot all the pop*lation o4 an area a44ected byh*n3er will 3o h*n3ry: Mt is o4ten what hasbeen called 'entitlement' that denies access tothe available 4ood: Wnder the present way o4orderin3 =ociety this entitlement can bedetermined by money or barter and notnecessarily by a person's need 4or 4ood:Navin3 money alone that wo*ld ordinarilysec*re eno*3h o4 the basics does not alwaysens*re s*44icient access to those basics as54or e<ample5 when there is a shorta3e ca*sedby 'nat*ral' or h*man 4actors: ^enerally5 aswith anythin3 else5 when there is perceivedto be a shorta3e5 the 'val*e' o4 3oods andservices Kincl*din3 4oodL rises: Beca*se o4the way thin3s are ordered it is the poorestwho s*44er most when the price o4commodities rises: There4ore Poverty can besaid to ca*se h*n3er and h*n3er to ca*sepoverty5 beca*se h*n3er weakens resistanceto disease5 which in t*rn leads to anincreasin3 tendency to an inability on thepart o4 its victims to tend to their needs:

As thin3s are presently ordered5there4ore5 there is an advanta3e to those whocontrol the availability o4 essentials and whoin some way or other pro4it 4rom their sale tore3*late the s*pply o4 3oods and servicesanywhere in the world:

M4 the prod*cts o4 h*man labo*r andindeed the plenti4*l raw materialsthro*3ho*t the world ? incl*din3 A4rica ?were 4reely available to those who neededthem and indeed to those who help makethem available 4or h*man cons*mptionwitho*t the intervention o4 money or anyother limitin3 4actor imposed by a minorityo4 h*mans then there co*ld not be need o4any kind5 m*ch less catastrophes like4amines: ;here there were 4actors held to bebeyond the immediate control o4h*mankind5 4or e<ample 4loods or dro*3hts5then the technolo3y presently widelyavailable co*ld be *sed to ameliorate theirworst e44ects: ;ater can be transported5 seawater can be desalinated5 rivers can5 to somee<tent5 be contained in their capacity to

Letters

contin&ed on pa,e -.S

Socialist Standard August 2005O

+:e Lo0<o0 boNb/0#$I re1ru/%/0# =/99er$

aSocialist Standard August 2005

Yt's not hard to see military recr*itment3oin3 on: American comic books have4*ll pa3e adverts e<hortin3 readers tobecome an 'Army o4 one':

Hoc*mentary?makers have 4ollowed W=recr*iters visitin3 poorer nei3hbo*rhoodso44erin3 ed*cation5 prospects5 a 4*t*re: Mnthe Wf on hi3h streets5 recr*iters p*t *pboards showin3 abseilin35 skiin35 divin3 ?anythin3 other than riddlin3 another h*manbein3 with b*llets or shrapnel:

The army has historically been a wayo*t 4or the poor and powerless: A so*rce o4empowerment Kor at least o4 4eelin3 thatsomeone somewhere is in controlL5 o4belon3in35 o4 bein3 part o4 a corporate bodyand a story o4 positive action and val*es:

Mt's a tra3ic irony o4 h*manity that thestat*es and memorials 4or militarym*rderers are almost invariably bi33er5better and more splendid than others:Battles ? like Tra4al3ar ? are commemorated5whereas anniversaries on the 4irst *se o4anaesthetic wo*ld pass *s by *nmarkede<cept by *ltra?enth*siasts:

The 3lori4ication o4 those who die inbattle is a near constant o4 any militarysociety: London is dis4i3*red with a warmemorial dedicated 'To the 3lorio*s dead' ?as i4 there was ever anythin3 3lorio*s abo*ta nineteen?year old boy han3in3 on thebarbed wire: To die nobly is o4ten rewardedwith a dictoria Cross: Hyin3 in action isalways re4erred to as sacri4ice5 a 3i4t 4romthe soldier to the comm*nity: For the First;orld ;ar5 Felicia Nemans' The boy stoodon the b*rnin3 deck5 a poem abo*t a yo*n3sailor dyin3 at his post5 was *sed inrecr*itment drives in this co*ntry:

The actions5 then5 o4 the 4o*r yo*n3men5 three o4 them 4rom Leeds5 in callo*slysla*3hterin3 over 4i4ty 4ellow h*mans5 arenot so alien as some wo*ld think at 4irst:=hehad Tanweer5 Nasib N*ssain5Mohammed =adiD fhan5 4rom Leeds5 wereall described by their st*nned 4riends andrelatives5 as per4ectly ordinary5 nice andpolite yo*n3 men: Not b*3?eyed rantin34anatics:

The psycholo3ical h*nt has be3*n to*nderstand their motives ? e<perts interrorism disc*ss how s*icide m*rderersreD*ire a wide s*pport network to caAoleand reass*re them5 assist them and pointthem in the ri3ht direction: People look to4anatical Mslamic preachers5 or the visits toPakistan made by some o4 these boys whentheir 4amilies tho*3ht they were 3oin3 o44rails ? trained in one o4 the Madrassatheolo3ical schools there:

The ;est corkshire metropolis ? likemany post?ind*strial northern towns ? hasdeep c*lt*ral divisions: These weree<posed some years back in !YYP with theBrad4ord riots5 a4ter which there wereclaims that the local Asians who t*rned o*t

to 4i3ht a3ainst 4ascists were 3ivendisproportionate sentences: Thecomm*nities live in the same towns5 b*t donot mi<5 and so distr*st is sown betweenwhite?skinned and brown?skinned workers'4amilies: btherwise sensible people will telltales o4 the shockin3 cond*ct o4 the othercomm*nity:

These areas are scenes o4depoliticisation ? Leeds and Brad4ord havesome o4 the lowest t*rno*ts in elections:The area o4 Leeds that Tanweer was 4romhas almost do*ble the *nemployment o4other parts o4 the city: Ne himsel4 le4tschool with virt*ally no D*ali4ications:

\elatives and 4riends talk o4 howyo*n3 men who come back 4rom Pakistanare shocked by the poverty they witnessthere: bthers have talked o4 how it is notdi44ic*lt to 4eel solidarity with the peoplethey identi4y with ? with M*slims who areoppressed in other parts o4 the world: Theycan draw a line between that poverty andoppression and their own e<periences: Mt isnot beyond wit or reason to see how theseyo*n3 men mi3ht become inclined to Aoin*p:

All it reD*ires then is someonewealthy eno*3h5 or3anised eno*3h toprovide them with trainin3 and chemicale<plosives and eD*ipment: =omeoner*thless eno*3h to be willin3 to send s*icidem*rderers into crowds o4 people totally*nconnected to their 3rievances simply tosend a messa3e to the power4*l: Altho*3hit is *nlikely the London attack was directlythe responsibility o4 =a*di Arabian capitalistbsama Bin Laden5 the pro4ile o4 theleadership o4 the Mslamic movement is verym*ch one o4 aspirant5 ed*cated5 relativelywealthy men 4rom 4r*strated elites acrossthe Arab world:

T*st as r*lers and wannabe r*lersthro*3ho*t the a3es have *sed reli3ion as amotivator5 to provide the appearance o4 acommon ca*se between them and their

potential recr*its5 so too do the modern dayvariety5 attemptin3 to b*ild a coalition o4people 4rom many di44erent back3ro*ndsbased on the historical e<perience o4 islamicc*lt*re: Mncorporatin3 their local 3rievancesinto a sin3le paranoiac cloth wherebyAmerica5 gionists and 'cr*saders' were theca*se o4 all ills was an inte3ral part o4 thatproAect:

The le4t ? monomaniacal as ever ? seethis as 'the violence o4 the oppressed'5 asobAectively anti?imperialist: A4ter theLondon bombin3s5 the =ocialist ;orkersParty st*dio*sly avoided condemnin3 them:A chor*s has 3one *p that Britain sho*ldchan3e its 4orei3n policy5 p*ll o*t o4 MraDand A43hanistan5 to stop *s bein3 tar3ets:This o4 co*rse is no real sol*tion ? the warwo*ld 3o on i4 not here in other parts o4 theworld ? and yo*n3 corkshiremen wo*ldtravel to other parts o4 the world to Aoin this4i3ht: Terrorist ins*r3ency is not aninstinctive reaction to inA*stice5 b*t a policychoice both 4or 4ootsoldiers and 3eneralsalike:

\eli3ion is the heart's cry o4 theoppressed5 so*l o4 a so*lless world5 itinspires *topian and th*s reactionarypolitics: Mt cannot be stopped bys*ppression5 harassment5 the silencin3 o4radical preachers ? that wo*ld only aid andabet the 4eelin3 o4 persec*tion: Mt m*st bede4eated by reason5 by practical action todemonstrate that there are prospects 4ortakin3 control o4 their own lives:

This means an open movementdesperately needs to be b*ilt to create a realprospect o4 chan3e5 not A*st in the Wf b*tin the world: ;e cannot rely on military4orce5 or the state5 the 3reat and the 3oodb*llyin3 moderate M*slims to speak o*t5 itneeds to come 4rom the massed ranks o4workers5 set on *sin3 their creative ind*stryto take real control o4 the world aro*nd *s:An end to oppression5 and an end toambitio*s elites *sin3 h*man corpses assteppin3 stones to wealth and power:!Pik Smeet

Below: the glorious dead?

Far left: the scene in Tavistock Squaremoments after the explosion. Left andbelow: relatives of suicide bomb victims inLondon and Iraq grieve their losses

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;hy is the Third;orld always third?;hy arepdevelopin3co*ntriesl still notdeveloped5 whenthe ;est is doin3so well? ;hy areso many o4 thempoor5 and have theyalways been that way?Ms it A*st their 4a*lt? Alook at history revealsa di44erent story5 andone which e<plains thereal ori3ins o4 westernprosperity:

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b)(a**itio):(t4-(34i+*(Do+l*,as(a(so8+c-(oO(+a,(1at-+ials,4ic4(O-*(t4--V-+\2+o,i)2*-1a)*s(oOM8+o;-a)

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a)*(+8..-+(J)o,a*a?sitas(*ia1o)*s:(ti1.-+:(oila)*(+a+-(1-talsK0(>+oOitsO+o1(all(t4is(,-+-+-;at+iat-*:(l-a*i)2(toO8+t4-+(*-V-lo;1-)t(i)M8+o;-(+at4-+(t4a)(i)NO+ica0(Botto)(2oo*sa)*(soOt(O8+)is4i)2s1a)8Oact8+-*(i)(b)*ia,-+-(-)o+1o8sl?;o;8la+(i)(s-V-)t--)t4\c-)t8+?(M8+o;-0(68t(t4-clot4(i)*8st+i-s(i)(b)*ia:NO+ica(a)*(-ls-,4-+-(,-+-(*-li.-+at-l?*-st+o?-*:(;+i1a+il?(.?(6+itis4(ca;italis1:

Socialist Standard August 2005X

Fu%%/0#bu$/0e$$ ;/r$%President ^eor3e B*sh MM isnothin3 i4 not 4rank5 atleast on the fyoto Treaty:Mnterviewed by =ir TrevorMcHonald on the eve o4

last month's ^X s*mmit KMTd5 R T*lyL he hadthis to say o4 this treaty which aims totimidly limit carbon emissions Kone o4 thecontrib*tory ca*ses o4 the c*rrent 3lobalwarmin3L:GM made the decision : : : that the fyoto treatydidn't s*it o*r needs: Mn other words5 the

fyoto treaty wo*ld have wrecked o*reconomy5 i4 M can be bl*nt : : : M walked away4rom fyoto beca*se it wo*ld dama3eAmerica's economy5 yo* bet: Mt wo*ld havedestroyed o*r economy: Mt was a lo*sy deal4or the American economy:GAs the head o4 W= capitalism's politicale<ec*tive5 his remit is to protect and 4*rtherthe interests o4 the W= capitalist class: Thereason why he and his advisers decided thatthe fyoto Treaty wo*ld have dama3ed theW= economy was that America 3ets a hi3herproportion o4 ener3y 4rom b*rnin3 coal andoil than its rivals5 so that any commitment to*se other5 more e<pensive so*rces o4 ener3y

wo*ld have cost the W= proportionately morethan these rivals and so red*ced itscompetitiveness vis?q?vis them:That fyoto wo*ld have advanta3ed theireconomies compared to America may evenhave been at the back o4 the minds o4 theB*ropean political leaders who promoted thetreaty: M4 so5 they miscalc*lated and may now4ind that it is their economies that are 3oin3to be disadvanta3ed:Mn any event5 while it is clear that a D*estionwhich concerns the whole world s*ch as thepossible conseD*ences o4 3lobal warmin3 canbe e44ectively dealt with only by *ni4iedaction at a world level5 it is eD*ally clear that

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Homo universalis impecuniensis - aroundsince the dawn of property society

Lavish - the British in India

Socialist Standard August 2005ovember2004

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I)-(oO(t4-(1ost()oto+io8s(-V-)ts(oOt4-(D-st-+)(c+-atio)(oO(t4-(34i+*(Do+l*

,as(t4-(Sc+a1.l-(Oo+(NO+ica(J,4ic4(ca)(.-+o824l?(*at-*(hkF<\hihAK0(34is(too](;lac-;a+tl?(Oo+(st+at-2ic(+-aso)s/(6+itai)()--*-*to(co)t+ol(.ot4(t4-(Ba;-(oO(Soo*(Co;-a)*(t4-(S8-e(Ba)al(i)(o+*-+(to(-)s8+-acc-ss(to(its(b)*ia)(M1;i+-0(b)(a**itio):t+o;ical(;+o*8c-(,as(.-i)2(-U;o+t-*(toM8+o;-:(a)*(t4-+-(,-+-(1a)?(+a,1at-+ials(aVaila.l-(c4-a;l?(\(S-+1a)?)--*-*(acc-ss(to(cotto):(oil:(cocoa(a)*+8..-+:(Oo+(i)sta)c-0(7-V-)8-(co8l*(.-.oost-*(.?(ta]i)2(oV-+(t4-(taU(a)*(+-)tali)co1-(oO(local(ac4i-Osa:(a)*(Oo+c-*(la.o8+

co8l*(o)l?(i)c+-as-(;+oOits0(9i)2(5-o;ol*oO(6-l2i81as(-U;loitatio)(oO(t4-(Bo)2o:s8;;os-*l?(ca++i-*(o8t(to(*o(a,a?(,it4t4-(+-1)a)ts(oO(slaV-+?:(,as(t4-(1ost-Ut+-1-(-Ua1;l-0(M*1o)*(Xo+-l:(t4-`o8+)alist(,4o(-U;os-*(t4-(-Ut-)t(oO5-o;ol*as(sc4-1i)2:(*-sc+i.-*(,4at(,as4a;;-)i)2(as(aa(s-c+-t(soci-t?(oO18+*-+-+s(,it4(a(9i)2(Oo+(a(c+o)i1a)a0NO+ica)(+8l-+s(oOt-)(2aV-(t4-i+(la)*s(a,a?i)(+-t8+)(Oo+(ol*(+iOl-s(a)*(st+i)2s(oO(.-a*s:o+(8)])o,i)2l?(si2)-*(a(t+-at?(i)(M)2lis4o+(Z+-)c4(t4at(co)tai)-*(*iOO-+-)t;+oVisio)s(O+o1(t4at(i)(t4-(local(la)28a2-05o+*(Salis.8+?:(6+itis4(>+i1-(Xi)ist-+*8+i)2(18c4(oO(t4-(Sc+a1.l-:(;+i*-*4i1s-lO(t4at(NO+ica(4a*(.--)(ca+V-*(8;,it4()o(M8+o;-a)(;o,-+(Oi+i)2(a(s4ota2ai)st(a)ot4-+(Ja)*(NO+ica)(t+oo;s-1;lo?-*(.?(M8+o;-a)s(*i*(18c4(oO(t4-act8al(Oi24ti)2(a2ai)st(ot4-+(NO+ica)sK0Salis.8+?as(;olici-s(s-+V-*(t4-(6+itis4+8li)2(class(,-ll/

aC-(4a*(c-+tai)l?(1a*-(s8+-(t4at(t4-lio)as(s4a+-(oO()-,(colo)i-s(a)*;+ot-cto+at-s(\(OiOt--)(o8t(oO(t4i+t?(\(,-)tto(6+itai)0(bO(4is(;+-occ8;atio)(4a*(al,a?s

.--)(to(2iV-(6+itai)(t4-(st+at-2ica*Va)ta2-:(it(,as(Oo+t8)at-(Oo+(6+itai)(t4at4-(also(2aV-(it(1ost(oO(NO+icaas(1ost;+oOita.l-(t-++ito+?/(t4-(2ol*\1i)-s(oO(t4-3+a)sVaal:(t4-(t--1i)2(1a+]-ts(oO(t4-Hi2-+:(t4-(t-a(a)*(coOO--(oO(G2a)*a:(t4-cotto)(oO(M2?;t(a)*(t4-(S8*a)0a(J34o1as>a]-)4a1/(34-(Sc+a1.l-(Oo+(NO+icaK

348s(6+itis4(ca;italis1(.-)-Oit-*(att4-(sa1-(ti1-(as(NO+ica(,asi1;oV-+is4-*0

Nll(i)(all:(it(ca))ot(.-(a+28-*(t4at8)*-+*-V-lo;1-)t(is(*8-(to(34i+*(Do+l*co8)t+i-s()ot(J?-tK(-)`o?i)2(t4-(.-)-Oits(oOca;italis1:(t4at(t4-?(4aV-(1iss-*(o8t(o)*-V-lo;1-)t(.?(1issi)2(o8t(o)(ca;italis1034-(t+8t4(is(t4at(t4-i+(c8++-)t(co)*itio)(is(a+-s8lt(oO(t4-(+ol-(t4-?(;la?-*(i)(t4-*-V-lo;1-)t(oO(ca;italis10(NO+ica(a)*1a)?(;a+ts(oO(Nsia(a)*(So8t4(N1-+ica:,-+-(colo)is-*:(Oo+1all?(o+(i)Oo+1all?:(Oo+t4-(sa]-(oO(t4-(M8+o;-a)(;o,-+s:(,4os-+8li)2(class-s(2+-,(+ic4(o)(t4-(;+oOits(oOt4is(-U;loitatio):(i)(a**itio)(to(t4-(s8+;l8sVal8-(t4-?(-Ut+act-*(O+o1(,o+]-+s(aat4o1-a0(!PAUL BENNETT

this is not 3oin3 to happen *nder capitalism:The di44erent capitalist states into which theworld is divided have di44erent ? and clashin3? interests5 s*ch as have come to the s*r4aceover fyoto5 which they will always p*t 4irst:At most5 all that can happen *nder capitalismwhen a 3lobal problem arises is Gm*ch toolittle5 m*ch too lateG:That the leaders o4 the capitalist =tates o4B*rope are A*st as willin3 Ki4 not A*st as 4rankabo*t itL as B*sh to p*t the interests o4 theircapitalist class 4irst when it comes toenvironmental problems was shown by aheadline in the Times the 4ollowin3 day:GB*rope drops 3reen a3enda to p*t li4e back

into ind*stryG: The article reported that5 *nderpress*re 4rom 3overnments and 4romb*siness lobbies5 the B*ropean Commissionhas p*t o44 proposals to deal with the problemo4 air poll*tion:GThe shelvin3 o4 the environment strate3iesmarks a tri*mph 4or the British ^overnment5which has called on the Commission to stopprod*cin3 re3*lations that dama3eb*sinesses: An impact assessment hads*33ested that the air?poll*tion strate3y alonewo*ld cost between rS:Q billion and rPR:Qbillion a year 4rom !Y!YG:Bno*3h said:

!obody cuts myemissions

Sketch of a West African slave, c. 1887

Salisbury - carving up Africa

Mn PQaX the Chinese Comm*nist Party*nder Hen3 iiapin3 embarked onre4orms that wo*ld steer China'seconomy toward transition 4rom state?

r*n to 4ree market capitalism: =ince then China's ^ross Homestic

Prod*ct K^HPL has 3rown by an avera3e o4Q:S percent per year5 4aster than any otherco*ntry: China Aoined the ;orld Tradebr3anisation K;TbL in Hecember !YYP andnow acco*nts 4or PZ percent o4 world o*tp*twith a ^HP likely to overtake Tapan by!YPO and America by !Y!Y5 makin3 Chinathe world's lar3est economy:

Q1o0oN/1 ho8e00e$$hThis prodi3io*s 3rowth is attrib*table

to 4orei3n investment that has *tilised theco*ntry's remarkably 'liberal' b*sinessclimate to e<ploit low wa3e labo*r as aplat4orm 4or the man*4act*re o4 3oods andthen their e<port to world at cheap prices:P*t simply5 man*4act*rin3 has beenrelocated to China to *nderc*t competitionand raise pro4its ? attracted by the almost'ine<ha*stible' s*pply o4 cheap labo*r5 well?developed in4rastr*ct*re5 ta< concessionsand br*tally repressive state:

China's economic 'openness' makes itthe world's lar3est recipient o4 4orei3ninvestment5 which increased ZS percent inthe year to =eptember !YYR alone: Mt is4*rther e<empli4ied by the co*ntry's importtari44s5 which Ghave5 on avera3e5 4allen 4romRP percent in PQQ! to O percent a4ter itAoined the ;Tb in Hecember !YYP5 3ivin3it the lowest tari44 protection o4 anydevelopin3 co*ntry:G KThe Bconomist5 !bctober !YYR5 p:OL

Toint vent*res between Chinesecompanies and 4orei3n m*ltinationalcorporations prod*ce !a percent o4man*4act*rin3 o*tp*t Kthere are R5YYYinvolvin3 Wf companies aloneL and a4lo*rishin3 private sector acco*nts 4or SYpercent o4 Chinese ^HP:

B/1: 4 8oorAltho*3h most o4 the pop*lation still

e<ists at basic s*bsistence levels5 thep*rchasin3 power o4 a minority o4 betterpaid workers Kb*t still meas*red in tens o4millionsL and the development o4 an

indi3eno*s capitalist class have n*rt*red asiEeable domestic market: China in 4act hasthe world's 4astest 3rowin3 cons*mermarket and sales are soarin3: M4 incomedistrib*tion remains *naltered5 Gby !Y!Y thetop PYY million ho*seholds will have anavera3e income eD*ivalent to the c*rrentavera3e in ;estern B*rope: This will open*p a vast market 4or cons*mer 3oods:G KTheBconomist5 ! bctober !YYR5 p:PPL Anincreasin3 n*mber o4 American andB*ropean corporations are now investin3 tosell directly to this 3rowin3 market:

China's market has also enco*ra3edthe emer3ence o4 a Chinese capitalist class5comprisin3 many who already have closeties with 4orei3n capital and politicalpatrona3e 4rom BeiAin3: ;ithin this class asmall n*mber have amassed sta33erin3levels o4 wealth:

This pict*re looks set to contin*e:Tho*3h prod*ctivity is still low comparedwith the developed world5 r*nnin3 atappro<imately one?ei3hth o4 that inAmerica5 economic 'openness' isenco*ra3in3 the rapid trans4er o4man*4act*rin3 technolo3y that will enableChina to *se the ind*strialised co*ntries as asprin3board to raise prod*ctivity:Prod*ction will also rapidly climb theGval*e addedG chain5 *tilisin3 the PY million3rad*ates who Aoin the Chinese workin3class each year:

B*t more important is the ab*ndants*pply o4 the reso*rce essential to pro4its ?h*man labo*r power: China has apop*lation o4 P:Z billion or !Ypercent o4 the world's pop*lationand the political elite has workedhard to mobilise this labo*rpower to create the conditions to4*el capitalism:

=tate ind*stry has rapidlyshr*nk and tho*sands o4enterprises have been sold orbankr*pted and their workerssacked: An estimated RY millionhave been made Aobless to Aointhe co*ntless millions madered*ndant 4rom native privateind*stry by relentless 4orei3ncompetition:

+ow0 4 1ou0%r2Mn r*ral re3ions5 where

over OY percent o4 the pop*lationstill live5 the 4ree marketdere3*lation o4 a3ric*lt*ralprices has driven millions 4romthe land: Nere5 over PSY milliondestit*te people are waitin3 tomi3rate and seek work at any

wa3e5 while 4armers are o4ten compelled totake *nskilled temporary work betweenharvests to s*pplement mea3re earnin3s:

Mt will take PS?!Y years to absorb thislabo*r power5 which means that5 *nlikesome parts o4 =o*th?Bast Asia5 wherelabo*r scarcity co*ld raise wa3es5 Chinesebased capitalism can probably hold down*nskilled wa3es 4or many years:

To most the transition 4rom state?r*ncapitalism to the 4ree market variety meanslow wa3es5 poor livin3 conditions andrepression: ;hile a minority o4 hi3her paidworkers has access to cons*mable 3oods5the 4ree market has devastated the lowerpaid who do not have money to b*y those3oods: =ervices incl*din3 ed*cation andmedical care5 4ormerly provided by thestate5 are now '4ee based'5 while ho*sin3 iscontrolled by private landlords:

The main man*4act*rin3 belt lies inthe re3ion o4 ^*an3don3 and alon3 thePearl \iver Helta5 where workers slave PSho*rs a day5 seven days a week withmandatory overtime en4orced by coercive4actory re3*lations: Mi3rant labo*r isestimated at over PYY million5 more thanhal4 women 4rom impoverished inlandre3ions: Mnd*strial disp*tes are not*ncommon:

[o0%ra</1%/o0$=ometimes disp*tes er*pt into riots as

happened at the Taiwanese =tellaMnternational 4actory at Hon33*an in thesprin3 o4 !YYR: The 4actory5 employin3aY5YYY workers5 makes shoes 4or Nike5\eebok5 Clarks5 =ears and Timberland:

PY Socialist Standard August 2005

Bnter the

Migrant worker - China on the move

Women gluing training shoes without masksin the world’s largest sweatshop

Socialist Standard August 2005 PP

Factory property wasalle3edly dama3ed and tenworkers were s*bseD*entlyAailed 4or Zs years b*t later4reed when the company54ear4*l o4 reperc*ssions5 sec*red theirrelease:

Lon3?term disre3ard 4or poverty andthe impoverished pli3ht o4 workin3 peopleand peasantry may well pose a si3ni4icantthreat to 3overnment a*thority: The3overnment has been compelled toameliorate worker conditions and in someplaces *nemployment ins*rance hasimproved and minim*m wa3es increased5while cities have endeavo*red to increaseemployment ? 3enerally by o44erin3assistance to new enterprises to employred*ndant workers: B*t 4*ndin3 is stillminimal and o44icial corr*ption widespread:

Nowhere is the contrast between richand poor more stark than in =han3hai5 a cityo4 Pa million and the centre o4 Chinesecapitalism: Nere poor livin3 conditions5overcrowdin3 and poverty are Gta 4ar cry4rom the empty streets o4 the 3atedcomm*nities in the east end o4 P*don35where hi3h walls and a plethora o4 3*ardsprovide a sa4e5 ins*lar heaven 4or thoselivin3 within:G KChina Haily5 !X April !YYSL

bne o4 China's main weaknesses iselectricity 3eneration and the rapid increasein demand5 e<acerbated by ho*seholdappliances and air?conditionin35 has ca*sedshorta3es5 blacko*ts and power rationin3:China's electricity 3eneration is aY percentdependent on coal and miners were 4orcedto increase o*tp*t by SR percent in the 4o*ryears to !YYZ: \*dimentary sa4ety isi3nored and a twelve?ho*r day5 !X days amonth is the ind*stry standard: GThere weremore than O5YYY deaths last year 4rome<plosions5 4loods5 cave?ins and otheraccidents in China's minin3 ind*stry5acco*ntin3 4or XY percent o4 the world'stotal 4atalities: Mndependent estimates5however5 say *p to !Y5YYY workers arekilled every year as they toil *nder3ro*nd inpoor conditions 4or little money:GKhttp:hhwww:chinalaborwatch:or3L

The 'All China Federation o4 TradeWnions5' is the only le3al trade *nion andcontrolled by the Chinese Comm*nist PartyKCCPL: Mndependent trade *nions are bannedand workers a3itatin3 4or better conditionsare ro*tinely Aailed: B*t despite the lack o4or3anisation5 skill shorta3es have enabledsome to make 3ains a4ter strikes5 as in=henEen in bctober !YYR and Pany* inNovember !YYR:

_0o1=Mo0 e;;e1%The 'Chinese miracle' has had a

detrimental e44ect on many workers o*tsideChina: ;hile the international class who

live by pro4its has bene4ited immeas*rablyby trans4errin3 operations to China5 manyworkers in other co*ntries have paid theprice with the loss o4 their Aobs: ;orst hithave been workers who barely s*rvive in*ndeveloped co*ntries where imports ande<ports mirror those o4 China: Theabolition o4 import D*otas on te<tiles inTan*ary !YYS5 4or e<ample5 is set todecimate Aobs in Ban3ladesh and Cambodiawhere companies will be *nable to compete:Another cas*alty has been the Me<icanworkin3 class where an estimated !!S5YYYAobs5 ori3inally trans4erred 4rom Americaa4ter the introd*ction o4 the North AmericaFree Trade Association have moved toChina since !YYP: Likewise5prod*ction trans4erred to =o*thforean and Taiwanese basedcorporations is 'o*t?so*rced' to China4or labo*r intensive assembly and thenre?e<port:

B*t China's capitalism is alsoin4l*encin3 the world's workin3 classin other ways: ;orker conditions indeveloped co*ntries are *nder attack:As The Bconomist e*phemisticallyp*ts it: GMndivid*al co*ntries canma<imise their 3ains 4rom Chineseinte3ration and minimise their lossesby makin3 their own economies more4le<ible5 increasin3 mobility betweensectors and improvin3 ed*cation:G K!bctober !YYR5 p:P!L:

Fo9/%/1a9 1o0%ro9The development o4 capitalism in

China looks set to remain 4irmly *nder thepolitical dictatorship o4 the Comm*nistParty: Altho*3h in practical operation 4oryears5 4ree market capitalism was o44iciallyreconciled with 'comm*nism' at the POthNational Con3ress o4 the CCP in November!YY! when the Party's constit*tion wasamended to open membership to China's'b*siness elite' to protect the Gle3itimateri3hts and interestsG o4 b*siness andproperty owners: The CCP has become theinstr*ment o4 m*ltinational corporations ando4 this 'b*siness elite' and seeks toperpet*ate its r*le with the s*pport o4 thosewho bene4it 4rom the system o4 e<ploitationin the world's lar3est sweatshop: The Partyhas warned it will make no concession to'democratic aspirations:' At the CentralCommittee meetin3 in =eptember !YYR5 N*Tintao5 China's President and Party leaderasserted that GChina wo*ld never have itsown ^orbachev5G or co*ntenance erosion o4the CCP's r*lin3 position: Heno*ncin3 those

who G4ly the banner o4democracy and political re4orm5G he warnedthe Party wo*ld be Gpre?emptiveG andGstrike when they rear their heads:G KTimeZP Tan*ary !YYS5 p:RSL:

Mn practical terms the political elite isseekin3 to ti3hten control over local3overnment to block independentle3islat*res and plans to Gimprove thepolitical thinkin3 o4 *niversity st*dents toelevate the Party's r*lin3 powerG KPeople'sHaily5 PQ Tan*ary !YYSL: ;ebsites e<posin3corr*ption have been sh*t witho*te<planation: Newspapers are banned 4romp*blishin3 anythin3 ne3ative abo*t the

police5 3overnment or A*diciary andAo*rnalists have been ordered to stopcriticism:

Mn this way capitalism in China is aninvestors' paradise and a workers' prisoncamp: Bnormo*s pro4its are attained atsta33erin3 h*man cost5 and with the3rowin3 3ap between rich and poor theclass str*33le is set to intensi4y: Theinte3ration o4 China into world capitalismhas also had pro4o*nd e44ects: Mt has drainedaway Aobs 4rom other parts o4 the world5lowered 3lobal *nskilled wa3e rates andeased press*re on wa3es in other co*ntriesby red*cin3 prices o4 cons*mable 3oods:These world?wide reverberations willcontin*e: !STEVE TROTT

Hra3on

Hu Jintao - no concession to democratic aspirations

Socialist Standard August 20055P!

+he barrister and writer Brnest Bel4ortBa< KPXSR?PQ!SL5 even tho*3h hewas a prominent member o4 the=ocial Hemocratic Federation and

had even been 4or a while in the =ocialistLea3*e with ;illiam Morris5 wasnotorio*sly preA*diced a3ainst women5 evento the e<tent o4 ar3*in3 a3ainst 3ivin3 themthe vote and o4 re3ardin3 them as bein3 in aprivile3ed position compared with men:

This was a very stran3e position to betaken *p by the co?a*thor with ;illiamMorris o4 !ocialism .rom the Root 2p or!ocialism Its Growth and 7utcome and o4 an*mber o4 other articles e<pressin3 socialistideas: =o stran3e in 4act that his socialistcredentials have to be challen3ed:

bne person who did challen3e him onthe iss*e was Mar<'s da*3hter5 Bleanor5 thencallin3 hersel4 Bleanor Mar< Avelin35addin3 to her name that o4 the man she waslivin3 with witho*t bein3 married:

Ba< had written an article on GThe;oman e*estionG that was p*blished in the=HF's paper 9ustice in its !a T*ly PXQSiss*e Ksee http:hhwww:mar<ists:or3harchivehba<h PXQShYahwoman:htmL: This e<pressedthe position he s*mmed *p in a later articleKZY NovemberL as:

GK : : :L Mn concl*sion M will 3ive5 once4or all5 in a 4ew words my position on thisD*estion5 cleared o4 the preA*dice importedinto it by railin3 acc*sations o4 woman?hatin3 and other obAectionable D*alities:

P: M *tterly disp*te the validity o4 theattempted analo3y between women as a se<and the proletariat as a class5 on whichanalo3y the pla*sibility o4 the GwomanmovementG 4or =ocialists so lar3ely rests:

!: ;hile 4*lly reco3nisin3 the

oppression o4 the capitalist system onwomen as on men5 M deny that5 on thewhole5 it presses more on women than onmen5 as s*ch:

Z: Comin3 to the D*estion o4 directse<?tyranny5 i4 we are to talk o4 this M amprepared to prove that5 at least in allco*ntries where the An3lo?=a<on isdominant5 viE:5 in Britain and its colonies5 inthe Wnited =tates5 `c:5 it is invariably menwho5 both by law and p*blic opinion5 areoppressed in the s*pposed interests o4women and not :ice :ersa:

R: That the 4ew Kmainly 4ormalLdisabilities o4 women in politics orelsewhere which are perpet*ally bein3trotted o*t5 are more than compensated 4or5by special privile3es in other directions:

S: That the woman's ri3hts a3itation ashitherto cond*cted5 in which the Gbr*temanG plays the role o4 villain5 was born o4hysterics and Gso*r 3rapes5G and is kept

alive by a bare?4aced system o4 Gbl*445G andboth the s*ppression and perversion o4 4act5intended to work on the sentimental malewith a view o4 placin3 women in a sa4ecitadel o4 privile3e and se<?domination ? thetalk o4 eD*ality bein3 a mere blind: M amprepared to maintain any or all o4 thesepropositions in writin3 with anyone:G

This sparked o44 a disc*ssion in thepaper's correspondence col*mn and led toBleanor Mar< iss*in3 the 4ollowin3challen3e to Ba< to debate the matter at ap*blic meetin3:

GHear Comrade5 ? As TW=TMCB5 Gthebr3an o4 the =ocial Hemocracy5G appears toadopt comrade Ba< as the e<ponent on these; Knot womanL D*estion5 and as thes*bAect is certainly one worthyconsideration and debate5 M desire5 thro*3hyo*r col*mns5 to challen3e my 4riend Ba<to a p*blic debate with me on the s*bAect:The debate to take place in some hall inLondon be4ore the end o4 the year5 so thatthe proceeds o4 it Kwhether 4rom payments4or admission or collection on the evenin3Lmay be handed over to N: e*elch5 hon:Treas*rer o4 the g*rich Committee 4or theMnternational Trades Wnion and =ocialist;orkers' Con3ress5 PXQO: The debate to4ollow the *s*al lines5 ZY min*tes on eachside5 and then two D*arters o4 an ho*r 4oreach speaker consec*tively: Ba<5 aspropo*nder o4 the 3eneral proposition 5 toopen: Chairman to be m*t*ally a3reed *pon:? Fraternally yo*rs5

ELEANOR MARX AVELING."K9ustice5 PO November PXQSL

Ba< t*rned down the proposal o4 ap*blic debate and instead proposed a writtene<chan3e5 as the 4ollowin3 item 4rom the !ZNovember iss*e o4 T*stice reported:

GMrs: Avelin3 sends *s the 4ollowin34or p*blication: ?

National Liberal Cl*b5;hitehall Place5 =: ;:=at*rday:Hear Mrs Avelin35 ? M am per4ectly

ready to *ndertake a debate on the womanD*estion in writin3 with yo* or any otheraccredited representative o4 G;oman's\i3htsG5 b*t M am too little au fait withoratorical tricks and plat4orm claptrap to beable to s*ccess4*lly de4end the most simple

Q9ea0orRarS6He9;or% HaSa0< h%:eToNa0Uue$%/o0h

!Dr+u&D tD0 4a&0, c8stic-3 tD0 4a40r +7 tD0 S+8$al@0=+8rat$8 F0d0rat$+n3 Garl 2ar)H, dau&Dt0r .l0an+rand S@F =0=90r (0l7+rt (a) D+tly d09at0d ItD0 J+=anKu0,t$+nH

*/% /$ /04ar/ab92 Ne0 w:oare o88re$$e< /0 %:e$u88o$e< /0%ere$%$ o;woNe0 a0< 0o% 4/1e4er$a?

Socialist Standard August 2005 PZ

and obvio*s propositions *nder theconditions proposed even i4 there were noshriekin3 crowd a3ainst which my voicewo*ld 4ind it impossible to contend:

M will enter *pon a literary debate onsimilar lines to that M had with Bradla*3h on=ocialism5 and shall be pleased to arran3e4or s*ch a disc*ssion: My weapons in thiscontroversy are 4act and ar3*ment and notill?manners and name?callin3 either direct orindirect: This bein3 so M nat*rally pre4er thewritten method5 when 4act and ar3*ment areGa*sschla33eben:G ? co*rs sincerely5

E. BELFORT BAX.To the above the 4ollowin3 reply has

been sent: ?Green Street Green,Orpington,Nov, 19, 1895.Hear Ba<5 ? M am in receipt o4 yo*r

letter K*ndatedL: M o44ered to debate with yo*on the =e< e*estion: M am5 o4 co*rse a=ocialist5 not a representative o4 G;oman's\i3htsG: Mt is the =e< e*estion and itseconomic basis that M proposed to disc*sswith yo*: The so?called G;oman's \i3htsGD*estion Kwhich appears to be the only oneyo* *nderstandL is a bo*r3eois idea: Mproposed to deal with the =e< e*estion4rom the point o4 view o4 the workin3 classand the class str*33le:

M may remind yo* that GtricksG andGclaptrapG are not con4ined to the plat4orm:There are5 as yo* know5 literary tricks andAo*rnalistic claptrap: ;ith a 4air and ablechairman there wo*ld be no shriekin3crowdn and yo* have no more ri3ht toass*me that those holdin3 the views Msho*ld attempt to p*t 4orward wo*ldGshriekG than M have to ass*me that yo*rs*pporters wo*ld howl: M remind yo* thatyo* recently 3ave an address5 4ollowed byan open debate5 *pon this very s*bAect5 atBsse< Nall5 =trand: M 4ail to see5 there4ore5why yo* do not take *p my challen3e now:M here repeat it5 and will5 i4 yo* wish it5

debate at Bsse< Nall: And i4 yo* still re4*seM shall 3ive a lect*re5 probably at theAthenae*m Nall5 Tottenham Co*rt \oad5some =at*rday in Hecember5 on GMr Ba<and the =e< e*estionG: The proceeds o4 thislect*re will be 3iven to the g*richCommittee F*nd 4or the Mnternational=ocialist and Trade Wnion Con3ress to beheld in London in PXQO5 ? co*rs 4aith4*lly5

ELEANOR MARX AVELING."

Bleanor Mar< went ahead with herlect*re5 with the 4ollowin3 notice appearin3in 9ustice o4 a Hecember:

The =e< e*estionEleanor Marx Aveling

will lect*re on"Mr. Bax and the Sex euestion"

at theATHENAEUM HALL,

73, Tottenham Court Road.At X P:M:5 on

=ATW\HAc5 HBCBMBB\ !Pst5 PXQS:Admission Ps5 Od5 and Zd:

All proceeds to 3o to the 4*nds o4 theg*rich Committee5

Mnternational =ocialist ;orkers and TradeWnion Con3ress5London5 PXQO:

Wn4ort*nately5 no report o4 what shesaid appeared in 9ustice5 so we can onlys*rmise5 4rom the hints in the above letters5that she wo*ld have analysed the G;oman's\i3htsG movement as one o4 womanproperty?owners to sec*re eD*al ri3hts withmen property?owners and ar3*ed thatwomen workers were e<ploited alon3sidemen workers and that both sho*ld Aointo3ether in wa3in3 the class str*33le thatwo*ld event*ally end in the establishmento4 socialism which wo*ld be Ga society inwhich all the means o4 prod*ction are theproperty o4 the comm*nity5 a society whichreco3nises the 4*ll eD*ality o4 all witho*t

distinction o4 se<G as she and Avelin3D*oted 4rom Bebel's Woman-?ast@ ?resentand .uture which they Aointly reviewed 4orthe Westminster Re:iew in PXXO Kseehttp:hhwww:mar<ists:or3harchiveheleanor?mar<hworkshwomanD:htmL:

Ba< insisted on havin3 the last word5acc*sin3 Bleanor Mar< o4 havin3 re4*sed todebate in writin35 while in 4act it was hewho had re4*sed her challen3e to a p*blicoral debate Kdespite bein3 a barristerL5 andre?iteratin3 his preA*diced views on women:

GHear Comrade5 ? Now that theG;omanG controversy in TW=TMCB is over5and that Mrs: Avelin3 has pr*dently shirkedmy o44er to meet her in debate on m*t*ally4air terms5 M sho*ld be obli3ed i4 yo* willallow me to state that M am still prepared todebate in writin3 on the basis o4 the 4ivepoints laid down by me in my last TW=TMCBletter on the s*bAect5 with any representativeadvocate o4 Kso?calledL G;oman's \i3htsGKiAeA5 the 4*rther increase o4 the se<?privile3es o4 womenL5 or with anyrepresentative =ocialist who is opposed tome in this D*estion : : :K9ustice5 R Tan*ary5PXQOL:

Ba<5 incidentally5 wrote his letters4rom the National Liberal Cl*b5 an all?maleestablishment Ko4 co*rseL which incl*dedleadin3 members o4 the Liberal Party5 towhich the =HF was s*pposed to beimplacably opposed: Nenry Nyndman5 the=HF's leader5 was also a member5 anindication o4 how re4ormist the top leaderso4 the =HF had become:

Mt only remains to add that thin3sended tra3ically 4or Bleanor Mar<5 whocommitted s*icide in PXQX5 at the a3e o4 RZ5a4ter she learned that Avelin3 had 3one o44with another woman:!Adam Buick

Far left: Ernest Belfort Bax.Right: Eleanor MarxAveling

Socialist Standard August 20055PR

Y$ Hrow0i$9u1= ru00/0#ou%d

;hen ^ordon Brownboasted at last year'sLabo*r Party con4erence

that Gno lon3er the co*ntry o4 mass*nemployment5 Britain is now advancin34*rther and 4aster to 4*ll employment than atany times in o*r livesG he m*st have realisedthat he was 3ivin3 a hosta3e to 4ort*ne: brperhaps5 since he also claimed that Gno lon3erthe stop?3o economy5 Britain is now enAoyin3the lon3est period o4 s*stained economic3rowth 4or !YY yearsG5 he had del*dedhimsel4 that5 as the th*s sel4?proclaimed bestChancellor o4 the B<cheD*er since PXYS5 hereally was able to control the levels o4prod*ction5 prices and *nemployment inBritain:

;hatever the reason5 last month'sb*siness headlines m*st have be3*n to shakehis con4idence in his in4allibility: GMn4lation atits hi3hest point 4or a yearsG5 reported theTimes KPZ T*lyL and5 the ne<t day5 Ge*estion

mark over Wf 3rowth as Aobless claims riseG:\eportin3 on this ^abriel \oEenber35

the Times' Bconomics \eporter5 wrote: GFearsthat the slowin3 economy is tri33erin3 as*stained rise in *nemployment haveintensi4ied a4ter the n*mber o4 peopleclaimin3 Aobless bene4its rose 4or a 4i4thmonth in a row : : : The last time the co*ntrose 4or 4ive consec*tive months was in PQQ!: : : The ^overnment's pre4erred s*rvey?basedmeas*re o4 *nemployment 4ell by R5YYY in thethree months to May5 the b44ice 4or National=tatistics said: B*t analysts said that atP5R!O5YYY5 the meas*re was still RZ5YYYhi3her than in A*3*st last year: Bmployment4ell by a!5YYY in the same period5 the bi33estdrop since PQQZG:

;hat amo*nts to GmassG *nemploymentcan be a matter o4 opinion5 b*t P5R!O5YYY*nemployed Kpl*s many more on incapacitybene4it or paid to do nothin3 on vario*s GAobcreationG schemesL wo*ld have been re3ardedas s*ch in the SYs5 OYs and aYs:

Another indication that ^ordon Brown'sl*ck at havin3 been Chancellor d*rin3 an*n*s*ally lon3 period o4 recovery may bebe3innin3 to r*n o*t was the headline aco*ple o4 days previo*sly GMan*4act*rersbear the cost o4 s*r3in3 oil pricesG:

G=*r3in3 oil prices have 4orced *p

man*4act*rers' costs by the 4astest rate 4or !Yyears5 ti3htenin3 mar3ins5 o44icial 4i3*resshowed yesterdayG: This led5 reported ^abriel\oEenber3 KTimes5 P! T*lyL5 to inp*t prices3oin3 *p by !:Z percent between May andT*ne: GThe rise meant that man*4act*rers'costs 4or 3oods have risen P!:P percent in theyear to T*ne5 the lar3est ann*al rise sinceMarch PQXS5 b*t weak cons*mer demand hasmade it di44ic*lt to raise pricesG: b*tp*tprices act*ally 4ell Y:! percent in T*ne: Asone analyst p*t it5 this was G3ood news 4orhi3h street 3oods in4lation5 b*t not 4orpro4itsG:

=ince capitalism r*ns on pro4its andresponds to chan3es in the rate o4 pro4itKrather than to cons*mer demand5 as thepop*lar de4ence o4 capitalism claimsL5 thisco*ld be a serio*s development: Anythin3more than a merely passin3 4all in pro4itmar3ins is bo*nd to translate itsel4 sooner orlater in 4allin3 prod*ction5 risin3*nemployment and 4allin3 cons*mer demand:;hen this happens5 Brown will discover that3overnments don't5 and can't5 control the waycapitalism works and that he hadn'tdiscovered a ma3ic 4orm*la 4or preventin3the boom?sl*mp cycle and en3ineerin3s*stained 3rowth:

[oo=/0# %:e Hoo=$ f'g

+]YS YST]!+iSTBANG TY+][!FY+!LYSRMt o4ten strikes a socialist that so many o4 the criticisms o4

socialism are indeed valid5 b*t only when applied to capitalism:M've heard it said5 Gsocialism may so*nd 4ine in theory5 b*t itwo*ldn't work o*t in practice:G bne wonders e<actly what is

meant by Gworkin3 o*t inpracticeG: M4 it means 4ail*re tosolve the maAor social problems5then capitalism has workedwonders in practice5 especially5as it creates problems it cannotsolve: GB*tG5 they e<plain5Gsocialism wo*ld create chaos:GBy this5 one ass*mes that war5depression5 mass *nemployment5destr*ction o4 the environment5epidemics o4 preventablediseases5 4amine and 3enocide5are not symptoms o4 a society inchaos:

Many eD*ate socialism withdictatorship5 yet5 with the comin3o4 the modern ind*strial state5most o4 the world's pop*lationhas lived *nder dictatorship:A4ter ;orld ;ar MM5 more lived *nder it than be4oren b*t it was4o*3ht5 Gto make the world sa4e 4or democracy:G Bven today5 a4terthe 4all o4 the east B*ropean dictatorships5 many co*ntries havesome 4orm o4 repressive 3overnment:

;e are told that individ*al 4reedom will s*44er in a socialistsocietyn yet how splendid it is to be 4ree *nder capitalism: Free tobe *nemployed5 4ree to starve Kwhich a lot o4 the world's pop*lationare doin3:L Free to breathe poll*ted air:

GB*t socialism will brin3 re3imentation and *ni4ormity5G o*rcritics say: M o4ten look at rows and rows o4 stereotyped apartmentb*ildin3s and notice the lack o4 *ni4ormity: M'm s*re many workers

who have to p*nch in and o*t5 work on conveyor belts and 4ill intime sheets5 wo*ld never dream o4 callin3 li4e re3imented *ndercapitalism:

GB*t socialism will create corr*ption and sheer callo*snessG:Msn't capitalism s*ch a hi3hly moral society? bne need only observehow many civic di3nitaries5 corporations and individ*al capitalistshave been *nable or *nwillin3 to obey their own phoney lawswhich they hand down to *s Kto keep *s in lineL5 with all the sel4?ri3hteo*sness o4 a ^od bn Ni3h:

GMn a socialist society with no 4inancial ind*cements to work5lots o4 people will be laEy:G ;hat5 however5 is laEiness e<cept lacko4 inspiration? Certainly there are many laEy 4olk aro*nd today:Now many capitalists work GtooG hard?

GB*t5G they tell *s5 Gsocialism will sti4le individ*al creativityand initiative:G No economic system can prevent h*man in3en*itye<pressin3 itsel4: ;here the con4*sion stems 4rom is that it is notclearly *nderstood that the economic character this takes isdetermined by the system one lives *nder: Tho*3h no economicsystem can prevent h*man creativity5 capitalism has5 to an e<tent5sti4led it: Mn the c*t?throat world o4 competition many 4ail: Many

have been *nableto raise the capitalto even start and5many who havebeen s*ccess4*l5have later 3onebankr*pt: Mt's nowonder so many4eel insec*re: Mtwo*ld be a wonderi4 they didn't:

Mn a socialistsociety where thetools o4 prod*ctionwill be *sed5 4irstand 4oremost5 toprovide all with thenecessities o4 li4eand where all standeD*al in relation to

them5 there will be nothin3 to prevent 4*ll rein bein3 3iven toh*man creativity: All will be 4ree to develop their personalities andvario*s abilities to the 4*llest possible 4acet5 and all will contrib*teaccordin3 to their vario*s skills and abilities: The premise o4prod*ction will be based on servin3 h*mankind and 4rom this5people will 3et a satis4action *nknown *nder capitalism:

Mt will reach a point where5 as bscar ;ilde said5 GA man willbe known 4or what he is5 not 4or what he has:G !STEVE SHANNON

Atleast it2s not

socialism3 then 5e2dreally be introuble777

Socialist Standard August 2005 PS

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N e l e nM a c 4 a r l a n ewas radicalisedin A*stria bythe revol*tionso4 PXRX whichswept thro*3hB*rope: bn herret*rn toBritain shetook *prevol*tionaryA o * r n a l i s m*nder thep s e * d o n y mN o w a r d

Morton 4or the Chartist ^eor3e T*lianNarney: Mt was in Narney's weeklynewspaper \ed \ep*blican in PXSY thatMac4arlane prod*ced the 4irst Bn3lishtranslation o4 what became known as theBommunist Canifesto: Mn the ^ermanori3inal it was called Canifesto of theBommunist ?arty b*t in the Red RepuElicanits title was German Bommunism: Canifestoof the German Bommunist ?arty: Black iscritical o4 this name chan3e beca*se theinsertion o4 the word G^ermanG into the titletwice over Gde?emphasises its internationalistthr*st:G B*t this misses the point o4 thechan3e5 a reason the Red RepuElican seemsto have *nderstood b*t which is now widelymis*nderstood: That is5 while the theoreticalparts o4 the Mani4esto have *niversalapplication the practical proposalsKpartic*larly at the end o4 =ection !L were p*t4orward with ^ermany in mind at that time:That is why Mar< and Bn3els later said thatsome parts o4 the Mani4esto5 partic*larly in=ection !5 were obsolete Ksee the Pre4ace tothe ^erman edition o4 PXa!L:

Mn the Red RepuElican version o4 theMani4esto5 some parts are missin3 and otherschan3ed mainly to s*it its Bn3lishreadership: Mn the PXXX Bn3lish translation5s*pervised by Bn3els5 the 4amo*s openin3line be3ins: GA spectre is ha*ntin3 B*rope:The spectre o4 Comm*nism:G B*t inMac4arlane's translation this becomes: GA4ri3ht4*l hob3oblin stalks thro*3ho*tB*rope: ;e are ha*nted by a 3host: The3host o4 Comm*nism:G Black states that her*se o4 Ghob3oblinG rather than GspectreG is*n4ort*nate5 b*t it is possible that her Bn3lishreaders at that time more readily *nderstoodthe hob3oblin metaphor:

Mar< called Mac4arlane Ga rare birdG ?Gthe only collaborator on his uNarney'svspo*tin3 ra3 who had ori3inal ideas:G =hewas the 4irst person to translate and e<plainin Bn3lish the work o4 the ^ermanphilosopher Ne3el: =he wrote a 4ew otherarticles 4or the Red RepuElican in the PXSYsb*t almost nothin3 is known o4 her in theyears be4ore or a4ter: ;hat seems certainhowever is that Mac4arlane co*ld bedescribed as the 4irst British Mar<ist5 a3eneration be4ore that term came into *se:LEW

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These two books are not recommended 4orthe vario*s views e<pressed by the a*thorsand contrib*tors5 b*t 4or the wealth o4in4ormation5 m*ch o4 it new5 on BritishFascism:

The 4irst 4ascisti5 *nder the leadershipo4 Benito M*ssolini5 was 4o*nded in Mtaly inPQPRn Britain's 4irst Fascist or3anisationemer3ed in May5 PQ!S5 si< months a4terM*ssolini's co*p: Mt5 too called itsel4 Fascisti5b*t the 4ollowin3 year chan3ed its name tothe British Fascists: Most o4 its leaders werearistocrats or men 4rom military or navalback3ro*nds: They were militantly anti?Tewish and5 thro*3h endorsement by s*chnewspapers as the Times5 CorninH ?ost andthe Daily Cail5 believed in a worldwideTewish conspiracy as portrayed by thein4amo*s 4or3ery5 The ?roctocols of theLearned Elders of Lion: The British 4ascistssoon5 however5 split into even more e<tremesects s*ch as the National Fascisti andArnold Leese's Mmperial Fascist Lea3*e:

Martin P*3h demonstrates inconsiderable detail the close connectionsbetween the Fascist 3ro*ps and parties andri3htwin35 and even GmainstreamG5conservative politicians: The Fascists wereo4ten looked *pon as more decisive Torieswho wanted a more power4*l5 corporate statewhich wo*ld5 hope4*lly5 keep the GlowerordersG in control and stop GalienGimmi3ration: Many members o4 theConservative Party wo*ld also be memberso4 one o4 the 4ascist 3ro*ps at the same time:Both co*ld be depended *pon to de4end theNation and the Bmpire: Mndeed5 between thetwo world wars5 not a 4ew members o4 the\oyal 4amily5 incl*din3 the then Prince o4;ales5 were sympathetic to M*ssolini'sFascism and later NaEi ^ermany: ;instonCh*rchill e<pressed admiration 4orM*ssolini5 and the Prince o4 ;ales had NaEi4riends:

b4 co*rse the Fascists opposed the^eneral =trike o4 PQ!O: Mn 4act5 as P*3hnotes5 they were partic*larly enth*siasticanti?strike vol*nteers5 enrollin3 in thebr3anisation 4or the Maintenance o4=*pplies5 and as =pecial Constables: Chie4constables welcomed the Fascists5 b*t onlyas individ*als and not as *ni4ormed memberso4 Fascist parties as these had hoped:

Mn PQ!Y5 the Conservative Member o4Parliament5 bswald Mosley5 crossed the4loor to sit as an independentn in PQ!R5 heAoined the Labo*r Party: Nis views werealready interventionist5 corporatist5 almost

Fascist5 b*t he was enth*siasticallywelcomed into the Labo*r Party: By PQ!Q5Mosley was appointed Chancellor o4 theH*chy o4 Lancaster5 b*t he soon resi3ned5and in Febr*ary PQZP he la*nched his NewParty:Then in PQZ!5 a4ter visitin3 \ome5 he4o*nded the British Wnion o4 Fascists: TheBWF adopted the Corporate =tate5 with theabolition o4 political parties5 as its o44icialpolicy: At this sta3e5 Mosley and the BWFlooked to Mtaly 4or their model5 and it was not*ntil PQZO that the BWF became pro?NaEi:P*3h notes that Mosley re3*larly visitedMtaly5 and was rewarded with 4*ndin3 byM*ssolini 4or several years: Mosley did notmeet Nitler *ntil PQZS: H*rin3 this period5the British Wnion o4 Fascists5 which addedthe phrase Gand National =ocialistsG to itstitle5 became increasin3ly anti?Tewish: TheBWF was or3anised militarily5 complete with*ni4orms *ntil these were banned in PQZO:For a n*mber o4 years5 the Daily Cail5owned by Lord Northcli44e5 s*pported theBWF and promoted Fascism:

Besides the BWF5 there were still an*mber o4 small Fascist parties5 as well asvario*s G4rontG 3ro*ps s*ch as the Tan*aryCl*b and An3lo?^erman Fellowship and5later5 the Link: As in the PQ!Ys5 s*ch 3ro*pshad many Tories5 ri3htwin3 and mainstream5as members: Mndeed5 most Conservatives5 inParliament and the co*ntry at lar3e5 wereeither pro?Fascist Mtaly5 pro?NaEi ^ermanyor5 like Neville Chamberlain5 appeasers5 asMartin P*3h demonstrates in some detail:Many o4 them contin*ed to hold similar ideaseven a4ter Britain had declared war on^ermany5 on Z =eptember5 PQZQ: Mn PQRY5bswald Mosley5 as well as abo*t XYYFascists and others considered to be pro?^erman5 were arrested and imprisoned: B*tby PQR!5 most had been released: Mosleywas conditionally released 4rom prison inPQRR: The BWF had been banned in T*ne5PQRY:

Mritish .ascism@ the LaEour Co:ementand the !tate is a collection o4 4airly shortand diverse essays by vario*s a*thors:\ichard Ma3*ire disc*sses the *se o4Fascists by the Conservative ^overnment inde4ence o4 what =tanley Baldwin called theGcomm*nityG in de4eatin3 the miners5 andd*rin3 the ^eneral =trike o4 PQ!O: And5 asnoted in P*3h's book5 the a*thorities weremore than prepared to *se Fascists as strike?breakers5 their views bein3 that the Fascistsco*ld be depended *pon as =pecialConstables and the like:

\ichard Th*rlow o*tlines the4ormation o4 the =ec*rity =ervice KMMSL5 andits collaboration with =pecial Branch ins*rveillance o4 the Comm*nist Party5 andComintern a3ents in Britain5 partic*larlyd*rin3 the PQ!Ys and PQZYs: A4ter abo*tPQZZ5 MMS and =pecial Branch be3an tointerest themselves in the British Wnion o4Fascists5 which hitherto they had not done:Mnterestin3ly5 Th*rlow points o*t thatMa<well fni3ht o4 MMS had himsel4 been theBritish Wnion o4 Fascists' Hirector o4Mntelli3ence in PQ!a: ^raham Macklindisc*sses the attit*de o4 the police andma3istrates towards the Fascists in theircon4rontations with the Comm*nists5 andshows that in 3eneral they were moresympathetic towards the Fascists than theComm*nists: Not s*rprisin3ly5 bswaldMosley was partic*larly e44*sive in hiss*pport 4or the police5 many o4 whom wereanti?Tewish: Philip Co*pland o*tlines whathe calls Gle4t?win3 4ascismG5 in which theBWF *se le4twin3 terminolo3y to attract

Book Reviews

Socialist Standard August 2005PO

workers and disill*sioned Labo*rites andComm*nists: Mn parts o4 the co*ntry this wasD*ite s*ccess4*l:

Havid \enton disc*sses the so?calledanti?Fascism5 d*rin3 the PQaR?aQ period5 bys*ch or3anisations as the Anti?NaEi Lea3*e5the Trade Wnions and the =;P5 all o4 which4rom a socialist viewpoint achieved nothin3in de4eatin3 4ascist ideas and activities:Mndeed5 a party like the BNP today probablyhas as m*ch s*pport as did the BWF in PQZS:Possibly more:PEN

Horrower$ a0< Le0<er$Noree0a ]er%kI Y>A>W>I +:e Xeb% +:rea%a0< T:2 Te Ru$% Xe;u$e Y%> ]ar8erFere00/a9 CE>bb>

NertE is 4airly well?known as acommentator onand critic o43lobalisation: B*t*nlike some5 shedoes not even makethe pretence o4bein3 anti?capitalist: Mn herprevio*s book The!ilent TaNeo:er5she made it clearthat she wasadvocatin3 another

4orm o4 capitalism in contrast to a laisseE?4aire version that sidelined A*stice anddemocracy:

The book *nder review 4oc*sses ondevelopin3?co*ntry debt and itsconseD*ences5 not A*st 4or the Third ;orldb*t 4or 'advanced' capitalist co*ntries too:For debt and possible de4a*lts can lead todesperation and terrorism5 environmentaldama3e and 3eneral economic recession:H*rin3 the 'Cold ;ar'5 loans were o4tenmade 4or strate3ic reasons5 to keep co*ntries4riendly5 whether W= loans to Latin Americaor \*ssian and Chinese lendin3 to A4rica:The collapse o4 Bastern B*ropean statecapitalism bro*3ht a s*dden end to this5 withloans bein3 called in and new lendin3 bein3on m*ch less 4avo*rable terms: NertE 3ives a3ood acco*nt o4 many o4 the mechanisms bywhich lendin3 occ*rs5 s*ch as the roles o4 theMnternational Monetary F*nd and ;orldBank: Many ;estern co*ntries have e<portcredit a3encies that *nderwrite sales bydomestic companies and step in to pay themi4 anythin3 3oes wron3 Kso m*ch 4or the riskso4 entreprene*rshipL: There are even traderswho b*y and sell developin3?co*ntry debt asi4 it were pork or oil5 *s*ally makin3 vastpro4its in the process:

Mn !YYR5 the world's poorest co*ntriesowed wRSX billion: The conseD*ences o4 thisseem pretty devastatin3:

GMillions o4 children contin*e to dieevery sin3le year beca*se money that co*ldbe spent on preservin3 their health is stillbein3 spent on debt service: Millions o4children are prevented 4rom attendin3 schoolbeca*se money that co*ld be spent on theired*cation is still bein3 spent on repayin3debt:G

Nence the demand to 'Hrop the Hebto'5and NertE's proposals 4or decidin3 when debtis ille3itimate and sho*ld be cancelled5 pl*s

her s*33estions o4 'new principles 4orborrowers and lenders':

The problem is that all s*ch proposalse44ectively accept the stat*s D*o5 i:e: 3lobalcapitalism: They do not even be3in toaddress the D*estion o4 why people are poorin the 4irst place: The passa3e D*oted aboveass*mes that money spent on repayin3 debtswo*ld otherwise be *sed 4or health care anded*cation5 b*t there is no 3*arantee o4 this atall: 3overnments in developin3 co*ntries5like all 3overnments5 r*n a44airs in theinterests o4 the r*lin3 class: Mn a world rootedin ownership o4 reso*rces by a tiny minorityo4 the pop*lation5 poverty5 4amine5 and lacko4 access to decent health care and ed*cationare inevitable: Cancellin3 debt Kwhich isanyway less costly to the lenders than mi3htat 4irst appearL relates to A*st one aspect o4the way in which the basic ineD*ality o4capitalism reveals itsel4: Mt does not a44ect*nderlyin3 ca*ses ? which is why5 whateverthe sincerity o4 those who s*pport it5 it willmake no contrib*tion to endin3 poverty:PB

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Bein3 acollection o4essays byacademics 4ortheir st*dents5this vol*mee < a m i n e sMar<'s keyc o n c e p t s :

c a p i t a l i s m 5class5 the

state5 oppression5 revol*tion5 eD*ality anddemocracy5 and more: There are n*mero*sbooks o4 this type and and most o4 thechapters do a reasonable Aob o4reconstr*ctin3 Mar<'s tho*3ht: Nowever5Pa*l Blackled3e's chapter on \evol*tiontreats Mar< and Lenin as tho*3h they werecomplementary: This is the standard Leninistline p*t 4orward by Blackled3e:

G;hile Mar< and Bn3els laid downsome 3eneral 3*idelines 4or b*ildin3 aworkers' party5 they did not develop theseinto a 4*lly worked o*t theory: this task wastaken *p by later Mar<ists5 notably Lenin :::G

Paraphrasin3 Lenin himsel45 the a*thorclaims that Lenin's =tate and \evol*tionKp*blished in PQPaL Gret*rned to the works o4Mar< and Bn3elsG and e<plained their ideason revol*tion: B*t this *ntr*e: Mar< andBn3els' insistence on workin3 class sel4?emancipation speci4ically r*les o*t whatwo*ld become later known as Leninism5 theidea that the workin3 class were incapable o4sel4?emancipation and m*st be 4reed by aLeninist van3*ard party: This is in 4act thee<act opposite o4 Mar< and Bn3els' position:

As the chapter on ;orkin3?ClassMnternationalism D*otes Mar<: Gn*mberswei3h only in the balance i4 *nited bycombination and led by knowled3e:G And thechapter on Hemocracy5 D*otin3 anothercommentator on Mar< in the twentiethcent*ry5 declares: Gthe terrible 4ate whichbe4ell Mar< was that he was Leninised:GLEW

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The RulinH Assess will certainly make yo*la*3h b*t5 on the other hand5 the tho*3ht4*lreader mi3ht be dist*rbed by the identity o4the people who have provided the *tterlyabs*rd D*otations that make *p the book's!PO pa3es:

The cl*e is in the s*b?title: GA littlebook o4 political st*pidityG and the peoplewho have *nconscio*sly provided thest*pidities are prominent politiciansn the very'they' in that *biD*ito*s opinion that 'theywill uhave tov do somethin3 abo*t it:'

Beneath the am*sin3 pict*re on the4ront pa3e is a D*ote 4rom the redo*btable MrTohn Prescott5 The Minister 4or Transportand c*rrent Labo*r Hep*ty Prime Minister: 'Mwant to wron3 that ri3ht'5 says Mr Prescott:The book's editor5 =tephen \obins5 in 3ivin3Prescott pride o4 place5 so to speak5 sees theobvio*s h*mo*r in this partic*lar piece o4asininity b*t5 on the other hand it co*ld be aserio*s comment on the vicio*sa*thoritarianism o4 the present Labo*r3overnment:

There can be no do*bt abo*t the mentalstate o4 the man whose absol*te pearls o44ri3htenin3 i3norance wins him top spot inthis collection: ^eor3e ; B*sh5 thePresident o4 the most power4*l nation onBarth and the man with control o4 the n*clearb*tton: ^eor3e's 4ather5 we learn 4rom his3enero*s representation in this collection o4abs*rdities5 was the eD*al o4 his son in themo*thin3 o4 verbal inanities: This red*cesthe present 3reat man to a sort o4 second3eneration idiot and perhaps poses theD*estion as to why the Americanestablishment5 which boasts a 'smart' bomb5sho*ld a44lict itsel4 with s*ch st*pidpresidents:

The collection is well inde<ed and the4act that the inde< contains X pa3es o4 namesat ! col*mns to the pa3e means that yo*r4avo*rite politician is likely to be incl*ded ?tho*3h5 in 4airness to the *niD*e st*piditieso4 the B*shes5 4ather and son5 it sho*ld bepointed o*t that they share some P!R listin3sin a work where5 4or e<ample5 the home?based political n*tter5 Man Paisley5 can onlyachieve a:

This is a very 4*nny book and an easyread b*t it 4ri3htenin3ly e<poses the cashne<*s in what passes 4or democracy incapitalist society where the means o4winnin3 elections is a commodity:RM

+:e Q<u=a%or$> +:e Tarw/1= [/0eNa6[ar9/$9e

Co?written and directed by Nans ;ein3arten5the eponymo*s heroes o4 this 4ilm are twoyo*n3 men ? radicals5 we mi3ht perhaps callthem ? who seem to have 4*sed 4en3 sh*iwith =it*ationism to create a stylish andesoteric new 4orm o4 political protest: Theirmethod is to break into the homes o4 the richb*t5 rather than steal5 they move the 4*rnit*reinto new spaces5 or rearran3e it into new4orms5 to create a vis*al spectacle desi3nedto shock the occ*pants o*t o4 their cash?

The authors and one of theirprevious collaborations

Film Review

Socialist Standard August 2005

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Fifty Years Agoencr*sted apathy: Like hi3h?class catb*r3lars5 they leave prominent callin3cards statin3 'the days o4 plenty aren*mbered' or 'yo* have too m*chmoney5' and later read o4 their e<ploitsin the newspapers:

Played by Haniel Brxhl KTanL and=tipe Brce3 KPeterL5 it starts to 3owron3 4or the Bd*kators when5*nknown to Peter5 his 3irl4riend5 T*le5and Tan become an item Knever let awoman spoil a 3ood relationship5 the4ilm seems to implyL: ;itness to policebr*tality5 b*llied by her man3er5b*llied by her landlord5 and crippled bydebt5 T*le has been s*44icientlyradicalised by these e<periences toali3n hersel4 with Peter and Tan andbecome the *no44icial third Bd*kator:

The kind o4 =pectaclesD*e rich?bashin3 they en3a3e in may leave someo4 their older victims rememberin3 thatthere's a beach beneath their 3raveldriveway: Mndeed5 a4ter the Bd*katorshave been 4orced to abd*ct one o4 theirvictims they learn that he was once aradical who r*bbed sho*lders with theprominent Le4ties in the 3lory days o4'OX: Now a rich entreprene*r5 theBd*kators ? and the a*dience ? aremoved to wonder i4 his revol*tionaryideals are now dead5 or A*st dormant:H*rin3 his captivity he be4riends Tan5T*le and Petern cookin3 4or them5washin3 their clothes5 sharin3 their

dr*3s5 and it seems that theacc*m*lated detrit*s o4 thirty years inthe b*siness world be3ins to 4all awayto reveal5 to some e<tent5 the idealist heonce was5 or at least a more beni3ncapitalist5 a =croo3e on Christmasmornin3: The Bd*kators s*spect hismotives and are alarmed by theirdevelopin3 4riendship with their classenemy and 'hosta3e': Nis abd*ction bythe Bd*kators becomes his ed*cation5and he parts company with his captorson 4riendly terms5 lettin3 by3ones beby3ones and5 more importantly5promisin3 not to contact thea*thorities: B*t some leopards neverchan3e their spotst

To some e<tent the 4ilm isremindin3 *s o4 the 3enerallyperceived view that yo*th4*lness andradicalism seem to 3o hand in hand5whilst 'a3ein3' and 'conservative' arewords which 4reD*ently keep eachother company: There are many peoplewho claim to have been socialists backin the si<ties5 yet a4ter a 4ew pintscon4ess that Bnoch was ri3ht: Andsome know5 and some even perhapsare5 4ormer radicals who now vote NewLabo*r and watch the world 3o by4rom behind the Financial Times:

As The EduNators sho*ld havetried to e<plore more o4ten5 there areprobably many reasons why yo*th4*lwo*ld?be smashers o4 the state mat*reinto *pholders o4 the stat*s D*o: Mt iso4ten the case that sel4?styled radicalswere never radical in the 4irst place5and a promisin3 career is a 3reatincentive 4or abandonin3 one'srevol*tionary ideals: B*t as =ocialistParty members will evince5 radicalismnever dies: it simply loses its dresssense: Neil Windle

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Meetings

PX Socialist Standard August 2005

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ca*se widespread dama3e to the lives o4people who happen to live in their 4loodplains:

Presently some A4rican co*ntriesare tro*bled by5 amon3 other thin3s5wars5 corr*pt 3overnment as well ascrop 4ail*re d*e to dro*3ht and other4actors: To some e<tent many other partso4 the world have also been a44ected insimilar ways over the last 4ew cent*ries:The 'debt' that is owed by manyco*ntries in A4rica and elsewhere iso4ten at least in part d*e to the e44orts o4other co*ntries to trade with them: ;iththin3s ordered as they presently are ? inother words 3overned by money ? thereis no incentive 4or traders with A4rica oranywhere else to be '4air': These tradersare bo*nd by the same r*les all traders inthe present system are ? i:e: to ma<imisetheir pro4it in tradin3 with anyone: M4they were '4air' they wo*ld D*ickly 3oo*t o4 b*siness beca*se their pro4itswo*ld decline:

There4ore 'wipin3 o*t' presentdebts is no 3*arantee o4 a lon3 termsol*tion to the poverty that has beenmore or less imposed on many A4ricanco*ntries: \ather the abandonin3 o4 themoney system itsel4 by the entire world

and sharin3 the reso*rces o4 the earth incommon is the only real way: Perhapsthose co*ntries that have e<perience incombatin3 the worst e44ects o4 dro*3htsco*ld be called *pon to help: There aremany e<amples o4 international co?operation at present *nder the moneysystem5 =pace B<ploration to name onelar3e one: Another e<ample near to myhome is the constr*ction o4 the ThamesBarrier5 which *tilised the e<pertise o4the H*tch in Flood He4ences5 theAmericans in prod*cin3 heavy d*tywaterproo4 bearin3s 4or the 3ates5 theBritish with their e<pertise in lar3e scalesteel str*ct*res5 and A*strians with othernecessary skills: M4 this can all be donenow5 with money as a limitin3 4actor ?ima3ine what co*ld be done when theentire world is *nited in the will to solvethe problems any other area may s*44ero;e co*ld all share the skills andreso*rces we all have in plenty 4or thebene4it o4 all h*manityo Mma3ine whatkind o4 world that co*ld beo

co*rs5 Tony Norwell5 London =B!

fro1 pa,e 2

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PQSocialist Standard August 2005

+he bookies wo*ld not have beenoverAoyed at the res*lt o4 theelection5 seein3 as the 4avo*ritecame in with a clear lead over the

rest o4 the 4ield: The likes o4 ;illiam Nillhad hardly had time to tot *p their lossesa4ter Labo*r's GhistoricG Kas they keepremindin3 *sL third s*ccessive victorythan they had to 3et on with calc*latin3the odds 4or the leadership contests o4both the bi3 parties: Mn the case o4 theTories the o*tlook 4or the bookies is notso 3loomy beca*se there is likely to beD*ite a lar3e 4ield o4 r*nners5 even i4Territorial Army e<?=A= hero HavidHavis will probably be a narrow 4avo*rite:B*t the race 4or the Labo*r leadershippromises to be more menacin35 with^ordon Brown another odds?on 4avo*ritewho will cost the bookies some money i4he 4inally5 a4ter all those years o4manoe*vrin35 in?4i3htin3 and hostilebrie4in35 3ets to stand smilin3 on thedoorstep at N*mber Ten:

B<cept that5 as Brown himsel4 ? andthe bookies ? know all too well5 it is notthat simple: Mn or3anisations like theLabo*r Party there are very5 very 4ew MPswho do not re3ard themselves as likelycandidates 4or the leadership: To ill*stratethis point: when Tony Blair anno*nced hewo*ld event*ally hand over the reins the^*ardian col*mnist =imon No33artplayed a cr*el Aoke to e<pose the vanityl*rkin3 in the *nlikeliest o4 breasts: Neasked a low?rankin3 Labo*r minister5 whodoes not have a shred o4 realistic hope o4becomin3 his party's leader5 whether hesho*ld consider makin3 himsel4 available4or nomination: At 4irst the ministerdem*rred b*t a little more 4lattery 4romNo33art awakened his atrophied

ambitions: Nem*rm*red thatnow he came tothink o4 it he hadrecently beenapproached byD*ite a 4ew MPs:No33art did nottell *s what hashappened to thathapless man in theresh*44le:

Be/<Ne may have 4o*nd some consolation inhistory: ;hen Anthony Bden resi3ned theTory leadership in PQSa the 4ront r*nner totake over was \ A B*tler and little

attention was 3iven to the chances o4Narold Macmillan: B*t in the event all theener3y Macmillan had e<pended over theyears in seein3 o44 his rivals bro*3ht hims*ccess: ;hen Macmillan in his t*rnresi3ned in PQOR B*tler was a3ain a4avo*rite 4or the s*ccession5 withNailsham not so well 4ancied: B*t AlecHo*3las?Nome came 4rom the back o4 the4ield to take the Aob: The Labo*r Party inthe PQZYs was led by ^eor3e Lansb*ry 5who at the party con4erence in PQZS won astandin3 ovation 4or his speech in a debateon the sanctions a3ainst Mtaly 4or theattack on Bthiopia: Lansb*ry's speech was4lavo*red by phrases like GM am ready tostand as early christians did and say 'Thisis o*r 4aith'G b*t he was emphaticallyde4eated in the vote5 which le4t him littlechoice b*t to resi3n: The main contenders4or the Aob ? the 4avo*rites ? were NerbertMorrison and Arth*r ^reenwood b*t theywere beaten by Clement Attlee who5 asthe o*tsider5 was rated as mo*sy andcolo*rless b*t who t*rned o*t to benothin3 like that when it came to doin3the Aob o4 Prime Minister:

=o who are the o*tside chances now5in the contest to replace Blair? Prominentamon3 them is Hr: Tohn \eid5 MP 4orAirdrie and =hotts where5 as the sayin33oes5 they wei3h the Labo*r votes ratherthan co*nt them: ;hat is \eid's 4orm as a

leadership contender? By the standards o4the Labo*r Party5 it is pretty stron3: MnPQaZ he Aoined the Comm*nist Party andlater CNH b*t then went over to theLabo*r Party and a Aob as one o4 theirresearch o44icers5 4ollowed by a stint aspolitical adviser to Neil finnock ? which5in view o4 finnock's well?earnedrep*tation 4or political bl*nders andelectoral disasters5 \eid wo*ld do well to3loss over: Ne 3ot into Parliament inPQXa5 4or Motherwell North which5thro*3h vario*s chan3es o4 name5 hasbeen held by him ever since with neverless than OP per cent o4 the vote: Nisresi3nation 4rom CNH provoked approval4rom T*lian Lewis5 the 4amo*slycombative ri3ht?win3 Tory MP 4or NewForest Bast5 who wrote to the =*ndayB<press in A*3*st PQQQ:

GMt is tr*e that Hr: \eid was previo*slya n*clear disarmer5 b*t it is also tr*e thathe was one o4 the 4irst to reco3nise hismistake5 and 3en*inely campai3n 4or asensible n*clear deterrent policy:

GAs a 4ormer pro4essional anti?CNHcampai3ner5 M am ready eno*3h to criticise *ns*itable Labo*r appointees5 b*t Hr:\eid does not 4all into that cate3ory: hewo*ld be as 3ood a He4ence =ecretary asany Labo*r 3overnment co*ld provide:G

There is no record o4 whether \eidwas embarrassed by back?slappin3 4roms*ch a D*arter b*t he has developed a skinto*3h eno*3h to s*rvive in the notorio*sly

r*thless relationships amon3 the warrin3comrades o4 the =cottish Labo*r Party5where a pop*lar slo3an is Ga lon3 memoryis m*ch better than a 3ood memoryG: Thiswas the settin3 4or \eid's b*rnin3antipathy towards ^ordon Brown5 datin34rom the early PQQYs when Brown waschairman o4 =cottish Labo*r: Mt is thatpassion which is likely to drive him tooppose Brown in a leadership contest5winnin3 votes as the Gstop BrownGcandidate:

Xe;e01e;hen Labo*r won the PQQa election\eid's talents Ki4 that is the ri3ht wordLwere reco3nised in his appointment to as*ccession o4 hi3h pro4ile ministerial Aobs*ntil5 in the resh*44le in May5 he wasplaced as He4ence =ecretary: Mt wasr*mo*red that he coveted Tack =traw's Aobas Forei3n =ecretary b*t perhaps hisnotorio*s di44ic*lty with the silkilydiplomatic to*ch co*nted a3ainst himn orperhaps =traw s*lked and simply re4*sedto 3o: Another r*mo*r had it that He4enceis the Aob he always priEed since it 4ittedhis bellicose personality and anyway5 inspite o4 his m*ch?tr*mpeted h*mbleori3ins5 he loves takin3 the sal*te atmilitary march pasts: A probable reason4or his m*ltiplicity o4 3overnment Aobs isthat he is what is known as Ga sa4e pair o4handsG5 which is a diplomat's way o4sayin3 that he can be relied on*nblinkin3ly to A*sti4y ? in Parliament5 thepress5 on Td ? whatever the Blair3overnment does5 no matter howinde4ensible it is: Nis votin3 record istedio*sly obedient5 incl*din3 on c*ts in4*ndin3 bene4its 4or lone parents andst*dents5 on means?tested MncapacityBene4it5 on air strikes a3ainst A43hanistanand on the war a3ainst MraD: That is howhe earned a rep*tation as G\eid the\ottweilerG and GTe4lon TohnG: Attentive4ans o4 Teremy Pa<man will know that theTd interro3ator wei3hed in by describin3\eid as Blair's Gattack do3G5 to which\eid responded5 as wo*ld be e<pected4rom one o4 Ner MaAesty's =ecretaries o4=tate5 Privy Co*nsellor and tr*stedlie*tenant o4 the Prime Minister5 bycallin3 Pa<man Ga ;est London wankerG:

\eid has consistently shown areadiness to reshape what he still5 in spiteo4 all evidence to the contrary5 calls hisprinciples in order to solidi4y his standin3in the Labo*r Party: b4 co*rse he maychan3en there have been co*ntlesse<amples o4 leaders who have won poweron one set o4 promises and have theno*tra3ed their s*pporters by per4ormin3 adramatic *?t*rn: ;e know that with \eidanythin3 is possiblen there are practicallyno bo*nds to what he will say or do5within the con4ines o4 s*pport 4or thecapitalist system and its 3overnment:;itho*t that ability he wo*ld not s*rvivein the h*rly?b*rly o4 politics: Anyonelookin3 4or a promisin3 o*tsider 4or theLabo*r leadership race co*ld do worsethan lay a shrewd bet on the \ottweiler ?soon5 while the odds on him are soattractive:!IVAN

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Socialist Standard September 20052

!epte%ber )**+

socialist standardwebsite/ www.worldsocialism.org

contents

,-t is al2ays the 2or6ing 9lass that %a6e upthe pa2ns in ar%ies; legal an< illegal; an< theen< of a 2ar ne>er brings the% >i9tory?I45/ Is it 4eally the 8nd of the :5rmed ;truggle=>, page A

!a#$%&'a(io&+,s&.a/o0#it2&34iloso342#3a62&7+

8a3ata9&3a62&7:

!ubs9ription @r<ers should be sent to Bhe ;ocialistCarty, DE Flapham Gigh;treet,London ;IJ KLM.

AatesNne year subscription OnormalrateP BC)Nne year subscriptionOlowQunwagedP BD8urope rate BC+ O5ir mailP4est of world B)) O5ir mailPRoluntary supporterssubscription B)* or more.FheSues payable to TBhe;ocialist Carty of Ureat Vritain’.

The !o9ialist Farty of Great Hritain

Bhe neXt meeting of the8Xecutive Fommittee will beon ;aturday Z ;eptember atthe address below.Forrespondence should besent to the Ueneral ;ecretary.5ll articles, letters and noticeshould be sent to the editorialcommittee at/ Bhe ;ocialistCarty, DE Flapham Gigh street,London ;IJ KLM.telI*)* DJ)) KLCC eM%ailIspgbN2orl<so9ialis%Oorg

;i#os4i<a&a.t2#&t42&=last9&&3a62&7>

Pre Qe Pll RapatistasS[reedom fighters or coffee manufacturers> Ciers Gobson looks at the?@A#cito&8a3atista&(2&Ci=2#aciDE&FacioEal9&better known as the ]apatistas.

TUPTVAU!

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Qhy They Wroppe< the Ho%bs5rguably two of the greatest war crimes were the Giroshima andMagasaki atomic bombings. Vut did they really help end the war>

C*

aarb an< FhilosophyIhat did ^arX have to say about philosophy> Ias he a philosopherat all> 5dam Vuick eXamines ^arX’s philosophical stance.

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Aeligion an< the Xi%its of the !tateBhe capitalist state controls the economy, the workers and theideology of the market. Vut it can’t control religious mania.

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TAUU XVZC[ )*

-API -s it Aeally the Un< of the ,Pr%e< !truggle?SIs the I45 hanging up its balaclavas for good or simply mothballingthem> 5nd what has the working class to gain from this>

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!d#t%r#a(

!ocialists are always cautious aboutthe term 'morality' because withinclass society it largely pertains towhat the ruling class have

established as acceptable and unacceptablebehaviour or actions or activities which areregarded as 'good' or 'bad'.

Nevertheless it is easy for Socialiststo empathise with the feeling of popularrevulsion that followed the acts of massmurder in London on 7 July. As alwayswhen guns and bombs are used as politicalweapons, the victims of the bombings inLondon were innocent and without anyinfluence over the agenda that motivatedthe murderers; they were simply peoplegoing to work.

The general feeling, from thegovernment, the Queen, the churches, themedia and the public at large is that it wasan outrage; that slaughtering innocentpeople simply because you oppose theactions of those you perceive to be theirleaders is a barbaric act that cannot bejustified by the idealism, ideology orpolitical or religious beliefs of thoseordering or carrying out such an act.

To raise the question of the war inIraq is in no way to imply sympathy withthe terrorists but it is reasonable to look atIraq and, indeed, the entire panoply ofviolence, armaments and warfare thatlatter-day capitalism generates.

The British Labour governmentlargely in obedience to the dictates of thepolitical kings of US capitalism - just like

those who ordered what is agreed werebarbaric acts in London - did co-operate inthe massive slaughter of tens of thousandsof innocent Iraqis who, rather thansupporting Saddam Hussein were,according to the Anglo-Americancoalition, the real victims of the dreadeddictator. The result of both actions, thoughnot the numbers of victims, was identical:innocent people who were wholly bereft ofany power or influence to concede to thedemands of those ordering the killingswere wantonly slaughtered.

All forms of warfare - and terrorismis a form of warfare - present the threat ofdeath to the participants whether they areprofessionals (people prepared to kill incircumstances determined by theiremployers) or serious amateurs (peopleprepared to kill for a specific cause). Ineither circumstance risk to life comeseasier to those who believe that life onEarth is a mere prelude to a life hereafter.It is a notion that gives solace to believers;making them less anxious to question theirrole in a situation that defeats rationalunderstanding. That is why governmentspromote irrational religious belief for theirarmed forces and why they providefacilities for religious rituals, make priestsand parsons officers and pay their salaries.

For the terrorist the most pressingincentive is belief in the virtue of theircause. The man or woman facing thedreadful hazards associated with terrorismhas to be morally reinforced with the idea

that their god is on their side. God asAllah, as the Great Jehovah, or whateverother identity he takes on in any of themyriad of religious beliefs, is always sternand demanding and his strictures arealways accommodating to the belligerenceengendered by the exclusivity of faith.God is indeed a vital weapon in thepsychological make-up of the terrorist; aguarantee that sacrifice will be rewardedwith eternal happiness.

A verse of an old Irish rebel songdevoted to the IRA goes:

'Upon their shield, a stainless field,the virtues blazoned bright,

'With temperance, and purity andtruth and honour dight;

'So now they stand at God's righthand Who framed their dauntless way,

'Who taught them and Who broughtthem the glory of the day!'

For someone not utterly drugged onthe belief of the inseparability of god andcause, the idea of committing suicide inorder to take the lives of other anonymouspeople is too utterly sick forcontemplation. Allah, like the ChristianGod and his rivals, is a demanding andcruel god and without him and theimagined comfort of eternal salvation, it ishard to imagine the foul practice of suicidebombing or other sort of bombing existing.

Socialist Standard September 2005 3

Aeligion an< Terroris%

UK BRANCHES &CONTACTS

LONDONCentral London branch.Corres:Richard Botterill, 21 AshwellPark, Harpenden, Herts AL5 5SG. Tel: 01582 764929email:richardbotterill@hotmail.com.2nd & 4th Mon. 7.30. Carpenters Arms,Seymour Place, W1 (near Marble Arch) Enfield and Haringey branch. Tues.8pm. Angel Community Centre,Raynham Rd, NI8. Corres: 17 DorsetRoad, N22 7SL.email:julianvein@blueyonder.co.ukSouth London branch. 1st Mon.7.45pm. Head Office. 52 ClaphamHigh St, SW4 7UN. Tel: 020 76223811West London branch. 1st & 3rdTues.8pm, Chiswick Town Hall,Heathfield Terrace (Corner SuttonCourt Rd), W4. Corres: 51 GayfordRoad, London W12 9BYPimlico. C. Trinder, 24 Greenwood Ct,155 Cambridge Street, SW1 4VQ. Tel: 020 7834 8186

MIDLANDSBirmingham branch. Thur. 8pm, TheSquare Peg, Corporation Street. Tel:Ron Cook, 0121 533 1712

NORTHEASTNortheast branch. Corres: JohnBissett, 10 Scarborough Parade,Hebburn, Tyne & Wear, NE31 2AL. Tel: 0191 422 6915 email:johnbissett@blueyonder.co.uk

NORTHWESTLancaster branch. P. Shannon, 71Coniston Road, Lancaster LA1 3NW.

email: lorna@kaibosh.freeserve.co.ukManchester branch. Paul Bennett, 6Burleigh Mews, Hardy Lane, M217LB.Tel: 0161 860 7189Bolton. Tel: H. McLaughlin.01204 844589Cumbria. Brendan Cummings, 19Queen St, Millom, Cumbria LA18 4BGRochdale. Tel: R. Chadwick. 01706 522365Southeast Manchester. Enquiries:Blanche Preston, 68 Fountains Road,M32 9PH

YORKSHIREHuddersfield. Richard Rainferd, 28Armitage Rd, Armitage Bridge,Huddersfield, West Yorks, HD4 7DPHull. Keith Scholey. Tel: 01482 44651Skipton. R Cooper, 1 Caxton Garth,Threshfield, Skipton BD23 5EZ. Tel: 01756 752621

SOUTH/SOUTHEAST/SOUTHWESTBournemouth and East Dorset. PaulHannam, 12 Kestrel Close, Upton,Poole BH16 5RP. Tel: 01202 632769Brighton. Corres: c/o 52 ClaphamHigh Street, London SW4 7UNBristol. Shane Roberts, 86 High Street,Bristol BS5 6DN. Tel: 0117 9511199Cambridge. Andrew Westley, 10Marksby Close, Duxford, CambridgeCB2 4RS. Tel: 01223 570292Canterbury. Rob Cox, 4 StanhopeRoad, Deal, Kent, CT14 6ABLuton. Nick White, 59 HeywoodDrive, LU2 7LPRedruth. Harry Sowden, 5 ClarenceVillas, Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 1PB.Tel: 01209 219293

NORTHERN IRELANDBelfast. R. Montague, 151 CavehillRoad, BT15 1BL. Tel: 02890 586799

SCOTLANDEdinburgh branch.1st Thur. 8-9pm.The Quaker Hall, Victoria Terrace(above Victoria Street), Edinburgh. J. Moir. Tel: 0131 440 0995JIMMY@jmoir29.freeserve.co.ukBranch website:http://geocities.com/edinburghbranch/Glasgow branch. 3rd Wednesday ofeach month at 8pm in CommunityCentral Halls, 304 Maryhill Road,Glasgow. Richard Donnelly, 112Napiershall Street, Glasgow G20 6HT.Tel: 0141 5794109 Email:richard.donnelly1@ntlworld.comAyrshire: D. Trainer, 21 Manse Street,Salcoats, KA21 5AA. Tel: 01294469994. derricktrainer@freeuk.comDundee. Ian Ratcliffe, 16 Birkhall Ave,Wormit, Newport-on-Tay, DD6 8PX.Tel: 01328 541643West Lothian. 2nd and 4th Weds inmonth, 7.30-9.30. LanthornCommunity Centre, Kennilworth Rise,Dedridge, Livingston. Corres: MattCulbert, 53 Falcon Brae, Ladywell,Livingston, West Lothian, EH5 6UW.Tel: 01506 462359Email: matt@wsmweb.fsnet.co.uk

WALESSwansea branch. 2nd Mon, 7.30pm,Unitarian Church, High Street. Corres:Geoffrey Williams, 19 Baptist WellStreet, Waun Wen, Swansea SA1 6FB.Tel: 01792 643624Cardiff and District. John James, 67Romilly Park Road, Barry CF62 6RR.Tel: 01446 405636

INTERNATIONAL CONTACTSAFRICAGambia. World of Free Access. c/o 21Dobson St, Benjul.Kenya. Patrick Ndege, PO Box 56428,NairobiUganda. Socialist Club, PO Box 217,Kabale. Email:wmugyenzi@yahoo.comSwaziland. Mandia Ntshakala, PO Box981, Manzini

EUROPEDenmark. Graham Taylor, Spobjervej173, DK-8220, Brabrand.Germany. Norbert. Email:weltsozialismus@gmx.netTristan Miller. Email:psychonaut@nothingisreal.comNorway. Robert Stafford. Email:hallblithe@yahoo.com

COMPANION PARTIESOVERSEASWorld Socialist Party of Australia.P. O. Box 1266 North Richmond 3121,Victoria, Australia.. Email:commonownership@yahoo.com.auSocialist Party of Canada/PartiSocialiste du Canada. Box 4280,Victoria B.C. V8X 3X8 Canada. Email:SPC@iname.comWorld Socialist Party (New Zealand)P.O. Box 1929, Auckland, NI, NewZealand. Email:wspnz@worldsocialism.org World Socialist Party of the UnitedStates P.O. Box 440247, Boston, MA02144 USA. Email:wspboston@mindspring.com

)%nta+t -.ta#(s

Socialist Standard September 20054

!o9ialist AobotsOOOIn Rossum's Universal Robots (1921), the best workers are thecheapest ones with the fewest needs, who know only how towork, have no humanity, remember everything but think ofnothing new. In fact, they are Robots, humanoids geneticallyengineered for a life of drudgery, as the Czech word'robota' indicates. Although the concept of artificialhumans goes back much further than Capak's play,it is since his work that ideas of mechanical menand women created to serve humanity have reallytaken off, and increasingly are no longerrestricted to film, TV and literature.

Modern robots, however, have little incommon with Capak's. Bolted to the floor, they arecomputer-controlled mechanical arms capableof such tasks as painting, wedling, riveting,loading and stacking, and are seen inincreasing numbers throughout themanufacturing industry. Whether they shouldbe classed as robots is debatable, for they failutterly to resemble what we commonlyunderstand to be a robot; that is, amechanical human.

Such robots have been indevelopment for some time,particularly in Japan. ASIMO,for example, is Honda's 4-foottall humanoid robot which canwalk, run, climb stairs and respond tofifty different Japanese phrases. Sony's QRIO canconnect wirelessly to the internet and get up should itfall. And Toyota's 'Partner' robot can inflate itsmechanical lungs, purse its artificial lips and playthe trumpet (The Economist Technology 6uarter,March 12th 2005). But that's about all they cando, and as yet are a very long way from theC3POs, Datas, and Terminators of film and TV.

As we move toward socialism, and astechnology advances, it is not unlikely that asentient, humanoid robot capable of speech,thought, mobility, and invested with something

of a personality(to easecommunicationwith it and reinforce its'humanoid'characteristics), willbe created, shouldpresent trendscontinue. However,they could present

something of a problem for socialism, for in a society where allpeople are considered equal, what relationship will we have withartificial people? Will organic humans be more equal thaninorganic ones?

Naturally, science-fiction has much to say on this subject.Isaac Asimov's robots, featured in many of his short stories and

novels, are programmed to obediently serve humanity, evenanswering 'master' to humans, who often address them as

'boy'. This slave class stands in complete contrast to theruling class which robots have evolved to become inPhilip K Dick's dystopian futures, and are so lifelike that

they cannot be distinguished from human beings.Indeed, there are certain strands of evolutionarytheory which suggest that inorganic life willachieve superiority over organic life so that themachine - if machine is the right word - mayindeed become the dominant life form.

Although Marx, in The Poverty ofPhilosophy, noted that machinery 'is intended to

cheapen commodities' and 'is a means forproducing surplus value', the exploratory

dynamic of science is not alwayssuppressed by the confines andlimitations of capitalism andhumanoid robots may continue tobe developed into socialism, even

though they are hugely expensiveand as yet have no practical

applications. However, it's unlikelythat socialists would want a servant,

machine or otherwise, to see to theirneeds, for it would clearly necessitate a

master and servant relationship. And ifrobots were programmed with a

consciousness, as well as the capacity todisplay emotive behaviour, we can assume it

would be a socialist consciousness and woulddoubtless object to its servitude. If sentient humanoid

robots are going to work at all, it must be alongside usand not for us. On the other hand, we may altogether

abandon as unethical the project of replicating human life inmachine form and concentrate solely on the non-humanoidform of robot.

It seems unlikely, though, that such machines couldever perform tasks with the dexterity, creativity and joy ofhuman beings, and it may be counter-productive to investthe huge amounts of time and resources necessary tocreate phenomenally complex machines if they can only

replicate the mundane work of Capak's originals. For asocialist society, humanoid robots may be breathtakingexamples of human ingenuity, but little more.

OOOan< Aobo9hefsLife hectic> Boo much stress> Fan_t bebothered to cook> `ust go to yourdomestic organic recycler, tap in thecode for _chicken and chips_, and theappropriate molecules are eXtracted fromyour underground organic waste vaultOughP and reassembled into piping hotrosemaryaflavoured poule et fritesOyummyP. Ihat_s even better, as this_chicken_ never lived to suffer in the firstplace, vegetarians might like it too. [arafetched> Iell, bust a bit. Bhis kind ofmolecular assembly, though theoreticallypossible, is several horicons beyond thecurrent nanotechnology horicon, and atpresent only eXists as the fabulous _foodreplicator_ seen on the ;tarship8nterprise.

Iith the Vush administration_sdetermination to get humans back intospace and on their way to ^ars via theInternational ;pace ;tation, one offshoot

technologyis eXploring

ways to make the food available toastronauts more interesting and variedOF2G&Sci2Etist, 5ugust EdP. ;ince foodingredients in space have to have a longshelfalife without refrigeration, thechallenge is to produce variety out of alimited repertoire. Bhe new idea is todevise a mathematical language or_grammar_ to describe different foods, andthen program a virtual food machine tosynthesise or simulate these foods out ofraw ingredients. Ihile the feasibility ofmaking such a machine compact enoughfor space flight is doubtful, with norestriction on sice or number ofingredients the landabased potential isenormous. Bhe machine could beprogrammed to develop its own recipes,perhaps by an evolutionary process, sothat unthinkably interesting new foodscould be born.

Cathfinders may sometimes givethe impression that socialism will always

take advantage of any labourasavingtechnology that capitalism happens tocome up with, but in this particular case itmay well do the opposite. Ihile the driveto automate tedious, arduous ordangerous work is clearly worthwhile,what is more Suestionable is whether wewould ever want to automate enboyablesocial practices. 8ven if a machine couldcome up with a recipe we never thoughtof, would it be worth it> In capitalism,where cutathroat competition makes thebuck more important than the bucc,speed, innovation and output are whatmatter. Fapitalism is always ruining thefun in everything, so that people begin toperceive almost any creative activity asdreary work to be avoided, or given tomachines. In socialism, with its conflationof work and play at the centre of thesocial ethic, there will be some thingspeople will always prefer to dothemselves, and for each other, withoutthe robots taking over. ;eX is definitelyone. ^aybe cooking is another.

Asimo - (ust wants to beloved

3RIO - more ornament than use at present

Socialist Standard September 2005

Ubtre%e >ie2sDear EditorsI was not impressed with your card handed tome on the march in Edinburgh last month[July].

Y o u rc o n n e c t i o nMake PovertyHistory withC a p i t a l i s mwas in verybad taste and Iconsider it a

disgrace. I am aware of the shortcomings ofthe present trading system and will continueto campaign for the aims of the Trade JusticeMovement of which I am a member locally.However I do not want to be associated withyour extreme views or the way you carry outyour activities.PHIL BARLOW, NOTTINGHAM

Qorl< proble%sDear Editors,Many problems are faced today mostespecially in economical and politicalspheres of life. For instance, wars, workers'strikes, corruption, riots, and many others.These most happen in developing countriesand some few developed countries and theinfluence comes direct from world powers.

The selfish ideas of the world powers,being hidden by these powers, are the rootcause of the world atrocities in pretext thatthey are fighting terrorism, endingcolonialism, fighting dictatorship amongother decisive, political and economic selfishideas.

It is a great challenge for all socialiststo pronounce and advocate for socialistprinciples without fear or frustration fromselfish politicians so that we come to save theworld from the ongoing atrocities escalatingfrom selfishness of those who only look forways of getting richer and richer at theexpense of the majority. JOSEPH BALIKUDDEMBE, KAMPALA,Uganda

!o9ialis%; s9ientifi9 andhu%anisti9Dear EditorsSince January the Pathfinders page has beena valuable addition to the Socialist Standard.In discussing socialism it recognises that weneed to be consciously working forsomething, not simply against something.

In July I argued against the idea thatvoting and democracy would be significantlyadvanced by means of new technology.After reading the August Pathfinders Irealise that my questioning of newtechnology developed within capitalism goesdeeper than that. It is a matter of someinterpretations of scientific socialismfocusing on things and humanistic socialism(as I see it) focusing on people. Don't get mewrong - I'm not against scientific socialism.I just think that Pathfinders puts too muchemphasis on things and not enough onpeople.

"If capitalism fed, clothed and lookedafter its people in peace and withoutcoercion, socialism would not be disprovedbut it would be unnecessary." There is noevidence that capitalism can be changed toadequately feed and clothe all the world'spopulation without coercion. So the ideathat it can do these things remains a doubtfulhypothesis. But even if capitalism couldchange its spots in the ways outlined, wouldthat be the end of the socialist campaign forsystem change? I think not. Socialism is notabout changes to capitalism - it is aboutreplacing capitalism with another system. Itis about a world society based on giving andtaking, not onbuying and selling.

". . . the ability to micro-produce withminimal waste and distribution costs remainsone of the most exciting innovations socialistsociety could possibly inherit." Pathfinders'fire is obviously lit by socialist methods ofproducing and distributing things. My fire islit by the prospect of socialist relationsbetween people (which will, of course, leadto changes in production, distribution, andmuch else). STAN PARKER, LONDON N3.

Canne< laughterDear Editors,Some people, including some socialists,used to get quite irritated about the way thatrecorded laughter was inserted into, firstradio, then television, shows that wentunder the generic heading of comedy. Butwe have slowly got used to this feature ofmodern life in capitalist society. It is almostuniversal now. It is applied to qualitycomedy and poor comedy; those with realaudiences and those with no possibility ofan audience at all in the location of theaction. Like antidepressant drugs, cannedlaughter is prescribed for nearly everybody.Because, let's face it, much of the time, ifyou didn't laugh, you'd cry.

Many aspects of living in thisincreasingly dysfunctional world society aremoving in the same direction. In Japan, aswell as North America and Europe shoppinghas become the diversionary avenue ofseeking feel-good factors. Clothes, to makeus feel good about our appearance; varioustypes of car, to make us comfortable aboutour status among our neighbours; healthfoods, to make us feel healthy; exotic foodsto make us feel opulent; gyms, to make usfeel confident or even superior about ourphysical fitness and sexual attractiveness.Houses, gardens, kitchens, etc., etc. Ourelectronic gadgetry, from mobile phonesand digital cameras to MP3 recorders andplayers, offer us more power to do things wehadn't even thought of and probably willnever try.

The planet is being pillaged, plunderedand polluted to make commodities for us tobuy, partly because we need them andcapital must have the flow of profit, butincreasingly in the effort to obliterate ourbasic hunger for freedom, the one thing wecannot have. Like canned laughter, thetemporary lift we get from commoditygratification is artificial, false. It hides abad joke.RON COOK, WEST BROMWICH

0.tt.rs

5

The news that the 2012 Olympic Gameshad been awarded to London sent theStock Exchange Index up to a three-yearhigh - the biggest gains in share price

were for a company that specialises in wiringsports stadia and other landmark attractions.Clearly many companies hope for an economicbonanza, especially those involved inconstruction and the hotel industry. Staging thegames may be enormously expensive, but somefirms at least will make an awful lot of money out of it. TheOlympics, after all, are only in passing about sport; they are alsoabout nationalism and, primarily, profits.

Only a small part of the income will come from ticket sales - theoverwhelming majority is from the sale of broadcasting rights andcorporate sponsorship. So important is this last point that companieswho aren't official sponsors are likely to be banned from associatingthemselves with the games in any way (Evening Standard 7 July).The government will guide an Olympics Bill through parliament,designed among other things to prevent 'ambush advertising', wherecompanies pass themselves off as somehow linked to the games,whether as sponsors or not. However ludicrous this sounds, it's notunique. The 2003 cricket World Cup in South Africa was sponsoredby Pepsi, and spectators drinking Coca-Cola were ejected from

venues; moreover, this was sanctioned by newmarketing laws introduced by the government. (InNo Logo Naomi Klein mentions an American highschool which held an official Coke Day with lotsof promotional activities, but where one studentwas suspended for going to school in a T-shirt witha Pepsi logo.) At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney,companies had to pay to use any kind of Olympicname or logo (including some that had beenestablished for years under the name of 'Olympic').

One of the principles of capitalism is that ownership ofsomething gives you exclusive rights over its use, including whether,and how, you allow others to have access to it. This applies not justto physical things such as land, oil, rivers and factories but also toideas and inventions - hence the development of patents andprotection for 'intellectual property', and the clamping down oncounterfeit and imitation goods. And, as we can now see, it also holdsfor particular names and logos, and for advertising space.

The International Olympic Committee jealously guards itscontrol over the Olympic name and advertising at the games venues.Companies who pay hefty fees for sponsorship buy the 'right' toadvertise and sell their products, to the exclusion of any directcompetitors. Just as football stadia are now named after corporations and products such as Reebok and Walkers' Crisps, and clubs do their

This @ne Qill Aun an< Aun

continued on page 18

Socialist Standard ASeptember 2005u056

The leadership of Oglaigh nah'Eireann has formally ordered anend to the armed campaign. This willtake effect from 4pm this afternoon.

All IRA units have been ordered to dumparms" (Extract from IRA statement of 28July)

So the IRA has given up the gun forthe ballot box - but not for the first time.

In 1956 it was reluctantly pushed byits young activists to begin a 'BorderCampaign'. Within a few months thecampaign had deteriorated into cuttingdown a few telegraph poles and issuinggrandiose statements about the activities oftheir commandos. Away from the borderbetween Northern Ireland and the Republicthis new phase of the interminable 'troubles'was hardly noticed. Everybody but the IRAknew their campaign was going nowhere.Internment, both in the north and in thesouth, emaciated the movement andinevitably internal disputes in theinternment camps began to fester among thevolunteers.

It took the IRA's Army Council fivemore years before it announced the formaltermination of the Border Campaign but atlast, in 1962, Oglaith na hEireann, the IrishRepublican Army, issued what was as nearas possible a notice of surrender. It admittedthat it had not achieved the necessary

support from the nationalist (Catholic)community in Northern Ireland; in fact itcastigated the nationalists claiming that theyhad sold 'their heritage for a mess ofpottage' - a reference to the scheme ofwelfare capitalism introduced in Britainafter the war and extended to NorthernIreland.

Henceforth, the IRA was taking thegun out of Irish politics - the IRAspokesperson, the legendary 'P O'Neill',actually said that - and would confine itsactivities to political campaigns on socialissues.

Behind the scenes a coterie ofLeninists had defeated the death-or-gloryboys of traditional Republicanism and tookcontrol of the IRA's Army Council. Thiselement saw the IRA as the nucleus of apolitical movement that would use theatrocious political and social conditions inthe North as a catalyst for uniting workerswho traditionally opposed one another onreligious grounds. The Rosary brigade,those for whom republicanism andCatholicism were synonymous terms, wereappalled by this 'rank communism' and leftthe movement.

The IRA then transformed itself into'Republican Clubs' in furtherance of itsplans. Up to then, the Unionist governmenthad claimed to accept the right of

republicans to use constitutional means toachieve a united Ireland. Such a claim didnot represent a political threat to Unionism,which, at the birth of the state in 1921, hadhelped demographically tailor the territoryof Northern Ireland to ensure that they had atwo-to-one majority based on the religioustopography of the six north-eastern countiesof the ancient Province of Ulster. Despitethis guarantee, they immediately banned theRepublican Clubs.

Traditionally, the IRA had based itsclaim to use physical force on the results ofthe elections of 1918 which was the lastgeneral election held in Ireland before thecountry was arbitrarily divided by theBritish government. Sinn Fein, the IRA'spolitical wing, won an overall majority inthat election and established the first DailEireann which was effectively banned bythe British.

!ib 9ountiesA brutal guerrilla war ensued during whichthe Westminster politicians showed thatthey were the 'moral' equal of those theycalled terrorists by recruiting mercenarieswho terrorised the populace in an effort tofrighten support away from the IRA. Thetactic had the reverse effect but eventually,as now, British ministers sat down with the'terrorists'. Under threat, an unsatisfactory

-API Is it 4eally the 8nd of eBhe 5rmed ;trugglee>

7Socialist Standard September 2005

peace deal was negotiated which dividedIreland into the 26-county Irish Free Stateand the 6-county state of Northern Ireland.

This 'solution' split the IRA andresulted in a bloody civil war between FreeState forces - armed by the British - and arump of the IRA who were dubbed'Irregulars'. The latter, the ideologicalantecedents of the present Provisional IRA,were defeated and they and their followersglumly pronounced that both the newgovernments on the Island of Ireland were'illegal' and a betrayal of the holy grail of'The Republic' as proclaimed by the new-born IRA in the insurrection of 1916. DailEireann, the legend went, had transferred itsexecutive authority to the Army Council ofthe IRA and, thenceforth, any groupclaiming to be the rightful heirs of the 1916Declaration of the Republic couldgrandiosely claim to be the de factogovernment of Ireland.

The political leader and, then, icon ofthe defeated Irregulars was Eamon DeValera. Despite being the main architect ofthe politics that resulted in the Civil War'Dev', as he was known, was a pragmaticpolitician who realised the absurdity offurther military adventures against the FreeState. In 1926 he formed a new politicalparty, Fianna Fail, to challenge the party ingovernment, Cumann na nGaedheal (later,as now, Fine Gael) and in 1932 Fianna Failwon an outright victory at a general electionand De Valera became Taoiseach. It was abad day for later incarnations of the IRA,for despite having created the genre ofdissident Republicans, Dev, who held poweruntil 1948, proved a bitter, even vicious,enemy of the IRA.

The %o<ern -APIt is important to take this brief look back atthe history of the IRA because it raises animportant question. Following the Civil Warin 1922, the split within the movement andthen the desertion of De Valera, theorganisation never regained any realpolitical influence in Ireland until 1970 andthe establishment of yet another breakawaymovement, the Provisional IRA.

The IRA admitted in 1962 that theNorthern Catholic nationalists had notsupported its brief, inglorious 'bordercampaign' but what were the new materialconditions that brought about generalCatholic support for the Provisional IRAafter 1970? And what lessons may it havefor the future, both in Northern Ireland andin Great Britain which is now facing aterrorist threat of an even more menacingkind?

The IRA's 1962 decision to pursue aconstitutional campaign based on socialissues paradoxically fused with an aspect ofthe new mood of northern nationalists whohad earlier rejected the IRA. Generally, afterthe war and the benefits of some UK socialreforms, nationalists were becomingincreasingly reconciled to acceptance of thenorthern state. In 1965 Britain and theRepublic of Ireland signed a Free TradeAgreement and after this the few nationalistpoliticians in the Northern Irelandparliament at Stormont accepted the role(and the salaries) of Her Majesty'sOpposition. But, if they were going to beloyal then they wanted the apparatus ofreligious discrimination and vote-rigging tobe dismantled.

What happened was that theRepublicans managed to tap into this mood.

Unionist politicians and fascist-type bigotslike the hot-gospeller Ian Paisley, were toclaim that the subsequent Northern IrelandCivil Rights Movement was a creature ofthe IRA but it wasn't this simple; in fact itwas established by a younger, more activegenre of nationalists, products of the 1944British Education Acts, and it resulted in acoalescing of anti-Unionist factionsincluding the IRA in its Republican Clubsincarnation.

Taking its cue from the AmericanCivil Rights campaign, the new movementadopted the name Northern Ireland CivilRights Association (NICRA) and proceededto use the same tactics of masseddemonstrations and protests in pursuit of itsdemands. The Unionist Prime Minister,Captain Terence O'Neill, was not averse togranting the basic demands of the NICRAand had he been able to do so it is likelythat Catholic nationalist anger would havebeen defused and the violence of thefollowing thirty years avoided but Paisleywas rousing old anti-Catholic bigotries inthe unionist community - and, incidentally,using that bigotry to forge a political career

that would bring rewards well beyond hismodest Bible-thumping talents.

Faced with government bans, NICRAturned to civil disobedience and thegovernment ordered the armed police,which the Unionists had traditionally usedas their private army, to use force against'illegal' demonstrations. Television picturesshowing the police (RUC) attacking non-violent marchers were flashed around theworld much to the discomfort of the Britishgovernment which was the ultimateauthority in Northern Ireland.

Events were hurrying towards a bittersectarian pogrom. Protestant loyalists,assisted by the B Specials (an exclusivelyProtestant paramilitary auxiliary policeforce) torched Catholic homes; some ex-IRA men went to the Dublin leadership ofthe IRA to seek arms to defend the Catholicghettoes in Belfast and Derry and were toldthat IRA arms would not be made availablefor sectarian warfare. In Belfast, Republicandissidents were appalled at this response;the 'communist' leadership was denouncedby much of the rank-and-file and theProvisional IRA was born, leaving twoIRA's -the Official IRA and the ProvisionalIRA, both claiming to be the executive heirsof the only legitimate Dial Eireann. ExtremeCatholic conservatives within the Irishgovernment, fearful of the consequences of'communist' influences, helped to procurearms for the new PIRA.

Fa2ns in a ga%eThe rest is the story of the brutal conflictthat became Northern Ireland's 'Dirty War'.Now the IRA is standing down its footsoldiers. There were three sides to the war:the British Army/RUC, the Provisional IRAand the various Protestant paramilitaryorganisations. As a first step in accounting,we can say that none can claim victory. It isalways the working class that make up thepawns in armies, legal and illegal, and theend of a war never brings them victory. Theother thousands who died were just theinnocent victims of those who were at war.

Ironically, Paisley's strident anti-Catholicism played a major role ingalvanising the Catholics into openrebellion. 'No truck with Dublin' has beenhis war cry but his hard-line bigotry hasnow brought about a situation of virtualjoint authority between London and Dublinin the affairs of Northern Ireland. Paisley,whose fight for Ulster went only as far asthrowing snowballs at Jack Lynch when hevisited Stormont as Irish Taoiseach, isobliged to discuss policy with both theBritish and Irish Prime Ministers.

On the other hand, the ProvisionalIRA, whose war aim was to end partition,drive out the British and abolish the state ofNorthern Ireland have succeeded only inestablishing a claim to be part of thepolitical administration of the state they setout to abolish!

Eventually the politicians on bothsides will have to reach an accommodationto work the structures of governmentestablished by the Good Friday Agreement.The salaries and the expenses are good andthe leaders can write of a finish to asatisfactory war.

But what have the workers across theinfamous religious divide got? As so manytimes before, they have simply been used aspawns.!

RICHARD MONTAGUE

A NICRA sitdown protest, November 1968

A victim of the CBloody Sunday’ massacre

8 Socialist Standard September 2005

Ie have conclusive proof thatBony Vlair doesn_t read the;ocialist ;tandard. In thesepages last month, we warned

that trying to suppress religion or religiouseXpression is not going to stem any terrorthreat. fet now, the Crime ^inister hasstood before the media, vowing to closedown ^osSues where religious eXtremismis preached. fet, censorship has neverworked to suppress any ideology ormovement.

Bhe Vlairites have long been proudof their writing the 8uropean Fonventionof Guman 4ights into Vritish law. fet BonyVlair has stood before the media vowingto amend the act so as to enable hisgovernment to use draconian powersagainst those it suspects a but cannotprove in a court of law a to be involved inthe promotion of terrorism. Ie have,also, in these pages before, warned thathuman rights legislation was a paper thinprotection against the might of theorganised violence of the state. Bhus itproves, when inalienable rights get in theway of untrammelled state power, they gettorn asunder. Bhere are rights, but onlywhen they don_t matter, it seems.

Bony Vlair has stood before themedia of the world, venting sound andfury because the levers of state hecontrols with such ultimate power areinadeSuate to stem the terrorist tide.gings and Crime ^inisters have long been

able to dowhatever theypleased withthemachinery ofstate a buttheir record instopping theseas issomewhatdismal. Bhestate hasultimatepower over

our bodies a life or death, but it reaches itslimits at people_s minds.

Ceople_s consciousness is notsomething that can be shaped by fiat a aminuted cabinet meeting declaring that allinhabitants of Vritain will be loyal citicens.Ceople_s consciousness is an outgrowth oftheir life every bit as much as their armsor their hair. ;ocialists know from longOand bitterP eXperience, that merelyeXpounding an idea to someone will notmove them. Bhere has to be the basis ofagreement already in their minds, basedon their eXperience of the world and theirvalues, for any ideas to take hold.

Bhe notion that merely preaching isenough to turn people into suicidebombers is itself a part of the same flawedpremise upon which religion is based/ thatpeople choose to believe. Bhe idea thatpeople are outside the world around them,separate from the chains of causationthey can see in nature. It is also aprobection of the selfaimage of the greatleaders who believe that they can bendpeople_s wills to whatever they wish, likesome great impresario in the circus ring.4eligion itself is subbect to materialisteXplanation. It is, in fact, an effort ofhuman beings to understand the worldaround them. Veginning with the ancientreligions that eXplained naturalphenomena in terms of beings withhumanalike minds controlling events. Bhatis, early cultures eXplained the world withreference to the thing they knew best,

humans and human behaviour.Crobecting human relationships onnatural obbects h for instance bymaking gifts to the fields and riversin return for favours like not flooding.

5s civilisation grew, religion has the attempt to understand theworld h changed to adapt to the newenvironment. iifferent types of godsgrew up, who behaved suspiciouslylike the despots who governed theworld at that time. Bhe growth ofwidespread kingdoms lead to thedevelopment of divisions of labourwhich established priestly castesand codified myths to establish acommon religious narrative Owhichhelped in coaordinating things likethe kingdomawide harvesting ofcropsP. Bhe essential ingredient,though, of probecting a human giftrelationship on the world remained.

5round the first century of theFommon 8ra OF8P this process ledto the spread of the greatmonotheistic religions. 5t the time,4ome was spreading its influenceover the near east. 5s trade andcommerce eXtended, local tribalformations became more fluid, andso the image of one 8mperor rulingover a vast differentiated domaineasily gave rise to the idea of oneUod ruling over the entire 8arth.Ceople were obliged to obey thatUod much as they would have toobey the 8mperor, lest they face hisfierce and arbitrary wrath. Bhereligion that most successfullyencompassed that sort of worldeXperience was Fhristianity, whichgrew to be the dominant and officialreligion of the 4oman 8mpire in theJth century F8 under Fonstantine.

Likewise, Islam OLiterally_;ubmission to the will of god_Pemerged around Add F8 apropagated by ^uhammed, awealthy and wellatravelled merchant. Bhe5rab peoples at that time were dividedand living in the shadows of the greatVycantine and Cersian 8mpires Oempirescharacterised by centralised monotheisticreligious uniformityP. It was to ^uhammedand his movement_s advantage to copythis style of thinking and organising, asthey began to spread their fledglingempire and unite the 5rab tribes into apower.

Bhat is, these religions in their timewere rational observations of how both thenatural and social worlds operated. 8ven,in some senses, progressive in theiradvancement of human understandingand the growth of civilisation. Bheystemmed from a need to understand aworld that stretched beyond immediateapprehension and sense and spread overvast and intermingling empires. Lackingmodern data capture or inSuirytechniSues, such empires could only beapprehended by metaphors for the

emperors that ruled them.Bhe religions born then continued to

be at the forefront of attempts tounderstand the world for many years,either as direct means of eXplainingphenomena, or as paradigms into whichnew eXplanations and observations couldand must be incorporated. If everythinghappens by the will of god, then knowingthe mind of god is the only logical form ofinvestigative endeavour.

5s data capture and the technologyof natural science advanced over thesubseSuent thousand years, the value ofthe religious eXplanations began to beSuestioned. In Iestern 8urope, this leadto a division between the concept ofscience and of religion. 5s variousphysical worldatruth claims of religion hsuch as that of the position of the 8arth inrelation to the ;un h came undersustained challenge h by Fopernicus, injDjJ F8 h the established religious elitesfought back, using raw political power andwealth

Bhis meant that the ideologues ofreligion came up with more and moreways to defend their worldaview from thechallenge of the new scientific methods aretreating Oin some casesP to the point ofdefending religion as a mere personalpreference in areas where facts could notbe proved in the same way as in thenatural sciences. Bhat is, they clung on tothe social sciences for a further threehundred years. 5ll ethics and socialtheory was made by reference to theassumed eXistence of a despotic deity.

Flass struggle broke out over

Blair - bit of a Cnut, but stillcan’t stop the tide

Aeligionan< theli%its of the!tate

Socialist Standard September 2005 9

8urope. Bhe rising bourgeoisiechallenged their feudal masters, and in sodoing challenged the idea of obeying thedictates of a despotic god, instead tryingto privatise conscience and change therelationship to a more contractual one.Bhis meant challenging the religiousauthorities on the ground of socialscience, and meant that other theoriescould be opened up for debate aempiricism and rationalism and lateridealism. Bhey challenged simplyaccepting facts and truth claims based onauthority. Bhey challenged obedience to aset of simplistic rules set down by the8mperor. It was a revolutionarychallenge.

Bhis challenge lasted only as long asthere was a stake in it. Nnce thebourgeoisie was finally ensured of power,the religious Suestions didn_t matter asmuch, and in fact proved to be a usefulway of defending their new foundsupremacy from the challenge of thenascent working class. Bhe sameweapon of social science which helpedthem to power was now being usedagainst them, to show how their rule waseXploitative and domineering. Bhe oldreligion became a means of bustifying theirrule to themselves and to theirsubordinates, as they spread their systemacross the globe.

Bo the eXtent that the working classfelt themselves powerless, they werewilling to accept an eXplanation of theworld that gave them some measure ofunderstanding and control a much as forthe humans at the formation of the first

religious impulse. 5s, however,technical competence was increasinglyreSuired for work, so has a growth ofunderstanding of science and the worldthat sees much of western religiondriven to either the merest shadow of itsformer acceptance, if not outrightagnosticism Othough many still acceptthe arguments of the theists overreligion and belief over things whichcannot be provenP.

In many parts of the world,traditional religious castes still retain astrong sway a Fatholic priests werewheeled out in Cortugal to eXplain theeuro, for instance. Ihere social andeconomic development has not provideda practical impetus to challenge theteachings and presumptions of religion,it has remained strong. Uaining afurther power as a means of giving asense of identity and community toways of life that are under apparenteXternal threat a as in parts of the^uslim world and their reaction towestern economic domination. 5lso,people in politically marginalised andpowerless communities a like much ofthe rural Lnited ;tates a are turning toreligious fundamentalism in the face oftheir own lack of control over their ownand their communities_ lives.

Bhe resurgence of the oldauthoritarian religions is a growingproblem. Coliticians who also like tothink of themselves as believers do notwant to challenge the presuppositionsand premises of these religions, butinstead try to incorporate them so as notto challenge the structure of eXistingsociety.

;ocialists oppose religion for itsanachronistic premises, for the barrier itpresents to scientifically eXamining andcontrolling our own lives and destinies.4eligion starts by placing humansoutside the natural world a withanthropomorph deities shaping the

world and people_s free will allowing themto obey and believe. Gumans are part ofthe world, and are amenable to scientificbehavioural study, and it is understandingthat that will allow us to liberate ourselves,and control ourselves and our destinies.

5rgument alone will not suffice toremove religion and religious strife fromthe world, it will take the material interestof a common cause and a commonstruggle to build a democratic societywhere people stand in real relation toeach other, not seeing each otherreflected in the eyes of some ancient^iddle 8astern despot_s mad dream. .F-] !aUUT !

^ore on the ^arXian socialist analysis ofreligion can be found atGGGIGo#l(socialis<Io#6Js36=J3(.Jsa#I3(.andGGGI<a#$istsIo#6Ja#c4i/2J3aEE2Ko2J7L+MJ#2li6ioEI4t<&&&&

n The 2aste of9o%petitionSupporters of capitalismpraise competition to theskies, seeing it as a means ofkeeping prices down and ofensuring that "consumers" getwhat they want.

Socialists, on the other hand, havealways seen economic competition as being(besides the cause of modern wars) aninefficient and wasteful way of distributingwhat people need and want. For a start, itinvolves an unnecessary multiplication ofproductive units and distribution outletswith all the extra resources this uses up.Then there are the resources used up inmarketing and advertising, which is aimedmerely at persuading people to buy fromone firm or shop as opposed to another andwhich adds absolutely nothing to theamount of wealth in existence.

No wonder Marx commented oncapitalism's "way of distributing productsthrough trade, and its manner ofcompetition" being "very wasteful ofmaterial resources" (Volume III of Capital,chapter 5 on "Economy in the use ofconstant capital").

So it was rather surprising to hear thehead of a profit-seeking capitalistenterprise, Charles Allen, chief executive ofITV plc, echo this socialist criticism ofcapitalism in the evidence he gave on 7June to a House of Lords committeelooking into the renewal of the BBC'scharter. Asked by the Bishop of Manchester(yes, it's part of the "democratic deficit" inBritain that bishops of the Church ofEngland are automatically members ofparliament) about possible co-operationwith the BBC in the North-West, Allenreplied that he was all in favour of theBBC, ITV and others sharing the sameprogramme-making studios, adding:

"A lot of money is wasted throughduplication: we have our own studios; theyhave their own studios; we have our owntransmission; they have their owntransmission; we have our owninfrastructure; they have their owninfrastructure. What I am really keen to dois actually get the money on the screenrather than wasted in infrastructure"(www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld/lduncorr/bbc0706.pdf).

Wasted in infrastructure! True, butthis applies across the board to allmanufacturing industry, services, shops andsupermarkets. There's wasteful duplication(triplication, and more) there too.

What Allen apparently wants inbroadcasting is the same sham competitionas exists in the supply of electricity, gas andtelephones. There's only one infrastructurehere too - only one national electricity grid,for example - with competition limited tofirms wasting resources on trying to stealcustomers from each other.

In socialism resources can be saved toproduce needed and useful things by onlyhaving one type of distribution outlet inneighbourhoods and only one factoryproducing computers, cars, washingmachines, etc in any one region. Then, wereally could concentrate resources onproducing best-quality useful things ratherthan wasting them on duplicatedinfrastructures.

Coo6ing the Hoo6s cCd

Socialist Standard September 2005

5common chargelevelled at thosewho challengethe Ostill largely

believedP establishedmyth concerning thedropping of the atomic

bombs on Giroshima and Magasaki, is that theydo so from the comfortable perspective ofhindsight. Bhis view was most elegantlyformulated by 5lbert 4. Gunt, writing in the NallSt#22t&Oo0#Eal on Z 5ugust jkkD/ eBhe criticsview the situation through the prism of todayand sideastep both how the situation looked todecisionamakers in jkJD and the politicalrealities facing theme.

5t first glance a not unreasonableobservation but one which, upon closereXamination, is revealed as somewhatdisingenuous. [irstly, because, given that such avast amount of crucial and enlighteninginformation was for many years kept secretOmuch still isP, anything other than hindsightconcerning many areas of knowledge wouldhave been pure speculation. ;econdly, becausethere eXisted a number of contemporary critics.^any of these were closely involved in theproduction of the bomb, others from the militaryand some, even, close to the president.

Vefore proceeding to disentangle the webof lies and deception surrounding this subbect, itis important to emphasise that, whatever thereasons for the decision to drop the bombs, itwas a conseSuence of a brutal and ruthlessconflict between warring capitalist states. 5Vritish [irst ;ea Lord once put it/ e^oderation inwar is imbecilitye. Boday there are few military_conventions_ and any that remain are almostsure to be violated. 4est assured, had any oneof the main protagonists in the ;econd IorldIar obtained an atomic bomb before the Lnited;tates, they would almost certainly have used itwith a similar alacrity and disdain for human life.

Qho too6 the <e9ision to <rop thebo%bS

5lthough, of course, it was Cresident GarryBruman who had to give final approval OVritishconsent, a formality reSuired by agreement, wasreadily grantedP he was the new boy on theblock relying heavily on his advisors. UeneralLeslie Uroves, director of the ^anhattan Crobectto manufacture the bomb, famously describedBruman as ea little boy on a toboggane. Nncethe decision had been made to produce theatomic bomb and the process of manufacturingit had begun, it was always assumed by themilitary and politicians that it would be used. Inthat sense no actual decision was ever a realnecessity.

Mevertheless, formalities and procedureswere prudently followed and, in order to workout the practical details and make suitablerecommendations, various committees wereestablished. Bhe two most important of thesewere the Interim Fommittee Opolitical, plus a coaopted scientific panelP and the Barget FommitteeOmilitary and scientificP. Ueneral Uroves headedthe Barget Fommittee and although not amember of the Interim Fommittee, was alwayspresent at its meetings. Ge was an unswervingadvocate for deployment of the bomb. 5s hebluntly eXplained/ eIt would not have looked wellif I had been appointed to serve on a committeeof civilians. Vut I was present at all meetingsand I always considered it my duty torecommend that the bomb be dropped.e

Bhe chairman of the Interim Fommitteewas the ;ecretary of Iar Genry L. ;timson. NnZ ^ay jkJD, he proposed a further member whowas to have a most significant influence onevents/ `ames [. Vyrne, soon to become the;ecretary of ;tate to Cresident Bruman. Gisviews on the dropping of the bomb were asrampantly in favour of those of Uroves and

10

Last month saw the 60th anniversary of thedropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese citiesof Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The media mostlycontented itself with repeating the myth that thiswas the lesser evil to continuing the war byconventional means. In a two-part article RichardHeadicar uncovers the real reason for thebombings: to test the destructive power of a newweapon for use in future wars.

Qhythey

<roppe<the

bo%bs

CFat Man’, the Nagasaki plutonium bomb, and whatwas left afterwards

Socialist Standard September 2005ovember2004

11

together they formed the irresistible forcethat, more than any other, led to the finalcataclysmic devastation of those twounlucky `apanese cities. 5s the physicist5rthur G. Fompton put it/ eBhe ;cientificCanel was not called to decide theSuestion of whether the bomb should beused, but only how itshould be used . . . it . .. seemed to be aforgone conclusion.e

^inutes taken atthe meeting of theInterim Fommittee on j`une jkJD recorded/

e^r Vyrnesrecommended and thecommittee agreed, that. the bomb should beused against `apan assoon as possiblel that itbe used on a war plantsurrounded by workers_homesl and that it beused without priorwarning.e

Nn ED `uly jkJD adirective approved bythe ;ecretary of Iar,but which had beenpreviously composedby Uroves, manifested L; intentions andconfirmed previous assumptions in its firsttwo sections/

eOjP Bhe Ddk Fomposite Uroup, Edth5ir [orce will deliver its first special bombas soon as weather will permit visualbombing after Z 5ugust jkJD on one ofthe targets/ Giroshima, gokura, Miigataand Magasaki

eOEP 5dditional bombs will bedelivered on the above targets as soon asmade ready by the probect staff.=

Ihether or not that directiveconstituted a decision and whether;timson and Bruman or Vyrnes andUroves bore most responsibility for itremains a matter of some debate. Bhetheory of the eforgone conclusione gainssome credibility from the response givento Uroves when, in `anuary jkJD, hesuggested to his immediate superior,5rmy Fhief of ;taff Ueneral Ueorge^arshall, that detailed plans should bedrawn up for the employment of the bombin war. Ge was told esee to it yourselfe.

Qere they %ilitary targetsSeBhe world will note that the first

atomic bomb was dropped on Giroshima,a military base. Bhat was because wewished in the first instance to avoid, in sofar as possible, the killing of civilianse.Cresident Garry ;. Bruman Ok 5ugustjkJDP.

5ll of the cities on the target list Olikemost reasonably siced cities in time ofwarP were of some military significance.[ive of them, with the agreement of the5ir [orce, were to be spared any furtheraerial bombardment from ^ay jkJDonwards. Bhese were Giroshima, gyoto,fokohama, gokura 5rsenal and Miigata.Nn the eXpress orders of the ;ecretary ofIar, ;timson, gyoto a considered to bethe cultural centre of `apan and abeautiful city that ;timson had oncevisited a was removed from the list andMagasaki took its place. Bhe truth is, ofcourse, that the L; 5ir [orce could havedestroyed any military target that it choseto. `apanese air defences were practicallynonaeXistent and of `apan_s siXtyasiXlargest cities, fiftyanine had beendestroyedl the seven remaining partly so.Vy the summer of jkJD only two cities

with populations eXceeding a Suarter of amillion had not been assailed byincendiary raids.

;ince Giroshima was designated asa mabor port and home of 4egional 5rmyGeadSuarters and the northern sectors ofMagasaki contained the ^itsubishi ;teel

and 5rms Iorks, why didthey remain largelyuntouched OGiroshimahardly damaged at alland MagasakicomparativelyunscathedP> Bhe answeris provided by theproposals of the BargetFommittee, EK 5priljkJD/

eBo enable us toassess accurately theeffects of the bomb, thetargets should not havebeen previously damagedby air raids.e

Magasaki had beenbombed to some eXtentbut it was only a lateaddition to the target listand was not first choiceeven on the day thebomb was dropped on it a

that had been gokura 5rsenal.[urther recommendations made by

the committee were that e. . the first targetbe of such sice that the damage would beconfined within it, so that we could moredefinitely determine the power of thebombe. Bhen from a further meeting on jdand jj ^ay came the clearOand fortunately documentedPinstruction/ e . . . to neglectlocation of industrial areas aspin point target . . . mandn . . .to endeavour to place firstgadget in center of selectedcityl that is, not to allow forlater j or E gadgets forcomplete destruction.e

Bo erase any lingeringdoubts a subseSuentVombing ;urvey 4eportstated/ eGiroshima andMagasaki were chosen astargets because of theirconcentration of activities andpopulatione.

Qas it ne9essary to <ropthe bo%bsS

Nne of the mostcommonly accepted beliefs isthat, horrific though it was, thebombing of Giroshima andMagasaki saved millions oflives a `apanese as well as5merican a by bringing about a swift endto the war and forestalling a bloodyinvasion. Ie are reminded about themassive casualties already suffered byboth sides in the Cacific Iar. Carticularlyabout the fanatical defence by the`apanese of Iwo `ima, Lucon andNkinawa. Vut although there were plansfor an invasion they were contingencyplans.

Bhe first stage a eNlympice a was toland at the island of gyushu on jMovember jkJD. Mo assault on the mainisland, Gonshu, a eForonete a wasscheduled until j ^arch jkJA. In the lightof what we now know, it seems doubtfulthat the need for any kind of invasionwould ever have arisen. `apan wascertainly not defenceless. It still had aGome army of more than two milliontroops, many prepared to fight to the

death for their 8mperor. 5lso, as well asconventional planes, there werethousands of kamikace, mines, beachfortifications, etc, and the remnants of thenavy. Bheir problem was one ofdeployment. Vut as the L; ;trategicVombing ;urvey concluded, less than ayear after the bomb had been dropped/

eFertainly before Zj iecemberjkJD and in all probability before jMovember jkJD, `apan would havesurrendered even if the atomic bomb hadnot been dropped, even if 4ussia had notentered the war, and even if no invasionhad been planned or contemplated.e

;ome historians argue that thebombs were unnecessary preciselybecause 4ussia intended to enter thewar, so the conclusion of the ;trategicVombing ;urvey was all the moreremarkable. Less so, however, when thereality of the `apanese military situation isproperly eXamined. Bheir navy wasvirtually finishedl their army wasdescribed by Ganson I. Valdwin asconsisting of eUreen conscripts andsecond rate troopsel communication lineswere in disarrayl fuel was in eXtremelyshort supplyl roads were in a poor state ofrepairl transport and transportation couldbe bombed at willl ports were becomingparalysedl food was scarcel illnessthrough malnutrition was an increasingproblem and Onot surprisinglyP publicmorale was diminishing by the day. Inmarked contrast to this, the L; armedmight remained immensely powerful.

5ll of this was known to the L;

administration and military and theludicrous estimates of probected invasioncasualties a ranging from ehundreds ofthousandse to emillionse a were postawareXaggerations designed to contribute tothe successful establishment of a publicbustification for the dropping of the bombs.^abor Ueneral Furtis 8. Le^ay eXpressedthe truth Suite bluntly a few weeks afterformal surrender of the `apanese8mperor. eBhe atomic bomb,e he stated,ehad nothing to do with the end of theware.

Vut the reasons were not merelymilitary ones.

PQo&=2&coEcl0(2(&E2$t&<oEt4RA-C[PAW [UPW-CPA

The blinding light burnt cloth patternsonto skin

The pilot and plane that bombedHiroshima, and (inset) CLittleBoy’, the uranium bomb used.

Socialist Standard September 2005512

Qe are all Zapatistas" has beenpainted on banners, walls andshouted at demonstrations inrecent years. The slogan has

been used by leftists, anarchists, advocatesof fair-trade schemes and even forcommercial gain. But who are theZapatistas?

The Zapatistas take their name fromEmiliano Zapata who led the EjNrcitoLibertador del Sur (Liberation Army of theSouth) during the Mexican Revolutionarywar from 1910 until his assassination in1919. During the 30-year dictatorship ofPorfirio Diaz which preceded the revolutionmuch of the land farmed by the indigenouspeople was enclosed to form haciendas orranches for the production of food forexport markets forcing peasants into, bothwage- and debt-slavery to the often cruelranch owners. Zapata's army sought toinstitute the Plan of Ayala for therepossession of the haciendas for landlesspeasants where pre-enclosure legal titlesexisted and partial expropriation of land,with compensation, where legal titles didn'texist. The Liberation Army of the Southinitially fought the federal forces whosought to uphold the dictatorship of PorfirioDiaz. Zapata's army also fought theconstitutionalist forces which eventuallyreplaced Diaz as well as the interveningmilitary dictatorship.

Despite the defeat of Zapata's army,the 1917 Mexican Constitution contained a

provision for the return of communal landsappropriated by the haciendas and toprovide new lands called ejidos to landlesspeasants. Communal lands and ejidos areowned by the people of a village and plotswithin the designated areas are dividedamongst individual families to work.However, this article of the constitution wasnever fully implemented, or yielded onlysmall or unproductive land areas to thepeasants. In 1992, President Carlos Salinasde Gortari revoked the constitutionalcommitment protecting communal landfrom private ownership in preparation forimplementation of the North American FreeTrade Agreement (NAFTA). The NAFTAwould also remove agricultural pricesupport affecting peasants who wereincreasingly reliant on small scale cash cropproduction.

On the day the NAFTA came intoforce the EjNrcito Oapatista de LiberaciPnNacional (EZLN, Zapatista Army ofNational Liberation) officially declared waron the Mexican government and invaded sixmain population centres and many ranchesin the Chiapas region of south easternMexico. It is the EZLN and theirsupporters that are referred to as Zapatistas.

Open conflict in Chiapas lasted twelvebloody days in which hundreds lost theirlives mainly due to aerial bombardment ofEZLN-held towns by the Mexican army.By 1995, tens of thousands of troops werestationed in the region. There has been

little open combat since, but a network ofcheckpoints, army patrols, militaryincursions and alliances with localparamilitary groups have been used tointimidate and wear down the EZLN. TheEZLN signed an accord with the MexicanGovernment in 1996 to institute peace andpolitical rights for the people of Chiapas,though the government later reneged onmany of the provisions. Paramilitaries, whohave subsequently been linked to locallandowners and ruling party officials,assassinated 45 Zapatistas in the town ofActeal in December 1997.

Chiapas is about the same size (areaand population) as the Republic of Ireland.The area has a long history of conflict overland. Peasants have been forced onto thethin, rocky soils and steep slopes of thehighlands with the encroachment of cattleranching, coffee and sugar plantations fromthe more fertile lowland regions. Landavailability has also been reduced byforestry and mineral, gas and oil extractionoperations. Migration from neighbouringGuatemala, migration of those fleeingpoverty in Mexico and the return of manyof those who had migrated to urban areasfor employment after crisis of capitalism inthe early 1980s caused rapid populationincrease and eventual retreat into theinhospitable Lacandon jungle where theZapatista rebellion is centred.

The EZLN was formed in the early1980s by Leninists who had migrated into

Pre 2e all RapatistasSUapatistas, and Emiliano Uapata

Socialist Standard September 2005 13

the Chiapas jungle to lead the peasantry torevolution. One of those who joined theEZLN was the man now known asSubcommandante Marcos, the Zapatista'smilitary leader and most famousspokesman. The EZLN found that many ofthe peasants there could not support the ideaof the revolutionary vanguard and languageof 'Marxism'. What followed was whatMarcos calls a period of "indianization".The Leninist founders of the EZLN steepedthemselves in native Mayan culture. In thewords of Marcos, quoted by Yvon Le Bot(El Sueno Oapatista, 1997):

"Suddenly the revolution transformeditself into something essentially moral.Ethical. More than the redistribution ofwealth or the expropriation of the means ofproduction, the revolution began to be thepossibility for a humanbeing to have a space fordignity."

The "indianization"of the EZLN seemed toinfuse the organisationwith the local traditions ofdirect and decentraliseddemocracy. However, inmaterial terms the EZLNretained much of the previous reformistideology. The Declaration of War, writtenin 1993, stated that the EZLN was actinglegitimately to overthrow the rulinggovernment because of theirunconstitutional actions. The statement alsosays that the EZLN proudly carry thenational flag into battle.

In June this year the EZLN announceda new political initiative in the SixthDeclaration of the Selva Lacandona. Theysuggest a national campaign,

"which will be clearly of the left, oranti-capitalist, or anti-neoliberal, or forjustice, democracy and liberty for theMexican people, in order to demand that wemake a new Constitution, new laws whichtake into account the demands of theMexican people, which are: housing, land,work, food, health, education, information,culture, independence, democracy, justice,liberty and peace. We are also letting youknow that the EZLN will establish a policyof alliances with non-electoral organizationsand movements which define themselves, intheory and practice, as being of the left, . . "

The stipulations for organisationswishing to join the national campaign are ademocratic structure and a "clearcommitment for joint and co-ordinateddefence of national sovereignty, withintransigent opposition to privatizationattempts of electricity, oil, water and naturalresources." In addition, the Zapatistasoffered food aid to Cuba for their resistanceto the USA's embargo, express admirationfor Che Guevara and Simon Bolivar andoffered to send handicrafts, coffee or soupto activists in Europe to help with thestruggle against neo-liberalism. TheZapatistas clearly think that capitalism canbe run in the interests of the workersthrough state possession of industry andwith the absence of the intervention byforeign capital.

The EZLN stopped making demandsfor constitutional rights from the Mexicangovernment in 2001 and began to form astate within a state. This is described byMarcos in Chiapas: The Thirteenth Stele asinvolving the withdrawal of the EZLN fromcivil matters and establishment of self-governing villages or Autonomous

Municipalities, with recallable and rotatedfunctionaries. In August 2003, the 'Juntasof Good Government' were formed. Theseare regional councils which take thefunctions of administering justice, taxation,healthcare, education, housing, land, work,food, commerce, information and culture,and local movement from the EZLN.Marcos states that there have beenimprovements in living conditions as wellas improvements in gender equality in thenotoriously patriarchal peasant societiessince the formation of 'Juntas of GoodGovernment'.

However, the war is not over as EZLNrecruitment and guerilla warfare trainingcontinues. The U.S. Department of State'sBureau of Democracy, Human Rights, andLabor report for 2004 highlights instances

of state and local police involvement inkidnappings and extortion, torture, unlawfulkillings, narcotics-related crime and thetrafficking of illegal migrants in Chiapas.The report also states that there werenumerous allegations of the use of excessiveforce and the violation of internationalhumanitarian law against the Mexican Army

as well as continued violence byparamilitary groups.

There is also US involvement in theChiapas rebellion which is perhaps of nosurprise given the proximity and the factthat Mexico has the third-largest provencrude oil reserves in the WesternHemisphere and is the third-largest foreignsupplier of petroleum to the United States,behind Canada and Saudi Arabia. PEMEX,the state-owned oil corporation, is a vitalsource of revenue for the Mexican statewhich is heavily indebted to the banks inthe USA. Oil fields with one billion barrelpotential have recently been discovered inChiapas.

According to the Federation ofAmerican Scientists' Arms Sales MonitoringProject direct commercial sales of defencearticles (e.g. machine guns, rifles, pistols,grenade launchers and ammunition) and

defence services (e.g. missiles, rockets,torpedoes, bombs, mines and tanks)amounted to $112million and $436million,respectively, in 2003. The US military alsospent $1.25million on training the MexicanArmy in 2003. The US trainingprogrammes are officially for counter-narcotic operations, however the MexicanArmy have been observed using techniqueslearnt from the US military against theEZLN in Chiapas.

From the initial uprising the EZLNhas publicised their struggle using theprinted media and the internet. Thewritings of Subcommandante Marcos areavailable in many different editions andlanguages. The Chiapas conflict hasbecome a celebrated cause for manyactivists across the world and has, in part,

been shaped by theinvolvement of activists.The Mexican Army'sceasefire has beenattributed to the protestsin Mexico's urban centresfar away from theChiapas. The presenceof peace observersmostly drawn from

Zapatista support groups in the USA andEurope, as well as Mexico itself, is thoughtto have prevented excessive violence andintimidation by the Mexican army inChiapas.

So well-known across the world is thename and image of the Zapatista that co-operatives in the Zapatista communities areproducing and marketing their own brand ofcoffee which is distributed in Europethrough various ethical shopping outlets. In1994 The Independent (1 March) reportedthat Zapatista t-shirts, dolls and evencondoms bearing an image of Marcos andthe word 'uprising' have been marketed. In2001, workers of a trendy clothing shop inCovent Garden selling Zapatista-inspiredmerchandise spray-painted Zapatistaimagery and slogans on walls around majorshopping areas in central London as well asdressing up as Zapatista guerrillas to handout advertising material.

For socialists there are severalencouraging things about the Zapatistamovement: their apparent reliance on directdemocracy and the solidarity shown to themby workers across the world. However, it isclear that the Zapatistas think their rallyingcry of 'democracy, liberty and justice' can befulfilled whilst the greatest amount ofwealth, all it commands, and that we alldepend upon remains in the hands of aminority.

So are we all Zapatistas? The workersand peasants of Chiapas have experiencedsome of the worst poverty and violence thathumans have inflicted on each other.Workers across the world experiencepoverty and violence to some extent on adaily basis - it is the common bond thattranscends national boundaries. Thisfeature of our class-based society, aninevitable result of the social relation ofworker to capital, has never been abolishedby national liberation, state capitalism or'good' government. The Zapatistas' desirefor real democracy is commendable,however, this should not be limited todefence of perceived or actual gains withincapitalist society but for the abolition ofcapitalism and establishment of worldsocialism.!PIERS HOBSON

,V! in>ol>e%ent in the Chiapas rebellionis of no surprise gi>en the fa9t thataebi9o has the thir<Mlargest pro>en 9ru<eoil reser>es in the Qestern [e%isphere?

A Uapatista member at a recent rally

Socialist Standard September 2005514

-n July BBC Radio 4 announced theresult of its poll of listeners to find the"the greatest philosopher of our time".And the winner was - Karl Marx, as the

first past the post with 28 percent of the34,000 or so votes cast, way ahead of thesecond, the 18th century Scottish scepticand agnostic, David Hume, with 13 percent,and the early 20th century logical-positivist,Ludwig Wittgenstein, with 7 percent.

There must be some sort ofsignificance to Marx being selected by some9,500 people. It would be nice to think thatit was a vote for Marx's aim of a societywithout private property in the means ofproduction, without money, the wagessystem or the state. More likely itrepresented a recognition of his contributionto the analysis of history and capitalism.

What did Marx have to say aboutphilosophy? In fact, was he really aphilosopher? He was certainly a doctor ofphilosophy in the literal sense, havingobtained his doctorate - the trade unionistswho associated with him in the 1860s in theFirst International knew him as "Dr Marx" -for a thesis on two Ancient Greekphilosophers, Democritus and Epicurus.And in his early and mid twenties hethought and wrote extensively aboutphilosophical problems, but then he reachedthe conclusion that abstract philosophisingabout "God", "the nature of Man" and "themeaning of life", which nearly all

philosophers had speculated about till then,was a pretty useless exercise and heabandoned it, at the age of 27, never toreturn to it. This was in fact more or less thesame conclusion as reached by the tworunners-up in the BBC poll, Hume andWittgenstein.

What such philosophy was replacedby, for Marx, was the empirical, i.e.scientific, study and analysis of history andsociety, what has come to be known as thematerialist conception of history. Strictlyspeaking, this is not really a philosophy buta theory and methodology of a particularscience. Engels has had to take some stickfor introducing the term "scientificsocialism" but it is an accurate descriptionof the outcome of Marx's (and his own)encounter with the German philosophy ofhis day.

Marx had come to socialism viaGerman philosophy. Like many otherradical-minded Germans in the 1840s hehad been a "Young Hegelian", the namegiven to those who interpreted Hegel'sphilosophy in a radical way to justify theestablishment of a democratic and secularstate in Germany. Hegel himself (who haddied in 1831) was no radical democrat, eventhough he had initially welcomed theFrench Revolution. Quite the opposite. Bythe 1820s he was a conservative defender ofthe Prussian State, almost its Statephilosopher. And he believed that

Christianity was true, with all that thatimplies in terms of the existence of a godwith a plan for humanity and whichintervenes in human affairs.

What appealed to German radicals inHegel's philosophy was the concept ofalienation (of something from its nature, oressence) and the view that (until the end ofhistory) all human institutions weretransitory and developed throughintellectual criticism bringing out and thentranscending the contradictions in the ideabehind them. For Hegel this was all in areligious context (alienation was thealienation of Man from God and the end ofhistory was the reconciliation of Man withGod). The Young Hegelians completelyrejected this and were highly critical ofreligion; in fact they made a speciality ofthis, presenting a secularised version ofHegel's system in which alienation was stillthe alienation of Man (with a capital M) butfrom Man's true nature, and the end ofhistory was the reconciliation of Man withthis nature, or human emancipation as theycalled it.

Most of them identified this with theestablishment of a democratic republic. Sodid Marx, to begin with, but he came to theconclusion that political democracy, thoughdesirable as a step forward for Germany, didnot amount to full human emancipation, butonly to a partial, "political" emancipation;"human" emancipation could only be

Marx, "the greatest philosopher of ourtime", with runners-up Wittgenstein (left)

and Hulme

aarb andFhilosophy

Socialist Standard September 2005 15

achieved by a society without privateproperty, money or the state. Looking for anagent to achieve this, Marx identified the"proletariat" but conceived of in veryphilosophical terms as a social group thatwas "the object of no particular injustice butof injustice in general", "the complete lossof humanity and thus can only recover itselfby a complete redemption of humanity". Ashe wrote at the end of his article"Introduction to A Contribution to theCritique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right"published in February 1844: "The head ofthis emancipation [of Man] is philosophy,its heart is the proletariat." This is the samearticle in which occurs perhaps his mostwell-known saying "religion is the opium ofthe people", i.e., an illusory escape fromreal suffering. This was in fact aimed at hisfellow Young Hegelians who seemed toimagine that religion could be made todisappear merely by criticising itsirrationality. Marx's analysis of religion andof what was required to make it disappearwent deeper:

"The abolition of religion as theillusory happiness of the people is thedemand for their real happiness. Thedemand to give up the illusions about theircondition is a demand to give up a conditionthat requires illusion. The criticism ofreligion is therefore the germ of thecriticism of the valley of tears whose halo isreligion".

And:"The criticism of religion ends with

the doctrine that man is the highest beingfor man, that is, with the categoricalimperative to overthrow all circumstances inwhich man is humiliated, enslaved,abandoned and despised" (Translated byDavid McLellan in Karl Marx: Early Texts).

This is still a philosophical approachand it makes Marx, at this time, a humanistphilosopher. Some find this enough, andeminently commendable (and Marx mayeven have got some votes in the BBC pollon this basis), and of course being a

socialist has to rest in the end on wanting to"overthrow all circumstances in which manis humiliated, enslaved, abandoned anddespised".

Marx himself, however, was notsatisfied to let the case for socialism rest ona mere philosophical theory that it providedthe only social basis on which the "essenceof Man" could be fully and finally realised.After continuing to initial with his previousphilosophical position, he ended byrejecting the view that humans had anyabstract "essence" from which they werealienated. As he put it in some notes jotteddown in 1845:

"The human essence is no abstractioninherent in each single individual. In itsreality it is the ensemble of the socialrelations" (Theses on Feuerbach).

This led him away from philosophicalspeculations about "human essence", what itwas and how to realise it, to the study of thedifferent "ensembles of social relations"within which humans had lived and to seehistory not as the development of any idea

but as the development from one "ensembleof social relations" to another in line withthe development of the material forces ofproduction. This gave socialism a muchfirmer basis than a simple "categoricalimperative to overthrow all circumstances inwhich man is humiliated, enslaved,abandoned and despised". It made it thenext stage in the development of humansociety, a stage which was both beingprepared by the development of the currentstage (capitalism) and the solution to theproblems caused by capitalism's inherentinternal contradictions. It kept the agent ofits establishment as the class of wageworkers, no longer considered as a classembodying all the sufferings of humanity,but as the class whose material interestwould lead it to oppose and eventuallyabolish capitalism.

Marx still retained some of thelanguage and concepts of his YoungHegelian past, but he gave them a new,materialist content. Thus, for instance, thealienation of the "proletariat" was no longeralienation from their human essence butalienation from the products of their ownlabour which came to dominate them in theform of capital as personified by a capitalistclass; and "the emancipation of Man"became the emancipation of all humansthrough the abolition of classes and classrule by the world-wide working classpursuing its material interest; and he stillreferred to end of capitalism as the close of"the pre-history of human society". Theimperative to change the world tooremained, but addressed to the workingclass rather to philosophers. As he put it in1845 in his parting shot at Germanphilosophy: "The philosophers have onlyinterpreted the world, in various ways; thepoint is to change it" (also from the Theseson Feuerbach).!

ADAM BUICK

Philosopher and defender of the PrussianState, Hegel

P99ess<enie<In June the BBCoffered free downloadsof live Beethovenconcerts broadcast onRadio 3. It was a hugesuccess. But noteveryone was pleased.The Independent (10

July) reported:"The BBC has been lambasted by

classical music labels for making all nineof Beethoven's symphonies available forfree download over the Internet. This weekthe BBC will announce there have beenmore than a million downloads of thesymphonies during the month-long scheme.But the initiative has infuriated the bossesof leading classical record companies whoargue the offer undermines the value ofmusic and that any further offers would beunfair competition."

Yes of course (but they must meanthe price, not the value, of music). Ifsomething is available free, nobody's goingto pay for it. That is the ultimate "unfaircompetition". But the real question isdifferent: if something can be provided freeat little or no extra cost, why isn't it?

The answer is that, under capitalism,the basic economic law is "no profit, noproduction". So, no private capitalist isgoing to invest in providing something freeto people. What would be the point?There'd be no profit in it.

The only institution which could dothis would be the state, using resourcesobtained through taxation from the privatecapitalist sector. In Britain the state does infact provide a number of services that arefree at the point and time of use: roads,schools, parts of the health service, forinstance. But these are seen as services forthe capitalist class as a whole and as notinvolving competition with capitalistbusinesses trying to make a profit out ofsupplying the same service. (Certainly,there are capitalist firms lobbying for theright to cherry-pick the profitable parts ofthese services but no capitalist is going tobe interested in investing in side streets orin rural roads.)

If the state does venture to supplyfree a potentially profitable service - as theBBC did on this occasion - then the privatesector squeals "unfair, subsidisedcompetition". As the British state and theBBC are fully committed to capitalism andits logic, the BBC's director general, MarkThompson, rushed to reassure the profit-seeking commercial suppliers of music

recordings:"In a speech to the British

Phonographic Industry, the tradeassociation for the recording industry, MrThompson tried to allay fears from thecommercial sector. The anxiety, he said,'boils down to two questions: is this thestart of some new regular service from theBBC, in which, without warning andconsultation, the public will be offeredchunks of music free at the point ofdownload which will inevitably distort thecommercial market in music? And second,are there any limits to what the BBC mightdownload? Could we wake up one morningto discover that half the BBC's musicalarchive is available on the net? The answerto these two questions is: no and no.'"(Guardian, 21 July).

But that precisely is what could wellhappen in socialism. Not just half theBBC's musical archives but the whole ofthem, as well as all other musical archives,could be made available for people todownload freely. And why not? Let thoseagainst the provision of free music - andfree telephones, free electricity, freetransport, etc, for that matter - put up a casefor restricting access to what people needand want when the resources to do thisexist. If they can.

Coo6ing the Hoo6s c)d

Socialist Standard September 200516

The Hritish Co%%unist Xeft by aar6[ayes c-nternational Co%%unistCurrent; )**+d B+O**

This is a history of the so-called 'CommunistLeft' in British politics from 1914-1945,published by one of the main, contemporaryorganisations of this tradition and written byone of their sympathisers.

It is a largely accurate account of thoseidentified with the left-wing of Bolshevikpolitics in this era, a political tendencychastised by Lenin in his famous 'Left-wingCommunism, An Infantile Disorder'. Over along period this tendency gradually struggledtowards taking up socialist positions on thenature of the future society, reformism, thestate capitalist nature of Russia, China, etcwhile also developing a virulent hostility to'bourgeois democracy' and trade unionism.As this pamphlet unwittingly shows, it was apolitical current which made some seriouserrors during its political evolution too - andcontinues to do so, largely because of itsadherence to the vanguard politics ofLeninism.

The left communists in Britain weresmall in both number and influencecompared to their counterparts in continentalEurope, specifically the German, Dutch andItalian lefts. While elements in the SocialistLabour Party and British Socialist Party heldviews associated with left communism for ashort time after the Bolshevik takeover, themost significant left communist organisationin Britain emerged out of the radicalsuffragette movement led by SylviaPankhurst during the First World War andwas grouped around the paper Women'sDreadnought, which by 1917 had beenrenamed the Workers' Dreadnought.

This became the paper of the Workers'Socialist Federation, a group dominated byPankhurst and with support drawn frompolitical activists mainly in the East End ofLondon. The WSF never numbered morethan about three hundred members at thevery most and, after eventually beingsubsumed within the Communist Party ofGreat Britain in January 1921, vanished as agroup or faction by 1924. Pankhurst hadbeen expelled from the CPGB within a yearfor her criticism of the official Party line,before moving on to other, more eclectic(and openly reformist) causes. AlthoughMark Hayes doesn't mention it, what is clearfrom this and every other related study is thatwhile it would be an exaggeration to say thatthe Workers' Dreadnought group was a onewoman show, it would not be that much of anexaggeration. When Pankhurst moved on,the group collapsed and the paper - alwaysowned and largely financed by Pankhurstherself - ceased publication.

Small organisations around theidiosyncratic Glasgow anarchist Guy Aldredsuch as the Anti-Parliamentary CommunistFederation also came and went in this period,veering between left communism andanarchism, but none of them amounted tomuch. And that in essence is it: leftcommunism in Britain until its re-appearancewith the ICC itself and one or two other tinygroups in the 1970s.

After interesting beginnings, the ICChas mutated into an organisation regarded byvirtually all other political groups (includingthose on the communist left previously well-

disposed towards it) as a paranoid sect, andits treatment of the SPGB here is aninteresting one, not least because we are theone workers' political organisation discussedstill in existence and thereby the mostobvious target for its spleen.

The key 'class frontier' for the ICC andother left communist groups is whether apolitical organisation takes sides in acapitalist war or not. Yet, despite ourimpeccable record of actively opposing bothworld wars and all other wars too, this bookgives the SPGB short shrift. It claims, "inpractice" that in 1939, just as supposedly in1914, "the SPGB made no attempt to opposethe war" (p.101). What it means by this isthat we did not raise the ICC's suicidalslogan of 'turn the imperialist war into aworld wide civil war against capitalism'.

The Socialist Standard is criticised fornot publishing openly anti-war articles forpart of the Second World War because of thestrict Defence Regulations relating toseditious printed matter which caused thesuppression of the Daily Worker, but nomention is made of the Party's open anti-warpropaganda by other means or the way inwhich the SPGB sought to prevent merepacifist opponents of the war from becomingmembers. Presumably never having beensent to prison himself for his political beliefs,Mark Hayes also sneers at the SPGBmembers who applied during the world warsto be conscientious objectors, scores ofwhom were imprisoned by the British statefor refusing to kill their fellow workers.

Quite why the ICC thinks that a fewhundred political activists starting a civil waragainst the might of the capitalist state is asensible socialist tactic is anyone's guess.The SPGB members who successfullyapplied to be conscientious objectors or went'on the run' were at least able to work forsocialism and keep the organisation alive,whereas if the ICC was ever crazy enough toput its own tactic into operation it wouldsoon cease to exist organisationally. That theICC is not really serious about this type ofabstract sectarianism though can be seen bythe fact that "in practice" (to use its ownphrase) there has not been one singleoccasion when any of its sections across theworld has ever tried to do anything otherwhen faced with a war than what the SPGBdid in 1914 or 1939, i.e. denounce it as acapitalist conflict not worth the shedding of adrop of blood.

The ICC do exist in something of anunusual - not to say unique - political bubble,as this book repeatedly demonstrates. Whilethe SPGB is lambasted for its insufficientopposition to wars and for betraying thefuture moneyless commonwealth byopposing the misguided tactics of theBolsheviks (at least until the early 1920swhen the ICC retrospectively thinks thisbecame respectable), the Trotskyists - whothen as now took sides in 'national liberation'struggles and wars, were reformist,advocated state capitalism, supported theLabour Party, etc - are regarded with someaffection, until they finally 'betrayed' theworking class by taking sides in World WarTwo. For sheer illogicality and inconsistencythere can be little to beat this.

When it is filtered for its Leninism andsectarianism, the British Communist Left isnot all bad as it is a useful historical accountin parts. While it is a short book it isnevertheless a bit of a trying read, bestcharacterised as a largely academic pieceinfused with heavy doses of the ICC's

somewhat tiresome political liturgy. If pageafter page of references to 'centrism','opportunist currents', the 'proletarian terrain'and 'ambiguous swamps' are your thing thengo out and buy it immediately. It's not toounkind to say you are unlikely to be killed inthe rush. DAP

eeffrey !a9hsI The Un< of Fo>ertyI [o2Qe Can aa6e -t [appen in @ur Xifeti%eOFenguin BDO^^O

There are variousthings wrong withthis book, the firstbeing the title.Sachs (described onthe back cover as'probably the mosti m p o r t a n teconomist in theworld') is notconcerned withdoing away withsink estates where

children do not get one square meal a day, letalone three, or the culture of pawn shops andloan sharks (which would be classified asrelative poverty). Instead he is writing abouteliminating absolute or extreme poverty,where households cannot meet basic needs:people are chronically hungry, have noaccess to health care or safe water, and maylack rudimentary shelter. In 2001, around 1.1billion of the earth's population were inextreme poverty. Sachs neatly places thingsin perspective:

"Almost three thousand people diedneedlessly and tragically at the World TradeCenter on September 11; ten thousandAfricans die needlessly and tragically everysingle day - and have died every single daysince September 11 - of AIDS, TB, andmalaria."

But even if his proposals wereimplemented and proved successful, therewould still be plenty of poverty in the world.

Ending extreme poverty would ofcourse be very worthwhile, but cancapitalism achieve this? Sachs claims thatthe number of people living in extremepoverty has fallen from 1.5 billion since1981 (largely due to developments in China).Surely, however, we are entitled to be a littlesceptical about such claims: they are basedon World Bank estimates, and ignore theextent of poverty still found in China,especially in the countryside. Heacknowledges, though, that the extreme poorin Africa have more than doubled in thetwenty years to 2001, now being over 300million, which is a rise even in percentageterms. Yet, he argues, extreme poverty can begot rid of by 2025: the key is 'to enable thepoorest of the poor to get their foot on theladder of development.' The way to kick-startthings is by comparatively modest amountsof overseas aid, which will mean thathouseholds can save more and so increasethe amount of seeds and agriculturalequipment they have access to and will alsoallow governments to build roads, sanitationsystems and so on; this will snowball andlead on to further development. The first fewchapters of the book imply that Sachs hassome kind of economic magic wand that hecan wave over countries from Bolivia to

1%%2 3.4#.5s

Socialist Standard September 2005 17

India, delivering prosperity. However, his proposals for 'ending

poverty' are effectively put forward in avacuum, unencumbered by the existence of aworld dominated by one super-powerfulnation, a small number of super-powerfulcompanies, and a tiny minority of super-richcapitalists. Sachs accepts that exploitation ofpoor countries by the rich has happened inthe past, but believes that it no longerapplies. He also accepts, though withoutmaking it explicit of course, a division of theworld into owners of the means ofproduction and non-owners. Doing awaywith this would mean an immediate end to allkinds of poverty - extreme, moderate andrelative - without having to wait anothertwenty years and rely on yet more emptypromises.PB

eung Chang an< eon [alli<ayI aaoI theVntol< !toryO eonathon Cape B)+O

Overturning aparagraph ofc o n v e n t i o n a lhistory can be thebasis for an entirethesis, if not anentire professionalreputation. Changand Halliday haveset out to re-writeevery paragraph ofthe story of MaoZedong.

The authorsattack the established canon of Maobiography; and their clear, unrelentinghostility may house the book's greatestweakness. Much of their re-interpretationdepends upon assessments of Mao'scharacter, and his internal states when hemade vital decisions. For example, theymaintain that Mao deliberately meanderedalong the Long March (a period of retreat bythe Red Army from the nationalists) in orderto strengthen his grip on the party before theymet up with the rest of the army.

Repeatedly they make reference towhat Mao was thinking, which, withoutwritten sources, is impossible to determine.Most historians and biographers wouldhedge and say 'maybe' or 'probably' hethought something.

Such potential weakness, although theymay allow latter-day Maoist wingnuts todeflect debate away from the issues raised,aren't fatal. The book describes in achingdetail the horrors of Mao's regime, factsestablished by witnesses and irrefutableevidence. This is largely because, unlikeHitler or Stalin, Mao's preference was not fordisappearances and quiet murder, but forpublic witch-hunts - mobilised terror inwhich anyone refusing to wholeheartedlyjoin in would find themselves a target. Herepeatedly used this strategy throughout hiscareer to gain and hold power, culminating inthe infamous Cultural Revolution, whichaccounted for some 100 million people beinghumiliated, tortured, maimed and, in 3million instances, murdered.

His callousness is almost beyond thescope of human imagining. In one year, 22million people died of starvation - broughtabout primarily through Mao's disastrousproject to make China - then one of the

poorest countrieson Earth - into anuclear super-power. Thefamines andoverwork inducedby the programmeled to 38 milliondeaths.

The authorsmaintain Mao wase s s e n t i a l l yapolitical: merelyegotistic and

power hungry.They reject claims that he cared aboutpeasants - producing a quote in which hemaintains that the lot of students (likehimself) was worse than that of the peasants.They suggest his choice of the communistparty over the nationalists (for a time the twoparties were united) was simply down to apredilection for violence.

He had many homes built for himself -at great expense - which he would only setfoot in once - if ever. While people starvedhe would gorge himself on whole chickensand huge quantities of meat and fish.Around him, millions of Chinese had lessfood than labourers in Auschwitz.

His reputation for supporting feminismalso takes a battering in this book, as theauthors reveal how he used women almost asimperial concubines, procured from the locallabour force. Anyone who objected to hisand other leaders' privileges amongst squalorwere derided as "petit-bourgeoisegalitarians".

Chang and Halliday even attempt tooverturn the central story of the Mao myth -the war of national liberation against Japan.Even very recent writers hedge criticisms ofMao by mention of the vicissitudes of thatwar. However, this book alleges that theReds under Mao were more concentrated onfighting the nationalist government than theJapanese.

Further, they try to show that on theLong March, Mao and the other leadersdidn't march with their soldiers: they werecarried; that the leader of the nationalists,Chiang Kai-Shek allowed the Red Army toescape because his son was being heldhostage by Stalin; and that some of Mao'smajor victories may have been assisted bythe treachery of the nationalist general whorepeatedly allowed troops to walk intohorrific ambushes.

The narrative makes out that Maonever commanded much support with eitherthe Chinese communist party or thepopulation. His ascent was largely down tothe backing of Russian communist officialswho never met him.

This book is unlikely to be the lastword on the matter, but it is a forcefulreappraisal of a figure who would be theequivalent of a George Washington for theemerging Chinese superpower. This is thestory of what happened when a ruthlesstyrant tried to rule a quarter of the humanrace.

The only positive message is thatultimately, his terror proved futile, as heincreasingly found himself having to horsetrade policies to stay in power against hisrivals - leaders are prisoners of theirfollowers. The terror of Mao's rule couldwell be seen as the impotent rage of a tyrant.PS

Capitalis% an< @ther ]i<sf !tuff

To describe asociety ofc o m m o no w n e r s h i pw i t h o u tmentioning theword socialismis undoubtedlydifficult. Butby no meansimpossible. Fora short filmproduced bymembers of the

Socialist Party, Capitalism and Other Kids'Stuff, does just that in a language thatnevertheless consistently pulls no punches.

Socialists are well aware of the dualpurpose on the part of the capitalist media inportraying the class of exploited producers asa mindless, selfish, non-caring mass ofindividual consumers: to promote profits andcreate disunity. The film destroys thesecaricatures right from the start and exposesthem for the claptrap they are, by juxtaposingthe individual differences of perception withthe broad facts of social evolution, humanbehaviour, and the unique ability of humansto care and share in common despite ourcultural differences and lifestyles.

When the producing class engage inwidespread discrimination over issues ofrace, ethnicity, age, gender, sexuality,disability, etc; and take sides over who getswhat share of the global market, this isclearly against their interests since they arethereby helping to create the conditions for awealthy few to control the means of living.

Globally the results are all too familiarwith the complexity of private propertyrelationships concealed within a quagmire ofdisputes over territory and markets, followedby constant eruptions of violent conflict, andending in misery and destitution on amassive scale. By skilfully crafting thereasons for this complexity of privateproperty relationships to a novel 'kids stuff'analogy the script neatly underlines theimportance of gaining a worldview ofcapitalism by analysing how the rulesgoverning the minority ownership of the'toys' determines the terms of oppression andthe conditions of inequality for the 'toylessproducers'.

Although there is an obvious dangersuch an analogy could be counter-productive, by unintentionally projecting anoversimplification of what constitutes thereality of capitalism, this hurdle is overcomeby complementing the linkage to the"reality" of capitalism with a powerfulbackdrop of words and images, so the overallcontext underscores a revolutionary outlookon how we might live. These contrasts arefurther enhanced by comparing the divisionsand horrors of capitalism with a societywhere production is geared to meetinghuman needs not profit - plus the immensebenefits to be gained when the world'sresources are distributed through a system ofproduction for use and free access - so thenecessity of social equality becomeconclusive.

This is maintained throughout the 50minutes so the viewer is left in no doubt that

Jung Chang

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-.+(arat#%n %8 9r#n+#:(.sQ4is&(2cla#atioE&is&t42&=asis&o.&o0#o#6aEisatioE&aE(9&=2ca0s2&it&isalso&aE&i<3o#taEt&4isto#ical(oc0<2Et&(atiE6&.#o<&t42.o#<atioE&o.&t42&3a#tS&iE&7L>+9&itso#i6iEal&laE60a62&4as&=22E#2taiE2(I

NbbectThe establish%ent of a syste%of so9iety base< upon the9o%%on o2nership an<<e%o9rati9 9ontrol of the%eans an< instru%ents forpro<u9ing an< <istributing2ealth by an< in the interest ofthe 2hole 9o%%unityO

ieclaration of CrinciplesThe !o9ialist Farty of GreatHritain hol<s

j.Bhat society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of livingOi.e., land, factories, railways, etc.P

by the capitalist or master class,and the conseSuent enslavementof the working class, by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

E.Bhat in society, therefore, thereis an antagonism of interests,manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

Z.Bhat this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass, by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution, and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

J.Bhat as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom,

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind, without distinctionof race or seX.

D.Bhat this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

A.Bhat as the machinery ofgovernment, including the armedforces of the nation, eXists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers, the workingclass must organice consciouslyand politically for the conSuest ofthe powers of government,national and local, in order thatthis machinery, including theseforces, may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege, aristocraticand plutocratic.

K.Bhat as all political parties arebut the eXpression of classinterests, and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the master class, theparty seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

o.Bhe ;ocialist Carty of UreatVritain, therefore, enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties, whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist, andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour, and that povertymay give place to comfort,privilege to eSuality, and slaveryto freedom.

18 Socialist Standard September 2005

best to stop the sale of bogus 'official' kit, sothe Olympic 'movement' says that onlycompanies who stump up the money to themcan gain any kudos from the magic O-wordand the five rings.

Naturally money has long been talkingthe Olympic language with regard to the2008 games in Beijing. Three levels ofcorporate involvement are envisaged,including partners (cost $40 million), andsponsors (over $20 million). Budweiser, forinstance, is the official international beersponsor, giving its owners Anheuser-Buschthe right to use the 2008 games logo forpromotional purposes in China and manyother countries. And it's not just a matter ofgetting money in for 2008. In the words ofone marketing expert, 'The BeijingOlympics will not be about sport, it will beabout creating a superbrand called "China"'(http://www. chinabusinessreview. com/public /0501/ogilvy.html). So as Chinaflexes its muscles in terms of currencyrevaluations and provides financial supportfor Mugabe's thuggish regime in Zimbabwe,it also competes in staging the Olympic free-for-all and marketing itself within worldcapitalism.!PB

TPX]! PT T[U !Vaa-TBhe snows of the Fold war are melting.Bhe ;oviet Cremier, Vulganin, and theFommunist Carty leader, gruschev, are tovisit Vritain neXt spring. Bhey will be fetedby the pueen. 8ven the TailS&!ailwelcomes the visit a with somereservations.

iuring the war the 4ussians wereour friends, our egallant allies,e ourecomrades in arms.e Vut since jkJD theyhave become the villains of the piece.Bhey have become our potentialenemies. Ihilst our old enemies theItalians, the `apanese and the UermansOthe Iestern Uermans, of courseqP arenow our friends, our allies in a possiblefuture war. Vut now, since the UenevaeBalks at the ;ummite the 4ussians a forhow long we know not a are almost our

friends againl or at least our politicianshave eagreede to differ with the ;ovietrulers.

Bo most people, who think that allthese differences and antagonisms aredue to differences of systems orideologies a to eFommunisme ore[ascisme a these changes are Suitebewildering.

O . . .P mBnhe reasons why the rulersof 4ussia, 5merica, or Vritain fall out isnot any soacalled difference of ideologies,of iemocracy, or Fommunisml ordifferences of social systems or ways oflife. [or we know that their social systemsare not basically differentl that 5mericanefree enterprisee is not fundamentallydifferent from ;oviet eFommunism.e Ieknow that in Vritain, 5merica a and theL.;.;.4. the same problems eXistl weknow that the workers of these lands arepoor, that they live insecure lives, whilst

their employers are richl we know that inthe ;oviet Lnion, as ;talin admitted bustbefore he died, the ruling class is beingforced more and more to look for marketsfor its goods a outside its own frontiers.Ie know that the ;oviet leaders are asmuch concerned with protecting theirproperty interests as are the 5mericansor Vritish. Bhat is why we are notsurprised at the antagonisms the FoldIar, the changing alliances, the eBalks atthe ;ummit,e and the temporary patchingaup of differences.

O[rom an article by Ceter 8. Mewell,Socialist&StaE(a#(, ;eptember jkDDP

6#8t; <.ars Ag%

from page 5

aan9hester Hran9haeeting ^onday )J !epte%ber, o pm Gare and Gounds, ;hudehill, Fitycentre gTUUW-ZG T[U Q@AXWh

?..t#ngsbefore a world of common ownership ispossible the majority have to gain a level ofclass consciousness and politicalunderstanding. In other words: engaging in astruggle to promote the class interest of themajority to attain and create a society whereprivate property is replaced by commonownership involves acknowledging that thepresent unequal access to the means of livingrequires a political solution.

To get this solution across to anapolitical audience successfully in itself isno mean feat, but to also focus attention onthe vast amount of social and individualfreedom such a revolution will bring aboutwill motivate many viewers to press thereplay button over and over again, and sospeaks volumes for the professionaldedication and attention to detail. Althoughthis is a first in terms of the socialist messagebeing transposed into a film format no doubtit will not be the last. So watch this space,but in the meantime judge for yourself bywatching Capitalism and Other Kids' Stuff atwww.socialist-tv.com, or alternatively bypurchasing a DVD from: Socialist Party, 52Clapham High St, London SW4 7UN. Cost£5 (including post & packaging). Brian Johnson

Qest Xon<on Hran9hBuesday )* !epte%ber, o pm

Fhiswick Bown Gall, GeathfieldBerrace, I.J Onearest tube/Fhiswick CarkP.

;howing of video PAU `@V -Z PHPW !TPTUS

19Socialist Standard September 2005

Faul Toot an<the >ote

Caul [oot who diedlast year was alwaysa readable bournalist.Ge was also a

member of the Brotskyist;IC. Ihen he died he wasworking on a book about the

vote, a curious subbect, it might be thought, for the politicaltestament of a member of an organisation which favours armedinsurrection and mass strikes rather than the vote as the way togain control of political power. Falled Bhe Rote, Gow it was Ionand Gow it was undermined, it is basically about the tensionbetween iemocracy Oas universal suffrageP and Croperty Oasaccumulated wealthP.

iuring the 8nglish civil war a famous debate, presided overby Fromwell, took place in the church at Cutney, in London,where the issue was thrashed out amongst representatives of allranks in the parliamentary army, of the ordinary soldiers as wellas of the officers and the high command. ;oldiers who wereLevellers argued that the vote should be given to every man Oorat least to every man who was not a servant or on the Coor Lawlthere was some ambiguity on this pointP. Bhey were opposed byFommissaryaUeneral Ireton, Fromwell_s sonainalaw, who arguedthat only those who had a real stake in the country by virtue ofbeing owners of land should have the right to vote, i.e. to decidewhat laws were made, what taXes were levied, etc. It fell to anofficer with the appropriate name of Folonel 4ich to spell outwhat might happen if men with little or no property were giventhe vote/

eIt may happen, that the mabority may by law, not inconfusion, destroy propertyl there may be a law enacted, thatthere shall be eSuality of goods and estatee.

Bhis remained the standard argument against democracyuntil the end of the jkth century. Voth Uladstone and iisraeliwere declared opponents of democracy, and in fact in 8uropedemocracy was seen, by both its opponents and supporters as a

revolutionary demand. ^arX himself hoped that, with theuniversal male suffrage that the Fhartists demanded, whatFolonel 4ich had feared would come about. eLniversal suffrageis the eSuivalent of political power for the working class of8nglande, he wrote in 5ugust joDE in an article in the Mew forkBribune Suoted by [oot. eIts inevitable result, here, is the politicalsupremacy of the working classe.

5fter the ;econd and Bhird 4eform 5cts of joAK and jooJ,the mabority of electors in Vritain came from the working class,even though only about Zd percent of the adult population hadthe vote Ono women and only Ad percent of menP. Bhis remainedthe situation until after the first world war, when the vote waseXtended to men over Ej and women over Zd. Lniversal suffragedid not come until jkEo when the vote was given to women tooat Ej.

Bhe eXtension of the vote did partially realise Folonel 4ich_sfear and garl ^arX_s hope in that it did lead to the formation andrise of the Labour Carty as a eworking class partye with as one ofits aims a redistribution of wealth from the rich to the workingclass. Vut this didn_t happen. Bhe second part of [oot_s book isdevoted to eXplaining why iemocracy did not lead to anysignificant inroads into the rights of Croperty, in other words, whyLabour failed.

Nne thing he had neglected in his account of ehow the votewas wone was the eXtent to which an eXtension of the voteincreasingly became a necessity as capitalism developed and asthe administrative work of the capitalist state, at local as well asnational level, grew and became more compleX. It was clear that

some, in fact most, of this work would have to be done bypersons who were neither aristocrats nor capitalists. Bhe workingclass had to be got involved in the administration of capitalism.Bo do this they had to be brought ewithin the constitutione bybeing given full citicenship rights, as represented by having thevote. Bhe more faraseeing of the supporters of capitalism realisedthisl some actively campaigned for it even in Fhartist times. Bhebourgeoisademocratic republic Oor constitutional monarchyP is infact the ideal political form for the rule of the capitalist class.

Gowever, bust because universal suffrage and formaldemocratic control of the machinery of government was in theoverall interest of the capitalist class as a whole didn_t mean thatthis was going to come about automatically. 5s [oot points out, ithad to be struggled for. Voth the [irst 4eform 5ct of joZE OwhicheXtended the franchise to the emiddle classeP and the ;econd4eform 5ct Owhich eXtended it to most urban workersP wereaccompanied by riots and demonstrations by workers thatpersuaded the Gouse of Lords not to use its veto. In between, as[oot recounts, the Fhartists demonstrated and rioted and evenstaged some armed uprisings to try to achieve universal malesuffrage, unsuccessfully as it turned out, but with the aim oftransferring political power to the working class.

Ihen it comes to the second part ofthe book Oehow the vote was underminedeP,[oot seems to be suggesting that Labourfailed because its leaders, when ingovernment, weren_t determined enough intheir use of parliament to bring about, inthe words of the Labour Carty_s manifestofor the jkKJ general election manifesto, eafundamental and irreversible shift in thebalance of power in favour of workingpeople and their familiese Oyes, believe it ornot, that what_s they actually werepromising as recently as thatP. Bhis,despite the fact that his own descriptionsof what happened to the various Labourgovernments a ebankers_ rampe in jkZj,esterling crisese in jkJK and jkJk,egnomes of ]uriche for Iilson in the jkAds, and eI^[ conditionsefor Fallaghan in the jkKds a bring out the fact that capitalism is aworld system and that no government of one country, howeverdetermined, can isolate the economy from the workings andpressures of the world market.

It might be thought that [oot as a Brotskyist Ohe was in the;ICP would have realised that esocialism in one countrye isimpossible. Vut, although Brotsky did proclaim this, it didn_t meanthat he thought nothing could be done in one countryl if avanguard was ruthless and determined enough it could, heargued, establish a eIorkers ;tatee, based on nationalisationand planning, i.e. that estate capitalism in one countrye waspossible.

It is what had happened in 4ussia and [oot gives theimpression that the Labour Carty could have done the same inVritain if only its leaders had been prepared to stand up to thegnomes of ]urich and other international capitalists. 5ctually, asa Brotskyist, [oot doesn_t believe this, as it is the Brotskyist viewthat the sort of fullascale state capitalism that [oot thinks theLabour Carty should have been bold enough to have pressed ontowards can only be established after a successful armedinsurrection led by a Brotskyist vanguard OeBhere is noparliamentary roade, says eIhat the ;IC ;tands [oreP. It is thusrather odd that [oot should have chosen to write a book aboutBhe Rote at all since for him the vote is only of relatively minorsignificance, serving merely as a potential means of access to atribunal from which to spread Brotskyist views Oe5t mostparliamentary activity can be used to make propaganda againstthe present systemeP.

Bhis is Suite adifferent perspective tothat of the more clearasighted Fhartists a and^arX who wasinfluenced by them athat universal suffrage,once achieved, couldbe used as a means ofwinning control ofpolitical power so that,in the words of Folonel4ich in jAJK, ethemabority may by law,not in confusion,destroy propertye.!PXH

Chartist meeting, [ennington, 1848

Voting with its Foot - theSWP never had muchtime for democracy

]eep -t -n The Ta%ilyBhe ^ake Coverty Gistory movement hasbeen taken seriously by at least onemember of the 5frican capitalist class.e^ost of his country_s citicens survive onless than Adp a day, but that has notstopped the son of the Cresident of8Suatorial Uuinea spending nearly rjmillion on three luXury cars during amassive shopping spree in ;outh 5frica.BeodorinMguemaNbiang, the^inister of[orestry,8nvironmentand Gousing inhis [ather_sUovernment,bought a blackVentley 5rnageand a creamVentley ^ullinerworth rAdd,dddlast weekend.Ge then added awhite siXalitre Lamborghini worth rEKD,dddto his new fleet, according to Bhe ;tarnewspaper.e Bhe Qi<2s OEj `ulyP. ^rNbiang_s family have made povertyhistory a for their family at any rate. Vutwhat about the working class in thatcountry a Adp a day> Ie might earnabout rAd a day but the capitalist class inVritain enboy the same class differences.Gow many of you spend a million poundson a shopping spree>

Pn [onest P%bassa<or Cresident Vush took the unprecedentedstep of appointing the L; 5mbassador tothe LM `ohn Volton during a recess of theL; ;enate. Ge deemed this necessarybecause of an opposition easy tounderstand when you consider Volton_s

contemptfor the LM.eIn jkkJ,during aconventionin Mewfork, ^rVoltondeclared/TBhere isno suchthing as

the Lnited Mations. Bhere is aninternational community that occasionallycan be led by the only real power left inthe world, and that_s the Lnited ;tates,when it suits our interests and who canget others to go along.’e Ge also said/eBhe only Suestion for the Lnited ;tates iswhat_s in our interest. 5nd if you don_t likethat, I_m sorry, but that is a fact.e BheQi<2s OE 5ugustP Bhere is nothing

remarkable about this.It correctly sums up theL; position in worldpolitics, but what the;enate obbect to is thehonesty with whichthey are eXpressed.Coliticians are neverfond of honesty, it setsa dangerousprecedentq

Qage !la>es5 common obbection to

socialism is that peopleare too lacy and

wouldn_t work thus making socialismimpossible. Bhis elacy mane obbection to anew society doesn_t seem to sSuare withthe findings of a report prepared by theoffice supplier 8sselte. eMearly a third ofVritish wage slaves work more than Ddhours a weekl J per cent more than Kdhoursl and more than a third take workhome according to a survey of E,Ajjpeople.e Bhe Qi<2s OJ 5ugustP

Goo< Ze2s Tro% Vgan<a5midst all the despair about world povertywe have managed to discover from theletter page of an 5frican newspaper somegood news. e5bout two thirds of theworld_s population are hungry, whilemillions die from starvation every year.Ihy in a world of potential plenty, is soelementary a human need as foodneglected> ... Bhe law that governseverywhere is eno profit, no productione.Lganda U=s2#/2# OJ 5ugustP fes, even insoacalled backward 5frica, workers arelearning that capitalism causes poverty.P Hlea6 Tutureiespite the wellameaning activities of the^ake Coverty Gistory campaign andvarious promises from Uo the future looksgrim for the poor in 5frica. eBhe proportionof malnourished people in suba;ahara

5frica has remained at about ZDs sincejkKd, the International [ood Colicy4esearch Institute said. Vut populationgrowth means the number affected roseto Edd million by Eddj. ... It warns that thenumber of malnourished children couldgrow from Zo.A million now to Jj.k millionby EdED.e VVW&F2Gs&OjE 5ugustP Iellmeaning charities are not the answer tothis horrendous social problem. 5s thesocialist letter writer to the LgandaU=s2#/2# noted ethe law that governseverywhere is no profit no productione.

Qhat is your >ie2SIe are socialists and obviously we detesta society where people are forced to lieand cheat in order to survive, but whatabout successful liars and cheaters whohave done well inside capitalism> Gere isthe C4 Uuru ^aX Flifford who has mademillions lying and cheating. eio I say, Mo,my client isn_t gay when I know that he is>Nf course. ioes telling the truth matter> Ifit_s showbic...rock_n_roll ... then absolutelynot.e Bhe Qi<2s OjA 5ugustP It isn_t bustshow business though, here is ;ir Garvey`ones a former chief eXecutive of IFIcommenting on modern capitalism aeVusiness is getting more corrupt. It isless a calling, less a profession. Bhe stockmarket ... has purely become a gamblingden. Bhe Qi<2s OjD 5ugustP Bhese peoplehave benefited from capitalism and yetcan see how corrupt it is. fou haven_tbenefited at all, so why do you support it>

Produced and published by the Socialist Party of Great Britain, 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN

Tree lun9h

-!!Z **KD L)+^

Bentley Arnage interior, (ust so you know

Rambo Bolton telling it like it is see page jK for details

M e w i R i

by Aigg

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/2

October )00+

socialist standardwebsite: www.worldsocialism.org

contents

,-alling the action illegal has a significantsymbolic and ideological role in giving theimpression that striking is criminal and byextension wicked.?Gate Gourmet - Another 8nion Sell-:ut; page 6

A radical read? The Koran, page 15

Sold out? Gate Gourmet, page 13

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Bates:ne year subscription KnormalrateL C1):ne year subscriptionKlowMunwagedL CENurope rate C1+ KAir mailLRest of world C)) KAir mailLQoluntary supporterssubscription C)0 or more.CheRues payable to STheSocialist Party of Great BritainU.

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The next meeting of theNxecutive Committee will beon Saturday 1st :ctober atthe address below.Correspondence should besent to the General Secretary.All articles, letters and noticeshould be sent to the editorialcommittee at: The SocialistParty, BC Clapham High street,London SW4 I8N.tel:0)0 EK)) LM11 e-mail:spgbOworldsocialism.org

Bush and Katrina victims, pages 6-8

Are Hypsies the Groblem?After Hitler, Jew-hating can never be tolerated. However, Gypsy-hatingis still rife in todayUs liberal capitalist society. Pat Deut[ asks why.

RSATTBSS

11

SUVTOBVAW L-ONTA-T USTAVWS L

GATYRVNUSBS 4WSTTSBS +-OOKVNH TYS BOOKS 1 10

-OOKVNH TYS BOOKS ) 1)

BS\VSWS 1K+0 ^SABS AHO 1M

HBSAS^ GOWS 19\OV-S RBO` TYS BA-K )0

BSHTWABS

Why They Uropped the BombsDid the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings really help end thewar; Richard Headicar concludes his analysis.

9

Vslam and SocialismIf Mohammed was the first socialist, where does that leave Jesus;And how is George Galloway involved;

1+

Katrina: The Goor Suffer `oreSlow to spend money on any third-world disaster, itUs obvious now thatthe 8SA canUt even handle a Bangladesh in its own back yard.

M

`SSTVNHS 1M

RBSS WTN-Y )0

Katrina: Not aust an Vll WindAs politicians stampede to avoid responsibility for the incompetenthandling of the disaster, we examine the politics of the hurricane.

K

Hate Hourmet - Another Tnion Sell-Out?Was the recent strike an example of trade unions selling out or evensabotaging the struggles of the working class; Pik Smeet investigates.

1L

!dito&ia(

As the Berlin Wall fell and theKremlin2s Empire collapsed inEastern Europe8 Western leadersspoke about a ;peace di<idend; and

how money pre<iously spent on arms wouldbe re-channelled into social programmesAredirected towards the fight against po<erty8ineBuality and ignorance. Some spoke about;the end of history;8 how capitalism was atlast triumphant. Capitalism8 at the dawn of anew millennium8 had supposedly seen offits ri<als and now8 left to de<elop8 wouldbring prosperity to all.

In reality:!World military spending for 2005: J1trillion (or Must o<er J318709 per second)

!Number of billionaires in the world: 691

!Number of people malnourished: approT815 million

!1 billion people lack access to cleanwater

!2.4 billion people lack access to decentsanitation

!178280 children die e<ery day fromhunger

According to the most recent UNHuman De<elopment Report:

!54 countries are now poorer than theywere in 19908 which is when world leaders

made their ;peace di<idend; claim.The world2s 225 richest indi<iduals8 ofwhom 60 are Americans with total assets ofJ311 billion8 ha<e a combined wealth ofo<er J1 trillion - eBual to the annual incomeof the poorest 47 percent of the entireworld2s population.

!The estimated additional cost ofmaintaining uni<ersal access to basiceducation8 basic health care8 reproducti<ehealth care8 adeBuate food and clean waterand safe sewers for all is roughly J40billion a year8 or less than 4 percent of thecombined wealth of the 225 richest peoplein the world.

!The richest fifth of the world2s peopleconsumes 86 percent of all goods andser<ices while the poorest fifth consumesMust 1.3 percent.

!The United Nations Children2s Fundreported in 2005 that one billion children8or half of the world2s population ofchildren8 suffer from po<erty8 <iolentconflict and the scourge of AIDS.

Capitalism may well ha<e ad<ancedthe scientific and technological capabilitiesof humanity to a stage where we can nowfeasibly establish a world of abundance8 aworld without waste or want or war. But thefacts speak for themsel<es. There are nowmore star<ing8 thirsty8 homeless andunemployed people on the planet than atany time in human history. Rather thanpro<iding for the needs of the world2speople8 Capitalism stands as a fetter to thefull and impro<ed use of the world2sproducti<e resources in the ser<ice ofhumanity.

Capitalism need not be the end ofhistory. It is Must one station along therailway line of human social de<elopment atwhich we are presently standing. We canmo<e on8 progress. By progress8 what wemean is socialism8 a society based oncommon ownership8 democratic control andproduction solely for use. Real change ispossible8 but only if enough of us really dowant to mo<e further along the track towhere real human history begins.

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 3

Time to `ove On

UK BRANCHES &CONTACTS

LONDONCentral London branch.Corres:Richard Botterill8 21 AshwellPark8 Harpenden8 Herts AL5 5SG. Tel: 01582 764929email:richardbotterillahotmail.com.2nd & 4th Mon. 7.30. Carpenters Arms8Seymour Place8 W1 (near Marble Arch) Enfield and Haringey branch. Tues.8pm. Angel Community Centre8Raynham Rd8 NI8. Corres: 17 DorsetRoad8 N22 7SL.email:Mulian<einablueyonder.co.ukSouth London branch. 1st Mon.7.45pm. Head Office. 52 ClaphamHigh St8 SW4 7UN. Tel: 020 76223811West London branch. 1st & 3rdTues.8pm8 Chiswick Town Hall8Heathfield Terrace (Corner SuttonCourt Rd)8 W4. Corres: 51 GayfordRoad8 London W12 9BYPimlico. C. Trinder8 24 Greenwood Ct8155 Cambridge Street8 SW1 4Vg. Tel: 020 7834 8186

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)onta+t -etai(/Really moving on: breaking free of thefetters

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/4

Scientists don2talways find iteasy to get onwith the public.Aside from theabstruse andtechnical natureof their work8which ine<itablycreates a naturalcomprehensiongap8 there arepolitical8 religiousand ideologicalfactors which alltoo often causerifts betweenscience and thegeneral public.Socialists8 being

inclined to reasoned8 e<idence-based thinking8 tend by and largeto support the scientists2 point of <iew8 for eTample in their bitterfeud with 2intelligent design2 ad<ocates8 or in their massi<e protestagainst the Bush administration2s deliberate distortion of scientificstudies for political ends8 or in their efforts to o<ercome religiousbigotry which pre<ents effecti<e <accination against killerdiseases. Sometimes8 amid the ra<ing mullahs8 the rantingpoliticians and the grubby interest-groups8 the <oice of thescientific community can sound like the only Buiet note of sanityin the screaming choirs of hell.

There are times8 though8 when e<en some scientists start tosound a little reactionary8 self-righteous and sanctimonious ontheir own account. One such instance is the issue of animal rights.Last month the New York Stock ETchange backed out of itsagreement to float Life Sciences Research8 the struggling USparent of Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire8 with Must45 minutes to go before trading began. No reason was gi<en8 butmedia pundits and insiders were unanimous that the NYSE pulledout because of animal rights pressure. Scientists were duly aghast8and cries of 2Shamem2 echoed round the research laboratories.Leader columns in the scientific press eTpressed serious concernat how important research was once again being hampered bywild-eyed ideologues without a science GCSE or a bath betweenthem.

But do the scientists ha<e any right to such a moral highgroundn It2s true that HLS staff ha<e recei<ed relentlessharassment including <iolence and threats against themsel<es andtheir families8 but the egregious and Buasi-terrorist tactics adoptedby some animal liberationists do not in turn Mustify wholesaleuncritical support for animal research. Scientists tend to be <erydefensi<e about animal research8 but their arguments8 that suchresearch is always necessary8 tightly controlled8 responsible andlargely painless8 are at best Buestionable and sometimes plainwrong8 depending as they do on an idealized representation ofscientific research as it is supposed to be8 and not as it actuallyeTists in the buck-hungry world of capitalist corporations.

To be fair8 animal rights acti<ists can propagate mythsabout research which confuse the issue (for a list8see http://www.rds-online.org.uk). Howe<er8scientists do not help their own case withsimplistic no-brainer dilemmaslike 2your dog8 or your son28which imply that all testing is forthe common good and whichgloss o<er the large proportion ofeTperiments done for cosmetics8food colourings8 weedkillers andother non-health-relatedproducts. While scientistsprotest loudly8 and rightly8against <iolent intimidationby acti<ists8 they are morelikely to shrug mildly atunderco<er reports of2eTceptional2 or2aberrational2beha<iour among

HLS staff8 including <ideos of them punching and kickinganimals for amusement8 and falsifying test reports. Nor are theyimpressed with references to animal testing2s long list of heroicfailures8 including thalidomide and8 more recently8 seroTat. Howmany more disasters would we ha<e had without animal testing8they ask8 knowing there is no answer. 4000 drugs are undergoinganimal testing in Britain today8 of which only ten percent willcome to market8 but scientists who point to this as a sign of theimportance of testing do not concern themsel<es with the fact thatmany of these drugs are not new treatments but re<erse-engineered old drugs designed to get round product patents.

So what would a socialist society2s attitude to animal testingben In a word8 pragmatic. Without being bogged down withimponderable Buestions of natural animal 2rights28 socialist sciencewould (if it decided to do so at all) conduct animal research onlyunder conditions of strict and peer-assessed necessity8 and withattendant informed public debate8 two key factors notable for theirgeneral absence today. Much of the pharmaceutical industrywould be obsolete or transformed anyway if one can assume8 aftercapitalism8 a dramatic fall in heart disease and obesity8 twowealth-related conditions for which the present drug market isprincipally geared8 and an e<en more dramatic fall in po<erty andstress-related diseaseswhich presently do note<en merit scientificattention. While 2product2safety would beparamount8 and mightconcei<ably reBuire someanimal testing8 therewould be no need toduplicate the testing fortwenty differentcompeting brands8 ashappens now. Nor8 in theabsence of pri<ateownership ofinformation8 would producers deliberately a<oid established andtested products because of licence restrictions8 or because8 in thepublic domain8 they were unpatentable and therefore could ne<eryield a profit.

Socialists are not unduly sentimental about animals8 andconsider that a human2s first loyalty should be their own species.Ne<ertheless8 the degree to which human society is 2ci<ilised2 canreasonably be gauged by its treatment of animals and the naturalworld as well as by its treatment of humans8 and socialism8 in itsabolition of all aspects of the appalling sa<agery of capitalism8will undoubtedly do its part to abolish all unnecessary sufferingby non-human sentient creatures.

`ore on S-UemocracyIn case regular readers suspect Pathfinders of a too uncriticalenthusiasm where new communications technology is concerned,

here is an example where our enthusiasm is somewhatmore muted. With e-democracy pro_ects blossomingeverywhere, the interactive approach to government isdeveloping beyond merely doing your tax returns. Nowthe Scottish Parliament is running an e-petitioningsystem, where citi[ens can raise issues and complaintsonline, the progress of the petition then being fed backto the petitions website for public monitoring KBBCOnline Technology, Sept 19L.

The idea came from Professor Ann McIntosh, ofNapier 8niversity, who set the system up with thehelp of BT and has been running it for a year. aWe

wanted to show that technology can do alot more than _ust support e-voting. It canactually allow participation in decisionmaking,a she says, enthusiastically.Socialists would agree, with one simpleproviso: that comms technology be firstemployed in abolishing capitalism. ThenweUd see some real public participation indecision making. As it is, electronicpetitioning is likely to be treated the sameway as paper petitions, except now it canbe ignored - electronically.

Science,socialismand theanimalcuestion

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

Self-UeterminationDear Editors8The last two decades ha<e witnessed anincreasing number of anti-capitalist8 anti-globalisation mo<ements seeking a <oicethrough protest and opposition to thedamaging practices of trans-nationalcorporations and the World Bank8 IMF andWTO. The probability is that the <astmaMority of these indi<iduals ha<e ne<erstudied economics or politics and don2tunderstand much of the workings of currenteconomic policies8 but they certainly do seeand feel the results and negati<e effects ofthese policies and they ha<e a feel for whatis unMust. They share a common desire for abetter world8 a fairer world. They may notha<e identified clearly or eTplicitly what itis they want in this other8 better world8 butthey ha<e undoubtedly recognised much ofwhat they don2t want. Their protests andtheir slogans are demands to be heardA theseare ways of eTpressing anger8 frustrationand disagreement with the status Buo.

Around the world such groups are<oicing many different grie<ances frommany different angles. Boli<ians grabbingtheir water rights back from Bechtel8 whoare now suing the Boli<ian go<ernment forcompensation for what they would ha<eearned in the future. Hundreds of thousandsof Indians being forced off their fertileproducti<e farmland in fa<our of huge damswhich promise fat profits for fat cats.Millions of AIDs sufferers denied access tolife-gi<ing treatments for lack of cash.Empathisers in the minority worldprotesting against the methods and results ofworldwide capitalist business.

So many different reasons from somany different perspecti<esA different stagesof anger8 depri<ation8 disenfranchisement. Itwould be unrealistic to make broadgeneralisations about the myriad indi<idualgoals but it2s certainly possible to gather theseparate bits and pieces together and <iewthem as discrete perspecti<es withcon<erging aims. All these fingers may notbe poised o<er eTactly the right button butat least they are scrabbling in the right area.Surely8 better something rather than sittingin a darkened room absorbing more mind-numbing images from another e<ening2sbombardment courtesy of the capitalistmedian

It2s about choices. People2s first choiceshould be socialism. It seems such a smallstep from the eTamples gi<en here8 but ahuge paradigm shift. For people focused onlife2s necessities - enough food for thefamily e<eryday8 somewhere safe to sleep8healthcare and childcare for increasingnumbers of chronically ill8 a Mob this month8neTt year that will pay the bills - it2s hard tofocus on the light at the end when the tunnelis long and dark. So8 as socialists8 how dowe address this last little push8 this yawninggapn Let2s not criticise those who ha<en2tfigured it out yet. Let2s harness theirstrengths and energies. We need first to getpeople to see the light8 recognize it for whatit is and then to keep focused on heading forit through the long dark tunnel ofcapitalism8 in growing numbers8 withgrowing strength in the knowledge thatthere is a better world8 a fairer world8 asocialist world.

JANET SURMAN8 Turkey.

`arx in Srror?Dear Editors8I note that you8 in the September issue8fa<ourably Buote part of MarT2s siTth Thesison Ludwig Feuerbach:

;Feuerbach resol<es the essence ofreligion into the essence of man. But theessence of man is no abstraction inherent ineach single indi<idual. In its reality it is theensemble of the social relations;.

I would like to point out that MarTwas in error on this point8 and that in factFeuerbach did not abstract from socialrelations. Here is the man himself:

;The natural <iewpoint of man8 the<iewpoint of the distinction between I andthou8 subMect and obMect8 is the true andabsolute <iewpointA conseBuently8 it is alsothe <iewpoint of philosophy. The singleman for himself possesses the essence ofman neither in himself as a moral being norin himself as a thinking being. The essenceof man is contained only in the communityand unity of man with manA it is a unity8howe<er8 which rests only on the reality ofthe distinction between I and thou. Solitudeis finiteness and limitationA community isfreedom and infinity. Man for himself isman (in the ordinary sense)A man with man -the unity of I and thou - is God; (Principlesof the Philosophy of the Future (1844)8 p70-71)

A bit fluffy and abstract perhaps8 but itis clear8 Must as it is clear in his Essence ofChristianity8 that his analysis was basedupon social relations.

R. CUMMING (by email)

What d`arxist Terroristsd?Below is a letter sent to ColombianAmbassador to Britain.

Mr Ambassador8Following on the return to Ireland of thethree Irish republicans con<icted of assistingthe FARC nationalist mo<ement inColombia8 your Vice President8 MrFrancisco Santos8 is reported in the Britishand Irish media as saying that the men inBuestion were training 2MarTist terrorists2.

If Mr Santos has some authoritati<eknowledge of Karl MarT and his politicaland economic philosophy that knowledgewould necessarily ha<e come from theabundant and easily-a<ailable writings ofMarT or his friend and co-worker8 FrederickEngels.

The Socialist Party of Great Britainsince its establishment in 1904 has becomethe repository of genuine MarTist thought inthis country and bases its political practiceon the basic tenets of MarTism. We affirmthat MarT2s <ision of socialism - orcommunism8 for he used the termsinterchangeably - was a wageless8 classless8moneyless and stateless8 world wherein themachinery of production and the resourcesof nature would be owned in common byhumanity and wherein the state as anapparatus of go<ernment o<er people wouldgi<e way to a simple administration ofthings.

As MarT made clear8 the <ery natureof his conception of socialism precludedany form of minority <iolenceA socialismwould necessarily ha<e to be established bythe conscious8 democratic action of the

working class - the producers of all realwealth - and be maintained by the mostwide-ranging forms of participati<edemocracy.

If Mr Santos had applied himself to astudy of MarT2s writings he must surelyha<e noticed that8 rather than ad<ocatingterrorism8 MarT de<oted much of his timeand energy to repudiating the <iews of thosewho urged terrorism on the working class asa means of resol<ing any facet of itseTploitation.

In the present climate of fearengendered by the brutal sectional andconflicting interests of capitalism8 MrSantos2 statement is irresponsible in that iteTposes genuine MarTists to the threat of<iolence from many Buarters. Indeed8 onecan only wonder at the possible fate ofsomeone in Columbia thinking he or shehad a democratic right to ad<ocate theprinciples of MarTism.

Since we are not in a position tochallenge Mr Santos directly we would askyou as a matter of urgency for clarificationof his remarks specifically in relation to thesuggestion that MarTism is in any waycompatible with the idea of terrorism.

John Bissett8 General Secretary.

The following reply was received:

Dear Mr. Bissett8Thank you for your letter of 10 Augustregarding certain reported statements byColombian Vice President Mr. FranciscoSantos following the return to Ireland of thethree Irish republicans con<icted of assistingthe FARC in Colombia. Your letter has beenforwarded to the Vice President.

ALFONSO LoPEZ CABELLERO8 AMBASSADOR.

0ette&/

5

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/u0/

Uri<ing along the freeways abuttingon the Gulf of MeTico it comes asa shock to see so many signsannouncing that you are tra<elling

a designated e<acuation route. For this is apart of America which is well accustomedto the eTtremes of stormy weather. ButHurricane Katrina was something utterlyout of the ordinary. We are still digestingthe accounts of the horrors endured bypeople who were caught in the path of thehurricane and of their suffering since then.What li<es they had ha<e been wreckedAwhat possessions they relied on ha<edisappeared into the floods with thecorpses8 the rubbish and the sewageA whatthey saw as their future has been literallyblown away. So far there has been noreliable estimate of the loss of life: does itrun into hundreds8 thousands or tens ofthousandsn For those who worrythemsel<es about such issues there hasbeen no informed guess of how much thedisaster will cost the insurance companiesAMerrill Lynch8 who know a thing or twoabout pushing money around8 ha<e comeup with the figure of J22 billion. AndGeorge Bush8 who could once luTuriatebehind apparently unassailable rampartsof support8 has had to contemplate theerosion of his popularity.

In its destructi<e power and themisery it unleashed against the people ofthe Gulf States8 Katrina was eTtraordinary.But in some important respects it wascompletely normal and predictable. Tobegin with there was the stampede ofpoliticians - in particular George Bush - toa<oid any responsibility for thecatastrophe and for the official failure torush help to the <ictims. Apart from thedamage to roads8 buildings and the like8the hurricane2s breach of the le<eesprotecting New Orleans was crucial. Bushtold a TV reporter that ;I don2t thinkanyone anticipated the breach of thele<ees; but that was simply untrue.Business Week newspaper8 for eTample8thought differently: ;Engineers ha<eknown for years that New Orleans2s le<eescouldn2t withstand anything abo<e acategory 3 hurricane; (Katrina wascategory 5). In fact as recently as 1998 thecategory 2 hurricane George forced thewater le<els up to a foot below the top ofthe le<ees. In 2002 a local New Orleansnewspaper concluded from itsin<estigation that a maMor hurricane wouldde<astate the region.

`oneyAnticipation of the breach should ha<e ledto the le<ees being heightened andstrengthened8 sa<ing a lot of li<es andpre<enting untold misery for the people.But before Katrina arri<ed on the scenethe funding which could ha<e impro<edthe le<ees was cut by J71 millionA apre<ious Secretary of En<ironmentalguality in Louisiana was angry enoughabout this to forecast that ;a disastrousflood was ine<itable;. One localemergency management chief thought thatthe cuts were imposed because ;It appearsthat the money has been mo<ed in thepresident2s budget to handle homelandsecurity and the war in IraB and I supposethat2s the price we pay;. He might ha<eput it differently - for capitalism killing

Katrina -Not aust an Vll Wind

7!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

people is more affordable than protectingthem from harm.

So what of the people who li<ed inthe path of the storm8 of the wind and theflood and whose li<es were to be sodramatically affected by decisions onwhere money was to be spentn In the <astmaMority they were black and in the lowerreaches of po<erty. In New Orleans twothirds of the population wasAfrican/American8 with a Buarter of themofficially graded as li<ing in po<erty. Inthe Lower Ninth Ward of that city8 whichsuffered particularly badly in the flood890 percent were African/American withalmost a third of them classified as li<ingin po<erty. In a flash of candour whichmust ha<e caused acute anguish to herminders Barbara Bush8 the mother ofGeorge Bush and the wife of the formerpresident8 shared her thoughts about this:;So many of the people in the area here8you know8 were underpri<ileged anyway.So this pfleeing from the hurricane8 fromthe floods8 the fear8 the death8 then li<ingin the sBualor of emergencyaccommodationq is working well forthem;

GovertyTypically8 the people li<ing at or below thepo<erty line endure bad housing withoutproper plumbing8 hot and cold water8 ashower or a bath. It also means that8crucially in America 8 they could notafford a car or any other ready means ofcarrying out the official ad<ice to e<acuatethe area before Katrina arri<ed - and thatif they did manage to flee they would ha<eno access to ready places of refuge. Itseems ob<ious that such people shouldhelp themsel<es from damaged shops andstores8 putting sur<i<al before capitalism2sproperty laws. They would not ha<e beendeterred to be told that this was looting8 a<ery serious crimeA nor would they ha<ebeen impressed by Defence SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld2s apparent condoning ofthe same type of acti<ity8 when it suitedhim8 in the case of IraB: ;Freedom2suntidy8 and free people are free to makemistakes and commit crimes and do badthings;. Perhaps Katrina had informed thelooters that to be poor can be to suffer adesperately inadeBuate life style withmiserable prospects and that the pooreryou are the worse this is.

Katrina was a disaster of epic scalefor the poor of the Gulf States8 fleeing thewinds and the waters8 or cowering in somenoTious shelter. There was some bad newsalso for the other side of the class di<ide.The firm Deloitte8 who are called;consultants; (which does not mean theyare readily a<ailable to gi<e ad<ice toanyone trying to get by on Social Securityof any kind) calculated that the hurricanecould ha<e damaged parts of the Americaneconomy on a scale comparable to thee<ents of 9/11. One of the firm2sspokespersons warned about the effect onthe insurance industry8 on tourism8 leisure8hospitality and the stock market. In factthe stock markets in London and Americahardly fluttered. In any case any tremorswere o<erridden by the good news for thekind of people who may consult Deloitte.Arguing that the damage to oil rigs in theGulf of MeTico would cause a shortage8

the oil firms were Buick to raise theirprices. On the assumption that becausealmost a third of America2s coffee cropwould ha<e been stored in New Orleansthe price of coffee on the market soaredby 11 percent.

GrofitsThe construction industry - notably part ofthe Haliburton Group8 which was oncebossed by Vice President Dick Cheneyand which prospers so well out ofrepairing the damage the American forcesha<e done in IraB - was eagerly preparingbids to reconstruct the damaged cities ofthe Gulf. Shares in Haliburton did not fallbut went up by two percent. In Englandshares in Aggrreko8 who supply portablepower generators8 soared by 7.5 percentand shares in Wolesley8 which suppliesplumbing and heating8 were up by threepercent. One financial ad<iser8 after theobligatory acknowledgement that a lot ofpeople had suffered terribly in thehurricane8 had something of a song in hisheart :

;The impact of e<ents such asKatrina8 while de<astating for the peoplein<ol<ed8 tend to be Buite short-term andyou should be in<esting in America8 orany other region for that matter8 for thelong-term - at least fi<e years andprobably 10 or more. O<er that period8 canyou afford to be out of the world2s largesteconomy and stock market8 which hassome of the best companies in the Worldn;

And how is the reconstruction likelyto turn outn If the eTperience of theaftermath of the BoTing Day tsunami isany guide8 the face of places like NewOrleans will be changed for e<er as luTurytourism is foisted on the place8 lea<ingone or two small areas where a kind ofsanitised memory is allowed to sur<i<e.The chairman of the New OrleansBusiness Council ominously spoke of how;to use this catastrophe as a once-in-an-eon opportunity to change the dynamic; ofthe city. Well8 the people of New Orleansand of the rest of the world ha<e beenwarned.

SocialismKatrina was a disaster of epic proportionswhich no style of human organisation8e<en one based on communal ownershipand control of the means of life8 couldha<e a<erted or controlled. But such asociety would ha<e pre<ented a calamityon the scale of New Orleans. A classlesssociety8 organised on the basis of humaninterests8 would not ha<e misMudged thepower of Katrina8 nor compromised thesafety of its people in its path byundermining the strength of defencesbecause it was financially ad<isable to doso. It would not ha<e bungled anynecessary rescue and support ser<ices.And as an open and democratic society itwould not ha<e been plagued bypoliticians disguising their true failuresand impotence behind a screen of lies."RC

Aspects of the disaster,published by Vndymedia,Tnited States.

!The city has a 4bc illiteracy rate.

!New :rleans Police Department officers, who have been accused ofdrug running, corruption and theft,were dcaughtd on videotape looting aWal-Mart. The Ari[ona Republicreported that its local sheriffs awatchedNew :rleans police officers loadingtheir patrol cars with items taken fromvarious businesses, a couple ofpharmacies, a hardware store, anauto-parts store and a grocery store.a

!The Bush administration, in everyyear since Cbb1, has cut or refused tofund New :rleans flood control, andignored scientists warnings ofincreased hurricanes as a result ofglobal warming.

!There are many first-hand reports ofrelief organi[ations being refusedentry into the city. The Red Crossdofficial website explains aThe stateHomeland Security Department hadreRuested--and continues to reRuest--that the American Red Cross not comeback into New :rleans following thehurricane. :ur presence would keeppeople from evacuating andencourage others to come into thecity.a

!New :rleans is the only deepwaterport in the 8S served by six class-onerailroads. None of these were used totake people out of the city.

!Tons of food ready for delivery by airto refugees was halted because ofPresident Bushds visit to the city. aWehad arrangements to airlift food byhelicopter to these folks, and now thefood is sitting in trucks because theywondt let helicopters fly,a said Casey:dShea, 8.S. Rep. Charlie Melancondschief of staff. It was not reportedwhether the supplies ever actuallymade it to those who most needed it.

!Private military companies havebeen employed to guard the propertyof the cityds millionaires from looters.

!eAs we approached the bridge,armed Gretna sheriffs formed a lineacross the foot of the bridge. Beforewe were close enough to speak, theybegan firing their weapons over ourheads. We Ruestioned why wecouldndt cross the bridge. Theyresponded that the West Bank was notgoing to become New :rleans andthere would be no Superdomes in theirCity. These were code words for if youare poor and black, you are notcrossing the Mississippi River and youwere not getting out of New :rleans.f

httpeeneworleans.indymedia.org

8 !ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

The recently sickening ravages ofproperty and life wrought byHurricane Katrina have beenextensively covered by the media,

but with some rather glaring omissions.The first was that a society based on

the rights of property over life had a greatdeal to do with exacerbating an already

traumatic situation. What we witnessedthe most on television were pathetic yetstark scenes of poor people huddled in asports stadium, homes lost forever,awaiting supplies and aid that tookendless days to arrive. Duringthis time more people died, the illwere uncared for, and conditionsof existence plummeted tounsanitary levels oftenassociated with the shanty townsof South America or Turkishprisons, but not with the 8nitedStates of America. While thesealready traumatised people hadto endure an additional trauma ofabandonment and lack of thebasic wherewithal to survive,millions of homes and officesunused and awaiting buyers satempty around the country. Butthey were not available to the millionhomeless of New :rleans, whose lifesavings had been lost in homes renderedrubble, or who simply never had thesavings to invest in their own house.

Nobody on television asked the mostsalient Ruestion of all: ashould peoplestruck by terrible tragedy be victims ofcharity at all, or should they instead beautomatically entitled to societyds wealthsimply by demonstrating clear-cut needsfor homes, hygiene, food, clothes, andcomfort;a Society as presentlyconstituted is not geared toward thesatisfaction of our needs, but rather to thesale of commodities to yield profits, andsuch a society proved itself demonstrablyincapable of meeting needs of the direand desperate kinds that followed on theheels of Katrina. But hey, there arealready millions of homeless and poorpeople in the 8nited States who are notentitled to those vast numbers of emptyhomes awaiting purchase, so why shouldthese victims of extreme weather be anymore fortunate;

Had you or I decided to by-pass thesleeping government and simply pick up acouple of homeless individuals and dropthem off in another town, we would havehad to do so only by taking time off work.Most of us, as workers, havecommitments to our employers that maynot be so casually by-passed. And incapitalism, even relief efforts are sub_ectto the welfare agenciesd budgetaryconstraints. Nver heard of the tens of

millions of starving and ill children who dieeach and ever year around the world forwhom there is simply not enough moneyto go around; While relief for those left inNew :rleans was certainly offered by theRed Cross and eventually by the state,few asked whether it is sane or eveneffective to meet critical human needs

depending upon how much money orhow many volunteers may beassembled. What if those of youdonating a few dollars atsupermarkets for Katrina victimssimply dondt raise enough; Doesthat mean that the plight of thosestruck by disaster is entirely theresult of your personal failures, or ofa society in which wealth is producedonly to be sold, and not to meet ourneeds; We socialists think the latter.

Nobody on television askedwhether by rights the wealth ofsociety should not be automaticallydue to all individuals. Thus, themillion New :rleanians with homes

tragically destroyed suddenly enter intothat category of ahomeless,a those withoutthe monetary means to buy or rent.Nobody on the idiot box asked the mostobvious Ruestion: awhy shouldndt homes

be available to anybody whoneeds them;a

A further Ruestion neverraised in recent televisioncoverage was about theseverity of the storm itself.Many scientists around theworld are now convinced thatthe ecological devastationwrought by modern societyhas played its part in alteringglobal weather patterns, evenwhile conservative politiciansand owners of pollutingindustry deny suchhypotheses and try hard to

keep them from being discussed in themedia. Tropical forests are vanishing atthe rate of city si[es per day, ice is meltingat the polar caps, storms are increasingand worsening, temperatures are rising,o[one levels are diminishing. huite a fewscientists have made calculations that if

present levels of ecological destructioncontinue unabated for the next ten, twentyor thirty years, then catastrophicalterations in weather will no longer beavoidable, even if pollution were stoppedafter such a date. While it is difficult to becertain if the damage to the planet causedby capitalist production has beenresponsible for recent changes for theworse in weather, one thing is clear - suchdire warnings from the scientificcommunity are not going to be takenseriously. This leaves us rightlyconcerned whether we are heading intoan era in which such similarly devastatingphenomena as Hurricane Katrina will notbe exceptions, but the rule. What are youall going to do about it; When willciti[ens take control, and stop leavingcritical decision making to leaders of allparties led by the supremacy of corporateinterests. What are you personally goingto do to render this planet a _oy to share,to create a society for you and yourchildren that meets our needs;

The World Socialist Party of the8nited States is a companion party of theWorld Socialist Movement. It aims tobring about a nonviolent revolution in theownership of the means of productionfrom private or state to common. In sucha society, money will no longer benecessary, as the things and services wereRuire to live fully Kfood, clothes, medicalservices, homes, transportation, and othermodern human needsL will be freelyavailable to all. This is because themeans of production will be owned incommon by the entire community, and willbe democratically controlled by thatcommunity as well, a society in whichleaders are replaced by truly democraticdecision making of all citi[ens.

In a society of common ownership,all war in such a nationless world will beimmediately abolished, while the end ofstarvation and dire poverty will Ruicklyfollow suit. Without the barriers ofeconomic cost holding back humanprogress, more ecologically sustainableways to provide energy and production forourselves will be immediately planned andcreated on a global basis. We willbecome for the first time in history a trulyhuman family looking after itself. "Ur. Who KWorld Socialist Party of 8SL

Colour coding - blacks ‘loot’ while whites ‘find’, apparently, in the New Orleans disaster

Bush leads the rescue effort

Hey Dad,flounder!

Don’t youalways?

,societyproved itself

demonstrablyincapable of

meetingneeds thatfollowed onthe heels of

Katrina?

Katrina: the poor suffer more

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 9

Understandably Allied ser<icemenin<ol<ed in the Pacific war8 many ofwhom eTperienced the unspeakablehorrors of Japanese prisoner of war

camps8 welcomed the atomic bombs as a;miracle of deli<erance;. With a few notableeTceptions8 e<en those historians whoconclude that dropping the bombs was notnecessary to obtain Allied <ictory - that itwould not e<en ha<e been necessary to in<aderrJapan - generally accept that using the bombsprobably shortened the war. E<en if only by afew weeks. In the grim reality of war8 the lifeof a single comrade sa<ed is worth a thousandenemy slain.

But what would such men think if theyknew that8 far from shortening the war8 theatomic bombs actually prolonged itn That forall the crocodile tears shed about the ;terribleplight; of the capti<esA for all hollow praiseheaped upon the ;heroic sacrifices; of thearmed forces they were8 after all8 merelyeTpendable pawns in the unrelenting hostilitiesof power politicsn That ;bringing our boysback as soon as possible;8 was not actually thefirst order of businessnUid the TS want Bussian intervention?

By the time the atom bombs weredropped8 Allied <ictory through o<erwhelmingmilitary superiority was <irtually assured.Also8 at Potsdam in July 19458 Stalin hadconfirmed his intention to enter the war on 15August. As President Truman8 writing in hispri<ate Mournal8 noted at the time: ;Fini Japswhen that comes about;. In fact Russiadeclared war on Japan on 8 August and thefollowing day - Must hours later in Far Easttime - Russian troops attacked in Manchuriaand Korea. The rapidity with which theypenetrated against the cream of the Japanesearmy is con<incing e<idence for manycommentators that Japanese surrender wouldha<e swiftly followed. Surely such apotentially decisi<e inter<ention would ha<ebeen welcomed by those pledged to ;bringingour boys back as soon as possible;n Surelye<ery effort would ha<e been made toencourage the speediest possible participationof the Russian military as a matter of utmosturgencyn Not som

The attitude of the US policy makersregarding Russian inter<ention8 e<en thoughinitially positi<e8 was ne<er entirely free fromfear-fuelled ambi<alence. And8 correspondingwith increasingly encouraging reports from theManhattan proMect8 that attitude e<entuallyhardened to become acti<ely negati<e. Well-founded mutual suspicion go<erned e<erymo<eA trickery and deception concerning theirrespecti<e intentions was eTtensi<elyemployed by both sides. And8 once again8American Secretary of State8 James F. Byrnes8unashamedly declared his hand. He thoughtthat it would be ;regrettable; if Russia became

in<ol<ed in the war. He was desperatelyworried that if Stalin knew about the awesomepower of the atomic bomb (he did) he might;immediately enter the war;. So Byrnessought to delay Russian entry. That hisattempts were unsuccessful is largelyirrele<ant and hardly the point8 which is thatthe US leaders did not want Russianinter<ention. Firstly8 because they were intenton using their atomic bombs before the war inthe Pacific ended and8 secondly8 they werereluctant to share their prospecti<e economicand political influence in the Far East withanyone else8 friend or foe.

Although Stalin had no Bualms aboutrescinding the Neutrality Pact with Japan8 thelikelihood of Russia entering the Pacific Warany earlier than it did8 e<en had it been urgedto do so by America8 was eTtremely remote.Yet there were two other a<enues throughwhich the US administration8 had it had theslightest inclination to pursue them8 couldalmost certainly ha<e succeeded in shorteningthe conflict. Instead8 to ser<e their ownagenda8 they approached these a<enues withsufficient circumspection to frustrate e<eryo<ertureA each manoeu<re calculated toobstruct the least chance of any kind ofrapprochement.Was aapan really suing for peace?

The e<idence that it was iso<erwhelming. Astonishingly8 Japanesediplomats initiated peace feelers as early aslate summer 1944. They continued to do so -through Sweden8 Switzerland8 Russia and e<enthe Vatican. Particular efforts were made <iaMoscow in the (mistaken) belief that theNeutrality Pact that eTisted between Japan andRussia made it the most <iable channel.Despite the fact that Stalin had pre<iouslydeclined to renew the pact8 Japanese fearswere somewhat mollified (but by no means

Buelled) by his assurance that it wouldcontinue to inform his decisions until itseTpiry in April 1946. But by the end of 1943he had already made known to Allied leadershis intention to enter the war against Japan andsigned an agreement confirming it8 at Yalta inFebruary 1945.

On the day following the collapse ofOkinawa (21 June 1945)8 Emperor Hirohitotold the Supreme Council for the Direction ofWar to re<erse their ;Basic Policy;8 urgingthem to seek peace by diplomatic means: ;Youwill consider the Buestion of ending the war assoon as possible;. It was the specific missionof the new cabinet of Prime Minister8 BaronKantaro Suzuki (appointed 7 April 1945)8 toseek peace. But neither the US nor Russiawere interested in Japan2s efforts for peaceA the

US wanted to wait until it could drop the atombombs and Russia until it was ready to declarewar. Not one of the messages imparted toMoscow by the Japanese ambassador waspassed on to America. This made littledifference8 howe<er8 since all Japanese codes -diplomatic (;Magic;) and operational (;ultra;)had long been broken. An eTtract from;Magic; Ns 1205 (13 July 1945) deciphering acable from Foreign Minister Togo toAmbassador Sato reads: ;His MaMesty theEmperor8 mindful of the fact that the presentwar daily brings greater e<il and sacrificeupon the peoples of all belligerent powers8desires from his heart that it may be Buicklyterminated;. The same transcript further states:;It is the Emperor2s pri<ate intention to sendPrince Konoye to Moscow as a Special En<oy. . .; And so he did8 but Moscow would notrecei<e him. Later President Truman;thanked; Marshal Stalin.

Stephen Harper8 in his book Miracle ofDeli<erance8 subtitled 2The Case for theBombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki;8 write8with commendable honesty: ;Ways could ha<ebeen found to eTplore the Japanese peacemo<es had there been any desire to do so8 butit seems clear that the doctrine ofunconditional surrender . . . had becomecompulsi<e thinking - an Allied blindspot;.Was it unconditional surrender?

On 21 July an ultimatum - the PotsdamDeclaration - was gi<en to the Japanesego<ernment. It was issued on behalf of thePresident of theUnited States8 thePresident ofNationalist Chinaand the PrimeMinister of GreatBritainA but notRussia. Its languagewas uncompromisingas these eTtractsshow:

;Following areour terms. We willnot de<iate fromthem. There are noalternati<es. We shallbrook no delay.

;There must beeliminated for alltime the authorityand influence ofthose who ha<edecei<ed and misledthe people of Japaninto embarking on world conBuest . . . We callupon the go<ernment of Japan to proclaim theunconditional surrender of all Japanese armedforces . . .;

Despite the inclusion of phrases such as: ;We do not intend that the Japanese shall beensla<ed . . .;8 ;Freedom of speech8 of religionand of thought . . .;8 ;. . . fundamental humanrights shall be established; - the single non-negotiable concession8 repeatedly demandedby Japan8 was noticeably absent: a guaranteeof the Emperor2s position. A crucial paragraphoffering Must such a guarantee was deleted bythe US Secretary of State James F. Byrnes.ConseBuently8 the Declaration was deemedunacceptable by Japan - Must as the US hopedit would be.

Much discussion has ensued concerningthe nature of the Japanese response. Someanalysts consider it to be an outright reMectionAothers no more than a pause for breath.Confusion was sown by the use of theJapanese term ;mokusatsu;8 which can mean:;take no notice of;A ;treat with silent

Why they dropped the bombsRichard Headicarconcludes his analysisof the reasons why theUS dropped atomicbombs on the Japanesecities of Hiroshimaand Nagasaki inAugust 1945.

Hirohito, June 1945- "You will considerthe question ofending the war assoon as possible".

Suspicion, trickery and deception -the Potsdam conference, July 1945

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00//10

contempt; or (most probably) ;withholdcomment;. Some writers ha<e emphasised theMingoistic and defiant statements trumpeted inthe Japanese media8 but these were ob<iouslyface-sa<ing propaganda eTercises designed toboost national morale. Other compellinge<idence makes it abundantly clear that8 so faras Japan was concerned8 negotiations were still<ery much ongoing. And that the US wasaware of it.

;Magic; intercept Ns 1218 (26 July1945) re<ealed the teTt of another messagesent from Foreign Minister Togo toAmbassador Sato. This was a reaction to abroadcast made to the Japanese on 21 July8 onbehalf of the US. The broadcast was made byCaptain (later Rear Admiral) Ellis M.Zacharias8 later to write an article for Lookmagazine (6 June 1950) entitled ;How WeBungled the Japanese Surrender;. Part of the;Magic; summary stated: ;It is impossible forus to accept unconditional surrender8 no matterin what guise8 but . . . there is no obMection tothe restoration of peace on the basis of theAtlantic Charter;. But once again Byrnesinter<ened and claimed that it was best torefrain from designating the broadcast as;official;.

That the issue of ;unconditionalsurrender; was the primary stumbling block tothe achie<ement of a peace settlement hadbeen recognised long before. A JointIntelligence Committee in March 1940commented: ;The cruT of the politicalsituation will lie in the all-important status ofthe Japanese Emperor;. After the war waso<er8 both Secretary of War Stimson and thePresident recorded their conclusions.;pHqistory might find that the United States8 byits delay in stating its position pon thesurrender termsq had prolonged the war; wroteStimson in his memoirs. Or as Trumansuccinctly remarked during the compiling ofhis: ;It was because of the unconditionalsurrender policy against Japan that Hiroshimaand Nagasaki were wiped out;.

Two days after the Potsdam Declaration8Prince Konoye was still making frantic effortsto make contact with Russian diplomats8contradicting the generally accepted notionthat the Declaration had been dismissed out ofhand by Japan. In any e<ent8 the decision todrop the bomb had already been taken: finally

confirmed on the same day asthe Declaration.

On 10 August8 the morning after thesecond bomb was dropped8 an offer ofsurrender from Japan was recei<ed inWashington. Once more it stipulated that anyagreement should ; . . . not compromise anydemand which preMudiced the prerogati<es ofHis MaMesty as a So<ereign Ruler;. Stimsonfa<oured its acceptanceA Secretary of the Na<yJames Forrestal suggested a compromiseAByrnes opposed it. For once8 Byrnes had togi<e way but8 ne<ertheless8 he was the onewho drafted the reply8 the key phrase of whichpermitted that <ital Japanese pro<iso: ;Fromthe moment of surrender the authority of theEmperor and the Japanese Go<ernment to rulethe state shall be subMect to the SupremeCommander of the Allied Powers;. It wasenough. The bombs8 apparently8 had notpersuaded Japan to drop its pro<iso concerningthe Emperor.

Byrnes2s reluctance to bend8 e<en at thisMuncture8 is hard to fathom precisely. What isseldom mentioned in popular accounts of thebombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki8howe<er8 is that a third bomb would ha<e beendeli<ered and ready to drop by 17 August1945.Why were the bombs dropped?

A compleT labyrinth of reasons laybehind the decision to drop the atomic bombs.Once the <astly eTpensi<e machinery ofproduction had commenced8 and the originalpurpose of its instigation forgotten8 sufficientresol<e not to use it ceased to eTist. Theastronomical in<estment of public fundsneeded to be MustifiedA the widespread publicantipathy of the American population towardsthe Japanese following the Pearl Harbourattack8 demanded re<enge - a mood of whichthe American leadership was acutely aware.As Secretary for War Stimson subseBuentlyobser<ed: ;No man8 in our position and subMectto our responsibilities8 holding in his hands aweapon of such possibilities could ha<e failedto use it and afterwards look his countrymen inthe face;.

A number of 2re<isionist2 historiansconfidently assert that the primary moti<e wasto gain diplomatic ad<antage: a powerfulpolitical le<er allowing the US to dominatefuture negotiations with the So<iet Union.They make a powerful case and undoubtedlythis was a maMor consideration in theformulation of atomic policy. But this couldha<e been accomplished with Must a single

bomb and8 surely8 not necessarily on a hea<ily-populated city.

The fact that two bombs were dropped8howe<er - without warning - on specificallytargeted and crowded locations which had

been spared aerial bombardmentA the fact thateach bomb had different technology (oneuranium-eTplosionA one plutonium-implosion)8each with different yields8 dropped at differentheights but both resulting in prolonged anddeadly after-effects of which little wasunderstood8 suggests the conclusion that theprimary moti<es might ha<e been the seldommentioned (almost unmentionable) one of;scientific; eTperimentation. A conclusion thatseems to be confirmed by the grimrecommendations of both the Interim andTarget committees detailed in the first part ofthis article (last month).

The terrible war in the Pacific8 incommon with all wars between capitaliststates8 had its origins in the protection andeTpansion of economic interests. There seemsto be no limit to the degradation and crueltyutilised to protect those interests. Anyone<isiting the Hiroshima museum would be ableto <iew the leaflets that were dropped warningof an atomic attack. In an act of macabrecynicism that almost defies belief8 thoseleaflets were not dropped until 9 August -three days after the bombing. Things impro<edfor Nagasaki - they were only one day late. "RICHARD HEADICAR

A list of the sources of the Buotes in thisarticle or further information on particularpoints can be obtained on reBuest to: SocialistStandard8 52 Clapham High St8 London SW47UN.

ThemarketfailsagainWithin a monthof the Liveiconcerts that

were supposed to influence theleaders of world capitalism to dosomething about poverty inAfrica, the charities had to gettheir begging bowls out again.This time for a famine in Niger,an ex-French colony to thenorth of Nigeria with apopulation of over 11.6 million.

In :ctober last yearvarious international agenciesincluding the 8Nds Food andAgriculture :rganisationsignalled that, due to a badharvest and an invasion oflocusts, cereal production inNiger in Cbb4-B was likely to beI.B percent below normal. Inaccordance with the law ofsupply and demand the price ofmillet, the main cereal grown

and consumed in Niger, beganto rise, with the result that thefarmers whose crop had failedwere unable to afford to buyenough food for their families.Malnutrition, especially amongstchildren, grew.

The government reactedby bringing in a scheme to sellmillet at a reduced price, butalthough this was below themarket price it was still twotimes higher than the price thefarmers had received for theirCbb3-4 crop.

Dr Isabelle Defourny, ofMldicins Sans Frontimres, takesup the story:

aIn early June, Nigerdsprime minister acknowledgedthat the governmentds responsewas ineffective when he notedthat hundreds of thousands ofthe 3.B million peoplethreatened by the food shortagewere too poor to be able topurchase cereal, even at a lowprice. Those most severelyaffected by the food crisis havethe least resources, includingfarmers whose harvests werepoor and cattle producers and

craftsmen. Many had alreadyexhausted their resources,selling goods and animals tofeed themselves.a KMessages,MSF newsletter, July-August,www.msf.frMdocumentsMbaseMCbbB-bI-b1-Messages13IQA.pdf L

MSF urged that afree fooddistribution is the only way tokeep the situation fromworsening and to prevent largenumbers of deathsa, a perfectlyreasonable proposal if we wereliving in a society geared toserving human needs andwelfare. But wedre not. Theauthorities took a different view,for reasons explained by socialresearcher, Jean-HervlJe[eRuel, in an interview in thesame issue of Messages:

a . . . in early June, at ameeting of the JointCommission for Consultation,the decision-making body of thedaction pland which includesrepresentatives of the state andof institutional donors, thegovernment of Niger declaredthat despite the seriousness ofthe food crisis, it would not setup free distribution operations.

The only political reaction fromthe institutional donors camefrom the ambassador of France,who was glad there was adpolicy that will not destabili[ethe marketsd. The ambience wasalmost surreal: ignoring theemergency food situation,economic considerations were,without hesitation, given priorityover the fate of endangeredpeople.a

The French newspaperLibération reported that somecereal merchants had held backstocks to drive up prices furtherand that others had adisposedof their stocks in neighbouringNigeria where the populationhas a higher purchasing poweraK9 AugustL.

So, yet again, as in everyafood crisisa since the GreatStarvation in Ireland in the1i4bs, the workings ofcapitalism have produced theobscene spectacle of the exportof food from an area wherepeople are starving because,not having money, they dondtconstitute a market and so dondtcount.

-ooking the Books f1g

Russian columns enter Changchun,capital of Manchuria, 1945

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 11

When a 2land forsale by auction2n o t i c eappeared at the

end of a cul-de-sac inBillericay8 EsseT8 thereaction was swift and wellorganised. A lettereTpressing concern that theland might be bought andoccupied by members of thetra<elling community with adetrimental effect on the<alue of their properties wasimmediately prepared bytwo residents and deli<eredto 180 houses in the <icinity.Within days a meeting washeld and a limited companyset up with some 45neighbours contributing tothe e<entual purchase priceof t758000. The landpurchased is part of a 2field28thickly o<ergrown mainlywith hawthorns8 most ofwhich is owned by aproperty company in the anticipation that itsgreen-belt status will some time be changed.

Whether or not the fears of residentsin this instance were well founded8 the nearimpossibility of finding legal stoppingplaces means that Gypsies and Tra<ellersha<e been forced into confrontationalsituations with local authorities andwith members of the settledcommunity in the areas where theyare encamped.

It is estimated that in Englandthere are between 48000 and 58000<ans and from 168000 to 208000Tra<ellers and Gypsies either intransit or without a legal place tostay (Environmental HealthJournal8 April 20058 online). Theshortage of sites means thatTra<ellers are forced to mo<e on8to the detriment of their health andtheir children2s education. It alsomeans that many more than wereintended are stopping on legalsites. This for eTample is thesituation at Crays Hill in Basildon8also in EsseT8 where there aresome 30 legal plots on a site butmore than siTty are occupiedillegally. Similar situations can befound in <arious parts of thecountry.

The plight of Gypsies andTra<ellers is not a popular cause.In 1973 Jeremy Sandford wrote inhis book Gypsies of the situationfor Gypsies who had always been<ulnerable to attack from thosewho ;perhaps from en<y of theirfree and easy ways; want to dri<ethem from ;our hedgerows8commons and public places; butwere now faced with legislationwhich effecti<ely outlawed theirway of life. He also stated in hisconclusion that at the present rateof progress ;it may well be into the2000s2 before there was a place on a site fore<ery British gypsy;. Howe<er far fromthere being progress the situation hasbecome much worse.

The 1960 Cara<an Sites and Controlof De<elopment Act had ;forced families tomo<e off agricultural land onto lay-bys andcar parks.; A go<ernment sur<ey re<ealed

the eTtent of tra<eller po<erty: more thantwo thirds were li<ing on sites withoutaccess to running water or rubbish disposal(Helen O2Nions8 The Marginalisation ofGypsies8 1995). The 1968 Cara<an SitesAct had the prime purpose of remedyingthis situation. Local Authorities weremandated to pro<ide ;adeBuate

accommodation for Gypsies residing in orresorting to their area;. Howe<er8 the sitesthat were pro<ided by councils were notnecessarily to the liking of Gypsies in thatthey made insufficient allowance for theirlifestyle. For eTample the collecting ofscrap metal and keeping of animals couldbe forbidden8 and there would not be roomfor the gathering together of eTtended

family groups. Councils hadadditional powers to remo<eGypsies not on designatedsites. The Act did not workas intended8 not leastbecause councils foundways around the duty topro<ide sites. By the timethe Conser<ati<ego<ernment remo<ed thestatutory obligations in 1994one third of Tra<ellers hadno legal place to stay.During the Thatcher erathousands of traditionalstopping places disappeared.

In what is seen as anattempt to make Gypsiesabandon the nomadic wayof life the Criminal Justiceand Public Order Act 1994ended the duty for localauthorities to pro<ide sitesand remo<ed go<ernmentfunding for them. It alsobecame a criminal offencefor cara<ans to stop on the

highway8 unoccupied land8 common land orland without consent. Gypsies wereencouraged to buy land and de<elop theirown sites8 but because of the restricti<ecriteria set by councils some 80 per cent ofthese applications are turned down. This iswhy some ha<e resorted to buying and

mo<ing on to land before seekingplanning permission. The positionwhereby green-belt land could beconsidered for Gypsy sites (;arecognition of the difficulty offinding suitable sites in suburbia;)was ended on the grounds that;Gypsies enMoy a pri<ilegedposition in the planning system;.Ironically councils were gi<enencouragement to allow buildingand de<elopment on green-beltsites.

The Labour go<ernment hasresumed the funding of sites andhas increased the amount it intendsto spend on them. Howe<er it hasnot put the responsibilities ofcouncils back to the pre-1994position. The Housing Act 2004placed a duty on local authorities toinclude Gypsies and Tra<ellers intheir local housing assessments and;demonstrate how these needs willbe met;8 with the Secretary of Stateha<ing powers to direct a localauthority to produce a plan.Brentwood is the first council to bechallenged in this way. If the Officeof the Deputy Prime Minister issuccessful in getting Brentwood tocomply it will encourage othercouncils ;to get on with the Mob;.Many councils do not needencouragementA the En<ironmentalHealth Journal cites the eTample of

Norfolk8 whose Tra<eller LiaisonGroup has already produced aTra<eller protocol and has fi<eauthorised sites and is planning a

transit site.Basildon council has 106 authorised

sites but still does not ha<e enough placesfor all of the Tra<ellers who wish to stop inthe district. Wakefield claims to ha<e one ofthe largest authorised Tra<eller sites in thecountry and is the first council to announceplans to apply Anti-Social Beha<iour

AreHypsies

theproblem?

Scenes from a caravan and gypsy effigy burning, Firle, Sussex,Oct 2003. The police dropped all charges against the 12villagers responsible.

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00//12

Orders toparticular illegalencampments. ThesereBuire a lowerstandard of proofthan normal courtproceedings but theGypsy Council isad<ising Gypsies tochallenge the ordersthrough the courts.

In someinstances localpeople protestingabout illegal tra<ellersites are alsosympathetic to theplight of Gypsies andTra<ellersA for eTample8 the CottenhamResidents2 Association and the Gypsy andTra<eller Law Reform Coalition forwardeda Moint statement to the Go<ernmentpointing out that the pro<ision of adeBuatesites by all local authorities would addressthe acute shortage of sites and also bring anend to illegal and unauthorisedencampments.

Whilst emphasis is put on theproblems caused by illegal sites and theeTcess numbers who are stopping onauthorised sites8 the widespread perceptionis of Gypsies and Tra<ellers as people wholi<e outside of the constraints which thesettled community are bound by8 who donot contribute in work or taTes but commitcrime8 spoil the en<ironment with theirrubbish and generally cause trouble by their<ery presence in an area.

Gypsies and Tra<ellers are much likeother peopleA most of them do work8 thoughnot necessarily in full-time wage labour8 andthey do pay taTes. A study for the Rowntree

Foundation among New Age tra<ellersfound that nearly half of those sur<eyedwere in work and many more had worked atsome time during the year. Most of theaccusations regarding criminal beha<iourare unsubstantiated but as in the rest ofsociety some commit crimes. Ironicallymany thousands of GorMios (non-Gypsies)choose to take cara<an and campingholidays8 and cook meals in their gardensAsome dump their old sofas and other rubbishin country lanes.

Gypsies ha<e maintained their identitythrough many centuries of preMudice anddiscrimination. They may choose to callthemsel<es Tra<ellers but not all Tra<ellersare Gypsies and not all Gypsies are of asingle group. Changes in their lifestyleha<e ine<itably been made. The mostob<ious being the disappearance of horse-drawn cara<ans which had earlier replacedbender tents. We ha<e shown some of thethings which ha<e made the itinerant life

more difficulto<er recentyears includinglegalrestrictions8 thedisappearance oftraditionalstopping sites(some afterhundreds ofyears in use)8constantly beingmo<ed on.Other factors arethe reduction incasual farmwork8 andrestrictions

imposed on scrap metal dealing.I li<e in that cul-de-sac in Billericay

but as a Socialist did not take part in theanti-Tra<eller action of the others. Thatwould be to target a group of fellow

workers for problems caused by capitalism.Could the reasonable enough demands ofthe Tra<ellers be met within capitalismnPossibly. It may be that local authoritieswill be persuaded to fulfil their obligationsbut8 since they are faced with competingdemands on their finances8 probably at theeTpense of other local ser<ices. But whatwill ne<er be able to be ended undercapitalism is the competition betweenworkers for Mobs8 housing and amenitiesarising out of the artificial scarcity that isbuilt-in to it and which gi<es rise to andsustains di<isi<e preMudices amongst thosewho are not socialists. It was preciselybecause there are so many problems whichcannot be sol<ed within the capitalistsystem that I became a Socialist. "PAT DEUTZ

Reudal relicIn July the House of Commons PublicAccounts Committee issued a report onthe finances of the Duchy of Cornwallwhich, since feudal times, has provided aprivate income for the heir to the throne.A reminder that the aroyal familya notonly supply heads of state for 8KCapitalism Inc but are also aristocrats intheir own right, with their own landedestates.The thrust of the committeeds report -dominated as the committee is by NewLabour MPs who favour a amodernisedacapitalism - was that Prince Charles wasnot running the Duchy as a propercapitalist enterprise. But the Duchy is alanded estate rather than a capitalistcorporation. The aim is still of course toend up with a surplus, but Charlesdincome comes mainly from the rents paidto his estate by tenant farmers and,increasingly it seems, commercial firmsfor the use of the land he has inheritedfrom previous heirs to the throne.According to the report, the Duchydsassets at the end of Cbb4 were valued atn4Ci million, most of it land.Nngland was the classic country of alandowning class of this type, and Marxdsmid-19th century analysis of theoperation of capitalism which then stillhad a large agricultural sector, like that ofAdam Smith and David Ricardo beforehim, was based on a three class system:a landowning class renting out its land tocapitalist tenant farmers who employwage workers. These latter producesurplus value which is then sharedbetween the capitalist employer as profitand the landowner as rent.Ground-rent is a pure monopoly incomewhich accrues to people who, foraccidental historical reasons, happen tobe owners of a portion of the globeowhich allows them to say, even tocapitalists, ayou candt use my land foryour farm or your factory or whateverunless you hand over to me a share ofthe proceedsa. So landowners areparasites on parasites. In the 19thcentury this was a big issue withcapitalist politicians continually raisingthe aland Ruestiona, but it eventuallyended in compromise and intermarriagebetween members of the two classes.We can now talk of an essentially twoclass system - capitalists and workers -even though ground-rent remains money

for nothing.Actually, Charles isalso a bit of acapitalist in his ownright. He marketsorganic food underthe label aDuchy:riginalsa but which,according to theTimes KCC JulyL, amade a profit of n1million on a turnover of n4b million, whichmost commercial enterprises wouldregard as an inefficient returna. But then,if youdve got an income from your privateestate of n11.9 million in the tax yearCbb3-4 KCommittee ReportL you dondthave to be so ruthless in your pursuit ofany commercial profit as you would be ifthis was your only source of income.But the New Labour MPs are right. If allcapitalist firms took the same aristocraticattitude to profit-making as Charles, thenBritish capitalism would be in trouble onworld markets. The typical capitalist firmhas to try to maximise its profits, not _ustto please its shareholders, but to keep ina fit state to continue to compete byhaving funds to invest in means toreduce its costs.In the 1i6bs when Marx was writingCapital the typical capitalist was still anindividual owner who ran his ownbusiness or a partnership of suchowners, though this was beginning tochange with the coming of the limitedliability company. Marx described theindividual capitalist as acapital personifiedand endowed with consciousness and awilla KQolume I, chapter 4L. Thus, theindividual capitalistds greed was not apersonal failing but a reflection of the factthat he personified capitalds need toexpand continuously.Limited companies Kwhich Marx diddiscuss in Qolume III of CapitalL are nowthe dominant form and maximising profitsis no longer a mere personal motivationoit is a legal obligation on those who runcompanies. The same applies to pensionfunds and other so-called ainstitutionalinvestorsao the managers and trustees ofsuch funds are under a legal obligation tomaximise the fundds income or face abreach of trust charge. Which makesthem as ruthless profit-seekers as anycapitalist corporation or 19th centuryGradgrind.Prince Charles is _ust not in this league,but then heds more of a personification oflanded property.

-ooking the Books f)g

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 13

Ror those gi<en to circular reasoning8the announcement on 12 Septemberthis year of a deal for a redundancypackage for sacked Gate Gourmet

airline catering workers will be seen as yetanother eTample of trade union officialsselling out or e<en deliberately sabotagingthe struggles of the working class. The caseseems harsh and clear. On 10 August GateGourmet8 which pro<ides airborne cateringto British Airways passengers8 sacked 667workers - infamously8 now - by megaphone.The employees had stopped work and hadgathered in the canteen to discussde<elopments in ongoing redundancynegotiations - chiefly the management2sdecision to take on 130 new temporaryworkers. This was clearly a pro<ocati<emo<e to try and undermine the eTistingstaff2s position. The staff were told to returnimmediately to work8 and they refused.

There is clear e<idence of deliberatepro<ocation - security guards were on handto control the situationA eTtra staff werebussed in immediately to replace the sackedworkersA the following working day8 all staffrecei<ed dismissal letters8 e<en those whohad been off sick the pre<ious day. The firme<en went as far as to inform othercompanies they work with of the dispute inad<ance.

Clearly8 management had chosen thebest time to orchestrate this attack: theheight of the holiday season8 with theguarantee of headlines about holiday chaosand passenger misery from the uniformlyloyal lickspittles in the capitalist press. Thisstrategy was gi<en a fillip when BritishAirways baggage handlers heard about thisruthless beha<iour8 and walked out to helpdefend people they work with daily8 who aremoreo<er in many cases their friends andneighbours. A wildcat solidarity strike. Thisspread the disruption and guaranteed morepassenger misery8 chaos and gangrene - orwhate<er other unpleasantness tabloids areattributing to strikes today.

The strike lasted for two days8grounding hundreds of flights. E<entually8the baggage handlers returned to work8 andunion officials from the Transport andGeneral Workers Union began negotiationso<er the status of the sacked workers.Although for legal reasons the union hadbeen unable to support the either the wildcator the solidarity strike they did established apicket of the company2s headBuarters tocontinue their campaign.

E<en this was too much for GateGourmet8 and ha<ing successfully called outtheir allies in the press to their cause8 they

then sent in their reser<es from the state.The High Court was asked to rule the picketunlawful - to protect those staff who wantedto continue working (as their de<otedemployers had it) from being intimidated bythe people who had been sacked bymegaphone and escorted from the groundsby gentle flower scented security guards. Ashining display of concern for their staff.

Although the court ruled that thepicket was 2lawful peaceful assembly2picketers were forbidden from blocking theroute into work8 taking photos of staff ore<en trying to talk to them8 at all. Further8the T&G union was made responsible forthe conduct of the picket - a mo<e thatdirectly threatened the assets of the unionshould any infractions of the courtsinMunction occur.

The role of the law has beensignificant in this case. Much of the pressmade hay from the 2illegal secondaryindustrial action2. This is not strictly correct8secondary action - where workers for oneemployer strike in support of workers for

another - is merely unlawful8 not illegal (i.e.it is not protected by law8 as striking is8 butis not itself pre<ented by law). This merelymeans that unions who engage in thepractice are liable for ci<il proceedings fromemployers for claims of restraint of trade. Itwas protection from such litigation - in theaftermath of the precedent of the famousTaff Vale case of 1901 - that spurred thegrowth of the Labour Party and the unions2interest in it.

Calling the action illegal8 though8 hasa significant symbolic and ideological rolein gi<ing the impression - to a generallylaw-abiding populace - that striking iscriminal and by eTtension wicked. A greatmany comment pages on the internet werefilled with people complaining aboutsecondary action (note8 not solidarityaction) and bemoaning the return to the1970s.

This dispute is being used by unionleaders to renew calls for changes toindustrial relations law in the UK8 citing itas a hard case that Mustifies modification of

those laws. At last month2s TUC conferencethe call went up that at least workers infirms with contracted out ser<ices - likeBA2s catering - should be allowed to engagein solidarity action. This is incrediblyunlikely8 since the go<ernment is desperatenot to look e<en remotely like it supportstrade unions and seems8 in fact8 to be proudof the restricti<e industrial relations law inthe UK.

It is also unlikely8 because such acourse would utterly undermine the wholepoint of contracting out - especially in itPublic Finance Initiate (PFI) form ofcontracting out state ser<ices. Outsourcingand contracting-out pre<iously in-houseser<ices is meant to change the legalstanding of union members so that they areofficially working for different companiese<en if they work together to pro<ide aser<ice. It is classic di<ide and rule.

The downside of this tack8 though8appears to ha<e surfaced in the GateGourmet dispute. It turns out that thecatering firm (or at least the Gate Gourmetpart of a bigger holding company) is losingsomething like t25 million a year. Thesestrikes ha<e come when Gate Gourmet hasbeen in the middle of trying to renegotiatetheir contract with BA. The seeminglypro<oked strike8 then8 works ad<antageouslyfor them8 because it means they can use thedisruption from their cost cutting eTercise todamage BA2s ser<ice and business. In effect8it seems they ha<e taken industrial action torenegotiate their contractual terms.Contracting out means handing o<er controlof labour management to outsidecompanies8 and opens up a firm - seemingly- to damaging industrial disputes not of theirmaking but in which they are snared.

All that aside8 the workers ha<epro<en8 yet again8 that anti-union laws donot stop them taking action. It is8 andalways has been8 the determination andconsciousness of workers that guides theirdisputes. No law could stop people refusingto work. As in most of the recent unofficialaction - other baggage handlers8 Royal Mailstrikes8 etc. - management will not try andpursue the matter afterwards anyway - thedamaging repercussions to their ownbusiness usually outweigh the benefits ofhounding strikers or bringing legal action.That is why Gate Gourmet pre-emptedtrouble by its union busting attack.

It is negotiating from a position of itsbottom line - making losses. It wants toshed around 700 Mobs. The deal struck withthe Union allows 300 of the workers -pre<iously classed as sacked - to apply for

Hate Hourmet -Another Tnion Sell-Out?

Left: workers during the recentGate Gourmet strike. Above:catering staff in happier times

,the workers haveproven, yet again,that anti-union lawsdo not stop themtaking action?

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00//14

redundancy at 2.5 times the statutory le<el.In such a situation where sa<ing Mobs isclearly going to be impossible8 pushing upthe market price of cutting Mobs is a rationalcourse for the trade union. Howe<er8 onlyhalf the sacked strikers are likely to get thatmoney8 as Gate Gourmet wants to try andensure that its union-busting sticks. Theunion continues to campaign to ha<e theremainder reinstated8 but this appearsunlikely.

The employees were hardly li<ing inthe lap of luTury to begin with - cateringassistants were pulling in something liket128000 per annum and dri<ers aroundt168000 - this in the London area with highhousing and general li<ing costs.Management e<en tried to get staff to comeback to work signing a new contract ondrastically reduced wages and conditions.When it came to the bottom line8 theyclearly felt they could ask their workers tostoop lower.

It is pointless to criticise unions fornot immediately launching a re<olutionaryinsurrection to protect Mobs - they are toolsfor the workers to engage in the labour

market8 not re<olutionary organisations.Their memberships are of many differentpolitical persuasions8 workers bandedtogether for the purpose of protecting theirinterests. If they ha<e to adapt theiroutcomes to market realities that is the faultof the market8 not the union. Wishing that

union bureaucrats would be replaced withmore radical leaders is no way forwardAthey8 too8 would only ha<e to abide by thewillingness to fight of their membership andthe lie of the labour market8 Must as thehacks do now.

It is not necessarily personal malice onthe part of employers that fuels industrialdisputes. Both sides are actors on a stage setto determine their actions. The law of 2noprofit no employment2 means that thesesorts of disputes will always occur. Theremorseless impersonal logic of the labourmarket will ensure that. Workers need tounderstand that no amount of unionsecondary action - legal or otherwise - canbanish this menace from their li<es.

To end the e<il of the wages systemwill take a re<olution8 though - and it2s notgoing to be started by a spark from a smallindustrial dispute. The re<olution needs tobe built in the hearts and minds of workerswho can defeat both the force and ideologyof the dominant class to remake society.Unions cannot make re<olutions8 only theworking class themsel<es can. Throughclear8 determined political action8 we canclear the way so that no-one need e<er gothrough struggles like the Gate Gourmetworkers again."PIK SMEET

Vam a difficult person to pleasewhen it comes to weather.Ha<ing li<ed all my life inBritain8 I find the climate too

cold in the winter and too hot in thesummer. Imagine my dismay then8when8 among the dross and thedri<el that passes for tele<ision inthis country8 a recent edition of theBBC Horizon programme forecastthat within twenty years8 Britain2sclimate could be similar toAlaska2s8 with 1963-type winterse<ery year8 pack ice around theBritish coast and ice stormsregularly bringing down electricityand telephone lines. The effects ofglobal warming are melting theGreenland icecap8 and increasedrainfall is pouring more water intothe great ri<ers of Siberia8 whichdrain huge areas of Asia and flownorthwards into the Arctic Ocean.

The effect of all this eTtrafresh water at high northernlatitudes is to interfere with thecirculation of the Gulf Stream8 orthe 2Con<eyor2 as it is now known.The Con<eyor pre<ents Britain8which is in the same latitude asLabrador8 ha<ing a harsh Labradortype climate. Warm water from theGulf of MeTico crosses theAtlantic8 and after warming upBritain and Ireland8 continuesnorthwards and ensures thatNorway2s ports are ice free. Thecontrast with Sweden could not bestarker. Sweden eTports much ofits iron ore through Norwegianports8 because Swedish ports ha<ea tendency to ice up in the winter8as the Baltic does not get thebenefit of the Gulf Stream.

The circulation of theCon<eyor is dependent on thewater maintaining its salinity.Fresh water does not con<ey theheat as efficiently. Obser<ationsoff the Faeroe Islands ha<e

re<ealed that the cold waterreturning southwards on its wayback to the Caribbean is 20 percentless saline than it should be. Basedon these obser<ations8climatologists are forecasting thatsometime in the neTt twenty years8the Gulf Stream could shut off.The results would be catastrophicfor the whole of North WesternEurope. And this is not merely ascientific theory. The FaeroeIslands studies demonstrate thatthe process could well ha<ealready started.

Nobody can be 100 percentcertain that the phenomenon ofglobal warming is due to humanacti<ity. What can be said withcertainty is that if it is a naturalprocess which would ha<eoccurred anyway8 capitalism2sindifference to the future of theplanet is eTacerbating a problemwhich has the potential to end lifeon Earth. Earth Summit after EarthSummit ha<e achie<ed little ornothing. While capitalism fiddles8Rome burnsA huge holes m theozone layer8 the retreat of theglaciers and rising sea le<els areproblems that are beyond theability of capitalism to sol<e8 withits concern for profits8 and itscompeting network of two hundredmini-capitalisms8 the nation states.

We may be facing a starkchoice: a socialist worldcommunity or no world at all. Ithas long been the <iew of theSocialist Party that capitalism willnot collapse of its own accordA itwill ha<e to be abolished. So the<ictory of the case for socialismdepends on a change of climate inpolitical thinking. It would be aswell8 in terms of our own future8that this should be the only seriousclimatic change we ha<e to face."GREENIE

Vt hit the country like abomb. It was uneTpected8unusual and more socoming from what is

considered as less endowedmembers of the community.27 people had died afterconsuming illicit brew8brewed8 distributed andconsumed in the fullknowledge of theadministration and otherleaders. Yes. Just like that.The distributor of the brew8Beatrice Ku<ia8 was arrestedand charged with selling beerwithout a <alid licence. Butnot with the deaths of 27souls.

The beer was brewedand laced with chemicals notfor the good of the consumersbut for profit. And that2swhere the whole story lies.

The <ehicle carryingthe otherwise referred to asillicit drink passed through 8police roadblocks and 10senior police officers hadtheir palms greased to allowthe safe passage to the drinkto its consumers. Thepro<incial administrationknew the woman distributorhad been in the business foras long as the eTistence of theworld. She had been taken tocourt on numerous occasionsbut in all these had been letoff the hook by being finedand8 ha<ing the money8 wasable to pay. At other times8she was released to docommunal work. So theMudiciary is culpable. Whoknows8 maybe the Mudgeswere corrupted.

This inhumanbeha<iour is pre<alent notonly in Machakos where theincident occurred but otherparts of Kenya as well. It hasbeen happening becausethere has been no political orotherwise will to stamp outthe beha<iour. People areready to be bribed to dothings they2d normally notha<e done. Poor Kenyans areready to partake any brewMust by looking at the pricetag. The said brews cost 10shillings per 300ml bottle.

But in a capitalist worldsuch things are bound tooccur. What is paramount isthe money coming out ofsuch transactions8 but not themorality of the trade. Andunless we come to our sensesand know what is the realcause of incidents such as theabo<e8 we2ll continue to die8be depri<ed of our rights andremain docile in socialsituations.

It2s time socialism triedto rear its head and darecapitalism and capitalists."PATRICK NDEGE,Nairobi, Kenya

While -apitalism Riddles Yuman Welfare No,Grofits ^es

Feeling desperate?

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 15

"Socialism and Islam are very close, otherthan on the existence of God" (GeorgeGalloway8 Sunday Times8 14 August).

We2<e heard of Jesus the Socialist.Now it2s Mohammed theSocialist. What neTtn As the MPfor Bethnal Green8 elected by

Muslim <otes and with the help of theSWP8 Galloway would say this. E<en so8 itis a curious statement for him8 as aCatholic who claims to be a socialist8 toha<e made8 acknowledging as it does thatsocialists don2t accept ;the eTistence ofGod;.

Since8 like all religions8 islam laysdown precepts for organising life on Earthas well as on what to do to get to hea<en(and a<oid hell)8 is there any basis forGalloway2s claim that islam is <ery close tosocialism if its religious side iso<erlookedn

The French historian and orientalist8MaTime Rodinson8 who died last year andwho adopted a generally MarTist-materialist approach (e<en though8 likeGalloway8 entertaining some illusionsabout Russia)8 certainly didn2t think so. Inhis Islam and Capitalism (1966) (written to

refute the <iew that islam was animpediment to the economic de<elopmentof Muslim countries)8 he wrote:

;Economic acti<ity8 the search forprofit8 trade8 and8 conseBuently8 productionfor the market8 are looked upon with noless fa<our by Muslim tradition than by theKoran itself; (p. 16).

;pTqhe Mustice ad<ocated by theideology of the Koran is not that whichsocialist thought has established as theideal of a large section of modern society.Muhammad was not a socialist; (p. 23).

;The alleged fundamental oppositionof Islam to capitalism is a myth8 whetherthis <iew be put forward with goodintentions or bad; (p. 155).

;pTqhe notion that it is possible to usethe traditional concept of property found inthe Sunnah8 and the relati<e restrictions itimposes8 in order to ad<ocate and promotea mo<e by Muslim societies towardssocialist structures . . . is utterly fantastic;(p. 175).

In a pre<ious book (1961)8Mohammed8 Rodinson had pro<ided amaterialist eTplanation of the origins ofislam. In Mohammed2s time (he was bornabout 571 of the present era and died in632)8 the Arabian peninsula was8 we cansee now8 in a process of transition fromtribal society8 which was breaking down8 toa state8 for which Mohammed was to beinstrumental in laying the foundations.

As Rodinson described it:;A mercantile economy was growing

up in the chinks of the nomadic world. Aswell as barter8 money transactions usingdinars (gold derniers) and dirhams (sil<erdrachmae) were becoming commonplace.The Bedouin borrowed from the richmerchants of the towns8 got into debt andwere sold into sla<ery or at any ratereduced to dependent status. Thedisintegration of tribal society had begun.Large and prosperous markets grew up8like the one at Ukaz8 attracting foreignersas well as Arabs from e<ery tribe. Thetribal limits had been o<erstepped;.

Mohammed himself8 although from amodest background8 had become one of thewealthy merchants that had emerged8 buthe realised that something needed to bedone to keep Arab society from completelydisintegrating under the impact of theunbridled spread of money-commodityrelations. His solution was to create a newArab community welded together by a newreligion that would regulate the emergingmoney/trading economy by imposing someobligations on the rich and some relief forthe poor.

Of course as a mystic8 Mohammedwas not as rationally calculating as this buteTpressed himself in religious terms. Thus8in the koran (which he belie<ed wasdictated to him by the archangel Gabriel8but which in fact8 whether he realised it ornot8 eTpressed his own thoughts)8 thegreedy and selfish rich are denounced (it isAllah8 the Zeus of the pre-islam Arabianpantheon who Mohammed makes dismisshis fellow gods as fakes8 who ispurportedly speaking):

;Whoso is mean and bumptious on

account of his wealth8Who denies the most eTcellent reward8We shall smooth his way to ultimate misery.His fortune shall not profit him whenhe falls into the abyss;(Koran Tcii8 8-11)

Rodinson describes some of theregulations that Mohammed brought inwhen in 6278 after slaughtering thepre<ious rulers8 he became the ruler ofMedina:

;There are a number of articles layingdown fairly strict rules about inheritances.This was apparently necessary in theunsettled situation which resulted from thedisintegration of the tribal structure. Thestronger must ha<e found it easier to layhands on the family or tribal possessions ofthe weaker. The rule of the Koranguaranteed e<eryone his share8 which wasworked out in a somewhat complicatedfashion. Women were allowed a share inthe property. (This seems to ha<e been thecustom in Mecca8 although not inMedina.). Admittedly their share was onlyhalf that of the men . . . Sla<ery8 naturally8persisted. People were urged to treat sla<eswell and encourage them to gain theirfreedom.. . . Loans at interest or8 moreprobably8 some form of them8 wereforbidden. This prescription seems inpractice to ha<e been aimed chiefly atthose who8 in the early days of the mo<e toMedina8 refused to make loans to the needywithout interest . . . But there seems toha<e been no intention of prohibiting thenormal practices of Meccan trade.;

So what does Mohammed2s;socialism; amount ton Only certain rulesto pre<ent the eTcesses of the rich fromleading to the decomposition of society in7th century Arabia8 but which stillaccepted the basis of the money/tradingeconomy that had emerged and wasspreading. The economic precepts of thekoran laid down a framework for the lessdisrupti<e functioning of such an economy8placing some obligations on the rich tohelp the poor while still accepting thedi<ision of society into rich and poor.

No doubt it is these limits on theunbridled and selfish accumulation and useof wealth by pri<ate indi<iduals that isbehind Galloway2s claim that ;socialismand islam are <ery close;. But this re<ealsmore about his conception of ;socialism;than it does about islam. As a formerLabour MP8 he still thinks in terms ofsocialism being the control or regulation ofcapitalism in the interest of the non-rich.But that2s not socialism8 but reformism.Islam is no more incompatible with thisthan it is with capitalism. In fact8 it is <eryclose to it8 eTcept when the religiouselement which gi<es its clerics an unduesay is brought back. Socialism8 properlyunderstood as a non-monetary8 non-marketsociety based on the common ownershipand democratic control of the means ofproduction8 and islam ha<e nothing incommon."ADAM BUICK

Vslam and Socialism

The first commie? Mohammed. Being moved in mysterious ways: Galloway

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/16

Uave hirin: Whatis `y Name, Rool?Sports and Besistance in the TnitedStates. Yaymarket Books, TSj1+.00.

What a refreshingchange to read abook about sportthat isn2t a <apid(auto)biography ofsome 2star2 or aM i n g o i s t i ccelebration of thetriumph of somenational teammZirin accepts thatsport can be used tostop workers fromworrying about

things that really matter8 but also sees howthe passion in<ested in sport can turn it into asite of resistance8 an arena where some of thedominant ideas of society can be challenged.While this is something of an eTaggeration8his book is still well worth a read.

Zirin traces <arious kinds of resistancewithin American sports8 concentrating tobegin with on opposition to racism.Professional baseball was segregated fordecadesA not until 19468 when JackieRobinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers8did a black American play in a MaMor Leagueteam. Robinson was subMected to horrendousbarracking and threats from opposing playersand fans8 but his ability e<entually got himaccepted. His criticism of Paul Robeson andhis support for the Republican Party showhim as a compleT indi<idual who was seenby many later black radicals as a 2white man2sNegro28 but Zirin argues that Robinson2scontribution to opposing racism should berespected.

Of course8 integrating baseball did notput an end to racism. While still known asCassius Clay8 Muhammad Ali went into aKentucky restaurant with his 1960 OlympicboTing gold medal around his neck and wasrefused ser<ice. Zirin eTamines Ali2s career8from re<iled and persecuted athlete to hiscurrent status as 2a harmless8 helpful icon2.The book2s title comes from what Ali yelledat eT-champion Floyd Patterson8 who foughthim as a 2patriotic duty2 (Patterson was aCatholic in contrast to Ali as a BlackMuslim). He was drafted into the army8 andhis response was 2I ain2t got no Buarrel withthem Vietcong28 at a time when there waslittle opposition to the US war in Vietnam.As with Robinson8 Ali became a 2safe28almost establishment figure8 but his earlierlegacy is the one that many remember.

If Ali2s remark about the Vietcong isfamous8 probably the best-known image ofthis period is from the 1968 Olympics8 whenmedal-winners Tommie Smith and JohnCarlos bowed their heads and raised theirfists on the rostrum when the US anthem wasplayed. As Zirin notes8 they also wore noshoes (to protest against black po<erty) andwore beads (to protest against lynching).They were stripped of their medals and senthome. Zirin inter<iews Carlos8 who for someyears had problems earning a li<ing (his wifecommitted suicide in 1977).

Clearly it took some courage for theseindi<iduals (and many others less wellknown) to stand up for their beliefs8especially in the face of the general

conformity of American society. The samegoes for those who support better treatmentfor gay and female athletes. Zirin reminds usthat people can be bigoted in one way but notanother: American footballer Reggie Whitespoke up against white supremacist groupsand worked to help drug addicts and eT-con<icts8 yet he was appallinglyhomophobic8 eBuating gays with childmolesters.

And what of classn This gets relati<elylittle look-in. Unsurprisingly8 most owners ofprofessional clubs are eTtremely wealthy8including George W Bush8 former owner ofthe TeTas Rangers baseball team.Professional sport is the tenth largestindustry in the US. Aside from a fewmegabuck-earners8 most athletes earnrelati<ely little8 and ha<e a shorter lifeeTpectancy than a<erage. Baseball playersha<e a strong union8 which helped toincrease wages and has a reputation for notbacking down.

Zirin ends with the reflection that sportcould be more cooperati<e8 without the cashincenti<e and the will to win at all costs8 withfar less distance between an a<erage personand a star. But8 as he says8 2This wouldreBuire a completely different world.2 Whilehis book doesn2t elaborate on this alternati<e8it should at least make you think a bit moreabout the role of sport under capitalism.PB

Yoward hinn: A Geopleis Yistory of theTnited States. Yarper -ollins. j1M.9+

O r i g i n a l l ypublished in1980 andr e c e n t l yupdated8 this isthe history youdon2t learn inschools. Zinn8 ah i s t o r i a n 8playwright andsocial acti<ist8set out to writethis book aftert e a c h i n g

history and2 p o l i t i c a l

science2 for 20 years8 half of which time hewas in<ol<ed in the ci<il rights mo<ement inthe South.

Zinn chronicles the passage of timefrom the arri<al of Columbus in 1492 up toand including the election of 20008cramming each of the 25 chapters withindisputable e<idence of man2s inhumanity toman under capitalism and empire building.He spells out clearly how cle<erly andcraftily the ruling elite managed andmanipulated their way to accumulating <astfortunes at the eTpense of the masses8 be theyindigenous Caribbean or North AmericanIndians8 black sla<es or the mulange ofEuropean immigrants who became today2smostly white populace.

He eTposes the lies and spin and self-interest from the time of the first presidentright through to the current incumbent. Heshows how fear8 suspicion anddiscrimination were deliberately harnessedas tools by those with power to set sectionsof the population against each other in orderto pre-empt them Moining forces against thereal tyrants. The steady march of capitalism

and the two-party system8 whilst promotingdemocracy and wealth for all8 ha<e their eyesset only on the twin goals of control at homeand control of the world8 i.e. democracy fornone and wealth for a few.

This book is in no way pessimisticA it isfactual and points out numerous eTamples ofindi<iduals and groups who ha<e refused tobe denied. Zinn cites heartening stories ofresistance8 protest and refusal to accept thestatus BuoA so many instances where peopleha<e demonstrated their opposition to thepolitics of empire and their support of;people power;. In fact there is much useful2ammunition2 for proacti<e socialists here.

His final sentence of the final chapter8post-9/11. attacks8 regarding the Declarationof Independence says8 ;Thus8 the future ofdemocracy depended on the people and theirgrowing consciousness of what was thedecent way to relate to their fellow humanbeings all o<er the world.;

The signs are growing all o<er theworld8 the people are sick and tired of allforms of empire8 the world is ripening forsocialism. Let2s be ready.Janet Surman

`arx on Hlobalisation. Sdited by UavidBenton. Wawrence and Wishart. C1L.99.

This is a selectionfrom the writings ofMarT and Engelsrele<ant to theglobal capitalismwe are eTperiencingtoday8 edited andselected by Da<eRenton8 whopro<ides a shortintroduction to thewhole work ando n e - p a g eintroductions to

each of the sections. Renton doesn2t reallyput any of his own (Leninist) politics in hiscontributions to the book8 which are kept to aminimum. The <ast bulk is taken up withselections from works by MarT and Engels.There are eTtracts from the CommunistManifesto8 The Economic and PhilosophicalManuscripts of 18448 The Poverty ofPhilosophy and Capital8 as well as a fewletters8 unpublished drafts and pieces ofMournalism.

For the first section8 on the worldeconomy8 Renton uses the 2Bourgeois andProletarians2 chapter of the CommunistManifesto. That MarT understood the long-term trends within capitalism to be global innature can be illustrated by this well knowneTcerpt: ;All fiTed8 fast-frozen relations8with their train of ancient and <enerablepreMudices and opinions8 are swept away8 allnew-formed ones become antiBuated beforethey ossify. All that is solid melts into air8 allthat is holy is profaned . . . the need of aconstantly eTpanding market for its productschases the bourgeoisie o<er the wholesurface of the globe. It must nestlee<erywhere8 settle e<erywhere8 establishconnections e<erywhere;. MarT and Engelswere the first writers to understand that thecapitalist society would spread and eTpand.

MarT and Engels didn2t use the word2globalisation28 as the term is a recentin<ention. Though many globalisation

Book 3e4ie5/

Zinn as a bombadier inWorld War II

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 17

theorists argue that the world has nowentered into a new economic era8 Rentonpoints out that ;most commentators wouldagree that many of the processes beinganalysed today go back to the oldinternational economy8 which has been withus for some time. Such processes as worldcapitalism8 market trade between regions8the growth of finance and new patterns ofwork8 ha<e been part of our life since 1840s8when MarT and Engels began to write;.Despite changes and de<elopments8 from thenineteenth century to the 21st century8capitalism is still capitalism. In theintroduction Renton uses the followingBuote from Eric Hobsbawm: ;MarT andEngels did not describe the world as it hadalready been transformed by capitalism in1848A they predicted how it was logicallydestined to be transformed by it;.

The second section8 on progress8includes a passage from MarT2s Capital thatdescribes the origins of the industrialcapitalist. This is a good selection8 as this isthe part of this work that is the mostaccessible and in many ways the beststarting point for anyone reading Capital (ithas been said that it is best not to readCapital starting from the first chapter). Thissection also includes a speech by MarT from1848 in which he eTpresses contempt forboth backward-looking protectionism andsupposedly progressi<e free trade (e<enthough in the end he fa<ours free trade butonly because he sees it as hastening thecontradictions of capital and so the socialre<olution). Pro-globalisation folk praisefree trade and unfortunately many so-calledanti-capitalists make the error of ad<ocatingsome form of protectionism.

In the third section Renton askswhether MarT and Engels did actuallybelie<e in the ine<itability of one pattern ofeconomic de<elopment. In the 1840s theytook their eTamples from Britain and it isoften said that they belie<ed the whole worldwould ha<e follow that lead. But in a letter toRussian socialists MarT wrote that he did notbelie<e that Russia had to follow the Englishmodel in forcing the peasants off the land asthe first step towards industrialisation8 aslong as the social re<olution had taken placein Europe. In that case8 MarT mentioned thepossibility of Russia bypassing capitalismand passing to socialism on the basis of thecommunistic peasant mir.

The section on Imperialism countersthe argument of some modern globalisationtheorists who argue that world capitalismwill bring the third world up to the samele<el of de<elopment as the richest westerncountries.

Renton2s book is a good selection ofMarT and Engels work relating to the globalcapitalism of today and it ser<es well as anintroduction to their thought. It would makea good read for someone new to MarT.Gabriel

CorrectionIn the re<iew of the books on fascism onpage 15 of the August issue8 we stated thatMaTwell Knight later of MI5 had beendirector of intelligence of the ;British Unionof Fascists; in 1927. This should ha<e readof the ;British Fascists;. The BUF8 ofcourse8 did not eTist at that time - Editors.

-apitalism: No `agic Slipper

Make no mistake8 Cinderella Man is acrackerMack mo<ie which thoroughlyMustifies the praise la<ished on it. The truestory of Depression Era boTer James J.Braddock8 who rose from the welfare rollsto winning the World Hea<yweightChampionship8 thereby earning hisnickname8 ;Cinderella Man;8 is totallyabsorbing and powerfully directed by RonHoward.

Braddock2s story was representati<eof his time. The mo<ie begins in the late1920s8 when he li<ed in a nice suburbanhouse and was a leading contender for aworld title. It resumes when the Depressionwas at its worse in the early 30s andBraddock2s career was at its lowest ebb8hence his standard of li<ing too. As theDepression gradually recedes8 we followhis rise to a shot at the title (at odds of 10-1) and <ictory o<er the seeminglyunbeatable MaT Baer8 who was(dis)credited with two ring deaths.

Cinderella Man clearly depicts howtough times were in the early 30s8 whichdoesn2t mean it2s a happy-go-lucky romp inElysian Fields today. When Braddock2sdaughter asks for an eTtra slice of baloney8Braddock8 who hasn2t eaten that day8pretends he isn2t hungry. When a guy comesto their tenement apartment to switch offthe hydro8 Mae Braddock (who is unable topay the gas or milk bills either) attempts todissuade him. He tells her8 ;I2<e got kidstoo. If I don2t switch it off I2ll lose my Mob.;Mae and her three children tear the slats offa billboard8 for fuel8 risking trouble with theauthorities.

Though his pride has sustained somefierce body blows8 his spirit is unbroken.Braddock2s strength comes from hisclosely-knit family and the belief in hiscapabilities by Joe Gould8 who(unbeknownst to Braddock) sells his ownfurniture to pay Braddock2s trainingeTpenses.

As we follow Braddock2s new-foundsuccess it becomes clear this mo<ie is aboutthe indomitable human spirit. As RonHoward said recently8 ;It2s a film aboutpeople finding the strength to carry on anddo the things they ha<e to do.; Most of uslike to see the underdog triumph8 most of uslike to see a comeback8 and here we ha<eboth8 therefore8 we can enMoy this film.Although it2s perfectly OK to enMoy;Cinderella Man;8 it2s not OK to be taken inby it. Sure it2s a paean to the ne<er-say-die8gotta gi<e it my best shot feeling that eTistsin all of us. In that sense it2s uplifting and afilm in tune with the times we are li<ing in8let alone the 1930s.

But on a deeper le<el the message ofthe mo<ie is8 ;Hey8 take it easy buddy8capitalism ain2t so bad. Sure there are timeswhen it2s tough all o<er8 but if you hang intough and keep struggling like Jim and MaeBraddock did you2ll find things2ll work outMust fine.; This <iewpoint was echoed byRussell Crowe on the Da<id LettermanShow on June 8 and has become the mainmantra of the media.

On the docks8 Braddock befriends aneT-stockbroker who lost his Mob8 mortgageand belief in politicians the day the marketcrashed. When Braddock suggests things

might impro<e now Roose<elt is president8his friend replies8 ;FDR hasn2t got me mymortgage back.;

In implying that we shouldn2t trustpoliticians8 they are saying the right thingfor the wrong reason. Politicians of allkinds stand for a continuation of capitalism8a system that causes the conditions withinwhich the Braddock family8 like mostfamilies8 struggled.

The pity of it all is that Braddock8 likemost members of the working class8 didn2tlearn much8 but continued to belie<e societydidn2t need changing. In 19288 a year beforethe Wall Street Crash8 he lost J208000 whenthe Bank of the United States went belly-up. This was the year Herbert Hoo<er waselected president on the promise ofcontinued prosperity. According to Mr.Hoo<er8 ;We in America today are nearer tothe final triumph o<er po<erty than e<erbefore in the history of any land.;

Braddock8 who was paid J328000 forbeating MaT Baer8 e<entually gainedgreater prosperity by a deal that wasthoroughly in keeping with boTing2s8 hencecapitalism2s8 shoddy ethics. When Joe Louishad emerged as the outstanding challenger8Joe Gould informed him he could sign tenpercent of his earnings o<er the followingten years to Gould and Braddock8 should hewin8 or forget about a title fight. Knowinghe could be denied a title shot for yearsbecause he was black8 Louis signed.

Braddock died in his sleep onNo<ember 308 1974 at the age of 69. TheneTt day in the New York Times8 Red Smithwrote8 ;If death came easily8 it was the onlything in his life that did.;STEVE SHANNON

6i(7 3e4ie5

-e+(a&ation o8 9&in+i:(e/This declaration is the basis of ourorganisation and, because it isalso an important historicaldocument dating from theformation of the party in 1904, itsoriginal language has beenretained.

:b_ectThe establishment of a systemof society based upon thecommon ownership anddemocratic control of themeans and instruments forproducing and distributingwealth by and in the interest ofthe whole community.

Declaration of PrinciplesThe Socialist Garty of HreatBritain holds

1.That society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of livingKi.e., land, factories, railways, etc.L

by the capitalist or master class,and the conseRuent enslavementof the working class, by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

C.That in society, therefore, thereis an antagonism of interests,manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

3.That this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass, by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution, and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

4.That as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom,

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind, without distinctionof race or sex.

B.That this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

6.That as the machinery ofgovernment, including the armedforces of the nation, exists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers, the workingclass must organi[e consciouslyand politically for the conRuest ofthe powers of government,national and local, in order thatthis machinery, including theseforces, may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege, aristocraticand plutocratic.

I.That as all political parties arebut the expression of classinterests, and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the master class, theparty seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

i.The Socialist Party of GreatBritain, therefore, enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties, whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist, andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour, and that povertymay give place to comfort,privilege to eRuality, and slaveryto freedom.

18 !ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

4k GSB -SNTNo, this is not an article about the 4p percent. Bank Rate but about another itemof 4p per cent. that received almost noattention in the newspapers. It had to dowith the Governmentds annual Blue Bookon National Income and Expenditure, thelatest issue, covering the years 193i-19B4, being published the first week inSeptember.

For readers who are unfamiliar withthe sub_ect matter the Blue Book is noteasy to understando and when notunderstood its tables of figures can bevery misleading as is shown from time totime by Press comments on it. But some

of the tables tell us in precise terms andon official authority things that otherwisecan only be con_ectured on the basis ofpart information.

:ur present comment is concernedonly with the extent to which the aNationalIncomea has increased and the way inwhich that increase has shown itself inevery-day articles of consumption, thefood, clothing, entertainment, etc., thatconcern us from day to day. qrs

It shows that, after allowing for priceincrease, the purchase of consumptiongoods Kfood, clothing, tobacco, rent,entertainment, travel, etc.L, was in 19B4only 11 per cent. higher than in 193i. Butas the Financial Times K6 SeptemberLpointed out, the population had grown by

6p per cent., so that areal expenditureper head was 4p per cent up.a This,then, is the measure of what capitalismactually performs. When, therefore, theTory Government, as an electionmanoeuvre, held out the promise ofdoubling the standard of living in the nextCB years they are counting on somethinghappening in the future for which there isno support in the past.

KFrom editorial, Socialist Standard,:ctober 19BBL

6i8t; <ea&/ =>o

`anchester Branch`eeting Monday )4 October, i pm Hare and Hounds, Shudehill, CityCentre lS-VSN-S ANU SO-VAWVS`m

?eetin>/WV\VNHSTON B^-SWS-TVONThe Socialist Party stood a candidate in the Li<ingston by-election8 in central Scotland8 on29 September8 caused by the death of former ;ethical; Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. As ittook place while this issue was at the printers we are unable to report the result8 but detailsof the campaign as it progressed and its outcome can be found on the by-election blog athttp://realsocialism.blogspot.com

SdmontonTuesday 1M OctoberBTSSVA: AN ANAW SVS ORBS-SNT -YANHSSSpeaker: Qincent :tterAngel Community Centre, RaynhamRoad, N1i

9a&t; @e5/

A WALK IN RICHMONDRARK AND BY THE

RIVER THAMES.

Meet at Richmond Station.Sunday October 23rd 2005 at11.00 am. For information contact:Vincent Otter on 07905 791638 or020 8361 3017or Richard Botterill on 01582764929

NorwichSaturday + NovemberWelcome and informal chat for newvisitors.1pm: MealCpm: DiscussionMpossibility of formingan Nast Anglian branch3pm: Discussion of ADM items3.4B-4pm: Recent and future activityThe Conservatory, back room of TheRosary Tavern, Rosary Rd, Norwich

Uiscussions include:

!Delegated function within Party democracy

!Socialist analysis of terrorist bombing!Does the war in IraR change anything

in the Party case;!Implications for socialism of the end of

the oil era!The roots of irrational behaviour!Can we afford a paid media officer;!Should we establish a World Socialist

Party of the Nuropean 8nion;

ATTT`N USWSHATS `SSTVNHYead Office, Wondon SW4

Saturday )Mth and Sunday )9thOctober )00+

ADVANCE NOTICE: NEXT LONDONBRANCHES' CENTRAL MEETING

Saturday8 12 November8 13.30 to 17.00THE HUMAN REVOLUTIONGuest Speaker: Chris Knight (Professor ofAnthropology8 Uni<ersity of East London)Chair: Bill Martin (Socialist Party)Room 78 Friends House8 173 Euston Road8London NW1

19!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

Thug insuedeshoes

Anyone who feels a need to penetrate the Conser<ati<emind should steel themsel<es to read the letters page ofthe Daily Telegraph8 which is now in the throes of whatmight be called a debate about the respecti<e appeals of

the candidates for the party leadership. A most treasured recenteTample was a missi<e8 apparently intended to wind up thediscussion: ;My mother told me ne<er to trust a man who woresuede shoes. Does this ad<ice still hold goodn; It would not ha<eneeded a particularly sharp mind among the Tory acti<ists to workout that this referred to Kenneth Clarke8 who is infamous for8among other things (of which more later)8 wearing Hush Puppies inpreference to the politicians2 reBuired footwear of sober8 lace-upblack shoes. Asked about this highly sensiti<e matter some yearsago8 Clarke responded in characteristic style: ;The shoes are an actof defiance8 because people began to be rude about them and ifanything I began wearing suede shoes more often because I wasgetting ad<ised to stop wearing them;. He did not say whether hehad also recei<ed ad<ice to stop smoking large cigars and to dosomething about his rumpled clothes and his reputation8 which heassiduously culti<ates8 as an arrogant and insensiti<e political thug.Ri<als

Clarke was at Cambridge with a clutch of aspirant Torypoliticians who de<eloped into bitter ri<als - Selwyn Gummer8 LeonBrittan8 Norman Lamont (who Clarke replaced8 in the high spot ofhis career to date8 as Chancellor of the ETcheBuer) and MichaelHoward8 who now stands between Clarke and the Tory leadership.Before getting into Parliament for Rushcliffe8 Clarke fought twoelections in the hopeless constituency of Mansfield. In keeping withhis self-promoted image as someone whoenMoyed a fight8 after the first election hepromised the Mansfied Tories that hewould stay on to contest the seat again.The fact that he was more or less honourbound to do this did not pre<ent himcasting about for another8 safer seat. Hetried for Edgbaston but the local partypreferred Jill KnightA Clarke kept histwo-timing a secret and posed as a manwhose word was his bond.

When he got into the Commons hecommenced an unusually smooth Mourneyup the greasy pole8 through minor Mobs inthe 1980s in the Department of Health8Minister for Employment8 Secretary ofState for Health8 then for Education. Hewas promoted to Home Secretary in 1992and8 at his peak after the fall of NormanLamont8 Chancellor of the ETcheBuerfrom 1993 until the Tories were beaten inthe 1997 election. At that time the Britisheconomy was emerging from the slumpwhich had seen something like threemillion unemployed. Clarke2s coincidentperiod at the Treasury enabled him toclaim to ha<e designed the alleged economic reco<ery. This is acommon ruse among Chancellors of the ETcheBuer: in a boom theyclaim the credit for the easier times while in a slump they blamepressures which were out of their control.Bruiser

During all this time Clarke2s aggressi<e and dismissi<emanner ensured that the enemies a politician normally accrueswould in his case ha<e a particular edge to their enmity. While hewas at the Department of Health he riled the doctors with his plansto impose new contracts of employment on themA faced with theirresistance he described them as ;in the last resort a pretty ruthlesslobby;. In 1982 he dismissed the nurses2 obMections to NHS staffcuts with the sneer that ;They are a trade union and they don2t likethe idea of their membership going down at all; (which is trueabout the Conser<ati<es and any other capitalist party). Heinfuriated the ambulance crews (as well as substantial numbers ofthe <oters) with his response to their claim for a rise in eTcess ofthe 6.5 per cent on offer: ;The <ast maMority of ambulancestaffvare professional dri<ers8 a worthwhile Mob - but not

eTceptional at all; (so who would anyone knocked down on theroad prefer to see coming to help them - an ambulance crew orKenneth Clarken). This arrogance was too much for e<en thenormally supporti<e Daily ETpress: ;Whate<er happened to caringKenn Instead of the matey8 Molly fellow once known to colleaguesand public we now ha<e a truculent8 bad-tempered bully;. Thatcherwas no more help to her beleaguered ministerA at Prime Minister2sguestion Time she pointedly a<oided agreeing with Clarke aboutthe ambulance crews.

The teachers were another group to fall <ictim to Clarke2saggression. The changes in schooling introduced by Kenneth Bakerin 19988 which had resulted in schools being swamped withminutely detailed instructions on what they should teach8 how theyshould teach it and how they should report on it8 had pro<okedyears of hostility between them and the go<ernment. To call thesituation chaotic hardly did it Mustice. Clarke arri<ed at theDepartment of Education to restore some sort of order8 which hestarted to do in a manner customary to someone described byThatcher when she mo<ed him to Education8 as ;an energetic andpersuasi<e bruiser8 <ery useful in a brawl or an election;. ButClarke2s lack of finesse undid himA in a magazine inter<iew8subseBuently picked up by the Daily Mirror8 he said that pri<ateschools pro<ided a higher standard of education than state schools.Reminded of this comment in a Commons debate by Jack Straw8Clarke inter<ened with the opinion that the Mirror was anewspaper ;read by morons;. The Mirror2s response was immediateand crushing. ;That2s two fingers to 882308000 <oters8 Minister; itbellowed and the day after that it ran a telephone poll to establishhow its readers rated their Minister of Education - was he a prat ora moronn ;Kenneth Clarke was <oted a total PRAT last night as598000 Daily Mirror readers took part in one of the most fiercelyfought elections for years; it crowed8 with an unflatteringphotograph of Clarke as a bully who smoked too much and8 at 16st.9lbs8 was unhealthily obese.Sneers

Michael Heseltine said of Clarke: ;He is what he is. You getwhat you see. And people like that.; But what people do not ;like;

is a politician who rubbishes genuineproblems or who regards truth as somethingto be fashioned in accordance with theirneeds at any time. In 1980 the Americanpharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly launched anew wonder drug - Opren - on the market8claiming that among a clutch of beneficialeffects it could reduce arthritis pain. In factOpren had serious side effects such as li<erMaundice8 kidney damage and eTcessi<esensiti<ity to sunlight. There were 76 deathsattributed to the drug8 which was latersuspended by the Committee on Safety ofMedicines. At the time Clarke was Ministerfor Health. His reaction to the sufferingcaused by Opren was to sneer that it was;no more than the patients becominglobstered;. After their crushing defeat in19978 the Tory party set about electing anew leader. Clarke knew that his <iews onmany issues8 especially Europe8 would notendear him to the party faithful. (The DailyTelegraph damned him as ;the candidate ofthe past;). In an effort to attract the <otes ofthe right wing8 anti-

Europe membershipClarke cobbled up a partnership with theweird Eurosceptic John Redwood - a U-turntoo cynical for e<en the most hardened ToryMP. Now he is again bending what he callshis principles8 saying that Europe is not nowon the agenda and that his enthusiasm for itis ;no longer as constant as the North Star;.

Politicians8 like salespeople8 come inmany shapes and styles. Some are reticentand conciliatory. Others are brash8 brutal andnoisy. Nobody should be impressed byKenneth Clarke2s pose as the man for thepeople - matey8 frank8 reliable and human8 if engagingly boozy. Hehas shown himself to be as calculating and dishonest as all theothers. There is no more to be hoped for from him8 the candidate ofthe past8 than there is from those of the future. "IVAN

Redwood - weird

“A truculent, bad-tempered bully” - Daily Express

The TS Vs Staying Vndefinitely aThe Air Forceds top general said Mondaythat American warplanes would have tosupport IraRds fledgling security forces wellafter American ground troops eventually

withdraw from the country.... In aninterview earlier this month, GeneralJumper was even more explicit whenasked about the Air Forceds future in IraR.aWe will continue with a rotationalpresence of some type in that area moreor less indefinitelya, he said. aWe haveinterests in that part of the world and aninterest in staying in touch with themilitaries over therea KNew York Times, 3bAugustL. Theainteresta theyhave, is of course,IraRds oil.

Blessed AreThe Warmakers When the priestsand ministers inthe 8SA prattle onabout ablessed arethe peacemakersathey obviouslydondt know muchabout howcapitalismoperates. aThe8nited States isthe largest supplierof weapons todevelopingnations, a 8Scongressionalstudy says. Itdelivered morethan t8S 9.6billion in arms to

countries including those in the Near Nastand Asia in Cbb4, and boosted worldwidesales to the highest amount since Cbbb.The total worldwide value of allagreements to sell arms last year was

close to t8S 3I billion, and nearly B9per cent of the agreements were withdeveloping nations, according to theCongressional Research Servicereporta KSydney Morning Herald ,31AugustL.

Blessed are the Goor? Another piece of nonsense muchfavoured by the bible bashers isablessed are the poora. Good newsthen for the pious in the 8SAaccording to the latest figures. aThenumber of Americans living below thepoverty line rose for the fourth

successive year during Cbb4, extendingthe gap between rich and poor in theworldds wealthiest nation. .... At the otherend of the scale, a survey of the biggest8S companies by compensationconsultancy Pearl Meyers found theaverage payout for chief executives rose13c in Cbb4 to t1b.B million.a KGuardian,31 AugustL. uou are living in New uork onminimum wage; :h, blessed onev Consult

the 8S Bureau ofStatistics.

The Uoom `achine We often hear scaresabout the likely effects ofglobal warning, but thisreport seems to comefrom a reliable sourceand should scare us all.a:nly extraordinarychanges in the output ofwarming gases now anduntil CbBb would makeany difference, MartinParry told the BritishAssociation sciencefestival. ... The estimatescame from agovernment-funded studyby Professor Parrydsteam at the HadleyCentre, the Met :fficedsclimates forecastingcentrea KTimes, 6SeptemberL. The reportwas carried under the

headline a:[one rise will doom millions tostarvationa and calculated that about Bbbmillion are at risk but by CbBb this wouldrise to BBb million. Truly, moderncapitalism has become a doom machinev

Griorities aThe worldds poorest people are beingdenied access to drugs becausepharmaceutical companies are focusingtheir resources on diseases suffered bywealthy, middle-aged Americans, such asobesity and heart disease, a leadingexpert will say tomorrow. Dr DavidRhodes, the Health Protection AgencydsKHPAL head of business development willclaim that spiralling costs are driving firmsto invest primarily in drugs that tacklediseases of older AmericansaKObserver,11 SeptemberL. This is goodbusiness practice according to the ethicsof capitalism, a bit tough on thosesuffering from tuberculosis, malaria andwater-borne diseases in the lessdeveloped countries, though.

A World Vn -risis The columnist Lee Randall certainlysummed up the nightmare of capitalismwell when she wrote: aTwirl the globe andstab your finger anywhere. I could spendwhole days writing cheRues for innocentvictims of war, natural disasters, terrorism,

disease or poverty, and it wouldndt beenough. Nvery tomorrow brings newwoes. ... Idm sure Idm not alone in feelingoverwhelmed, uncertain about what canand should be done. But Idm open toideasa KScotsman, 1b SeptemberL. Howabout world socialism, Lee;

Groduced and published by the Socialist Garty of Hreat Britain, +) -lapham Yigh Street, Wondon SW4 ETNVSSN 00LE M)+9

by Bigg

Not leaving on a jet plane - the US in Iraq

Eeny-meeny-miny-mo,everywhere youfind new woes

Rree lunch

Socialist Standard November 20052

November 2005

socialist standardwebsite: www.worldsocialism.org

contents

“Having respect for people and ourenvironment - acknowledging and caring foreach other's strengths, needs, weaknesses,ambitions - is not compatible with capitalism'scompetitive, repressive nature”Greasy Pole, page 19

Better off without it? Page 12

"Reverend" Jim Jones, page 10

Subscription Orders should be sent to The SocialistParty, 52 Clapham HighStreet,London SW4 7UN.

RatesOne year subscription (normalrate) £12One year subscription(low/unwaged) £7Europe rate £15 (Air mail)Rest of world £22 (Air mail)Voluntary supporterssubscription £20 or more.Cheques payable to ‘TheSocialist Party of Great Britain’.

The Socialist Party of Great Britain

The next meeting of theExecutive Committee will beon Saturday 5th November atthe address below.Correspondence should besent to the General Secretary.All articles, letters and noticeshould be sent to the editorialcommittee at: The SocialistParty, 52 Clapham High street,London SW4 7UN.tel:020 7622 3811 e-mail:spgb@worldsocialism.org

Tough on treachery...Page 6

Do We Need Money? With the world organised the way it is we couldn't live without money.But what if the world was organised differently? Paul Bennett investigates.

FEATURES

12

EDITORIAL 3CONTACT DETAILS 3

PATHFINDERS 4LETTERS 5COOKING THE BOOKS 1 9

COOKING THE BOOKS 2 13

REVIEWS 1750 YEARS AGO 18

GREASY POLE 19VOICE FROM THE BACK 20

REGULARS

The Cult of the Professional RevolutionaryAdam Buick asks how humans can be persuaded to committhemselves to what most people can see is a delusion.

Doubtful BenefitsDavid Blunkett thinks the incapacity benefit is mad. The 2.7 millionpeople on it may disagree.

16

Hugo Chavez: revolutionary socialist or leftwingreformist? Chavez, new revolutionary on the block, cast in theCastro mould, is winning the applause of radicals around the world.

8

MEETINGS 18

FREE LUNCH 20

If This be Treason...The revival of the treason charge by the Blair government after theJuly bombings was one of many tactics designed to stimulate panic.

6

There Are Words for It...Capitalism, with its globalisation and its tendency to make everythinghomogeneous, is killing off languages. Does it matter?

14

10

Editorial

The only man to enter Parliament withgood intentions". So some describeGuy Fawkes, though this isn't theofficial line on the Gunpowder Plot

which was uncovered four hundred yearsago this month. Actually, this saying iswrong on two counts. Guy Fawkes did notenter Parliament with good intentions, andto wish to blow up Parliament can't really besaid to be a good intention (blowing them upwouldn't achieve anything; voting them outis the intelligent thing to do).

Four hundred years ago the Englishruling class was engaged in a life-and-deathstruggle with Spain which, with the backingof the Pope, was trying to incorporateEngland into a revived Holy Roman Empire.Capitalism had only come into being in theprevious hundred years or so and theEnglish ruling class was in the process oftransforming itself from a serf-exploitingfeudal nobility into a class whose wealth andpower would be based on producing for andtrading on the world market. To achieve thisit was essential to avoiding beingincorporated to an economically stagnantAbsolutist Empire such as Spain was tryingto establish in Europe.

The ideological smokescreen underwhich this conflict of economic interest wasfought out was Protestantism versusCatholicism. Henry VIII had broken withthe Pope in 1529 and Protestantism becamethe ideology of that section of the Englishruling class striving for a national capitaliststate. Catholicism that of its enemies.Throughout the 16th century in England,Catholics and Protestants were successivelyburned at the stake. Guy Fawkes was aCatholic and had entered Parliament with aview to blowing it up in a bid to re-establisha Catholic regime in England.

From the point of view of the Englishruling class, he was a traitor, and hastraditionally been portrayed as such inschool history books. In fact, anti-Catholicism remained a key feature of

English nationalism right up until the end ofthe 19th century. By then it had become ananachronism. England - since the union withScotland in 1707, "Great Britain" - had longsince established itself as the leadingcapitalist power in the world and was nolonger under even the remotest threat ofbeing incorporated into some backward-looking Absolutist Catholic Empire.

In view of the anti-Catholic aspect themedia didn't know quite how to mark the400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot.

They had no such doubts about how to markthe 200th anniversary of the Battle ofTrafalgar - by an obscene display ofjingoistic nationalism.

The ground had already been preparedby London's successful bid to stage the 2012Olympics and England's regaining of theAshes from Australia, both of which saw amindless mob gather in Trafalgar Square tosing jingo songs known to socialists as"Fool Britannia", "Land of Dopes andTories", "God Save the Queen (and all whosail in her)" as well as - though quite it's outof place - Blake's "Jerusalem".

Socialists are utterly opposed to suchmanifestations of nationalism. In fact, wefind disturbing the revival of nationalism inBritain in recent decades, as seen in theacceptance into the mainstream of things

which once had fascist connotations such asthe term "Briton" and the flag of St. George.At one time, British patriots used to call onpeople to die for their "country", i.e. for thestate which for accidental historical reasonshappened to have jurisdiction over thegeographical area where they lived.Nowadays, the appeal is to the "nation", i.e.to an imaginary community. But there nevercan be any real community undercapitalism. A "nation" is a false community,and a dangerous illusion because of itsdivisive nature.

Britain, like every other country orstate in the world, is class-divided: aminority of rich owners and the rest of us.We have no interests in common with themand anything which encourages the illusionthat all the people of Britain form acommunity with a common interest can onlyserve their interests. They need us to believethis because their rule and privileges dependon our acceptance. They are few but we aremany. They know this but most of us don't,yet.

When we do then we will see that theonly community possible today, given theintegration of the world economy, is a worldcommunity. But to be a real communitythere must be no class division. There mustbe common ownership of the globe'sresources so that they can be used for thebenefit of all the members of the humanrace. We will then recognise ourselves, notas British, French, American, Australian orany of the other labels our rulers impose onus, but as members of the human race,citizens of the world, Earthpeople. Then thesort of narrow-minded nationalismorchestrated on Trafalgar Day - and let'shope it's not going to become an annualevent - will be looked back on with ashudder as a manifestation of a barbarouspast when ruling classes incited people toregard themselves as members of rival,competing "nations".!

Socialist Standard November 2005 3

Forget, forget the 5th of November - and Trafalgar Day

Fawkes

Socialist Standard November 20054

Nature can sometimes do worse things than capitalism. Anearthquake kills 40,000 in a few minutes. A tsunami wipes out200,000 in hours. And now the Department of Health contingencyplan for bird flu in Britain is contemplating a 'not impossible'750,000 deaths if the H5N1 virus goes pandemic. The governmentis buying up 14m doses of Tamiflu, a general-purpose antiviraland probably not very effective prophylaxis against a virus strainthat hasn't evolved yet, which in any case won't be available untilApril next year and is only enough to treat 25% of the UKpopulation. Meanwhile the United Nations is facing wildly varyingestimates of the death toll, from 150m from its own advisors to apaltry 7.4m from the WHO, while newspapers range from tabloid'We're all doomed' sensationalism to an 'It'll be all right on thenight' conservatism from the better informed but possibly morecomplacent qualities.

A pandemic may well be on the way. The government ChiefMedical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has announced his estimateof 50,000 'excess' deaths (over and above the average annual deathrate of 12,000 each flu season), stating: "We can't make thispandemic go away, because it is a natural phenomenon, it willcome." However, other scientists dismiss the figure of 50,000 as acomplete guess. "It could be worse, it could be better. I thinkinitially it could be worse than that", says Dr Martin Wiselka,consultant in infectious diseases at Leicester Royal Infirmary(BBC News Online, Oct 16).

The problem is that everybody is guessing, and governmentsare not willing to spend money on hunches. Currently H5N1 hasan exceptionally high mortality rate of 50%, but is very hard totransmit, especially from one human to another, which is why only60 people worldwide have so far died. The current guess is thatthe most likely threat is from H5N1 recombining with ordinary fluduring the annual winter flu season. This is known to havehappened during the Spanish flu outbreaks of 1957 and 1968,when the hybrid strain was much less deadly but spread veryrapidly and thus killed more people. On the basis of this guess, abest-case scenario, the government plans to rely on its standardseasonal vaccination programme for at-risk groups includingchildren, old people and asthmatics, with the additional purchaseof the Tamiflu antiviral drug just in case. However, new researchis showing that the 1918 pandemic, thedeadliest ever recorded, which killed between20 and 40 million people, was a pure bird flu,not a hybrid, and that H5N1 is evolving inominously similar ways. The 1918 virusinfected almost everyone on the planet within ayear of its appearance, and without the aid ofmodern transport and cheap mobility (NewScientist, October 8). Donaldson dismissescomparison with the 1918 pandemic becauseantiviral drugs and other advanced medicalpractices were not available then, yet manyscientists are worried that the disease couldspread so rapidly that it will outrun any attempt

to contain it, and the government in any case has rejectedplans to curtail population movement as largely pointless.

Capitalism is no more to blame for bird flu than forthe recent earthquake in Kashmir; however, it can becriticised for its way of dealing with natural disasters andthreats. In capitalism, whatever the urgency, nothing canhappen until agreement has been reached over money.As one example, the EU is currently unable to spend anymoney on purchasing vaccines and antiviral drugsbecause, according to officials, Britain is blockingagreement on the overall EU budget for 2007 to 2013(Guardian, Oct 15). In another less publicised example,scientists have expressed horror that the team which hasrecreated the 1918 virus, 'one of the deadliest viruses ofall time' have been testing it in live mice at only thesecond highest level of containment, and withoutwearing protective suits. The obvious question, when itis known that Soviet scientists in the 70's accidentallyreleased a mild member of the 1918 family of virusesinto the environment, is: why not the highest level ofcontainment? The answer can only be cost. If there is achance to keep cost down, even if it involves a risk,capitalism will exert pressure to take that chance. Itwould be an incredible irony if H5N1 turned out to be acase of mild sniffles but we all died anyway from anartificially recreated laboratory virus because somebody

tried to save a few quid from their research budget.It could also be argued that capitalism's peculiar and illogical

ways of working can conspire to make a deadly pandemic morerather than less likely. The secrecy of the Chinese state-capitalistregime has already held back study on H5N1 as, like the SARSepidemic before it, China has refused to allow researchers accessto samples or to reveal actual mortality statistics. Then there is theincentive for poultry farmers to allow isolated cases of flu to gounreported rather than see their entire stocks destroyed, as hashappened in South East Asia, where billions of birds have beenculled. The manufacture of an effective antiviral drug, once theinfectious strain has been identified, would be enormouslyaccelerated if the drug company making it were to provide thedetails to other drug companies, but in view of the money to bemade by not doing so, we may not be able to rely on such publicspirited cooperation. And if the worst happens, and governmentsgive out the useless advice to stay indoors and not travel, how areworkers supposed to make a living? Will bosses look kindly onany worker who takes a day off sick every time she sneezes or herkids have a temperature? Will banks look kindly on businessesthat curtail activity because of staff absences? Will capitalism lookfavourably on anyone who falters in their perpetual and relentlesspursuit of money because of an altruistic concern for social healthand welfare, or will it instead reward those who have no suchconcerns?

Capitalist governments are gambling that H5N1 won't mutateto humans, or that if it does mutate to humans, it won't be deadly,or that if it is deadly, it won't spread fast, or that if it spreads fast,it will be treatable with an antiviral, or that if no antiviral can bedeveloped in time, that it won't kill anyone rich or important.Workers, as so often in wartime, appear in this calculation in thesection at the end, under the heading 'expendable assets'. We'rejust not worth spending too much money on, provided some of ussurvive to keep working.

Diseases among social animals are common, and since theagricultural revolution brought humans into close and sustainedcontact with other social or herd animals, we have acquired manyof their diseases (over sixty from dogs, for instance). Many ofthese now harmless childhood diseases started life as epidemics

that brought empires to their knees and destroyedcivilizations. A new virus strain unleashed on a virginpopulation is a more terrible event than any volcano,any earthquake or any tsunami, and yet capitalism iscontent to gamble that it won't happen, just as it didover the tsunami, or that it won't be that serious, just asit's doing over global warming. Capitalism is alwaysgambling with our lives in this way, without giving usany say at all. If the gamble comes off, the rich win. Ifit doesn't, we die.

Nature can sometimes do worse things thancapitalism. But to fight them and protect ourselves, weneed something better than capitalism.

Bird flu: howcapitalism couldmake it worse.

Socialist Standard November 2005

Animal testingDear Editors, I am pleased to see you state [Octoberissue] that the abolition of the savagery ofcapitalism will undoubtedly do its part toabolish all unnecessary suffering by non-human sentient creatures. Yet you say thatthe socialist approach to animal testing ispragmatic. What suffering is necessary? Onwhat grounds? How many animal deathsequal one human life?

Animal testing is anything butscientific. Thalidomide tested safe onanimals but when given to humans was adisaster. Drugs for arthritis were harmlessto animals but proved to greatly increaseheart attacks in people. Blue sky testingwhere animals are harmed and killed in thevague hope that something useful, andprofitable, to humans is both daft and cruel.

I hope a socialist world would bemore compassionate with people trying tolive in harmony with the environment andanimals rather than seeing them as assets tobe exploited and plundered for the financialgain of vivisectionists and drugmonopolies. Socialism should abolish theseas well as the many other horrors ofcapitalism.

I am sure there are many peoplesuffering from ailments capitalism can'tcure right now (I would be one) who wouldvolunteer to try new drugs and thereby saveanimal lives while perhaps improving thequality of their own.

TERRY LIDDLE, London, SE9

'Health' systemDear Editors,I become annoyed when I hear of theincreasing numbers of retired workers(hence unexploitable) who are beingreminded by their GPs that their ailmentsare age-related and are told "what do youexpect at your age?" instead of beingoffered proper care. Precious 'health care' isthen devoted to those that capitalism is ableto continue to exploit.

But can multi-million profiteers indrug companies be trusted to be moreinterested in population health than theprofit to be made? Who is able to double-check their laboratory tests and results andhow can study statistics be guaranteed notto have been exaggerated or distorted? Withsuch vast wealth at stake would even acapitalist government really care aboutworking-class health under such rewarding(for them) conditions? It has to be facedthat no capitalist government assists thereally needy - that task is left for charities todo and prop up a system that benefits onlythe wealthy ruling class.

If the health system is unable orunwilling to properly test and cureworking-class patients then I personallybelieve being ignored and left to suffer orbeing officially kept alive to suffer is notgood enough. The obvious third option ofbeing allowed access and advice on how toquickly and efficiently terminate life shouldbe made available.

The utter independence and freedomto choose the time and place of my owndemise certainly appeals to me and is aright I am keen on exercising. If you can

help out with attractive suggestions on howthis can be accomplished it would beappreciated and I can depart - when thetime comes - thumbing my nose atofficialdom who have dictated in life what Ican and cannot do. It would be a great wayto go!

RON STONE, Gelorup, Australia

Blinkered Nationalist Why on earth are you standing in a Scottishseat? Smacks a little of imperialism topeople up here. "Great Britain" is a statefounded for empire - the centre colonisingthe island - it is outdated so anyone with theslightest knowledge of politics now sees"Great Britain" as outdated, hencesupporting independence. You are the onlyparty with "Britain" in the title apart fromthe BNP!

ANON, Livingston, Scotland

Reply: As far as we are concerned,"Great Britain" is merely a geographicalname. And we were the only party standingin the Livingston by-election without"Scottish" on the ballot paper - that'sbecause we don't stand for an independentScotland any more than we stand for anindependent "Great Britain" or even "LittleEngland". We stand for world socialism, aworld community, without frontiers, wherethe resources of the Earth, industrial andnatural, will have become the commonheritage of all humanity - Editors.

Letters

5

UK BRANCHES &CONTACTS

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Enfield and Haringey branch. Tues.8pm. Angel Community Centre,Raynham Rd, NI8. Corres: 17 DorsetRoad, N22 7SL.email:julianvein@blueyonder.co.ukSouth London branch. 1st Mon.7.45pm. Head Office. 52 ClaphamHigh St, SW4 7UN. Tel: 020 76223811West London branch. 1st & 3rdTues.8pm, Chiswick Town Hall,Heathfield Terrace (Corner SuttonCourt Rd), W4. Corres: 51 GayfordRoad, London W12 9BYPimlico. C. Trinder, 24 Greenwood Ct,155 Cambridge Street, SW1 4VQ. Tel: 020 7834 8186

MIDLANDSBirmingham branch. Thur. 8pm, TheSquare Peg, Corporation Street. Tel: Ron Cook, 0121 533 1712

NORTHEASTNortheast branch. Corres: JohnBissett, 10 Scarborough Parade,Hebburn, Tyne & Wear, NE31 2AL. Tel: 0191 422 6915 email:johnbissett@blueyonder.co.uk

NORTHWESTLancaster branch. P. Shannon, 10Green Street, Lancaster LA1 1DZ. Tel:07863 165321

Manchester branch. Paul Bennett, 6Burleigh Mews, Hardy Lane, M217LB.Tel: 0161 860 7189Bolton. Tel: H. McLaughlin.01204 844589Cumbria. Brendan Cummings, 19Queen St, Millom, Cumbria LA18 4BGRochdale. Tel: R. Chadwick. 01706 522365Southeast Manchester. Enquiries:Blanche Preston, 68 Fountains Road,M32 9PH

YORKSHIREHuddersfield. Richard Rainferd, 28Armitage Rd, Armitage Bridge,Huddersfield, West Yorks, HD4 7DPHull. Keith Scholey. Tel: 01482 44651Skipton. R Cooper, 1 Caxton Garth,Threshfield, Skipton BD23 5EZ. Tel: 01756 752621

SOUTH/SOUTHEAST/SOUTHWESTBournemouth and East Dorset. PaulHannam, 12 Kestrel Close, Upton,Poole BH16 5RP. Tel: 01202 632769Brighton. Corres: c/o 52 ClaphamHigh Street, London SW4 7UNBristol. Shane Roberts, 86 High Street,Bristol BS5 6DN. Tel: 0117 9511199Cambridge. Andrew Westley, 10Marksby Close, Duxford, CambridgeCB2 4RS. Tel: 01223 570292Canterbury. Rob Cox, 4 StanhopeRoad, Deal, Kent, CT14 6ABLuton. Nick White, 59 HeywoodDrive, LU2 7LPRedruth. Harry Sowden, 5 ClarenceVillas, Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 1PB.Tel: 01209 219293

NORTHERN IRELANDBelfast. R. Montague, 151 CavehillRoad, BT15 1BL. Tel: 02890 586799Newtownabbey: Nigel NcCullough.Tel: 02890 860687

SCOTLANDEdinburgh branch.1st Thur. 8-9pm.The Quaker Hall, Victoria Terrace(above Victoria Street), Edinburgh. J. Moir. Tel: 0131 440 0995JIMMY@jmoir29.freeserve.co.ukBranch website:http://geocities.com/edinburghbranch/Glasgow branch. 3rd Wednesday ofeach month at 8pm in CommunityCentral Halls, 304 Maryhill Road,Glasgow. Richard Donnelly, 112Napiershall Street, Glasgow G20 6HT.Tel: 0141 5794109 Email:richard.donnelly1@ntlworld.comAyrshire: D. Trainer, 21 Manse Street,Salcoats, KA21 5AA. Tel: 01294469994. derricktrainer@freeuk.comDundee. Ian Ratcliffe, 16 Birkhall Ave,Wormit, Newport-on-Tay, DD6 8PX.Tel: 01328 541643West Lothian. 2nd and 4th Weds inmonth, 7.30-9.30. LanthornCommunity Centre, Kennilworth Rise,Dedridge, Livingston. Corres: MattCulbert, 53 Falcon Brae, Ladywell,Livingston, West Lothian, EH5 6UW.Tel: 01506 462359Email: matt@wsmweb.fsnet.co.uk

WALESSwansea branch. 2nd Mon, 7.30pm,Unitarian Church, High Street. Corres:Geoffrey Williams, 19 Baptist WellStreet, Waun Wen, Swansea SA1 6FB.Tel: 01792 643624Cardiff and District. John James, 67

Romilly Park Road, Barry CF62 6RR.Tel: 01446 405636

INTERNATIONAL CONTACTSAFRICAGambia. World of Free Access.Contact SPGB, London. Kenya. Patrick Ndege, PO Box 56428,NairobiUganda. Socialist Club, PO Box 217,Kabale. Email:wmugyenzi@yahoo.comSwaziland. Mandia Ntshakala, PO Box981, Manzini

EUROPEDenmark. Graham Taylor, Spobjervej173, DK-8220, Brabrand.Germany. Norbert. Email:weltsozialismus@gmx.netTristan Miller. Email:psychonaut@nothingisreal.comNorway. Robert Stafford. Email:hallblithe@yahoo.com

COMPANION PARTIESOVERSEASWorld Socialist Party of Australia.P. O. Box 1266 North Richmond 3121,Victoria, Australia.. Email:commonownership@yahoo.com.auSocialist Party of Canada/PartiSocialiste du Canada. Box 4280,Victoria B.C. V8X 3X8 Canada. Email:SPC@iname.comWorld Socialist Party (New Zealand)P.O. Box 1929, Auckland, NI, NewZealand. Email:wspnz@worldsocialism.org World Socialist Party of the UnitedStates P.O. Box 440247, Boston, MA02144 USA. Email:wspboston@mindspring.com

Contact Details

Socialist Standard November 2005u056

If this beTreason...

As soon as he could after the bombswent off in London on 7 July TonyBlair came on the TV to address thenation, as is expected of all great

national leaders at times of crisis and danger.His message, in the sense that it had alreadybeen largely worked out for him by themedia, was unexceptional. "This is" he said,"a very sad day for the British people but wewill hold true to our way of life". Whetherthat "way of life" was represented by wagingwar on a country on the basis of lies about itbeing an immediate threat to world safetywith its massively powerful weapons he didnot say. But in case there were any lingeringmisapprehensions about it he plunged on:"When they [the bombers] try to intimidateus, we will not be intimidated".

ProtectionThis use of the words "us" and "we"

was designed to create the impression thatBlair was facing the same dangers, of beingblown to pieces on the London Tube orbuses, as the rest of us. In fact he made hisdefiant speech on a brief break from the G8at Gleneagles, where the participants wereprotected by a high, impenetrable metalscreen backed up by a few thousand policeofficers. When, back in London, he travelsthe quarter mile or so between his home inDowning Street and his workplace in theHouses of Parliament he does not face thesame risks as working Londoners because heis whisked on his journey in a bullet-proofcar, among a swarm of police on motorbikes, through streets which have been sweptclear of other people. By most reasonablestandards anyone who behaves in that waycan be described as "intimidated". Not thatBlair lives by the same standards as the restus, who are merely expendable members ofthe working class.

But after his intimidated bravado Blairhad to give some attention to tracking downthe bombers' organisation and being seen tobe actively working against another suchincident. During this it leaked out that infuture our "way of life" may be subject tothe decisions of secret "anti-terror" courts,ruled over by "security cleared" judges withthe accused being represented by "specialadvocates" who had also been vetted for"security". Other news revealed that some ofthe defendants before such courts, if Britishsubjects, may find themselves charged with

the offence of treason. It seemed fairlyobvious that these proposed changes, in thepanic after 7 July, were designed to induce aretributive thrill among those whoseenjoyment of our way of life made themgrateful for the protection of such a stoutlyunintimidated government.

TreasonTreason is defined as a violation or

betrayal of allegiance which is owed to asovereign or a country, usually throughjoining, or giving support to, enemy in a waror attempting to overthrow the government.This definition is more comprehensive andmore complex than it may at first seem tobe. There have been cases when the personaccused of treason has argued that they werenot of the alleged nationality and so did notowe allegiance to that country or itssovereign. Anyone who regards the world'spopulation as a mass of human beings maymarvel at capitalism's need to disastrouslycomplicate what are essentially simplematters - for which many a lawyer isgrateful. It may be taken as an example ofthis that of the four categories of treasonremaining from the Treason Act of 1351there is still the offence of "violating" thewife of the king's eldest son, which mayhave caused some lost sleep among the menwho consorted with Princess Diana whileshe was still married to the Prince of Wales.

For a long time treason was a capitaloffence and to satisfy the thirst of thepopulation to witness that traitors had gottheir just deserts the sentence was often to behung, drawn and quartered in public. (In factthis sentence was not formally abolisheduntil 1947 - one of the reforms for which theAtttlee government did not, for some reason,claim any credit.) After capital punishmentwas abolished in 1965 treason remained asone of the few offences which could still"attract" (as lawyers are fond of putting it)the death penalty. Wandsworth prison inLondon, just in case anyone was in need ofbeing hanged, kept a scaffold in goodworking order.

CasementOne of the more famous examples of

treason trials, which came to its appointedgrisly end on the scaffold in 1916, was thatof Roger Casement. He was an Irish manwho at the turn of the century had been

7Socialist Standard November 2005

employed as a consul of the Britishgovernment in what was then the BelgianCongo. There he was appalled by the slaveconditions and the butchery imposed on theCongolese people by the Belgian rubbercompanies, under the authority of KingLeopold II. Casement's character wassummed up by his manager, whocomplained that "He is very good to thenatives, too good, too generous, too readyto give away. He would never make moneyas a trader". He retired in 1911, with aknighthood and a British governmentpension and two years later he returned tolive in Ireland where, not entirelyjustifiably, he drew parallels between whathe had seen in the Congo and Irishproblems. In the cause of Irish nationalismhe helped to form the Irish Volunteers, anarmed militia.

When the First World War began headvised Irish men against joining the BritishArmy, on the grounds that the war withGermany was no concern of theirs. On afalse passport he went to Germany with theintention of persuading Irish prisoners ofwar to fight against Britain. This was not aswelcome as he might have hoped; theGermans found him an embarrassment andhastily shipped him, in a submarine, back toIreland where he was quickly captured. Athis trial he tried to argue that he was anIrishman, a case which was fatallyweakened in law by his acceptingemployment as a British consul, aknighthood and a pension. He was quicklyconvicted and executed at Pentonville on 3August 1916. After his death his diariescame to light, providing evidence that hewas not only a traitor but also ahomosexual, which was enough to provokepopular satisfaction that it was entirelyappropriate to do away with him. It was nota time notable for rational assessment ofsuch issues.

JoyceThere were similarities between that

case and of William Joyce, whosebroadcasts from Germany during theSecond World War eventually earned himthe name of Lord Haw Haw and a deathsentence at the Old Bailey. Joyce wasaccustomed to dazzling people with hissomewhat undisciplined knowledge and hisoratory. Organisations found it difficult to

cope with him and he had to leave theArmy, the Conservative Party and then theBritish Union of Fascists. All of this wasexpressed in his virulent anti-semitism;typical of his descriptions of Jews was as"submen with prehensile toes". But for thishe might have done well in the Tory Party(he was once close to being theirparliamentary candidate in Chelsea) and inthe BUF he held a position only a littlebelow that of Oswald Mosley. Joyce wasejected from the BUF in what Mosleydescribed as an economy drive; he went onto form the National Socialist League,which was closer to the Nazis (theirmeetings ended with shouts of "Sieg Heil")but the NSL never made any headway andwas about to be wound up when Joyce wentto Germany just before the start of the war.

Although there is little evidence thatJoyce's broadcasts had any significant effecton the war morale in Britain, he didprovoke a kind of bemused fascination andbecame the stuff of myths and rumours. Atall events his pro-German activities wereenough to ensure that when the war endedhe would be arrested and brought toEngland to be tried for treason. Anticipatingby some 60 years the Blair government'smanipulation of the legal system,Parliament rushed through the Treason Actof 1945, which replaced the elaborate andprolonged trial procedure which had been inforce in cases of treason with a simpler andbrisker style, similar to that of a murdertrial.

It soon emerged that Joyce had aserious defence against the charge. He hadbeen born in the USA of Irish parents whohad become naturalised Americans in 1894.But as a young man he had come toEngland and had applied for a Britishpassport by lying about his place of birth.His defence argued that, however he haddescribed himself, he was in fact not Britishbut the prosecutor - handsome, brilliantHartley Shawcross, Attorney General in the1945 Labour government - persuaded thejury, with a little help from the judge, that"common sense" should override procedure.The long queues which had formedovernight to witness Joyce's trial werehungry for a guilty verdict and it took thejury only 23 minutes to agree. A little overthree months later Joyce, having exhaustedall the avenues of appeal, was executed at

Wandsworth prison. Popular revenge hadbeen satisfied.

Class and PatriotismAmong his admirers Joyce had a

reputation as a relentlessly logical thinker. Itwas a strange kind of logic whichaccommodated his support of Germany'swar effort against Britain with his rabidBritish nationalism. ("The white cliffs ofDover! God bless old England on the lea"he exclaimed to his guard when he wasbeing flown across the Channel to his trial).At the end he tried to escape the hangmanby claiming to be an "alien", which was thekind of accusation he was accustomed tomake, in suitably contemptuous invective,about Jewish people. There was - and still is- nothing exceptional about suchinconsistencies, which expose the fallacy ofpatriotism, with its essential creed of "mycountry right or wrong". Workers, whomake up the majority of capitalism's people,have no country; however the systemarbitrarily divides them according to rulingclass rivalries, the workers are united intheir poverty. For example it was not acoincidence that the number of victims ofrecent disasters such as the Asian tsunamiand the Katrina hurricane was clearlyrelated to the degree of their poverty. If youcould afford it you got out in time; if youcould not afford it.

That its workers should be patriotic isvital to each national ruling class and this,fertilised by official lies, is exploited by allgovernments. Following the 7 July bombsin London one politician after anotherrushed to denounce the bombers for killinginnocent people, as if the British andAmerican forces in Iraq were not also doingthat, on a much larger scale. The responseof the Blair government was very much aswe have come to expect - distortions offacts, the creation of new offences and therevival of the treason charge, designed tostimulate a panic under cover of which thepoliticians could feel free to do what theywould. The strategy in all this was tocement the workers' patriotism, their loyaltyto British capitalism. But as the smoke ofthe bombs cleared and the dead werecounted the central fact remained that forworkers to accept such a weary, discreditedcase is treason against their class.!IVAN

From left: Roger Casement, William Joyce and Wandsworth prison gallows

8 Socialist Standard November 2005

His name is HugoChavez, President ofVenezuela, and he isthe mastermind of the

country's "socialist" revolution,presenting the "threat of thegood example" that continues topanic the USA.

It is understandable whythe left love him when he isregularly heard mouthingslogans and making the kind ofdemands you normally see in

papers like Socialist Worker.Addressing the 2005 WorldSocial Forum in Porto Alegre,Brazil, earlier this year Chavezsaid:

"It is impossible, withinthe framework of the capitalistsystem to solve the graveproblems of poverty of themajority of the world'spopulation. We must transcendcapitalism. But we cannot resortto state capitalism, which wouldbe the same perversion of the

Soviet Union. We must reclaimsocialism as a thesis, a projectand a path, a new type ofsocialism, a humanist one,which puts humans and notmachines or the state ahead ofeverything. That's the debate wemust promote around the world,and the WSF is a good place todo it."

By all accounts, Chavezwas not inebriated or stonedwhen he made this statement.He was sober and deadlyserious. He had never talkedabout much socialism before,only about being a "Bolivarian",a humanist and a supporter ofthe Cuban revolution. But nowhe bandies the word "socialism"around with the glee of a fiveyear old learning a newschoolyard profanity, andregularly mentions Marx,Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg.

"Socialism" is thebuzzword of Venezuela's"Bolivarian Revolution" (socalled after Simon Bolivar wholed the army that freedVenezuela from Spanish rule). Itis a word Chavez is keen toexpunge of what he sees as itsnegative connotations, namelystate capitalism - despite thefact that he seems unclear justwhat is meant by the term.Speaking recently to seniorheads of the country's military,Chavez asked that they carry thequestion of socialism "into thebarracks", to initiate debate andto reassess everything they hadhitherto been told aboutsocialism and to help strengthenthe ideological offensive.

In the TV programme AloPresidente, broadcast on 1September, he pleaded forVenezuelans to "leave to oneside the ghosts with which theidea of socialism has beenassociated" and revealed theresult of an independent opinionpoll carried out in May and

June. He informed his countrythat 47.9 percent said theypreferred a 'socialistgovernment', that 25.7 percentsaid they preferred a capitalistgovernment and that some 25percent were yet to respond.

Since Hugo Chavezdeclared that the way forwardfor Venezuela was to steertowards socialism, this hasturned into the main debatewithin the "revolutionaryBolivarian" movement, and

society generallyReforms

Chavez's heart may be inthe right place, even if he issomewhat muddled as to themeaning of the word"socialism," and he may wellhave decent intentions. But his"socialist" agenda amounts tolittle more than one vastreformist programme that islargely being financed by thecountry's oil, which is currentlyselling for five times its 1999price.

The generous profits fromoil price rises have gone intofinancing programmes toimprove health, provide cheapfood, extend educational access,and to organise some landreform. Chavez has initiatedoperations aimed at endingpoverty and improving theeconomic and cultural lives ofVenezuelans. He is keen oneducating the population vialiteracy drives. He is re-nationalising universities andbuilding new housing. The statehas taken over some sections ofindustry and a TV station hasbeen set up to transmit the"socialist" ideas of theBolivarian "revolution".

While Chavez faces a lotof opposition in urban centres, itis clear why, in the poorworking class shantiessurrounding the city, support forthe government is vocal andwidespread.Cooperatives

Chavez, is also keen onworkers' cooperatives. In his 1September TV broadcast hepointed out that the kind ofcooperative he is proposing isone that "generates collectivewealth through joint labour,going beyond the capitalistmodel which promotesindividualism". If companyowners found the goingdifficult, he said, the state wasprepared to come to their aidwith low interest credit, thoughon the understanding that "theemployers give workersparticipation in management,the direction and the profits ofthe company." And whichcapitalist could resist that offer?Chavez observed that 700closed companies had beenidentified with a view toexpropriation; that many hadassets and the machinery readyto start producing.

Expropriation comes at acost to worker organisationhowever. The first company tobe taken over was the paper millVenepal, now renamed Invepal.There, union leaders broke upthe union - against the betteradvice of others in the tradeunion movement - and now lookforward to buying out the state'sstake in the company so theywill have sole control over

Hugo Chavez:revolutionarysocialist or leftwingreformist?

For years, the Left in Britain and elsewhere,have sung the praises of Fidel Castro andChe Guevara, ready always to defend the"gains" of the Cuban revolution as thatcountry withstood everything the US had tothrow at it. Now there is a new revolutionaryon the block, cast in the Castro mould,flicking the V's at Western imperialists as heimplements social reform after social reformand, like Castro, winning the applause ofradicals around the world.

Socialist Standard November 2005 9

company and profits.Overnight, former militanttrade unionists have turnedinto aspiring capitalists.

As far as the US isconcerned with Venezuela,the "good example" that the"Bolivarian revolution"poses is the least of theirproblems at the moment.The real concern stems fromthe fact that Venezuela hasconsiderable oil wealth.Venezuela is the fifth largestoil exporter in the world - 13per cent of the world's oilcomes out of the country -and Chavez controls thelargest oil supplies outsideof the Middle East.

At a time of rising oilprices, instability in theMiddle East, and with Chinaemerging as a majorchallenge to US economicinterests in the near future,Chavez earlier this yearsigned an agreement withChina's vice president ZengQinghong, smoothing theway for the ChineseNational PetroleumCorporation to invest in thedevelopment of Venezuelanoil and gas reserves. Chavezfurther agreed to sell fueland crude oil to China atreduced prices tocompensate the highshipping costs of oil to EastAsia.

Moreover, Caracasrecently signed up to amuch publicized agreementfor a group of sales repsfrom the Venezuelan state oilcompany to be trained by

Iranian experts on strategiesfor penetrating the Asianmarket.

And who else doesChavez cosy up to? Noneother than arch enemy of USconservatism Fidel Castro.In the past two years,Venezuela has supplied Cubawith vital shipments ofsubsidized oil to ease thecountry's perpetuallyfaltering energy andtransport systems, and in

return Cuba has sent anarmy of professionals toVenezuela to help theongoing social programmes,inclusive of 14,000 doctors,3,000 dentists, 1,500 eyespecialists and 7,000 sportstrainers.

And then there areVenezuela's recent armspurchases - 40 helicoptersfrom Russia, attack lightaircraft and 100,000Kalashnikovs from Brazil -which will no doubt providethe Bush regime with theexcuse to channel still moreweaponry to neighbouringColombia, escalatingregional tension and thelikelihood of futureinstability.

Little wonder the US isbecoming a mite anxious atthe ongoing antics of theLatin American upstartChavez. And just to makematters a little moreprecarious, Chavez hasrepeatedly made it plain thatif the US starts flexing itsmuscles at Venezuela thenhe would not hesitate to cutof all oil exports to the USA.

Pat Robertson, tele-evangelist, entrepreneur,one-time presidentialcandidate and close friend ofthe Bush family,undoubtedly expressed thesentiments of many US neo-cons when, speaking on hisTV show on 22 August, hereferred to Chavez as "adangerous enemy to oursouth, controlling a hugepool of oil, that could hurt

us badly". He went on:"You know, I don't knowabout this doctrine ofassassination, but if he[Chavez] thinks we're tryingto assassinate him, I thinkthat we really ought to goahead and do it. It's a wholelot cheaper than starting awar, and I don't think any oilshipments will stop."

Acknowledging thatthe US had the ability tobump Chavez off, Robertson

continued: "I think that thetime has come that weexercise that ability. Wedon't need another $200billion war to get rid of one,you know, strong-armdictator. It's a whole loteasier to have some of thecovert operatives do the joband then get it over with."

Robertson's "un-Christian" outburst quicklybrought condemnation fromthe Republican hierarchy,keen to keep Bush awayfrom further criticism.Whilst Robertson may claimnot to know "about thisdoctrine of assassination",the simple fact is thatconsecutive US governmentshave attempted, arranged orsupported the elimination ofscores of leaders around theworld. That Chavez haslasted so long is undoubtedlydue to the internationalattention he has attracted oflate.

Venezuela is no nearersocialism than Russia waswhen it claimed to haveestablished it. Not only is itthe case that it is impossibleto establish socialism in onecountry, but it could neverbe established by a leader. IfChavez can take his countryinto socialism, which isdownright absurd, then someother leader could just aseasily lead them out of itagain. Similarly, the reformshe has implemented could betaken away the moment he isremoved from office.

Despite his popularityamongst the poor that couldwell carry him to anotherelectoral victory next yearand assure Venezuela ofanother six years ofBolivarian reformism,Chavez is compelled bycircumstances to governwithin the confines ofcapitalism..

The country still has amonetary system. The banksand big business,particularly oil interests, arestill in private hands. Therehave been no seizures ofland. International oilcompanies have bent overbackwards to provide newinvestment, in spite ofVenezuela having increasedthe royalties that they haveto pay. There is stillcommodity production, stillexploitation, still trade onthe terms laid down byinternational capital and stillarmed forces ready topdefend the economicinterests of Venezuela'scapitalist class. !JOHN BISSETT

Things canonly getworseAlthough Labour waselected to office in1997 to the sounds of'Things Can Only GetBetter', Blair is nowsinging a different tune. In the past theLabour Party used to argue that thestate could, and should, be used toprotect people from the worst effects ofworld market forces, through suchmeasures as import controls, tariffsand subsidies to protect homeindustries and the employment theyprovided, and bans on the export ofcapital so that it was invested at home.Such views are still held by tradeunionists, Leftwing reformists and theGreen Party (which has taken over theLabour Party's discarded policies inthis area).

Blair now derides this as "theEuropean social model of the past" andis actively campaigning to get other EUgovernments to abandon it too. In hisLeader's speech to the annual LabourParty Show in Brighton he told theaudience (they can hardly be calleddelegates since the resolutions theypass count for nothing):

"In the era of rapid globalisation,there is no mystery about what works:an open, liberal economy, preparedconstantly to change to remaincompetitive. The new world rewardsthose who are open to it. … Thetemptation is to use government to tryto protect ourselves against theonslaught of globalisation by shutting itout - to think we protect a workforce byregulation, a company by governmentsubsidy, an industry by tariffs. It doesn'twork today. Because the dam holdingback the global economy burst yearsago. The competition can't be shut out;it can only be beaten" (Guardian, 28September).

In other words, as the othermember of the Thatcher-Blair MutualAdmiration Society used to put in:TINA. And, given capitalism, they areright; there is no alternative. WhatMarx called the "coercive laws ofcompetition" can't be overcome; theyhave to be applied, not just bycapitalist enterprises but bygovernments too.

But at what cost to workers andsociety in general? It means runningfast - in fact, running faster and faster -just to stand still, continuallyintroducing new methods oforganisation and production so as tobe able to keep down costs and wardoff or beat the competition. It's a raceto the bottom, involving, for those whoactually produce and distribute thewealth of society, speed-ups, stress,precarious contracts, deregulations,redundancies, retraining, changing jobs- and the scrap heap for those whocan't keep up.

And, despite Blair's optimism,there is no guarantee that, even withthese changes, British capitalism willcome out on top - who sayscompetition, says losers as well aswinners. Capitalism really is a rat race,or rather a treadmill, from which there'sno relief.

Cooking the Books (1)

Soldier of Christ: Pat Robertson says ‘kill the unbeliever’.

Socialist Standard November 2005510

Acult is generally consideredto be a group thatindoctrinates its membersinto regarding themselves as

a select group different from the rest ofsociety. Some, but by no means all, suchgroups seek to isolate themselves. A typicalexample would be the closed PlymouthBrethren who avoid association with "theungodly" (you and me). But others, such asthe Scientologists and the Moonies activelyengage with the rest of society in order togain new recruits.

Cults are organised around acharismatic leader whose views areregarded as authoritative. The leader issurrounded by a group of seconds whotransmit his or her views to the otherfollowers. New members are encouraged tobreak off all relations with their previouslife, often to change their name andsurrender their property to the group; theyare encouraged to identify totally with thegroup and to subordinate their individualityto it.

In some cases so total is theidentification that the followers can be

persuaded tovoluntarily follow their

leader in committing suicide, asnotoriously in 1978 when some 900members of the "Reverend" Jim Jones'People's Temple cult committed masssuicide in Guyana and in 1997 when 39members of the Heaven's Gate cult did soin California. The 7 July suicide bombers inLondon could be another example.

But how can humans be persuaded tokill themselves for what most people cansee is a delusion? A recent attempt toexplain this has been made by Janja Lalichin her book Bounded Choice, subtitled 'TrueBelievers and Charismatic Cults'(University of California Press). Herexplanation is given in the book's title: bymeans of a number of psychologicaltechniques to which the cult membersvoluntarily, and often eagerly, submit, theycome to so identify themselves with the cultthat their freedom of choice becomeslimited - "bounded" - to those offered by itsideology, however bizarre this might be.

Thus, for instance, in the Heaven'sGate cult, which is one of her two case

studies, the members came to believe thatthey really were aliens who had assumedhuman form and who were striving toreturn to their previous higher level ofexistence. Given this core belief, it was alogical - "bounded" - choice to decide toleave their human bodies, considered asmere "vehicles", to await rescue by an alienspaceship their leader told them was hiddenbehind the Hale-Bopp comet that was thenpassing by the Earth.

From 1975 to 1985 Lalich was amember of a Maoist group in San Franciscocalled the Democratic Workers Party. Thisis her second case study. Having ourselvesbeen many times labelled a "sect" we arenaturally wary about the concept of a cultbeing applied to political organisations. ButLalich makes out a good case for describingthe DWP as a cult - in view of the type oforganisational and psychological techniquesemployed, as by some religious groups, toweld the members to their organisation andits leaders - though one, of course, morelike the Moonies than the Closed Brethren.And it is true that the Leninist principle of avanguard party of professional

“Marriage and children arediscouraged so that the

professional revolutionaryhas only a loyalty to the

group”

The Cult of the Professional Revolutionary

Socialist Standard November 2005 11

revolutionaries does, outside the politicalcontext of an openly repressive regime, lenditself to the would-be professionalrevolutionaries being organised as a cult.

We are of course opposed to Leninistorganisational methods but we can see how,in the context of Tsarist Russia, a vanguardparty organised on hierarchical andsecretive lines would be one political optionfor anti-Tsarist revolutionaries, even if not asocialist form of organisation. TheBolshevik Party could not legitimately becalled a cult; it was a political organisation.But why, in conditions of relative politicaldemocracy allowing people to organiseopenly, would some want to organise onsuch a basis? Why would anyone want toorganise a corps of professionalrevolutionaries when there was no politicalnecessity to do so?

The DWP aimed to be a party ofdisciplined, full-time professionalrevolutionaries under a strong leader,dedicated to serving the cause of "theproletariat" (perceived, in accord withLeninist theory, as being incapable of actingby and for themselves). The party wasorganised on a hierarchical basis with theLeader at the top surrounded by a smallstaff, an intermediate level of departmentheads (appointed and revocable by the topleadership) and the ordinary rank-and-filemembers.

There were three levels ofmembership: trial, candidate and general:

"All General Members had full votingrights and were considered full-time, whichmeant they were to be on call, at the Party'sdisposal, twenty-four hours a day. TrialMembers had no rights; they were to learn.If the Trial Membership stage was passed(based on study, level of participation andgood behavior), then appropriate leadershippersonnel commended that the youngmilitant be moved up to the status ofCandidate Member, with partial politicalrights".

As in the Heaven's Gate cult, allmembers had to adopt a new name:

"Once a Party name was chosen, onlythat name was to be used; and immediatelynew members learned others' Party names.Militants were never to reveal their realname to other members, not even toroommates. Party names were used in allmeetings or gatherings, in all DWP facilitiesand in all houses where members lived. Forthe new member, taking on a name was thefirst stage in losing his or her pre-Partyidentity and assuming a Party-molded one".

And to sacrifice their income andproperty:

"The dues structure was set up so thateach militant gave over all monies receivedabove a group-determined living amount,set at approximately poverty-levelstandards. All monetary or substantial gifts(such as a car), job bonuses, legalsettlements, and inheritances were turnedover to the Party".

The poverty-line income forcedmembers to live together in communalhouses, thus making them even moredependent on the party and its leaders. Itsleader (one Marlene Dixon) did not have tolive on the poverty line, but had othermembers assigned to cook and clean for her.

The DWP was committed to theLeninist concept of "democraticcentralism". On paper this means that thereis a full discussion of some policydocument but that, when it has been

adopted, all members, including those whovoted against it, have to be committed tocarrying it out. Some Leninist groups do tryto operate on this basis, allowing thepreliminary democratic discussion, but notthe DWP. According to Dixon, in adocument entitled 'On the Development ofLeninist Democracy':

"[D]emocracy is a method for theselection of leadership and a method ofassuring that the most developed and testedcomrades, the cadre, the bones of a Leninistparty, govern the party".

What this meant in practice was: "[T]he leaders would give a

presentation on a change in direction ofsome work, or would open a denunciationof a militant for some error. Each militant

present was expected to say how much heor she agreed with what was just said".

Members were subject to publicsessions of criticism and self-criticism inwhich they had to confess to any "pettybourgeois" failings or lapses the leadershippointed out to them. There were alsosanctions for breaches of discipline (andeven a security service trained by an ex-Marine):

"Given the emphasis on obedience anddiscipline members understood that theycould be sanctioned for not following rulesor for in any way breaking the discipline.Militants were 'punished' in a variety ofways besides submitting to collectivecriticism sessions and writing self-criticisms. More practical sanctions, forexample, were increased quotas, extra workduty, demotion from a particular position orfunction, removal from a practice, andinstructions to leave a workplace or ceasecontact with a particular person. In moreserious cases, there were periods ofprobation, suspension, or even house arrest(which could mean being confined andguarded by security forces)".

It might be wondered why themembers put up with such a regime.Lalich's explanation is, once again,"bounded choice" in that they hadconvinced themselves, and had had thisconviction continually reinforced by thegroup's practices, that such a hierarchically-disciplined party was necessary to furtherthe cause of the proletariat. In the end theydidn't put up with it. When Dixon was awayon a trip to Europe in November 1985 theother leaders, including Lalich, met anddecided to expel Dixon and dissolve theorganisation.

It's a disturbing story but is oneconsequence of the application of theLeninist theory of a vanguard party ofprofessional revolutionaries in conditionsother than a political despotism. All

Leninist groups engage in some of thepractices described by Lalich, for instance,different levels of membership, leadership-dominated meetings and a willingness onthe part of the members to be told what todo. That doesn't mean that all Leninistgroups are cults in the sense that the DWPwas. But some are. It is clear, for instance,from their external behaviour that theSparticist League (who publish WorkersHammer) must be and there is documentedevidence that the French Trotskyist groupLutte Ouvrière and the 'left communist'International Communist Current are. In his1999 book La vraie nature d'Arlette ('TheTrue Nature of Arlette' - Arlette Laguiller,LO's permanent presidential candidate) thejournalist François Koch describes LOmilitants as "soldier-monks", because oftheir self-imposed life-style (marriage andchildren are discouraged so that theprofessional revolutionary has only aloyalty to the group). In 2000 a group of ex-members of the French section of the ICCpublished a pamphlet Que Ne Pas Faire?('What Is Not To Be Done?') which exposedsimilar practices to some of those describedby Lalich in the DWP (an older, charismaticleader; adoption of a new name; an order-giving hierarchy; interrogations; a securityservice).

Because these organisations use someof the same terminology as we do - even tothe extent of allowing us to engage in anapparently rational debate with them overthe best way to get rid of capitalism - thissort of thing discredits the whole idea ofsocialism and organisation for socialism.Fortunately, a Leninist vanguard party ofprofessional revolutionaries is not the onlyway that those who want socialism canorganise. There is another way, which we inthe Socialist Party have adopted andpractice: an open, democratic organisationin which all members have an equal say andin which policy is made by a conference ofmandated branch delegates or by areferendum of the whole membership; inwhich there is no leadership and where theexecutive committee's role is merely tocarry out policy decided by conference orthe membership, apply the rulebook, dealwith correspondence, pay bills, etc withouthaving any policy-making powers.

With such an organisational structureit is simply inconceivable that anythingremotely like what happened in the DWPcould happen nor indeed like what happensin non-cultic but still leadership-dominatedLeninist organisations such as the SWP.

Leninists imagine that workers areonly capable of reaching a trade unionconsciousness and flatter themselves thattheir consciousness as a vanguard is higher.Actually, it's the other way round. Mosttrade unions have democratic constitutions,even if largely these days only on paper.The Leninist theory of organisation is athrow-back to political conditions such asexisted in Tsarist Russia, and itsintroduction into more politically-developedWestern Europe following the coming topower of the Bolsheviks in Russia has beenan unmitigated disaster for the workingclass and socialism. As a theory ofleadership it is anti-socialist and to berejected on political grounds. In practice itcan easily lead to such aberrations as theDWP and so is to be rejected on grounds ofhuman dignity too.!ADAM BUICK

Vanguardist: Lenin

It sounds like a silly question,doesn't it? Of course we

need money: we need it topay our rent ormortgage, to buy foodand clothes, topurchase cinematickets and DVDs, and

so on. There's noquestion that, withthe worldorganised the wayit is, we do needmoney, and wecouldn't livewithout it. Creditcards and cheques

make no difference,they are justdifferent ways ofpaying by money, so

that we don't have tocarry huge amounts ofnotes and coins aroundwith us.

But let's step back a bit andask ourselves, why do weneed money? It's becausewe can't get hold of the

food, clothes, tickets or DVDs, oroccupy our house or flat, unless wehave the money to pay for them. Wecan try to take food or whateverwithout paying, but if we're caught wewill very soon be toldthat this is theft and it'sagainst the law, andwe'll be punished for it

in some way.Basically, it has

been decided (butby who?) that peoplein general cannot gethold of things (moreformally, cannot gainaccess to them) unlessthey pay. Thepayment transfersownership from theshop or supermarketor manufacturingcompany to thecustomer. Onceyou've boughtsomething, you canthen do more or lesswhat you like with it.

So the money isjust a means ofsaying 'This is mine,not yours'. And that'swhat the shop issaying too: 'Unlessyou pay us, you can'tuse this.' Now, fromsome points of view,

this is a strange way ofgoing about things. In the

first place, some areas of

our lives aren't arranged like this at all. Manypeople do things for other people - lend or givethem something, or perform some service -without expecting any payment: they do this outof friendship or for their neighbours or familymembers. Furthermore, not everything we wantto have access to requires payment. Usually wecan all go to the local park without having topay to get in. Many towns have free shuttlebuses to transport people around the towncentre, or to and from the local railway station.But try to travel on the train without a ticket andyou'll be in trouble.

However, let's just imagine that the worldwas run differently, that everything was free(though in that case the concept of 'free'presumably wouldn't mean anything!). Supposeyou could go to the supermarket, collect thefood you wanted for yourself and your family,and then just leave without having to queue atthe checkouts. You'd probably choose the best-quality food without having to worry about itscost. In fact, since nobody would have to buycheap and nasty food, all the food availablewould be top quality. There'd be no point intaking more than you needed, because you'dalways be able to go back and get more if youran out, and it's just wasteful (and, in fact, daft)to take lots of milk and bread, say, if you knowyou won't be able to use them.

This probably sounds like quite a goodidea, but would this same principle work withclothes rather then food? Wouldn't people justwant masses of clothes, and always from the topdesigners and brand names? Well, let's just thinka bit about the implications of a world withoutmoney along the lines I've just begun todescribe. Nobody will be able to show off byflaunting an expensive dress or tie, and nobodywill want brand names or designer labels sinceanyone can have them (if they still exist) so abrand name won't mean anything. Quiteprobably people will still want to look smart andattractive, but this won't be by wearing clothesthat 'cost a fortune'. And like food, there wouldbe no point in having lots of clothes lyingaround in a wardrobe gathering dust: people

Do

We

Need

Money?

Socialist Standard November 2005512

would just take from the shops orwarehouses what they wanted for theirpersonal use, not what would be intended toimpress others. Also, since nobody wouldprofit from selling more clothes, therewould be no relentless pushing of newfashions each year.

So it's not difficult to imagine a worldwithout money, a world where what peopleconsumed and enjoyed would not be limitedby the size of their wage packet, whereeveryone could gain access to the best ofeverything. But again, questions arise.Would there, for instance, be enough to goround? Well, think firstly, about how mucheffort, and how many people's work, goes

into money and all its paraphernalia.It's not just the shopworkers whosework is mainly or entirely concernedwith money. There's everyone whoworks for a bank or insurancecompany, who deals with accountsand prices, who issues or collectstickets. In a world without money,these people and many others (thosewho manufacture guns, for instance)would devote their labour toproducing goods that people need.The money system doesn't justprevent people gaining access to whathas been produced, it also seriouslyreduces what is produced.

But then again, would peoplework in a world where there was nomoney and they were not gettingpaid? Yes, they would. Thealternative, after all, would be a lifeof idleness, which may be great for atwo-week holiday period everysummer but soon becomes veryboring. Work, too, would be made asenjoyable as possible, which means itwould be safe, satisfying and fun.People would enjoy working witheach other, never doing one kind ofwork for too longbut appreciatingthe variety thatcan be provided.Producing useful

things is pleasant initself.

You can see that aworld without moneywouldn't just be liketoday except that there would be no pricetags on anything. Rather, it implies acompletely different way of organisingthings. For a start, production would becarried on for use and not for profit. Thismeans goods would be produced becausethey satisfied people's wants and needs,rather than because they produced a profit.In such circumstances, dangerous, unhealthyand shoddy goods would never see the lightof day, as there would be no reason toproduce them. In addition, the factories,

offices and land would not be the exclusiveproperty of a small number of millionaires,which is what happens now. Instead, theywould be owned by everyone (which isequivalent to saying they would be ownedby no one). And they would therefore becontrolled by everyone, not by a smallbunch of owners.

But it doesn't stop there. There wouldbe no need for governments either, becausegovernments exist to run the system onbehalf of the small number of people whoown the lion's share of the wealth. It's thegovernment, for instance, that runs thepolice and court systems that will teachanyone who takes without paying a lessonabout who owns what. Along withgovernments, there'd be no countries either,because the division of the world intocountries simply suits the interests of theowners in particular parts of the world. Norwould armies be needed, as they fight forthe owners against the armies of the ownersfrom other countries, in disputes over accessto raw materials like oil.

A world without money also means aworld without poverty, because that's theflipside of money controlling access tothings. 'No money, no chance' is the current

motto, but one that resultsin the obscenity ofdestitution and starvation ina world that could easilyprovide plenty for all.

So doing away withmoney would also meandoing away withgovernments, countries andarmies, as well as the

division into rich and poor. We, the humaninhabitants of the planet, don't need money -it gets in the way and stops us fromenjoying this world and what we couldmake of it. One word for the world withoutmoney is socialism, but it's not the namethat matters, it's the idea. If the idea soundsattractive to you, then you should find outmore about the SocialistParty and our views. !Paul Bennett

MoreconservativemottosThat wage increases causeprice increases is an old lie. Thisassumes that capitalist firms canraise the price of their productsat will. But they can't. They canonly charge what the market willbear. Workers are in a basicallysimilar position. But the marketfor products and the market forlabour power are two differentmarkets. Assuming that firmsare charging what the marketwill bear - and they'd be foolishnot to - then, if the labourmarket allows the workers achance to push up wages, firmsjust have to live with increasedcosts and lower profits for thetime being.

It is because wageincreases eat into profits - notbecause they supposedly cause"inflation" - that employers fightthem and, as far as they and themedia are concerned, any oldargument, even one that's not

true, will do to oppose anddiscredit groups of workersdemanding a wage increase.

In any event, even if awage increase in a firm did leadto an increased price of thatfirm's products, that would notbe inflation, which is an increasein the general price level. Suchan increase can come about forvarious reasons - increaseddemand for products in a boom,a fall in the value of gold whenit's the money-commodity, andan overissue of a inconvertiblepaper currency. Even though thedouble-digit inflation of the1970s is over, inflation still existstoday and is mainly caused byinflating the currency. The Bankof England has a remit to inflatethe currency by 2 percent ayear. Which is why both pricesand wages tend to increaseannually by more or less thisamount, depending onconditions in particular markets.

The view that wageincreases cause price increaseshas long been argued over. In1865 the General Council of theInternational Workingmen'sAssociation in London devoted

four meetings to discussing it. Atthe last of these Marx decisivelyrefuted the argument in a lecturethat was published after hisdeath as a pamphlet Value,Price and Profit. This has nowbeen republished, under whatwas its original title of Wages,Price and Profits, by theCommunist Party of Britain,which publishes the MorningStar and which is the realpolitical successor to the oldCommunist Party of GreatBritain (and not to be confusedwith another group which hasusurped this name and whichpublishes a paper called theWeekly Worker).

After explaining whyworkers should always press forthe highest wages they can get,Marx famously urged theunions:

"Instead of theconservative motto, 'A fair day'swage for a fair day's work!' theyought to inscribe on their bannerthe revolutionary watchword,'Abolition of the wages system!'"

In his introduction, RobertGriffiths of the CPB's EconomicCommittee can't ignore this and

has to pay lipservice toMarx bywriting thathe held that"workerswould foreverbecommoditiesto be exploited until capitalismand its wages system wereabolished". But he then ignoresthis completely, going on toadvocate that unions should aimat, as well as higher wages,"statutory price controls", "betterstate benefits and pensions","more public services", "controlson the export of capital". All ofwhich assume the continuationof capitalism.

If Marx returned today weknow what he would say:Instead of the conservativemotto 'statutory pricecontrols/better state benefits,etc, etc' the unions ought toinscribe on their banners therevolutionary watchword'Abolition of the Wages System'.

Cooking the Books (2)

On the Road to Nowhere

“'No money, no chance'is the current motto, butone that results in theobscenity of destitutionand starvation in a worldthat could easily provideplenty for all.”

Socialist Standard November 2005 13

Socialist Standard November 2005514

There Are Words forIt...

Around five thousand languages arespoken at the moment, a numberlikely to be halved by the end ofthe twenty-first century. This is

partly due to the impact of the world's'major' languages, such as Spanish, Russianand (above all, of course) English. AsEnglish becomes a truly global language,the main language of films, popular musicand the internet, not only do its words findtheir way even into languages like German,but it completely displaces many local orminority languages. The decline in numbersis also caused by the growing role of'national languages', those taught in schoolsand recognised as a country's main languageof communication. TupÆ, for instance,once widely spoken in Brazil, is now downto a few hundred speakers, pushed out bythe expansion of Portuguese (though it willlive on in words it has given to English,such as jaguar).

Endangered languages like this haveexisted throughout history, but are now farcommoner than previously. The reasons forthis are usually seen as straightforwardlypolitical:

"large centralized political units (boththe old-fashioned empire and the all-modernnation state) cause the total number oflanguages in their territory to decline. In so

far as the world goes on being apportionedin such units, the total number of languagesin the world will go on falling." (AndrewDalby: Language in Danger)

This statement is correct as far as itgoes, but it plays down the economicfactors behind language death. Languagesdecline and die when the communities oftheir speakers are disrupted (by conquest,exile, disease, and so on) or when childrengrow up speaking in daily life a languageother than that of their parents. This canhappen for various reasons, one being thatthe 'new' language is seen as a means ofeconomic advancement, perhaps justbecause it has more speakers and can offerbetter employment prospects or a biggermarket. Languages with a few thousand, oreven a few million speakers, can hardly'compete' with English, the language ofinternational business.

Even the way a language is writtencan be affected by political and economicconsiderations. After the collapse of the

Russian Empire in 1991, the governmentsof the new countries of Azerbaijan,Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan decided toswitch from the Cyrillic to the Romanalphabet to write their respective nationallanguages, which are all related to Turkish.This was partly due to anti-Russiannationalism - the Cyrillic alphabet, which isused to write Russian, having been imposedby Stalin in the 1940s. But it is also clearlymotivated by a desire to attract tourists andbusiness visitors and to make it easier forpeople there to learn English. Returning tothe Arabic alphabet (which was used inthese countries before the Cyrillic) wouldhave been possible, but would not haveserved the new rulers' westernising aims.

Besides undermining the status oflanguages, economic factors can lead to thecreation of new languages. In The Power ofBabel, John McWhorter traces the origins ofRussenorsk, a kind of mixture of Russianand Norwegian, which came into being inthe nineteenth century when Russian tradersbrought timber to Norway every summer tosell. Russenorsk was a very basic kind oflanguage, useful for bartering and variousother kinds of social interaction, but notusable for political debate or discussion ofany abstract ideas. Languages like this aretermed pidgins, and they usually arise whentwo groups of speakers come together inspecific circumstances. Many NativeAmericans at first spoke Pidgin English

BUSHMEN AND THE PROGRESSOF CAPITALISM

It has been estimated that the so-called Bushmen of the Kalaharihave lived in southern Africa for at least 20,000 years, but thatcuts no ice with the zealots hell-bent on the development ofcapitalism in that part of the world.

"The Bushmen of the Kalahari - among Africa's lastindigenous peoples - are on the verge of losing their ancestralhomeland after the Government of Botswana stepped up acampaign to force them into squalid resettlement camps" (Times, 12September). The government has sent heavily armed wildlife guardsinto the Central Kalahari Game reserve - an area that had beenpromised to the Bushmen "in perpetuity". Their aim is to removesome 200 to 250 Gana and Gwi who have returned there from theresettlement camps. The Times report continues: "Stephen Corry,director of Survival International, which has been highlighting theBushmen's plight, said: 'The Government seems hell-bent onfinishing them off this time. The situation is very urgent. Unlesscircumstances change through outside intervention, this could verywell be the end of these particular people'".

The plight of the Gana and Gwi people is by no meansunique. The development of capitalism crushes all the tribal

societies itcomes intocontact with.In the past wehave had theslaughter ofthe nativeAmericans inthe USA, thebutchery of theAustralianaborigines andmore recentlyof theYanomami inNorthernBrazil. Theconcept of atribal societythat lives bygathering and

hunting with no recourse to capitalism's markets is anathema to aproperty-based social system.

The Botswana government has destroyed the tribal wells andbanned hunting in its efforts to restrict tribal groups. The growth offarming and diamond mining probably lie behind the government'srecent actions. Some government ministers have hinted that theevictions are needed because deposits of diamonds have been foundin the area, although the state diamond company, which is anoffshoot of De Beers claim they are uneconomic to mine."However, De Beers doesnot rule out mining themat a later date."

The development ofcapitalism in Africa mustcrush tribal communitiesjust as it did in Europeand America . The onlyhope for a communal life-style is not a return toprimitive tribal society,but the transformation ofpresent day privateproperty, profit-producingsociety into the new socialsystem of world socialism.!

Bushmen of the Kalahari Australian aborigines

Yanomani of Venezuela

Socialist Standard November 2005 15

Is Marxism dead?Surely before we cheer or weep over the bier of Marxism we

should clearly identify the corpse. What exactly do wemean by Marxism?

Marxism is a materialist method of interpreting history; anexplanation of social class and a labour theory of value. However,rather than getting involved in Marx's rather complicated theories,it is simpler to look at his vision of a proposed alternative tocapitalism, which he called socialism (following Robert Owen) orcommunism - he and the pioneers of the socialist movement usedthe terms 'communism' and 'socialism' interchangeably.

Marx saw wage labour and capital as two sides of the samerelation and affirmed that one could not exist without the other. Headvised workers to remove from their banners the conservativeslogan of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work and instead inscribe'Abolition of the wages!' He saw the state - by its nature - as anexecutive committee of a ruling class and held that in socialismgovernment of people would give way to asimple, democratic administration of things.

In other words, Marx's vision of socialismwas of a social system of common ownership ofthe means of production, the resources of natureand the means of distribution essentiallyachieved by a conscious democratic process andadministered necessarily by the widest possibleforms of participative democracy.

It is important to emphasise - howeverobvious it should be - that the wageless,classless, moneyless and stateless world heenvisaged could not be established by other thanthe conscious democratic action of a majority.

Today Left and Right are meaninglessterms; each is one side of the spectrum ofcapitalism; and, because both accept to take onthe political stewardship of capitalism, economicand political necessity frequently means theyadopt each other's positions. Always when theLeft gains power it creates dissidence within itsown outer ranks when its aspirations clash withthe requirements of the system and the capitalistruling class.

In Britain today, 'Old Labour' - with a veryshort memory of old Labour governments! -bemoan the activities of Blair, Brown, Straw,

Blunkett and Clarke. We should remember that most of these menwere Lefties and CNDers and that none of them invented 'Blairism'.Blairism and its outcrops are simply the logical application of theillogical reformist thesis that capitalism can be made to function inthe interests of the working class; a bit like saying that theslaughterhouses can function for the benefit of the cattle.

Socialism/communism has never existed anywhere, nor couldit exist in just part of the world, because it is the global alternativeto a decadent global system. Socialists in open debate withupholders of capitalism will shatter their arguments and throw itsphilosophers to the wind. But the political agents of capitalism havelearnt never to attack socialism as Karl Marx envisaged ; insteadthey attack a perversion of Marxism which they call Marxist-Leninism - a contradiction in terms - or the limping incompetenceof Left reformism in government,

Those who want to see socialism must first unequivocallydelineate what they mean by the term, as all scientific practice callsfor. Once this is done, it can be seen that socialism as advocated byMarx is still very much alive. !

Doyou think we could

run the slaughterhouse inour own interest,

Daisy? Ithink you’d find our

aspirations clashing withthe requirements of the

system, Daffodil.

when speaking to white people, whilemaintaining their own languages too.Unlike Russenorsk, which was a genuinemixture, this Pidgin English consistedalmost entirely of words from the languageof the dominant group - English - sinceEnglish-speakers rarely had any desire ormotivation to learn a local language. This isthe usual situation: the language of theconquerors or colonists provides thevocabulary of the pidgin, which theconquered people have to use to talk withtheir new masters.

Pidgins often die out after a while: thesubordinate group may well adopt the

language of their conquerors, as happenedin North America. Russenorsk ceased to beneeded when the Russian Revolution put anend to the timber-trading. But sometimes apidgin is expanded to become a full-fledgedlanguage, not one just used for a fewspecial purposes, but one with its ownindividual structure and a vocabulary aslarge as that of any 'normal' language. Apidgin which has become a full languagelike this is called a creole; formation of acreole usually happens when peoplespeaking different native languages andonly sharing a pidgin are brought together.McWhorter mentions the case of Sranan, acreole spoken in Surinam, on the northerncoast of South America. This was a British-owned slave colony, and slaves fromvarious parts of Africa who were broughtthere had only Pidgin English in common atfirst. This eventually expanded to becomeSranan, which is widely spoken in Surinamnowadays, alongside Dutch.

In fact the slave trade is thecommonest causal factor in the origins ofcreoles. This appallingly cruel andimmensely profitable system of trading inhuman beings resulted, among other things,in millions of people being uprooted fromtheir homes and families, transported acrossthe world, and set to work in desperate andscarcely-believable conditions. It shouldcome as little surprise to learn that many

languages of the West Indies are creoles(Jamaican creole, for instance), as is TokPisin, one of the official languages of PapuaNew Guinea. As creolised forms of pidginEnglishes, these still have vocabularies thatare partly derived from English, but theyare absolutely not debased forms ofEnglish. The languages of other colonisingnations have also given rise to creoles, suchas a Portuguese-based creole in the CapeVerde Islands in the North Atlantic, and theFrench-based creole spoken in Haiti. AsMcWhorter says, "most creoles have arisenamid conditions of unthinkably stark andineradicable social injustice."

One, rather controversial, claim is thatthe development of agriculture about tenthousand years ago led to the wiping out ofmany languages, as cultivators expandedtheir territories and settled down, thusoverrunning existing groups of hunter-gatherers, who may well each have spokentheir own language. Be that as it may, thereis no doubt that capitalism, with itsglobalisation and its tendency to makeeverything homogeneous, is now killing offlanguages like nobody's business. Anexamination of the current state andhistorical development of the world'slanguages shows how capitalism leaves itsugly footprints everywhere, even in the waywe speak. !Paul Bennett

Socialist Standard November 200516

It's another day with a 'Y' in its name, sothe government must be attackingbenefits scroungers again. The routinepieties of the modern political age are to

talk about 'helping people' out of 'thebenefits trap' and 'back into work' - joiningthe perennial political duties like cutting redtape and reducing government spending.The reason why these problems never goaway is because they are problems causedby the very system which puts thepoliticians in power, and which they cannotresolve without destroying themselves andtheir own elevated statuses.

David Blunkett - now returned to thecabinet after resigning last year for abusinghis office for personal gain in helping hislover's nanny get a visa quicker - has beenmaking loud noises about the 'crackers'Incapacity Benefit system. It is Blunkett'srole to sound like a bruiser, to talk toughand act tough, seen by many as appealing toLabour's core constituency - former Toryvoters on council estates. He bemoaned thecontinuing rise of people on incapacitybenefits (many driven there by previousefforts to try and cut benefits claimants,helped by staff driven by targets to reducecertain types of benefits).

There are currently 2.7 million peopleon incapacity benefit in the UK, withsomething like 29 million people inemployment (possibly the highest UKfigure ever). According to the BBC, that isfour times the number of IB recipientscompared to 30 years ago. Of course, manythings have changed since then, not least thestructure of the benefits system as a whole.Blunkett, however, still wants to drasticallyreduce the numbers on incapacity.

Revealing his new status as a medicaldoctor, Blunkett pronounced that getting outto work is a better cure for depression thanstaying at home watching daytime telly.This startling revelation must have shockedhis fellow healthcare professionals who hadbeen labouring under the impression thatdepression is a medical ailment of the brainas much as a break is a medical condition ofthe leg. Perhaps Blunkett will now advise abrisk walk as a cure for that.

Behind the tough rhetoric, though, asever with the modern Machiavellian LabourParty, is some old-fashioned Old Labour-style reforms: plans to make the benefits

system 'a ladder to self-reliance' and to giveassistance with training and finding jobs topeople who are on IB. Simplification of thesystem may actually help people who aresupposed to be too ill to work but have tobe well enough to run from pillar to post tofill in their 2,000 page benefits claim formsigned in triplicate in blood. Or somethinglike that.

This is cut from the same cloth as theNew Deal and all their previous schemes to'help' the unemployed back to work bybadgering them and managing them intobeing full-time professional job seekers. Ofcourse, this runs counter to any notion thatthey can quickly cut costs. This month alsosaw the National Audit Office reveal thatonly 5% of people on IB were able toaccess back to work schemes. To assistmore people through such structures willactually increase the cost of managing thebenefits, not decrease it, as massiveexpansion would be required.

This is the central conundrum forgovernments: caught between a realproblem beyond their control, trapped bytheir own eternal propaganda of costcutting, they cannot pursue their eternalpropaganda of getting people off benefits.Instead, all we have is a Groundhog Day ofpronouncements and denouncements as theMinisters try to be seen doing something,usually by trying to portray the people whoare dependent on benefits as somehowculpable and at fault for the whole of thecosts of the benefits system.

Politicians are struggling to define thetypical benefits recipient, to legitimise theidea of welfare so they can attack it andreduce costs and also increase downwardspressures on wages and the labour market.Most people in the UK are probably onlytwo pay cheques away from needing to callon benefits, but rather than portray it as asystem to help people and preventcatastrophe it is universally presented as alocation of cheats, frauds and scroungers,riddled with layabouts and otherundeserving poor types. Benefits and beingon benefits is to be despised and feared.

Despite this, though, people arecompelled to claim them because of thewages system, because they are too ill towork or because work is not available. Thebenefits system actually benefits employers

who otherwise would face the costs anddisruption of having to keep on peoplewhose illness makes them turn up to workirregularly, who would lie in desperation togets jobs about their illnesses, and pushmuch of the cost currently borne generallythrough taxes directly onto capitalists whoemploy many workers.

Herein is the rub of the £3 billion lostfrom the system by fraud and 'error' - muchof it will have been small sums given topeople which will have made their liveseasier. Some of it will have contributed tothe real living needs of claimants. The realtragedy is not the fraud or the overspend,but that much of the £109 billion budget iswasted assessing people, categorisingpeople and cheeseparing their entitlements.There is enough food, clothing and housingto go round. The world today is not shortof wealth. In order, though, to maintainlabour discipline, to keep the labour marketin existence, a massive welfare budget mustbe expended to deny access to the thingspeople need.

The simple fact is that we live in asociety overripe for socialism. The materialpossibility has been around the corner foryears. When we remove the barriers to theaccess of wealth, we also remove thebarriers that make some peopleunemployable, that make socialising andcommunity a cost that has to be scraped outof local authority and social servicesbudgets. We would remove the binds, theneed to support a restrictive welfare systembut simultaneously to attack it and try toreduce its budget, by the principle ofproducing freely together.

Socialists, unlike leftists, do notsupport the welfare state, do not see it as away to socialism, but as an inevitable partof capitalism, of administering poverty.The abolition of poverty - not in far-flungimagined foreign fields where poverty isvividly drawn by the masters ofpropaganda, but on the very streets wherewe walk and it is painted out by those sameillusionists - will mean an end to thewelfare ideology. With luck, it will alsomean seeing less of David Blunkett's facerevelling in his own 'stern compassion'.!

PIK SMEET

DoubtfulBenefitsMinisters try to portray the peopledependent on benefits as somehowculpable for the whole cost of thebenefits system. “Bruiser”:

Blunkett

Socialist Standard November 2005

Gilded SocialismDarrow Schechter: Beyond Hegemony.Manchester University Press. £55.

This turns out to bean attempt to workout a philosophicaland sometimesn e a r l yincomprehensible(at least outside thelittle world ofacademia) basis foran alternative toliberal democracy( f r e e - m a r k e tcapitalism), social-d e m o c r a c y

(regulated capitalism) and what Schechtercalls "state socialism" (state capitalism).

Schechter identifies that what is wrongwith these is that all three of them involvecommodity production and consumption("production for exchange and the generationof money and capital rather than direct use"),and that the alternative has to be a systemwhere there is production directly for use.Unfortunately, he sees the answer in theUtopian scheme devised in the 1920s by theLabour historian (and Labour Party activist)G.D.H. Cole, which he called "GuildSocialism". Although Cole's blueprint didprovide for close links between consumersand producers which could be interpreted as"production directly for use", it stillenvisaged the continuation of finance, pricesand incomes. And it was to come into beingthrough the guilds eventually outcompetingcapitalist industries in the marketplace(though, to be fair to Schechter, he doesn'texplicitly endorse this and may well notsupport it).

But if Schechter stands for "GuildSocialism" why doesn't he just campaign forit? Does it really need the elaboratephilosophical basis he has constructed for it?Perhaps it's just that university lecturers haveto publish to justify their jobs.ALB

Dreadful CatalogueJessica Williams: 50 Facts that ShouldChange the World. Icon £6.99.

The obviousreaction to the titleis to say that it'speople that changethe world, not facts.But JessicaWilliams begins byclaiming that thefacts she hasassembled canchange the waypeople think. Thei n f o r m a t i o ngathered here does

indeed provide many reasons why the worldneeds to be changed.

Much of what is said will probably befamiliar to readers of the Socialist Standard.One in five of the earth's population go

hungry each day, for instance, while oneBritish child in three lives below the povertyline, and life expectancy is strikingly low inmany countries, especially in Africa. Othersare perhaps not so appalling: is it really sobad that Brazil has more Avon ladies thanmembers of its armed forces? But many willfind much that is new and enlightening here.For example, far from slavery having beenabolished, there are more slaves in the worldtoday (27 million) than at any timepreviously. More people die from suicidethan from armed conflicts: in 2000 aroundone million people killed themselves and atleast ten times that number tried to do so.What sort of world is it in which so manyfind their lives insupportable to this extent?

Or where over two hundred millionchild labourers exist? In nine countries,same-sex relationships are punishable bydeath, while over 150 states make use oftorture. One third of the world's populationlive in countries involved in armed conflict,and black American men stand a one-in-three chance of going to prison at some timein their lives. Two million women aresubjected to female genital mutilation eachyear, while over one million people are killedin road traffic accidents.

The book presents a dreadful catalogueof poverty, violence, degradation and waste,a vivid picture of 21st-century capitalism, allbacked up with useful references. Williamsadds commentary of her own, together withideas for solving the problems. Some of thisis OK - she recognises that famine andmalnutrition are not caused by foodshortages. But far too much of it is concernedwith what governments should do and how'we' should influence them. The real lessonto draw, though, is that we truly do need tochange the world, not just get the rulers tobehave in a more enlightened way.PB

The Measure of All ThingsPostmodern Humanism. By JackGrassby. TUPS books. 2005. £9.95

Until the 1960s Secularists, Rationalists andFree Thinkers as they were variously calledhad a reputation, rightly or wrongly, of beingnegative god-killers, bible-debunkers andpriest-baiters. Then, in 1963, a group whichfelt the need to appear more positive set upthe British Humanist Association. They stillseem to be working out what their positivecase is beyond promoting a non-religious butstill ethical approach to life. Recently theyset up a working group to examine their corevalues. Jack Grassby is a member of theNorth East Humanists and his book isintended as a contribution to this debate.

It is not certain that it will appeal to hisfellow Humanists as he embraces twoapproaches most of them would not normallylike any more than we do: sociobiology (withits biological determinism) andpostmodernism (with its rejection of anyuniversal human values). Also, it contains anumber of embarrassing howlers, such asstating that homo sapiens emerged from theNeanderthals and that Socrates preached that"man is the measure of all things" whereasthis was the view of the Sophists thatSocrates set out to rubbish. Come to think ofit, "man is the measure of all things" could

well be the core-value that the Humanists aresearching for.ALB

Simply OddA Rebel's Guide to Lenin. Ian Birchall.Bookmarks. £2.

This is an odd, 58-page top-pocket-sizepamphlet. Odd because it is written in verysimple language and seems to be aimed atschoolkids who might be influenced byanarchist ideas.

Thus, Birchall tells us, "Lenin's goalwas the same as the anarchists', but herecognised that the path it would becomplex". Yes indeed, by means of thedictatorship of a vanguard party whichwould last for years and which would,supposedly, in time give up its power andprivilege and abolish the state.

Birchall quotes from ex-anarchists whocame over to the Bolsheviks such as AlfredRosmer and Victor Serge and tells us thatLenin "spent hours discussing withanarchists such as Emma Goodman from theUS and Makhno from Ukraine" and arguedthat "the syndicalist idea of an 'organisedminority' of the most militant workers andthe Bolshevik idea of the party were the samething".

This may have worked in the aftermathof the first world war and the Russianrevolution to temporarily win over a numberof anarchists and syndicalists, but it is hard tosee it working today to get any buddinganarchists to join the SWP.ALB

17

Book Reviews

Correction

Two mistakes found their way into the article"Why They Dropped the Bombs" in theOctober issue. The date of the Potsdamultimatum to Japan was 26 July not 21 Julyas stated and there was a reference to acomment of the Joint Intelligence Committeein "March 1940". Readers will have realisedthat this cannot have been since the US andJapan were not even at war at that point. Itshould of course have read "March 1944".

Declaration of PrinciplesThis declaration is the basis of ourorganisation and, because it isalso an important historicaldocument dating from theformation of the party in 1904, itsoriginal language has beenretained.

ObjectThe establishment of a systemof society based upon thecommon ownership anddemocratic control of themeans and instruments forproducing and distributingwealth by and in the interest ofthe whole community.

Declaration of PrinciplesThe Socialist Party of GreatBritain holds

1.That society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of living(i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.)

by the capitalist or master class,and the consequent enslavementof the working class, by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

2.That in society, therefore, thereis an antagonism of interests,manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

3.That this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass, by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution, and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

4.That as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom,

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind, without distinctionof race or sex.

5.That this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

6.That as the machinery ofgovernment, including the armedforces of the nation, exists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers, the workingclass must organize consciouslyand politically for the conquest ofthe powers of government,national and local, in order thatthis machinery, including theseforces, may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege, aristocraticand plutocratic.

7.That as all political parties arebut the expression of classinterests, and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the master class, theparty seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

8.The Socialist Party of GreatBritain, therefore, enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties, whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist, andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour, and that povertymay give place to comfort,privilege to equality, and slaveryto freedom.

18 Socialist Standard November 2005

TROUBLE IN SCHOOLFew of us have seen a jungle but all

of us know, from the adventure stories weread in childhood, what a jungle is like. It isa dark, dangerous agglomeration of weirdflora and horrid fauna, where the nativesare permanently hostile. Fang, claw andpoisoned dart lie in wait and savage,malignant creatures leap, crawl and slithereverywhere, all the accompaniment ofwar-whoops and gibberings.

And that, according to recentaccounts, is how things are in schoolthese days. At the same time as "TheBlackboard Jungle" was first shown in thiscountry, the News Chronicle (early inSeptember) published "Jungle in theClassroom," a series of three articles inwhich Dr. John Laird reported on London'ssecondary modern schools. Five of theseschools comprised Dr. Laird's jungle: theyare, he claims, typical of the rest. In them

children run amok; teachers are resisted,ridiculed, even assaulted; educationalstandards are almost incredibly low. About30 per cent of the children leave school"unable to read much beyond the level ofan eight-year-old child, and unable to writea letter that would be easily deciphered."

Not surprisingly, there were indignantdenials. "Sensational and one-sided,"wrote Sir Ronald Gould, of the NationalUnion of Teachers; "fantastically distorted .. . absurdly untrue." The Secretary of theLondon Head Teachers' Association. Anofficial of the London County Councilaffirmed their view; so did most of theteacher who sent letter to the NewsChronicle. Few, however, dealt with thefacts, and certainly none mentioned thatDr. Laird is not the first to have said allthose things: little more than a year ago anovel called "Spare the Rod" painted asimilar picture of secondary modernschooling and wrung from the Times anadmission that "it probably has some truth

in it."The secondary modern school is the

lowest, most prolific unit in the Stateeducational system of this country. It looksafter the children between 11 and 15 whohave not passed scholarshipexaminations, whose parents cannotafford private school fees or don't careanyway. It sets out to impart the minimumof necessary knowledge and inculcate anumber of basic social attitudes. To saythat is not to accuse the ruling class ofconspiracy, but simply to point to whateducation means in any society: theequipment and adjustment of the youngfor what they have to do.

(From an article by R. Coster,Socialist Standard, November 1955)

Fifty Years Ago

MANCHESTER BRANCHMonday 28 November, 8pm

DISCUSSION ONPREJUDICE

Hare and Hounds, Shudehill, CityCentre

MeetingsCENTRAL LONDONBRANCHMonday 14 November, 7.45 pmCarpenters Arms, Seymour Place,W1 (near Marble Arch)

'DON'T TAKE ME TO YOURLEADER'A discussion meeting on socialistviews on leadership will be openedby Stan Parker

CENTRAL LONDONDAY SCHOOLSaturday 12 November, 13.30 to 17.00

THE HUMAN REVOLUTION

13.30 Welcome. Tea. Coffee. Biscuits.14.00 Guest Speaker: Chris Knight(Professor of Anthropology, Universityof East London)Chair: Bill Martin (Socialist Party).16.00 Tea break16.30 More questions and discussion

Room 7, Friends Meeting House, 173Euston Rd, London NW1 (opposite Euston mainline station;nearest tubes: Euston, EustonSquare).

NORWICHSaturday 5 NovemberWelcome and informal chat for newvisitors1pm: Meal2pm: Discussion/possibility offorming an East Anglian branch3pm: Discussion of ADM items3.45-4pm: Recent and future activity.

The Conservatory, back room of TheRosary Tavern, Rosary Road,Norwich

19Socialist Standard November 2005

The Respect ThatMakes Calamity

When was it that TonyBlair decided thatRespect would be anattractive, vote-catching

election theme? Was it a long timeago, before he had felt the first stirrings of political ambition and wasmerely a rebellious, disrespectful schoolboy? Or later, when he wassafely ensconced in Downing Street and his son was collected from aWest End gutter after disrespectfully celebrating the end of hisexams? Whatever the truth of this, the theme now looks about tobecome another New Labour obsession. Here is Blair, speaking onthe steps of Number Ten after his victory in the 2005 election,vowing to bring back "A proper sense of respect in our schools, in ourcommunities, in our towns and villages". And here is Charles Clarke,a Labour Home Secretary doing his best to forget his past as a stroppyleft winger: "Tackling disrespect in our society is an absolute priorityfor the government".

Blair has made it clear where he thinks the blame lies for anyshortcomings in this matter: "it is in the family that we have to cometo terms with the idea of give and take and respect for other people".And what if the family does not come up to these expectations? Well,"People need to understand that if their kids are out of control andthey are causing a nuisance to the local community, there issomething that is going to happen". And that "something" is to applyParenting Orders, now to be extended and strengthened, which forceparents to be instructed in how to bring up their children - teachingthem to respect others, give up their bus seat to an old lady, stand upwhen the national anthem is played, always wear their full schooluniform and obey the general laws and orders of capitalist society. Ifthe parents succeed in this and their kids behave in an orderly,respectful way, Blair will be a happier man and, the argument runs,New Labour will win yet another election.

StrawThis is all very well, but as a spokesperson for the children's charityBarnado's pointed out, it is not only children who are the cause ofnuisance behaviour and it is not only in family homes and schoolsthat the problem reveals itself. There was the recent example ofLabour Party member Walter Wolfgang, who was so lacking inrespect for figures of power and authority that he recklessly calledout, slumped in his seat at Labour's conference, that ForeignSecretary Jack Straw was a liar. At the time Straw was only doing hisjob, giving the conference (which was very sparsely attended at thetime) the Labour Party line, perhaps flavoured by a Foreign Officebrief, that Iraq was attacked in order to get rid of Saddam Husseinand establish a modern democracy there, whatever the Iraqi peoplethought about it. Now, the Foreign Secretary holds one of the greatoffices of state, is a person of considerable influence and standing insociety (although in the unusual case of Jack Straw his standing, forreasons connected with the ruthless game ofpolitics, is rather lower than is the custom) whoshould command respectful silence when he istelling lies. It is no excuse for Wolfgang to arguethat he was carried away by the contrast betweenStraw's original doubts about the invasion of Iraqand his passionate support of it now. It is anessential of being respectful to keep extremes ofemotion - like outrage at a blatant, cynical betrayal- strictly under control.

It was especially unwise of Wolfgang to interrupt Jack Strawwho, when he was Home Secretary, was liable to become excited indiscussing the symptoms of social disturbance. It was Straw who firstpublicly condemned the "squeegee bandits" - people who, withoutthe driver asking, cleaned the windscreens of cars which were haltedat traffic lights. We never did hear what happened to all thosedangerous criminals who went about their nefarious business withwet sponges in their hands - and Straw forgot about them as well.Then he complained about his evening drive home from the officebeing marred by the spectacle of young people out on the streets laterthan a respectable Home Secretary thought they should be. Thatparticular neurosis lingers on, in the ASBOs and the campaign aboutrespect. And it was Straw who had to take his son to a police stationafter he had been exposed by a tabloid newspaper for offeringcontrolled drugs for sale. Not, in other words, someone for Wolfgangto tangle with. It is just as well that Straw was so effectively protectedfrom him.

CaseyUnfortunately, when Wolfgang embarked on hisone-man campaign to wreck Labour'sconference there was not enough time to referhim to his local branch of the new anti-socialbehaviour units (of which more later), with aview to cracking down on his parents who, asBlair has told us, must be held responsible for

raising so disruptive a character. This was clearlyconsidered an unrealistic option when Labour's

spin doctors were told about Wolfgang's age. So it was entirelyappropriate - indeed there was no other way - for a couple ofimpressively beefy, enthusiastically respectful, Labour Partymembers who had volunteered to police the conference, to eject himfrom the hall. Along with another member who was disrespectfulenough to protest at an 82-year-old man having his collar felt in thatway. Perhaps now Wolfgang, like other offenders against the law, willbe taught to keep his place by being deprived of his state benefitsunder the rules dreamed up by David Blunkett, who used to be HomeSecretary but is now in charge of the Department of Work andPensions.

Meanwhile the new task force with the job of teaching respectto people who heckle government ministers is getting down to itsvital work. At its head is Louise Casey, who was already in charge ofthe Anti-Social Behaviour Unit. Her new job requires her to "focus"(a word much loved by New Labour hopefuls) on "working togetheron the neighbourhood renewal and anti-social behaviour agendas,highlighting respect for others and respect for the community."Whatever talents Casey can bring to this task, sensitive publicrelations is not among them. A few weeks before her newappointment, when she was merely the ASBO tsarina, she informedan audience of Home Office staff and senior police officers that"Doing things sober is no way to get things done…I suppose youcan't binge drink any more. I don't know who bloody made that up.It's nonsense…There is an obsession with evidence-based policy. IfNumber Ten says bloody evidence-based policy to me one more timeI'll deck them and probably get unemployed."

QuestionsAll over the country breath will be bated while we learn what kind of"respect" Casey will introduce us to. Wolfgang will probably beparticularly apprehensive. Meanwhile Labour has been mostgenerous in its response to his deplorable lack of respect for one oftheir senior politicians. One minister after another queued up to offertheir humblest apology to him. Party chairman Ian McCartney wentso far as to promise to take him out for a meal - a traditionallypacifying treat for stroppy pensioners - although whether eating incompany with the myopically loyal Labourite McCartney would benutritious and mollifying, or further punishment, was not clear. Asthe dust settled it had to be asked whether the apologies and thethreatened dinner with McCartney were motivated by the fact that theLabour stewards had so clumsily committed their assault onWolfgang in full view of the TV cameras. For some viewers it wasreminiscent of Mosley's infamous fascist rally at Olympia in 1934. Ifthere had not been the same damning TV exposure, would all thoseministers have been so eager to grovel?

There are other questions which need to be asked in the wholematter of "respect". What kind of "respect" was shown by Jack Strawwhen he changed his mind over something as important as the war inIraq? What sort of "respect" is shown by the Blair government's driveto undermine the established legal rights of people who are arrestedby the police? And on the other side, what degree of "respect" do wefind in the attitude of someone like the heckling Wolfgang, whoundisturbedly keeps his membership of both CND and the LabourParty, although he must know that there is no prospect of thisgovernment, or any future Labour government, agreeing to throwaway their nuclear weapons? Let it be clear. Having respect forpeople and our environment - acknowledging and caring for eachother's strengths, needs, weaknesses, ambitions - is not compatiblewith capitalism's essentially competitive, repressive nature.Capitalism makes heroes of those who rise to the top, no matter howruthlessly they achieve that. Tony Blair, for example, did not getwhere he is by allowing himself to be diverted through any respectfor truth and human interests. And then what about the people - theworking class - who in their millions support capitalism's politicalparties through thick and thin, disaster and triumph, contempt andrespect? They need to understand that in the mouth of a politician"respect" is a fine but meaningless word. Unhappy and disillusionedpeople like Wolfgang should know this because they haveexperienced "respect" at the sharp end.!IVAN

Walter Wolfgang

Former ASBOtsarina Casey

Produced and published by the Socialist Party of Great Britain, 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UNISSN 0037 8259

THE RICH GET RICHER "The US's richest tycoons increased theirpersonal wealth in the past year, with thetop 400 worth $1.13 trillion (£640bn), saysForbes magazine.... To make this year'slist of the top 400 fortunes in the US aminimum net worth of $900m wasrequired - up from $750m last year." (BBCNews, 23 September) The old popularsong "Aint We Got Fun" cynically stated"The rich get rich and the poor getchildren", but it is no laughing matter.

YOUR TWO CENTS WORTH An analysis of the gap between the richand poor in Manhattan by Dr Beveridge ofthe CityUniversityof NewYork isrevealing."IncomeDisparity inCityMatchesNamibia.TrumpTower onFifth Avenue is only about 60 blocks fromthe Wagner Houses, a public housingproject in East Harlem, but they might aswell be light years apart. They epitomisethe highest and lowest earning tracts inManhattan, where the disparity betweenrich and poor is now greater than anycounty in the country. ... The top fifth ofearners in Manhattan make 52 times whatthe lowest fifth make - $365,826compared with $7,047 - roughlycomparable to the income disparity inNamibia. ... Put another way, for everydollar made by households in the top fifthof Manhattan earners, households in thebottom fifth made about 2 cents." (NewYork Times, 17 September)

BIG SPENDER "The minute he walked in thejoint, they could tell he was areal big spender. ... By the timehe left the Aviva bar in the five-star Baglioni Hotel inKensington,West London, onThursday night, he had spentnearly £36,000. He bought 851cocktails, emptied the place of

Louis Roederer Cristal champagne, andgave a waitress a £3,000 tip. (Times, 1October) This hedge fund manager fromNew York spent £16,500 on champagneand £6,000 on a variety of cocktails. It canbe safely assumed this high-roller doesnot live in the Wagner housing project inEast Harlem.

DOUBLETHINK According to George Orwell in 1984,doublethink is the power of holding twocontradictory beliefs in one's mindsimultaneously, and accepting both ofthem. This spectacular mental gymnasticfeat seems to have been accomplished byKaren Hughes, a public relationsspokesperson for President Bush in herrecent trip to the Middle East. Trying tosugar the pill for her Turkish listeners shecame out with this classic of Doublespeak."To preserve peace, sometimes mycountry believes war is necessary."(Observer, 2 October)

PROGRESSING BACKWARDSSome years ago the press and TV wasfull of conjecture about the wonderfulleisure-based life we would have insidecapitalism. Futurologists and other mediapundits speculated that with the advanceof technology we would all be workingfewer hours and fewer days per week.The big problem of the future would behow to spend all our leisure hours. Suchscenarios have proven completely wrongwith many of us now working longer hoursand now it seems probably working formany more years. "The state pension ageshould be raised to 70, the Confederationof British Industry says in light of newfigures detailing extended life expectancy."(Times, 4 October)

THE DIGNITY OF LABOURIn an edited extract fom Maxwell's Fall: An

Insider's Account by Roy Greensladewe learn something of the contemptthe owning class feel for the workingclass. When Maxwell took over TheDaily Mirror he wanted to speak toKelvin MacKenzie then the editor ofThe Sun but his secretary reported thatMacKenzie would not accept his call."Maxwell demanded that the secretaryrelate the conversation in full, but she

was hesitant."No, no, no,"screamedMaxwell. "Tellme everythinghe said." Shesaid she wouldprefer not to,but Maxwellshouted: "Youwill not get intotrouble,Patricia. But if you refuse, you will be introuble. "Well, Mr Maxwell, he said, "Idon't want to speak to the fat Czechbastard." Two weeks later Patricia left intears, escorted from the building by asecurity man (Times, 6 October).

THE DECLINE OF RELIGION It used to be an argument of supporters ofcapitalism that socialism was impossiblebecause of the working class's adherence

to religion. A recent article by thecolumnist Magnus Linklater sems to givethe lie to that notion. "Whereas in 1851between 40 and 60 per cent of thepopulation went regularly to church, todaythat figure is less than 7 per cent. Inrecent years the trend has accelerated -by 28 per cent in the last 20 years for theCatholic Church, and 24 per cent for theAnglican Church; in Scotland, the fall hasbeen so dramatic that the once all-powerful Kirk reported recently that itcould well be extinct as an organisationwithin the next 50 years." (Times, 13October) Any other arguments againstsocialism?

by RiggFree lunch

Socialist Standard December 20052

December 2005

socialist standardwebsite: www.worldsocialism.org

contents

“It says something about the Tories' panic thatthey should promote an MP as inexperienced(although practised in cynicism) as Cameronas the man to become prime minister”Greasy Pole, page 19

Demonstrators heading to theWinter Palace, 1905. Page 12

Tailcoated twit? Boris Johnson,page 19

Subscription Orders should be sent to The SocialistParty, 52 Clapham HighStreet,London SW4 7UN.

RatesOne year subscription (normalrate) £12One year subscription(low/unwaged) £7Europe rate £15 (Air mail)Rest of world £22 (Air mail)Voluntary supporterssubscription £20 or more.Cheques payable to ‘TheSocialist Party of Great Britain’.

The Socialist Party of Great Britain

The next meeting of theExecutive Committee will beon Saturday 3rd December atthe address below.Correspondence should besent to the General Secretary.All articles, letters and noticeshould be sent to the editorialcommittee at: The SocialistParty, 52 Clapham High street,London SW4 7UN.tel:020 7622 3811 e-mail:spgb@worldsocialism.org

Search and destroy: The riots inFrance, pages 6-8

Argentina's Worker-Run Factories: What Next?An investigation into the workers’ cooperative set up in the bankruptBauen Hotel in the centre of Buenos Aires.

FEATURES

10

EDITORIAL 3CONTACT DETAILS 5

PATHFINDERS 4LETTERS 5COOKING THE BOOKS 1 11

COOKING THE BOOKS 2 14

REVIEWS 1650 YEARS AGO 18

GREASY POLE 19VOICE FROM THE BACK 20

REGULARS

The Workfare State: Enforcing the Wages SystemThe supposed triumph of the post-war welfare state is an illusionnow being dissipated as welfare rights are being whittled away.

Report from Paris A migrant worker reports on the same events.

8

MEETINGS 18

FREE LUNCH 20

Merde in FranceWe investigate the can of worms exposed by the recent riots inFrance.

6

1905: the First Russian RevolutionAt the beginning of the 20th century Russia was in a critical situation.Something had to give, and in 1905 it did.

12

9

Editorial

Following the death in the last weekof October of two teenagerselectrocuted while trying to avoid apolice identity card check, riots

broke out in the suburb of Paris where theylived. These soon spread to other suburbsof Paris and then to those in other cities ofFrance. Police were stoned, cars set alightand fire engines attacked, night after night,for three weeks.

Most of the rioters were the childrenor grandchildren of workers who had cometo work in France from its formercolonies in North and West Africa.This led some to see the riots asanother aspect of some Islamic attackon "Western civilisation". Predictably,the notorious French racist politician,Jean-Marie Le Pen, said it was all dueto immigration.

Actually, in a sense, it was arevolt against "Western civilisation",but not by Islamists. It was a revolt byunemployed youth, living in rundownestates with the worst amenities,against the fate capitalism hasimposed on them. Certainly, most ofthe rioters were nominally Muslims andthe children of recent economic migrants,but essentially they were workers who hadbeen thrown on to the scrap heap evenbefore they had had a job.

Insult was added to injury by theFrench interior minister talking aboutpeople on the estates as "riff-raff" andabout "cutting out the gangrene" and"cleaning by pressure hose". Hemaintained he was only referring to drugdealers and petty criminals but this was nothow it was perceived on the estates.

Capitalism needs a reserve army ofunemployed, to exert a downward pressureon wages as well as a source of readily-available extra labour-power that can becalled upon during the expansion phase ofthe capitalist economic cycle. In addition,there is always a surplus population who,for various reasons, are never going to beemployed. The level of state "benefits"paid to these non-working sections of theworking class is fixed more by politicalthan economic considerations, basically by

what the state can get away with withoutprovoking riots.

In France the state has evidentlypushed a section of these workers too far.The result has been a revolt against thestate as represented by the police, the firebrigade and public buildings. The Frenchstate has replied in kind. Sending in morepolice, declaring a state of emergency,imposing curfews, handing down severesentences including deportation tocountries convicted rioters are supposed to

have "come from" but have never been to.Of course, in the end, the state will win andthe riots will be put down. After therepression, however, the state will spend alittle more money to improve amenitiesand job prospects on the estates, the priceof avoiding further costly and damagingunemployed riots.

But what a comment on capitalistcivilisation! In a world which has thepotential to provide a decent life foreverybody, a section of the population is

driven to riot just to get a slightlyless small pittance to live on.

Rioting, though perhapsunderstandable, is not the answer.What is required is not blind rage butthat the quite legitimate rage of thesevictims of capitalism should beaccompanied by an understanding ofthe situation capitalism has put themin. Capitalism causes - in fact,requires - some workers to besurplus to requirements and sufferabove average social exclusion.Once this is understood, then it willbe realised that the constructive

thing to do is to work for a new society inwhich having to obtain money, by hook orby crook, to acquire what you need to livewill be a thing of the past.

A society based on the commonownership and democratic control of themeans of life where enough for all will beproduced since satisfying people's needswill be the sole aim of production. Asociety where everyone will be "sociallyincluded" because we're all fellow humanbeings.!

Socialist Standard December 2005 3

The Unemployed Riots in France

At first there wasNAFTA, then therewas FTAA - or rather,there wasn't, because

talks to establish the FreeTrade Area of the Americashave got bogged down indisagreements. The NorthAmerican Free TradeAgreement, between the US,Canada and Mexico, cameinto force in 1994. Its declaredaims were to eliminate tradebarriers between the threecountries involved andincrease investmentopportunities. In fact, it is farmore about investment thantrade, allowing US andCanadian factories to bemoved to cheap-labour areasin Mexico and opening upfurther chances forprivatisation. But it wasalways seen as a first steponly, and the FTAA, whichwould extend to most ofCentral and South Americaand cover 34 countries, is thelogical conclusion, originallyintended to come into effect atthe start of 2005.

The FTAA has manyopponents. The nasty right-wing super-nationalists in theJohn Birch Society (seewww.stoptheftaa.org) view itas part of the ongoingabolition of the United States,opening up borders to all sortsof criminals, terrorists andother undesirables, doingaway with US sovereignty andcreating a European Union-style integrated political unit.This isolationist conceptiondoes not fit in with that of therulers of the US, however.There have also beenopponents from the 'left',largely from the anti-globalisation or global justicem o v e m e n t s(www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ftaa/, for instance).They point to the effects ofNAFTA in cutting wages inMexico and increasing threatsto the environment and publichealth. FTAA, they claim, willjust be the same thing, writlarger.

In early November theSummit of the Americas was

held in Argentina, partly to seehow FTAA could be put backon track after the rulers ofsome countries objected to it.In the meantime, smallergroupings have been pushedforward, such as the CentralAmerica Free TradeAgreement (due to start inJanuary 2006) and theAndean Free TradeAgreement (which is stillunder negotiation). The US isalso particularly interested inexpansion of the PanamaCanal, which carries 14% ofUS foreign trade, so that it canhandle more and bigger ships.But the Summit did not givethe green light to FTAA,despite Bush's threats andarm-twisting. A handful ofcountries stood out against it,including Venezuela, whereoil resources give the rulers abit of bargaining freedom (seethe November SocialistStandard). So now things arebeing left to the meeting of theWorld Trade Organization inHong Kong in the middle ofthis month.

The Argentinian Summitwas marked by protests andpolice crackdowns, togetherwith the usual populist anti-American pronouncementsfrom Presidents Chavez ofVenezuela and Lula of Brazil.Clearly, many workers areunconvinced that a policy is intheir interests just because itsuits Bush, his fat-cat backersand the American capitalistclass in general. But nobodyraised the real issues aboutthe way society is run.

The truth is thatarguments about 'free trade'or 'fair trade' or any other kindof trade completely miss thepoint. All variants on tradeaccept the idea that food,clothing, housing etc. shouldbe bought and sold ratherthan freely available. Theyalso accept that the earthshould belong to a small classof owners rather than beingthe common property of all itspeople. They all accept theexistence of capitalism ratherthan rejecting it entirely asSocialists do. !

SUMMIT'S UP

Socialist Standard December 20054

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Socialist Standard December 2005

0uman NatureDear Editors, I'm aware that Socialists often have to facethe criticism that Socialism is against humannature. According to this point of viewhuman beings are naturally selfish andacquisitive, even when they have enough tosatisfy their own needs. There wouldcertainly seem to be plenty of apparentevidence for that point of view. I thought you

might appreciate asection I came acrossin "The NeuroticPersonality of OurTime" (1937) byKaren Horney (left):

"The irrationalquest for possession isso widespread in ourculture that it is onlyby making

comparisons with other cultures that onerecognises that it is not a general humaninstinct, either in the form of an acquisitiveinstinct or in the form of a sublimation ofbiologically founded drives. Even in ourculture compulsive striving for possessionvanishes as soon as the anxieties determiningit are diminished or removed."

Horney saw "the irrational quest forpossession" as one of a number of ways inwhich people try to cope with feelings ofanxiety, and not as an expression of "humannature".

She rejected over-generalised ideasabout "human nature" and recognised howdiverse people are in their attitudes andbehaviour.

ADAM WATERHOUSE, BRISTOL

3u4/n5 6/7e8. 9..ent/a$.Dear EditorsThe aim of capitalism is to sell. I rememberthat in the 1939/45 war if we had food,warmth and shelter we wanted nothing, so Itry to restrict my buying to essentials.

M. B. A. CHAPMAN, BATH.

We're not too sure about this. If it caught on,employers would be able to pay us all less.

0uman/.mDear EditorsPermit me to comment on your book reviewof Postmodern Humanism (November). TheBritish Humanist Association was foundedin 1896 and not as stated in 1963. A foundingmember was Charles Bradlaugh MP andwhen I ceased to be a member in 1997 thereexisted links with South Place EthicalSociety, Rationalist Press Association andNational Secular Society.

I shall not comment on the reviewer'sclaim "they still seem to be working out whattheir positive case is beyond promoting anon-religious but still ethical approach tolife". But I do assure you that they have taken

an active role in the promotion of a largenetwork of funeral celebrants and likewisefor wedding and naming ceremonies.Whether these activities exist with the samemomentum today, no doubt the book's author(as a member of the North East Humanists) isbetter able to judge.

E. HIRSCH, HOCKLEY, ESSEX.According to the British HumanistAssociation's own website, they werefounded in 1963. It was another body, theEthical Union, with which they are nowassociated, that was founded in 1896.

Letters

5

UK B%ANCHES ,CONTACTS

LONDONCentral London branch. 2nd & 4thMon. 7.45. Carpenters Arms, SeymourPlace, W1 (near Marble Arch). Corres:Head Office, 52 Clapham High St.SW4 7UN Tel: =>= 6>> @811

Enfield and Haringey branch. Tues.8pm. Angel Community Centre,Raynham Rd, NI8. Corres: 17 DorsetRoad, N22 7SL.email:julianvein@blueyonder.co.ukSouth London branch. 1st Mon.7.45pm. Head Office. 52 ClaphamHigh St, SW4 7UN. Tel: =>= 76>>@811West London branch. 1st & 3rdTues.8pm, Chiswick Town Hall,Heathfield Terrace (Corner SuttonCourt Rd), W4. Corres: 51 GayfordRoad, London W12 9BYPimlico. C. Trinder, 24 Greenwood Ct,155 Cambridge Street, SW1 4VQ. Tel: =>= 78@M 8186

MIDLANDSBirmingham branch. Thur. 8pm, TheSquare Peg, Corporation Street. Tel: Ron Cook, =1>1 P@@ 171>

NO%THEASTNortheast branch. Corres: JohnBissett, 10 Scarborough Parade,Hebburn, Tyne & Wear, NE31 2AL. Tel: =1Q1 M>> 6Q1P email:johnbissett@blueyonder.co.uk

NO%THWESTLancaster branch. P. Shannon, 10Green Street, Lancaster LA1 1DZ. Tel:=786@ 16P@>1

Manchester branch. Paul Bennett, 6Burleigh Mews, Hardy Lane, M217LB.Tel: =161 86= 718QBolton. Tel: H. McLaughlin.=1>=M 8MMP8QCumbria. Brendan Cummings, 19Queen St, Millom, Cumbria LA18 4BG%ochdale. Tel: R. Chadwick. =17=6 P>>@6PSoutheast Manchester. Enquiries:Blanche Preston, 68 Fountains Road,M32 9PH

RO%KSHI%EHull. Hull: Keith Scholey, 12 ReginaCt, Victoria Ave, HU5 3EA. Tel: =1M8>MM6P1Skipton. R Cooper, 1 Caxton Garth,Threshfield, Skipton BD23 5EZ. Tel: =17P6 7P>6>1

SOUTHUSOUTHEASTUSOUTHWESTBournemouth and East Dorset. PaulHannam, 12 Kestrel Close, Upton,Poole BH16 5RP. Tel: =1>=> 6@>76QBrighton. Corres: c/o 52 ClaphamHigh Street, London SW4 7UNBristol. Shane Roberts, 86 High Street,Bristol BS5 6DN. Tel: =117 QP111QQCambridge. Andrew Westley, 10Marksby Close, Duxford, CambridgeCB2 4RS. Tel: =1>>@ P7=>Q>Canterbury. Rob Cox, 4 StanhopeRoad, Deal, Kent, CT14 6ABLuton. Nick White, 59 HeywoodDrive, LU2 7LP%edruth. Harry Sowden, 5 ClarenceVillas, Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 1PB.Tel: =1>=Q >1Q>Q@

NO%THE%N I%ELANDBelfast. R. Montague, 151 CavehillRoad, BT15 1BL. Tel: =>8Q= P867QQ

Newtownabbey: Nigel NcCullough.Tel: =>8Q= 86=687

SCOTLANDEdinburgh branch.1st Thur. 8-9pm.The Quaker Hall, Victoria Terrace(above Victoria Street), Edinburgh. J. Moir. Tel: =1@1 MM= =QQPJIMMY@jmoir29.freeserve.co.ukBranch website:http://geocities.com/edinburghbranch/Glasgow branch. 3rd Wednesday ofeach month at 8pm in CommunityCentral Halls, 304 Maryhill Road,Glasgow. Richard Donnelly, 112Napiershall Street, Glasgow G20 6HT.Tel: =1M1 P7QM1=Q Email:richard.donnelly1@ntlworld.comAyrshire: D. Trainer, 21 Manse Street,Salcoats, KA21 5AA. Tel: =1>QMM6QQQM. derricktrainer@freeuk.comDundee. Ian Ratcliffe, 16 Birkhall Ave,Wormit, Newport-on-Tay, DD6 8PX.Tel: =1@>8 PM16M@West Lothian. 2nd and 4th Weds inmonth, 7.30-9.30. LanthornCommunity Centre, Kennilworth Rise,Dedridge, Livingston. Corres: MattCulbert, 53 Falcon Brae, Ladywell,Livingston, West Lothian, EH5 6UW.Tel: =1P=6 M6>@PQEmail: matt@wsmweb.fsnet.co.uk

WALESSwansea branch. 2nd Mon, 7.30pm,Unitarian Church, High Street. Corres:Geoffrey Williams, 19 Baptist WellStreet, Waun Wen, Swansea SA1 6FB.Tel: =17Q> 6M@6>MCardiff and District. John James, 67Romilly Park Road, Barry CF62 6RR.Tel: =1MM6 M=P6@6

INTE%NATIONAL CONTACTSAF%ICAGambia. World of Free Access.Contact SPGB, London. Kenya. Patrick Ndege, PO Box 56428,NairobiUganda. Socialist Club, PO Box 217,Kabale. Email:wmugyenzi@yahoo.comSwaziland. Mandia Ntshakala, PO Box981, Manzini

EU%OPEDenmark. Graham Taylor, Spobjervej173, DK-8220, Brabrand.Germany. Norbert. Email:weltsozialismus@gmx.netTristan Miller. Email:psychonaut@nothingisreal.comNorway. Robert Stafford. Email:hallblithe@yahoo.com

COMPANION PA%TIESO[E%SEASWorld Socialist Party of Australia.P. O. Box 1266 North Richmond 3121,Victoria, Australia.. Email:commonownership@yahoo.com.auSocialist Party of CanadaUPartiSocialiste du Canada. Box 4280,Victoria B.C. V8X 3X8 Canada. Email:SPC@iname.comWorld Socialist Party (New ]ealand)P.O. Box 1929, Auckland, NI, NewZealand. Email:wspnz@worldsocialism.org World Socialist Party of the UnitedStates P.O. Box 440247, Boston, MA02144 USA. Email:wspboston@mindspring.com

Contact Details

Essential: apre-war cornershop

Socialist !tandard 'ecem+er -../0./!

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Can of worms@;e .ackgro2nd to t;is can of wor-s

is not t;e state of t;e ;o2sing in t;e sinkestates MQcitXsQP in t;e s2.2r.s of t;e -aDortowns in 5rance7 Ko-e of t;e ;o2singBad-ittedl' not allB is of fairl' good 12alit';aving .een .2ilt in t;e -id?)YZ[s7 Britis;sink estates are a lot worse7 *or is t;epro.le- t;at of t;e a.sence of p2.licservicesB ed2cationB ;ealt; careB p2.lictransport and all t;e rest7 @;ese p2.licservices are present in t;ese areas to aneStent w;ic; co2ld onl' .e drea-t of in ane12ivalent T-erican or Britis; g;etto7 LetNsnot get t;ings -iSed 2p7 *oB t;e -ainpro.le- of t;ese sink estates is precisel't;e social and et;nic ;o-ogeneit' of t;eseareas or t;e concentration of people wit;profo2nd social pro.le-s t;ere7 5a-il'.reakdownBsoleparentingBlow self?estee-Bed2cationaldiffic2ltiesBpro.le-s ofe-plo'-entco?eSist wit;an oftenviolent socialenviron-entw;ere 'o2ngpeople grow2ps2rro2nded.' delin12entgangs7

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Cal-Q-iddle?classQareas ;ave aplet;ora ofpolice stations7EarliereSperi-entswit;co--2nit'policing

MQpolice de proSi-itXQP 2ndertaken .' t;eQsocialist govern-entQ of ^ospin s2cceededin cal-ing t;e s2.2r.s .2t were a.andoned.' t;e s2per?cop Karko on t;e gro2nd t;att;is allowed t;e proliferation of a paralleldr2g econo-' Mtr2eP7 In t;ese ter-sB t;e-ore testosterone?propelled policing of t;ec2rrent ad-inistration is .elieved to .e-ore effective Mnot tr2eP7 Ts a res2ltpolicing in t;e s2.2r.s ;as taken on t;eQw;a- .ang and t;ank 'o2 -a-Q st'le wit;lots of -edia attention7

52nds going to t;e associations in t;es2.2r.s ;ave .een c2t and Do.?creationsc;e-es s2spended7 @;is is g2aranteed toworsen co--2nit' relations wit; littlepa'off in ter-s of t;e fig;t against t;2gsw;ose activities doB after allB provide so-ecas;?flow in t;ese areas w;ere 'o2t;2ne-plo'-ent often ;its _` percent ? t;e;ig;est rate in E2rope7 *o wonder t;en t;att;e govern-ent ;as decided to park t;e riotpolice MCRKP on a se-i?per-anent .asis int;ese estates7 Tlt;o2g; co2ntr' .2-pkinswit; a well?deserved rep2tation for.r2talit'B t;e' do at least know ;ow to react

Merde inFrance

ZSocialist !tandard 'ecem+er -../

w;en t;e' get lost in an area t;e' donNtknow7

,Arab work,In strictl' capitalist ter-s not;ing

can nor per;aps will .e done to c;ange t;issorr' state of affairs7 @;e c2rrentpop2lation of t;e s2.2r.s largel' consistsof t;e sons and da2g;ters of .lack Tfricansand Tra.s .ro2g;t over in t;e )Y![s and)YZ[s to do t;e s;it Do.s in t;e factoriest;at t;e 5renc; didnNt want to do7 MT realit'w;ic; was .ro2g;t ;o-e to -e w;en Isaw an entire train f2ll of eS;a2stedworkers ret2rning fro- a nig;t s;ift at t;ePe2geot works in Poiss'7 @;e' were allTra.s7P b;ilst t;is earlier generation nows2.sists on -icroscopic pensions and social.enefitsB t;e new kids on t;e .lock ares;owing a distinct tendenc' towards2ndere-plo'-ent and delin12enc'7 b;en-ass 2ne-plo'-ent ;it t;ese areas in t;e)YE[s w;at co-placent sociolog' calls t;eQvisi.le i--igrantsQ fo2nd t;e-selvestrapped and 2ndere-plo'ed in t;e s2.2r.sas t;e earlier MQinvisi.leQcP i--igrants ofKpanis;B ItalianB Polis; or Port2g2ese origin;ad s2cceeded in getting t;e ;ell o2t7Integration after all is not so -2c; a12estion of religion as it is a 12estion ofti-ing7

@;en ca-e t;e trend' do?gooders w;o

in t;e -id?)YE[s la2nc;ed t;e wind';2-anistic -ove-ent Q@o2c;e pas d -onpeteQ MQdonNt to2c; -' -ateQP wit; t;e ;elpof ;eav' p2.lic s2.sidies fro- t;eMitterrand govern-entB Qt;e Kp;inSQ;aving a.andoned all pretence to defendworking class interests so-eti-e earl' int;e )YE[s7 8stensi.l' a wort;' -ove-entai-ed at overco-ing t;e pro.le-s faced .'t;ose 5renc; citiLens w;o were 2nfort2nateeno2g; to ;ave Tra. or .lack parentsB t;isc2rrent of t;o2g;t s2cceeding in convincingg2lli.le people t;at t;e real pro.le- faced.' people in t;e sink estates was t;eentrenc;ed racis- of t;e 5renc; and notsi-pl' s;it Do.sB 2ne-plo'-ent and a .r2taland ignorant police forceF pro.le-s faced.' workers ever'w;ere7

0omitorium @;e ot;er side of t;e political rain.ow

;as seen t;e develop-ent of a far?rig;teStre-ist part'B t;e *ational 5rontB fro- o2tof t;e -ori.2nd Po2Dadist organisation oft;e )Y`[s7 Led .' ^ean Marie Le PenB aneS?paratrooper involved in dirt' .2sinessd2ring t;e Tlgerian war of independenceB

t;is o2tfit provides a convenient .oge'?-anfor lefties w;o ;ave got lost in t;e .analit'of leftVrig;t capitalist politics7 @;e part'Bgenero2sl' staffed .' disaffected for-ercolonists fro- Tlgeria Mt;e so?called QpiedsnoirsQPB ;as ;eavil' 2nderlined t;e fail2re ofintegration of t;e 5renc; citiLens of Tra.origin -an' of w;o-B incredi.l'B still donNtknow ;ow to conD2gate t;e s2.D2nctive oft;e i-perfect in 5renc; and t;is after so-an' gra--ar lessons7 @;e part' even ;asa radio station calledB c2rio2sl'B QRadioCo2rtoisieQ MRig;t wing 5renc; t;2gs ;avealwa's ;ad i-pecca.le -annersP to .ea-o2t its C;ristian -essage of ;atred andpreD2dice7 5ort2natel'B onl' .ored;o2sewives and retired colonels listen to

t;is drivel7 8rdinar'

5renc;workers ;aveproved overand over againt;at t;e' arenot on t;ew;ole racist.igotsB t;o2g;t;e' can .e a.itSenop;o.ic7*onet;elesst;e part'contin2es togarner votesinconstit2enciesw;ere itdoesnNt even;ave a local.ranc; oreven an' kindof grass?roots

eSistence7 5or t;e part' eSists in factB as aconvenient wa' for workers to eSpress t;eirdisaffection wit; t;e 5renc; politicalesta.lis;-ent w;ic; is all too clearl' inca;oots wit; capitalist interests7 ItNs a kindof gigantic p2.licl'?s2.sidiLed vo-itori2-into w;ic; people spew t;eir .ile wit; LePenNs 2gl' -2g providing a conveniente-etic7 In doing t;isB ;oweverB 5renc;workers ;ave clearl' .een pla'ing wit; fire7*ow t;e'Nre getting .2rnt7

Urban pariahs @;2s do2.l' confir-ed in t;eir stat2s

as 2r.an paria;sB -an' of t;e 'o2ng peoplein t;e s2.2r.s ;ave contin2ed to st2d'12ietl' and find work despite an ill?adapteded2cational s'ste-B -aterial diffic2ltiesBpostcode discri-inationB t;e 2selesscondescension of t;e politicians and crapDo.s7 @;e ed2cational priorit' areas MQLoneXd2cation prioritaireQPB -odelled on t;eearlier Britis; fiascoB ;ave .een starved ofreso2rces and ;ave t;2s done little to erodet;e ine12alities of an overtl' elitisted2cational s'ste-7 @;e' receive a piddlingE percent -ore t;an t;e -ainstrea-

sc;oolsB ;ardl' eno2g; toco-pensate for t;e learningdiffic2lties enco2ntered .' peoplefro- poor .ackgro2ndsB not to-ention t;ose fro- non?5renc;speaking .ackgro2nds in a co2ntr'w;ere national arrogance places onpre-i2- on speaking proper7

Despite t;e diffic2lties t;ereare so-e fineB dedicated teac;ers int;ese areas w;ose efforts ;ave .een;a-pered .' a sordid socialenviron-ent and poor logistics2pport7 In t;e final anal'sis t;enB!g percent of 5renc; working?class

people find t;eir offspring .ack in t;eworking?class .ackgro2nd w;ic; t;e' ca-efro- Mt;e ;ig;est proportion in E2ropeP in aco2ntr' w;ic; presents itself as sec2lar and-eritocratic7 Tnd t;atNs .efore we p2t t;epec2liar pro.le-s faced .' t;e deniLens oft;e g;etto into t;e .alance7

Ko t;e real pro.le- is t;e ina.ilit' ofpeople in t;ese areas to escape fro- a;ig;l' stig-atiLing spatial set?2p7 @;eassociation s2.2r. R i--igrants Rdelin12enc' is cri-inal st2pidit'7 @;e Tra.and .lack pop2lations w;o live in areas inclose proSi-it' to -ainstrea- 5renc; lifedo not riot7 *or did t;e Tra.s w;o live int;e centre of Marseilles7 MIn t;e sa-e wa'12iet Tlsatian villages wit; no Tra.s vote*ational 5ront7P b;ere t;e sink estates didnot riot is -ore i-portant t;an w;ere t;e'did .2t no television ca-eras go to t;eseareas7 In factB t;e vast -aDorit' of t;e t;irdgeneration i--igrants in t;e s2.2r.s tookno part in t;e disorders and -an' were asterrified .' w;at went on as t;e 5renc;pop2lation in general7

@;e pro.le- s;o2ld not .e t;o2g;t ofsi-pl' in ter-s of spatiall' deli-ited sinkestates7 @;e wider trends of t;e w;ole of5renc; societ' s;o2ld .e taken into acco2nt7@o a significant eStentB t;e tro2.les s;o2ld.e seen as a reflection of t;e growinggeograp;ical segregation of t;e 5renc;pop2lation partl' d2e to t;e .oo-ing;o2sing -arket and t;e contin2o2s rise inrents in t;e private sector7

Tnd t;e doings of t;e affl2ent in5rance s;o2ld also .e -entioned7 @;e ric;are .eginning to privatiLe t;e 5renc;rep2.lic for t;eir own ends7 Ric; g;ettoesBlike KarkoNs own constit2enc' of *e2ill' tot;e west of Paris ;as onl' g percent ofco2ncil ;o2sing w;en t;e legal o.ligation isfor g[ percent7 @;e sa-e is tr2e ofneig;.o2ring Levallois and t;e pattern isrepeated all over 5rance7 Clearl' t;e ric;are ;aving so-e diffic2lt' integrating intot;e Rep2.licB per;aps t;e' donNt want to7Tfter allB t;e' send t;eir kids to privateBoften cat;olic sc;oolsB w;ere t;e' learn;ow different t;e' are fro- ever'one else7@;ereafter t;e' take advantage of ;ig;ered2cation facilities to propel t;eir;orrendo2s offspring into t;e .etter Do.s7 Ts;ort soDo2rn in t;e Ktates co-pletes t;epict2re7

More i-portantl'B recent events ;aveallowed t;e govern-ent to sneak t;ro2g;controversial taS .reaks for t;e s2per?ric;w;ilst introd2cing -ore taS free enterprisesinto t;e sink estates ? .2t t;en againBper;apsB t;is was w;at was reall' at stake int;e first place7 !!! #$aris)

! S"c$a&$'t Standard December 2005

ReportfromParisWe have received the followingreport on the recent riots inFrance as seen by a migrantworker there.

At the end of Octoberthere was a heavy riotin the suburbs of 4arisas a result of a police

identity card control. ThreeAfrican immigrants, one fromthe west coast and the othertwo from North Africa werecontrolled by police aroundSeine Saint Denis in one ofsuburbs of 4aris. There was adisagreement between theimmigrants and the police onduty. So, the three immigrantsraced for safety but,unfortunately, two ran into ahigh tension compound and were electrocuted. Another one ranin a different direction and alerted his friends to what happened.Before they could trace the two boys and call the fire service torescue them, it was too late.

These suburbs have been neglected, segregated for peopleof the same ethnic and religious background, for the past thirtyyears. Some of those living there who acBuired good skills in onetrade or the other were denied a Cob opportunity because of theircolour, location of their residence or Islamic names. An Englishadage says that an idle man is the devilFs workshop. Since theseimmigrants were denied social and economic integration intoGrench society, they devised what means of livelihood they couldin order to keep the body and soul together. Gor many yearsGrench society has regarded them as outcasts and vagabondswho have no value Cust because of their colour and fate.

When this incident happened the Interior Minister ofGrance, Nicolas SarkoJy, a hardliner and the son of anKungarian immigrant, supported the action of the police and saidthat they were on a drive to control criminals and drugs in thosesuburbs instead of showing compassion and regret over thedeath of the two African immigrants. After his televisionbroadcast, these immigrants, comprising black Africans and theNorth Africans, plus their sympathetic friends from Asia, Latinos,West Indies and other Europeans, Coined hands in the riots.

On the second day of the riots, the Interior Minister braggedthat he would beef up the police to one thousand to control thesituation. And that night about eight hundred cars were burnteMcluding houses. The riots started from Seine Saint Denisaround 4aris and spread all over Grance. These cities areBordeauM, Nantes, Toulouse, Tours, Belfort, Essonne, RoubaiM,Strasbourg, Lyon, Oaucluse, Besancon, Aulnay, Marseille,Amiens, and many more cities in Grance.

The cost of the damage in the three weeks of riots inGrance amounted to PQ00 million, Cust because of racism,Menophobia, and segregation that was imposed on immigrants

by capitalism. And this is the countrythat propagated a disguisedcolonisation to third world countriesunder the pretence of a policy ofassociation and assimilation. Andtoday their fake paradigm programmeis eMposed to the world for us toknow the danger in capitalism.

On 11 November, BBC radioreported that the European UnionVustice Commissioner, GrancoGrattini, told Grance to integrate itsethnic minorities in other to avoidfurther such occurrences. On 1WNovember, the same EU gave PX0million to Grance to rebuild theircountry. They had forgotten to pass

the message across to other EU memberstates that prevention is better than cure.

To my greatest surprise, on the streets of 4aris and othercities that I visited in Grance many Grench people confessed infront of the television cameras that they had never seen riots likethis in their life. And these were Cust riots with petrol bombs andstones thrown by few boys! And I asked myself, what if they hadseen the genocides from Biafra to Rwanda that imperialismcaused, because of its egocentric intent, at the eMpense of poorAfricans in particular and the third world countries at large.

What is happening in Grance today should be a lesson tonations like Belgium, Kolland, Germany, SwitJerland, Austria,Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

As a socialist propagandist, I hate vandalism, I believe inpeaceful social and political dialogue. But, when people take thelaw into theirhands, that meansthat they have beenoppressed beyondbounds and theyare prone toeMplode. And theireMplosion can resultto rioting, rebellion,terrorism andsometimes totalanarchy.

At thisCuncture, EU shoulduse its tongue tocount its teeth andknow that theGortress Europehas brought severedamage to Granceand that many more riots are on the way to other EU memberstates that have refused to open up their immigration policy thatencourages marginalised FillegalF immigrants. Immigration policyin the West is based on corrupt western politicians connivingwith the third world politicians; as a result, immigrants continueto cross borders and seas no matter what the risk ahead.

SarkoJy is a man who believes that he can become the4resident of Grance in Q00\ by fighting immigration. Capitalismhas blindfolded the world that our level of forgetting things isBuite enormous. If not, how can some political riff]raff like NicolasSarkoJy of Grance and the Belgium Interior Minister 4atrickDawael be propagating what their forefathers could not achieveyears ago^ These two sycophants are looking for cheappopularity in their political party because they live in the land ofthe blind that have eyes but cannot see. They will bring woes tothe entire population of these two nations.

Lastly, I am advocating that the only solution that willenable people of different race to live in peace is socialism. Andcapitalism should be eradicated without further delay to enableus to enCoy the beautiful things of the world without fear. !Dele C. Iloanya, Paris

!arko&' ) after c.eap pop0larit'

Franco Frattini ) moreinte6ration

S"c$a&$'t Standard December 2005 "

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Nll%t#is%co(ti(6$s%6(a9at$7%6(7$4Q$+%Ha9o64>%i(7$$7>%+it#%Da(8%s69tl$%a(7o2t$(%c46$l%4$2i($D$(tsG%?#$s$%i(cl67$%t#$2i($%coD9i()%o2%t#$%0o06latio(%o2%t#$0a4tiall8%7isa9l$7%a(7%t#$i4%)4a76ali(cl6sio(%i(%t#$%4$s$4-$%a4D8%o2%la9o64%a(7t#$%0a4tic6la4l8%946tal%t4$atD$(t%D$t$7%o6tto%lo($%Dot#$4sG%[2%co64s$>%Q$+%Ha9o64#as%i(t4o76c$7%t#$%(atio(al%Di(iD6D%+a)$al9$it%o(%a(%$Jt4$D$l8%lo+%l$-$lG%56t%t#iso(l8%D$a(s%t#at%o-$4%t#$%lo()Lt$4D%t#$7$04$ssi-$%2o4c$s%+o4/i()%o(%+a)$%l$-$ls+ill%4$s6lt%i(%t#$%l$)al%Di(iD6D%9$coDi()t#$%DaJiD6D%0ai7%o6t%2o4%6(s/ill$7%+o4/>t#$%t4a7$%6(io(s%#a-i()%9$$(%+$a/$($7%98t+o%7$ca7$s%o2%l$)al%D$77li()G

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0olici()%t#$%24o(ti$4%9$t+$$(%t#$%4$s$4-$a4D8%o2%la9o64%L%0$o0l$%+#o%a4$%o(%#ol7%2o4lat$4%$J0loitatio(%L%a(7%t#$%s640l6s0o06latio(%L%0$o0l$%+#o%a4$%siD0l8Dai(tai($7%at%lo+%cost%o6tsi7$%o2%t#$%la9o64Da4/$tG%OHa9o64%Da4/$t%acti-atio(O%L%t#$t4$(78%t$4D%2o4%t#$s$%($+%0olici$s%L%is%4$all8a9o6t%Da/i()%soD$%2o4D$4l8%$Jcl67$7+o4/$4s%a-aila9l$%2o4%a%s0ot%o2%$J0loitatio(GSocial%+$l2a4$%0olici$s%7o(Ot%sol-$%t#$6(7$4l8i()%04o9l$D%o2%ca0italist$J0loitatio(G%56t%t#$(%a)ai(%+#o%+o6l7$-$4%loo/%to%t#$%Ha9o64%\a4t8%o4%Q$+Ha9o64%to%sol-$%t#at%04o9l$D]%%!!!

Pa0line and .er pens ) from a classic :;satire on t.e state<s relentless .0miliationof t.e 0nemplo'ed

Socialist Standard December 20055!"

In November anti-capitalistswere urged, via email, tosend a letter of protest tothe ;resident of Argentina

about the threat to evict theworkers cooperative, set up byformer employees, that tookover the bankrupt Bauen Hotelin the centre of Buenos Airestwo years ago and has been

running it ever since.When in December D""!

the Argentine economy andcurrency began a melt-downmany small and medium-siEedenterprises went bankrupt orwere simply abandoned bytheir owners. Faced withGoining the already huge andgrowing army of unemployed,

workers in some of thesebusinesses took matters intotheir own hands. Theyoccupied the workplace andresumed production on theirown account.

At the time some saw thisas the beginning of a socialrevolution in which theworkers take over the factoriesand organise productionwithout the bosses. A moresober assessment was that thiswas workers, in a crisissituation, reacting in apragmatic fashion to try toensure that they had somesource of income to maintainthemselves and their families.But it did at least show, to anywho might not have realised it,that workers can organiseproduction without bosses.

This was not really amass movement, but itcurrently involves some D""enterprises employing in totala maximum of !",""" people,i.e. the average JrecuperatedenterpriseJ as they callthemselves (recuperated, thatis, from bosses regarded asundeserving or even thieving)is one employing about M"workers. And !",""" lessunemployed is a drop in theocean compared with the totalnumber of unemployed inArgentina which, even today,is still over D million.

The authorities, notwishing to aggravate analready disastrous economicand financial crisis, acceptedthis situation as a fait accompliand passed a law allowingworkers cooperatives to play apart in rescuing failedbusinesses. Nnder this law,local and regional authoritieswere empowered tocompulsorily acOuire a failedbusiness and authorise it to berun by a workers cooperativefor up to two years pending asettlement with other creditors(the workers themselves wereoften also creditors in respectof unpaid wages) or the formerowners. Some recuperatedenterprises went down thisroad. Qthers negotiated a leasewith the former owners, whichof course involved payingthem a share of any profits.Qthers continued to operateoutside the law.

The two years are nowcoming up, and with theArgentine economy havingrecovered a little and the socialand political situationstabilised, the authorities arebeginning to enforce the law,which gives property rightsover a business either to theformer owners or theircreditors. A number ofbusinesses taken over by the

workers in D""D have alreadybeen recuperated back fromthem. Now, it appears, it is theturn of the Bauen Hotel.

Evicting the bosses andorganising production withoutthem is one thingS escapingfrom the economic laws of themarket is another - as, withincapitalism, it is not Gust aOuestion of organisingproduction, but also of sellingwhat is produced. Because oftheir precarious legal position,the workers cooperativesrunning a recuperatedenterprise have been at acompetitive disadvantage.They canTt get proper bankloans and, because ordinarycapitalist businesses are nottoo keen to deal with them,often have to sell to them via ago-between (who naturallydemands a share of theprofits).

What the workerscooperatives, some of whichare organised in a MovimentoNacional de EmpresasRecuperadas, are nowdemanding is a stable legalframeworkS basically, that thestate or regional or localauthorities compulsorilypurchase the business they arerunning and legally hand itover to them. Thus, the petitionto the ;resident of Argentinaon behalf of the Bauen Hotelcooperative calls upon JtheArgentinian government andits legislators to actimmediately to . . . pass a lawof definitive expropriation infavour of the Workplacecooperative B.A.N.E.N.J

Apart from wanting tosecure their own position, thebroader vision of those behindthe Bauen cooperative seemsto be an economy based on anetwork of worker-ownedbusinesses. Even anarchists inArgentina, who might beexpected to look favourably onthis, have criticised it:

JCooperativism does notprovide a real solution to theworkersT situation. It isincapable of providing ananswer in the interests of allworkers. At no time does itOuestion the capitalistproduction relationships - itOuestions only superficialfeatures (monopolies,competition, etc.). Even lesscan a network of cooperativescreate a parallel subsystem tocapitalismJ(www.EabalaEa.netZphorumZread.php[f\D]i\!M^]t\!M^).

_es, cooperatives canonly ever involve a minority ofworkers, and the more they areintegrated into the capitalisteconomy and its profit-seeking, the more their

Argentina'sWorker-RunFactories:What Next?

Members of the workers cooperative, with the Bauen hotel behind

Socialist Standard December 2005 !!

members will have to discipline andpressurise themselves in the way the oldbosses did - what used to be known asJself-managed exploitationJ.

The Trotskyists have anothersolution. According to an article in theQctober Le Monde DiplomatiOue:

JDuring D""D there was a livelydebate on whether revived businessesshould get involved in capitalist markets.A Trotskyist minority called fornationalisation under worker control. Ittook over four businesses, includingBrukman, a garment factory in BuenosAires, and aenon, a tile manufacturer inNeuOubn. The workers involved saw therescue as a first step towards a socialistsystem in which the state would controleconomic planning. The hard-left partiesassociated with them did not believe thatcooperatives could survive in a capitalistmarketJ(mondediplo.comZD""MZ!"Z!csurvey).

It is certainly true that cooperativeswill never be able to outcompete ordinarycapitalist enterprises, but the TrotskyistsTalternative of the state subsidising therecuperated enterprises, without reOuiringthem to compete in the marketplace, Gustto provide Gobs is even more unrealistic -and has nothing to do with socialism. (It ismore than likely, however, that this is Gustanother of the TrotskyistsT dishonestJtransitional demandsJ which they knowcanTt be achieved under capitalism butoffered as bait to obtain a following fortheir vanguard party.)

The fact is that there is no way outfor workers within the capitalist system.Not cooperatives, not reforms, not tradeunions. At most these can only make theirsituation a little less unbearable. As longas capitalism lasts workers will have tofind a source of money one way or another

and so will always be in a dependent andprecarious position.

But a number of lessons can bedrawn from the recuperated enterprisesmovement in Argentina.

Firstly, that built into capitalism is aclass struggle between those who own themeans of wealth production and thosewho donTt and who are therefore forced byeconomic necessity to sell their ability towork to those who do. This class struggleis not Gust over the price and conditions ofsale of the commodity workers are selling.Nltimately, itTs about control over themeans of production.

If, as happened in Argentina after theeconomic melt-down of December D""!,capitalists abandon their factories or, ashappened in Russia in !d!e, Spain in

!dc^, and Hungary in !dM^, the capitaliststate is temporarily incapable of protectingcapitalist property, then the workers moreor less spontaneously take over theirworkplaces and keep production going.Workers are not going to let themselvesstarve: if the means of production arethere, and thereTs no state to stop themusing them, theyTll go ahead and use them,even if they have no revolutionarypretensions. However, as soon as the statehas got its act together again, then it is in aposition to confront the workers and re-

impose access to the means of productiononly on its terms.

Which leads to the second lesson: theimportance of who controls the state. Atthe moment, in Argentina as elsewhere,this is in the hands of people favourable tothe continuation of capitalism, itself areflection of the fact that most workers toodonTt see any alternative to capitalism. Thestate, therefore, upholds legal privateproperty rights. The importance ofpolitical power is in fact fully recognisedby the recuperated enterprises movement.This is why they are calling for the law onproperty rights to be changed so as torecognise the property rights of theworkers cooperatives which are runningrecuperated enterprisesS which will onlyhappen if they can get the elected law-makers to do so, either by pressuring themfrom outside or by electing onesfavourable to a change in the law. This iswhy, too, they want people to petition the;resident of Argentina.

The end of capitalism can only comeas a result of a consciously socialistpolitical movement winning control ofpolitical power with a view to abolishingall capitalist property rights and usheringin the common ownership and democraticcontrol of the means of production. Thepreconditions for ending capitalism are amaGority socialist consciousness andworkers democratically self-organised in alarge-scale socialist party. Neither ofwhich, unfortunately, existed in Argentina.Which is why the recuperated enterprisesmovement there has proved a dead-endand why the workers cooperatives it gaverise to are now forced to compromise andintegrate themselves into capitalism tosurvive. !

ADAM BUICK

PensionedOffAccording to thegovernment and thecapitalist media, there isa Jpensions crisisJ inthat, given the growingproportion of retiredpeople in the population,

the capitalist class is not going to be able toafford to maintain pensioners at the samelevel as existing ones. Therefore, theargument goes, people must set aside moreof their current income to purchase futurepension rights. And they must retire later.

It seems to make sense. If there aremore retired people compared to those atwork, surely that must mean that those atwork have to work more andZor consumeless[ This would be true but for one thing: itignores the point that over time productivityincreases, even if only fairly slowly. Thismeans that more wealth can be produced bya workforce of the same siEe, out of which,in theory, both current wages and futurepensions can be maintained at the samelevel as today.

JIn theoryJ because the fact that thiscould happen is no guarantee that it will.But it does show that the capitalist classcanTt plead poverty here. They can afford to

maintain pensions at current levels.That this is so was confirmed in a

report, The Ageing ;opulation, ;ensionsand Wealth Creation, released on c!Qctober by a pro-business think-tank,TomorrowTs Company. According to theBBC News of that day:

JQne of the reportTs authors ;hilipSadler said there was no Tageing crisisT. TAsa society we can afford to grow old,T he said.TRising productivity will outweigh anynegative influence on living standards froman ageing population.TJ

The report asked Jhow can a workingpopulation that is expected to remainaround De to Df million create sufficientwealth over the next cM years to support anadditional five million pensioners[Jand answers:

JThe main factor affecting ourability to afford an ageing populationwithout the erosion of living standards is theimpact of rising productivity. More thananything else, rising productivityexplains the paradox thatageing societies havesimultaneously becomewealthier. At a mere !.eM percent productivity growth peryear, by D"gM, an averageBritish worker will be abouttwice as productive as today.In other words, a doubling of

new value and resources being producedwhile the number and share of over ^gsgrows by less than M" per cent.J

What is interesting in a report from apro-business lobby is that it acknowledgesthat it is the Jworking populationJ who arethe Jwealth creatorsJ rather than the usualguff we get from such groups aboutentrepreneurs being wealth creators. Wealthcan only be created by human beingsapplying their mental and physical energiesto materials that originally came fromnature.

But they do write as if there was adirect transfer from the JworkingpopulationJ to the pensioners. In fact, thisonly happens indirectly, as the wealth is

taken from its direct producers, theworkers, by the capitalist class and

then transferred by them, via thestate and pension funds, to pensioners. Sopensions come out of profits, not wages.Which is why how to pay for pensions is

a problem for the capitalist class.However they solve it,what we get will never beenough to compensate fora lifetime of exploitation.

Cooking the Books (1)

“cooperatives willnever be able tooutcompete ordinarycapitalist enterprises“

Socialist Standard December 2005512

Russia at the time was apredominantly agrarian country.80 per cent of its inhabitants werepeasants, eking out a very meagre

existence from the soil. They had beenemancipated from being serfs in 1861 by adecree of Tsar Alexander III but peasantunderstanding of personal ownership inland remained very rudimentary. After the1861 emancipation act there arose awidespread and deeply held belief amongthe peasants that at some time in the futurea redistribution of land was going tohappen. This belief made them a veryvolatile and potentially revolutionary class,although they had no political aims andcould see no further than land.

Whereas in Britain and most ofEurope at the time, a strong nobility hadlimited the power of the monarch,allowing a rising capitalist class todevelop. In Russia, Tsar Nicholas hadabsolute power. He ruled under a systemcalled patrimonialism, in which everythingbelonged to the Tsar. He was absolutemonarch and nothing could change withouthis consent. There was no parliament orconstitution. Government officials weredirectly responsible to him, and hebelieved firmly in upholding this system,much as Charles I of England believedfirmly in the divine right of Kings. Thismeant in practice that the growth ofcapitalist industry in Russia was limitedand largely reliant on foreign capital.Consequently the indigenous capitalistclass was very weak.

As a result of this weakness the pathto a political and legal set-up in whichcapitalist development could flourish wasundertaken by the 'intelligentsia', a conceptpeculiar to Russia. Comprised largely ofuniversity students, lawyers, and artists(i.e. writers) it was more or less open toanyone who was against the patrimonialset-up. And because Tsar Nicholas wasextremely rigid in his outlook andfrightened of any change that could limithis power, democratic protest from the1870s onwards was not an option. Protestbecame channelled into the form ofviolence, with assassinations ofgovernment officials taking a prominentpart. A movement, openly committed toassassination, called the People's Willcame into being, attracting the support ofmuch of the intelligentsia, including, for atime, Lenin. Some thousands of

government officials were killed;assassination became a way of life.

The response from the government,backed by the Tsar, was repression, toclamp down ever more tightly. The use ofwhips by the police to quell student strikesdid not endear the government to thosewho wanted change. At the close of the19th century with the setting-up of theOkhrana, Russia became the first policestate in history. It was riddled with secretpolice infiltrating agents into most of theanti-Tsar organisations. Various politicalparties had developed by this time, withvarying aims, ranging from theestablishment of a parliament and aconstitution to establishing socialism. Theexact nature of what they meant bysocialism was never really stated, butprobably boiled down to some kind ofnationalisation, with tight governmentcontrol. Around this time many of Marx'searly writings had arrived in Russia andMarx was very popular, but not muchunderstood. Funnily enough Capital wasallowed by the censor who thought it wasso dreary no one would read it, but mostlyMarx's writings were smuggled in.

By 1905 there were three majorpolitical parties loosely representingdifferent class interests. They were theDemocratic Constitutional Party (Kadets)(bourgeois), Social Democratic LabourParty (working class or proletariat in thelanguage of the day), and SocialistRevolutionaries (roughly, peasants andworkers).

Tactics varied from assassination,advocating strike action, to 'leading theworkers to the dictatorship of theproletariat' but all were agreed on thenecessity to remove the Tsar. From the1890s onwards things were growing tense.Conditions of work in the factories andrailways were abysmal, with very lowwages, working hours of twelve tofourteen hours a day and appalling livingconditions, much like they had been a fewyears earlier in Britain's industrialrevolution. There were many very largefactories in Russia employing up to sixthousand workers, attracting thousands ofunskilled peasants. They were mainlyhoused in rapidly built barracks crammedin four or five to one room, quite a few ofthose employing a night shift saving onbed linen by having the night and dayshifts use the same bed.

1905: the firstRussian Revolution

One hundred years ago this year there happened a seriesof events in Russia, culminating in a general uprising inDecember, that Trotsky called 'the dress rehearsal for therevolution of 1917' and which in terms of bloodshed werefar more violent than the actual events in St. Petersburgtwelve years later.

A meeting of the Russian Social DemocraticLabour Party. Lenin is centre, Martovsecond from right

Socialist Standard December 2005 13

As usual, as a result of hasty buildingto accommodate large numbers of workerssanitary conditions were practically non-existent with open sewers in St Petersburgand Moscow and the consequent healthrisk, the usual concomitants of capitalismin its early stages.

In 1903 the Social DemocraticLabour Party held a conference in Londonto draw up fresh rules (largely to containthe split in their ranks between thosefollowing Lenin and those supportingMartov). Lenin was insistent on the needfor a tightly integrated, disciplined party ofprofessional revolutionaries. Martov was infavour of a more open, less disciplinedparty with much easier access tomembership. The conference lead to adecisive split, roughly down the middle butwith a slight edge to Lenin. From thattime on these two sections were known bythe name of Bolsheviks (majority) andMensheviks (minority), leading to openconflict between these groups, played outfifteen years later at the time of thedeposition of the Tsar and the Bolshevikrise to power.

So, at the turn of the century thereexisted a highly critical situation. An allpowerful and inflexible, but neverthelessweak, Tsar, a poorly organised and ill-developed native capitalist class, apeasantry in rebellious mood but non-politicised, and a small as yet unorganisedworking class, not political, whose aimswere confined to improving workingconditions. On the fringe a party ofprofessional revolutionaries whose aimwas to lead the proletariat as their'vanguard', but as yet had minimalinfluence. Something had to give! In 1905it did.

In 1904 Russia went to war againstJapan, in a war that was partly territorial,and partly, as most Western historians seemagreed, a bid by the Russian government todistract attention from current difficultiesand unite the population in a patrioticfervour with a resounding victory.Unfortunately for the Tsar it didn't work, asthere was an even more resounding defeat.The general public lack of support for theTsar fell even lower. More large-scalestrikes ensued, and then, in 1905, therehappened an event only too common in thestruggles of the working class to gainjustice.

Trade unions had been disallowed up

till then in Russia but the government hadbeen experimenting with police-led unionsin an attempt to take the heat out ofworkers discontent. One of these was aunion led by a priest, Father Gapon. FatherGapon thought it a worthy idea to lead amarch in St. Petersburg to appeal to theTsar, following the commonly-held beliefin countries with a very powerful head thattheir father figure is unaware of thesufferings of the population and willintervene to put them right if only they canbring their problems to his attention. OnSunday 22 January some 150,000 peoplegathered in St Petersburg and marched onthe Winter Palace where it was believedthe Tsar was in residence. It was apeaceful protest, many were carryingicons, none were carrying weapons; theybelieved the Tsar would listen. They were

met by troops who opened fire. The deathtoll was estimated at 200 killed and 800wounded, reminiscent of many other panicreactions by governing bodies to peacefulworking class demonstrations, Peterloo,Tiananmen Square among them. Supportfor the Tsar fell even further from then on.

Bloody Sunday, as it was thereaftercalled, opened the floodgates and thecountry was in turmoil. Strikes,demonstrations, outbreaks of violence werethe order of the day. Eventually it wasreluctantly agreed to inaugurate aconstituent assembly called the 'Duma'.This was set up and delegates were votedin, many of them peasants, but it never hadany real power. In the mind of the Tsar itwas only a sop which he intended torevoke as soon as the opportunitypresented itself.

The conservative reaction to thisconcession was extreme. A party was setup, the Octoberist party, which encouraged

mob violence against supporters of theDuma. Government-inspired pogromsagainst Jews resulted in thousands ofdeaths and much homelessness. A wave ofstrikes broke out, peasant violence againsttheir landlords escalated, similar to theFrench peasant violence and destruction ofchateaux in another bourgeois revolution.The country was approaching a civil war.The appointment of a new minister of theinterior, Stolypin, brought some ease to thecountry. His reign of repression consistedof setting special courts, which would haveno compunction about passing the deathsentence. So many were hanged that thenickname 'Stolypin's neckties' becamepopular. He was eventually assassinated -at the opera, in front of the Tsar.

On the positive side, Stolypininitiated land reforms that were meant tobe progressive but are generally agreed ashaving no great effect. The countrygradually settled down, though nevercompletely, and from around 1908 to 1914there was a mild boom, with an increase incapital development.

Was 1905 a revolution? Not really. Itwas more a revolt, by large sections of thepopulation against savagely repressiveconditions, and by the nascent capitalistclass to establish the freedom to operate.But there was no proposal to change thebasis of society and each element, thepeasants, the bourgeoisie, the nobles werepaddling their own canoe. There was onlyone way they could go: capitalism. At bestit was a rebellion, but one that had aprofound influence on a similar uprisingtwelve years later which did change thebasis of Russian society by completelyuprooting Tsarism.

There are many lessons to be learnedfrom this one episode in a period of violentchange. One is that any worthwhileprogress in human society must come, andcan only come, from the working class.Relying on our rulers to initiate worthwhilechange is as useless as the Russianpeasants' reliance on the Tsar. But aboveall is the fact that no force can cut short thenatural development of society until it isready for change. !

CYRIL EVANS

From left: Martov; Palace Guards preparing to fire at protestors; Stolypin

“any worthwhileprogress in humansociety must come,and can only come,from the workingclass”

Socialist Standard December 2005514

The subject ofleadership has beenmuch in the newsrecently. The Labour

Party conference breathedfresh life into the ailing storyof how long Tweedleblairwill hang on to the top job,thus denying Tweedlebrownthe juicy fruits of office. TheConservatives, trying hard tofind a leader who will lastmore than 15 minutes, haveengaged in a drawn-outbeauty contest long oncandidates but short onbeauty. Even leaders needtheir leaders - George Dubyais reported to have said thathe was instructed by God toinvade Iraq.

The socialist view onleadership is quite simpleand straightforward. Wedon't need leaders and can dovery well without them.Socialists are neither leadersnor followers - we areparticipants in the socialistmovement and will be socialequals in a socialist society.

That is not to say thatsome of the qualitiessometimes associated withleadership will not berelevant in socialism. Todaywe rightly reject the idea thatthe Socialist Party has aleader, but it does have aGeneral Secretary to carryout certain democraticfunctions. Similarly, we don'thave leading writers or

leading speakers, but we dohave an editorial board and aprocedure to test memberswho want to speak publiclyon behalf of the Party.

Leadership is not to beconfused with exercisinginitiative. The Socialist Partyas an organisation, andsocialism as a future society,both need people who willstart something or improveon what exists. Thus thefresh design and layout of theSocialist Standard since thebeginning of this year wasthe result of a few membersusing their initiative,responding to what they sawas a need and supporteddemocratically by the Partyas a whole. The same appliesto Capitalism and OtherKids' Stuff, the first of what isintended as a number ofsocialist DVDs.

For socialismcelebrities are out, whiledeveloping everyone'spotential is in. If someonepaints a number ofacclaimed pictures, givesexcellent theatricalperformances, makes anoutstanding contribution to aparticular branch of science,they will no doubt berecognised - but they won'tbe worshipped as demi-gods.!

STAN PARKER

Who needsthe rich?To be one of the idlerich these days £1million is not enough,according to the privatebank, Coutts & Co.,who specialise indealing with theaccounts of such

people. The "super-wealthy", said Coutts'chief executive Sarah Davies, was "a personwho didn't have to work if they chose not to,and who was able to lead a life of luxury"(Times, 18 October).

Twenty-five years ago £1 millionwould have allowed you to lead a life ofluxury, defined as having a 5-bedroomhouse with two staff, an apartment and ayacht in the south of France, eating out twicea week in a posh restaurant, and going onthree two-week holidays to a luxurydestination. To lead such a life today youneed, apparently, some £3 million.

Nobody could amass that amount byworking. Those that do possess such afortune will have got it either by inheriting it

or by wheeling and dealing in the City or inproperty speculation, as a look at the SundayTimes annual Rich List confirms. In otherwords, they can only lead their life of luxuryon the proceeds of the exploitation of thosewho do work. They are not the only onesdoing this since the "fat cats" at the top ofprivate and state industry who paythemselves bloated salaries and bonuses areat it too.

A million pounds is still a lot of moneyof course and would still allow a person notto work if they chose not to, though not thesort of life of luxury just described; rathernot much above the average of the rest of us.But it's a measure of how non-rich mostpeople are - and so have to go out onto thelabour market to find an employer - thatthere are only 425,000 millionaires inBritain, which is under 1 percent of the adultpopulation.

It couldn't be otherwise of course,since the basis of capitalism is the wagessystem and, to work, the wages systemrequires that most people are forced byeconomic necessity to sell their mental andphysical energies as the means of obtainingmoney to buy the things they need to live.

One old socialist definition of acapitalist was a person who has sufficient

wealth and unearned income from it to avoidhaving to sell their ability to work. In otherwords, someone who plays no part inproducing the wealth of society but lives offthe backs of those who do. The pro-capitalisteconomist Keynes called such people"rentiers" and looked forward to theirgradual "euthanasia".

In Russia after 1917 they actually didthis. The idle rich were dispossessed withoutcompensation and went into exile. Somepeople thought that this meant the abolitionof capitalism. But it didn't: capitalismcontinued without them, but run by the state.

The lesson of this was that if youabolish the super-wealthy and the idle richyou don't necessarily abolish capitalism.Capitalism is essentially an economicsystem (of capital accumulation out of thesurplus-value obtained by exploiting wage-labour). It is this impersonal economicmechanism that wage and salary workers areup against and which involves theirexploitation irrespective of who managesthe system or benefits from it (whetherprivate capitalists or those who directlycontrol the state). It is this system, not theidle rich as such, who are only a by-productof it, that socialists are out to abolish.

Cooking the Books (2)

According to theNew Scientist(5 November)s o m e

monkeys can betaught to becaptivated bycapitalism. Theresearch is gleefullypopularised in theDaily Mail (3November). The reportsdon't actually talk aboutcapitalism but the message isclear - the money system is notonly embedded in human nature, italso goes back to monkey nature.

Apparently scientists at YaleUniversity conducted experimentson capuchin monkeys showingthat they can be taught how to usemoney and even master the art ofshopping for bargains. Theylearned to use silver discs as coinsto buy pieces of apple andcucumber from the researchers.When the apple slices were made"cheaper" than cucumber -meaning more apple was offeredfor the same amount of money -they opted for the better-valueapple.

The monkeys then resortedto underhand tactics to hold on totheir cash - by hiding the real coinsand offering up "counterfeit" coinsmade of cucumber. They alsoshowed a gambling streak.enjoying a game which enabledthem to win or lose prized grapeson the flip of a coin.

Fascinating stuff. But theNew Scientist report didn't tell thewhole story. Some of the moreintelligent monkeys went on tofigure that they were living in an

animal class society.The human

e x p e r i m e n t e r spossessed all themeans ofproduction anddistribution: thelaboratory, thestockpile ofsilver discs, thefood rations forthe workers. All

the monkey-workers could do

was earn aprecarious living by

doing various tricks toplease their masters in return forfood portions.

So the class-consciousmonkeys got together and decidedthe only way to achieve theiremancipation was to mount arevolution. They conveyed to theresearchers where they could puttheir silver discs. Instead of accessto the means of life only byearning discs, they decided tobuild a new and classless animalsociety in which all monkeys andresearchers would stand equal inregard to the means of wealth.

The experimenters didn't likethe prospect of being dispossessedof their wealth and privilege. Theythreatened to use armed force toput down the revolution.Fortunately this turned out to be anidle threat. Although a fewlumpenmonkeys briefly took theside of the experimenters, the vastmajority saw that the new systemof production for use and freeaccess was in the best interests ofall animalkind.!SRP

Monkey Business Don't take me to your leader

Socialist Standard December 2005 15

In this strange system thatreceived opinion holds to bedemocratic, who gets to berepresented and to what degree?

When I was living in "The People'sRepublic of South Yorkshire" Iwasn't the right age to vote, but giventhe chance I would have succeeded inbacking the winning candidate (theonly time in my life), little realizingthat although he would have been myrepresentative in Parliament hewould have represented me verylittle.

Later, in the Royal Borough ofKensington and Chelsea, being over21 at last, I got my chance to put myX and did so feeling that now I couldmake my mark. What an exhilaratingfeeling, to be able to make adifference! With hindsight it's easy tosee I was wrong in two ways; (1) thata vote for Labour would count foranything in that constituency, and (2)that, even if my choice had beenelected, he would actually representany of my core principles. But I kepton hoping and putting my X (mydemocratic responsibility) whilstactively demonstrating how I thoughtthe world should be - in GrosvenorSquare (US Embassy) against theVietnam war, at the South AfricanEmbassy against apartheid, inTrafalgar Square with CND - youname it, I was there. All this whilststudying for a degree so I could get agood job. Big trouble with thePrincipal for trying to recruit a fewfellow students at my 'seat oflearning' into a students' union. Howterrible, we would have had access tocheaper books and tickets toconcerts.

The 'good job', teaching,spanning a good number of years, led

to more militancy. Must showsolidarity, join the union, march forbetter conditions, withdrawparticipation in voluntary activities,work to rule. Life seemed to be onelong struggle for the things I believedin. Meanwhile, a move to Kent andmaybe I could try 'strategic' voting.Could I help to keep a particularcandidate out rather than failingconsistently to get mine in?

In the job (sorry, profession) a'restructuring' of the pay scales andan apparent promotion yielded anactual pay freeze. Forget the 1250hours that had been negotiated andhard won; now the schools started'opting out' and going 'Grant-Maintained' (even the decent canteengrub took a knock with privatisation).This led to newly qualified teachersbeing interviewed for posts askedsuch loaded questions as "How latein the evening are you prepared tostay on the premises?" and beinggiven the kudos of an 'acting-up' postfor a year in the wild hope of a salaryincrease the following year for workalready done.

Glad to be out of that rat-race.Lots of very happy and satisfyingclassroom experiences; as for the restof it.

Now I'm an 'ex-pat', an'economic migrant' with no vote andno representation in my adoptedcountry. I am my own representative,wholly responsible to myself and mycommunity. Moreover, I have cometo the full realization that I have shedmy last skin and can confidently sayI know what it feels like to haveemerged as a fully-fledgedsocialist.!

JANET SURMAN

My road toSocialism

Socialist Standard December 200516

Dead man writingPhilosophical Arabesques. By NikolaiBukharin. Pluto Press. 2005. £35(hardback)

While Bukharinwas in prison,awaiting the showtrial that wouldlead to him beingsentenced to deathand executed in1938 onp r e p o s t e r o u s ,t r u m p e d - u pcharges ofsabotage andtreason, he chose

to spent the time writing books. One ofthese was on philosophy. It was found inthe Kremlin archives after the fall of statecapitalism, published in Russia and now inEnglish translation.

Bukharin was one of the moreinteresting and able of the Bolsheviks.Even before the Bolshevik seizure ofpower he had written a couple of bookswhich are quite acceptable as anexpression of a Marxist point of view:Imperialism and the World Economy andThe Theory of the Leisure Class (acriticism of the Austrian school ofmarginalist economics), both written in1914 when he was 26. After the Bolshevikscame to power he was an obviouscandidate to codify Bolshevik theory;which he did in The ABC of Communism(written with E. Preobrazhensky) (1919),The Economics of the TransformationPeriod (1920), and The Theory ofHistorical Materialism (1921) which aresophisticated defences of Bolshevik theoryand practice using Marxian terminologyand concepts.

As a member of the Politburo,Bukharin also played a political role. In thestruggles amongst the Bolshevik leadersfollowing the death of Lenin in 1924, hesupported the policy of consolidating theBolshevik regime internally (as opposed totrying to foment world revolution)favoured by Stalin and most members ofthe Russian party. In fact, as editor ofPravda in the 1920s, it fell to him to comeup with a theoretical defence of this policy.It can even be said that he, even more thanStain, elaborated the theory of "socialismin one country" so reviled by Trotskyists.

To do so he had to identify"socialism" with the state sector of theeconomy, i.e. with what he had once called"state capitalism" (he had temporarily beenone of the "leftist blockheads" denouncedby Lenin in 1918 for opposing theBolsheviks' economic policy of the time as"state capitalism": of course it was statecapitalism, retorted Lenin, adding that,what's more, state capitalism would be astep forward for economically backwardRussia). He opposed the adoption ofStalin's policy of forced industrializationand collectivisation of agriculture in 1929and so fell from favour, but remained aleading figure in the regime. However,

once Stalin decided in the mid-1930s toeliminate all potential rivals he was adoomed man.

Perhaps surprisingly, PhilosophicalArabesques represents a return to hisearlier Marxist approach to things, in thetradition of Plekhanov who wroteextensively on materialism and problemsof philosophy. He does follow ratherslavishly Lenin's philosophical views asexpressed in Materialism andEmpiriocriticism (1908) and PhilosophicalNotebooks (1915), but these were not allthat different from those of other pre-WWISocial Democrats in the Marxist tradition.The trouble was that Lenin wasintellectually intolerant and in his 1908book violently denounced othermaterialists, who didn't agree with hisversion of materialism, for being notmaterialists but crypto-idealists, solipsists(people who believe that only their selfexists) and what he called "fideists"(religious).

Thus, it is rather offputting to find inthe opening chapters of Bukharin's bookthe 18th century Scottish philosopherDavid Hume described as a "subjectiveidealist" and a "solipsist", whereas all hehad done was to question whether or notsuch a thing as absolute knowledge waspossible (a proposition also challenged,even if from a different angle, bydialectics). Hume - and the others in theBritish empiricist tradition which includesBertrand Russell and AJ Ayer, bothdeclared atheists - were not "idealists" inthe sense of believing that the outsideworld only existed in the mind and werecertainly not so mad as to think that onlythey existed.

They are certainly open to criticismfor their approach of starting from thepoint of view of an isolated philosophersitting in his study trying to work out, onthe basis of his personal sense-perceptions,if he really can either know or believe thatthe outside world and other people exist;instead of from the point of view ofhumans living and producing as a socialand socialised group - a criticism Bukharinalso makes of them, pointing out that thefact that the isolated philosopher useswords to think shows in itself that otherhumans must exist since language is aproduct of human society. But to call themnames that suggest they deny the existenceof a world outside the human mind isabsurd, in fact a display of ignorance.

Bukharin is more at home withGerman philosophy (which really wasidealist) - Kant, Schelling, Fichte, Hegel.Although he mentions Hegel in everychapter, he provides a balanced view of hissystem, warts and all (and some of thewarts were enormous) and of what Marxtook from it as its "rational core".

Basically, what Marx retained andapplied to the real world as opposed to theworld of ideas was (1) that you should notjudge by empirical appearances alone(otherwise you might think that the Sunwent round the Earth) but try, bytheoretical analysis, to get at what might bebehind them, (2) that everything is an inter-related part of the whole that is theuniverse, and (3) that everything is in aconstant process of being transformed intosomething else, but that this change is not

always continuous but involves leaps andbreaks. Add to this the traditionalmaterialist view, that non-living naturepreceded living forms of nature, that as ananimal capable of abstract thought andconsciousness of self humans evolvedfrom animals without this capacity, andthat mind and consciousness cannot existapart from a living body, and you have"dialectical materialism".

Whether dialectics is the basic law ofmotion of the universe (as Bukharinargues) or a human description andinterpretation of what they observe innature remains a subject of debate, evenamongst Marxists.

Bukharin's book would be of interestmerely as the writing of someone whoknows he is soon going to be killed but it isalso worth reading in its own right as awork of philosophy. Bukharin obviouslythought this an important subject to chooseit as his last writing. He even asked to beexecuted by poison "like Socrates". Stalinlet him be shot. ALB

Hypocrisy ExposedSimon Schama: Rough Crossings:Britain, the Slaves and the AmericanRevolution. BBC Books £20.

Forget Schama theTV historian - thisis a solid piece ofresearch into asordid piece ofBritish andAmerican historyfrom the late 18thand early 19thcentury. TheEuropean colonistsin Americarebelled against

their British rulers, leading to theDeclaration of Independence in 1776. Thiswas the period of slavery and the slavetrade, and many black slaves (and 'free'blacks) saw through Americanprotestations about liberty and supportedthe loyalist (i.e. British) side. Some blackpeople fought on the patriot (American)side, though slaves were excluded from theAmerican army and giving arms to anyblack people was anathema to many,especially in the south.

But once Britain had been defeated,the question arose of what would happen tothese black 'loyalists'. Some escaped slaveswere recaptured by their owners, but mostmanaged to avoid this dire fate and weregiven certificates by the Britishcommandant of New York, stating thatthey were free to go where they wished(i.e. they were no longer slaves and subjectto the orders of their owner). In 1783 manyloyalists, both white and black, wereshipped off to Nova Scotia to start a newlife. But the 3,500 black settlers there weresubject to appalling discrimination, beingalways last in line for such things as foodsupplies and allotment of land.

Consequently, many of the former

Book Reviews

Socialist Standard December 2005

slaves travelled (in some cases, returned) toAfrica, specifically to what later becameFreetown in Sierra Leone. Under theinitially somewhat paternalistic regime ofthe Sierra Leone Company, they attemptedto establish a settlement of their own wherethey could produce their own crops andtrade with local chiefs. In principle,everything was run democratically, witheach head of household having a vote,including women. Says Schama, 'the firstwomen to cast their votes for any kind ofpublic office anywhere in the world wereblack, liberated slaves who had chosenBritish freedom'. But this freedom wasillusory: in 1800 the black residents ofFreetown rebelled against mistreatment butwere savagely put down, by a Companyarmy partly consisting of Maroons (formerJamaican slaves who now fought on theBritish side). Two of the leaders werehanged.

Schama effectively exposes thehypocrisy of the rulers on both sides. TheBritish government scoffed at theAmericans' pretensions to freedom whileowning other human beings, andAmericans condemned a system where thepoorest inhabitants of British cities werelittle better than slaves. He also brings outthe courage and tenacity of slaves and ex-slaves who fought for some dignity in theirlives.PB

Stopping ShortDerek Wall: Babylon and Beyond: theEconomics of Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Globalist and Radical GreenMovements. Pluto Press £14.99.

This is a textbook-like survey of varioustrends in the anti-globalisation movement.As such, it covers a great deal of materialin less than 200 pages, from avowedsupporters of capitalism such as JosephStiglitz to autonomists like Toni Negri, viaNaomi Klein and (but why?) MajorDouglas and social credit. There are toomany direct quotations, and too manytypos (e.g. references to Lenin onimperialism as 'the highest state of

capitalism'). But notmany readers willbe familiar with allthe writers andactivists mentionedhere, so the bookdoes serve a usefulpurpose, though itis scarcely a fullguide to the ideas ofparticular thinkers.

On the wholeWall summarises

other views ratherthan expressing opinions of his own, but hedoes sometimes let his own attitudes showthrough. For instance, he is sceptical aboutthe ideas of some 'green localists' that adecentralised economy would naturallylead to ecological sustainability and socialjustice. The chapter on 'Marxisms' (notethe plural) starts well, with a photo of theSocialist Party's founding conference, butends weakly with references to Russia,Cuba, etc., as if these dictatorshipsconstituted a valid reason for rejectingMarx's ideas. He discerns a 'pro-globalisation strand of Marx's thought',which is correct to the extent that Marx sawcapitalism as expanding into more andmore parts of the world, but it is simplisticto transfer what he wrote in this regard 150years ago to the present day. Capitalism haslong been a world system and created thepotential for abundance, so there is no needfor further globalisation and theconcomitant wars and impoverishment.

As a Green Party member, Wallhimself seems to support what he calls'ecosocialism'. Certainly we can accept thatSocialism needs to include ecologicalconcerns, indeed that this will be a crucialaspect of a society based on commonownership. We can also agree with hisdescription of the ideas of Joel Kovel: "Theuse of what is useful and beautiful must bepursued, while exchange values must berejected. . . . The rejection of exchangevalues is essential to reducing resourceconsumption and human alienation."Unfortunately Wall stops short ofadvocating the abolition of the wagessystem, and it's just not clear what sort ofsociety he does stand for. There are someremarks about "moving beyond themarket" and "extending the commons",

and some praise for the open sourcesoftware movement, where software is puton the web for free (Wall suggests thatMarx would have used the open sourcebrowser Firefox!). This is OK as far as itgoes, but it needs to be taken that crucialbit further.PB

Tankies, Mate...John Callaghan, Cold War, Crisis andConflict, Lawrence & Wishart, £15.99Geoff Andrews, Endgames and NewTimes, Lawrence & Wishart, £15.99

Lawrence & Wishart's'official' history of theCPGB is completedby these two volumeswhich, somewhatoverlapping, coverthe years from 1951to the party's oh sosad demise in 1991.Taken together thispair resemble the firsttwo dry-as-dust

academic tomes by James Klugmannpublished in the mid-60s rather than themore readable but scanty volumes ofNoreen Branson. The similarity betweenthem ends there however. Callaghan's taskof covering the middle years of the 50s and60s was more difficult given the ratherarbitrary starting and ending points (1951and 1968) and, despite the excitementspromised in the title, the era was a largelystatic one so far as the CPGB wasconcerned. Callaghan however rises to thechallenge and his book is an excellentsurvey of the organisation during the era.

The same cannot be said of the otheroffering. Whereas Callaghan isdispassionate in his treatment of the CPGB,Andrews' book reads like a polemic ratherthan a serious history. His supposition thatthe downfall of the CPGB was due to thedecline of the industrial working classsounds like a Holocaust denier's rantings:"They just vanished mate". (On the otherhand this is slightly more plausible thanone version which points a finger at theCIA) And with his constant waving of "theSoviet Mantra" and even a snide mentionof "tankies", it is obvious which side hewas on in the Civil War in the party. Notthat we could give a monkey's for eitherside. Both were downright reformists. Andjust how low down this supposedlyrevolutionary organisation was can bejudged in the book. One 'demand' was forthe reduction of National Service from twoyears to one. Not even the SWP in itscurrent Mad Mullah Alliance phase is thatbad. So Callaghan gets ten out of ten whileAndrews' book gets him a wooden spoonrapped over the knuckles - and the CPGB?A nice cosy corner in the great dustbin ofhistory specially reserved.KAZ

17

Derek Wall

Declaration of PrinciplesThis declaration is the basis of ourorganisation and, because it isalso an important historicaldocument dating from theformation of the party in 1904, itsoriginal language has beenretained.

ObjectThe establishment of a systemof society based upon thecommon ownership anddemocratic control of themeans and instruments forproducing and distributingwealth by and in the interest ofthe whole community.

Declaration of PrinciplesThe Socialist Party of GreatBritain holds

1.That society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of living(i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.)

by the capitalist or master class,and the consequent enslavementof the working class, by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

2.That in society, therefore, thereis an antagonism of interests,manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

3.That this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass, by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution, and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

4.That as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom,

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind, without distinctionof race or sex.

5.That this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

6.That as the machinery ofgovernment, including the armedforces of the nation, exists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers, the workingclass must organize consciouslyand politically for the conquest ofthe powers of government,national and local, in order thatthis machinery, including theseforces, may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege, aristocraticand plutocratic.

7.That as all political parties arebut the expression of classinterests, and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the master class, theparty seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

8.The Socialist Party of GreatBritain, therefore, enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties, whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist, andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour, and that povertymay give place to comfort,privilege to equality, and slaveryto freedom.

18 Socialist Standard December 2005

OIL - THE PRIZE IN THE MIDDLE EASTFahoud is the name of the spot in theArabian desert that is the centre of thedrama being played out withrepercussions throughout the EasternMediterranean lands, and Fahoud spellsoil. Mr. Noel Barber, correspondent of theDaily Mail told the story in the issues of 31October and 7 November.

"A year ago no white man had everbeen there. Today, under the lea of a greatescarpment - with the nearest naturalwater-hole more than 100 miles away -there lies a small cluster of huts and tents,and by the side an airstrip. It is Fahoud, aname you can find on no map. In it live asturdy band of lonely men, Britain'sadvance force in the war for oil that dailygathers momentum in the Middle East . . .Fahoud pinpoints the struggle for oil beingfought by vast concerns in Wall Street andthe City, by diplomats in Geneva, and in

c l a s h e sb e t w e e nt r o o p spatrolling thet e n u o u sd e s e r tboundaries.It is the battlebetween theSaudis andthe British,b e t w e e nAmerica andBritain formastery inthe world'sr i c h e s toilfield." -(Daily Mail, 7/11/55).

As Noel Barber says of his report: "Itis a story that might have been written 60years ago, when 'outposts of Empire' werefashionable."

He points out that British andAmerican interests clash. American oilcompanies are closely connected with the

ownership and development of theconcession oil fields in Saudi Arabia, whileBritish companies, and the BritishGovernment, are associated with the AdenProtectorate, the Sultan of Muscat and theSheikh Abu Zhabi. After attempts to settlethe dispute by arbitration had brokendown, Sir Anthony Eden announced in theHouse of Commons on 26 October that"native troops, commanded by Britishofficers, had reoccupied the Buraini Oasisafter a skirmish with Saudi Arabian forceswho marched in three years ago." (DailyMail, 31/10/55).

(From article by 'H', SocialistStandard, December 1955)

Fifty Years Ago

Meetings

CLAPHAMSaturday 10 December, 11 am to 5pmBook Sale (Marx,Labour Movement, etc)Socialist Party Head Office, 52 ClaphamHigh Street, SW4 (nearest tube: ClaphamNorth).

CHISWICKTuesday 20 December 8pmWest London BranchSocialCanteen (first door on left), ChiswickTown Hall, Heathfield Terrace, W4(nearest tube: Turnham Green).

What it’s all about: oil

19

Private (?)Lives

Political nerds will have found someexcitement in the Tories' leadershipelection, if only because of thepossibility that it would repeat the

mistakes of the recent past - like JohnMajor, William Hague and Iain DuncanSmith. Spending so many years inopposition has caused the Tory membershipto ask the unbearable question of whetherthey are any longer the natural party ofgovernment - a nightmare from which,many of them have been hoping, the newboy David Cameron will awaken them.Perhaps Cameron's rise in the ConservativeParty announces that they have moved awayfrom the Thatcherite style, as the favouriteof estate agents and car salesmen. ForCameron, like Carrington, Whitelaw andHurd before him, is a toff; he is related tothe 6th Duke of Somerset, the 7th. Earl ofDenbigh, the 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury andothers of that ilk.

With so much blue blood in his veinsit was entirely natural that he should go toEton and then to Oxford, to BrasenoseCollege where they expect everyone to betouched by "the tranquil consciousness ofan effortless superiority" (which is notmeant to include Jeffrey Archer, who wasan undergraduate there). Perhaps beingsuperior led Cameron to join theBullingdon, a club of upper class yobswhose only reason for existence is to drink

and eat toexcess insomedefencelessrestaurantbefore theysmash theplace up. Asmight beexpected,Boris Johnson

was in the Bullingdon;recalling an evening of theirtypical revelry, he refers tohis fellow members as a"proud phalanx of tailcoatedtwits". The idea is that afterthe Bullingdon had had theirfun they would evade beingarrested by offering to paygenerously for the damage -a tactic denied to workingclass rowdies causingproblems in their localTandoori, who have to payfor the damage as well asbeing arrested, fined or evensent into custody. There isno record of how activeCameron was in theBullingdon; in any case heobviously devoted sometime to work as he emergedwith a first class degree insomething other thanCriminal Damage, whichwas his passport into a jobin the ConservativeResearch Department.

AscentFrom there he

ascended the greasy pole - although thiswas not always smoothly. He was a "specialadviser" to Chancellor of the ExchequerNorman Lamont when the financial strategyof the Major government lay in ruins andLamont had to make his wretchedannouncement that British capitalism wasgetting out of the ERM. Then he worked atthe Home Office under Michael Howardwho became memorable, not as an effectiveHome Secretary but for his regular defeatsby the judges and for the memory of hisminister for prisons, Anne Widdecombe,that there was "something of the night"about him. After a spell in what he called"industry" - the TV company CarltonCommunications - and after the obligatorycontest in a safe Labour Seat, in 2001Cameron was selected to fight Witney forthe Tories and at the election romped home.He was then closely involved in writing theTory manifesto for the 2005 election, whichwas widely blamed for their third defeatthrough its concentration on the manynegatives of Labour rule without persuadingthe voters that the Tories would benoticeably different. On the now-sensitivematter of drugs that manifesto declared:

We will stop sending mixed messageson drugs by reversing Labour'sreclassificatíon of cannabis as a lessserious drug, changing it from Class Cback to Class B.

Well times have changed and withthem Cameron's ideas; he now refuses tocommit himself about re-grading cannabisand his aides say he prefers a full debate ofthe issue involving academics and doctors.

PrivacyOf course drugs are a delicate matter

for Cameron, made even more so by hisrefusal to give straight answers to questionsabout him using them in the past." I did alot of things before I came into politics thatI shouldn't have done" was one of hisevasions. Another was "I had a normaluniversity experience...We're allowed tohave had a private life before politics inwhich we made mistakes and we do thingsthat we should not and we are all humansand we err and stray". That may haveconvinced the more gullible among the Tory

party but it is not good enough. Usingany controlled drug is breaking thelaws which Cameron and the otherMPs have laid down. He may try toavoid the matter by calling it part ofhis "private life", which in any casehappened some time ago, but thissimply does not answer the question.All over the country, every day,members of the working class arearraigned in the courts for usingcontrolled drugs, or stealing, orbreaking other laws made by the likesof Cameron. They are not allowed toexcuse their offences by referring tothem as part of their "private life" andas an outcome of their being humanand so liable to err and stray.

It is also noticeable thatCameron is capable of taking refuge inthe concept of a "private life" onlywhen it suits him. For example hemakes a lot of the fact that he has asadly disabled son, who suffers fromepilepsy and cerebral palsy and who isunlikely ever to be able to walk ortalk. Cameron has made references tothis child in terms which his listenershave found deeply moving, so thatnone of them ever asked whether a

disabled child was not essentially a"private" matter not to be used to boost apolitician's desired image as a caring father,a man fit to be a parent to the entire nation.Then there was the matter of Cameron'spregnant wife and of the TV publicised actof him fondly placing his hand on heranatomical bump while the audienceswooned and the votes in favour of him asparty leader mounted up.

Arm TwistingIt says something about the Tories'

panic and how desperate they are to erasebad memories, that they should promote anMP as inexperienced (although practised incynicism) as Cameron as the man tobecome prime minister in a few years' time.It may also say something about armtwisting and bullying behind closed doors,about cynical deals done in elegant NottingHill houses and discreet restaurants. Amongall this Cameron strives to persuade us thathe is a new style of politician - candid,trustworthy, sincere - even if this is just likeTony Blair and his "I'm a pretty honestkinda guy". But Cameron's character andhis motivation have been shown up in hiscampaign for the leadership, in the attemptto stifle inconvenient memories and thefashioning and selective exposure of his"private life" while asserting a right toprotect it. A Cameron premiership wouldhave nothing different to offer from allthose wretched failures in the past. Themost we can expect is that his wife, who issaid to be a talented designer, doessomething to spruce up the wallpaper inNumber Ten. !IVAN

Clarification: In the November GreasyPole column we stated that the men who threwWalter Wolfgang out of the Labour conferencewere "beefy, enthusiastically respectful,Labour Party members". This was spin put onthe incident at first - that the stewards wereparty members, so amateurs, so if they went abit over the top it was understandable... Itquickly came to light that in fact they werehired "stewards" from some "security"company (perhaps with a target for thenumber of people ejected?).

“I did a lot ofthings before Icame into politicsthat I shouldn'thave done"

“We'reallowed tohave had aprivate lifebeforepolitics inwhich wemademistakesand we dothings thatwe shouldnot and weare allhumansand we errand stray"

Socialist Standard December 2005

A Thrifty Life "Even by Philip Green's extraordinarystandards, it is a handsome pay day - theretail tycoon has awarded himself Britain'sbiggest bonus of £1.2 billion." (Times, 21October) Mr Green denies that this bigcash pay-out is likely to fund moretakeover bids. "I'm saving up," he says.This is unlikely as he is not known for hisfrugality; in fact he spent £4 million earlierin the year on his son's bar mitzvah. Healso owns a 12 seater Gulfstream G550jet and a 200ft yacht, each worth around£20 million. The salesgirls in Top Shopand Miss Selfridge, which Mr Green ownsand who help produce the £1.2 billion thathe wallows in, can only dream of suchfrugality.

Independence? For political reasons the US governmentpretend that Iraq is now a democratic andindependent country, but the facts aresomewhat different. "Iraqi President JalaiTalabani said he opposed military actionagainst neighbouring Syria but lacked thepower to prevent US troops using hiscountry as a launchpad if it chose to doso. 'I categorically refuse the use of Iraqisoil to launch a military strike againstSyria or any other Arab country,' Talabanitold the London based Arabic dailyAsharq Al-Awsat in an interview onTuesday. "But at the end of the day myability to confront the US military is limitedand I cannot impose on them my will."(Middle East Online, 1 November) Democracy? When Michael Bloomberg won theelection to be Mayor of New York in 2001we commented that it was a strange sortof democracy that allowed a multi-millionaire to become mayor just becausehe spent $60 million on his campaign. Helooks set to be re-elected because of his

vast wealth. "Mr Bloomberg is expected tospend $85 million on his campaign, abouteight times as much as his rivals." (Times,8 November) As they say in US politics:"he bought it fair and square".

A Grateful Nation? The British Legion has produced a reportthat shows that the owning class mightpay lip service to the dead and maimed oftheir wars but that behind the fine wordsis the cynical reality of running the profitsystem. "As thenation prepares toremember thesacrifices ofmillions, exhaustiveresearch by theLegion suggeststhat almost half ofveterans and theirdependants - 3.88million - are livingon less than£10,000 a year.Almost one millionhave to exist onless than half thatamount."(Independent, 11November) Died for"your" country? Well done, wage slave,your widow and orphans can cop £96 aweek to survive on. We shall also giveyou a poem about "lest we forget". Poemsare much cheaper than pensions. The Deadly Dust An estimated 100,000 people in the UKhave been diagnosed as having pleuralplaques - internal scarring on the lining ofthe lung that indicates exposure toasbestos. "A landmark test case will

appear in the Court of Appeal tomorrow inwhich the insurance industry on behalf ofemployers will argue that a potentiallyfatal condition caused by exposure toasbestos should not be compensated."(Observer, 13 November) Earlier this yearthe insurers with the Department of Tradeand Industry on behalf of Britishshipbuilders managed to slash thecompensation from between £12,500 and£20,000 to £5,000 and £7,000. Whetheron the battlefront or the shipyard thecapitalist class will always put profitsbefore human life. Torturous Arguments The US government is opposed to torture,isn't it? Well, sort of. The US Congressrecently passed an amendment to banAmerican soldiers and spies from torturingprisoners but the White House came outagainst such legislation. "This week sawthe sad spectacle of an Americanpresident lamely trying to explain to thecitizens of Panama that, yes he wouldveto any such bill but, no, 'We do nottorture.' Meanwhile, Mr Bush'sincreasingly error-prone vice-president,

Dick Cheney, hasbeen on Capitol Hilltrying to bullysenators to excludeAmerica's spies fromany torture ban. Toadd a note of farce tothe tragedy, theadministration hashad to explain that theCIA is not torturingprisoners in Asia andEastern Europe -though of course itcannot confirm thatsuch prisons exist."(Economist, 12November) Everythingquite clear now?

The Lazy Man Objection "About 73% of workers north of the borderwho replied to an insurance companystudy said they regularly failed to take allof their holidays. Workers in London faredworst, with 77% not using up their annualleave." (BBC News, 15 November) Sowhat about the objection to socialism thatit would not work because people are toolazy?

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by RiggFree lunch

Well done, wage slaves, you saved us apacket in pensions