Socialist Standard April 2011

Socialist Standard April 2011 1
April 2011 Std BDH.indd 1 24/03/2011 16:26

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2 Socialist Standard April 2011

Introducing The Socialist Party
The Socialist Party is like no other political to make new socialists. We publish ideas across, the more experiences we
party in Britain. It is made up of people who pamphlets and books, as well as CDs, will be able to draw on and greater will be
have joined together because we want to DVDs and various other informative the new ideas for building the movement
get rid of the profit system and establish material. We also give talks and take which you will be able to bring us.
real socialism. Our aim is to persuade part in debates; attend rallies, meetings The Socialist Party is an organisation of
others to become socialist and act for and demos; run educational conferences; equals. There is no leader and there are
themselves, organising democratically host internet discussion forums, make no followers. So, if you are going to join
and without leaders, to bring about the films presenting our ideas, and contest we want you to be sure that you agree
kind of society that we are advocating elections when practical. Socialist fully with what we stand for and that we
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with building a movement of socialists for Dutch, Esperanto, French, German, case for socialism.
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We use every possible opportunity Party the more we will be able to get our
socialist
standard april 2011
Editorial
Libya: brutality and hypocrisy
When the popular movements against long-standing des- If a desire to protect civilians from being shot down by gov-
pots in the Arab world spread from Tunisia and Egypt to Lib- ernments was the real motive, why are the Western capitalist
ya the Western powers thought that something they had long powers not also intervening to stop the despots in Yemen,
wanted – regime-change in Libya – was about to be handed Bahrain and now Syria from doing this (as they have done)?
them on a plate. But they didn’t have the same control over And why did they not intervene to stop Israel slaughtering
Gaddafi as they did over Moubarak and Ben Ali and so could civilians in Gaza three years ago?
not arrange for him to bow out. His own man, and true to At least they haven’t had the effrontery to claim that their
form, Gaddafi chose to try to brutally repress the movement. aim is to bring political democracy. How could they when
With the support of mercenaries and some sections of the their bombing campaign is being partly funded by the des-
population armed with superior military power, it was looking potic regime in Saudi Arabia? And in which war planes from
as if he might succeed. the hereditary despots who rule Qatar are taking part?
Faced with this prospect, the Western capitalist powers It is not so much that the Western powers have double
have decided to play the military card too and have launched standards as that the foreign policy of capitalist states is not
a series of bombing and missile raids against the armed forc- conducted according to any abstract standard. There is no
es loyal to Gaddafi. Since, under the UN charter, wars not such thing as an “ethical foreign policy”. What motivates their
authorised by the UN are “illegal”, they have had to present diplomatic and military activity abroad is a desire to protect
their action as being to protect the civilian population against and promote the economic interests of their capitalist class.
the very real exactions of the Gaddafi regime. Even so, when Some are urging support for the Gaddafi regime on the
claiming that the military intervention is motivated by humani- ground that, despite everything else, it is “anti-imperialist”.
tarian concerns, British Prime Minister Cameron has always Not us. As Socialists, we naturally sympathise with workers
added that it was also in the “national interest”. anywhere struggling to get the added elbow-room to wage
The “national interest” is in fact that the interest of the capi- the class struggle that political democracy represents, but we
talist class of a country, not of its population. Their interest in denounce the hypocrisy and cynicism of the ruling classes
this instance is, as in Iraq eight years ago, to have a friendly of the Western powers in invoking humanitarianism to once
and reliable regime in an important oil-producing country. again resort to killing and destruction in pursuit of their sordid
That’s what the bombings are really about. “national” interests.

March). This will be no great news
to people in marketing, of course,
who know that the customer buys
the salesman first and the product
second, but it is of some concern to
scientists hoping to communicate
scientific ideas to the general public
and in so doing to influence public
policy. It is also of some concern to
socialists hoping to achieve a similar
level of communication. It is not just
about the argument, it’s how you
dress it up and deliver it.
But are we talking about
‘irrationality’ or merely redefining the
term ‘rationality’ with a little more
finesse? Two plus two is always
going to equal four, whatever your
amygdala says about it. The fact that
Brain Strain
our thought processes may begin
with primitive urges doesn’t mean that they are enslaved by
them, and that we simply can’t make rational choices about
our existence. The bigger problem facing socialists as well as
Just recently a song by a 13 year old singer has been scientists is not how we process information but how and from
‘trending on Twitter’ and ‘going viral’ with 16 million views where we get it in the first place. The process of rationality may
on YouTube. Not the latest offering from Justin Bieber to his be more complicated than used to be thought, but it still relies
adoring teeny tribe of ‘Beliebers’, but something truly and heavily on the information available to it, and most decisions
insanely bad. So bad that many are calling it the worst song made by people today are likely to be poorly informed rather
ever. Being so devoid of any merit has guaranteed the song’s than fundamentally illogical. And being poorly informed is not
runaway success. the same as being stupid.
So what’s the point of watching something when you A recent survey from the Birmingham Science City suggests
already know it’s dire and you’re not going to like it one bit? that 30 percent of the UK population, based on a sample
Logically there shouldn’t be any reason. But people find bad of 3,000 respondents, believe that time travel is possible.
performances hilarious. We often do the opposite of reason. 50 percent believe that memory-erasing technology exists,
We’re not predictably rational beings. around 25 percent believe in teleportation and light sabres,
There’s quite a lot of interest in ‘irrationality’ these days, with while 18 percent apparently think they can ‘see’ gravity (www.
analysis from FMRI scans to show that our supposed act of birminghamsciencecity.co.uk/news/time-to-turn-on-the-tardis).
free choice has already taken place down in the brain’s scullery, It would be interesting to see the wording of this survey
moments before milord ‘consciousness’ rings the bell from the however, and it is not at all clear that the short quiz on the
upstairs library. This is very worrying for those who like to feel in website bears any relation to the survey. Did the survey ask if
control and who obsess about the notion of ‘free will’. If all our humans could be teleported, which is impossible, or subatomic
frontal lobe clever-clogness is really being primed and directed particles, which is debatable? Were the ones who believed in
from below stairs by the witless emotions of the limbic system light sabres the youth end of the statistical distribution, who
and the savage lusts and dreads of the amygdala, where does had all got broken ones in their toy cupboards, or perhaps
that leave the notion that humans are rational creatures? adults who had heard all about military laser cannons? Did the
Such an idea lies behind various theories to the effect that question about time travel include a picture of a Tardis, which
investors think they’re being rational when in fact they’re really is fictional, or a wormhole, which is a hypothetical point in
responding to a herd instinct, or to emotional triggers. Economic spacetime which might function as a shortcut for high energy
trends and crises come about, it is argued, precisely because particles? Were the ones who believed in mind-wiping reading
people do not always pursue their immediate self interests too much Philip K Dick, or were they maybe recalling 20th
as they ought to, and this wild and woolly behaviour is what century lobotomy techniques? In short, were the respondents
makes outcomes unpredictable and therefore financial disasters really as thick as planks, or were they being ambushed? One
unforeseeable. question in the quiz runs thus: Can stars sing? The correct
Here is classical determinism in disguise, the idea that the answer to this, apparently, is ‘yes’. The explanation given is that
world is fundamentally mechanical and manageable, if only we stars oscillate, and that these oscillations when converted into
could understand our own thought processes. sound waves can give an idea of the size and age of the star. A
But financial crises are unforeseeable in any case, or they better response to the Birmingham quizmasters would be ‘No,
wouldn’t be crises. As socialists are obliged to point out, you dorks, because sound doesn’t travel through space’.
capitalism would always be an unstable and unpredictable People make bad investment decisions, not because they’re
system even if the investors were androids with telephone stupid, but because they don’t understand markets and they
number IQs. But there is something to the idea that we’re not take bad advice from people who pretend to be experts but
as rational as we think we are, though it doesn’t take scans with in reality are often crooks. People invest in capitalism too,
giant magnets to show it. Let’s not forget that we’re animals, even though it is fundamentally against their best interest. But
after all, and rationality is something of a new invention for us. that doesn’t make them either irrational or stupid. ‘It’s not my
An interesting bit of research on climate change attitudes fault, it’s my brain wot done it’ is just an excuse for not taking
shows that different socio-political groups tend to believe responsibility. There are always organisations and groups out
evidence put forward by scientists who appear to be most like there keen to show that workers are dumb brutes who need
themselves, whereas they will reject the same arguments if strong leaders to tell them what to do. When the cognitive
made by someone they identify less with (New Scientist, 19 sciences play into their hands, socialists need to cry foul.

Letters
John Maclean any mention of John Maclean during
the First World War?
England, Scotland, Wales, etc. To
appeal to the workers of Scotland for
Dear Editors J. MELROSE, Glasgow a Scottish Workers’ Republic is to
It was with interest that I recently arouse and foster the narrow spirit
read on the SPGB Blog that the Reply: of Nationalism, so well used by our
SPGB recognised one positive We can’t find any mention of John masters. Economically the demand
achievement of Lenin in that he Maclean in the Socialist Standards is Utopian, as the development of
helped to get Russia out of the bloody of the war period, but no doubt we capitalism has made countries more
capitalist First World War (http:// would have respected him for the and more dependent on each other,
socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot. anti-war position he took up as that both through the specialisation of
com/2011/02/time-to-bury- was what our members were doing industry or agriculture, and also
leninism.html). and suffering from it too, also being by the force controlled by the Great
Although I recognise that sent to prison. Powers to suppress or control the
Scotland’s John MacLean was We did not think much of his smaller nations.
not in the “Impossibilist” tradition Scottish republicanism and said so in The history of “ independent “
(although he was once a member of an article on the party he founded in Hungary, Poland, and the Balkan
the Social Democratic Federation), I the October 1925 Socialist Standard States shows that the realisation of “
write to ask if the SPGB recognised from which here is an extract: political independence “ by a country
the vigorous anti-war work of John “A correspondent sends us the leaves the workers’ conditions
Maclean? Manifesto of the Scottish Workers’ untouched and actually worsens
Harry McShane, of the CPGB, Republican Party, and asks for our them in many cases.
wrote in his book that John Maclean opinion of it. The object of the Party, The appeal to the worker in this
was persecuted to the extent of founded by the late John Maclean, is Manifesto to “rally to the cause of a
exhaustion and eventually dying of a Workers’ Republic for Scotland. The Workers’ Republic for Scotland” is
pneumonia. McShane wrote that Manifesto sets out the slave position made “so that we might win you away
“....The authorities hated him more of the working class, and urges that from the service of the imperialist
than any other man. He was jailed the workers must carry through the gang who direct their activities
five times; the first time was in 1915, Social Revolution. from London” If the worker is to be
and he spent four of his remaining The chief fallacy of their position won for Socialism, it is by getting
eight years in prison. When he was is their insistence upon a Scottish him to understand the principles
out of jail he was followed everywhere Workers’ Republic. This demand of Socialism, and not by appealing
by plain-clothes policemen. is both reactionary and Utopian. to him to concentrate on Scottish
They were more frightened of his The struggle of the workers of the affairs. Socialism is international.”
revolutionary stand than of the shop- United Kingdom must be a united This is still our position in face of
stewards....” (Harry McShane, No one. The workers are under the those today who seek to revive the
Mean Fighter, page 151) domination of a class who rule by idea of a “Scottish Workers’ Republic”
Just being curious, but did the the use of a political machine which - Editors.
is the chief governing instrument for
Socialist Standard of the time make more letters on page 18
Manufacturing gossip
when George Bush Snr solemnly informed us that the world is
If self-portraits and liberal commonsense are any guide, a dangerous place: “Yeah, thanks to you, you fucker.” In other
we should be thankful for the press, and most particularly for words, the sources of the ‘speculation’ are largely the very peo-
the BBC. The purpose of news journalism is to present a neutral ple who report on the speculation.
report of the relevant facts so that citizens in a democracy can This brings us to another myth about the news media, which
make informed judgements and hold those in power to account. is that, if they can indeed be charged with filling their pages and
That’s the theory. It’s worth having a quick look at the gap be- programming with meaningless trivia and gossip, then this is
tween theory and practice. only because that’s what people want. But this is also false. In
On 2 March, on a page dedicated to the wedding of Prince a survey of 1,006 British adults conducted by market research
William and Kate Middleton that will take place on 29 April, and agency ComRes in November 2010, for example, a clear ma-
which excitedly and prominently displays how many days there jority said they were ‘not excited’ by the wedding. Of the sam-
are to go till the big day, the BBC website ‘reported’ that ‘specu- ple, some 31% said they ‘couldn’t care less’ about the event
lation has been rife about the bride’s dress’. This was an intro- and a further 28% described themselves as ‘largely indifferent’.
duction to a ‘behind-the-scenes glimpse of the work involved in Clearly, speculation was not ‘rife’ everywhere.
the creation of a couture wedding gown’, and formed merely the So, given that the wedding is of no significance to democratic
start of a dedicated journalistic enterprise that brought us up- decision-making, nor in holding those in power to account, nor in
to-date information on what the happy couple did on pancake responding to public demand, what can account for the press’s
day, how Kate might deal with her first foreign trip, and a useful blanket coverage? It’s relatively simple. The government and
guide to ‘five things we know about the wedding (and five we the royal family spend millions of pounds on public relations
don’t)’. (In case you’re wondering, we know when and where – and that money brings results. The first task of a supine jour-
the wedding will be held; we don’t yet know whether William will nalist is to rewrite press releases from the PR departments of
‘fulfil’ his ‘destiny’.) corporations and government. (The fact that ‘investigative jour-
All of this is no doubt essential information for citizens of a nalism’ needs a special name tells you all you need to know
democracy who need to make informed judgements. No doubt about the ordinary kind.) In short, what we are fed in the news is
the journalists who wrote it are doing a marvellous job holding not news at all, but propaganda – it’s what the people in power
those in power to account. But there can only be one reaction want us to know, what they want us to think, what they want us
to the news that ‘speculation is rife’ when it comes to the royal to be concerned with. Gossip about a royal wedding fits that
wedding. It’s the reaction the late comedian Bill Hicks gave purpose just fine.

Japan’s
disaster
for nuclear reactors in 2005 when his concerns over
Earthquakes and tsunamis are natural phenomena. building nuclear plants on earthquake fault lines were
But it is known where – if not when – they are going ignored, put it this way: “Japan is an earthquake-prone
to strike. So in principle society could take action to archipelago, and lining its waterfront are 54 nuclear
minimise the human impact. plants. It’s like a suicide bomber wearing grenades
It was known that the seabed off the northeastern around his belt.”
coast of Honshu (the main island of the Japanese It is not only Japan that generates nuclear power in
archipelago) is prone to earthquakes. It was known that a earthquake-prone areas. Some 20 percent of the world’s
sufficiently powerful offshore earthquake would generate 443 nuclear reactors are located in seismic zones. There
a tsunami. So why not leave the endangered coastal area are two nuclear power plants at risk from earthquakes
uninhabited? in China’s Fujian Province, one in Turkey, and one in
Armenia. In the United States several nuclear power
Crammed into the danger zone plants are in places that have experienced earthquakes,
This earthquake and most of its aftershocks were hurricanes or tornadoes. Another tsunami-triggered
offshore. However, the next major earthquake may well disaster like that at Fukushima is waiting to happen
occur, as long predicted, on land. It is a matter of when, in San Diego, California, where a nuclear power plant
not whether. stands right on the beach, facing an active fault line a few
The area at greatest risk is miles offshore.
the southern coastal strip of There were also technical
Honshu that stretches west problems with the design
from Tokyo – a city already and operation of the
devastated by earthquakes in nuclear reactors at the
1891 and 1923. And yet the Fukushima complex. The
eastern half of this strip, up company that owns the
to Osaka, covering a mere 6 complex, Tokyo Electric
percent of Japan’s land area, Power (TEPCO), has a
is the country’s industrial record of covering up
powerhouse, with 45 percent of safety issues. The complex
its population of 127.5 million. was built by Toshiba,
Tokyo and its outlying cities using a reduced-cost
alone contain 30 percent of the design by General Electric
country’s population. Would a with a relatively small
rational society cram so many containment structure.
people and resources into the House floating in Sendai tsunami
zone of maximum danger? Does it make sense?
It is true that many modern buildings have been From the perspective of a truly human community – that
equipped to withstand seismic shocks. But most older is, socialism – it makes no sense deliberately to court
buildings are much more poorly designed. For one glaring disaster in this manner. But does it make sense even
example, look at some photos of Tokyo street scenes and from a capitalist point of view, considering the enormous
count the bulky signboards attached to storefronts at a losses borne by the companies most affected by the
single point, just waiting for a jolt to break free and fall devastation? After all, capital craves its own expansion,
on the heads of the people below. not annihilation. It does not really share the death wish
To accommodate urban growth, about a quarter of of the suicide bomber.
Tokyo Bay (150 square miles) has been reclaimed from One answer is that most investors are concerned solely
the sea. When the earth shakes, as it has recently, the with expected short-term profits – and they never expect
loose soil of this reclaimed land undergoes liquefaction disaster, even though they must know it is always a
(becomes liquid). The shaking is also liable to spill and set possibility. Moreover, high-speed communications and
ablaze the oil and toxic chemicals stored in the numerous data processing make it easy to move capital around
tanks that line the shore of Tokyo Bay. Fires still rage almost instantaneously in search of maximum short-term
up and down the coast, including a conflagration at the profits. By giving priority to reducing risk, a company
Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara City. would have to accept higher costs and lower profits in the
short term. It would soon find itself short of capital and
Suicide bomber might face hostile takeover or bankruptcy.
The ultimate in insanity, however, is Japan’s growing Another factor may be at work here – namely, the
reliance on nuclear power, driven by the desire of its psychological mechanism called denial. Instead of
ruling class to overcome reliance on energy imports, carefully assessing risks and consciously accepting
especially oil from the Middle East. Nuclear power them, a capitalist may avoid stress by closing his mind
currently supplies 30 percent of the country’s energy in advance to considerations of risk that he fears will
– a figure projected to rise to 50 percent by 2030. jeopardise his profits. He may persuade himself that
Fukushima, where a Chernobyl-type disaster is still those who draw attention to risks have a hidden political
unfolding, is one of a dozen nuclear plants located on agenda. This applies especially to risks that are posed
the coastal strip of northeastern Honshu, in the path of by nature. To take nature and its requirements seriously
tsunamis from offshore earthquakes. The Hamaoka plant, might jeopardise not only profits but the whole profit
to the southwest of Tokyo, perches on an active fault line. system.
Katsuhiko Ishibashi of Kobe University, a seismologist STEFAN
who resigned from a committee setting safety guidelines

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MEXICO CITY (AFP) – A 19-year-old Mexican woman was
in the ninth day of a hunger strike in front of the British
embassy, demanding an invitation to the wedding of
Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton, she told AFP:
A religious understanding http://tinyurl.com/6d6gpz4
An American couple who have sailed the world with a yacht

I love being handed leaflets in the street. If I’d saved
full of Bibles were hijacked by Somali pirates, and the U.S.
every one I’ve ever been given I’d have thousands. Come
said Saturday it is assessing possible options:
to think of it, I must have handed out a few thousand
socialist leaflets myself over the years. But it’s the more http://tinyurl.com/69nomfy
amateurish, home-made looking ones that fascinate me.
The brightly coloured ones on multi-folded squares of A record 5.26 million people worked unpaid overtime last
paper that were probably done on a 60’s home printing year, clocking up an average of more than seven hours a
kit are the best. And if the person distributing them week without pay, according to a new study. The TUC said
seems to be slightly embarrassed about handing them workers were missing out on almost £5,500 a year, worth
out that’s also a good sign. So when I was approached £29bn to the economy. One in five employees regularly put
recently by a man in orange trousers with a fistful of in extra unpaid hours last year, with public-sector workers
leaflets and a large cross dangling from a piece of string, most likely to work unpaid overtime, said the TUC:
who had been standing next to a puddle in Luton town http://tinyurl.com/64gxcwu
centre, I knew I was onto a winner.
“Just as Adam and Eve chose to believe in themselves 21-year-old Sacha Hall is facing trial for allegedly helping
so people since have been living and dying in exclusion herself to food that had been thrown out and was awaiting
from the tree of life” it started. Magic! Pure poetry. disposal:
But that was just the beginning. I turned to the back http://tinyurl.com/667jut3
and read on. “then they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the spirit gave “We must be prudent. We know what our political line is:
them utterance”. Wow, I thought. That’s what you call We don’t support invasions, or massacres, or anything
utterance. like that no matter who does it. A campaign of lies is being
“What’s this speaking in tongues all about?” I asked. spun together regarding Libya,” said Chavez, in a televised
The man introduced himself as George. “If you’d like to speech. “I’m not going to condemn him (Gadaffi),” he said.
experience communication with the holy spirit you can “I’d be a coward to condemn someone who has been my
come to a meeting tonight,” he explained excitedly. friend”:
“Will you be speaking in tongues?” http://tinyurl.com/4sgmujt
“Yes,” he promised.
“What’s the purpose of that?” Joseph Nye of Harvard’s Kennedy School wrote in The New
George thought for a moment and referred me to Republic in 2007 that Muammar Qaddafi was interested
another passage in his leaflet. “God wants us to identify in discussing “direct democracy.” Anthony Giddens of the
with Jesus’ death in our place by being baptised, and London School of Economics wrote in the Guardian the
receiving his life. When you receive this God immediately same year that Libya under Qaddafi could become “the
leads you in an unlearned prayer language.” Norway of North Africa.” Benjamin Barber of Rutgers
“I see,” but George knew I wasn’t convinced. He University wrote in the Washington Post, also in 2007, that
scanned the leaflet for a more relevant passage. Libya under Gaddafi could become “the first Arab state to
“It’s about our spiritual awakening,” he eventually transition peacefully and without overt Western intervention
offered. to a stable, non-autocratic government.” Great minds think
“Do you have to speak in tongues for that?” alike? Actually, no: all were being paid by Libyan money,
“Of course not, it’s a spiritual gift from God,” he under a $3 million per year contract with a consulting
explained patiently. group which promised to “enhance the profile of Libya and
“So if I come to the meeting and you speak in tongues Muammar Gadaffi” in Britain and the US:
how will I know what you’re saying?” http://tinyurl.com/6df36va
He looked at me as if I were a bit dim. “The speaker
himself won’t know the meaning of his actual words,” he Death threats from Muslim fundamentalists have forced
explained. “So you won’t. You might think it sounds a a British imam to retract his claim that Islam is compatible
bit like Swahili.” with Darwin’s theory of evolution.
“I don’t speak Swahili,” I confessed. http://tinyurl.com/4uzm4oe
“No,” admitted George, “nor do I.”
“So it might be pointless,” I suggested. “A bit like the ‘This week a report by government advisor Lord Hutton
conversation we’re having now.” stating that public sector workers should work for ten
George could see I was a lost cause. He was a patient years longer, for less pay, was released on the same day
man but my spiritual awareness was obviously not up to as the Forbes Rich list, which showed that the number
the standard required. “That’s it. The discussion’s over,” of billionaires in the world has risen from 1011 to 1210 in
he snapped and stomped off back to his puddle. one year. If you plotted a graph of the wealth of the richest
So I’m no wiser about speaking in tongues people in the world it would be shooting off the charts, with
than I was before. If you’re interested loads of fat cats looking on, toasting each other and chuffing
in finding out more for yourself on cigars:
though the meetings are in Luton on http://tinyurl.com/6zec2rt
Wednesday nights. 7.30. Bring an
interpreter – on second thoughts,
don’t, that might confuse the issue.
NW

Life, death or suicide?
Thanks to New Labour’s trumpeted policy of being most other European countries and in accord with the
“tough on crime” administered by the likes of Jack Straw likes of Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia and Hungary, so that
and David Blunkett (they never actually got around to a government which professes to staunchly respect the
the other bit about tackling the cause of it all) there are rule of law and the sanctity of its treaty obligations has
something over 85,000 people in prison in this country persistently acted in an illegal and cynical way. Some
(also, they never sorted out whether over-crowded prisons prisoners – and others outside gaol – may have their
proved that they had succeeded, or failed, to beat crime). own opinion about the motivation of those who preach
At present none of the prisoners is allowed to vote; in any endlessly about “right” and “wrong” but who are ready
case if they were not banned the fact that they come from to apply their own, conveniently flexible, interpretation
homes all over means that the effect would be dispersed of these terms. Is this a problem to those who solemnly
between many constituencies and so unlikely to affect construct capitalism’s regulations governing property and
any single result. Which has not lessened the interest, privilege? For one thing, the possibility of losing the right
not to say at times passion, over whether anyone who has to vote through being sent to prison is unlikely to have
been locked up for offending against some of the accepted deterred any of those 85,000 from their efforts to improve
norms of property society, their lot through the
by theft or violence, should kind of theft or violence
have a say in how that which capitalism rules
society is run day-to-day. as illegal. For example
in the recent elections
Europe in the Irish Republic
The controversy was only 191 prisoners
brought up for wide public out of a total of 4,500
discussion by the case registered for a vote.
of one John Hirst. By no So the ruling class
means an easy, attractive can be reassured;
man – as a child he was from casual contact
abused after being placed with some inmates of
in a Barnardos home and those grim monuments
suffers from Asperger’s to futile punishment
syndrome – Hirst was it is unlikely that if
sentenced to 15 years they had the vote
in prison for killing his Prisoners: suing for £160 million in damages? they would use it in
landlady with an axe in the only constructive
what was described as a possible way; rather,
detached, callous manner. In the event he served 25 after their own fashion they will support at the ballot box
years and after release under supervision on licence the whole society of class denial and exploitation – on the
he personified the campaign to overturn the ban on assumption that they can so re-arrange things as to be
prisoners voting, on the grounds that it contravened the exploiters.
the Human Rights Act, which became law in the UK
in 2000. This Act, which was greeted in many a court Cameron Is Ill
room with derisive irritation, sprang from a guarantee David Cameron has said that the very idea of prisoners
in the European Convention on Human Rights of “free being allowed to join the millions of misled, prejudiced,
elections…by secret ballot under conditions which will unthinking voters makes him “physically ill”. It is difficult
ensure the free expression of the people in the choice of to believe that someone who has so ruthlessly scaled the
the legislature”. But it was not all plain sailing thereafter. greasy pole is so delicate. Is he not propelled into nausea
In April 2001 the High Court in Britain rejected an at the evidence of capitalism’s desolation? Famously
application for the enfranchisement of prisoners but reputed to be an affectionate family man, was he not
three years later this decision was itself overturned by the repelled when Save the Children reported that 1.6 million
European Court of Human Rights, leading the Council children in the country he rules over are living in extreme
of Europe in December 2009 to question whether the poverty? Does he suffer sleepless nights when he hears of
general election due in May 2010 would be illegal. Which yet another incident of children being slaughtered under
did not, of course, prevent that election going ahead even the guns and missiles in Afghanistan? Are his digestive
if some of the candidates were subsequently imprisoned processes affected when he is informed of the effect of his
for other criminal offences. In February last, the government’s policies on benefits for the frail and elderly
Commons emphatically opted to keep the ban although who, no longer a viable employment prospect, look on
this flew in the face of the country’s obligations as a their future with fear? So what is the scale of the matter?
signatory to the ECHR and could lead to prisoners suing Before it recently emerged into the news through the
for damages which might total as much as £160 million. processes of the law, there was no apparent awareness
of it among the electorate at large. It was not an issue
Civic Death during that last election. The entire dispute in this case
In terms of legislation the matter goes back to the is another irrelevance when the urgent need is to end a
Forfeiture Act of 1870, which moderated some of the society under the rule of the likes of Cameron and his
consequences of “civic death” dating back to the 14th lies. To end, in other words, this present situation where
century. The present ban was imposed in law in 1983, those who can vote do so as a kind of civic suicide.
1985 and 2000, which placed the UK at variance with IVAN

Political revolution
In his 1970 book on Revolution
in the “Key Concepts in Political
Science” series Peter Calvert
defined ‘revolution’ as “referring
to events in which physical force
(or the convincing threat of it) has
actually been used successfully to
overthrow a government or regime”.
He concluded by advising political
science to retain the word “as a
political term covering all forms of
violent change of government or
regime originating internally”.
This fits in with the popular
concept of revolution as a violent act.
But it rules out calling a revolution
the sort of non-violent overthrow of a
government that occurred in Tunisia
and Egypt. And not just the changes
there but also those in Eastern
Europe in the late 1980s where it
was also determined but peaceful
mass demonstrations that brought
about a change of political system.
Calvert’s definition of political
revolution would seem to need
refining, to take into account such
non-violent changes of political
system. Not of course any non-violent
change of government as the leader
of the Fine Gael party in Ireland (now
the Prime Minister) absurdly claimed
when he described his party’s
electoral victory in February as a
“democratic revolution at the ballot
box” in which “people didn’t take to
the streets, they took to the ballot
boxes”. The change of government in
Ireland was not a revolution in any
sense of the term, merely a change of
capitalist government brought about
through the normal constitutional
procedures in a capitalist political
democracy.
But even if the concept of political
revolution is extended to include
a change of government brought
about by essentially peaceful but
non-constitutional means this still
limits the definition of revolution to a
What are the lessons of recent events in North Africa? political change only.
R
evolution is in the air, or unions independent of employers Social revolution
at least the word is. The and the government. If this is Socialists too want a revolution
media talked of a “Tunisian consolidated it will represent an but one involving much more than a
Revolution” in January and of an advantage from a working-class and change of political control. We want
“Egyptian Revolution” in February. socialist viewpoint. Workers will have a social revolution, a revolution in
In a weak, narrow sense of the word more elbow-room to fight the class the basis of society. In that sense
this could be said to be true. In struggle and it will be much easier our conception of revolution is
both countries a long-established for socialists to express their views. nearer to that accepted by Martin
dictator was overthrown as a first But it is still only a political Oppenheimer (as formulated by
step towards establishing political change, at most a political Chalmers Johnson) in his 1969 book
democracy, the only kind of revolution, that leaves unchanged Urban Guerrilla:
democracy that capitalism can offer. the capitalist basis of society. Any “A sweeping, fundamental change
Already some changes have been more representative government that in political organization, social
made, even though many of the emerges will be no more able to make structure, economic property control,
personnel of the old regime are still capitalism work in the interests of all and the predominant myth of social
in place. There is less arbitrary than can the elected governments of order, thus indicating a major break
police repression. There is freedom countries where political democracy in the continuity of development.”
of speech and to organise into trade has long existed. On this definition there was no

revolution in Tunisia or Egypt, nor a minority revolution is not himself to maintain its hold in those
in Eastern Europe. But events there irrevocably lost, but his revolution circumstances. Faced with the
are still relevant to the concept of is.” hostility of a majority of workers
socialist revolution as we see the Unless a majority of industrial and (including, of course, workers
first step in this revolution as being white collar workers want socialism in the civil and armed forces, as
a political revolution in the sense of and organise themselves without well as workers in productive and
a change in who controls the state. leaders to get it then socialism is distributive occupations), the
We also think that, in established impossible. On the other hand, capitalist minority would be unable,
political democracies, this could be if they do want it, nothing can in the long run, to enforce its
done non-violently through the ballot stop them getting it, not even a commands and the workers would
box. hypothetical abolition of political be able to dislocate production and
This has been challenged by others, democracy by a recalcitrant capitalist transport. In such circumstances
who have argued that the entrenched government. It is this that the recent the capitalists would themselves
ruling class would never allow this events in North Africa confirm. be divided. Not all of them would
to happen and that the only way Capitalist political dictatorships there be disposed to provoke chaotic
they can be dislodged is through civil couldn’t even stop a determined conditions in an heroic last-ditch
war and violent insurrection. Faced majority that wanted limited, political struggle.”
with an impending socialist election democracy. How much less would The reply went on to make the
victory, their argument goes, the a capitalist political dictatorship be point that “a look at the way in
capitalist ruling class would abolish able to stop the more determined and which governments do behave in
political democracy and, even if they more organised majority that one face of a hostile majority under
let things go so far as an actual wanting socialism would be? existing conditions will show how
socialist election victory, would not impossible it is for any minority to
respect it and would carry on ruling Pro-capitalist coup? retain cohesion and to act decisively
regardless. No government can continue to when it is conscious of being actively
The overthrow of the govern in the face of active opposition opposed by the majority”. And invited
democratically-elected Allende from those they govern. Answering a the correspondent “to name a single
government in Chile by a military question from a correspondent who instance of a capitalist minority
coup in 1973 always used to be cited asked what we would do if, faced managing to maintain its hold on
as confirmation of this. Quite apart with a socialist election victory, the the machinery of government for any
from the fact that Allende and his pro-capitalist government suspended length of time in face of the organised
government were not socialist, they the constitution and attempted to and united opposition of a majority of
never had the electoral, let alone rule by decree, the Socialist Standard the population”, adding “We know of
the active, support of a majority of of November 1933 reformulated the no such instance.”
the population – which in our view question as “Can a capitalist minority The recent events in North Africa,
is an essential condition for the which happens to have control of the like those in Eastern Europe twenty
establishment and functioning of machinery of Government continue or so years ago, confirm this. Faced
socialism. indefinitely to govern and make with the active opposition of the
This is a view our critics do not capitalism function, in the face of the population of their countries the
share. They are not thinking, as organised opposition of a majority of Tunisian and Egyptian dictators quit.
we are, in terms of a majoritarian Socialists?” and answered: The governments there were divided
revolution, one involving the active “It is not possible for a minority and did at first try violent repression
and democratic participation (hundreds were killed) but, faced
of a majority of the population. “The word Revolution, which we Social- with the continued courageous
They envisage only a minority- ists are so often forced to use, has a ter- determination of the demonstrators,
led revolution, with an active rible sound in most people’s ears, even they were not prepared to provoke
minority leading a mass of merely when we have explained to them that the chaos that violent repression
discontented but not socialist- it does not necessarily mean a change would have entailed, especially not
minded workers. It is quite true accompanied by riot and all kinds of mutinies in the armed forces as their
that, faced with such an attempted violence, and cannot mean a change members refused to shoot down
revolution, the ruling class is likely made mechanically and in the teeth of unarmed demonstrators. Ceausescu
to resist violently, with a reasonable opinion by a group of men who have in Rumania and Gaddafi in Libya
chance of success. somehow managed to seize on the ex- were exceptions that proved the rule.
Even if such a revolution were ecutive power for the moment. Even They did stage a last-ditch stand
to succeed it would not, and could when we explain that we use the word and duly provoked the mutinies and
not, lead to socialism. As Martin revolution in its etymological sense, and defections and chaos.
Oppenheimer pointed out, with mean by it a change in the basis of so- We take comfort from these events
regard to the majority class of ciety, people are scared at the idea of as they show that, once there is a
industrial and white collar workers: such a vast change, and beg that you socialist majority, socialism will be
“The revolution rules in their name, will speak of reform and not revolution. inevitable. Even if a pro-capitalist
but they do not rule. In their absence As, however, we Socialists do not at all minority somewhere were to try to
from effective participation in the mean by our word revolution what these prevent a change of political control
revolution, the same thing happens worthy people mean by their word re- via the ballot box, the socialist
that happens in a peasant-based form, I can’t help thinking that it would majority will still be able to impose its
revolution: gradually the leaders of be a mistake to use it, whatever projects will by other means, such as street
a minority-led revolution become we might conceal beneath its harmless demonstrations and strikes. But we
a new bureaucracy, a new class of envelope. So we will stick to our word, doubt that it will come to that. But
rulers… Modern society is ripe for which means a change of the basis of if it did, it wouldn’t stop socialism
the domination of bureaucracy, society…” being eventually established, one way
in the absence of a revolutionary William Morris, How We Live and How or another.
working class. Perhaps the leader of We Might Live (1887). ADAM BUICK

A brief history of
Public Relations
Islands of Consciousness
by David R. Ingham
Are workers brainwashed by capitalism?
I
f you want to know the truth, inform, but to mould public opinion Dull compulsion versus
you cannot rely on newspapers. so that it reflects the interests of brainwashing
We have that on good authority the capitalist class and the state. The idea that working-class
– in fact, on the authority of the ‘News’ is propaganda, not genuine acceptance of capitalism can be
more honest newspapers. (The journalism. ascribed to the workers’ ‘false
more honest papers are those that The truth of this has, however, led consciousness’, Lodziak calls ‘the
are read mainly by capitalists who to a logical but erroneous conclusion dominant ideology thesis’, and it is,
need reliable information about the among many radical thinkers – that he says, ‘taken as a self-evident truth
world in order to make investment the working class accepts capitalism amongst a majority of the left’. But is
decisions, as opposed to those that because it has been brainwashed it true? It is, after all, a proposition
are read mainly by workers.) into it by clever capitalist PR. The capable of empirical proof or disproof.
In a startlingly frank appraisal argument can even take a Marxian- Do workers in fact believe and accept
of the history and practice of the sounding form: capitalist society, the ideas that make up the ‘ruling
public relations (PR) industry, The say some Marxists, maintains ideology’? The answer, says Lodziak,
Economist (18 December 2010) and reproduces itself through the is yes – and no.
admits that PR was invented in dissemination of the ‘ruling ideology’ It is true that most workers accept
the early 20th century to counter – i.e., the ideas, beliefs and values certain key ideas that are essential to
working-class struggles, and of the ruling capitalist class – and the continuation of capitalism – for
rising popular resentment against its acceptance by the working class. example, they accept the justness
capitalism, by getting newspapers The working class, in accepting of ‘a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s
and journalists, until then these ideas, as they learn them from work’, they accept meritocracy (the
sympathetic to the workers, on the newspapers and so on, is thereby idea that it’s OK for people to rise
side of the business class. American integrated into capitalism and comes above them in the social hierarchy
business was at the time worried by to accept its own subordination. if the rise is based on merit and
the rise of a new phenomenon: public This theory has the added appeal, talent), they accept that most people
opinion. The business élite feared for Marxists, of seeming to explain should get a job or career and strive
this, especially as it was developing something that stands rather in need to ‘get ahead’, and so on. They do
in an anti-capitalist direction, and of explanation in Marxian theory not, however, universally accept
were determined to take control of – the failure of the class struggle or agree with other aspects of the
it and manipulate it for their own to materialise into the revolution ruling ideology, such as property
ends. PR’s founding father, Edward predicted by Marx. and inheritance rights, principles
Bernays, was quite explicit about the The argument is compelling of capital accumulation and the
aim: ‘the conscious and intelligent but mostly false, as shown in an right to a profit, state neutrality,
manipulation of the organised excellent essay by Conrad Lodziak occupational structure, distribution
opinions and habits of the masses’. in the journal Radical Philosophy of incomes, the right to manage, and
That all this is true, and that (‘Dull Compulsion of the Economic: so on.
the century-long and ongoing pro- The Dominant Ideology and Social At this point, a Marxist might say,
capitalist PR campaign was and is Reproduction.’ No. 49, Summer OK, the ‘dominant ideology thesis’
a great success, to the extent that 1988). The essay, and the empirical is then justified: the working class
there are today no mainstream media data and ethnographic studies it does accept the most important
outlets that are not pro-capitalist, draws upon, is obviously now dated aspect of the ruling ideology, which
is pretty much indisputable. This in some respects. But its arguments is the acceptance of the inevitability
means that, today, newspapers and are still strikingly relevant and of working for wages. But this is
news programmes (those read and persuasive. This article will reprise not so, says Lodziak. To prove the
watched by the working class) are Lodziak’s argument and briefly ‘dominant ideology thesis’, you must
not what they appear and claim to consider its implications for socialist show not just that workers accept
be. Their role is not to enlighten and politics. certain ideas, but that those ideas

are sufficiently important to them eschew ‘oppositional’ politics. boring treadmill of reformist politics
for them to commit to the ideas and ‘Workers rightly believe that and the ridiculous sectarianism,
act upon them. And this is where the opposition may lead to redundancies authoritarianism and leadership-
thesis falls down: ‘the required degree or closures, and that it may be dominated activity of Leninist sects
of ideological motivation appears to impossible to get another job.’ And is out. Of course, the Socialist Party
be absent amongst a majority of the the more intolerable the alternatives has not been wildly successful
populations of advanced capitalist are, the worse the prospect of at attracting people, but it is a
societies’. Instead, what you find unemployment is, the worse pay and commonplace on the left that we
is ‘an absence of belief’: passivity, conditions workers will be prepared have at least managed to be human
resignation, bewilderment, confusion, to accept – explaining the present and charming, make our meetings
disorientation and marginalisation government’s determination to push places of free and open discussion,
are all more important in determining through punitive benefit reform, even and our activity the result of freely
working-class actions than so- though unemployment is on the rise. arrived at decisions and voluntary
called ‘false consciousness’. And the In short, the consciousness of the activity. Our members tend to join
explanation for this passivity is easier working class is best understood not and remain members for life; most
to find in ‘largely publicly identifiable in terms of ideology, but in terms of rival leftist outfits operate a ‘revolving
features of the social environment’ ‘needs-based motivations’. By talking door’ policy.
than in ‘some mysterious process in terms of indoctrination, the left Second, ‘effective opposition is,
of class brainwashing or collective displays an ‘insensitivity to the lived amongst other things, always an
hypnosis’. experience’ of the working class. effective ideological opposition’, which
The ideas which do dominate means engaging in a ‘vigorous and
working-class thinking tend to Political conclusions continuous ideological contestation
be those ‘directly relevant to the We in the Socialist Party are often in the public sphere, not only in
practical and immediate demands accused by our opponents, and challenging the dominant, but also
of the everyday life-world as even sometimes by our supporters, in the advocacy of oppositional
experienced’ – ideas related to things of not having made any progress alternatives’. Again, we cannot
over which workers do have some in our 100-year history. What the claim sufficient success in this
control, such as deciding whether foregoing arguments should have area, but we have at least taken
to resign and look for a new job, or made clear is that it is not within our the challenge seriously, unlike the
wait for a promotion; whether to get power to make the kind of progress left generally, which is content to
married, or divorced; how to organise demanded of us. The working class pander to prejudice rather than
home life and what to do with free generally is ideologically indifferent, challenge it, propagate the ruling
time, and so on. Workers’ thinking and accepts capitalism because it ideology rather than contest it, and
is, quite understandably and must. The only thing that can disrupt mock the advocacy of alternatives
sensibly, focused on finding security, this to the advantage of socialists is, as utopian. Credibility for socialism,
and avoiding insecurity. This is says Lodziak, ‘effective oppositional says Lodziak, can only come from
impossible without building relations practices inscribed with oppositional ‘the relentless public display
of dependence and subordination viewpoints’ – in other words, the of commitment to oppositional
with an employer, the state, or a development of the class struggle. We alternatives, and from the
breadwinner. Workers are materially, can contribute to the development unwillingness of agents of opposition
not ideologically, subordinated; of this struggle, and we do, but it is to compromise principles’. Yet again,
economic necessity and state not within the power of a small party the Socialist Party, unlike the left,
coercion are more important than such as ours to determine its course. can lay claim to a proud history of
ideology. Workers do what they do The failure of sufficiently large and doing just that.
because they must – not because powerful oppositions to arise is down Third, we need to demonstrate the
they’ve been tricked into not to a lack of energy or dedication relevance of socialism to the needs
thinking it’s a on the part of socialists, nor the of the vast majority. Most people will
good idea. absence of a sufficiently clever not struggle or even vote for abstract
This also socialist advertising campaign, but things or ideas, says Lodziak, but
goes some to the power of economic necessity will fight to win material benefits
way to and state coercion. to improve the quality of their lives
explaining This article may seem to and guarantee the future of their
why Marx’s have argued itself into a corner. children. This might seem to argue
prediction If all this is true, what can be against the Socialist Party’s case.
of done? The answer may not satisfy Indeed, we are often accused by our
revolution socialists who understand the leftwing opponents of doing nothing
was urgent need for radical change, but but try to win support for abstract
premature, it is inevitable all the same: we just ideas. This is not true: what we have
and why keep struggling. tried to do is show that many of the
workers Lodziak has three other main material benefits people are fighting
often concluding points of advice for any for are only possible of realisation in
socialist opposition. (The commentary a socialist society. If what you want is
that follows the advice is of a pay rise, then you can join a union.
course ours, not Lodziak’s.) If you want to fill the lonely, empty
First, participation in nights, you can join an evening class
organised politics must or the local darts team. And so on
be made sufficiently – workers will need no advice from
attractive to entice socialists on these counts. But what
people out of their if you want a full and satisfying life
PR’s founding father, Edward Bernays. privatised worlds. for you and your children – with
This means that the
continued page 22

Irish Election result: no change
This was an election about which had enjoyed an average of 8 percent (MPs) formed a long and disreputable
set of politicians was to impose growth during the boom was found to queue to announce that they would
austerity. The Outs got the job. be built on sand. After 2002 growth not be seeking re-election. They did
had been driven disproportionately so in the sure and certain knowledge
T
here was a text doing the by a madly over-heated property and that they were facing humiliation
rounds in Ireland a few weeks construction sector funded by banks in the polls and so took the chance
ago which tried to capture who believed that valuations would to benefit from the soon-to-be-cut
the financial issue paralysing the go up forever. severance payments to outgoing
country. ‘American tourist goes into Ireland was building 75000 TDs, although most claimed health
a hotel in a small Irish town and, residential units a year, for a reasons for their decision not to
requesting to view the room, leaves population of fewer than 5 million stand – proof if proof was needed
€100 deposit with the manger. The when the UK was building fewer that this had indeed been a sick
hotel owner runs across the road to houses than that for a population government. Their lacklustre newly-
the butchers to pay off €100 account 10 times the size. We had 5-star elected leader Micheal Martin bore
owed, the butcher immediately goes spa Hotels opening every other day the expression of the condemned
to the pub to clear €100 bar tab, the and the main cities were a forest man. His natural political arrogance
barman goes next door to the town of construction cranes. Developers however enabled him to attempt
prostitute to pay €100 he owes her were the new aristocrats, living in to convince the electorate that,
from the night before, she goes to ostentatious luxury supported not despite the fact that he had been
the hotel to pay the €100 she owed by the proceeds of their businesses a long standing minister in the
in room rentals. Just as she leaves, but from more and more bank outgoing government, really none
the American tourist comes back to borrowings. Fianna Fail (FF), the of the mistakes were down to him,
the reception saying he doesn’t like main party of government, were that he had a brave new plan and
the room and takes his €100 back. complicit with their ill-conceived the experience to deliver it. Actions
The tourist leaves town with everyone property tax breaks, Europe’s lowest though belied his words. His Party
having cleared their debts’ corporation tax and a virtual absence didn’t even field enough candidates
The story illustrates nicely what of financial regulation. When the to form a majority administration – a
socialists have always known; global banking crisis hit, the Irish first for an outgoing governing party.
that the fiscal merry-go-round of house of cards fell quicker and All the opposition parties could
capitalism is an illusion. However it harder than most. For the coalition smell blood. It was clear that the
is precisely that illusion that became government of Fianna Fail and their parties of government were going
the centre of the debate leading up minority Green Party partner, most of to get a hammering. The main
the recent general election in Ireland 2010 was spent lurching from crisis opposition parties Fine Gael (FG),
as the electorate became fixated to crisis whilst sorting out a bail out under the leadership of Enda Kenny
by the apparent choices put before the EU and the IMF. and the Labour Party under Eamon
them by the main parties as to who Gilmore knew that this was their
could better manage the necessary The Soldiers’ Destiny big opportunity for power and the
negotiations with the EU and the Brian Cowan, the Taoiseach saw smaller parties such as Sein Fein
IMF on the countries €85bn debt and his ruling Fianna Fail party routed. could see the chance of a land grab.
who was best able to fill the gapping The Party which has been in power The election was extraordinary if
€15bn deficit in the nation’s budget. for longer than any other since the result merely predictable. Not
This was the first general election the establishment of the state saw extraordinary in the usual boring
since the Celtic Tiger had taken its the writing on the wall. Cowan predictable way that a disreputable
last roar, lost all its teeth, became resigned as leader in the run-up to government gets routed by the
mangy and thin and eventually lay the election and in the days that opposition, in the way Blair’s New
down and died. An economy that followed, his Ministers and TDs Labour did to the Tories or as
was done in turn to Labour last
year by the shiney posh boys of
Conservative/Libdems. This was
different in a number of respects.
Firstly, the outgoing Fianna Fail/
Green government managed to get
Building work suspended cross-party support for the passing
of a Finance Bill in the last few days
of government. The need for a quickly
agreed Finance Bill was a condition
of the EU/IMF bailout. That the main
opposition parties were complicit in
letting it get passed was a result of
their desperation to grab power at
any cost and knowing that any delay
in the passing of the bill would only
delay an election being called. In
doing so they enabled a Bill which
ranks amongst the most vicious
attack on the poor in recent memory.
The cavernous budget deficit was

to be brought under control to meet Such a potential ethical dilemma fest. When the Irish government
conditions imposed by Europe. The troubled them little so, not only did bailed out these criminally
principle was that the gap would they facilitate the passing of the irresponsible banks, it made sure
be closed by budget cuts and tax pernicious Finance Bill but it was there was fair play in protecting
increases to the proportion of 60:40. clear that they were having coalition not just the life savings of Mr and
The 60 percent that is to come from negotiations with FG from the earliest Mrs Murphy but also the bond
budget cuts will see swinging cuts days of the election. investments of international capital.
to social benefits, health services, A more principled Labour Party That commitment to these wealthy
education and every conceivable may have seen the obvious anger and hedge funds and their like is to be
social and cultural subsidy. The desperation of a country which might protected in the next government
tax elements overwhelming hit the have welcomed a more radical Labour paid for by the Irish people through
poor including the cynically named alternative. It’s not like the peril of savage cuts.
universal social charge set at 7 minority coalition wasn’t obvious to
percent. them. The minority Green partner in Themselves alone
So any perspective party of the outgoing coalition had in recent The only sizable party which tried
government, in their indecent haste month become a national laughing to articulate anything resembling
to get into power, in effect committed stock and got their just deserts in an alternate voice was the reformed
themselves to the fiscal and the election in which they lost every terrorists of Sinn Fein (SF). It was
budgetary policies of the outgoing single seat – obliterated! And Labour however a very feeble attempt at
government. must also have looked across the being radical as their illiteracy in
Another extraordinary feature water at the pathetic spectacle of even bourgeois economics was
of the run up to the election was the Liberal Democrats writing their exposed. Their leader Gerry Adams,
the level of public anger and political obituary for a term in office. who gave up his UK parliamentary
disillusionment at party politics Labour’s lack of edge was truly seat to stand in the republican
and the lack of belief that any of stunning. Gilmore’s apparent outrage heartland of Co Louth, showed just
the parties provided a plausible at the fiscal irresponsibility of the how much of a one issue politician
alternative. This became reflected last government has been exposed he is, as he struggled with the basics
in the unprecedented number of as only skin deep. Labour’s election of economics, social policy and even
independents who stood. Indeed, stance was different by imperceptible cultural life South of the border.
there was a point in the early days of degrees. They made major principles His incredulous continued denial
campaigning that it even appeared out of the smallest detail such as the of having been a former member of
that there may have been a coalition timeframe over which the deficit was the IRA did not trouble his hard-line
of independents into a brave new to be managed, the proportionality supporters who voted him in. It has
political party. That was not to be of cuts versus tax increases or the however fastened his reputation as a
but it was to prove the strongest ever extent of public sector reform. What fraud.
showing for independents, winning they demonstrated was that their Five “far left” TDs were elected
almost 3 times as many seats than in intent, just like FF and FG, was to under the umbrella of the United Left
the last general election. run the system in the interest of the Alliance, an election pact between
capitalist class. No proposal on a Irish sections of Militant and the
New faces, same policy wealth tax or an immediate cessation SWP. It will be instructive to see
The lack of faith by the electorate in of the tax breaks for the wealthy. whether or not they use their seats to
a plausible opposition was evidenced Indeed it is remarkable that not one act as a megaphone for socialism or
by the respective leaders. The most party, let alone Labour, proposed an simply to press for reforms (actually,
positive thing that the collective increase in the disproportionately we know the answer). The others
media were able to say of FG leader low Corporation Tax in Ireland. are a complete rag bag ranging from
Enda Kenny after each of the At 12.5 percent it is significantly right wing euro-sceptics to traditional
televised leadership debates was that below the rest of Europe (UK 21-28 rural conservatives who solely deliver
he hadn’t messed up. Kenny, who is percent) and is the principle driver ‘favours’ to their constituents in the
now Taoiseach, is a man untroubled of foreign direct investment into the expectation of being re-elected.
by deep thought. He appeals, as does country. Even a small increase in The result has been quite
his party, to rural catholic Ireland, that tax would make a significant extraordinary as shown (see chart).
boasting recently that he ‘ate his contribution to the deficit but all of The effect however will prove to be
dinner in the middle of the day’; a the parties bought into the threats of very much less extraordinary.
nod to his farming constituents. The the business community of a mass FG and Labour spent 10 days
Labour party Leader, Eamon Gilmore, exodus of overseas investment. It is in talks agreeing a coalition and
in all his pompous self importance, an empty threat and that all of the programme for government.
was a man determined to lead his parties bought it exposes both their The media have welcomed this
party into government at any cost; spineless self interest and basic programme uncritically ignoring the
principle was a small price to pay. economic ignorance. The idea that fact that it reflects for the most part
The Labour Party knew this was their Google, Intel, HP et al would unwind the conditions as imposed by the IMF
big chance but they also calculated €100s million of investment and and the terms of the Finance Bill,
correctly that their only real hope infrastructure to avoid a few percent passed by the outgoing government.
of achieving that, was as a minority of increase is an empty threat. What is a cast iron certainty is the
coalition partner to the right of centre Neither has either the main Irish working class face many years
FG party. opposition parties proposed any of the most severe punishment for
IRISH ELECTION RESULT risk to the the unbridled free market sins of
International capitalism. What is also certain is
FF FG Lab SF Left Ind Green Total Bond Holders who that the new government will pay the
20 76 37 14 5 14 0 166 funded the Irish price of taking on the job as wiping
-57 +25 +17 +10 +5 +9 -6 166 Banks in their boy for the system.
drunken gorge BRIAN MONTAGUE

A tree surgeon reflects on why no business (me) has very much become ‘the employer’, always under
pressure to hold down wages or cut corners to maximise
can give due regard to the needs of workers
profit. I am not saying we treat staff badly or that our
and the environment work is shoddy, but there is no doubt about it the
pressure and conflict are always there.
I
am, I suppose, a businessman; not, I should say, The ‘care of trees’
from choice but more from the need to follow a This is a term used by most of us in the industry to
prescribed and necessary course; necessary, because, describe our work. It implies that the work we do is good
were one not to, inevitably the business would fail and for trees, makes them ‘better’, is necessary for their well-
fall by the wayside. I say businessman, now, but thirty being and without which they would not survive. The
years ago I would have called myself a ‘tree surgeon’, or reality of the situation is quite different; 95 percent of the
‘woodman’ without the slightest feeling of inadequacy work we do is entirely unnecessary and probably in
or embarrassment. Admittedly the term ‘tree surgeon’ the majority of cases actually harms the tree. So,
does sound rather more grand than the reality of the what do we do and why do we do it?
work, pruning, cutting and working with trees, and Most of our work involves removal of parts or
certainly does not have the prerequisite of six years’ all of the tree or trees. This is usually to solve a
intensive study at one of the country’s finest universities. perceived problem such as loss of light, leaves falling
Nevertheless a tree surgeon is what I was and work with into gutters or to make space for some form
trees is what I did. of development. In the vast majority of
I have often thought back and wondered why I found these cases if we are to abide by
myself in this industry. The reasons, actually, are quite scientific recommendations with
simple. I loved working outdoors and with my hands; regard to correct pruning times
I loved practical problem solving, such as one comes – which often dictate that work is
across when dismantling a large tree using ropes in a undertaken over many years to allow the
confined space or in a dangerous condition; I love trees tree to recover from the pruning work – we
and nature and moreover I enjoyed the work; so much simply would not get the job, as people will
so that I looked forward to the day’s work with interest almost always be drawn to the cheapest
and enthusiasm. Now, over thirty years on, I have what option, that is, to do the work in one
most people would view as, a successful business; it visit thus incurring the least possible
employs twenty-three people and is well respected in expense. As the business is driven by
its field – a success story, some might say. So why do I the need to make profit there is no
feel unhappy about the place I find myself and why do I means by which we can operate in the
find myself questioning the very thing that has enabled interests of the tree.
me to live in some comfort and pursue my interests and Furthermore, all of the jobs we
generally enjoy life? The reasons are many but maybe I undertake involve an estimator visiting
should start by returning to the beginning and explaining the client to assess the job and
how the business evolved and how it became more provide a quotation. Often the
and more apparent to me that to operate a business client will be seeking three or more
within the system, under which we are all obliged to estimates for the work, which
work and function, could not be done in a way that is may only involve the pruning
commensurate with good practice with regard to people of a single apple tree, so, when
and the environment. analysed, a small job necessitates
After thirty five years of running a tree business, I at least three people travelling
think I have a reasonable idea of what I am talking about anything up to thirty miles,
with regard to the needs and workings of the industry sometimes more, vast amounts of
that purports to care for trees in the environment. I also paperwork and a team travelling in
hope that the illustrations below of how my business; heavy diesel vehicles to do what less
although, in reality it could be any business, is quite than fifty years ago would have been
simply always on a collision course with all that should undertaken by a local woodman or
be right and proper in the pursuit of ‘care of trees’. even by the owner themselves, all
this just for the cheapest price; The
The beginning cost to the environment speaks for
This is a job that cannot be done alone, one needs to itself.
climb the tree and be assisted by a colleague on the Although for the owners of trees
ground who helps with the roping and clearing of the cut the work undertaken, either at their
branches and timber. I used to work with a young chap request or on the recommendation
and would charge the client exactly what I paid him, in of the tree surgeon, might seem
those days about £20 per day. It was soon pointed out by necessary, the pressure and
my accountant that this would not do; I needed to charge temptation for the estimator, having
him out at at least three times what he was paid thereby driven to the site and needing to ‘get
making a profit on his labour. the work in’ is undoubtedly to find
Therein lay the first step that formed the uneasy gap work even if it is not needed either
in what had been a breezy, happy relationship. Now, all by the client or the tree. I am of no
these years on, the gap has widened and the company doubt that companies are constantly

recommending unnecessary and potentially damaging out work that in a society without money would equate
work on trees. to free time. I have not included our accountant’s time or
the time saved by the workers who, as part of their work,
Treework in relation to the environment earn the money to pay for the ‘non workers’.
I have mentioned the need for long and pointless journeys
above but let me mention all the other facets of our work Treework in a socialist society
that impact detrimentally on the environment. Ideally, we Working with trees will always, by its nature involve hard
would use hand tools, such as cross cut saws and axes to physical work but then, as I have already said, the work
cut timber and natural materials for our ropes, clothing is enjoyable and rewarding especially when planting
and other essentials but, as we are driven by the need to trees for the future or solving a problem for someone
make a profit, we need to get a job done quickly, hence not to mention the exercise and fresh air (when not
the need for the fast chainsaw – itself, a very dangerous using a chainsaw!). Much of the work we do now would
tool. A recent research paper has found that a single be undertaken with no need to rush and always with
hour’s use of a medium sized chainsaw is as damaging the highest safety precautions in place. Work would,
to the environment, in terms of emissions, as driving a undoubtedly be very local and without the need for long
small saloon car for over two thousand kilometres. The journeys. When bad weather prevented work, workers
need for speed when undertaking potentially hazardous will not need to worry that they will lose out; they could
work in itself creates a greater likelihood of staff having simply do the job another time and use the opportunity to
accidents or, through pressure of time, not working to relax or pursue another activity.
a high standard; the net result of this is a reduction in Work carried out on trees will be undertaken in a way
job satisfaction and self worth. It seems strange to me that is sympathetic to the environment and the general
that we live in a climate of health and safety and yet health and well-being of people and in a manner that
something as obvious as this as the reason accidents avoids harm to the tree. Tools would be made to last and
happen completely escapes the powers that be. work practices would as far as is practically possible,
Although when one thinks of it when has the health of be in harmony with the environment. But, above all,
a working person ever been more important than work would, once again, be a pleasure, with everybody
the bottom line? equal and with the joint aim and shared pleasure of
producing work at a craftsman level unfettered by
Working conditions bosses demanding unrealistic targets and destroying the
The heavy snow in December meant that it potential for the satisfaction that comes from doing a job
was impossible to carry out most of the work well. Wages would be non-existent; but then, who would
we normally do. Suddenly the staff became worry as everybody would have all they needed to live a
very worried that they would not be paid if happy and fulfilled life.
they could not work and the brutal reality Working on that problem tree would, once more, be
was, that, no they wouldn’t. the pleasurable experience it was when I first started 35
We reached an agreement in the end years ago…
which meant that they could choose to
take unpaid leave or holidays but the A final thought
reality of the situation is, that the snow I have sat high up in the branches of trees that are
was not their fault and their way of life hundreds of years old; such trees are often seen as a
and plans were compromised. You may nuisance when the aphids that suck on their leaves
ask why were they not paid? The answer secrete honeydew on a smart car below or drop leaves
is that they were for a brief period but, that blow around the garden. Such trees began their lives
under the present system, more than a few before capitalism, before the dawn of the motorcar or
days would not have been possible as the the industrial revolution; If they could impart knowledge
company would go out of business and then from within their deepest heartwood, or tell of all that
they would not have a job at all. It, like all they have seen and learnt since the day when the first
wage problems, leaves you with a bad taste leaf emerged from the rich soil, what would they say?
in your mouth and creates all the usual What would they tell us; us who cut them to pieces with
bad feeling and misery. power saws fuelled by the decayed remains of their long
We are expected, naturally to provide dead relatives; whose activities are destroying countless
all workers with serviceable and safe millions of their cousins in the Amazon and Malaysia;
tools and equipment to work with. I will who are poisoning the very air that they breathe… that all
say no more other than the cost of such is well?
equipment is a major consideration when Trees grow slowly, time has an entirely different
the need arises to buy or replace such meaning to them; they do not feel the need to work
items. We do our best but I have heard of quicker for more profit. They lay down each year’s wood,
another company who, to save costs, did their buds swell and the leaves burst forth and finally
not service a wood chipper and it came sail down to feed the soil below; they watch and see all
loose from the vehicle which was towing around them.
it and crashed into an oncoming car, Will a young tree growing today see the end of this
severing the woman driver’s arm. There destructive society and some time in the future provide
are many more similar stories in this and shade for a person who with much leisure time on his
other industries that clearly indicate that hands, sits with his back resting against the gnarled
the bottom line comes before safety. trunk and looking up through the beautiful canopy of
I mentioned above that our company green thinks to himself “How could we have once lived
employs twenty-three people. Of those, like that?”
six are wholly involved with finance GLENN MORRIS
such as estimating, typing quotations,
bookkeeping, invoicing and purchasing.
Thus, over thirty percent of staff carrying

Letters continued Reply: beginning.
As can be seen from the quote in In any case, events did not confirm
Trade Unions and Kautsky’s article Marx was talking the optimistic view Marx expressed
Socialism about the existing, non-revolutionary
unions:
here that the trade unions would
be “schools for Socialism”. Kautsky
“The trade unions should never be correctly makes the point about
Dear Editors affiliated with or made dependent this that England showed that the
After reading a number of SPGB upon a political society if they are to existence of trade unions “alone is
statements on the unions, fulfil the object for which they were insufficient to convert the worker to
among them the SPGB Executive formed. If this happens it means Socialism ‘without him knowing it’;
Committee’s appeal to trade their death blow. The trade unions that they do not necessarily bring
unionists (Socialist Standard, are the schools for Socialism, the Socialist conviction home to the
September 2009), I wonder if you workers are there educated up to worker because of ‘the incessant
could devote some space to further Socialism by means of the incessant struggle against capitalism which is
explaining your position on the struggle against capitalism which being carried on before their eyes’.
role of unions in the revolutionary is being carried on before their Only a scrap of this struggle is
process. eyes. All political parties, be they really being pursued daily, and this
I am prompted to raise this what they may, can hold sway over scrap is not even always sufficient
question by certain things I have the mass of the workers for only a to indicate the real meaning of the
read in Marx on the same question, time: the trade unions, on the other whole struggle.” Hence the need for
among others the statement in Value, hand, capture them permanently; a socialist organisation to point out
Price and Profit, where he speaks of only the trade unions are thus able that meaning.
the unions “using their organized to represent a real working-class But this is not a reason for
forces as a lever for the final party, and to form a bulwark against socialists to oppose the existing
emancipation of the working class, the power of capital. The greater unions. They are organisations
that is to say, the ultimate abolition mass of the workers conceive the that can, in a limited way, defend
of the wages system”. Similarly necessity of bettering their material the wages and working conditions
with Marx’s contention that “only position whatever political party they of their members. That is why our
the trade unions are thus able to may belong to. Once the material members join them and work with
represent a real working-class party, position of the worker has improved, their fellow workers to get what
and to form a bulwark against the he can then devote himself to the can be got out of employers. Inside
power of capital”. better education of his children; his them, we advocate a class approach,
The second statement, with its wife and children need not go to internal democracy, non-affiliation
emphasis on “only the trade unions”, the factory, and he himself can pay to a political party (our members
is taken from Marx’s 1869 interview some attention to his own mental refuse to pay the levy to the Labour
with the German trade unionist education, he can the better see to Party) while of course also arguing
Hamann, as quoted by Karl Kautsky his physique. He becomes a Socialist that the only framework within which
in his 1909 article, “Sects or Class without knowing it.” (Translation by the problems facing workers can be
Parties”,  which is posted to the Zelda Kahan for the July 1909 issue lastingly solved is socialism and the
Marxist Internet Archive. Kautsky of the Social Democrat, theoretical abolition of the wages system.
also said there is no reason to doubt journal of the SDF), We have never seen the point
the accuracy of Marx’s statement to We can agree with Kautsky that of trying to organise a socialist or
Hamann.  I also know the importance there is no reason to suppose that revolutionary union to rival the
Daniel De Leon and the Socialist Marx did not say something like existing unions. Since the vast
Labor Party in America attach to this, as it conforms to his strategy majority of workers today are non-
it.  (See, for example, De Leon’s of the time of working within socialists such a union would be
articles, ”A Brace of Specimens, the International Working Men’s small and ineffective. The non-
Even ‘Neater’“ and “With Marx for Association to encourage a trade revolutionary position of the existing
Text”, both of which are posted to the union consciousness amongst unions (“a fair day’s work for a fair
Daniel De Leon Internet Archive.) workers to develop into a socialist day’s pay”) is a reflection, not the
By “union” you will understand political consciousness. His advice cause, of the non-revolutionary
that I do not infer today’s unions, to the existing unions to organise ideas of their members. However,
which are as unfit on the economic workers irrespective of their political when more and more workers come
field as your country’s Labor Party opinions and to avoid being linked to be socialists the unions will be
is on the political, but unionism to a political party is sound (it is our transformed.
as Marx envisioned a union view too). What he says about unions In fact, we envisage workers,
aiming at “abolition of the wages being the only real defence workers once they have become socialist,
system.”  Frankly, I cannot reconcile have under capitalism against “the organising both politically and
my understanding of the SPGB’s power of capital” is also true. economically to bring in socialism.
position on this question with these We cannot see that this passage Politically to wrest political control
statements from Marx, and would can be interpreted as Marx from the parties of capitalism.
like to see a Socialist Standard article advocating a syndicalist approach. Economically, to keep production
devoted to clarifying the SPGB’s If it wasn’t for his other writings of going during and immediately after
position on the union question and the period urging workers and their the changeover from capitalism to
how it relates to the Marx passages unions to aim also at the abolition socialism. We don’t envisage the
cited here. of the wages system he might rather socialist revolution being purely
BERNARD BORTNICK (SLP Member), be thought to be advocating here electoral and parliamentary (if that’s
Dallas, Texas. a trade-union based party like the what you were thinking). – Editors.
Labour Party in Britain was at the

Royal Welding
Scientists have almost
succeeded in crossing
an endangered Brown re-invents the wheel
inbred species with
a specimen from Gordon Brown has written a book. Not gossip about
the related species what went on between him and Tony Blair but about the
homo-partius- Crash of 2008 and what he thinks should be done to avoid
animalis. The another one. Called Beyond the Crash, the subtitle of the
splicing of Prince first part could well have been “How I saved the world from
William of Diana, financial meltdown.”
KFC with the Right He writes that by 26-27 September “the choice was clear:
Ordinary Kate Middlebrow either we had to step in and accept all the associated risks,
will take place under closed circuit or simply leave the free-market system to collapse”:
conditions in front of 1900 specially “We were facing a situation that risked becoming
invited observers, with appropriate worse than 1929. No one trusted anyone in the banking
ambient vibrations provided by a bank of sterilised musical ‘pop’ system, and people were predicting not a recession but a
androids, before the couple retire into a private mansion to bonk depression. People were panicking, asking which would be
out what is hoped will be the next generation of media darlings. the next bank to collapse. The financial system was looking
“It’s pretty crucial they get this right”, said one mating specialist, over an abyss.”
“as results have been so disappointing for the last three Brown puffs himself for discovering that the way to
generations. There’s a real danger the line may go extinct, or end a financial panic in which banks and other financial
gaga, and Britain could end up being a garden-variety republic institutions are afraid to lend to each other is for the
like France.” government to make more money available. As if
Experts say that it is quite hard to train royal breeds as they governments hadn’t done this in the past, even in Marx’s
have a tendency to run off at the mouth and look stupid in front day.
of cameras, or else punch the people holding the cameras. In Volume III of Capital, Marx quoted extensively from
They have to be kept on a severely rich diet and protected the parliamentary reports into the financial panics which
from work and other hereditary allergies while at the same time occurred in 1847 and 1857. This from the Report on the
being represented as ‘normal’ people who ‘do things’. They are Commercial Distress, 1847-8:
secluded from prying spotters yet must remain visible enough so “[T]he bankers and others finding that they would not
that people can remember who they are. They are surrounded rely with the same degree of confidence that they had
by obsequious flunkies and then told that they are ‘serving the previously done upon turning their bills and other money
nation’. They must be prevented from expressing opinions and securities into bank-notes, for the purpose of meeting
embarrassing themselves in public, since like many celebrities their engagements, still further curtailed their facilities,
they tend to believe that because everyone is looking at them and in many cases refused them altogether; they locked
they must be clever people with something to say. Finally they up their bank-notes, in many instances to meet their own
must at all times profess their loyalty and devotion to a political engagements; they were afraid of parting with them… The
system which regards them as anachronistic nobodies who alarm and confusion were increased daily; and unless Lord
should by all historical logic and precedent have long since been John Russell…had issued the letter to the Bank…universal
shot in a cellar. Not surprisingly these restrictive and paradoxical bankruptcy would have been the issue.”
conditions often lead to strange and delusional behaviour, Lord John Russell was the Prime Minister and his letter
especially in the elder males. Many of them tend to speak in a to the Bank of England suspended the Bank Charter Act of
strangulated squeak from permanently contracted sphincters, a 1844. Engels explained in a footnote what this meant:
conditioned reflex learned from their public school upbringing. “The suspension of the Bank Act of 1844 permits the
The females often go off the rails entirely and have to call in Lord Bank to issue any quantity of bank-notes regardless of the
Max of Hastings to conduct damage limitation. gold reserve backing in its possession; thus, to create an
For the sartorially curious, Kate Middleroad will be wearing a arbitrary quantity of fictitious paper money-capital, and to
dress worth several African dictators. William’s younger brother use it for the purpose of making loans to banks, exchange
and best man will turn up in a Nazi uniform for a bit of a lark and brokers, and through them to commerce.”
a nod to their forebears. Charles will be dressed as a cactus. Marx wrote of “a point where either the entire industrial
Wills, as the adoring public love to call him according to the world must go to pieces, or else the Bank Act”, and went
Daily Mail, saw active service behind the lines of bodyguards on:
and became a highly trained helicopter pilot, a fact that may “Both on October 25, 1847, and on November 12, 1857,
come in useful if ever the republicans stage a coup and the the crisis reached such a point; the government then lifted
Royal Benefit-Scroungers need to do a swift bunk to Sweden. the restriction for the Bank in issuing notes by suspending
He is descended from many notable English monarchs including the Act of 1844, and this sufficed in both cases to overcome
Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Ivor the Cutler and Vlad the crisis.”
the Impaler. However, anti-royal spoilsports may retort that this So Brown did nothing extraordinary. He merely did
pedigree is genetically spurious, since like all humans Willy what the capitalist class expect their government to do
probably shares more genes with the Neanderthals than he when there’s a financial panic that threatens to seize up
does with his great-great-great-grandfather. commerce and production – make more money available
Wills gets given a dukedom as a wedding present, which lasts to the banks. As in similar circumstances in the past, this
a bit longer than a set of towels from BHS. Meanwhile we get a stopped the immediate financial panic. But it didn’t stop
day off, which lasts a day. But hey, let’s not be churlish. It’s a bit the coming slump, as GNP fell from that quarter on and is
of a show, a bit of pomp, a bit of nonsense our descendants will nowhere near its pre-crisis level even today.
scratch their heads over. And it’s no worse than the X-Factor. Lord John Russell was more modest. He didn’t write
HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE! (Trans: if you don’t like it, f**k a book about how in 1847 he had saved the world from
you!) universal bankruptcy.
PJS

Book Reviews
Pity about the politics World capitalism dependency theorists with bringing
out the fact that capitalism is a single
Hobsbawm: History and Politics. Ending the Crisis of Capitalism or world system, not just a collection
Gregory Elliott, Pluto Press, 2010. Ending Capitalism? Samir Amin. of national capitalisms, real or
Pambazuka Press. 2011 potential.
ALB
Once upon a time,
the teaching of Samir Amin
history in Britain was one of the Help yourselves
was a fantasy pioneers of
world in which the “dependency Help! Oliver Burkeman.
emphasis was on the theory” in Canonsgate. £12.99
doings of kings and the 1970s.
queens, statesmen Its exponents
and Prime Ministers, regarded Subtitled ‘How to
the role of Empire capitalism as Become Slightly
and ‘facts’ to be a single world Happier and
learned by rote. About 60 years ago system divided Get A Bit More
this began to change and to some into a centre Done’ this is a
extent this can be attributed to which exploited well written and
the thinking of Karl Marx and his the “periphery”. They challenged the amusing romp
insistence that history had to be conventional view, held also by those through one
understood in its material contexts Amin here calls “historical Marxists” of capitalism’s
– that is, how wealth was produced, (which would include us), that the biggest growth
the parts played by social classes and sort of capitalism that exists at the industries: self
the technology they used. centre could develop in the periphery. help books and
E.J. Hobsbawm along with other This was impossible, they claimed, ideas. Readers of The Guardian will
notable historians of this period such as, to continue to exist, the centre know Burkeman as the author of
as E.P. Thompson, Christopher Hiil needed a dependant periphery to the ironically titled ‘This Column
and Rodney Hilton produced works exploit for what Amin calls “monopoly Will Change Your Life’ feature, and
informed by Marx’s theory of history. rent” (and Lenin called “super- here he tackles everything from
Hobsbawm gained critical and profits”). numerology to leadership systems
commercial success with The Age This led Amin to Maoism and its and Scientology.
of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848, modification of the famous slogan at Burkeman is an expert spotter
(1962), The Age of Capital: 1848- the end of the Communist Manifesto of flummery and exaggeration and
1875 (1975), The Age of Empire: into “Workers and Oppressed Peoples the world of self-help and personal
1875-1914 (1987) and The Age of of All Lands Unite”. He still stands by growth literature has more than its
Extremes: The Short Twentieth this slogan and is still sympathetic to fair share of both:
Century, 1914-1991 (1994). These Maoism. “If you want to get really stressed
and other works of Hobsbawm have In this book he argues that out…you could do worse than read
been reprinted many times and have capitalism developed in the centre by Change Your Life in 30 Days, a
gained him a reputation as probably dispossessing those who worked on bestselling book by the American
Britain’s best known historian and the land. In the 19th century these TV life coach Rhonda Britten… [but]
Marxist. dispossessed were able to emigrate, 30 days looks relaxed compared to
However, when it comes to in particular to the US where capital Change Almost Anything in 21 Days,
Hobsbawm’s politics a very different accumulation in search of labour- Change Your Life in 7 Days, Shape
picture emerges. Hobsbawm, power was expanding. Capitalism, Shifter: Transform Your Life in One
Thompson, Hill and Hilton were he says, is still developing by Day, and my favourite, Transform
at one time all members of the dispossessing the peasantry, this Your Life in 90 Minutes… As a
Communist Party of Great Britain time in the South, but this time there sucker for quick fixes, it took me
(CPGB). But whereas Thompson, is nowhere for the dispossessed to a long time to realise the problem.
Hill, Hilton and many others saw the migrate to. So, they are condemned Deadlines induce stress and worry.”
error of their ways – especially after to vegetate in dire poverty. In truth, a book knocking some
the suppression of the uprising in Pauperisation is still inherent in of the worst excesses of this genre
Hungary by Russian military in 1956 capitalist development. is easy enough to concoct, but
– and resigned, Hobsbawm remained He sees world socialism as the only Burkeman has also accessed a
in the CPGB until its dissolution in way out but envisages it as coming good deal of the research to make
1991. As a cheerleader for the CPGB into being just as capitalism did a case for what does work (usually
and the Russian empire, Hobsbawm over centuries, with the countries of with modest effect) compared with
defended the leading role of the party the South breaking the link to the what manifestly doesn’t. Among the
advocated by Lenin, and dismissed centre (now merged into a single interesting findings are that the act
the view that the emancipation of imperialism of the US, Europe and of giving has more lasting, positive
the working class had to be the Japan which he calls the “Triad”) and psychological effects than receiving,
work of the working class itself developing on a non-capitalist basis. about why Sunday is the most
– the cornerstone of any Marxian While we do not share this depressing day of the week, and of
politics. Even now, aged 93, he is perspective (there can be no non- the reasons why having experiences
still unapologetic about his political capitalist development within tends to be more fulfilling than
beliefs. Hobsbawm the historian had world capitalism), or the view that acquiring possessions.
some interesting things to say, but the centre depends on “monopoly Burkeman is clear that one of
his politics remain anti-Marxist. rent” from the South (they are just the problems with the self-help
Lew ordinary profits) we can credit the continued page 22

Film Review
(Rosemarie De Witt) suggests selling logue are good and the movie absorbing,
The Company Men the Porsche and the house. Bobby is it doesn’t tell the viewer anything new. By
convinced he’ll soon find employment at now most unemployed labourers, truck
his old salary of $120 grand a year, not drivers and factory workers, are aware
realising there are few such jobs avail- that getting the axe isn’t any easier for
able and the competition for them is the middle-of-the-road managers than it
ferocious. is for them. Whatever bitterness the ex-
We watch Bobby’s gradual disillusion- execs feel is directed primarily at G.T.X.
ment; being expelled from the country and a little at America itself. Nowhere is
club because he can’t afford the fees, there any suggestion there is something
watching the new owner drive off his fundamentally wrong with capitalism.
Porsche and being forced to live with his A reviewer should not give the ending
parents. In desperation, he accepts a job away, so suffice it to say, it’s capital-
in construction, working for his brother-in- ist propaganda at its most desperate.
This was at first a personal matter for law, Jack (Kevin Costner), who delights in Company Men is just another movie that
writer and director, John Wells. Having Bobby’s downfall and lets him know it. tells its audience, “There’s nothing terrible
seen his brother-in-law, an electrical engi- There is a surreal scene when Bobby about the economic system we live un-
neer, struggle after being laid-off, the plot attends a placement workshop, which der. So what if times are sometimes hard,
follows the misfortunes of three execu- Wells himself did. The manager has a with faith courage and enthusiasm, things
tives employed at G.T.X. a major ship- roomful of unemployed constantly recit- will get better.” In that respect, perhaps
building company, whose head honcho, ing, “I will win because I have faith, cour- the most significant comment is when
Jim, played by Craig T. Nelson, made $22 age and enthusiasm.” When Wells asked Bobby glares at the personnel manager,
million bucks in bonus payments the pre- the manager if she was embarrassed, who has delivered the bad news and
vious year. “We work for the stockholders she replied, “I’m dealing with people who uses the well-known and delightful, “P.O.”
now,” Jim reminds his underlings as he feel like they’ve been in a car accident.” expression. What would be more delight-
prepares to fire thousands of workers. The finest acting is by Chris Cooper as ful is when a Socialist majority says that
Tommy Lee Jones is Gene, Jim’s old Phil, a sixty year-old who worked his way proverbially to capitalism.
college room mate who helped him build up from a welder to the number three Steve Shannon
the company up from scratch. Gene man at G.T.X. Cooper takes the viewer
thinks of G.T.X.’s employees as if they right into the heart of a man tortured
were family and it hurts him deeply when by insecurity, fear and anxiety. Phil is
he’s required to inform “relatives” their bewildered by the new and real world he
services are no longer required. In an finds himself in. One job placement of-
early scene, Jim’s wife requests the use ficer advises him to quit smoking, on the
of the company jet, a luxury she won’t premise that, “The employers don’t want
enjoy for much longer, to go from Boston a guy with health problems, it will push
to Palm Springs to get in some shopping. up the insurance.” When applying for an
Most of the movie deals with the international sales position he finds how
struggle of 37-year-old hot shot sales- age goes against one; “It’s a demand-
man, Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck). At first ing job, I wouldn’t offer it to anyone older
Bobby cannot come to terms with being than thirty,” the boss tells him.
unemployed, whereas his wife, Maggie Though the acting, direction and dia-
Cabarets in letter. Before these workers were saved by health and safety
legislation, they actually worked in places harmful to their
the lunch hour wellbeing. However, the occasional workplace death could be
excused because the bosses looked after their staff, with yearly
outings to the seaside and cabarets in the lunch hour.
Sitting down to watch The British So, although this parallel universe has some superficial
At Work (BBC2), you soon realise similarities, its history isn’t quite the same as ours. And some
that this documentary series has been concepts and words have different meanings there to what
beamed in from a parallel universe. we would recognise. In Young’s world, ‘the working class’ just
The first hint that it doesn’t relate to our world means manual labourers, preferably with a funny accent and
comes in presenter Kirsty Young’s preamble. She says fusty clothes. ‘The bosses’ is a more vague term, meaning
“chances are that most of you … will firmly believe that you, like both capitalists (who always wore top hats) and the workers in
me, have spent the day doing a job you enjoy. … And I’m pretty bowler hats we would call managers. The society described by
sure you feel that you’re part of a workforce where everyone’s Young doesn’t seem to have a capitalist class at all now, since
treated with respect”. In Young’s world, anyone can stride top hats went out of fashion.
confidently around London, empowered and fulfilled. The BBC should be applauded for having the technology
But working life wasn’t always like this, even in the to send its film crews to this other universe. Maybe they are
perfect society where Young lives. The first episode covers there most of the time, as programmes like South Riding and
employment trends between 1945 and 1964, when this other Silk also seem to be set in places with different rules about
universe was black-and-white, all working men wore cloth caps how workplaces function. The traditionally London-centric BBC
and all the women had their bottoms pinched. The programme has already relocated some studios to Cardiff, and is planning
tells us how sexism and racism were problems caused by the to move much of its administration to Manchester. Perhaps
ignorance of these workers alone. And it was their backward its programme producers are now based the other side of a
and pessimistic outlooks which led to laziness and inefficiency. wormhole?
The unions only made things worse by focusing solely on
Mike Foster
pedantically following every rule about demarcation to the

Meetings
Continued from page 13 Book Reviews continued
East Anglia
meaningful and enjoyable work, approach is that it systematically Saturday, 9 April
plenty of free time to spend with your over-estimates individual willpower 12noon: informal chat / branch business
family, friends and loved ones, and to and under-estimates environmental
1pm - 2pm: meal
pursue your interests and passions, factors in making us what we are.
a life free of stress and anxiety and 2pm - 4pm: discussion of conference
His book is unlikely to fundamentally
boredom (if you’re lucky), and of change many lives (and thankfully agenda.
extreme poverty and violence and doesn’t promise to) but it manages Quebec Tavern, 93-97 Quebec Road
war and environmental catastrophe to be alternately amusing and Norwich NR1 4HY
(if you’re not)? In that case, you will sobering about what is possible and (The meeting takes place in a side room
have to think carefully about what impossible within the confines of the separate to the bar.)
socialists say. What we say is that society we live in. All welcome.
this is a laudable aim – indeed, our DAP
rightful inheritance as human beings
– but is impossible to achieve under
capitalism.
Edinburgh and
This is clearly a difficult argument Glasgow
to make, especially to ‘ideologically
Day School
indifferent’ workers. But we live in
Saturday 14 May 1pm to 5pm
interesting times – capitalist crisis
is to a large extent making our ‘A Society In Crisis’
argument for us, and making it more The Middle East Powder Keg: Speaker
strongly and reaching more people Gwynn Thomas (South London)
than we have ever been able to. As The Rise of Chinese Capitalism: Speaker
the foregoing arguments should Paul Bennett (Manchester)
have made clear, crisis can have the Has Capitalism a Future? Speaker John
effect of making workers feel even Cumming (Glasgow)
more insecure and therefore even
Admission free with light refreshments
less likely to become socialist. But it
served.
also calls into question the viability Picture Credits
of the system, and makes it more Community Central Halls, 304 Maryhill
Cover: Gaddafi - U.S. Federal Government. Prisoner - U.S.
obvious than ever that it cannot Federal Government. Poker chips - © 2007 Logan Ingalls Road, Glasgow G20 7YE.
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.
satisfy our needs as human beings. p4: Chimpanzee typing, New York Zoological Society, 1907,
This crisis has a dual potential:
it makes aspects of the socialist
Public Domain
p6: Floating house, Sendai, March 14 2011, Katrina Annual Conference
case for us, even as it threatens to
Menchaca, Public Domain Good Friday 22 April 10.30 to 5.30pm
p9: Prisoner - U.S. State Legislature
drive the working class further into p12: ‘Islands of Consciousness’ - © 2005 David R. Ingham Easter Saturday 23 April 10.30 to b5pm
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.
the welcoming arms of capitalist p13: Edward Bernays - Public Domain.
Socialist Party premises, 52 Clapham
domination and exploitation. Which p14: Cranes over Dublin, Jnestorius, 2008, Public Domain High St, London SW4 7UN
p16: Tree surgeon photo, Andrew Tallow, 2007, Creative
way it goes is down at least in part Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Visitors welcome.
to what socialists and workers think p19: Wills & Kate cup, Zazzle.co.uk
p20: Hobsbawm: History and Politics - www.scifind.co.uk.
and do over the next decade. Our Ending the Crisis of Capitalism or Ending Capitalism?
work as socialists is therefore more - www.amazon.ca/. Help! - http://www.play.com For full details of all our meetings and
urgent than ever p21: The Company Men - filmofilia.com events see our Meetup site:
p24: Calcutta rickshaw, 2007, Public Domain
STUART WATKINS http://www.meetup.com/The-Socialist-
Party-of-Great-Britain/
Declaration of Principles
This declaration is the basis of by the capitalist or master class, the emancipation of the working 7.That as all political parties
our organisation and, because and the consequent enslavement class wil involve the emancipation are but the expression of class
it is also an important historical of the working class, by whose of all mankind, without distinction interests, and as the interest of
document dating from the labour alone wealth is produced. of race or sex. the working class is diametrically
formation of the party in 1904, opposed to the interests of all
its original language has been 2.That in society, therefore, there 5. That this emancipation must sections of the master class,
retained. is an antagonism of interests, be the work of the working class the party seeking working class
manifesting itself as a class itself. emancipation must be hostile to
Object struggle between those who every other party.
The establishment of a system possess but do not produce and 6.That as the machinery of
of society based upon the those who produce but do not government, including the armed 8.The Socialist Party of Great
common ownership and possess. forces of the nation, exists only Britain, therefore, enters the field
democratic control of the to conserve the monopoly by the of political action determined
means and instruments for 3.That this antagonism can capitalist class of the wealth taken to wage war against all other
producing and distributing be abolished only by the from the workers, the working political parties, whether alleged
wealth by and in the interest of emancipation of the working class class must organize consciously labour or avowedly capitalist,
the whole community. from the domination of the master and politically for the conquest and calls upon the members of
class, by the conversion into the of the powers of government, the working class of this country
Declaration of Principles common property of society of national and local, in order that to muster under its banner to the
The Socialist Party of Great the means of production and this machinery, including these end that a speedy termination
Britain holds distribution, and their democratic forces, may be converted from an may be wrought to the system
control by the whole people. instrument of oppression into the which deprives them of the fruits
1.That society as at present agent of emancipation and the of their labour, and that poverty
constituted is based upon the 4.That as in the order of social overthrow of privilege, aristocratic may give place to comfort,
ownership of the means of living evolution the working class is the and plutocratic. privilege to equality, and slavery
(i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) last class to achieve its freedom, to freedom.

Jomo Kenyatta
Sir Patrick Renson, the The Socialist position is straightforward.
Governor of Kenya, re- We are opposed to any attack on demo-
cently refused to release cratic freedoms, whether it is jailing for
Jomo Kenyatta and gave political reasons, restrictions on the right
two reasons for his deci- to vote, or any other weapon in the colo-
sion. They were: nialists’ armoury. But we are not blind to
“The political campaign the real nature of the struggle in Kenya, it
for Kenyatta’s release, is the old struggle between land and capi-
‘which has roused many tal. It is the old struggle between capital-
emotions and which has ists, whether they are those who hope to
not allowed divisions and establish full-scale industrial capitalism in
personal fears a natural Kenya, or those who have already estab-
atmosphere in which to di- lished it in Great Britain. We welcome any
minish.’ extension of democracy in Kenya which
Kenyatta’s refusal to ‘make any state- this struggle between two rival propertied
ment or reveal his thinking about the great classes has produced or will produce. But
Chips with Everything issues which Kenya is facing,’ in spite of we know that democracy is never safe in
the fact that six Ministers, including three a capitalist society. That has been seen
Where there is gambling, there is like- Africans, had visited him in August’…” in Germany, in Italy, in Spain, in Czecho-
ly to be corruption or cheating, and where Dictators have often put people in jail, slovakia and the rest. Only in a Socialist
there is sport there is likely to be gambling. or kept them in exile, because they have society will democracy be safe from over-
From betting on prize fights and horse-rac- “made statements” or “revealed their think- throw.
ing sweepstakes to football pools and the ing” about public issues; this must be the
current enormous betting industry, sport first time a political leader has been kept (from ‘The Passing Show’, Socialist
and gambling have always been closely in exile because he refused to take up a Standard, April 1961)
allied. But recent complaints and sporting political stand
scandals surrounding corruption allegedly
caused by gambling have moved to a new
level.
Over the decades there have been a
number of celebrated betting scandals. In
1919, players in the Chicago White Sox
team threw the baseball World Series, so
some gamblers could make a fortune bet-
ting on their opponents; as a result, eight
players were banned for life. In a scandal
in the Football League in 1962, three play-
ers were imprisoned and banned after bet-
ting on their team to lose a match; as one
of them, Peter Swan, said, ‘Where there’s
money there will always be a fiddle.’ In
each case the players benefitted relatively
little but paid a big price.
More recently, three Pakistan cricketers
have been banned for fixing a Test match
against England. They did not conspire to
lose but, it’s alleged, to do things such as
bowl no-balls at particular points, since
that’s the kind of specific event that you For more details about The Socialist Party, or to request a free 3-month subscription
can now bet on. They are facing criminal to the Socialist Standard please complete and return this form to 52 Clapham High
charges too. Street, London SW4 7UN
The International Olympic Committee
is setting up a taskforce to combat not Please send me an info pack
just match-fixing but also illegal betting,
an industry worth several hundred billion
pounds. Jacques Rogge, IOC President,
Please send me a free 3-month subscription to the Socialist Standard, journal of
has said that ‘illegal betting…threatens The Socialist Party.
the credibility of sport’. But the credibility
and reputation of professional sport are Name..................................................................................................................
already undermined, from horse doping to
fixed boxing matches to dubious games of Address..............................................................................................................
snooker or cricket. Swan, it seems, had it
.............................................................................................................................
half-right: the profit motive leads to fiddles
and cheating, where the swindled punters .............................................................................................................................
or the corrupted athletes are the real los-
ers.
.............................................................................................................................
PB Postcode............................................................................................................

A Class Divided Society resident Lakshmi Mittal, to the top of the new threat to U.S. labor union power
When socialists describe capitalism as a Forbes global rich list” (Daily Telegraph, in one of the most politically and
class divided society some of capitalism’s 10 March). In case you imagine that this economically important states. The
supporters dispute this claim, but here only applies to Mexican, American or Republican-controlled Ohio state senate
is one dyed-in-the wool supporter of Indian billionaires Forbes informs us that approved a proposal to curb the collective
capitalism who seems to be agreeing with the Duke of Westminster managed to bargaining rights of public employees and
us. “Britain is dividing into ‘two nations’,” increase his stack to $13 billion last year. forbid government workers from going on
Iain Duncan Smith warns today, as he strike” (Reuters, 2 March).
identifies a growing underclass for whom Class Division In India
life is comparable to the Third World A visit to an Indian city such as Calcutta The Ganja Of The People 
and who can expect to die in their fifties. would convince the visitor that it is a Away back in the 19th Century Karl
… Speaking just days after publishing country of extreme poverty and qualifies Marx once stated “Religion is the
his Welfare Reform Bill with radical as what the press call a “third world opium of the people”, but how do you
measures to drive people into work, he country”. You can see homeless families respond to this 21st Century news
said: ‘In Britain today there are pockets seeking out an existence living on the item? “The sale of marijuana has been
that are peculiarly Third Worldish in terms streets but that is only part of the story. banned by authorities in Nepal during
of life expectancy, general expectations, “In a wedding estimated to have cost a popular Hindu festival at which holy
disconnection for a group that is growing Kanwar Singh Tanwar, the groom’s father men traditionally smoke the drug. About
in number’” (Times, 19 February). and a member of Parliament, £15 million, 500,000 people and thousands of holy
Needless to say Smith’s determination about 30,000 guests ate 100 different men travelled to the Pashupatinath
to ‘drive people into work’ applies to the dishes and the couple’s main gift was temple in Katmandu for the festival,
working class not the useless parasitical a seven seater helicopter” (Times, 4 which marks the end of winter. … Police
capitalists. March). For a tiny minority of Indians a stopped people from dealing but did not
life of undreamt affluence is the norm prevent the holy men from smoking the
A World Of Inequality  in this “third world” country. drug” (Times, 4 March). Perhaps the
There is a widespread illusion that we Christian holy men should take a
live in more equitable times than previous leaf out of the Hindu’s book, it
generations, but recent statistics from the might help their falling church
World Bank give the lie to that notion. “A attendance figures. “Truck on
sharp rise in food prices since June has Jesus man”, may become
pushed 44 million people in developing part of the new holy
countries into extreme poverty – having orders as a way to fill
to live on less than $1.25 a day – those empty collection
according to a report by the World Bank” plates.
(New York Times, 15 February).
Hard Times – For Some

We are told ever day by the mass media
that we are living in hard times and that
we must be prepared to tighten our belts.
Longer working lives, lower pensions Gainful employment in Calcutta
and the threat of growing unemployment
are the prospects for the working class. Land Of The Free?
This period of “economic reality” does American politicians are fond of
not affect the owning class of course. boasting about the “land of the free”
“Carlos Slim gets even richer as he and contrasting the freedoms of people
beats Bill Gates to the top of the 2011 in the USA with that of other countries,
Forbes billionaires list. Carlos Slim, the but recent developments in the state
world’s wealthiest man, saw his fortune senate in Ohio seem more dictatorial
jump $20.5bn last year as he beat a than democratic. “Ohio joined Wisconsin
record 1,209 rival billionaires, including on Wednesday in advancing a plan to
Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and British restrict public sector unions, posing a
ISSN 0037 8259

24 Produced and published by the Socialist Party of Great Britain, 52 Clapham Socialist
High Street,Standard
London SW4 April
7UN 2011

Socialist Standard April 2011

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An American couple who have sailed the world with a yacht

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Are workers brainwashed by capitalism?

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Hard Times – For Some

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