Socialist Standard June 2011

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2 SocialistStandard June 2011

SubScription orderSshoul be sent to the aress above.rateS: One year subscription (normal rate)15. One year subscription (low/unwage)10. Europe rate 20 (Air mail). Rest ofworl 25 (Air mail). Voluntary supporterssubscription 20 or more. Cheques payable toThe Socialist Party of Great Britain.

june 2011

socialiststandard

contentsFeatureS

Lttr to a Irish Dissidt 5

Whos trrifyig who ad

why?10

udrstadig th Amrica

Ractio12

Th global prot systm 14

Class agaist class 17

Lord Byro ad th Lddits 18

reGuLarS

Pathdrs 4

Matrial World 6

Cookig th Books 1 7

Tiy Tips 8

Halo Halo 8

Grasy Pol 9

Cookig th Books 2 19

Rviws 20

Propr Gadr 21

Mtigs 22

Actio Rplay 23

50 Yars Ago 23

Voic from th Back 24

Fr Lch 24

The next meeting of the Executive Committeewill be on Sy 2 Jly at the aress

above. Corresponence shoul be sent tothe General Secretary. All articles, lettersan notices shoul be sent to the EitorialCommittee.

th Sls py52 Clapham High Street, LononSW4 7UNtl: 0207 622 3811

eml: [email protected]: www.worlsocialism.org/spgbblg: http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/

Uk Branches & contactsLondoncl Ld b. 2nd Wednesday6.30pm. Coffee Republic, 7-12 City Road,EC1 (nearest Tube and rail stations OldStreet and Moorgate).eld d higy b. 8pm. AngelCommunity Centre, Raynham Rd, NI8.

Corres: 17 Dorset Road, N22 7SL.Email:[email protected] Ld b. 1st Tues. 7.00pm.Head Ofce. 52 Clapham High St, SW47UN. Tel: 020 7622 3811W Ld b. 1st & 3rd Tues.8pm,Chiswick Town Hall, Heatheld Terrace(Corner Sutton Court Rd), W4.Corres: 51 Gayford Road, London W12 9BY

MidLandsW Midld rgil b. Meetslast Sunday of the month in the Briar Rosepub, 25 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham B25RE.

Tel: Tony Gluck 01242 235615.Email: [email protected]

northeast

n b. Contact: Brian Barry,

86 Edgmond Ct, Ryhope, Sunderland SR20DY. Tel: 0191 521 0690.Email: [email protected]

northwestL b. Meets every Monday8.30pm. P. Shannon, 10 Green Street,Lancaster LA1 1DZ. Tel: 01524 382380M b. Paul Bennett, 6Burleigh Mews, Hardy Lane, M21 7LB.

Tel: 0161 860 7189Bl. Tel: H. McLaughlin.01204 844589cumbi. Brendan Cummings, 19 QueenSt, Millom, Cumbria LA18 4BG

clil: Robert Whiteld.Email: [email protected]

Tel: 07906 373975rdl. Tel: R. Chadwick.01706 522365su M. Enquiries: BlanchePreston, 68 Fountains Road, M32 9PH

Yorkshiresip. R Cooper, 1 Caxton Garth,

Thresheld, Skipton BD23 5EZ.Tel: 01756 752621tdmd: Keith Scholey, 1 Leeview Ct,Windsor Rd, OL14 5LJ.

Tel: 01706 814 149

south/southeast/southwestsu W rgil b. Meets everytwo months on a Saturday afternoon inSalisbury.Shane Roberts, 86 High Street,Bristol BS5 6DN.

Tel: 0117 9511199

cbuy. Rob Cox, 4 Stanhope Road,Deal, Kent, CT14 6ABLu. Nick White, 59 Heywood Drive, LU27LPrdu. Harry Sowden, 5 Clarence Villas,Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 1PB.

Tel: 01209 219293

eastangLiae agli rgil b. Meetsevery two months on a Saturday afternoon(see meetings page for details).Pat Deutz, 11 The Links, Billericay, CM120EX. [email protected] Porter, Eastholme, Bush Drive,Eccles-on-Sea, NR12 0SF.

Tel: 01692 582533.Richard Headicar, 42 Woodcote, Firs Rd,Hethersett, NR9 3JD.

Tel: 01603 814343.cmbidg. Andrew Westley, 10 MarksbyClose, Duxford, Cambridge CB2 4RS.

Tel: 07890343044

ireLandc: Kevin Cronin, 5 Curragh Woods,Frankeld, Cork. Tel: 021 4896427. Email:[email protected]: Nigel McCullough.

Tel: 028 90852062.

scotLandedibug b.1st Thur. 8-9pm.The Quaker Hall, Victoria Terrace (aboveVictoria Street), Edinburgh.

J. Moir. Tel: 0131 440 0995. [email protected] Branchwebsite:http://geocities.com/edinburghbranch/Glgw b. 3rd Wednesday of eachmonth at 8pm in Community CentralHalls, 304 Maryhill Road, Glasgow. RichardDonnelly, 112 Napiershall Street, GlasgowG20 6HT. Tel: 0141 5794109.Email: [email protected]. Ian Ratcliffe, 16 Birkhall Ave,Wormit, Newport-on-Tay, DD6 8PX.

Tel: 01328 541643W Li. 2nd and 4th Weds in month,7.30-9.30. Lanthorn Community Centre,

Kennilworth Rise, Dedridge, Livingston.Corres: Matt Culbert, 53 Falcon Brae,Ladywell, Livingston, West Lothian, EH56UW. Tel: 01506 462359Email: [email protected]

waLessw b. 2nd Mon, 7.30pm,Unitarian Church, High Street. Corres:Geoffrey Williams, 19 Baptist Well Street,Waun Wen, Swansea SA1 6FB.

Tel: 01792 643624cdiff d Dii. Group meets 3pmlast Sat of month Cardiff Arts Centre, 29Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3BA. Corres: B.

Johnson, 1 Pleasant View, Beddau, CF382DT.

InternatIonaL contactsLi ami. J.M. Morel, Calle 7 edif 45apto 102, Multis nuevo La loteria,La Vega, Rep. Dominicana.africaky. Patrick Ndege, PO Box 78105,Nairobi.swzild. Mandla Ntshakala, PO Box 981,Manzini.Zmbi. Kephas Mulenga, PO Box 280168,Kitwe.asiaIdi. World Socialist Group, VillGobardhanpur. PO Amral, Dist. Bankura,722122Jp. Michael. Email:

[email protected]. Graham Taylor, Kjaerslund 9,oor 2 (middle), DK-8260 Viby JGmy. Norbert.E-mail: [email protected]. Robert Stafford.Email: [email protected]. Gian Maria Freddi, Casella Postale n.28., c/o Ag. PT VR 17, 37131 Veronaspi. Alberto Gordillo, Avenida del Parque2/2/3 Puerta A, 13200 Manzanares.

coMPanIon PartIes oVerseasWld sili Py f auli.P. O. Box 1266 North Richmond3121, Victoria, Australia.. Email:[email protected] Py f cd/Pi silidu cd. Box 4280, Victoria B.C. V8X3X8 Canada.Email:[email protected] sili Py (nw Zld) P.O.Box 1929, Auckland, NI, New Zealand.

Wld sili Py f Uids P.O. Box 440247, Boston, MA 02144USA.Email: [email protected]

c dls

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AROUNd THE mile of the last century there werea group of nice people who calle themselves MoralRe-armament. They saw some nasty things about theworl in which they live, but they put this own tomiscreants who behave in illegal or immoral ways.They approve of well-earne prots, a fair ays workfor a fair ays pay, an all that jazz. The Socialist Partyebate with them.

Then came the unacceptable face of capitalism, inthe shape of the ba cops who i a bit too much ofwhat the goo cops were oing routinely. Gree wasgoo, but too much of it by the wrong people was ba.Workers who wante more wages or salaries were tobe eplore. Capitalists who wante more prots wereOK they helpe to grow the economy.

The latest take on the prot system is that we havetwo kins of market the funamentalist an the free.The funamentalist market is the one in the black hat.It is part of a biing culture that sets one group orinterest against another. If one wins the other loses.

Accoring to Philip Pullman (Guarian, 29 January),this biing culture has importe the worst excessesof market funamentalism into the one part of ourpublic an social life that use to be free of the

commercial pressure to win or lose, to survive or to ie,

which is the very essence of the religion of the market.But Pullman is not optimistic about the future. Im

afrai these funamentalists of one sort or another willalways be with us. We just have to keep them as far aspossible from power.

Now the oxymoronic free market. Very benecial tothe capitalist class, not so benecial to the workingclass. Owners of capital are free to invest in it toearn rent, interest or prot. Workers are free tooffer themselves on the labour market they mayor may not get employment. Whether they o or not

especially if they o not they suffer material anmental eprivation,.

Moral or immoral, with or without an acceptable face,involving funamentalist or free markets, capitalismshoulnt be supporte by the majority it exploits.

We ont have to choose the lesser of two evils wecan help towars something better. A worl wherethe resources of the planet have stoppe being theproperty of rich iniviuals, corporations or states anhave become the common heritage of all. On thatbasis goos an services can be prouce irectlyto meet peoples nees without the intervention ofmarkets. Neither a free market nor a controlle market

but a non-market society.

Which kind of capitalism or the alternative?

The Socialist Party is like no other politicalparty in Britain. It is mae up of people whohave joine together because we want toget ri of the prot system an establishreal socialism. Our aim is to persuaeothers to become socialist an act for

themselves, organising emocraticallyan without leaers, to bring about thekin of society that we are avocatingin this journal. We are solely concernewith builing a movement of socialists forsocialism. We are not a reformist partywith a programme of policies to patch upcapitalism.

We use every possible opportunity

to make new socialists. We publishpamphlets an books, as well as Cds,dVds an various other informativematerial. We also give talks an takepart in ebates; atten rallies, meetingsan emos; run eucational conferences;

host internet iscussion forums, makelms presenting our ieas, an contestelections when practical. Socialistliterature is available in Arabic, Bengali,dutch, Esperanto, French, German,Italian, Polish, Spanish, Sweish anTurkish as well as English.

The more of you who join the SocialistParty the more we will be able to get our

ieas across, the more experiences wewill be able to raw on an greater will bethe new ieas for builing the movementwhich you will be able to bring us.

The Socialist Party is an organisation ofequals. There is no leaer an there are

no followers. So, if you are going to joinwe want you to be sure that you agreefully with what we stan for an that weare satise that you unerstan the casefor socialism.

if y wl lk m ls

th Sls py, ml

h fm g 23.

Editorial

Introducing th Sls py

socialiststandardjune 2011

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th x lINVESTORS ARE bulging at the wallets with hype over therecent stock market otation of LinkeIn.com, the businessexecutives Facebook, although the initial price offer (IPO) of

$45 per share was wiely consiere too high, given that it wasa valuation aroun 17 times the companys estimate 2010income an given LinkeIns own preiction that it wont makeany prot this year. The IPO peake on the rst traing ayat $122, but this was no great surprise since so far this is theonly social meia business you can buy shares in. LinkeIn isat the time of writing traing at 25 times earnings compare toGoogles moest six, an what goes up can come own. Afterthe recent otation of Chinas version of Facebook, Renren, theshare price initially rockete but soon roppe to below the IPO.An all of this is nothing compare to the hysteria likely whenthe expecte otation of Facebook takes place, an analystsare alreay worrying that this coul be the start of the next bigbubble (LinkeIn share price raises bubble fears, BBC Online,18 May).

Eyebrows might escen to new heights at the iea of a hugeinternet bubble so soon after the evastation of the housingbubble. But in fact conitions are right for it. The banks are nottaking any chances after their recent rubbing, but investorsare sitting on huge piles of cash while rising ination nibblesaway like mice at their was. Now is not the time to be holingpaper money, an with the housing market still in free-fall anconsumer spening screwe own theres not a lot apart fromthe o stray Rembrant for the money rich to sink their lootinto. So what to spen money on when theres nothing to spenmoney on? Well, those social meia johnnies are showingpretty strong market growth, so worth a punt surely? doubly soif everyone else is at it too.

Well, thats what they thought about web growth back in 2000,when ollar signs rolle own the punters eyeballs faster thanthe hit-counters on the hot websites. But the ollars turne totears then as panicky shouts set off a share price avalanche.An they probably will this time too. The trouble is that its harto put a real value on new an unproven social an commercialstructures, but investors by nature are aicte to optimism.

With the cool objectivity of those with no real money to throw atsuch ventures we might ask what o these social meia reallyamount to? Whereas Ebay has been a success because peoplecan actually make real savings on purchases, social meiaexist simply because they can, not necessarily because wenee them. A combination of inane (an sometimes amaging)gossip an online narcissism can be amusing for a time, sureenough, but isnt it just a fa most people will tire of eventually?In a Me-worl where everyone is a celebrity, the problem is thatnoboy listens to anyone but themselves, an how boring oesthat become? What o people really get out of it, in concreteterms? A bunch of friens theyve mostly never hear of orhavent got anything to say to, an business contacts theyveno real use for. More is not always better. We may not even beevolve for this sort of enless connectivity. dunbars Number

sets a theoretical limit - roughly 150 to the number of socialrelationships the human brain can feasibly cope with, a numbererive from anthropological research. Still, whos to say whatlimit there is on virtual relationships? You ont even knowyour neighbours name, but so long as youve got a whoswho in your smart phone then youre a functioning member ofsociety, Jack. Just keep up the subscription payments an ontworry about it.

But surely all this sub-light-spee hanshaking has facilitatesocial protest an anti-establishment thought? Well, thatswhat one woul hope, but as fast as raical ieas sweep intothe cyber-synaptic networks they seem to sweep out again,creating a series of political Mexican waves that leave the massunmove an the air only slightly isturbe above their heas.Shoul we be gla of the new mass attention, or bewail its lackof attention span? Maybe both. At any rate, socialists unlikecapitalist investors have seen enough novelty not to expect toomuch from novelty.

Of course the owners of LinkeIn, Facebook an Twitterhave mae millions, but then so o crooks who start pyramischemes. It oesnt mean theres anything of value there.Theres no real labour, for one thing, or any real prouct, just afrenzy of connections, soun an fury, signifying nothing. Heres

an iea for the next ecaes hottest investmentopportunity - Friens Unplugge.

b lk x m...

IF YOURE reading this, then the globally promotedMay 21st doomsday predictions of one HaroldCamping have not come to pass, earthquakes andcataclysms have not riven and rent the rmament,and 200 million people have not been raptured toheaven by the merciful beardie in the sky. But 250of them will have got a double disappointment, asone (atheist) entrepreneur has succeeded in chargingthem up to $135 each for looking after their EternalEarthbound pets, and he gleefully adds that he

doesnt do refunds (Raptureapocalypse prediction sparksatheist reaction, BBC

Online, 20 May). Meanwhileatheists in North Carolinahave been organising parties,presumably to ddle whileEarth burns, and anothergroup in Washington havecalled their celebrationCountdown to back-pedalling. Whether Campingrenounces all his beliefs inthe sober light of May 22ndremains to be seen, howeverhe did make a similarprediction in 1994. But thatone, say his followers (he hasfollowers!) didnt count forsome reason.

thwg wy h kys

TECHNOLOGY NEWS has lately beendominated by news of security leaks.

Googles Android operating system forsmart phones has been haemorrhaging

personal data that unscrupulous data-miners can collectand use. Sonys Playstation network had a securitybreach through which a cyber attack stole accountdetails of 100 million people. Meanwhile the smugsmiles were wiped off the faces of Mac users convincedthey lived a charmed life as hundreds have been hit bya scareware attack, and an anti-piracy rm has itselfbeen hacked and now made to walk the plank by theFrench government that employed it. It may be a trivialobservation, but in a common-ownership society thatis not fundamentally at war with itself like capitalism,there would be no more incentive to hack, crack or createviruses than there would be to vandalise buildings orburgle houses. And then we could dispense with allthese rewalls, speed-dragging virus-guards, and thoseendless, endless, endless bloody passwords.

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o L dss rl

Fllw WksI received Issue 1 of your handout Resistance froma friend and, on the assumption that your group ororganisation are members of the working class whosepolitical aspiration is the achievement of socialism, I

would like to make a fraternal criticism of its content.I am, incidentally, a member of the World SocialistMovement.

You are right in combining the words freedom andsocialism; effectively they are synonymous terms. Evenin the most politically democratic countries on the planetthe producers of all real wealth, the working class, aresimply wage slaves whose lives are dominated by themoney-shufing activities of a minority class of capitalists

which, by controlling their means of life, controls theirlives and denies them freedom.

Unfortunately you make no attempt to offer thosetargeted by your leaet any suggestion of what youmean by freedom and socialism. On the contrary yourinference that it is possible to establish socialism in arepublic the ideal state of the capitalist class suggeststhat you envision socialism as a political instrument thatcan regulate capitalisms system of commodityproduction in such a way as to end itsexploitative role.

clss sgglThe pioneers of scienticsocialism, people like KarlMarx, after the mostpenetrating analysisof capitalism, afrmedthat it was a system of socialorganisation in which a relativelysmall class exploited the great majorityby its ownership and control of the meansand instruments of production. The method by

which these owners, or capitalists, carry out thisexploitation is the wages and money system. Given

then that capitalism is a system based on the exploitationof the working class it is patently absurd to suggest thatthere can be any form of national government that canmake it function in the interests of the class it exploits.

Within capitalism there is obviously an inevitableconict of interest, a class struggle, between theoverwhelming majority who produce but do not own anda relatively small minority class who own but do notproduce. Members of the working class do not voluntarilyelect to join this class struggle; we are mostly born intoit and it governs the way we live. To promote the notionthat the area of our birth (our country) or a religiousor political ideology transcends or neutralises our classstatus or gives us a common cause with a class thatsocially deprives and demeans us, that imposes eithermere want or grave poverty on our lives and the lives

of our families, is to be cruelly deceived by the politicalmachinations of capitalism.

plyYour leaet implies that the police are deliberatelypromoting or permitting the growing anti-social behaviourin working-class areas of Northern Ireland. Socialistsare under no illusions about the law and order servedby the capitalist state and its enforcement agencies and, paradoxically, viewed by the various paramilitaryforces here as the ultimate basis for the enforcement ofsocial norms. But the growth of anti-social behaviour inghettoised housing estates created specically for workingclass families like zoos for animals is just anothergeneral facet of capitalisms atrophying social culture.

The subject is a complex one, but that its roots are in

contemporary capitalism is borne out by the identity andlocation of its victims.And whether we like to admit it or not, those engaged

in anti-social behaviour, the vandals, the thugs, the

thieves and villains are also victims of capitalism;often alienated rejects in a world where education is acommodity dispensed to the class that produces all real

wealth in proportion to its wealth-creating potential andultimate prot for the capitalists; almost always sociallyalienated young people with no sense of social fraternity.

There is no denying the problem nor the misery thatanti-social behaviour of all kinds inicts on the wider

working-class community. But it is just another partof the shadow cast by capitalism, with its wars and its

economic murder of those peoples who do not represent aviable market for its prot-making.

Capitalisms legal framework, its system of law andorder, are designed to protect the system that generatesanti-social behaviour. Despite the pretentious norms ofthe respectable class it is the Grand Theft propertyitself that is quintessentially anti-social. Unfortunatelythe response of republican paramilitaries to the problemhas been to use the miscreant youth in certain situationsand at the same time to impose the most brutal physicalpunishment including murder against them in orderto win endorsement for a perceived policing role in thelocal community.

am sggl slsmFrom the art work at the head of your leaet it would

appear that you condone armed struggle as a means, orthe means, of social emancipation. That raises a seriousquestion about your perception of socialism.

Socialism is the complete antithesis of capitalism.In a socialist world private and/or state ownership

of societys means of life will give way to socialownership and production of goods and

services solely for use. So goods and serviceswill no longer be produced as commoditiesfor sale and prot. Accordingly there will be no

role in socialist society for a means of exchange;hence, the entire, utterly wasteful commercial

sinews of capitalism will be obsolete. Theclassless, wageless, moneyless society envisaged in

the socialist aphorism: From each according to theirability; to each according to their needs will become

a reality. A world free from the corruptive inuences ofmoney and power where government of people will give

way to a simple administration of things.Such a society founded on co-operation instead of

competition could not be established by guns, bombs orviolence. It can only be established and only maintainedby the conscious democratic action of the majority.Such a majority would be the democratic foundationof a free, socialist world. If the question of counter-revolutionary violence is hypothesised then obviously thatviolence would have to be eliminated; as socialists havetraditionally said peacefully if we may; forcefully if wemust, but, given the conditions created by a socialist-conscious majority, capitalist reaction would be deprivedof material nourishment.

There is no doubt that a combination of events,including paramilitary violence, has brought about theend of a police force which was little more than thearmed wing of a reactionary political party, and haslargely removed the sectarian element in employmentand the provision of social housing. We question whetherthe relatives of all those murdered and maimed by theviolence would agree that such changes justied themurders and maiming or even that these latter causedsuch changes. Ironically, too, the current economic crisisof capitalism has cast a long shadow over employmentand social housing and severely aggravated those factors

which fuel sectarian division.Hopefully, what I have said here will provoke your

questions and we can discuss or debate these, privatelyor publicly, in the future.

Yours for SocialismricHard MontaGue

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The waste of luxury

LIKE HUNGER and homelessness, the global trade inluxury goods is booming. Turnover fell from $254 billionin 2007 to $228 billion in 2009 a decline that observersattributed to luxury shame. Rich people could stillafford all the luxuries they wanted, but apparently theyfelt a trie uneasy about aunting their wealth at a timeof crisis. They soon got over their unease. Sales recoveredto $257 billion in 2010 and are expected to surge to $276billion in 2011. Luxury shame is now over, declaredmarketing consultant Claudia dArpizio in March.

So the long-term trend still points sharply upward. Thisreects the continuing polarisation of the distribution of

wealth that is, the process by which the rich get richerand the poor poorer. It also reects the rapidly growingnumber of rich people in fast-growing economies likeBrazil and China (already the second largest market afterthe United States).The gures are misleading, in that they refer only to

goods purchased over the counter liqueurs, fashionableapparel, cosmetics, perfumes, jewellery, gold watches,handbags, luggage, etc. They do not include fancy cars,

yachts and jets, for instance. Or mansions and penthouseapartments.

Estimates based on a broader denition are harder tolocate. But I did nd a gure of $445 billion for sales ofluxury goods on the broadest denition in the UnitedStates alone in 2005. Extrapolating to the global level andallowing for growth, I derived an extremely rough ballparkgure oftwo trillion dollars($2,000 billion) a year.

cmssA couple of comparisons will help put this huge numberin perspective. Annual world military expenditure

is also roughly two trillion dollars. Thus, the luxuryconsumption of the wealthy ranks alongside militaryexpenditure as one major component of the waste ofresources under capitalism.

Now lets compare spending on luxury goods, whichis concentrated in the richest strata of the population,

with spending on staple foods, which is concentrated inthe poorest strata. Average per capita annual spendingon staple foods is about $300 in low-income countries(population roughly 5.5 billion) and $800 in high-incomecountries (population roughly 1.5 billion).There are complications in interpreting these gures.

In particular, some staple crops are grown and consumedby subsistence farmers rather than sold on the market.In general, money is an inadequate measure of resources

in many ways. But it can give us at least some idea ofrelative scales of magnitude.

And here the overall message is clear. The resourcesdevoted to the luxuries of a few millionwealthy parasitesare on a comparable scale to the resources used forthe basic nourishment ofbillionsof the worlds poor.Cancelling by a million on both sides of the equation, theluxuries of one roughly correspond to the necessities of athousand.

Svg h ssAnd yet this is still a gross understatement of the wasteof luxury. We have been considering only luxury goods.What about services?The wealthy use a wide range of services. This often

takes the form of hiring workers to provide personalservice, usually full time servants. In most cases,obsequious servants are their only point of contact with

the great majority of the populationwho have to work for a living.

I am not talking only or evenmainly about servants of theUpstairs Downstairsvariety,although they still exist cooks,gardeners, butlers and all. In fact,butling has undergone somethingof a revival (to butle a colloquialverb meaning to serve as abutler).The staff of the family ofce

that handles the nancial affairsof a wealthy family. The tutors whoteach their children. The caterers

who arrange their parties. Thepersonal assistant who makestravel arrangements. The concierge

physician who limits his practiceto a handful of rich patients,who each pay a yearly retainer of$25,000. The accountant who nds

ways for the rich to pay less taxes.The legal adviser. The call girl orsugar daughter. A tennis coach,perhaps. These too are all servants.

So in addition to the parasitesthemselves, society has to bear theburden of all these people who donothing with their working timeand diverse talents except serve the parasites. This initself represents no small waste of human resources.

evml fOne of the problems with using money as a measureof resource use is that it takes insufcient accountof ecological impacts. And the consumption patterntypical of the wealthy leaves a disproportionately heavyenvironmental footprint.

One reason is that the rich travel around the world agreat deal, usually by air and often on private planes. Itis common for them to maintain residences in far-ungcountries, cross an ocean just to go shopping, and ynumerous guests to the venue for a celebration. Air travelharms the environment and needs to be minimised: notonly do aircraft engines run on petroleum-based fuel, butthey also emit particulates and gases that contribute toclimate change.

The rich are also largely to blame for the fact that somany species are threatened by extinction. Apart fromthe depredations of wealthy hunters, wealthy consumerscreate most of the demand for body parts of endangeredspecies elephant tusks for ivory, leopard skins for furcoats, various parts of numerous species fortraditional Chinese medicinal use,

and so on.

SteFan

In response to TUCcalls to pay yourworkers more, the

annual Institute ofdirectors meetingretorte that the worlis full of reamers aninstea bewaile theproigate speninghabits of the averageworker: Were alltol you must go onholiay all the timean o all these otherthings ... Theres moreto be gaine fromteaching employeeshow to manage

their money moreeffectively than givingthem more money tomismanage (Bossespay increase by 45percent last year,but the Institute ofdirectors wont giveyou a rise, Observer,15 May).

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All prices inclue postage an packing. For six or more of any publication,

reuce the price by one thir.

Return this form along with your cheque or money orer to:th Sls py f G b, FreepoSt, L, SW4

7br, u Kgm.(No postage necessary if maile within the UK)

p Qy

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An Inconvenient Question: Socialism an the Environment.............2.00 x____

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The Right to be Lazy an other articles by Paul Lafargue..................2.00 x____

Marxism Revisite..............................................................................2.00 x____

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The Market System must Go! Why Reformism oesnt work.............2.75 x____

All the above pamphlets (25% discount)......................................15.00 x____

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th h x

THE BURdEN of taxation oes not rest on the

shoulers of workers. Although taxes on wages appearto come out of wages, in reality taxes come out of

prots. Workers shoul therefore ignore all the falsepromises an baloney about taxes that politicians

use in orer to try to win votes at election times, anconcentrate their efforts instea on the class struggle,seeking to raise their wages an improve their livingan working conitions. We often make this argumentin the pages of this journal an, although the argument

has its roots in the analysis of Ricaro an Marx, westan alone in making it these ays.

Not entirely alone, however. In his new book BusinessAs Usual (Reacktion Books: 2011), reviewe in last

months Socialist Stanar, the Marxist analyst PaulMattick makes the following argument.

Tax money appears to be pai by everyone. But

espite the appearance that business is unertaxe,only business actually pays taxes. To unerstan this,remember that the total income prouce in a yearis the money available for all purposes. Some of thismoney must go to replace proucers goos use up in

the previous year; some must go in the form of wagesto buy consumer goos so that the labour force canreprouce itself; the rest appears as prot, interest, rent

an taxes. The money workers actually get is theirafter tax income; from this perspective, tax increases

on employee income are just a way of lowering wages.The money eucte from paycheques, as well as fromiviens, capital gains an other forms of businessincome, coul appear as business prots which, let

us remember, is basically the money generate byworkers activity that they o not receive as wages ifit int ow through paycheques (or other income) intogovernment coffers (page 81).

Our point precisely. As Mattick also points out in hisbook, while neither economists nor businessmen havean aequate theoretical unerstaning of capitalism,the latter at least have a practical sense of how itworks. This applies in the case of tax. Listen carefully,

an you can occasionally hear the representatives ofthe capitalist class amit to the truth of our stan ontax. In the Channel 4 ocumentary Britains TrillionPoun Horror Story (reviewe in the January 2011

Socialist Stanar), to take just one recent example,

the argument was mae that taxes are ba becausethey raise the costs of labour. Very true: but the logicalimplication is that this is a problem for those who pay

for labour the capitalists not for those oblige to sellit. Capitalists unerstan that raising taxes on wageswill just put upwar pressure on wages, raising the costof labour for the capitalist. As we put it on our website:

Of course, this will not happen automatically but asa result of an economic tenency for the working classto receive the value of its labour power. When there aretax reuctions this will be a major factor in stiffeningthe attitue of the employers. With tax increases, this

stiffens the pressure of the workers for higher wages,especially when unemployment is low. It shoul benote that this tenency for workers to receive the valueof their labour power is helpe by trae union action.

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th s ms w

THERE ARE still in remote communities toay meicine men

who after aubing strange symbols on their boies in bloo,onning feather hearesses an taking up their magic bones,will go into a trance an chant unintelligible messages toinvisible gos. These performances can be carrie out to healthe sick, to rive away emons, or to bring a ea boy backto life as a zombie. They have been practice with simple,unquestioning faith for hunres, probably thousans, of years.

Also toay, in moern civilise cities, there are men(an women) who ress up in elaborately ecoraterobes an heawear to perform ifferent, but similarmysterious rituals. They solemnly trace crosses inthe air with their ngers, symbolically eat the eshan rink the bloo of a long ea man, ancarry little wooen crosses with the image of thissame ea man impale on them. In aitionto praying for the welfare of souls in the afterlifethey will swing their incense pots an chantmessages (in Latin if require) to a ifferent, butequally magical go with every expectation ofbeing taken seriously.

Shoul you ask one of the witch octorsfrom a shantytown shack in Haiti, fromLambeth Palace, or the Vatican, whatarrangement he ha with the go topersuae him to perform a miracle, orto take, or avoi a certain course ofaction, he woul tell you not to question

such things but to have faith. He woul assure you thatthe invisible ones move in mysterious ways which only theinitiate can unerstan.

One such event that must have been the biggest religiousmagic show for years took place on 1 May in Rome.Starting at the Circus Maximus, an being broacast live on

giant vieo screens across the city, the faithful from all over theworl gathere to see a ea pope being beatie. An what a

circus it must have been. Accoring to Italian police, more thana million people turne up.Hopefully they were easily please an int expect a

scientic explanation of what exactly was going on. Apparentlya bottle of the ea popes bloo was involve, but what PopeBeneict XVI ha to o to his preecessor to beatify him, anhow the ea pope benete is unclear.

Being beatied(as oppose to being beautiedhe ie in 2005 after all) is apparently a kin of

promotion after eath for anyone who has showna heroic egree of holiness. Accoring to PopeBeneict he reclaime for Christianity thatimpulse of hope which ha in some sensefaltere before Marxism an the ieology ofprogress.

The Catholic Free Press reporte howimpresse one onlooker was:Pope John Paul

was a wonerful pope, sai Isabel Marin fromSpain,he was like us. My mom showe me a

vieo where he was watching a clown an reallylaughing. An I saw another vieo where he movehis feet when the people were singing, following

the beat.A pope who coul laugh, keep timeto the music an fen off those nasty

Marxists all at once. Just what isneee in the moern worl.

NW

The African nation of Congo has been calle the worst placeon earth to be a woman. A new stuy release Wenesayshows that its even worse than previously thought: 1,152women are rape every ay, a rate equal to 48 per hour.That rate is 26 times more than the previous estimate of16,000 rapes reporte in one year by the Unite Nations:

h://yl.m/6kv84The textbooks Origin of Life chapter etails lab experimentsthat have faile to create life from inorganic materials,concluing that there is a huge gap between life annon-life. But from there it makes the consierable leap thatbiological explanations for the origin of l ife are iscreite.[T]he legitimate scientic hypothesis, it argues, is that lifeon Earth is the result of intelligent causes.

h://yl.m/6s6m9h

A Unite Nations report on the cholera outbreak that hassickene 300,000 Haitians since last fall, killing nearly5,000, ns evience to suggest that the isease mayhave originate at a Unite Nations military camp north ofthe capital, which spille raw sewage into a tributary of theArtibonite River.

h://yl.m/5h2zg3

Inian environmentalist-philosopher Vanana Shiva has saifor years that micronance is only a solution in a particular

context. But creit, loans an money circulation cannot solvethe problems of alienation, she stresse. Privatisation ofwater leaing to a high cost of water coul be nance by

ows of creit, but the solution to access is really about thebasic right to water.

h://yl.m/3f3g

Migrants are cramme into catastrophically amage vesselsthat woul normally en up as scrap. Few have raios anGPS is non-existent. If the weather turns without warning, asit so often oes in the Meiterranean at this time of year, acramme an barely stable craft quickly becomes a sinkingcofn. The result is a weekly litany of eaths on a scale thatwoul lea the front pages of every European newspaperwere the victims white...

h://yl.m/6xzm4f

despite growing controversy about the cost an relevance

of aircraft carriers, navies aroun the worl are aing newones to their inventories at a pace unseen since Worl WarII. The U.S. with more carriers than all other nationscombine an establishe naval powers such as Britain,France an Russia are oing it. So are Brazil, Inia anChina which with Russia form the BRIC grouping ofemerging economic giants.

h://yl.m/3zwfg

doomsay preictor Robert Fitzpatrick remains in Times Sq.facing the reality of his false claims of apocalypse. He sai:I ont know what happene. I ont unerstan. I i what Iha to o. Im just surprise - I obviously havent unerstooit properly because were still here, he sai. Lets just sayIm surprise that nothing has happene - everything in thebible inicate it.

h://yl.m/3lhm2

The Beautication of the Pope

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W a dyk For The New Politics

AS DAWN broke on 6 MayDanny Alexander, the fresh-faced Chief Secretary to the

Treasury, sat alone in the Sky

TV studio and, in what oneseasoned observer called aFacebook moment, relievedhimself of an explosive fart.At the time he was composinghimself to spout somepredictably scripted excusesand evasions about the LibDemlosses in the local elections andtheir disappointment at theresult of the AV referendum.Somewhere outside the studio

the Tories were gloating. He assumed he was unobservedbut his contribution to the days entertainment wasrecorded on some 100 monitors. Well it was a change

from the usual noxious emissions from the mouths ofpoliticians but should we be worried about Alexanderand his atulence? Was it the only way for him to relievehis despair at the exposure of the LibDems deceit, theirsavaging by their supposed Tory allies and the crumblingof a generation of baseless ambitions? Was it heraldinghis guilt at his own part in provoking his partys debacle?

He rose, after all, through the ranks as a personalassistant of the disastrous Nick Clegg. He was deeplyinvolved in composing the LibDem election manifesto

including those pledges such as opposing any rise intuition fees and he was at the lead in negotiations toform the coalition, heedless of the disastrous effect onhis party of previous such arrangements. Which did notaffect his enthusiasm for the job of Chief Secretary and

its work of decit reduction, which entails reducingthe incomes of masses of people who so meekly votefor a social system which brings them such misery andfear. Any examination of Alexander must reveal that hisailments are chronicand resistant to treatment.

clggHowever hapless his condition, Alexander cannot relyon any therapeutic example from his colleagues (and, ofcourse, his rivals) in his party. Clegg, for one, persistsin what might be called his optimism were it not soperilously separated from reality. On the rst anniversaryof those blissfully exciting days when the coalitioncame into being in the fragrance of the rose garden atNumber Ten, he said: There is a reason neither of thetwo bigger parties won last May. Neither of them werereally trusted to deliver both a strong, dynamic economyand a fair society. We can be trusted on both countsIam condent that showing we can combine economicsoundness with social justice competence with aconscience will make us an even more formidablepolitical force in the future. Those words werebreathtaking in their audacious refusal to acknowledgethe real situation for example the survey for ITV News

which showed 49 percent regarding the Coalition asbad for Britain and 63 percent saying they do not trustClegg.Then there was his boss Cameron, who made a

contemptuously obstinate dismissal of LibDem claims

to be able to smooth the crueller edges of Tory policies:I dont accept the whole idea that the role of one partyis somehow to moderate the other. The Conservative

Party, under my leadership, has changed. It is a new anddifferent Conservative Party. That statement is crammed

with falsehood, paying no attention to the fact that theLiberal Party whatever alliances it has embroiled itself

in, however it has re-shaped its name has not been anationally considerable political force for some ninetyyears. Their typical response, when their real situationbecame too distasteful, was to gorge themselves onfantasy.

SlOne notable addict of that variety of political narcosis

was David Steel who was Liberal leader between July1976 and July 1988 and who, perhaps as consolationfor joining the ranks of failed leaders of his party, was in1997 transformed into Baron Steel of Aikwood. Duringhis time in charge he did a favour to James Callaghansailing Labour government by joining a pact to keep themin power in return for being consulted on some aspects

of policy. That arrangement fell apart with Thatchers1979 victory but Steel became excited again by the scentof power in 1981 when the Gang of Four broke from theLabour Party and, in spite of his former gruesomely futileexpedition into such territory, he felt encouraged to joina SDP/Liberal Alliance. Here, he thought, was at last areal chance of worming his way into a position of fameand inuence which would get the cameras watching himstriding along Downing Street smiling at the reporterscheeky questions, then emerging from the black doorto issue some history-making declaration to the waiting

world.There was some encouragement in such dreams by the

opinion polls which indicated that the despair about theprevious Labour government was widespread and deep

enough to give the Alliance a realistic hope of success.Steel was impressed enough by this to bellow at the 1981Liberal Assembly that party members should go backto your constituencies and prepare for government.And when the ecstatic uproar caused by that historicallyembarrassing, desperately forgettable, blunder had diedaway there was Thatcher and the war in the Falklandsand a smashing win for the Tories in 1983 and the virtualdeath of the Alliance and all its dreams and nightmares.

csvvsNone of this, nor of the other such disasters, seems tohave inuenced Clegg nor Alexander and the others

when Cameron offered them the chance of again living

the dream denied to their partys previous leaders. Indeedthe early attitude of the likes of Vince Cable and DavidLaws gave the impression that they were satised theyhad made the right choice, working for policies whichthey knew would adversely affect the lives of masses ofpeople workers, children, the elderly and the sickWe know now that situation has changed; there is adominant Conservative Party (now condemned by Cableas ruthless, calculating and thoroughly tribal) whichmay calculate on being in power for a period comparableto Thatchers. During last years general election we werepromised, especially by Clegg who was suffering from akind of hysteria arising from his ecstatic TV ratings, aNew Style of Politics. The elections this year exposed thatlie but there is a way to go before the end of any politics,

old or new, signalling the end of this entire rotten systemin which reality is swamped in toxic fantasy.

iVan

SocialistStandard March 2011

Alexander - no

more trumps

June Std Bdh.indd 9 24/05/2011 10:51


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the execution of Osama BinLaden, announced on 1 Mayby President Obama, has been

fted as a great tactical victory

by the White House, by Westerngovernments and the worlds media.

The longed-for news saw a wave of

nationalistic, back-slapping hysteriain the US and the killing has servedas a sorely needed propaganda toolto enhance the standing of the US

military in the eyes of the domesticpublic.

Some in the Obama administration

quickly seized on the Pakistanachievement to promote their ownsinister agenda, with Americansreliably informed that their doubts onthe use of torture were misplaced and

that Bin Laden was actually found asa direct result of information gleanedby the CIAs torture of captives

Despite world-wide celebrationsand Obamas rise in popularity athome and the propaganda value ofthe killing, there is no evidence thatthe death will have any impact onthe agging military and politicalsituation of the US in South Asia,the Middle East and other theatres ofhigh tension.The death of Bin Laden has

been seen as affording the US an

escape strategy from Afghanistan,bringing closure to a decade ofembarrassment in the country. Tobe sure, the US attempts to createa pliant puppet regime in Kabul arefailing. The Taliban, or indeed, AlQaeda, are no nearer defeat thanten years ago and still notching upUS casualties. Quite signicantly,in the latter regard, at Kabul airporton 29 April, nine high-ranking USmilitary ofcers were assassinated bya reliable Afghan ghter pilot. Thatthis attack happened in an ostensiblyhigh security area, implies that no

place in Afghanistan is secure fromattack, that anyone is vulnerable,and that not even allied Afghanmilitary personnel can be trusted.

With the US tied down in anunpopular war in Afghanistan,domestic woes rising and his politicalstanding falling, it would seemObama was desperate for a militarysuccess story, more so considering9/11 is now a decade ago and yearsof rampant military expenditure arefactoring high in the current budgetdecit.

t, w i i?Undoubtedly, the War on Terror

will continue to serve many interests,

The killing of Bin Laden

Whos terrifyingwho and why?What is the War on Terror? Why do governments want us to be afraid?

June Std Bdh.indd 10 24/05/2011 10:51


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with politicians promoting theconcept at every opportunity to

justify overseas military actions andto keep the public in a state of mildpanic. It is thus worth looking atthe concept of terrorism itself andto judge the deners by their owndenition.The US Army Manual denition

of terrorism is the calculated useof violence or the threat of violence,to attain goals that are political,religious or ideological in nature,through intimidation, coercion orinstilling fear.This is quite close to the British

governments denition, which isthe use, or threat, of action which

is violent, damaging or disrupting,and is intended to inuence thegovernment, or intimidate the public,and is for the purpose of advancinga political, religious or ideologicalcase.

One aim of The War on Terror is tofrighten us to get us all paranoidabout a freedom-loathing bogeyman

who is just waiting to come anddestroy all we hold sacred andto get us to fall in line behind the

wider objectives of US and Britishforeign policy, which are in realitythe objectives of a small corporateelite who really call the shots in bothcountries.

George Bush was every bit theterroriser when he introduced theShock and Awe strategy of 2003and indeed when he announced:Either you are with us or you are

with the terrorists. Likewise withTony Blair who announced to aterried British public that Saddamcould reach Britain with his WMDs

within 45 minutes a fact that that

later proved to be total fallacy.It is, perhaps, important to set the

war on terror in context. America, for

45 years, terried us with the threatof the Soviet menace, meanwhileexpanding its reach all over the

world. When the Kremlins empirecollapsed, America suddenly founditself deprived of its hegemoniccredentials, no longer able to use itsanti-communist passport to interferein global affairs from Cuba to

Vladivostok. The end of the cold warmeant it was stamped null and void.

It now needed a new propagandaframework through which to assertits authority on the internationalstage, a new enemy, a new bogeymanto protect us all from and the rstbogeyman who reared his head

was Saddam Hussein, who invaded

Kuwait within two years of the BerlinWall falling, sparking the rst GulfWar and the start of the US obsession

with Iraq that has lasted 20 years.Saddam would later be joined by BinLaden in 2001 after 9/11, the eventsof which all of us are now over-familiar with.

Notably, the language and jargon

used to discuss the War on Terror, allits denitions, is chosen by the USpolitical elite. Likewise it is the USthat gets to delineate the ideology ofthe enemy, whether it be fascist orcommunist or militant Islamic. In thecase in question it would have beeninsensitive in the extreme to declarea war on Islam, so North Korea hadto be incorporated into Bushs Axisof Evil, lest the entire Islamic worldrise up against the USA.The US has certainly beneted

from the War on Terror, extendingits reach like no empire in history.

It now has in excess of 700 militarybases around the world, and thesebases can be found in 177 of the

worlds 193 UN recognised countries.More likely, it seems the War on

Terror has everything to do with fullspectrum dominance and the desireof the US capitalist elite to control the

worlds mineral wealth, trade routes,foreign markets, areas of inuenceand to maintain the strategic sitesfrom which all these sources of protcan be defended. Little wonder thereare many who claim that if OsamaBin Laden did not exist, it would benecessary to create him to get intoAfghanistan.Then why Afghanistan? The

Caspian Basin, which the countryborders, contains an estimated $12trillion dollars worth of oil. It is not

Above: operation Enduring Freedom

begins as US troops enter Afghanistan in

2001. Below: ten years later and the end

still isnt in sight

June Std Bdh.indd 11 24/05/2011 10:51


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alarge majority of Americans 87 percent, according to onepoll approves of the killing

of Bin Laden. Many were visiblyovercome by joy when they heard thenews, and the subsequent warningby CIA director Leon Panetta that theoperation would actually increase the

terrorist threat to the US only slightlydamped their spirits.Within a few days of the operation,

video games were on the marketoffering simulated experiences ofkilling Osama or, in one case, hisghost! If you get killed by him rst,never mind: you can just start overagain.

Sam Sommers, a sociologyprofessor at Tufts University,explained the jubilant reaction asfollows: September 11 shook ourbelief [that] the world [is] a justand fair place where you get what

you deserve. Innocent people diedsenselessly. Seeing this closingscene, for many people, provides a

the case that he US wants this oilfor itself, but needs a presence inAfghanistan to be able to control just

who does have access to it.

Big liThere are real contenders against

US economic supremacy, namelyIndia, Russia and China, all with a

growing and insatiable thirst for oilto lubricate the wheels of their ownprot machines. By controlling asmuch oil as it can, the US gets tostack the odds in its own favour.

But before you can mobilise to takeover the worlds scarce resources yourst need to get your people on yourside. You need their consent, theirsupport and their approval of you asthe champion of freedom. This is whyGeorge Bush could so cleverly tellthe American people: They hate ourfreedom, our freedom of religion, ourfreedom to vote and assemble and

disagree with one another, and thatyou are either with us or with the

terrorists.This was not just Orwellian double-

speak. This tactic came straightfrom Nazi Germany and from JosephGoebbels:

If you tell a lie big enoughand keep repeating it, people willeventually come to believe it. The liecan be maintained only for such time

as the state can shield the peoplefrom the political, economic and/ormilitary consequences of the lie ...

The truth is the mortal enemy of thelie, and thus by extension, the truthis the greatest enemy of the state.

Since 11 September, 2001, thegovernments of George W. Bushand then Barack Obama and TonyBlair told and repeated a lie bigenough to conrm Joseph Goebbelsstatement, and the American andBritish people have come to believe it.It is the War on Terror.

Whilst we were informed that the

invasions of Afghanistan and Iraqwere in retaliation for 9/11, it is now

clear that the Bush administrationhad them clearly in mind upontaking ofce, and set in motion asearly as 3 February 2001, someseven months before 9/11 andthus they had nothing to do withterrorism.The War on Terror has not only

validated the US passport that

allows it to play the role of globo-cop to further the interests of itsown capitalist elite, pushing asideanyone who gets in its way it hasalso strengthened the hand of thestate at home also. For out of the waron terror came the Patriot Act (USA)and the Terrorism Act (Britain) whichput civil disobedience on a par witha felony.

Orwells words come only tooreadily to mind when contemplatingWhite House pronouncements: Whocontrols the present controls thepast. Who controls the past controls

the future.John BIssett

The killing of Bin Laden

Understanding the

American Reaction

Obama and others in the Situationroom watch the killing of Bin Laden

June Std Bdh.indd 12 24/05/2011 10:51


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just ending. Hence the sense of relief expressed by thewidow of one 9/11 victim.

What can account for this strange belief that the worldis a just and fair place? How is it possible not to knowthat innocent people die senselessly every day? Perhaps

it has something to do with religion, which has moreinuence over peoples minds in the United States thanin most of Western Europe. Perhaps it also reects thecomplacent platitudes of positive thinking.

Gd Besides, was 9/11 senseless? It made good sense to

Bin Laden. In his journal, captured by the Navy Seals,he wondered how many Americans it would be necessaryto kill to make the United States withdraw its forcesfrom the Moslem world. He pursued a carefully devisedstrategy to lure America into a long and exhausting

war of attrition that would eventually lead to itseconomic collapse. It was the same strategy he had used

in alliance with the US against the Soviet Union inAfghanistan. This time too, the strategy so far seems tobe working very well.The worst that can be said of Bin Laden is that he was

a ruthless warlord willing to sacrice innocent people ona large scale to achieve his political goals. Let us grantthat this makes him an evil man. But let us be consistentand place this judgment in a broader context. Worldhistory is full of such evil men (and a few evil women).

They are called great statesmen.And look whos talking!Many American presidents, whether Republicans or

Democrats, have been no less ruthless. Osama killedsome 2,800 Americans on 9/11. Compare this with the3,500 civilians killed by Bush Senior in the December

1989 invasion of Panama a minor affair as Americanmilitary interventions go. Or the 3,800 Afghan civilianskilled by American bombing within three months of 9/11.

Or consider the statement by then US Ambassador to theUN Madeleine Albright (in an interview on 60 Minutes onMay 12, 1996) that the deaths of half a million childrencaused by the US-led embargo on Iraq were a price

worth paying.The United States has now avenged 9/11. Justice has

been done, says Obama. Bin Laden also saw himselfas an agent of justice and vengeance (neither of themdrawing any distinction between the two). In 2004 he

revealed how he rst got the idea of destroying the TwinTowers. He was watching the destruction of tower blocksin Beirut on television in 1982, when Israel, backed up bythe US Sixth Fleet, was invading Lebanon. Why, he askedhimself, should he not punish the unjust in the same

way?Clearly, the Towers in New York are not the only twins

in this story. It is also a story about twin barbarisms.(Gilbert Achcar elaborates on this thought in his book

The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New WorldDisorder, Paradigm Publishers 2006.)

t umpi f bvlThe Americans who celebrated the death of Bin Laden

were not bothered by reections such as these. But

lets not be too harsh on them. Facts that might inspirecritical reection are never mentioned in the mainstreamcorporate media aimed at ordinary people. Now and thenit is admitted that the United States may sometimesmake a mistake, but the assumption of benevolence

the idea that America is inherently a force for goodin the world can never be questioned. No alternativeperspective is ever presented. And this patriotic outlookis drummed into American hearts and minds from theearliest school years.

And yet it is not just a matter of information andideas not being available. After all, while by no means ademocracy in any real sense, the United States is not atotalitarian state either. Thanks in part to the internet,alternative ideas and sources of information are noweasily accessible to those determined to seek them out.But not so very many do seek them out.

Why? One reason is that most people are toopreoccupied with earning a living, ensuring their ownsurvival. Social pressures are a very important factor. Butperhaps the crucial barrier is within the psyche. If yourpositive self-image is based on the idea of how marvellousyour country is, then even if you do encounterdiscordant information it must be rejected or interpretedas somehow irrelevant. Accepting reality would be toopainful, too threatening to the self.steFan (World Socialist Party of US)

A patriotic outlook is drummed into American hearts and mindsfrom the earliest school years

US paratroops drop into Panama in the December 1989 invasion

a minor affair as American military interventions go

June Std Bdh.indd 13 24/05/2011 10:51


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rockefellers wealth was gained through the

exploitation of worker labour power to turn a freeresource, oil, into a commodity for sale on the

market. That in a nutshell is how he kept those dividendpayments rolling in. What applied then just as surelyapplies now.

Standard Oils rapacious business methods laid thefoundations for todays oil conglomerates. Throughoutits existence Standard Oil was the target of disgruntledpoliticians and newspapers. Rockefellers PR peopleand lawyers were as busy then as their modern daycounterparts. In 1880 the New York World wrote that it

was the most cruel, impudent, pitiless, and graspingmonopoly that ever fastened upon a country (John D.Rockefeller: Anointed With Oil, p.60). A decade laterRockefeller controlled 88 percent of the United Statesrened oil. In 1911 the Supreme Court found StandardOil in breach of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Its tradingpractices were ruled illegal and it was orderedto be broken upinto 34new

companies. Rockefeller still held a 25 percent stake in

Standard Oil. This was transferred proportionately intoshares in the new companies. Although Rockefellersdirect control of the oil market was somewhatdiminished, his personal fortune in 1920, which wasestimated at $900,000,000, translated into plenty ofinuence. And a great deal of personal pleasure.

Another capitalist who was to derive plenty of pleasurefrom oil was William Knox Darcy. He was the son ofan English solicitor who emigrated to Australia wherehe began to speculate in land. He became a partnerin a syndicate in 1883 that uncovered a large depositof gold at Mt Morgan. Darcy returned to England witha considerable fortune in his knapsack. His thirst forpleasure still unquenched he cast his eye east to Iran.

In 1901 Darcy negotiated a contract that gave him therights to drill for mineral resources over a signicantlylarge area of Iran. The contract was signed by thelandowner, the Shahanshah, king of kings. Darcy handedover 20,000 cash. The rest of the deal involved 20,000in stock and a 16 percent share in the net prots if any

transpired. In 1908 oil on a signicant scale wasdiscovered. Darcy never once set foot on the

Iranian soil that would give him and a smallelite considerable pleasure in the years

to come. Out of this deal the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was formed.

In 1935 its name was changed tothe Anglo-Iranian Oil Company

(AIOC); its new owner was the

British government.At the core of all conict

under capitalism aremarkets and prots.Iranian instabilityhaunted the ownersof AIOC. That paltry16 percent sharestuck in the throatsof Iranians. As wasAIOCs refusal toallow the Iraniangovernment to checktheir books to seeif that legendaryBritish fair play wasbeing practised. In1951 the pro-AIOC

The globalprot systemDo you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? Its to see my dividends coming in.So said John D Rockefeller founder of Standard Oil.


June Std Bdh.indd 14 24/05/2011 10:51


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Prime minister was overthrown. The Iranian parliamentnationalised the oil elds. AIOC was ousted from Iran andit squealed its way through boycotts and high courts. In1953 operation Ajax was initiated. The CIA and British

government conspired with the King of Kings and theIranian military to effect a coup. However AIOC had toforego its earlier monopoly and make do with only a40 percent share of the spoils. American oil companiesreceived 40 percent and the French 20 percent. Thefountain of pleasure was re-activated.

In 1954 AIOC changed its name to the BritishPetroleum Company. Expansion from their base inthe Middle East to Alaska followed in 1959. Addingsubstantially to the prots and the dividend cheques wastheir oil strike in the North Sea in 1965. Thatcher soldoff the British governments holding in BP, but not theirinterest in its fervent pursuit of prot. When the KuwaitInvestment Authority, essentially the Kuwait government,

saw an opportunity to gain control of BP through marketmanoeuvres, the Thatcher government didnt hesitate toblock its attempts, despite the free market rhetoric of itsmembers.

BP continued to grow through the capital generatedfrom its exploitation of natural resources excavated byhuman labour power. Along the way those prots allowedBP to swallow up several of the offspring of StandardOil. ExxonMobil and Chevron snapped up the rest of itsmost protable siblings, and the trio came to form thebackbone of the Seven Sisters who in 1973 controlled 85percent of the worlds oil reserves.

BP nowadays ranks as the fourth largest company inthe world measured by its 2009 revenues of $239 billion.It has acquired 22,400 service stations worldwide, and

pumps 3.8 million gallons of oil in to the market placeevery day. Its prots, and thus its power, are culled fromthroughout the world. A source of pleasure for a few, but

one of deep discontent to many.The costs of doing business can often seem strange to

the uninitiated. The Guardian (12 April 1976) reportedthat BP handed over 500,000 to a slush fund whichdispensed money to the ruling Italian political partiesin return for favours over oil taxes and prices. BPsown documents showed that this type of payment

was calculated as a percentage of the money thecompany could expect to make as a result of favourable

legislation. Prots are all about maths. Is doing a thingone way more protable than doing it another? That isthe logic of capitalism, and consequently the logic of whatfollows.

In September 1999 a subsidiary of BP in Alaskapaid a ne of $22 million for the illegal dumping ofhazardous wastes from 1993-1995 on the Alaska NorthSlope. In August 2006 BP were forced to shut downtheir operations as over one million litres of oil hadbeen spilt over the North Slope. The Guardian (1 July2007) reported that a US congressional committeehas uncovered evidence of draconian cost cuts at BP,and demanded documents suggesting that managersconsidered turning off the ow of anti-corrosion

chemicals to save money.Maintenance and safety cuts were also linked to anexplosion at BPs Texas City renery resulting in 15deaths and injuries to 180 people. Reneries based in

Texas City and Toledo U.S accounted for 97 percent ofall agrant safety violations (829 of 851). The Centre forPublic Integrity reported on 16 May last year that mostof BPs citations were classied as egregious and wilfulby the Occupational Safety and Health Administrationand reect alleged violations of a rule designed to preventcatastrophic events at reneries.

In April 2010 the offshore drilling rig DeepwaterHorizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico killing 11people and creating an oil slick that covered at least2,500 square miles. BP, Halliburton and

Transocean, the three companies thatexpected to carve up the prots haveended up blaming each other for thedisaster. This is a common occurrence

when thieves fall out. BPs chiefexecutive at the time has sinceleft the company pocketing a 2million severance deal, 100,000 a

John D. Rockefeller (left) and his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

William Knox Darcy

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year as a payoff from a Russian joint venture with TNK-BP and a 600,000 per year pension. But the news isntall good though, along with Lord Browne of Madingleyhes been cited in a multi-million dollar lawsuit linked tothe bribery of government ofcials in Kazakhstan.

The Guardian (2 February) reported that BP is underinvestigation in the US over its alleged manipulationof the gas market, and in a separate case in 2006, BPpaid $300m to settle charges that it had manipulated

the propane market in the US. Another report in thesame issue that would have made Rockefeller proud ofone of his heirs is that the administrator of BPs $20bn(12.3bn) Gulf spill compensation fund was accusedlast night by Mississippis attorney general, Jim Hood, ofsweeping deciencies and violations of law.

In South America BP have been equally busypursuing dividend payments. They stood accused in theEuropean Parliament in October 1996 of colluding withthe Columbian army in gross human rights violationsand of wilful destruction of the environment. Evidencesupplied by a report commissioned by ColombiasPresident Sampers human rights adviser alleged thatBP passed photographs and videos of local protesters to

the army, which human rights groups say led to killings,disappearances, torture and beatings (corporatewatch.org). Likewise, a group of Colombian farmers won amultimillion pound settlement from BP after they wereaccused of beneting from a regime of terror carried outby Colombian government paramilitaries to protect a450-mile pipeline (Independent, 22 July 2006).

Africa hasnt escaped BPs grasp either. In SouthernSudan BP have been linked to a civil war that its allegedhas the central goal of depopulating the oil regionsand the protection of pipelines. The people of the NigerDelta have been suffering from the oil cartels calculated

exploitation of the land for the past 40 years. Its 606oilelds supply 40 percent of all the crude that the USimports. Pollution from oil spills is endemic and dwarfsevery other such disaster, as the Guardianreports: moreoil is spilled from the Deltas network of terminals, pipes,pumping stations and oil platforms every year than hasbeen lost in the Gulf of Mexico.

Nnimo Bassey, Nigerian head of Friends of the EarthInternational said There is an overwhelming sense

that the big oil companies act as if they are beyond thelaw It is clear that BP has been blocking progressivelegislation, both in the US and here. In Nigeria, they havebeen living above the law. They are now clearly a dangerto the planet. The dangers of this happening again andagain are high. They must be taken to the internationalcourt of justice (30 May 2010).

Many people believe that companies like BP are theproblem. Well-meaning people like Bassey see courtrulings, legislation and even the break-up of companiesas a solution. So did well-meaning people during thereign of Standard Oil. Nothing changed then except somenames. The problem is the global prot system. The, dog-eat-dog, unquenchable compulsion to acquire earnings

and dividends. Pollution, corruption and death are thesymptoms of a disease. The disease is capitalism. Onlymajor surgery can cure the disease.

When will the naive nally realise that the problemsfaced by people and the environment cannotsomehow, magically, be solved by methods that havefailed abysmally for decades? How long do we, theoverwhelming majority, sit on our hands while a tinyminority derive their pleasure at our expense?anDY MattheWs

NO, HES NOT! SOCIALISTS TAKE A LOOK AT OBAMA

Is Obama a socialist? No, hes not! This book of 112 pages examines Obamas outlookan life story, his packaging as a politician, an his policy in the areas of healthcarereform, the economy, the environment, the space program, an Afghanistan. It placesObama in the context of a largely unemocratic U.S. political system an a wasteful,cruel, an crisis-rien worl economic system.

From the Introuction: We have nothing against Obama personally. We o notaccuse him of going into politics solely in pursuit of fame an fortune. He starte out withthe best of intentions, hoping that one ay he might be able to o something to makethe worl a better place. Our aim is to show how the capitalist class, who exercise realpower in our society, corrupt an co-opt well-intentione young people like Obama, how

capitalism frustrates an corroes even the noblest aspirations.

ts l:

U.S. Midterm Election Results * The Tea Party * Obama: The Brand and

the President * The World Outlook of the Young Obama * Health Insurance

Reform * Obama and the Environment * The Invisible Primaries * The Electoral

College * The Politics of the Lesser Evil * Unemployment * Waste and Want *

Economic Crises * Afghanistan * Asteroids

* Right-Wing Talk Radio

To orer, go to wspus.org an click on the icon at top right (showing the Obama photo).

This will take you to a page at createspace.com where you can create an account an buy copies of the book. You can also getthe book through Amazon. Price $7.

Worl Socialist Review is publishe by the Worl Socialist Party of the Unite States, which forms part of the Worl SocialistMovement together with companion parties an groups in other countries.

WORLD SOCIALIST REVIEW #22

June Std Bdh.indd 16 24/05/2011 10:51


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Its exploitation that causes

workers problems

On an ultra-simplistic level we coulsay that capitalism in the personaof capitalists uses capital (in its

basic form, money) to make a prot. Byutilising capital in the form of property,equipment, machinery, investment orspeculation the capitalist nees to employmembers of the working class in orerto increase the original capital for hisown benet. This can only be one if theworkers agree knowingly or unknowinglyto their own exploitation.

Why exploitation? In the monetary

worl society we live in everyonehas a nee for money on aregular ongoing basis in orerto secure the essentials of life.By accepting employmentworkers unertake to work(knowingly or unknowingly)part of the time for theirown remuneration anpart of the time in orer tomeet the capitalists neefor reinvestment in theirbusiness an to augmenttheir accumulation ofprot.

There are threeelements to the capitalistsexpectation in relationto employees. First,workers must be paisufcient remunerationto keep them returningto work; the terms anconitions of work maychange epening onthe available sourceof labour.Secon, thecapitalists own

ongoing costsmust be met

replacement

machinery, upkeep, purchase of materialsetc. An thir, there must be a sufcientelement of prot for the capitalist as hisincentive to continue. As a business getsbigger, employing a larger workforce, theaccumulate extra time (over an abovethe length of time require to earn thewages) from this extra workforce getsae to the capitalists pot, increasingtheir prot, not the workers pay packets.When emaning a fair ays work for afair ays pay who stops to ask about the

capitalists own fair ayswork? Capitalism

uses capitaland labour

to makeprotfor

the

capitalist, to make big money for a few atthe expense an from the labour of themajority, i.e. exploitation.

When the recognition hits home thatmoney is the recurring impeiment, thefunamental issue in the aily life of theworker awareness grows of all the manyproblems it causes. Whatever issue isuner consieration be it getting toan from work, getting marrie, havingchilren, repair an maintenance ofpersonal property, heating the homesufciently, having a holiay or areasonably comfortable retirement theprimary issue is a nancial one. Money isthe issue.

A season ticket for premier leaguefootball is beyon the means of most ofus, as is a ticket for the opera, a familytrip on an open-top Lonon bus, or evenhigher eucation for a growing chil,(a your own woul-be-nice list). Forthe worker its a constant prioritising ofseemingly never-ening constraints inthe form of utility bills, car payments anservicing, rent or mortgage all eatingaway at the possibility of a nanciallystress-free enjoyable family ay out, letalone a nancially stress-free month untilthe next pay ay rolls aroun.

None of the simple pleasures

mentione above are beyon thecapitalists reach however. They, the tinyminority, can have it all. But, actually,who is ispensable, who inispensable?In a monetary society the worker neesthe capitalist an likewise the capitalist

nees (some) workers. Notice justhow unbalance this equation is:there are always more looking forwork than can n it, whilst thoseseeking workers have an almostinexhaustible supply. However, ina worl of voluntary work an freeaccess (a post-money society) theworker will have no nee for the

capitalist who will then nee to jointhe rest of us an become

clss

against lss

June Std Bdh.indd 17 24/05/2011 10:51


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a contributor too to t into the new,inclusive an cooperative society.

Whether from an iniviual orcommunity stanpoint economicproblems greatly impinge on social life.Iniviuals are severely limite withinthe system as to the impact they canhave on their overall situation. Similarly,communities are limite by their local

bugets as to the overall impact they canhave on the general quality an quantityof facilities available for their resients.Any so-calle political solutionsthat are offere or impose to easesocial problems are almost invariablyeconomically base (because what canbe one without money?) an limite inscope (because of economic limitations)thus not offering genuine, complete,satisfactory solutions at all.

Its a vicious circle of iniviual orcommunity issues requiring solutionswhich invariably nee economic input.The entanglement of social/political

issues with economic concerns keeps usbogge own in an illusory, ostensible,false position, one we are le to believehas no alternative an apparent buteceptive case. Inequality of access,whether to goos or services, is largelyan economic factor alienating sectors ofsociety one from another.

The main factor exploitation beingthe element that nees to be eliminate ifwe are to win the class war, lets ask whonees money most? The working classcan win this ght when they recognisethe antagonism between the capitalistsnee an their own nees. Moneyis notwhat we nee its the things it buysus we nee. Capitalists do nee it itsthe basis of their accumulation. We winthe class war when we plan togetherfor a society of voluntary work ancommon ownership that will overcomethe constraints of capitalism an riourselves of the ivisive class system.Its not a moral issue but a simplematerial fact: the principles of capitalisman socialism being opposite anantagonistic.

L

by

hLs

Irecently had the opportunity to

witness a fascinating historicalre-enactment. It was the open

air reading of a speech for a groupof students. This reading was areminder of how little the effects ofcapitalism, and the crisis that iscapitalism, change. Two hundred

years ago, in the midst of the tradedepression during the European waragainst Napoleons France, English

weavers rose up in a campaign ofmachine wrecking that has gonedown in history asLuddism. AcrossNottinghamshire,Yorkshire andLancashire, groupsof weavers attackedmachines held byowners benetingfrom the collapsinglabour market.

The response ofthe masters wasrst to callin the

militia and the army, and ultimatelyto make the very act of frame

wrecking a capital offence. In themidst of this mayhem, we haveanother recognisable feature: thecelebrity campaigner. In this case,it was the rst modern celebrityhimself, George Gordon, Lord Byron.The poet used his position as the

inheritor of a peerage to make amaiden speech in the House of Lordsagainst the Frame Breaking Act.Not trusting himself to improvise aspeech, he wrote it out beforehand.Although, by accounts, his delivery

was poor (much as the modern re-enactment was), it is a clear exampleof what his hero, the poet, AlexanderPope meant when he wrote:

True Wit is Nature to Advantagedrest,What oft was Thought, but neerso well Exprest

It was a nely crafted piece of

prose. He used his skill with thepen to rally to the defence of those

workers. He observed As the swordis the worst argument that can beused, so should it be the last. In thisinstance it has been the rst; butprovidentially as yet only in the

scabbard. The present measurewill, indeed, pluck it from thesheath; yet had proper meetingsbeen held in the earlier stages ofthese riots, had the grievancesof these men and their masters

(for they also had their grievances)been fairly weighed and justlyexamined, I do think that meansmight have been devised to restore

these workmen to their avocations,and tranquillity to the country.

He was no socialist, but hehad a clear sympathy for

the predicament ofthe impoverishedweavers, and the

desperationthat lay

behind

nw Sls py pmhlWhats Wrong With Using Parliament?

The Cases For And AgainstThe Revolutionary Use Of Parliament

Sen cheque / money orer for1.00

payable to The Socialist Party ofGreat Britain to 52 Clapham High St,

Lonon SW4 7UN.

June Std Bdh.indd 18 24/05/2011 10:51


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their actions: they have arisen from circumstances

of the most unparalleled distress: the perseveranceof these miserable men in their proceedings, tends toprove that nothing but absolute want could have drivena large, and once honest and industrious, body of thepeople, into the commission of excesses so hazardousto themselves, their families, and the community. Infact, a socialist speaker could hardly have put the casemore plainly. In countering the outcry against thesemobs he asked: Are we aware of our obligations to amob? It is the mob that labour in the elds and servein your houses that man your army and recruit yournavy that have enabled you to defy the world, and canalso defy you when neglect and calamity have driventhem to despair.The weavers, he asserted: were not ashamed to beg,

but there was none to relieve them: their own meansof subsistence were cut off, all other employmentpreoccupied; and their excesses, however to be deploredand condemned, can hardly be subject to surprise.Nor was this simply the reaction of those frightened bytechnology but of men willing to dig, but the spade wasin other hands.Throughout he deployed his famed wit to skewer the

masters and the originators of the law, but it was at theend of his speech he was most scathing:

[S]uppose one of these men, as I have seen themmeagre with famine, sullen with despair, careless of alife which your lordships are perhaps about to valueat something less than the price of a stocking-frame;suppose this man surrounded by those children for

whom he is unable to procure bread at the hazardof his existence, about to be torn for ever from afamily which he lately supported in peaceful industry,and which it is not his fault than he can no longerso support; suppose this man and there are tenthousand such from whom you may select your victims,

dragged into court to be tried for this new offence,by this new law, still there are two things wantingto convict and condemn him, and these are, in myopinion, twelve butchers for a jury, and a Jefferies fora judge! (The full speech can be found online here:http://tinyurl.com/6kgy6qf)

A year later, in 1813, such a jury of butchers wassadly found, and 17 men were executed at York. Thenas now, the masters had recourse to the bayonet andthe noose. Then, as now, this was not forgotten.

piK SMeet

Frame breaking, 1812

Wh h wlh s?

IN AN article in the Times (2 May) healine This belief inmaking things is make-believe an subtitle It is pure fantasyto argue that the solution to Britains economic problems liesin boosting manufacturing, davi Wighton argue:

The iea of the primacy of manufacturing makes littleeconomic sense. It is the moern equivalent of the 18th-century French physiocrats argument that all wealth erivefrom agriculture an everything else was unprouctive. Wealthis create by proviing insurance on ships, just as much as bymaking the vessels.

The Physiocrats i inee claim that only agricultural workprouce a value, in the form of rent, greater than that of theproucers subsistence. Marx iscusse their views in PartI ofTheories of Surplus Value where he creite them withtransferring the inquiry into the origin of surplus-value fromthe sphere of circulation into the sphere of irect prouction,an thereby lai the founation for the analysis of capitalistprouction.

Their mistake was to conclue that, as the material basisof all wealth came from nature, only the work of those irectlyinteracting with Nature was prouctive. But manu

Socialist Standard June 2011

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