If everything is relative then perhaps many parts of the world might wish that worrying about how to be able to pay increasing energy bills, or coping with a rising cost of living, were the least of everyday worries as opposed to wondering about how to daily survive the deadly effects of war and conflicts.

But, in the UK, the former, for many – the elderly, those with disabilities, and those whose are living on the edge of, or in, poverty,- capitalism’s raison d’etre of exploitation and profits, profits, profits, are of real and anxiety causing concern.

SOYMB recently posted the latest Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on destitution with the UK. Now comes news that the choice between eating or heating is going to become even harder.

https://soymb.com/2023/11/turn-off-capitalism-not-fridges.html

Numerous readers, of a certain age and above, will recall that within living memory households were dependent upon open coal fires and hot water bottles for their heating needs. The news report below notes that there has been a reduction already in the use by households of gas and electricity.

There will, no doubt, be numerous charities offering advice to the ‘vulnerable’ as to how to keep warm, avoid hyperthermia, and save on energy costs.

There will not be mainstream explanations of the reason for the potentially life threatening cause of the difficult choices which a hard cold winter creates, which is capitalism,. Neither will there be explanations as to how to abolish this iniquitous social system and replace it with one of benefit to everyone – socialism.

The Guardian reports, ‘Household energy bills could climb to an average of almost £1,900 a year in the coldest months of the year under the UK government’s energy price cap, according to a leading forecaster.

The energy price cap is expected to climb from the £1,834-a-year level for a typical home set to take effect from Sunday to £1,898 when the cap is next updated for the months from January to March, say analysts at Cornwall Insight, adding to the burden of the cost of living crisis.

The energy price cap sets the maximum price that suppliers can charge based on the average gas and electricity bill, meaning a cold winter could push bills higher if households need to keep the heating on for longer. The cap remains more than 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The £1,834-a-year cap covering October to December is based on new Ofgem calculations that assume households now use 7% less electricity and 4% less gas, having cut back consumption in the cost of living crisis. When it was announced last month the regulator gave a headline figure of £1,923 a year, using the old methodology to help comparisons with previous quarters. However, in future only the new system will be used.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/sep/29/energy-bills-price-cap

 Starmer’s reaction to 8 members of his shadow government of capitalism resigning and a quarter of his MPs voting, against his advice, for a ceasefire (he wants the killings and destruction to continue) was;

“Leadership is about doing the right thing. That is the least the public deserves. And the least that leadership demands.”

But what on Earth does that mean? It has a certain rhetorical flourish but has sinister implications.

Everybody, not just leaders, should of course do the “right thing”. But who decides what is the right thing? Starmer, as a Leader, naturally thinks that a leader should and that this is what the public “deserves”. In other words, he considers that “the public” are incapable of deciding this but only leaders are; that they require leaders to tell them what is right. What arrogance!

It might be slightly less bad if he personally didn’t change his mind so often about what is the “right thing”. At one time he thought Corbyn was and that certain leftwing reform such as ending charity status for private schools were. Now he doesn’t. Even on Gaza he has changed his mind. Initially he thought it was the right thing that Israel should cut off water, fuel and electricity to Gaza. Then he said (but probably doesn’t believe) that it was the wrong thing.

The lesson of all this? We don’t need leaders to tell us what is right. In fact we don’t need leaders at all. Don’t follow them, just tell them to get lost. It’s the least leaders deserve and the least the public should demand.

In September 2023 SOYMB posted ‘Huddled Masses Opting Out.’

‘In a supplication reminiscent of the entreaty at the base of the statue of liberty in New York harbour, the UK Work and Pensions Secretary appeals to those of the working class who, through no fault of their own, are unable to offer themselves up to full-time, long-term exploitation, to help reduce the financial burden of running this particular capitalist entity. The MailOnline reports: ‘One million people on sickness benefits could be forced to start looking for jobs including thousands with mobility and anxiety problems as the Government gets set to slash billions from its welfare budget. More: ‘Up to a million sickness and disability benefit claimants are to be ordered to seek work. Unveiled by Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride the blitz is aimed at slashing the £26billion welfare budget’.

https://soymb.com/2023/09/huddled-masses-opting-out.html

Moving on to November, now comes the big stick.

‘BRITS on benefits who refuse to look for work risk losing their right to free NHS prescriptions, dental care and help with energy bills.

The move, set to be announced in next week’s ,Autumn Statement forms part of Jeremy Hunt’s major plan to crackdown on economic inactivity.’

Around nine million Brits of working age are currently unemployed.

On Wednesday Mr Hunt will unveil a £2.5bn “back to work plan” in an effort to bring the figure down. Fresh funds will help up to 1.1 million people find work. Under the scheme benefit recipients who don’t look for jobs risk losing access to free NHS prescriptions, dental care, legal aid and energy bill support. And sick notes will be approved by civil servants instead of doctors in a trial where patients will be treated by therapists working for DWP.’ The Sun 17 November

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/news-money/24767659/brits-will-lose-free-prescriptions-in-benefit-crackdown/

To anyone who thought the Labour Party represented the British working class:

‘Millions of out-of-work Brits are a “horrible, painful toll” on the public purse and are “dragging” down the economy, a top Starmer ally declared last night. (speaking at Labour Party Conference).

Whose economy?

Shadow Cabinet Minister Peter Kyle said: “There are 2.5million people that are just unknown to the economy for reasons that we don’t understand, and there’s no exercise to go find them.“There are 700,000 young people who are not in education, training or work. And that figure has been growing, not diminishing.”

The shadow science and tech secretary hit out: “All of these things are personal tragedies, but they’re also taking a horrible, painful toll on our economy.

“It is dragging our economy down. So we need to get cracking on it.” ‘

The Sun 8 October

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/24329382/

The Guardian has; ‘Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Hunt said the government wanted to address the “rise in people who aren’t looking for work” to help grow the economy.

“These changes mean there’s help and support for everyone – but for those who refuse it, there are consequences too. Anyone choosing to coast on the hard work of taxpayers will lose their benefits.”

Confirming the plans for a benefits crackdown, the Treasury said it would be taking steps to strengthen the current universal credit sanctions regime to incentivise claimants to comply with their work-search requirements and move into a job.

Under the current system, claimants can be subjected to open-ended sanctions if certain requirements are not met, such as attending a meeting with a work coach. These sanctions can result in benefit deductions until a claimant re-complies.’

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/16/unemployed-benefits-in-jeremy-hunt-autumn-statement

From the Socialist Standard, April 2014; ‘The Times (15 January) reported that George Osborne was to tell a conference organised by the think tank Open Europe that ‘Europe will face further economic woes if it fails to cut welfare spending’:

‘As Angela Merkel has pointed out, Europe accounts for just over 7 per cent of the world’s population, 25 per cent of its economy and 50 per cent of global social welfare spending. We can’t go on like this.’

He didn’t explain why not, but the implication must be that, to compete on world markets against the products made in countries which spend less on welfare, Europe has to reduce its welfare spending towards their levels. In other words, a race to the bottom.

One dictionary definition of ‘welfare’ is:

‘1. good health, happiness, and prosperity. 2. the maintenance of persons in such a condition; money given for this purpose.’ (Oxford Reference Dictionary)

On this definition, Osborne was in effect saying that, due to competition on the world market, all countries are forced to reduce the ‘good health, happiness and prosperity’ of their population. What an indictment of capitalism! And what a confirmation of the futility of reformists’ attempts to make capitalism serve human welfare.

But is it true? One thing Osborne ignores is that ‘welfare spending’ is not motivated by a desire to improve human welfare but by a desire to improve the productivity of the workforce – a better educated, more healthy workforce feeling less insecure can produce more profits. This was in fact the capitalist rationale behind the introduction of the so-called Welfare State and why the drastic reduction of such spending to the levels in China or India which Osborne and Merkel seem to be proposing could prove to be counter-productive.

Osborne probably knows this and doesn’t regard such spending as an unnecessary burden that has to come out of taxes that ultimately fall on profits any more than he does military spending which also comes from this. For him, both will be part of the necessary costs of running capitalism. What he will be against is welfare for those who can’t or don’t work and so are useless from a profit-making point of view – the sick, the disabled, the mentally ill, the old, the unemployed and the unemployable. In short, the most vulnerable members of capitalist society.

The fact that welfare has become a dirty word for capitalism shows that it is not a system geared to improving human welfare. If it was, then as productivity increased (as it does slowly from year to year) more resources would be devoted to services and amenities that enhance the welfare of everyone. But this is not what happens. Far from it. The pressure is downwards not upwards.

The fact is that capitalism is a system geared to making profits and accumulating them as more and more profit-seeking capital. That’s the logic which is imposed on all countries through competition on the world market. In this sense Osborne and Merkel are right, but that’s a convincing reason to get rid of capitalism and to replace it with a system in which the welfare of all can and will be the priority. Which is only possible on the basis of the common ownership and democratic control of productive resources and the end of production for the market with a view to profit.’

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2014/no-1316-april-2014/

The Sun is part of Murdoch’s News Corporation.

The United Kingdom is the world’s sixth largest economy.

Meeting today at 7.30 pm on Zoom

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have published a new report, Destitution in the UK 2023.

https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/destitution-uk-2023 (full report)

Socialism Or Your Money Back has many posts about JRF poverty reports.

Here’s one from 2009.

‘The Guardian has an article on new Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on UK poverty and the media and its findings that there isn’t much popular concern over UK poverty and places much of the blame on the media, saying there is little appetite to address themes of poverty. In newspapers, the subject is “worthy, not newsworthy”, and journalists found it was often “difficult to give poverty a focus, since it is ongoing and amorphous rather than a specific ‘event'”. In other words , to paraphrase the Bible , the poor are always with us

Why don’t we have celebrities singing “Let them know it’s Christmas time” to raise money for the 3 million or so children in this country living below the poverty line? Why is there no Bono or Bob Geldof marshalling the campaign to end child poverty? Why can’t campaign groups rouse sufficient outrage to get the public marching on the streets.



“The voices of people with experience of poverty…are severely under-represented in media coverage,” says the report. On television, there is a danger of poverty turning into a “spectator sport” that entrenches an “us and them” mentality, the report also warns.



“There is very little sympathetic portrayal of poor people. And people are looking for reassuring images, that things are OK, things are fair and that people at the bottom are there because it’s their fault and therefore we’ve all earned on merit our position.” (Political commentator)



As a result of this information shortage, many doubt whether there is“real” poverty in the UK and are unconvinced by the concept of relative poverty – the measure by which the government measures deprivation here. The public is either “harshly judgmental” towards people living in poverty or views poverty and inequality as inevitable. The trend of judging individuals as creators of their own poverty seems to be increasing. Journalists quite often used stereotypical pictures and words to refer to people living in poverty. Public awareness of the extent and reality of UK poverty is limited. People often see it as the individual’s responsibility to get out of poverty because they are not aware of the obstacles to achieving this. However,those suffering from poverty and being in receipt of benefits are stigmatised, so people are reluctant to speak out.



While the nature of poverty is very different from 50 years ago in the UK and from absolute poverty in developing countries, not having what most people take for granted is what many find difficult. Perhaps the starkest examples are the cases of parents going without or falling into debt so their children can have what others have, or their children being bullied at school for not having the latest trend. This may not be the poverty of material destitution. But if the measure of a human being consists in the accumulation of material possessions to which he or she may claim then , by that token, we are demeaned. And, ultimately, it is in this devaluation of our human worth — not simply in the fact of material inequality but in the meaning this society attaches to it.

The JRF calls for a debate that goes beyond building awareness of poverty. This needs the presentation of narratives exploring the causes of poverty and inequality. Over the decades the answer to the cause of poverty has been staring all those NGOs and charities and researchers in the face . It is capitalism .



Are all reforms doomed to failure and do not really make a difference to workers’ lives? Of course not – there are many examples of ‘successful’ reforms in such fields as education, housing, child employment, conditions of work and social security. But while there has been some ‘successful’ reforms, none of them have ever done more than keep workers and their families in efficient working order and, while reforms have sometimes taken the edge off a problem, they have very rarely managed to remove that problem completely. There have been some marginal improvements, but the social problems that the reformers such as JRF have set out to deal with have generally not been solved – hence the need for an uncompromising socialist party to pursue revolutionary change.

Nobody would deny today that poverty exists in the UK as many JRF reports provide ample evidence of . But does it make sense to argue that because we don’t have socialism yet , we should, in the meantime, fight for reforms to at least reduce the worst effects of poverty. This argument has been voiced by so many for so long that `in the meantime’ has become forever. The time is long past and too many people have suffered, are suffering, and will continue suffering until we attack the cause itself.



There is one way, and one way only, to abolish poverty, and that is to establish a socialist society in which the tools of production will be commonly owned and administered by the population as a whole in their own interests. In such a world, not only poverty but all the social evils created by the profit system will be abolished.’

https://soymb.com/2009/09/reporting-poverty.htm

Fourteen years on, ‘The Guardian has an article on new Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on UK poverty…’The more things change the more they stay the same?

Main Stream Media all seemed to find it headline worthy that people are having to try and save the costs of electricity by turning off their fridges and freezers. Unsurprisingly, they are capitalist supporters after all, the solution to the ills of capitalism were not propounded.

From the 2023 Guardian report ‘a government spokesman said, ‘A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “The cost of living payments have provided a significant financial boost to millions of households – just one part of the record £94bn support package we have provided to help with the rising cost of bills. This includes a 10.1% rise to benefits earlier this year, and we’re investing £3.5bn to help thousands into jobs – the best way to secure their financial security in the long term. Ultimately, the best way we can help families is to reduce inflation, and we’re sticking to our plan to halve it this year, taking the long-term decisions that will secure the country’s financial future.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/14/millions-of-uk-households-forced-to-unplug-fridge-to-cope-with-rising-bills

The conclusion of the 2009 blog post is even more relevant than ever: There is one way, and one way only, to abolish poverty, and that is to establish a socialist society in which the tools of production will be commonly owned and administered by the population as a whole in their own interests. In such a world, not only poverty but all the social evils created by the profit system will be abolished.’

l

Appealing

An afternoon of snooker on TV,

With every frame winning followed by

A commercial break, adverts that try,

Through poignant entreaty, to persuade me

To pick up my phone or just send a text

And donate month on month, as if charities

Can correct all the gross disparities

Of capitalism. First, war zones, next

The homeless, food banks, then forced marriage

Of young girls, the latest famine, immense

Problems of diseases drugs costing pence

Could treat, chronic loneliness of old age.

Each and every one a worthy mission,

But none will cure the ills of competition.

D. A.

Hamas doesn’t represent Palestinians, President Sergio Mattarella said Friday. “It must be reiterated, in the Palestinians’ interest, that Hams does not represent the Palestinian people,” he said while meeting Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent. “What Hams did on October 7 slitting the throats of children, raping women, taking children and elderly people hostage, and marking the scenes of violence is an insult to humanity,” the president added.

 Presidential loser Hillary Clinton was slammed online Wednesday after once again lazily claiming that Donald Trump is like Hitler.    Clinton cackled along with the women on The View like a coven of witches, before turning her attention to Trump, who it seems still lives rent free inside her head.    “Hitler was duly elected, right?” Hillary declared, adding “And so all of a sudden, somebody with those tendencies, the dictatorial, the authoritarian tendencies would be like, ok, we’re gonna shut this down, we’re gonna throw these people in jail and they usually don’t telegraph that.”

Fascism was — and is – an authoritarian, nationalistic and anti-socialist political ideology that preaches the need for a strong state ruled by a single political party led by a charismatic leader. Hitler and the Nazis came to power with the support of more than ten million workers. Further, that very month, March 1933, the first camp was opened – for the incarceration of officials of the Communist and Social Democratic Parties. And on May 10 1933 in Berlin banned books were burnt openly and watched by some 70,000 people. Trump ticks those three ideological boxes and like Hitler was elected — his supporters include millions of workers, whilst millions of others are disenfranchised.

In April 2018 his administration began enforcing a zero-tolerance immigration policy that resulted in thousands of children being separated from their families.    Under Trump gas was used on migrants wishing to enter the US, an Obama-era policy,   What next? More camps in 2024 surrounded by ‘beautiful barbed wire’? Further, given that apparently Trump does not read books, and there is already a list of banned books, one wonders if he will object to them being burned …

The only side The Socialist Party takes, in the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza, as in other capitalist conflicts, is the side of the working class who are caught up in the horrendous effects that modern weapons inflict upon the innocent and their dire consequences. Those who choose to support, shill for, march or wave flags and banners in support of either participants, whether in this conflict or others, need to be aware that there is a solution, and only one which would prevent such military actions ever happening again. The solution is the replacement of capitalism by socialism.

In 1937 the Hindenburg airship caught fire when coming into land in New Jersey. There were thirty six fatalities. A tearful radio commentator upon witnessing the disaster and seeing passengers and crew burning to death cried, ‘Oh, the humanity!’ An utterance even more relevant today.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia has issued two reports on the economic and social effects on Gaza of the current war.

One report was issued in October and another in November.

From the November report: ‘The shock to Palestinian economic activity has been severe as a result of the total siege of Gaza, destruction of capital, forced displacement, restrictions on movement of people and goods in the West Bank. While around 390,000 jobs have already been lost since the start of the war, early estimates indicate that the gross domestic product (GDP) loss in 2023 could range between 4 and 12 per cent, and between 4 and 9 per cent of GDP in 2024, compared with pre-war estimates, depending on the duration of the war. Poverty is also expected to rise sharply by between 20 and 45 per cent, depending on the duration of the war. A sharp decline is expected in the Human Development Index (HDI), setting the State of Palestine back by between 11 and 16 years, depending on the intensity of the conflict.’

The report further states: ‘The blockade imposed on Gaza since June 2007 is one of the most severe manifestations of Israeli long-standing policies of restricting the mobility of Palestinians in what amounts to collective punishment. In addition to obstructing reconstruction and recovery efforts after recurrent Israeli military offensives, the blockade has affected all aspects of Palestinians’ lives in Gaza. The combined effects of the blockade and recurrent military escalations have led to social and economic de-development, and created a perpetual human made humanitarian crisis.’

It concludes: ‘To underscore the calamity reflected in these statistics, if hostilities were to end completely today, humanitarian relief and foreign assistance were allowed entry, education activities were resumed, unemployment and income poverty were reduced owing to the resumption of economic and reconstruction activities , and access to water and health services were improved, more than 69 per cent of the Gazan population would still be living in multidimensional poverty, and the average intensity of deprivation would be 49 per cent.

The reason for this is that, many critical indicators of the national MPI will not immediately bounce back to their pre-war levels. However, the moment the war ends, there will be a significant reduction in deprivation across many key indicators, notably school enrolment (deprivation reduced from 100 to 50 per cent), access to frequent water supplies (from 90 to 40 per cent), access to health services (90 to 30 per cent) and unrestricted movement (from 90 to 20 per cent). In short, the current war will have a prolonged impact on human capabilities in Gaza for years to come, but a swift ceasefire and flow of humanitarian assistance would produce a tangible immediate reduction in the deprivation level for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families.’

The October report noted: ‘The scale of death and destruction during the first 18 days of the current war has already surpassed that of all previous military escalations combined. As at day 18, 41 per cent of the casualties were children (2,704), which exceeds three times the combined total of previous escalations.’

https://www.unescwa.org/sites/default/files/pubs/pdf/war-gaza-expected-socioeconomic-impact-palestine-english_3.pdf

https://www.unescwa.org/sites/default/files/pubs/pdf/war-gaza-unprecedented-devastating-impact-english_2.pdf

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: AGAINST ALL CAPITALIST WARS!

It is Armistice night. I have just come home through London along with a portion of the joyful crowds who are going to celebrate. But what are they celebrating? It cannot be the end of wars since expenditure on armaments still grows, and the “East” and the “West” harries the imaginations of diplomats. Is it a victory they would celebrate? But here a million unemployed, and the miners are marching on London to remind legislators that hunger is abroad in the coalfields.

As I travelled on ‘bus and tube my mind wandered over the events of the war and since. The petty squabbles of war “leaders,” military, naval, and political, who each tried to keep a grip on the shoddy coat of glory; the nobleness of purpose with which each saddled the other with incapacity. I tried to think of a leader who possessed the military virtues we were taught to revere when we were children—and I failed to think of one. Even the modesty of Lawrence is lost in a crowd of full-dress photographs taken in the waste places of Arabia. A few short years have stripped the idols, one by one, of the gilding a venal Press and a hypocritical platform painted on with such a lavish hand.

The enemies of wartime have again become the joint partners in the plunder of peacetime. German, Austrian, Italian, French, American and English shareholders are indiscriminately mixed in the giant companies and trusts that take from the workman of different lands all that he produces above the pittance that pretends to keep him.

While the crowds passed before the Cenotaph to-day those who had grown wealthier out of war and peace swept in their luxurious cars to the palaces built out of the blood and toil of slaves. Behind all the mockery and cynicism lie the devastated homes, the cheerless hearths, of millions of the poor. The hollow shams at the top and the bitter misery at the bottom; the trickery and the illusions; the romance and the reality.

The tragedies of the war existed not only in the deaths, the mutilations, and the sorrows of the bereaved, but also in what lay behind much of it. Imagine the feelings of those forced, by fear of a white feather or by conscription, who went to battle without enthusiasm but with much dread. They had to endure the manifold hardships without the inner fire of a cause worth while to sustain them. Of such were many who are buried in nameless graves.



Most of us, particularly the more imaginative, when not drunk with enthusiasm or liquor, suffer the nameless dread of mutilations or death. Thousands, nay millions, went through this agony during those terrible years. Of the young and the old of many countries eight and a half millions were killed , twenty-one million wounded. This country alone had a million dead to mourn for and two millions wounded.



But what are the celebrations for? What have the millions died for? Why do many an old couple sit by the fire dreaming sadly of what might have been? Oh, sordid reality! Oh, cold, comfortless truth! Because one group of money bugs wanted more profit than another! For this the flower of youth was trampled and destroyed by the iron heel of war. And even now, while the horror and dread of those days still stirs restlessly in the mind, like the remnants of the spell of a nightmare, the nations of the earth are still hotly pursuing each other in a headlong race to more terrible wars still, though the wiser ones foresee that the end is not worth the price, in wealth and prestige, that will have to be paid.



And those who so easily sent our loved ones to their graves are niggardly in payment to the mutilated and the dependants. They groan of the height of the taxes, and tell fairy tales of the wealth of the pensioners. They would have us believe, as they orate at their many-coursed dinners, that they are really too poor to stand the strain. When unemployment was widespread before the war it was said that the country was too poor to maintain the human scrap heap of industry. Yet, on the war alone, this country was able to throw away wealth to the amount of over six thousand million pounds in four years! And this while millions of the population were entirely withdrawn from productive work.



And to-day those who might ponder over these things and be dangerous to the powers that prey have their emotions diverted into safe channels. They are given a few cenotaphs, a few processions, a turgid mass of hypocritical sentiments. They mourn by cold monuments and return to work sad, but satisfied.



What a civilisation! What a tragedy!

Gilmac.

From the Socialist Standard December 1927

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1920s/1927/no-280-december-1927/

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: AGAINST ALL CAPITALIST WARS!