Migration

It seems the children of migrations past

Quickly become so indigenous they

Look to prevent others passing this way,

Becoming politicians who’ve amassed

Power and wealth enough to insist upon

Channel crossers in inflatable boats

Being collateral, exchangeable for votes,

No more than a business deal to be done.

The notion of migration surely implies,

Whether or not refuge is provided,

Humanity must remain divided;

The balance sheet decides who lives, who dies.

Rather than quotas and exclusion orders,

Why not a better world without borders?

D. A.

1. From which song are the following lyrics taken?

‘I heard a siren from the docks / Saw a train set the night on fire / I smelled the spring on the smoky wind’

[Dirty Old Town by Ewan MacColl. The town is Salford.]

2. Which was the first language in which a translation of Marx’s Capital was published?

[Russian, in 1872, which I found rather surprising] 

3. In Liverpool, what was known as the dockers’ umbrella?

[The Liverpool Overhead Railway, which ran above the docks and Pier Head. It closed in 1956.]

4. Who described British people to his mistress as follows: ‘people who carry an umbrella can never … understand the moral significance of war, because they cannot love that supreme, inexorable violence which is the chief motor force of world history’? 

[Mussolini]

5. In the American South, what was the underground railroad?

[A secret network of escape routes for slaves. In this connection I recommend Colson Whitehead’s alternate history novel The Underground Railroad]

6. The COP28 climate summit was held recently in UAE. What does ‘COP’ stand for?

[Conference of the Parties (very boring answer)]

7. What happened in Spain on 26 April 1937?

[The bombing of Guernica]

8. Why is an early australopithecine skeleton known as ‘Lucy’?

[After the skeleton was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, the Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ was played in the expedition’s camp] 

9. Which city has a monument to the cholera epidemic of 1832, in which 402 people died?

[Sheffield. The monument is on a hill, the other side of the railway station from the city centre]

10. What does Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ refer to?

[A character in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath. The following lines from the song echo a passage from the book: ‘Now Tom said “mom, wherever there’s a cop beatin’ a guy /

Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries /

Where there’s a fight ‘gainst the blood and hatred in the air /

Look for me mom I’ll be there”’.

The Springsteen song is based on an earlier song on the same subject by Woodie Guthrie]

 The capitalist class, as a result of their control of the means of mental production, focus the attention of the working class on things that are often of little concern or consequence e.g. reality television, royalty or republicanism.  In an article titled It’s Long Past Time to Abolish the British Monarchy we read:

 The growing possibility of the Labour Party returning to power at the next election raises the question: what might a Labour government do? Labour seemingly left behind a long time ago the democratic socialism that was the mainstream of the old Labour Party. The latest indications from Labour’s leadership and economic teams seem to confirm that, whatever the current Labour Party brings forward on issues of political economy for example at the next election, it is unlikely to be far-reaching in its ambitions.

Philip Snowden, Labour MP: ‘The British Labour Party is certainly not Socialist in the sense in which Socialism is understood upon the Continent. It is not based upon the recognition of the class struggle; it does not accept the teaching of Marx…’ (Manchester Guardian Reconstruction Supplement. 26 October 1922).  Arthur Greenwood, Labour’s Lord Privy Seal: ‘I look around my colleagues and I see landlords, capitalists and lawyers. We are a cross section of the national life, and this is something that has never happened before’ (Hansard, 17 August 1945). Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Mr. Houghton, M.P. was impressed by his Party’s achievements : “Never has any previous government done so much in so short a time to make modern capitalism work’ (The Times, 25 April 1967). Tony Benn, former Labour cabinet minister and member of the Party’s National Executive Committee, in a candid confession to The Independent (17 May 1989) wrote: ‘Past Labour governments have always worked within the limits set by market forces (as when the cabinet capitulated to the International Monetary Fund in 1976); have always supported nuclear weapons (as when Callaghan authorised the Chevaline without telling parliament); and have regularly confronted trade unionism (as with rigid wage policies)….We must add… a clear recognition that the Labour Party is not — and probably never was — a socialist party, and its individual members do not decide its policy, nor are its election pledges apparently meant to be taken seriously.’

Here are the questions in this year’s Manchester Branch quiz. Answers in a few days’ time, after comrades have tried to tackle them.

1. From which song are the following lyrics taken?

‘I heard a siren from the docks / Saw a train set the night on fire / I smelled the spring on the smoky wind’

2. Which was the first language in which a translation of Marx’s Capital was published?

3. In Liverpool, what was known as the dockers’ umbrella?

4. Who described British people to his mistress as follows: ‘people who carry an umbrella can never … understand the moral significance of war, because they cannot love that supreme, inexorable violence which is the chief motor force of world history’? 

5. In the American South, what was the underground railroad?

6. The COP28 climate summit was held recently in UAE. What does ‘COP’ stand for?

7. What happened in Spain on 26 April 1937?

8. Why is an early australopithecine skeleton known as Lucy?

9. Which city has a monument to the cholera epidemic of 1832, in which 402 people died?

10, What does Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ refer to?

 Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung NYC (RLS-NYC) is the New York City branch of the German socialist–aligned Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, named after early 20th century radical leftist Rosa Luxemburg. RLS-NYC calls for a “progressive” Democratic Party that more closely aligns with the ideology of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) following his 2016 presidential campaign. 

Sanders’ occasional use of  revolutionary rhetoric should not obscure the fact that he has voted with the Democrats 98 percent of the time. Let us put his qualified support for $18/hour into context:

1865: ‘Instead of the conservative motto, A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work, we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, Abolition of the wage system’ (Marx, Value, Price, and Profit).

1928: ‘Earning a wage is a prison occupation’ (Wages, DH Lawrence).

1965: Workers still ‘don’t realise that they can abolish the wages system’ (Socialist Standard).

2009: Current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour introduced.

2022: ‘Bernie Sanders Backs Historic $18 Minimum Wage’ (Common Dreams, 4 November 2022).

BS is often misleadingly called a Democratic Socialist (a tautological misnomer), rather than, at worst, a Social Democrat.

He once stated:

‘I don’t believe government should take over the grocery store down the street or own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a decent standard of living and that their incomes should go up, not down. I do believe in private companies that thrive and invest and grow in America, companies that create jobs here, rather than companies that are shutting down in America and increasing their profits by exploiting low-wage labor abroad’ (Slate, 15 November 2015).

Those who hope to establish socialism by means of a long series of reforms are doomed to disappointment.  Reforms can modify capitalism to some extent, but they leave its basis untouched. To establish socialism, a revolution—a complete transformation of private property into social property—is necessary.   And  “That is why people who pronounce themselves in favour of the method of legislative reform in place of and in contradistinction to the conquest of political power and social revolution, do not really choose a more tranquil, calmer and slower road to the same goal, but a different goal. Instead of taking a stand for the establishment of a new society they take a stand for surface modifications of the old”

Clearly, the NYC Stiftung’s library is missing at least one of Red Rosa’s key texts!

 *GERMAN POLITICAL CULTURE AND SOCIALISM*

*YouTube video commented on by Andrew Westley*

To join the meeting click https://zoom.us/j/7421974305

‘Tis the Season…’

Strands of fairy lights spiralling around

Local authority evergreens. Card

Readers, to their credit, are working hard

Reading the advent lesson, profit found

In the Christmas or Yuletide myth of choice.

Bethlehem, though, is closed again this year,

Armageddon seems to be drawing near,

With the bellicose having found their voice.

It feels as if the children of Herod

Are committed to an ancient error

That disputes can be resolved though terror,

With the blessing of their particular god.

While there’s still faith in nation and ordnance

How can humanity hope to advance?

D. A.

The Guardian, 6 December, highlights research from National Debtline on the impact the capitalism responsible cost of living crisis will have on very many people during the consume, consume, consume period of Christmas.

‘Millions of people will have to make stark financial choices this Christmas including choosing between buying food or presents and be unable to afford to keep their homes warm through the festive season, according to new research by National Debtline.

About 6.5 million people will struggle to heat their homes sufficiently this festive season, while 2.7 million will have to choose between buying food or presents, highlighting the drastic impact the continues to have on household budgets.

More than 14 million consumers are planning to cut back on the number of presents they intend to buy, while 6 million have decided that they can only afford to buy gifts for children this year.’

A figure quoted in the report, if correct, has even more negative implications for those who are turning to credit to pay for the festivities (sic).

It posits that ‘More than 24 million UK adults – 40% of the UK population – plan to use credit to pay for Christmas presents this year.

Of these, 12 million plan to use credit cards, while 4.7 million will turn to buy now, pay later plans to stretch the repayment timeline for Christmas presents over several months.’

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/dec/06/heat-homes-christmas-uk-national-debtline-food-presents

Capitalism imposes pressures on the vast majority all year round not just at times of the year when people feel coerced into buying commodities, with money they haven’t got – commodities which have been produced for the purpose of making profits. Greg Lake sang, ‘Hallelujah, Noel be it heaven or hell, The Christmas we get we deserve.’ What no one deserves is the continuation of an exploitative, mass misery causing social system when there is a positive alternative to be had.

Press Release from the Centre for Social Justice

‘The UK is in danger of sliding back into the “Two Nations” of the Victorian era marked by a widening gulf between mainstream society and a depressed and poverty-stricken underclass, according to a far-reaching inquiry by a leading think-tank into the state of the nation.

The Centre for Social Justice’s (CSJ) Social Justice Commission’s report, Two Nations: The State of Poverty in the UK, argues that the most disadvantaged in Britain are no better off than 15 years ago – the time of the financial crash – and cites evidence that for them the jump from welfare into work is not worth it.

The CSJ study also finds that the pandemic lockdowns had a catastrophic effect on the nation’s social fabric, especially for the least well off, where the gap between the so-called “haves” and “have nots” was blown wide open.

The report says;

“During lockdown calls to a domestic abuse helpline rose 700 per cent; mental ill health in young people went from 1 in 9 to 1 in 6 and nearly a quarter amongst the oldest children; severe absence from school jumped 134 per cent; 1.2 million more people went on working-age benefits, 86 per cent more people sought help for addictions; prisoners were locked up for 22.5 hours per day.”

“There is a growing gap between those who can get by and those stuck at the bottom,” the report warns.

Six in ten of the general public say that their area has a good quality of life – this plummets to less than 2 in 5 of the most deprived.

Children, scarred by the pandemic lockdown, are having a particularly hard time. Twenty years ago, just one in nine children were assessed as having a clinically recognisable mental health problem. That figure is now one in five, rising to nearly one in four for those aged 17-19.

If trends continue, the report argues that by 2030 over one in four 5 – 15-year-olds – which may be as many as 2.3 million children – could have a mental disorder. There are likely to be 108 per cent more boys with mental health disorders by 2030 than there would have been if the lockdown had not happened. We should worry about the problems of the next generation.

Mental health looms large in the minds of the most deprived. After higher benefits, they cite improved mental and physical health as pivotal to a better life. The report has found that 40 per cent of the most disadvantaged report having a mental health condition compared to just 13 per cent of the general population.

The report says:

“Britain is sick but being sick pays. The total UC caseload has risen by 106 per cent since March 2020 and the number of claimants with No Work Requirements has increased by 186 per cent. There are over 2.6 million people economically inactive because of long term sickness, an increase of nearly 500,000 since the COVID-19 pandemic. “Over half of those signed off (53 per cent) reported depression, bad nerves or anxiety. The most disadvantaged view mental ill health as the biggest factor holding them back, which only comes fifth for the general public.”

The findings come from the Centre for Social Justice, which nearly 20 years ago published Breakdown Britain, a seminal work that ultimately led to a wholescale reform of the welfare system and the introduction of Universal Credit.

Two Nations: The State of Poverty in the UK has been produced by a high-powered team of Commissioners chaired by former Sunday Times editor Martin Ivens and includes Lord King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, Andy Burnham, the Labour Mayor of Manchester, Tim Farron, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Labour’s Sir Stephen Timms MP, Conservative MP Miriam Cates, and businesswoman Liz Earle.

Lord King said:

“Money is not the only solution to the problem of deprivation. One glimmer of light is the institution of the family – rather than government – as a place of nurture, support, and fulfilment. No family is perfect, and families come in all different shapes and sizes. But if we are able to do more to support the family, then we can prevent the creation of an “unhappy generation”.”

Andy Cook, Chief Executive of the Centre for Social Justice, said:

“This report makes for deeply uncomfortable reading. Lockdown policy poured petrol on the fire that had already been there is the most disadvantaged people’s lives, and so far no one has offered a plan to match the scale of the issues. “What this report shows is that we need far more than discussions on finance redistribution, but a strategy to go after the root causes of poverty – education, work, debt, addiction and family.”

At the heart of the 350-page report is a landmark poll of 6,000 people conducted by J.L. Partners – 3,000 drawn from the general public and 3,000 on the lowest income. The report also heard from over 350 small charities, social enterprises and policy experts, and the Commission travelled to 3 nations of the UK and to over 20 towns and cities.

Crime and an erosion in faith in the justice system, shabby housing and drug addiction and are major obstacles. Both the general public and the deprived cite crime as the worst thing about living in their area.

The most disadvantaged worry twice as much as the mainstream about the quality of their housing and communities being “torn apart” by addiction.

The report declares:

“Although overall crime rates are down, violent crime remains high, and still six per cent of families account for half of all convictions. “Outstanding cases for the Crown courts continue to rise eroding the public’s trust that justice will be done and emboldening criminals. Only 8 per cent of victims are confident they would receive justice as a result of reporting a crime. “Only 17 per cent of the most disadvantaged who rent in social housing rate their quality of life at least 8 out of 10, compared with 52 per cent of those who own a property. “There has been a 63 per cent increase in deaths of people on methadone than before the COVID-19 pandemic. 11.5 per cent of those who have consumed cannabis in the last year take it every day. Before the COVID-19 pandemic deaths from alcohol poisoning had been dropping have now risen 15.4 per cent. Over one in seven children – which could be as many as 1.3 million children – have been classed as Children in Need at least once in the past eight years.

ENDS’

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/newsroom/britain-slipping-back-to-social-divide-of-victorian-era

The mission statement of the CSJ: ‘The CSJ’s vision is for those living in the poorest and most disadvantaged communities across Britain to be given every opportunity to flourish and reach their full potential.

We bring this vision to life by seeking to influence the policies the Government creates and the laws it makes, such that it does all it can to address the root causes of poverty.’

Response to the CSJ. The root cause of poverty, disadvantage and a poor quality of life is capitalism. The solution is a straightforward one – the realisation and understanding that capitalism must, has to be, replaced with a system of society based upon free access to quality goods and services which are produced for use not profit. Don’t put your trust in governments or leaders, put your trust in yourself and the majority working class.