“Patriotism in its simplest, clearest, and most indubitable meaning is nothing but an instrument for the attainment of the government’s ambitious and mercenary, aims, and a renunciation of. human dignity. common sense. and conscience by!the governed, and a slavish submission to those who hold-power, That is what is really preached wherever patriotism is championed. Patriotism is slavery.” – Leo Tolstoy

We do not deny the sincerity of many peace campaigners and can see that the energy and ingenuity they displayed in tackling a job they considered important provided further proof that once working men and women get on the right track capitalism’s days are numbered.  People in the peace movement would no doubt claim that all politicians are evil, completely insincere persons. But what they have in common is the simple fact that they all support the capitalist system of society. They have different ideas about how it should be run but all are agreed on this essential point.  Unfortunately without the necessary understanding of capitalist society, organisations like the Stop the War Coalition will continue to make mistaken claims, based as they are on irrational ideas about the social and economic forces at work in society today. The vote, when based on sound socialist knowledge and used to send delegates to Parliament as opposed to opportunistic leaders, can be the most useful instrument the workers possess.

Under capitalism, we have a world which is divided into rival and competing nations, which struggle with each other over the control of markets, trade routes and natural resources. It is this struggle which brings nations into armed conflict with each other because militarism is the violent extension of the economic policies of propertied interests. War cannot be isolated from the economic relationships of production or the general object of capitalist production, which is to advance the interests of those privileged class minorities who monopolise the whole process of production. It follows that no working class of any country has any stake or interest in war, and we have always said that workers should never support war. Our stand in the Socialist Party since it was established has been to oppose every war. Armed with this understanding of the cause of war we are committed to working politically with workers of all countries to establish world socialism because that is where the interest of the working class lies. We have never participated in the hideous cause of capitalism at war.

Amid the most extreme pro-war jingoism and hysteria, when nationalistic patriotism is prevalent across the whole population to support the war, the Socialist Party sent out this message. “Having no quarrel with the working class of any country, we extend to our fellow workers of all lands, the expression of our goodwill and socialist fraternity, and pledge ourselves to work for the overthrow of capitalism and the triumph of socialism.”  In all wars the Socialist Party sends out this inspiring message of fraternal goodwill.

We are saying that socialism is the only guarantee that war will not take place because it will completely remove the cause of war. But we are saying more than this. All the time capitalism exists, war will remain because the threat of military force, and its use, is a necessary instrument of vested economic interests. All the facts of modern history show that this is why governments maintain vast “defence” expenditures, including the cost of nuclear weapons. It follows then that activity to get rid of war must essentially be the activity to get rid of capitalism.

Think back to past wars democracy and the conduct of war are anathema to each other. The first casualty of war is democracy. It must be obvious to anyone who is not politically naive, that no government undertaking or treaty has ever been kept for longer than it was expedient to do so.

If peace movements continue to support capitalism they must be responsible for all the ways in which capitalism develops. Because capitalism cannot be controlled in the human interest, we do not know all the ways in which it will develop. We invite members of all anti-war groups to join with us now in building a better world. They must build on the concern and indignation and broaden their horizons. They should not place their faith in governments; that is a sure recipe for disaster and disillusion. We must not make pathetic appeals to governments to do something on our behalf. We must take the world into our own hands.

FAT CATS GET FATTER

In 2022’s quarter one, the Federal Reserve’s “Distributional Financial Accounts” show:

 America’s top 1 percent held 31.8 percent of the nation’s wealth. 

The nation’s bottom half held 2.8 percent.

Back in 1980 fewer than 0.005 percent of America’s adults held over 1,000 times the nation’s median household wealth. 

By 2020, the ranks of that wealth cohort had quintupled. 

In 1983, not a single American held a fortune that equaled 100,000 times the nation’s median household wealth. 

In 2021, slightly over 50 Americans exceeded that threshold, and two Americans actually held over a million times the wealth of America’s most typical households.

Does the Future Belong to People Who Profit Off Our ‘Excessive Wealth Disorder’? – CounterPunch.org

Russian police have detained the journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live television broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine.

On Friday, Ovsyannikova posted photos of herself on Telegram showing her near the Kremlin and carrying a protest placard raising the deaths of children and denouncing Putin as a “killer”.

Russian journalist who staged TV protest over Ukraine invasion arrested again | Russia | The Guardian

 “It’s like the Trump years with a smile,” said the Palestinian official, who requested anonymity.

 The gap in education outcomes between poor children and others is far too wide, says Education Policy Institute (EPI), a policy thinktank.

Its study found that in 2019, prior to the pandemic, the gap between poorer pupils and their peers was 22-23 months in Wales and about 18 months in England.

In Wales, the largest disadvantage gaps by area were as big as 25-28 months, the EPI found. In England, the largest attainment gap, of about 25 months, was found in Blackpool.

Pupils living with long-term and persistent poverty are even further behind their peers in both countries. In England, the persistent disadvantage gap was equal to about 23 months of learning, while in Wales it was 29 months. There has been almost no improvement in this measure over the last decade. 

Pupils from poorer backgrounds were much less likely to reach the top quintile of GCSE scores and more likely to be in the bottom quintile across both nations. 

Luke Sibieta, an EPI research fellow, said, “Policymakers in both countries need to redouble their attempts to give poorer children a better chance in life…”

Poorer pupils in England and Wales lag ‘significantly’ behind, report finds | Poverty | The Guardian

  Oxfam International estimated Monday that a mere two weeks of wealth gains recently secured by global food billionaires would be enough to fully fund the United Nations’ multibillion-dollar effort to combat hunger in East Africa, where soaring commodity prices are intensifying food insecurity and pushing poverty to new extremes.

“Food inflation in East African countries where tens of millions of people are caught in an alarming hunger crisis has increased sharply, reaching a staggering 44% in Ethiopia—nearly five times the global average,” Oxfam said in a new analysis published amid a worsening global hunger emergency.

“It is estimated that one person is dying every 48 seconds in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia alone, where the worst drought in decades is being exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and is pushing food prices to skyrocketing levels,” the organization said. “Against this backdrop, food billionaires have increased their collective wealth by $382 billionaire since 2020.”

“Less than two weeks’ worth of their wealth gains,” the group calculated, “would be more than enough to fund the entirety of the U.N.’s $6.2 billion humanitarian appeal for East Africa. The appeal is currently woefully funded at merely 16%.”

Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam’s food policy lead, said that “a monstrous amount of wealth is being captured at the top of our global food supply chains, meanwhile rising food prices contribute to a growing catastrophe which is leaving millions of people unable to feed themselves and their families. World leaders are sleepwalking into a humanitarian disaster,” Saarinen warned. “This fundamentally broken global food system—one that is exploitative, extractive, poorly regulated, and largely in the hands of big agribusinesses—is becoming unsustainable for people and the planet and is pushing millions in East Africa and worldwide to starvation.”

Oxfam argued there are a number of steps rich countries can take to help East African nations avert disaster, including canceling their surging debt burdens and taxing the rich to adequately fund humanitarian relief efforts.

“We need to reimagine a new global food system to really end hunger; one that works for everyone,” said Saarinen. “Governments can and must mobilize enough resources to prevent human suffering. One good option would be to tax the mega-rich who have seen their wealth soar to record levels during the past two years.”

“There have been 62 food billionaires created in the last two years,” Oxfam found, pointing to the global food corporation Cargill—one of a handful of businesses that collectively control more than 70% of the worldwide market for agricultural commodities—as a striking case in point.

Cargill is “87% owned by the 11th richest family in the world,” Oxfam observed. “The combined wealth of family members listed on the Forbes billionaire list is $42.9 billion—and their wealth has increased by $14.4 billion (65%) since 2020, growing by almost $20 million per day during the pandemic. This has been driven by rising food prices, especially for grains. Four more members of the extended Cargill family have recently joined the list of the richest 500 people in the world.”

Just Two Weeks of Food Billionaire Wealth Gains Could Fund Anti-Hunger Effort in East Africa (commondreams.org)

 Record-breaking temperatures have killed over 1,000 people in Western Europe over the past week heat-related deaths.

Over 1,000 Die as Record-Breaking Heat, Wildfires Scorch Europe (commondreams.org)

CAPITALISM OR SOCIALISM

UN secretary general António Guterres warned ministers from 40 countries meeting to discuss the climate crisis on Monday that “Half of humanity is in the danger zone, from floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires. No nation is immune. Yet we continue to feed our fossil fuel addiction.” He added: “We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide. It is in our hands.”

Guterres criticised the “multilateral development banks”, institutions including the World Bank. He said they were not fit for purpose when it came to providing the funding needed for the climate crisis, and that they should be reformed.

Humanity faces ‘collective suicide’ over climate crisis, warns UN chief | Climate crisis | The Guardian

Every government will give a pretext based on personalities, incidents or ideologies to justify fighting wars; but when examined closely this can be seen as camouflage. The true motivations are economic — protection of the interests of their capitalist class. 

 Around 1.3 million families across Britain had no savings before the biggest cost-of-living crisis in a generation struck, Resolution Foundation, a think tank, has said.

In the period running up to the coronavirus pandemic (2018 to 2020), nearly half of families across Britain had savings worth less than a month’s income.

While around 4% – 1.3 million families in total – had no savings at all, the Foundation said. More than a quarter (28%) of families with no savings said they simply would be unable to cope with an unexpected expense, while nearly a third (32%) said they would need to turn to friends and family if faced with an unexpected expense,

The report found the poorest tenth of families were four times as likely to report having no savings as the richest tenth of households, at 8% versus 2%.

This savings divide will only have been reinforced during the pandemic, according to the Foundation, as the richest fifth of families were around four times as likely to say they were able to increase their savings during lockdowns as the poorest fifth (47% compared with 12%).

“With many of those families unable to save during lockdowns, they are now approaching the biggest cost-of-living crisis in a generation with no financial buffer.” Molly Broome, economist at the Resolution Foundation, said.

‘1.3 million families facing cost-of-living crisis with no savings buffer’ | The Independent