A record release by Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, a Lennon-McCartney composition, reached number one in the NME chart in 1963. ‘Listen, do you want to know a secret, Do you promise not to tell.’ The USA apparently has a secret it wants to tell the world about, but it’s still a secret!

“We have weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is, and it is the most powerful weapons in the world that we have. More powerful than anybody even, not even close,” he (Trump) told journalists in the Oval Office.’ To adapt a popular Brady Bunch meme, Sure Donald.

Many people often say if the expense expended on various things viewed as negative and harmful were instead diverted toward world poverty or other damaging and destructive problems caused by capitalism then it would be a much more positive use of resources with far better outcomes.

Perhaps in some cases this might be a short term solution to particular issues. But it would not solve the underlying cause of the untold number of troubles resulting from capitalism.

Now the USA is planning to spend billions on a new version of Ronald Reagan’s 1983 Strategic Defence Initiative.

‘The US possesses technology that can “manipulate” and “bend time and space,” White House innovation czar Michael Kratsios has claimed .Kratsios delivered the remarks at the Endless Frontiers Retreat in Austin, Texas, just weeks after being confirmed as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

He emphasized President Donald Trump’s ambition to usher in a new “golden age of America,” which includes fostering scientific research and the application of cutting-edge technologies. According to Kratsios, the US can emerge as a global leader by making “smart choices” regarding public funding and deregulating innovation.

“Our technologies permit us to manipulate time and space. They leave distance annihilated, cause things to grow, and improve productivity,” he stated, without elaborating. Later in his speech, Kratsios insisted that overcoming the “sclerosis of the state” would enable Americans to achieve “scientific discoveries that will bend time and space, make more with less, and drive us further into the endless frontier.”

Trump himself has recently alluded to advanced technologies not yet revealed to the public. Last week, he claimed China would hesitate to escalate trade tensions with the US partly due to the existence of secret weapons in the American arsenal.

“We have weaponry that nobody has any idea what it is, and it is the most powerful weapons in the world that we have. More powerful than anybody even, not even close,” he told journalists in the Oval Office.’

‘President Donald Trump is building a Golden Dome missile defence shield, which will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to cover the entire globe and monitor enemy threats to the US.

The state-of-the-art defence structure could be up and running as early as 2026, with Elon Musk‘s SpaceX company partnering with software maker Palantir and drone builder Anduril to build key parts of the Golden Dome, six sources told Reuters. 

SpaceX’s integral involvement in the project – which is expected to cost Musk $10 billion – would include building and launching more than 1,000 satellites around the globe to sense missiles and track their movements. 

Another trailblazing fleet of around 200 attack satellites armed with precision missiles or lasers would then bring down threatening enemy missiles, according to sources.  

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has emerged as a leading contender to develop a significant portion of US President Donald Trump’s proposed ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence shield, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In January, Trump signed an executive order for developing a missile defence system akin to Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’. The president cited a missile attack as “the most catastrophic threat facing the United States.”

The proposed system envisions launching between 400 to over 1,000 tracking satellites, complemented by approximately 200 armed satellites equipped to intercept incoming missiles.

Musk’s rocket and satellite company is partnering with software maker Palantir and drone builder Anduril to build key parts of the Golden Dome, sources told the outlet. While SpaceX is expected to focus on the tracking component, the weaponization aspect may involve other contractors.

SpaceX has reportedly introduced an unconventional subscription-based model for its segment of the project, whereby the government would pay for access rather than own the infrastructure outright. This approach has reportedly raised concerns within the Pentagon regarding long-term costs and control over the system.

Musk’s dual role as a contractor and senior adviser to the president has also prompted scrutiny from members of Congress, who have expressed concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Earlier this month, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen introduced a bill that would prohibit awarding government contracts to companies owned by special government employees, such as Musk.

The Pentagon is in the early stages of the project, with initial capabilities anticipated by 2026 and full deployment projected only after 2030, according to Reuters. The overall cost for Golden Dome could reportedly run into the hundreds of billions of dollars.’

The below is from the Socialist Standard March 1986

‘…Star Wars is officially known by the euphemistic title of Strategic Defence initiative. The declared intention is to place a “dome” or “umbrella” around the United States, making it immune to attack from ballistic missiles launched from Russia. Existing anti-ballistic missile systems work on the principle of destroying or disabling the incoming warheads as they re-enter the earth’s atmosphere over their target. Star Wars envisages this as simply the third line of defence in a far more sophisticated network. The first element of this would be to attack the missile boosters just after they are launched and before they release individual warheads, which would in turn be the subject of the second set of interceptors. If each layer of defence destroys 90 per cent of its targets, only 0.1 per cent of the warheads launched will reach their destination.



It is the first part of this network — against the booster phase — that represents the biggest innovation and is most dependent on new technology. Various kinds of beam weapons have been proposed to accomplish this aspect, including such exotica as X-ray lasers. All would be incredibly risky and expensive — one proposal, for instance, would require for its functioning the use of at least one-fifth of the entire American electricity output. Add to this the fact that whatever system is chosen would be of enormous complexity, could never be operationally tested and would have to work perfectly at the first time of asking. It is no wonder that many leading American scientists have flatly stated that the whole Star Wars project is technically just not feasible.



The arguments about Star Wars display the logic of the madhouse, but this after all is the logic of capitalism. The American government’s justification for Star Wars is that it is. in Reagan’s words, “about peace, not war”. With the US supposedly immune from nuclear attack, there would be no further place for the deterrence doctrine of “mutual assured destruction” (MAD), which nuclear ideologues claim has so far kept the nuclear peace. Instead there would, it is claimed, be a real incentive on all sides for drastic reduction of nuclear weapons and their eventual complete abandonment.



Sceptical critics have pointed out a number of flaws in this cosy picture. One is that if the Russian rulers saw as imminent the installation of an impregnable nuclear shield over the United States, they might be minded to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike first; Star Wars would then have triggered, not prevented, nuclear war. Another shortcoming in the Reaganesque logic is due to a change of emphasis which has taken place in the Star Wars plans. In place of the original vision of watertight security, realisation of the problems with this has caused its replacement by the idea of almost total security — a leaky umbrella, as it were. But this radically changes the options available, for the revised version is only useful for defending military targets (though this has naturally not been stressed in US government propaganda). The reason for this is that if only a single warhead out of one hundred launched at a city gets through to its target, that city is destroyed. But even the leakiest umbrella may be able to delay the destruction of missile silos long enough for a retaliatory nuclear strike to be launched. In addition, a leaky umbrella might suffice to beat off an attack from any Russian response to an American first strike — which would make such a first strike a more “attractive” proposition to American hawks. It should be noted, too, that Star Wars offers no defence against low-flying cruise missiles or submarine-launched missiles.



It should not be thought, however, that Star Wars represents the first step in the militarisation of space, for this is something that was achieved long ago. Over three thousand satellites have been placed in orbit since Sputnik I in 1957. and three-quarters of these have had military purposes. Of the huge sums of money spent every year on space research by Russia and America, about half is on military work — not taking account of the fact that much work done for civilian reasons may have military applications. The simple idea of dropping bombs from satellites is out of the question (the bomb would simply continue in orbit) but ballistic missiles, spy satellites and anti-satellite weapons are all very real.



Even under capitalism, though, not all uses of space are military. Satellites already provide masses of other kinds of information about the earth: the position of mineral deposits; the routes of oil slicks and icebergs; developments in the weather; the effects of soil erosion; the likely location of earthquakes; and so on. Some of the information which can be gathered in this way is incredibly detailed. For instance, healthy and diseased wheat reflect infra-red radiation to very different degrees, thus making it entirely feasible for satellites to provide data leading to discovery of the amount of diseased wheat growing in a particular area.



Satellites are also useful for communications purposes, such as international telephone calls. In addition, they can monitor for distress signals. One such system is said to have saved over two hundred lives (in maritime emergencies and forced aircraft landings) in a two-year period. Such undertakings demonstrate that the global co-operation envisaged in a socialist society is not at all outlandish. All the information obtained from space could then be used for the benefit of humanity, not to defend the wealth and power of a few.



There are, of course, international treaties concerning space. In 1967. the United Nations negotiated the signing of the Outer Space Treaty which, for example, bans military bases on the moon. But it does not outlaw all military uses of space, nor does it define the crucial and vague term, “space”. A particular bone of contention is what is known as the geostationary ring. This is the area of space 36.000 kilometres above the equator: satellites located here remain fixed in relation to an observer on the earth, so that they never set or rise, thus offering obvious advantages from a communications point of view. At present “slots” in this geostationary ring are allocated by a branch of the International Telecommunications Union. But in 1976 a group of representatives of countries on the equator met and issued a declaration to the effect that any country on the equator automatically owned that portion of the geostationary ring that was directly above it. Thus are capitalist property rights extended into the vacuum of space.



Which brings us back to Star Wars. The first reactions of Western European rulers were consternation and disarray. The French government opposed the whole idea, the British government was divided (Thatcher for, Howe against). Then came the news that $26 billion was earmarked for Star Wars research over the next five years, and that some of this might be coming Europe’s way. Already. Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has received a grant of $150,000 to work on optical computers. The French government is now encouraging French companies to compete for a share in these research funds. But there is no doubt that the bulk of the money will go to the large American arms manufacturers such as Rockwell, Boeing and Lockheed.



What a waste it all is. All the resources and know-how which, throughout the world, are devoted to “perfecting” the means of killing could so easily be devoted to ending hunger and poverty. But to do that means campaigning not for a change of government or for nuclear disarmament, but for the only line of defence against war — the establishment of socialism.’

Paul Bennett

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2019/03/star-wars-1986.html

Election address from The Socialist Party in the Folkestone local elections.

‘Human Needs or Profit first?

We live in an economic system, capitalism, that ensures nothing gets built or created unless someone, somewhere expects to make a handsome profit. Human needs come very much second.

That is why Folkestone’s stunning harbour is going to be submerged in ugly blocks of concrete and glass. They are built, not for the needs of local people, but to make a profit for the developers and the owners of the land. No surprise there. That is how capitalism works.

All around us everything crumbles, from schools to libraries and social services, even as the vast wealth of a tiny minority continues to increase. And this will go on so long as we keep voting for political parties which think this absurd and cruel system can be reformed.

The Socialist Party of Great Britain has for the last 120 years advocated a quite different society built on the common, democratic ownership of the planet and its resources. A society in which every one of us gets to participate in decisions like the building of new houses, the planting of crops, how we get our energy. A truly human society where sustainable decisions are made based on human needs and the need to maintain a healthy planet.

At current levels of science and technology the earth can easily provide an abundance of resources for everyone to live a happy and fulfilled life. Then there will be no need to artificially ration the necessities of life with money. We will contribute our physical and mental labour freely and take freely from the common store.

That will need a world revolution. And every revolution starts somewhere. Why not Folkestone?

If you agree VOTE SOCIALIST.’

Promoted by Robert Cox on behalf of Andy Thomas and Max Hess, all at 74 Linden Crescent, Folkestone CT19 5SB

The Great Game

In the Great Game every player’s a dealer,

All shuffling the pack and palming a few,

Each card-sharp coldly determined to screw

The others and become the scene stealer,

The one who will gamble all he has got,

By raising the stakes again and again

Until others throw in their hands, and then

Laugh in their faces as he scoops the pot.

Very few play, but everyone loses

For as long as we allow this charade:

The name of the game? International trade.

Unless the great majority chooses

To close capital’s casino, and regard

The world improved without any Trump card.

D. A.

Election address from The Socialist Party in the Gloucestershire County Council Election.

‘This might be the last Gloucestershire County Council Election. The government seems intent on reorganising the County and District Councils. This will result in fewer representatives and a concentration of strategic power in the hands of a regional Mayor.

This is democracy in the capitalist system: a choice between candidates for office with only marginally different sets of policies. Once elected those in office can tinker with the system but not the rules of capitalism: those without wealth are beholden to those who do, profit comes first not human needs, and can’t pay – can’t have.

But what can we do? Unlike the architects of local government devolution, Socialists believe not that there is too much democracy, but that there isn’t enough. The rules of capitalism have not been in place for all of human history and we don’t need them in future. Getting rid of the rules of capitalism and creating a real democratic future can’t be brought about from above. It has to come from a majority of people.

You can show support for real democracy, socialism, by voting for the Socialist Party of Great Britain on May 1st.

Socialism is a classless, stateless, wageless, moneyless society or, a democracy in which free and socially equal men and women co-operate to produce the things they need to live and enjoy life, to which they have free access: ‘from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs’.

The Socialist Party is like no other political party in Britain. It is made up of people who have joined together because we want to get rid of the profit system and establish real socialism.

Our aim is to encourage others to become socialist and act for themselves, organising democratically and without leaders, to bring about the kind of society that we advocate.

We are solely concerned with building a movement of socialists for socialism. We are not a reformist party with a programme of policies to patch up capitalism.

If elected, Piers Hobson will work for socialism at every opportunity, vote on issues according to the democratic decisions of his branch of the Socialist Party and always be for socialism and nothing else.’

Promoted by Piers Hobson of 63 Ben Grazebrooks Well, Stroud, GL5 1DL.

Election address from The Socialist Party in the Herne Hill & Loughborough Junction local by-election.

‘Real change, not damage limitation

Fellow workers

They call it democracy but it’s nothing of the sort.

Labour didn’t even want this by-election. They’d rather stitch it up behind closed doors than face a real challenge. This isn’t about serving the people, it’s about protecting their grip on power. Councillors are parachuted in, selections are stage-managed, and decisions are made long before you ever see a ballot paper.

Meanwhile, rents rise, wages stagnate, benefits are cut, food banks multiply and estates are handed over to developers. Labour’s record in Lambeth is clear enough.

Now they ask for your vote again. So do the Greens, Lib Dems and others who promise change but only offer better management of a system built on exploitation. They won’t end your problems. They won’t challenge the class system. They won’t stop capitalism — they serve it.

No confidence in their system. No votes for our bosses’ parties. Until we end capitalism, nothing changes.

That’s why the Socialist Party is standing in this election. Not for tweaks or token reforms, but for real change. Common ownership, democratic control, production for need not profit.

If you want that, you can show it by voting for the Socialist candidate, Adam Buick.’

Promoted and published by Mark Hutton on behalf of Adam Buick, both at 52 Clapham High St, London SW4 7UN.

‘“Perfidious Albion” is a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations diplomacy to refer to acts of diplomatic slights, duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity (with respect to perceived promises made to or alliances formed with other nation states) by monarchs or governments of the United Kingdom (or Great Britain prior to 1801, or England prior to 1707) in their pursuit of self-interest and the expansion of the British Empire. Perfidious means not keeping one’s faith or word (from the Latin word perfidia); Albion is an ancient and now poetic name for Great Britain.’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfidious_Albion

A leopard cannot change its spots. The British capitalist class, or a section of it, appear determined, along with a number of other states, to use Ukraine to bring down the existing Russian regime. Might all those natural resources in Russia have something to do with it? Its been estimated that the natural resources could be worth between seventy five and ninety trillion dollars.

The regime change we want to see is the introduction of socialism across the globe.

‘Britain’s military leadership has played a far more extensive and covert role in the Ukraine conflict than previously known, not only designing battle plans and supplying intelligence, but also authorizing secret troop deployments inside the country to provide weapons training and technical support, according to a report by The Times.

While London’s political and military backing for Kiev has been public since the 2014 Western-backed coup, the extent of its involvement after the escalation in February 2022 “remained largely hidden… until now,” the British newspaper wrote citing unnamed Ukrainian and British military officers.

The Times claimed that British troops were sent into Ukraine in small numbers on several occasions throughout 2022 and 2023, operating discreetly to avoid provoking Russia. In particular, UK forces were deployed to fit Ukrainian aircraft with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles and train pilots and ground crews in their use.

“UK troops were secretly sent to fit Ukraine’s aircraft with the missiles and teach troops how to use them,” the publication wrote, noting that it “would not be the first time British troops had been deployed on the ground.”

The UK had been delivering thousands of NLAW anti-tank missiles to Kiev and sending instructors to train Ukrainian soldiers in their use since 2015. While British troops were pulled out of Ukraine shortly before the escalation in February 2022, the deteriorating battlefield situation and the urgent need for technical expertise saw small teams of UK personnel redeployed quietly alongside fresh supplies of missiles, the newspaper reported.

London also reportedly played a key role in helping Ukraine prepare its much-touted 2023 “counteroffensive” against Russia – and in mediating between Kiev and Washington when the operation failed to meet US expectations.

The newspaper claimed that “behind the scenes,” the Ukrainians referred to Britain’s military chiefs as the “brains” of what they called an “anti-Putin” coalition. Former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was even reportedly nicknamed “the man who saved Kiev” by military officials.

“The Americans went to Ukraine only on rare occasions because of concerns that they would be seen to be too involved in the war, unlike Britain’s military chiefs, who were given the freedom to go whenever necessary,” The Times wrote. “Sometimes their visits were so sensitive they went in civilian clothing.”

Moscow perceives the Ukraine conflict as a Western-led proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians serve as “cannon fodder.” It considers foreigners fighting for Kiev as “mercenaries” acting on behalf of Western governments. 

Senior Moscow officials have suggested that the more complex weapon systems provided to Kiev are highly likely operated by NATO staff.

The presence of current and former NATO troops has also been tacitly admitted, but never openly confirmed, by Western officials. For example, last year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz revealed the involvement of British and French forces in preparing Ukrainian missile launches, as he explained why Berlin would not supply similar weapons to Kiev.

Earlier this month, a New York Times investigation found that the administration of former US President Joe Biden provided Ukraine with support that went far beyond arms shipments – extending to daily battlefield coordination, intelligence sharing, and joint strategy planning, which were described as indispensable to Kiev’s fight against Russia.’

Full residential cost (including accommodation and meals Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) is £150; the concessionary rate is £80. Book online full-price or concessionary rate, or send a cheque (payable to the Socialist Party of Great Britain) with your contact details to Summer School, The Socialist Party, 52 Clapham High Street, London, SW4 7UN. Day visitors are welcome, but please e-mail for details in advance.

Our venue is the University of Worcester, St John’s Campus, Henwick Grove, St John’s, Worcester, WR2 6AJ.

Email enquiries to spgbschool@yahoo.co.uk.

 The Socialist Party of Great Britain is taking part in the May First local elections.

Four candidates are standing.

Two candidates  in Folkestone for Kent County Council.

One candidate  in Stroud for Gloucestershire County Council.

One candidate in a London  local council by-election.

You can follow the progress of the three local election campaigns here:



https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/topic/our-2025-local-election-campaign/

 For decades, the pages of the Socialist Standard have shown that the very existence of capital (and wage-labour) means that any rational approach to what is most important to every human being (i.e. the production of life’s necessities) is utterly impossible.

Economic chaos is inherent in the capitalist system.

And sometimes, as now, this systemic chaos is made worse by the existence of nation states, within which those who have wormed their way into control of state power are able, with an appeal to ‘patriotism’, to dupe a working class fearful of the future into identifying with one particular ‘national’ section of the owning class.

Time to put an end to these interesting times.

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/

In the 1930’s an American President said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

In 2025 capitalist states seem bent on stoking up fear within their populations for their own ends.

In the SOYMB post of 27 March, War Psychosis, we wrote, ‘Do you see a trend here? In the first piece the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management is quoted as saying, ’We want people to be ready, not to panic’…The European Union has advised its 450 million inhabitants to stockpile essential supplies sufficient for at least 72 hours, citing increasing risks of war, cyberattacks, climate change, and disease.’

https://soymb.com/search?q=72+hours&max-results=20&by-date=true

Now , in the MailOnline 6 April, we find, Brits should prepare a 72 hour ‘survival kit’ as Putin plots to sabotage gas pipelines and cause mass blackouts, warn spies.’ ‘Fears of a plot by Russia to sabotage Britain’s energy pipelines means families should pack a 72-hour ‘survival kit’, security advisers have warned’.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14575537/Brits-prepare-72-hour-survival-kit-Putin.html

Did the MailOnline means to publish this on April Fool’s Day? Among the items suggested as being necessary are a Swiss army knife and identity documents. We should, of course, take all this this very very seriously because the ‘information’ that this is an event likely to occur at some unspecified time in the future are ‘spies’ and ‘security advisers’.

In Germany the indoctrination of fear is being ramped up amongst the adult population and amongst children. The denials emanating from Russia that there have no intention of invading Europe appear not to holding any sway over Western ‘leaders’ who seem intent on provoking a conflict with Russia. A conflict that would have serious consequences for the whole world. In a capitalist system there is, of course, no guarantee that what any state says today will hold true tomorrow. The American administration under Trump has already, in a short space of time, shown that. Present events taking place in the world demonstrate how unsafe the planet is and it would not be a conspiracy theory to suppose that the rapacious drive of capitalism for the exploitation of more and more resources and the wage earning class in pursuit of more and more profit will inevitably lead to more and more serious conflicts.

 What next Germany, the reintroduction of the Deutsches Jungvolk and Hitlerjugend? Is the European Union going to introduce the American ‘Duck and Cover’ drill for children?

‘The German Interior Ministry is advising schools to prepare children for crises and war, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported citing a ministry spokesperson.

A raft of calls for “civic readiness” have been made by Western European governments since US president Donald Trump took office and the beginning of US-brokered Ukraine peace talks, described by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as “deadlocked.”.

“Given the recent developments in the security situation, a greater focus should be placed on civil defence, including in school education,” an interior ministry spokesperson told Handelsblatt.

According to the outlet, a Russian attack on NATO territory “in four to seven years” is considered “a realistic scenario” by German military, the Bundeswehr.

Schoolchildren should be “prepared for the worst,” crisis response training should be introduced into school curricula, and emergency supplies should be stored in every home, the German ministry spokesperson reportedly proposed.

Moscow has repeatedly rubbished the claim it could attack a NATO country, since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict three years ago. However such “civic readiness’ calls have been made across the EU and in the UK in the last week.

The European Commission has recently recommended that EU citizens stockpile essential supplies, including food and water, to sustain themselves for at least three days in case of emergencies.

Poland and Norway have reinstated Cold-War-era measures such as bomb shelters and bunkers and mass military training. Sweden and Finland already have guides available to citizens on how to respond if they come under attack.’