‘Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it was launching an investigation into rising prices on infant formula in an effort to contain the cost-of-living crisis.

The decision to scrutinize formula makers follows an earlier report from the watchdog that found a 25% average price increase over the two previous years. The report also showed that families could make significant savings of more than £500 ($632) over the first year of a baby’s life by buying cheaper infant formulas.

The CMA said it will look into “anti-reflux” and “comfort” formulas, as well as formula for babies aged six to 12 months, and milk marketed for children over 12 months as “growing up” and “toddler” formula. “Infant formula is a key part of the weekly shop for many parents across the UK, who rely on these products to ensure their baby gets all the essential nutrients they need,” Sarah Cardell, the chief executive of CMA, remarked.

“While it’s a positive sign that prices of some products have fallen since our update last November, the cost of infant milk remains at historically high levels. We’re concerned that parents don’t always have the right information to make informed choices and that suppliers may not have strong incentives to offer infant formula at competitive prices,” she added.

The CMA is planning to release a report based on the results of the study by September, which could give it the power to force suppliers to provide information on pricing and other issues.

Producers of baby formula in the UK have been blaming the higher prices on increased factory costs, including for ingredients and energy. Meanwhile, some supermarkets have cut the cost of the formula after French manufacturer Danone last month agreed to reduce prices on the majority of its Aptamil range for UK retailers by up to 7%. Danone, which also owns the Cow & Gate brand, accounts for 71% of the baby formula market in the UK.’

See https://soymb.com/2024/02/wont-anyone-think-of-children-part-one.htm

P.D. James’s 1992 novel The Children Of Men is set in 2021. Due to a complete loss of fertility in all men no more children can be born so the human race is headed for extinction. As in Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta the UK is effectively a police state.

James has young foreign workers imported to work and having been exploited to the full they are returned to whence they came. The old and the sick are euthanised at sixty and pets are treated like children.

Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel, The Wanting Seed, deals with overpopulation as opposed to James’s underpopulation. Repressive measures practised by the State through its Population Police include the harassment of heterosexuals- the protagonist’s brother is a closet heterosexual who pretends to be homosexual in order to protect his government position- whist men are press-ganged into the military to be sent to a war front controlled by the government with the aim of simply killing off as many as possible.

Both these dystopian scenarios are of course fiction. The premise in both novels is that capitalism is still the overriding social system and in both State force is the ‘solution’ to the problems.

‘… declining birth rates have meant an increasing number of countries are now experiencing below-replacement level – or negative – growth and, remarkably, there is more and more concern being expressed about the prospect of depopulation and a steadily ageing population, rather than overpopulation. Some countries, worried about their waning influence on the international stage, have begun to institute pro-natalist policies with a view to reversing their relative population decline. For them the link between power and population is compellingly self-evident: big is obviously better in a competitive global economy.’

Robin Cox

From the Socialist Standard February 2023.

‘ .. . if the human population of our planet were to continue to expand at the doubling time of 35 years then within a period no longer than that of recorded history the entire substance of the universe would be converted to human tissue and the diameter of the resulting human mass would be expanding at the speed of light. (Dr Paul Ehrlich, quoted in the Guardian, 18 June 1979)

Many figures and doomsday predictions like the above have been cited to express the urgency of the “problem” of population growth. In response to this the United Nations declared 1974 World Population Year, the key event of which was a conference in Bucharest. Last month, after a period of ten years, the second such conference was held in Mexico City; attended by delegates from over 140 countries, it discussed population in the light of the poverty and widespread hunger of humanity.

The real boost to concern with population growth came in the United States from the President’s Commission on Material Policy in 1952. This report considered the question of “whether the US had the raw materials to sustain its civilisation”. This was considered likely only “if Third World raw materials remain reliable”. The report concluded that the greatest threat to those reliable resources was population growth. From then on population control gained respectability, growing to prominence in aid programmes and the activities of the World Bank, which sees population control as a necessary consideration in its lending activities: “The Bank does not feel it can legitimately allocate funds of its bond holders and contributing states to countries which are bad risks — don’t have population under control”. (Science for People Journal, No. 26)

This concern is not new. In 1798, the Reverend Thomas Malthus wrote his Essay on the Principle of Population at a time when the British population was rapidly increasing. The reason for this, as the Third World Quarterly explains was: “Until the seventeenth century, world population grew, on average, by less than one per cent a century. The extraordinary growth in human population occurred primarily after the Industrial Revolution” (Wasim Zuman, “The World Population Situation”. Third World Quarterly, July 1980).

Malthus took the view that widespread poverty was due to the fact that human population tended to increase more rapidly (by a geometric expansion) than their means of subsistence (arithmetic growth). Thus “to remove the wants of the lower classes of society is an evil so deeply seated that no human ingenuity can reach it”. This “law of nature” therefore could justify starvation, slums andall the problems of poverty because “to prevent the recurrence of misery is alas! beyond the power of man”. But this relied on a vastly oversimplified model of the relationship between human population and human environment.

The Malthusian view, and that of the quote at the top of this article, are based on very selective trends; they view human population as being solely subject to some constant and incontrovertible natural law. In so doing they fail to take account of the ability of humans to rationally apply themselves to their environment and so control nature.

Malthus was disproved by the first 150 years of industrial capitalism, when the population of England grew threefold and there was an unprecedented growth in the productive forces. In this period the supposed “superior power of population” was checked without producing “misery or vice” on the scale predicted. However these ideas of population control have been revived in recent years, appearing in the 70s in the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth, which claims that “The greatest possible impediment to more equal distribution of the earth’s resources is population growth”.

Is there then a problem of overpopulation? If so, then the reader should be well aware of it. for the United Kingdom is the ninth most densely populated country in the world and England and Wales is fourth in the demographers’ league of overcrowded nations. For that matter, the whole world’s population could be accommodated, packed like passengers in the rush hour, in an area of only 20km by 20km.

If we accept though that overpopulation exists, when the population exceeds the available resources, we must then ask if the concept is a natural law or a relative one which holds in certain situations and not in others. Harry Rothman in his book on pollution and resources Murderous Providence answers this by detailing different situations:

In societies of nomadic shepherds one finds population densities of 40-100 per square mile; nomads with agriculture 200-300; with intensive agriculture 200-500; regions with intensive agriculture 2,000-4,000. In regions of India where irrigation makes multiple cropping possible over 10.000 people per square mile can be kept alive, and finally, in the metropolitan areas of industrial societies densities of over 15,000 per square mile are found.

Rothman concludes that “with the development of more advanced productive forces the capacity of areas to support human populations can be increased” (page 330). This was precisely the criticism that Marx had of Malthus, when he showed how capitalism artificially swelled or shrank the population according to its requirements — in recession the population appears large; in times of boom it appears too small.

As well as varying from time to time, it can be similarly seen that the requirements of capital will seem to vary the population from place to place — the initial rise of capitalism brought with it the first large- scale concentrations of men and women in cities to meet demand for a large number of wage slaves. Indeed, current concern for the problems of poverty in the Third World is largely due to the greater rate of urban population growth compared to rural in countries undergoing very rapid industrialisation. Yves Benot points out that “many of today’s underdeveloped countries could well show up as underpopulated if they were to experience the same developmental process as that experienced by 19th century Europe”. (Qu’est-ce que le developpement?, p. 9.)The effect of capitalist requirements dictating what is the “natural level” of population at any one time can be seen in the large-scale movement of migrants to the United States, Canada and Australia, into Arab OPEC countries and in the guest workers of Western Europe. David Eversley describes this process: “In a country like Germany a dilemma threatens to arise: in the 60s they had the problem of their foreign workers; when the economic growth rate slowed down, they sent home as many as they could; but if, for instance, there is a new boom in the early 80s they will face this with an ever-shrinking indigenous labour force entry, and the necessity therefore to invite the guest workers back again until the next recession”. (“Zero Population Growth: Problems for the 21st Century”, New Internationalist, June 1977.)

This prompted a German politician to say in 1980 “the nation is dying beneath the blankets”. In fact, a German ministerial report earlier this year expressed serious concern over shortages in the labour force, a lack of recruits for the armed forces and high unemployment in the teaching profession (Population Today, February 1984). This would really endanger the interests of the owning class in Germany, or any other country — “by the end of the century the army will be severely below strength” (The Times, December 15. 1983). Similarly in America a recent internal study for the Cabinet Council of Economic Affairs viewed with alarm the decline in the youth population as far as filling the volunteer armed forces goes (Population Today, March 1984).This shows in exactly whose interests population levels are thought to be too great or too small from time to time, or place to place. Malcolm X (for one) noted this: “Whenever they are speaking of the population explosion, in my opinion they are referring primarily to the people in Asia or in Africa . . .” But he goes on: “. . . in fact in most of the thinking and planning of whites in the West today, it’s easy to see the fear in their minds . . . that the masses of dark people . . . will continue to increase and multiply and grow until they eventually overrun the people of the West” (Malcolm X Speaks, p.46).This apology for an explanation conveniently ignores the fact that the worldwide capitalist system of society is run in the interests not of the “whites in the West” but in the interests of the minority who own virtually all the land and productive resources on it, regardless of the country or colour of skin of exploiter and exploited.

The Declaration of the United Nations International Conference on Human Rights in 1968 stated that “… couples have a basic human right to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children”. But rights or no rights, regardless of any “free and responsible decision”, there is a real material basis which “for most people in the underdeveloped countries is the stark reality that there is little or no economic security in old age or in case of disease, other than one’s own children. not all of whom will survive until adulthood” (“Not Better Lives, Just Fewer People”, Science for People, No.26). This is summed up by a village blacksmith in India: “A rich man invests in his machines. We must invest in our children, it’s that simple” (quoted in The Myth of Population Control, Mahmood Mamdani). Therefore any attempt to reduce fertility by changing people’s awareness of their best interests, without trying to change their material basis, fails because, quite simply, people are unlikely to plan their families if there is no possibility of their being able to plan their whole lives. Similarly countries like China, (held up by the Mexico City Conference as having ideal birth control measures) have problems with female infanticide because of the desire for sons, which occurs in the strict One Glorious Child scheme. The Scotsman, (25 May 1984) also considers other countries in South East Asia where “. . . children were so little valued that they were being bought and sold in markets”. The article quotes Professor Scorer saying that people don’t care about their children “because they don’t have any material opportunity to do so”.

A few weeks before the World Population Conference, the media discovered that people were starving to death in drought-hit Ethiopia. This is despite the statement by the editor of the Observer to his staff (8 April 1984) that “Hunger is boring” — no doubt the hungry wish it were so. Boring or not though, the BBC did not think twice about perpetuating a few myths by laying the blame for hunger squarely on the 2½ million hungry: “They expected too much from the land which could not provide enough . . .” (roughly quoted from Jan Leeming on the News Report, 22 July 1984). With “overpopulation” mistaken for the cause of the problem of poverty and starvation, any attempt at a solution amounts to little more than trying to do away with the poor rather than the cause of poverty.

What the conference ignored is that the world has the capacity almost immediately to provide enough food, drink, housing and health care for the world’s population many times over — yet one out of every ten babies born today will die within a year, victims of a system that must put the profits of the owning minority before the needs of millions who cannot put money where their hungry mouths and swollen bellies are.

Lester Brown of the World Watch Institute. Washington, disputes this, putting forward a falsely simplistic relationship between population and food production which does not recognise that capitalism requires food to be produced and distributed only when it can be sold. “Throughout most of human existence”, he claims, “there were more fish in the oceans than humans could ever hope to catch or consume. As world population expanded following World War Two. population continued to grow, but the fish catch did not”. As well as oceanic fisheries he cites grasslands as a second global life-support system that is under mounting pressure. He sees this as evidence that “human needs have begun to outstrip the productive capacity of many local biological systems”. This may well be true, but the world under the capitalist system has effectively become an integrated unit of production of all wealth and has the potential (which cannot be realised under the profit system) to overcome specific problems of failing harvests and famines.

Nevertheless it is still commonly held that attacking the population levels provides some solution to the problems of poverty. Lester Brown, for example, suggests that, short of an abrupt slowdown in world population growth, there will come a time when “the rationing of scarce supplies through rising prices in the world market may leave some people unable to get enough food while others enjoy a surfeit”. But there is no maybe about it. People were starving to death in the early 1970s, when food production was at its highest levels in the areas Brown cites — fish in 1970; mutton 1972; cereals 1971. And the last two decades have seen a doubling in the world beef production. Yet every so often we face the sickening sight on television of mass burials of children, and the only slightly less unpleasant sight of Frank Bough or some other talking head appealing for a few pounds for charity in the hope that it will keep this quiet carnage of capitalism off the television screens for at least a few months.’

Brian Gardner

From the Socialist Standard, October 1984

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2023/10/world-population-1984.html

 The term ‘screwed’ can mean several things. Urban Dictionary gives one example as, ‘a position that is a result of a problem or bad situation that seems impossible to solve or get out of.’

Not everyone wants to be a parent The UK organisation, Pregnant Then Screwed, https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/ uses a play on words to describe the onerous position that some expectant mothers find themselves in when confronted with the financial burdens that capitalism places upon them.

The statistic that one in five spend half their earnings on child care is very worrying. Along with the onerous costs of childcare costs in the UK PTS expresses its concern that, ‘ 20% of mothers in England are unable to take up a more senior role due to childcare costs and availability compared to 8.8% of fathers’ and that, ‘cost and availability continues to have a negative impact on the economy and on gender equality with a third (33.6%) of mothers in England unable to return to work full-time due to childcare costs or availability, compared to just 11.9% of fathers.’

This constitutes an erroneous view that appears to be more concerned with ensuring that women should be ‘better’ placed to be exploited by capitalism.

Despite the good intentions of PTS there does not appear tp be, on their part, insight into the underlying problem which is the cause of the ills they highlight. The ‘solutions’ which they would like to see implemented are no solutions at all. The solution is a simple and straightforward one, it’s the replacement of an exploitative capitalist system with Socialism where not only will quality goods and services be produced for free, not profit, but the stresses the present system causes, not just for parents, but for all, will be abolished for good.

‘Research from PTS reveals a sharp increase in childcare debts that parents are facing. 45.9% of parents in England with a child under the age of 5 years old say they accrued debt or had to withdraw money from their savings to pay for childcare – a 30% increase from 35.2% last year.

The report has found that 1 in 5 parents (21.5%) with a child under 5 years of age had to withdraw money from their savings and pension to pay their childcare bill, and 37.1% said they had to use credit cards, take out a loan or borrow money from family or friends. The figures rise sharply for single parents with a child under 5 years old, almost two-thirds (66.5%) accrue debt to pay for childcare, including 50% who borrow money, and 31.3% who withdraw money from their savings and pension pot to plug the gaps.

In 2023 the same survey found that 35.2% of parents had to rely on some form of debt, or withdraw money from their savings to pay for childcare. With 27.6% saying they have had to borrow money and 15% saying they have had to withdraw money from savings or their pension

Currently, women retire with a third less in private pension savings than men due to inequalities in the workplace and the knock-on effect of caring responsibilities.

Half of parents with a child under 5 years of age in England (53%) say they spend more than a quarter of their household income on childcare, this is up 16% from last year, whilst 1 in 5 parents (19.2%) say they spend more than half their household income on childcare.

But cost isn’t the only issue. A third (34%) of parents said their childcare provider has a waiting list longer than 9 months and only 13% of parents said there is no issue with childcare availability near them.

The issue of cost and availability continues to have a negative impact on the economy and on gender equality with a third (33.6%) of mothers in England unable to return to work full-time due to childcare costs or availability, compared to just 11.9% of fathers. Meanwhile, 20% of mothers in England are unable to take up a more senior role due to childcare costs and availability compared to 8.8% of fathers.

Devastatingly, 52.5% of mothers who have had an abortion either somewhat agree or absolutely agree with the statement “I believe that the cost of childcare was the primary reason for me to terminate a pregnancy”

Worryingly, the cost of childcare continues to price parents out of growing their family, with 85% of parents agreeing with the statement – ‘’I tend to view childcare costs as prohibitive of having more children.’’

Joeli Brearley, CEO and founder of charity, Pregnant Then Screwed said: ‘’We’ve not only got a cost of living crisis, we’ve got a cost of working crisis that disproportionately impacts mothers. We’re running out of babies. The birth rate is in decline. But parents who want to have more children cannot afford to do so. Being a parent is tough enough, but when having more children means sacrificing your income, procreation feels like financial suicide. If we aren’t careful, becoming a parent will be a luxury item, and the economy can’t afford to pay that price.”

The Government has pledged a reduction in childcare costs starting 1st April, however, only 35% of parents in England agreed with the statement, “I think childcare costs will be less of an issue for my family in 2024 due to childcare schemes announced by the Government.” This was reduced to 15% for single parents and 27% for Asian parents. Whilst 90% of parents in England agreed with the statement, “I do not believe the Government’s promise that childcare costs will reduce.” But even when a family is eligible for free hours, and there are places available close by, almost a quarter (23%) of parents said they couldn’t afford to access those hours due to the top up fees charged by nurseries for sundry items such as nappies and food.

A spokesperson for Women In Data® comments “Collectively we need to close the gender gap and remove the challenges Women face to achieve equality of opportunities in the workplace and reduce burden of the unspoken ‘tax’ on mothers from additional unpaid labour as carers and in the home.

Pregnant Then Screwed lists its ‘solutions’ to the problems that it sees as:

‘legislative change that will foster greater parity between men and women, both in the home and the workplace; support for pregnant women and mothers to access free legal advice as well as supporting them to challenge discrimination and to take legal action against an employer; contribution to government consultations and policy-making; give training to employers to help them make their workplace the best it can be for working parents, and work to rebuild the confidence of mothers and support them to find work that works for them.

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/shocking-new-stats-about-the-cost-of-parenting/

Looking through an old copy of the Socialist Standard, the writer came across a series of articles based on lectures on that seemingly eternal subject, “The Women’s Question.” Like unemployment, it is always with us, and will remain so until the inception of Socialism.

Woman cannot expect emancipation, any more than can her fellow-worker, man, under the existing system, capitalism. The amount enjoyed now by the male is merely a question of degree, conditioned mainly by his class position ; if of the working class, he is at liberty to sell his labour power or to starve.

Morgan, in his great work “Ancient Society,” shows clearly that the subjugation of woman did not come about to any great extent until the importance of private property was realised. Woman then became part of it; she was as important as flocks and herds, because she was reproductive, and she had no more freedom. Companionship and affection between the male and female had not yet been realised, and could not enter into the contract. The husband punished infidelity with severity, whilst reserving for himself the right of promiscuity. A section of women became courtesans, thus filling the needs of man for enjoyment outside his own home. These were found in the early civilisations of Rome and Greece, where the married women had no rights or freedom. Man then became the head of the family, over which he exercised power of life or death; property descended through the male line instead of the female, as heretofore, and the female lost all right of expressing herself and putting her point of view as she had been accustomed to so doing in the savage tribes. Her place became the home, whilst the man developed for himself a life outside it and generally had some voice in public affairs. Thus began the possibility of the charge so often still levelled against woman, that her mind can only appreciate trivialities. Small wonder, she was for so long debarred from all else, and the education available for her brothers was denied her.

Time, coupled with the progress of capitalism, has modified her position somewhat. To the capitalist she has appeared in the guise of a worker who will accept less wages than the male. Her centuries of subjugation were exploited to their fullest extent during the Industrial Revolution. Marx, in “Capital” (Vol. I.), gives a telling quotation from Lord Ashley’s speech on the 10-hours Bill. “Mr. E., a manufacturer, informed me that he employed females exclusively at his power looms . . . gives a decided preference to married females, especially those who have families at home dependent on them for support; they are attentive, docile, more so than unmarried females, and are compelled to use their utmost exertions to procure the necessaries of life. Thus are the virtues, the peculiar virtues of the female character, to be perverted to her injury; thus all that is most dutiful and tender in her nature is made a means of her bondage and suffering.” (Page 100, Glaisher edition.)

During the present war the calling up of men for the armed forces, and the subsequent conscription of women for industry, has once again given the capitalist a golden opportunity for getting more surplus value from his workers. Army pay has been so low, has borne so little relation to the needs of life, that women with small children have been compelled to go into the factory. That it has been the design of the representatives of the capitalist class, the Government, is evident by their provision of war-time nurseries. They are learning how better to enslave their workers from their co-belligerent Russia, who provides factory creches for war workers’ babies, so getting their cheap labour without damaging the next generation of wage slaves. Britain has hitherto been too crude in her methods to make such provision. Mothers have gone out to work and left their children under little or no supervision, which has been one of the causes of infant mortality and disease.

Woman has awakened sufficiently at this time to strive for “equal pay for equal work,” but not enough to demand the abolition of the wages system. She, like her male fellow worker, does not realise the theft that is being perpetrated upon her when she becomes employed. Such slogans tend to increase any antagonism that may exist between the sexes, instead of uniting them against the common enemy, the master class. The possibility of further antagonism may be manifested after this war, when men return from the Army to find, as after the last world war, that the women ensconced in their seats are unwilling to get down, and it will doubtless be exploited by Governments when unemployment once again becomes rife—as indeed it must, despite all “reconstruction schemes.”

An organisation called “Women for Westminster” has recently been born. It has a self-explanatory name and object. What a waste of time and energy such an organisation causes, and what future disillusionment must there be among its adherents ! Supposing they were to have a measure of success according to their aims, and get a predominance of women in the House of Commons. They would find that women, merely as women, can run capitalism no better than can the Labour or Tory Parties.

The Suffragettes have been appalled by the lack of enthusiasm for the vote, following their desperate efforts to gain it. Their lack of knowledge of the make-up of society is the reason for their indignation. Despite the constant propaganda of the press, screen and radio, woman as well as man is sceptical, often unconsciously so, regarding electioneering programmes, which cater for all tastes. Speaking generally, members of the working class are apathetic and not politically conscious. Many, unfortunately, are led away by reform parties, by idolaters of Russia, or by mushroom growths such as Commonwealth.

Many of the reforms regarding women have been implemented since Mary Woolstonecraft wrote her book “The Rights of Women.” These may, in the main, be attributed to the rise of capitalism, which has made it necessary for woman to take her place as part of the industrial army. In countries such as Turkey, for example, where after years of seclusion woman has removed her veil and gone out to work in the factory, it does not merely indicate that opinion there is becoming more liberal, but that the forces of industrial capital are at work looking out for cheap labour. The benefits woman has received in the field of education have been essential for her to take her place in the professional groups, and whilst giving her some individual freedom, have exchanged her quiet home life for that of a competitive existence.

Many women intent on emancipation have sublimated their natural instincts. This is undoubtedly possible for the possessor of an interesting and absorbing job, but as most work has been reduced to routine by the division of labour, characteristic of capitalist organisations, little permanent satisfaction is obtained thereby. With the present knowledge of birth control, the modern working woman denies herself the pleasure of children rather than bring them into a world, for them, of abject poverty. Frustration is thus found on all sides; denied an interesting and creative job, denied the rightful expression of her normal instincts, woman becomes, like the male worker, another machine for productivity and exploitation by the capitalist.

Whilst capitalism lasts, women will remain, like men, in a subject position, no matter how far progress is made towards equality with men. The interests of women are therefore identical with men in struggling for the overthrow of the present system, as it is only under Socialism that both will find real emancipation.

W. P.

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2023/11/what-should-women-do-to-be-free-1944.html

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2023/11/what-should-women-do-to-be-free-1944.html

Friday 23 February 19.30

 From 2023: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/audio-index/audio-index-2023/

‘German Political Culture and Socialism’ – commentary on Rammstein’s music video ‘Deutschland‘, by Andrew Westley 15th December 2023

‘Is a Moneyless Society Possible?’ – Richard Field, 8th December 2023

‘Discussion on Gaza’ – hosted by Adam Buick and Paddy Shannon, 17th November 2023

‘Is there such a thing as ethical investment?’ – Hosted by Adam Buick, 20th October 2023

2024: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/audio-index/audio-index-2024/

‘Has the Internet Enhanced or Inhibited Workers Understanding of the World’ – John Cumming, 19th January 2024

‘State Constitutions – Paper and Reality’ – by Uther Naysmith, 12th January 2024

‘Roundup of 2023’ – hosted by Paddy Shannon, 5th January 2024 

Q. What was the bare minimum you needed to stay alive last week? A. Food, heating, accommodation.

Q. How did you get these things? A. With money, obviously!

Whatever the amount, if you’re working, it came from your wages for some employment.

Q. Why would anyone want to employ you? A. Simple: they expect you to produce enough to pay your wages, to replace whatever you use up while you work AND to fund their spending. Oh, and cash for reinvestment – to try to ensure they don’t end up in the working class too.

Remember – while capitalism lasts, your cost of living will always include the cost of carrying a capitalist on your back.

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

Clear Vision

A veil of ignorance and illusion

All too easily and widely taken,

Vision obscured or even forsaken,

Reinforcing a sense of seclusion,

Being distracted looking left or right.

With the view unsettled and unsettling,

Taking a step forwards is disturbing,

Could be wonderful, there again it might

Be safer and best to simply stay put.

Or maybe cast a glance backwards, because

There’s comfort in a scene that never was,

Better still, perhaps, keep eyes tightly shut.

Human potential remains retarded

Until and unless the veil’s discarded.

D. A.

As we navigate the complex landscape of the global economy in 2024, parallels to a novel set forty years ago in what was then the future are unceasingly alluring for many. However, while George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four will forever reverberate through the passage of time as a quintessential critique of authoritarianism, his Animal Farm offers us a far more compelling critique of the power dynamics, manipulation, and pitfalls of unchecked authority associated with the ultimate authority – the one in which all fascist and ‘communist’ systems have hitherto existed: capitalism.

The story of Animal Farm unfolds as a group of farm animals revolt against their human oppressors, led by the idealistic pigs Snowball and Napoleon. The revolution promises equality and prosperity for all, yet as time progresses, the pigs, who initially championed the cause of the oppressed, succumb to the allure of power and wealth. Over time, the pigs consolidate power, betraying their initial ideals and creating a hierarchy that mirrors the oppressive regime they replaced.

Sound familiar? Naturally one can chart these porcine similarities in the development of capitalism – particularly in the transformation of the ‘“start-up’” into the multinational corporation. In the spirit of Animal Farm’s pigs, these entities, once heralded as champions of economic freedom and innovation, have come to wield disproportionate influence over global and human affairs. One need only read a tweet from Elon Musk to understand why billions were wiped off a particular company on the New York Stock Exchange on a particular day or read the latest struggles of Amazon workers to wrest back control of their bladders from Jeff Bezos to understand the severity of this influence. Sadly, these latter-day Napoleons have since emerged as today’s elite, having manipulated capitalist conceptualisations of progress and innovation to the extreme.

In Animal Farm, Napoleon and Snowball are at first portrayed as comrades, sharing a vision of a utopian society. However, Napoleon’s lust for power becomes evident when he orchestrates the expulsion of Snowball, eliminating dissent and consolidating authority. One would also do well to recall the condescending hero-worshipping stage rallies of other capitalist exploiters like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates – seemingly once essential ingredients in the faux revolution of the nineties tech boom – and see in them the earlier manifestations of this elitist cunning. There, they extolled the cutting-edge popular utility of their technologies, encouraging perceptions that new tech would lead to a more transparent, equitable, and empowered society. To the contrary, tech giants like Apple and Microsoft have since amassed colossal wealth, buying out competitors, exploiting tax loopholes, and engaging in questionable labour practices. As Orwell wrote, ‘”All animals are equal’” but as the pigs consolidate power, this commandment undergoes subtle modifications, ultimately becoming ‘”All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’.”

Here, Orwell’s work highlighted the manipulation of language to control perception, with the pigs modifying the commandments to justify their actions. Similarly, in the global economy, terms like ‘“free trade’”, ‘“globalisation’”, ‘“innovation’”, ‘“aspiration’”, and ‘“growth’” are employed to cloak a system that often perpetuates inequalities. At the global level, both developed and developing nations find themselves in positions of vulnerability, exploited by powerful economies and multinational corporations in a manner akin to how the pigs exploit the other animals on Animal Farm. Meanwhile, individuals are oppressed in every conceivable manner, from the chiming of the alarm clock signalling the commencement of the day’s shift to the incessant blaze of propaganda, emanating from every screen or frequency, affixed to every block or bus. We are told at every turn that we must have something to be someone – an exercise in the all-consuming tawdry display of capitalist accumulation.  

If one should take anything from Orwell’s tale, it is that complacency and conformity breed danger. The animals on Animal Farm gradually accept the pigs’ changing principles, rationalising their own subjugation. In the contemporary global economy, there’s a parallel in how the masses often accept economic policies that favour the wealthy, believing in the illusion of trickle-down prosperity. Reaganomics sadly remains the chief allure of our acquiescence. A totem under which we willingly swallow the erosion of workers’ rights, precarious labour conditions, and the widening income gap between rich and poor, if only for the chance to receive an extra portion of the workhouse gruel. Capitalism’s greatest achievement is our complicity. The Musks, Bezos’s, Jobs’s, and Gates’s of this world fully intend to feed us with the automatic updates necessary to ensure our continued function as the best software version of capitalism (indeed, helpfully Mr Musk has now developed and tested a brain chip, possibly with the idea capable of absolving us of the last vestiges of self-awareness!).

 In conclusion, as we assess the global economy in 2024, the parallels to George Orwell’s Animal Farm offer a sobering reflection on the persistence of economic inequity and the concentration of power. The pigs’ gradual descent into corruption, the betrayal of revolutionary ideals, the consolidation of corporate influence to the manipulation of language and the erosion of democratic principles, Orwell’s cautionary tale resonates in the dynamics shaping our contemporary economic landscape. It is a timeless critique, every bit as vital as Nineteen Eighty-Four, that prompts us to critically examine the principles guiding our societies and question whether they truly uphold the values of equality, justice, and genuine progress. The challenge remains to achieve a global working-class consciousness which strives for a more equitable and just global economy. World Socialism, in which we eradicate hierarchy, participate in decision-making, and produce according to need is the only viable alternative.

JOHN ELLISTON

 It is reported that, ‘Guinea’s military rulers have dissolved the West African nation’s government, which had been in power since July 2022. The presidency’s spokesman, General Amara Camara, announced the decision on 19 February without providing any specific reasons.

The presidential decree, read by General Camara in a pre-recorded video published on social media, said a new government would be installed but did not specify when that would happen. 

“The government is dissolved… The management of current affairs will be ensured by the directors of cabinet, the secretaries general, and the deputy secretaries general until the establishment of a new government,” he said in the presence of around 20 uniformed soldiers.

Guinea has been under military rule since September 2021, when soldiers overthrew President Alpha Conde, who had ruled for more than a decade. Conde’s election in 2010 marked the country’s first democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1958.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has demanded that the coup leaders in Conakry, as well as those in power in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, hold elections within a reasonable timeframe and restore democratic order.

Colonel Mady Doumbouya, the interim president of the former French colony, agreed to return Conakry to civilian rule by the end of 2024 after facing sanctions over an initial three-year transfer of power. The military leadership has claimed that the transition period would allow it to implement major reforms in the poor but mineral-rich country.

In a separate statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, the presidency ordered members of the dissolved government to return state property, including vehicles and travel documents “without delay.”

“The High Commander of the Gendarmerie and the Director General of the Police are responsible for taking all measures to put buffers in all departments until the temporary workers are fully taken over,” announced Ibrahima Sory Bangoura, chief of staff and general of the Armed Forces of the Guinean Transitional Government.

ECOWAS, which has been embroiled in disputes with military rulers in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, has yet to issue an official statement on Guinea’s unexpected government dissolution. The three former French colonies have served notices to withdraw from the bloc, citing harsh sanctions imposed in response to coups in their respective countries. They accuse the 15-nation regional authority of being a tool for foreign powers. The bloc is also dealing with political unrest in Senegal, where a surprise postponement of presidential elections has sparked deadly protests in recent weeks.’

On the heels of the story about the sacked Ecuadorian office cleaner comes this – an inverted Aladdin tale, not new lamps for old but old military equipment for new – and war declared on bananas by the Russians in retaliation. What sort of farce would Tom Sharpe of made of it?

Between 2012 and 2019 Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, took refuge in the London Ecuadorian embassy fearing arrest and extradition to the USA.

As history shows, that ended in tears and may still result in his being sent to America.

‘Free Assange’ SOYMB 30 December 2020

https://soymb.com/2020/12/freeassange.html

‘Ecuador will not supply Ukraine with outdated Russian military equipment, Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld has said, walking back her government’s previous plans.

Speaking to a group of lawmakers Sommerfeld stressed that Ecuador has been pushing for a “peaceful resolution” of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that would be based on international law.

“Ecuador will not send any war material to a country that is involved in an international armed conflict,” Sommerfeld said.

In December, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced Quito’s intention to deliver aging Soviet-era equipment to Ukraine in exchange for modern equipment from the US worth $200 million. Sommerfeld argue at the time that the gear in question was “not operational” and that it would be “not illegal” for Quito to dispose of it any way the country sees fit.

The Soviet-made gear in Ecuador’s stocks reportedly includes Mi-17 helicopters and Osa anti-air systems.

Moscow had slammed the plan, saying that it would be a violation of contracts to transfer military equipment to a third party without Russia’s consent. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Ecuadorian media that Quito had made “a rash decision” under outside pressure.

Shortly after the planned arms transfer was announced, Russia restricted imports of bananas from Ecuador, citing health violations. The Russian food safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has lifted the partial ban saying that five Ecuadorian companies were again allowed to ship bananas into the country.’

It is reported that, ‘UK workers may face lower wage increases in 2024 as employers are mulling cutting pay rises amid persisting economic woes, a recent report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found.

The drop in wage growth comes as many UK employers are cutting back on hiring plans due to slowing growth.

The average future expected pay rise in the UK dropped to 4% in the final quarter of 2023, after holding at 5% for some time, marking the first fall since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The median expected increase across the private sector showed the same expected decline from 5% to 4%, whereas the expected decrease in the public sector was steeper, from 5% to 3%.

“This feels like a key moment in the UK labour market,” said CIPD senior labor market economist Jon Boys. “The public and private sector gap in pay expectations is widening again, at a time of mounting pressures on public services,” he noted.

Lower pay rises would deal a blow to Britons’ purchasing power and curtail disposable income at a time when living costs are rising, prompting many to re-evaluate their budgets and expenses, experts warned.

“We’ve seen a sustained period of high wage growth in response to a tight labor market, and high inflation pushing up the cost-of-living. Pay growth has helped individuals but it leaves employers with a higher wage bill to cover,” Boys explained.

The survey, which was conducted in January involved over 2,000 employers. About a third of employers plan to increase their headcount over the next three months, while 10% anticipate reductions.’

In related. ‘The British economy fell into recession in the final quarter of 2023, according to official figures released on 13 February

GDP dropped by 0.3% in the fourth quarter following a 0.1% decline in the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. A technical recession is typically defined as two successive quarters of contracting output.

All three main sectors of the economy – services, production, and construction – posted declines in the fourth quarter, according to the ONS.

For the whole of 2023, the economy is estimated to have increased by 0.1%, which the ONS described as “the weakest annual change in real GDP since the financial crisis in 2009,” excluding the pandemic year of 2020. In 2022, growth stood at 4.3%.

According to the government, high inflation has been the single biggest barrier to growth. Although price growth in the country has come down from the 11% peak recorded in 2022 and stood at 4% as of January, it’s still double the Bank of England’s 2% target.

If you think things are bad in jolly old England, ‘Annual inflation in Argentina hit a three-decade high of 254% in January even as the rate slowed slightly in monthly terms, according to official data.

Newly installed President Javier Milei has subjected the country to ‘shock therapy’ reforms aimed at stabilizing the ailing economy, including devaluing the nation’s currency by 50% against the US dollar and hiking the key interest rate to 133%.

“If one takes the number alone, isolated, it is horrifying. And indeed, it is, but you have to look at where we were and what the trend was,” Milei said in comments about the inflation data during a public appearance on the television station La Nacion Mas. The president estimated that inflation would come under control within two years.

Meanwhile, monthly inflation in the country stood at 20.6% in January, down from the 25.5% registered for December. Annual inflation in December was 211%. According to the report, transport prices in Argentina soared 26.3%, while the cost of goods and services skyrocketed 44.4% in January.

According to Milei, Argentina’s “economic activity would have fallen much more” had he not implemented the new policies. “We are focusing on taking care of the most vulnerable class,” the president argued. A self-described anarcho-capitalist, Milei, who took office in December 2023, has warned it will take time for the results of his program to be seen and that things could get worse before they get better. Latin America’s third-biggest economy has been beset by a severe economic crisis after decades of financial mismanagement.’

How long till the blind shall see, ‘Poverty levels in Argentina hit a multiple-year high in January following the drastic economic reforms carried out by newly installed President Javier Milei, the Social Debt Observatory of the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) said in its latest report.

According to the data, the share of people in poverty in the country surged to 57.4% last month, the highest since 2004, and up from 44.7% in the third quarter of 2023, prior to Milei taking office.

In what he called ‘shock therapy’ reforms, the new Argentinian leader has introduced a slew of measures aimed at stabilizing Argentina’s struggling economy, including devaluing the peso by 50% against the US dollar and hiking the key interest rate to 133%. The measures have led to a surge in consumer prices. According to official data released earlier this month, annual inflation in Argentina hit a three-decade high of 254% in January. This, in turn, caused household incomes to collapse and greatly diminished consumer purchasing power, exacerbating poverty levels.

The report noted that the greatest increase in poverty levels was observed among middle-class households that were not beneficiaries of social programs, as well as among low-skilled workers. According to the data, the percentage of Argentinians considered “destitute” surged to 15% in January, up from 9.6% in the third quarter of last year.

The head of the UCA’s Social Debt Observatory, Agustin Salvia, told La Nacion news outlet that he doesn’t expect poverty levels to grow much further, but warned that the situation will likely get worse before it gets better.

“In February and March the situation will tend to worsen, but poverty will find a ceiling of around 60%. There is an expectation that it will tend to improve in two or three months,” he predicted.

Milei reacted to the UCA report in a social media post on Saturday, pledging that more reforms would ease the crisis in the country.

“The true inheritance of the caste model: 6 out of every 10 Argentines are poor. The destruction of the last hundred years is unparalleled in Western history. Politicians have to understand that people voted for change and that we are going to give our lives to bring it about,” he wrote.’

On the other dide of the globe, ‘Australia’s unemployment rate has risen to its highest level since early 2022, hitting 4.1% in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported.

The figure is slightly above the consensus expectation of 4%, an uptick from December’s reported 3.9%. The economy added 11,100 full-time jobs and shed 10,600 part-time jobs last month, according to the data.

The report added to concerns of slack in the country’s labour market in the face of a slowing economy and subdued consumer demand. Economists warn that unemployment could further deteriorate later in the year.

Commenting on the report, ABS head Bjorn Jarvis noted a changing seasonal dynamic in the labour market around when people start working after the summer holiday period in January. “While there were more unemployed people in January, there were also more unemployed people who were expecting to start a job in the next four weeks,” Jarvis said.

Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said during a press conference on Thursday that the latest figures indicate that the labour market continues to soften in expected ways. “This is also the inevitable consequence of higher interest rates and persistent inflation and global economic uncertainty, because of the pressures that people are under, the pressures our economy is under, and indeed the global economy as well – those are largely the reasons for the tick up in the unemployment rate that we are seeing today,” concluded Chalmers.’

In lighter news, not really, this is about just one example of an individual’s experience of capitalism: Headline in MailOnline, ‘The letter cleaning boss sent to single mother on £13-an-hour when he fired her for eating a leftover £1.50 tuna sandwich she had found in City law firm meeting room.’ The Ecuadorian cleaner is taking legal action. Judge for yourself whether it’s just another example of what ex- Prime Minister Edward Heath once called the unacceptable face of capitalism.

There are many vulnerable workers within capitalism and there may or may not issue a call from one of the capitalist supporting Parties to improve or increase legislation to prevent this sort of thing but the only real solution is for the abolition of capitalism altogether and its replacement by by a non-profit based social system that values everyone for their contribution to society without the capitalist threat of having their livelihood (no money, no eat) removed on spurious grounds.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13099985/The-hard-hearted-letter-cleaning-boss-sent-single-mother-13-hour-fired-eating-left-tuna-sandwich-meeting-room.html