!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/2

October )00+

socialist standardwebsite: www.worldsocialism.org

contents

,-alling the action illegal has a significantsymbolic and ideological role in giving theimpression that striking is criminal and byextension wicked.?Gate Gourmet - Another 8nion Sell-:ut; page 6

A radical read? The Koran, page 15

Sold out? Gate Gourmet, page 13

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Bates:ne year subscription KnormalrateL C1):ne year subscriptionKlowMunwagedL CENurope rate C1+ KAir mailLRest of world C)) KAir mailLQoluntary supporterssubscription C)0 or more.CheRues payable to STheSocialist Party of Great BritainU.

The Socialist Garty of Hreat Britain

The next meeting of theNxecutive Committee will beon Saturday 1st :ctober atthe address below.Correspondence should besent to the General Secretary.All articles, letters and noticeshould be sent to the editorialcommittee at: The SocialistParty, BC Clapham High street,London SW4 I8N.tel:0)0 EK)) LM11 e-mail:spgbOworldsocialism.org

Bush and Katrina victims, pages 6-8

Are Hypsies the Groblem?After Hitler, Jew-hating can never be tolerated. However, Gypsy-hatingis still rife in todayUs liberal capitalist society. Pat Deut[ asks why.

RSATTBSS

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Why They Uropped the BombsDid the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings really help end thewar; Richard Headicar concludes his analysis.

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Vslam and SocialismIf Mohammed was the first socialist, where does that leave Jesus;And how is George Galloway involved;

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Katrina: The Goor Suffer `oreSlow to spend money on any third-world disaster, itUs obvious now thatthe 8SA canUt even handle a Bangladesh in its own back yard.

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Katrina: Not aust an Vll WindAs politicians stampede to avoid responsibility for the incompetenthandling of the disaster, we examine the politics of the hurricane.

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Hate Hourmet - Another Tnion Sell-Out?Was the recent strike an example of trade unions selling out or evensabotaging the struggles of the working class; Pik Smeet investigates.

1L

!dito&ia(

As the Berlin Wall fell and theKremlin2s Empire collapsed inEastern Europe8 Western leadersspoke about a ;peace di<idend; and

how money pre<iously spent on arms wouldbe re-channelled into social programmesAredirected towards the fight against po<erty8ineBuality and ignorance. Some spoke about;the end of history;8 how capitalism was atlast triumphant. Capitalism8 at the dawn of anew millennium8 had supposedly seen offits ri<als and now8 left to de<elop8 wouldbring prosperity to all.

In reality:!World military spending for 2005: J1trillion (or Must o<er J318709 per second)

!Number of billionaires in the world: 691

!Number of people malnourished: approT815 million

!1 billion people lack access to cleanwater

!2.4 billion people lack access to decentsanitation

!178280 children die e<ery day fromhunger

According to the most recent UNHuman De<elopment Report:

!54 countries are now poorer than theywere in 19908 which is when world leaders

made their ;peace di<idend; claim.The world2s 225 richest indi<iduals8 ofwhom 60 are Americans with total assets ofJ311 billion8 ha<e a combined wealth ofo<er J1 trillion - eBual to the annual incomeof the poorest 47 percent of the entireworld2s population.

!The estimated additional cost ofmaintaining uni<ersal access to basiceducation8 basic health care8 reproducti<ehealth care8 adeBuate food and clean waterand safe sewers for all is roughly J40billion a year8 or less than 4 percent of thecombined wealth of the 225 richest peoplein the world.

!The richest fifth of the world2s peopleconsumes 86 percent of all goods andser<ices while the poorest fifth consumesMust 1.3 percent.

!The United Nations Children2s Fundreported in 2005 that one billion children8or half of the world2s population ofchildren8 suffer from po<erty8 <iolentconflict and the scourge of AIDS.

Capitalism may well ha<e ad<ancedthe scientific and technological capabilitiesof humanity to a stage where we can nowfeasibly establish a world of abundance8 aworld without waste or want or war. But thefacts speak for themsel<es. There are nowmore star<ing8 thirsty8 homeless andunemployed people on the planet than atany time in human history. Rather thanpro<iding for the needs of the world2speople8 Capitalism stands as a fetter to thefull and impro<ed use of the world2sproducti<e resources in the ser<ice ofhumanity.

Capitalism need not be the end ofhistory. It is Must one station along therailway line of human social de<elopment atwhich we are presently standing. We canmo<e on8 progress. By progress8 what wemean is socialism8 a society based oncommon ownership8 democratic control andproduction solely for use. Real change ispossible8 but only if enough of us really dowant to mo<e further along the track towhere real human history begins.

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 3

Time to `ove On

UK BRANCHES &CONTACTS

LONDONCentral London branch.Corres:Richard Botterill8 21 AshwellPark8 Harpenden8 Herts AL5 5SG. Tel: 01582 764929email:richardbotterillahotmail.com.2nd & 4th Mon. 7.30. Carpenters Arms8Seymour Place8 W1 (near Marble Arch) Enfield and Haringey branch. Tues.8pm. Angel Community Centre8Raynham Rd8 NI8. Corres: 17 DorsetRoad8 N22 7SL.email:Mulian<einablueyonder.co.ukSouth London branch. 1st Mon.7.45pm. Head Office. 52 ClaphamHigh St8 SW4 7UN. Tel: 020 76223811West London branch. 1st & 3rdTues.8pm8 Chiswick Town Hall8Heathfield Terrace (Corner SuttonCourt Rd)8 W4. Corres: 51 GayfordRoad8 London W12 9BYPimlico. C. Trinder8 24 Greenwood Ct8155 Cambridge Street8 SW1 4Vg. Tel: 020 7834 8186

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Romilly Park Road8 Barry CF62 6RR.Tel: 01446 405636

INTERNATIONAL CONTACTSAFRICAGambia. World of Free Access.Contact SPGB8 London. Kenya. Patrick Ndege8 PO BoT 564288NairobiUganda. Socialist Club8 PO BoT 2178Kabale. Email:wmugyenziayahoo.comSwaziland. Mandia Ntshakala8 PO BoT9818 Manzini

EUROPEDenmark. Graham Taylor8 SpobMer<eM1738 DK-82208 Brabrand.Germany. Norbert. Email:weltsozialismusagmT.netTristan Miller. Email:psychonautanothingisreal.comNorway. Robert Stafford. Email:hallblitheayahoo.com

COMPANION PARTIESOVERSEASWorld Socialist Party of Australia.P. O. BoT 1266 North Richmond 31218Victoria8 Australia.. Email:commonownershipayahoo.com.auSocialist Party of Canada/PartiSocialiste du Canada. BoT 42808Victoria B.C. V8k 3k8 Canada. Email:SPCainame.comWorld Socialist Party (New Zealand)P.O. BoT 19298 Auckland8 NI8 NewZealand. Email:wspnzaworldsocialism.org World Socialist Party of the UnitedStates P.O. BoT 4402478 Boston8 MA02144 USA. Email:wspbostonamindspring.com

)onta+t -etai(/Really moving on: breaking free of thefetters

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/4

Scientists don2talways find iteasy to get onwith the public.Aside from theabstruse andtechnical natureof their work8which ine<itablycreates a naturalcomprehensiongap8 there arepolitical8 religiousand ideologicalfactors which alltoo often causerifts betweenscience and thegeneral public.Socialists8 being

inclined to reasoned8 e<idence-based thinking8 tend by and largeto support the scientists2 point of <iew8 for eTample in their bitterfeud with 2intelligent design2 ad<ocates8 or in their massi<e protestagainst the Bush administration2s deliberate distortion of scientificstudies for political ends8 or in their efforts to o<ercome religiousbigotry which pre<ents effecti<e <accination against killerdiseases. Sometimes8 amid the ra<ing mullahs8 the rantingpoliticians and the grubby interest-groups8 the <oice of thescientific community can sound like the only Buiet note of sanityin the screaming choirs of hell.

There are times8 though8 when e<en some scientists start tosound a little reactionary8 self-righteous and sanctimonious ontheir own account. One such instance is the issue of animal rights.Last month the New York Stock ETchange backed out of itsagreement to float Life Sciences Research8 the struggling USparent of Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire8 with Must45 minutes to go before trading began. No reason was gi<en8 butmedia pundits and insiders were unanimous that the NYSE pulledout because of animal rights pressure. Scientists were duly aghast8and cries of 2Shamem2 echoed round the research laboratories.Leader columns in the scientific press eTpressed serious concernat how important research was once again being hampered bywild-eyed ideologues without a science GCSE or a bath betweenthem.

But do the scientists ha<e any right to such a moral highgroundn It2s true that HLS staff ha<e recei<ed relentlessharassment including <iolence and threats against themsel<es andtheir families8 but the egregious and Buasi-terrorist tactics adoptedby some animal liberationists do not in turn Mustify wholesaleuncritical support for animal research. Scientists tend to be <erydefensi<e about animal research8 but their arguments8 that suchresearch is always necessary8 tightly controlled8 responsible andlargely painless8 are at best Buestionable and sometimes plainwrong8 depending as they do on an idealized representation ofscientific research as it is supposed to be8 and not as it actuallyeTists in the buck-hungry world of capitalist corporations.

To be fair8 animal rights acti<ists can propagate mythsabout research which confuse the issue (for a list8see http://www.rds-online.org.uk). Howe<er8scientists do not help their own case withsimplistic no-brainer dilemmaslike 2your dog8 or your son28which imply that all testing is forthe common good and whichgloss o<er the large proportion ofeTperiments done for cosmetics8food colourings8 weedkillers andother non-health-relatedproducts. While scientistsprotest loudly8 and rightly8against <iolent intimidationby acti<ists8 they are morelikely to shrug mildly atunderco<er reports of2eTceptional2 or2aberrational2beha<iour among

HLS staff8 including <ideos of them punching and kickinganimals for amusement8 and falsifying test reports. Nor are theyimpressed with references to animal testing2s long list of heroicfailures8 including thalidomide and8 more recently8 seroTat. Howmany more disasters would we ha<e had without animal testing8they ask8 knowing there is no answer. 4000 drugs are undergoinganimal testing in Britain today8 of which only ten percent willcome to market8 but scientists who point to this as a sign of theimportance of testing do not concern themsel<es with the fact thatmany of these drugs are not new treatments but re<erse-engineered old drugs designed to get round product patents.

So what would a socialist society2s attitude to animal testingben In a word8 pragmatic. Without being bogged down withimponderable Buestions of natural animal 2rights28 socialist sciencewould (if it decided to do so at all) conduct animal research onlyunder conditions of strict and peer-assessed necessity8 and withattendant informed public debate8 two key factors notable for theirgeneral absence today. Much of the pharmaceutical industrywould be obsolete or transformed anyway if one can assume8 aftercapitalism8 a dramatic fall in heart disease and obesity8 twowealth-related conditions for which the present drug market isprincipally geared8 and an e<en more dramatic fall in po<erty andstress-related diseaseswhich presently do note<en merit scientificattention. While 2product2safety would beparamount8 and mightconcei<ably reBuire someanimal testing8 therewould be no need toduplicate the testing fortwenty differentcompeting brands8 ashappens now. Nor8 in theabsence of pri<ateownership ofinformation8 would producers deliberately a<oid established andtested products because of licence restrictions8 or because8 in thepublic domain8 they were unpatentable and therefore could ne<eryield a profit.

Socialists are not unduly sentimental about animals8 andconsider that a human2s first loyalty should be their own species.Ne<ertheless8 the degree to which human society is 2ci<ilised2 canreasonably be gauged by its treatment of animals and the naturalworld as well as by its treatment of humans8 and socialism8 in itsabolition of all aspects of the appalling sa<agery of capitalism8will undoubtedly do its part to abolish all unnecessary sufferingby non-human sentient creatures.

`ore on S-UemocracyIn case regular readers suspect Pathfinders of a too uncriticalenthusiasm where new communications technology is concerned,

here is an example where our enthusiasm is somewhatmore muted. With e-democracy pro_ects blossomingeverywhere, the interactive approach to government isdeveloping beyond merely doing your tax returns. Nowthe Scottish Parliament is running an e-petitioningsystem, where citi[ens can raise issues and complaintsonline, the progress of the petition then being fed backto the petitions website for public monitoring KBBCOnline Technology, Sept 19L.

The idea came from Professor Ann McIntosh, ofNapier 8niversity, who set the system up with thehelp of BT and has been running it for a year. aWe

wanted to show that technology can do alot more than _ust support e-voting. It canactually allow participation in decisionmaking,a she says, enthusiastically.Socialists would agree, with one simpleproviso: that comms technology be firstemployed in abolishing capitalism. ThenweUd see some real public participation indecision making. As it is, electronicpetitioning is likely to be treated the sameway as paper petitions, except now it canbe ignored - electronically.

Science,socialismand theanimalcuestion

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

Self-UeterminationDear Editors8The last two decades ha<e witnessed anincreasing number of anti-capitalist8 anti-globalisation mo<ements seeking a <oicethrough protest and opposition to thedamaging practices of trans-nationalcorporations and the World Bank8 IMF andWTO. The probability is that the <astmaMority of these indi<iduals ha<e ne<erstudied economics or politics and don2tunderstand much of the workings of currenteconomic policies8 but they certainly do seeand feel the results and negati<e effects ofthese policies and they ha<e a feel for whatis unMust. They share a common desire for abetter world8 a fairer world. They may notha<e identified clearly or eTplicitly what itis they want in this other8 better world8 butthey ha<e undoubtedly recognised much ofwhat they don2t want. Their protests andtheir slogans are demands to be heardA theseare ways of eTpressing anger8 frustrationand disagreement with the status Buo.

Around the world such groups are<oicing many different grie<ances frommany different angles. Boli<ians grabbingtheir water rights back from Bechtel8 whoare now suing the Boli<ian go<ernment forcompensation for what they would ha<eearned in the future. Hundreds of thousandsof Indians being forced off their fertileproducti<e farmland in fa<our of huge damswhich promise fat profits for fat cats.Millions of AIDs sufferers denied access tolife-gi<ing treatments for lack of cash.Empathisers in the minority worldprotesting against the methods and results ofworldwide capitalist business.

So many different reasons from somany different perspecti<esA different stagesof anger8 depri<ation8 disenfranchisement. Itwould be unrealistic to make broadgeneralisations about the myriad indi<idualgoals but it2s certainly possible to gather theseparate bits and pieces together and <iewthem as discrete perspecti<es withcon<erging aims. All these fingers may notbe poised o<er eTactly the right button butat least they are scrabbling in the right area.Surely8 better something rather than sittingin a darkened room absorbing more mind-numbing images from another e<ening2sbombardment courtesy of the capitalistmedian

It2s about choices. People2s first choiceshould be socialism. It seems such a smallstep from the eTamples gi<en here8 but ahuge paradigm shift. For people focused onlife2s necessities - enough food for thefamily e<eryday8 somewhere safe to sleep8healthcare and childcare for increasingnumbers of chronically ill8 a Mob this month8neTt year that will pay the bills - it2s hard tofocus on the light at the end when the tunnelis long and dark. So8 as socialists8 how dowe address this last little push8 this yawninggapn Let2s not criticise those who ha<en2tfigured it out yet. Let2s harness theirstrengths and energies. We need first to getpeople to see the light8 recognize it for whatit is and then to keep focused on heading forit through the long dark tunnel ofcapitalism8 in growing numbers8 withgrowing strength in the knowledge thatthere is a better world8 a fairer world8 asocialist world.

JANET SURMAN8 Turkey.

`arx in Srror?Dear Editors8I note that you8 in the September issue8fa<ourably Buote part of MarT2s siTth Thesison Ludwig Feuerbach:

;Feuerbach resol<es the essence ofreligion into the essence of man. But theessence of man is no abstraction inherent ineach single indi<idual. In its reality it is theensemble of the social relations;.

I would like to point out that MarTwas in error on this point8 and that in factFeuerbach did not abstract from socialrelations. Here is the man himself:

;The natural <iewpoint of man8 the<iewpoint of the distinction between I andthou8 subMect and obMect8 is the true andabsolute <iewpointA conseBuently8 it is alsothe <iewpoint of philosophy. The singleman for himself possesses the essence ofman neither in himself as a moral being norin himself as a thinking being. The essenceof man is contained only in the communityand unity of man with manA it is a unity8howe<er8 which rests only on the reality ofthe distinction between I and thou. Solitudeis finiteness and limitationA community isfreedom and infinity. Man for himself isman (in the ordinary sense)A man with man -the unity of I and thou - is God; (Principlesof the Philosophy of the Future (1844)8 p70-71)

A bit fluffy and abstract perhaps8 but itis clear8 Must as it is clear in his Essence ofChristianity8 that his analysis was basedupon social relations.

R. CUMMING (by email)

What d`arxist Terroristsd?Below is a letter sent to ColombianAmbassador to Britain.

Mr Ambassador8Following on the return to Ireland of thethree Irish republicans con<icted of assistingthe FARC nationalist mo<ement inColombia8 your Vice President8 MrFrancisco Santos8 is reported in the Britishand Irish media as saying that the men inBuestion were training 2MarTist terrorists2.

If Mr Santos has some authoritati<eknowledge of Karl MarT and his politicaland economic philosophy that knowledgewould necessarily ha<e come from theabundant and easily-a<ailable writings ofMarT or his friend and co-worker8 FrederickEngels.

The Socialist Party of Great Britainsince its establishment in 1904 has becomethe repository of genuine MarTist thought inthis country and bases its political practiceon the basic tenets of MarTism. We affirmthat MarT2s <ision of socialism - orcommunism8 for he used the termsinterchangeably - was a wageless8 classless8moneyless and stateless8 world wherein themachinery of production and the resourcesof nature would be owned in common byhumanity and wherein the state as anapparatus of go<ernment o<er people wouldgi<e way to a simple administration ofthings.

As MarT made clear8 the <ery natureof his conception of socialism precludedany form of minority <iolenceA socialismwould necessarily ha<e to be established bythe conscious8 democratic action of the

working class - the producers of all realwealth - and be maintained by the mostwide-ranging forms of participati<edemocracy.

If Mr Santos had applied himself to astudy of MarT2s writings he must surelyha<e noticed that8 rather than ad<ocatingterrorism8 MarT de<oted much of his timeand energy to repudiating the <iews of thosewho urged terrorism on the working class asa means of resol<ing any facet of itseTploitation.

In the present climate of fearengendered by the brutal sectional andconflicting interests of capitalism8 MrSantos2 statement is irresponsible in that iteTposes genuine MarTists to the threat of<iolence from many Buarters. Indeed8 onecan only wonder at the possible fate ofsomeone in Columbia thinking he or shehad a democratic right to ad<ocate theprinciples of MarTism.

Since we are not in a position tochallenge Mr Santos directly we would askyou as a matter of urgency for clarificationof his remarks specifically in relation to thesuggestion that MarTism is in any waycompatible with the idea of terrorism.

John Bissett8 General Secretary.

The following reply was received:

Dear Mr. Bissett8Thank you for your letter of 10 Augustregarding certain reported statements byColombian Vice President Mr. FranciscoSantos following the return to Ireland of thethree Irish republicans con<icted of assistingthe FARC in Colombia. Your letter has beenforwarded to the Vice President.

ALFONSO LoPEZ CABELLERO8 AMBASSADOR.

0ette&/

5

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/u0/

Uri<ing along the freeways abuttingon the Gulf of MeTico it comes asa shock to see so many signsannouncing that you are tra<elling

a designated e<acuation route. For this is apart of America which is well accustomedto the eTtremes of stormy weather. ButHurricane Katrina was something utterlyout of the ordinary. We are still digestingthe accounts of the horrors endured bypeople who were caught in the path of thehurricane and of their suffering since then.What li<es they had ha<e been wreckedAwhat possessions they relied on ha<edisappeared into the floods with thecorpses8 the rubbish and the sewageA whatthey saw as their future has been literallyblown away. So far there has been noreliable estimate of the loss of life: does itrun into hundreds8 thousands or tens ofthousandsn For those who worrythemsel<es about such issues there hasbeen no informed guess of how much thedisaster will cost the insurance companiesAMerrill Lynch8 who know a thing or twoabout pushing money around8 ha<e comeup with the figure of J22 billion. AndGeorge Bush8 who could once luTuriatebehind apparently unassailable rampartsof support8 has had to contemplate theerosion of his popularity.

In its destructi<e power and themisery it unleashed against the people ofthe Gulf States8 Katrina was eTtraordinary.But in some important respects it wascompletely normal and predictable. Tobegin with there was the stampede ofpoliticians - in particular George Bush - toa<oid any responsibility for thecatastrophe and for the official failure torush help to the <ictims. Apart from thedamage to roads8 buildings and the like8the hurricane2s breach of the le<eesprotecting New Orleans was crucial. Bushtold a TV reporter that ;I don2t thinkanyone anticipated the breach of thele<ees; but that was simply untrue.Business Week newspaper8 for eTample8thought differently: ;Engineers ha<eknown for years that New Orleans2s le<eescouldn2t withstand anything abo<e acategory 3 hurricane; (Katrina wascategory 5). In fact as recently as 1998 thecategory 2 hurricane George forced thewater le<els up to a foot below the top ofthe le<ees. In 2002 a local New Orleansnewspaper concluded from itsin<estigation that a maMor hurricane wouldde<astate the region.

`oneyAnticipation of the breach should ha<e ledto the le<ees being heightened andstrengthened8 sa<ing a lot of li<es andpre<enting untold misery for the people.But before Katrina arri<ed on the scenethe funding which could ha<e impro<edthe le<ees was cut by J71 millionA apre<ious Secretary of En<ironmentalguality in Louisiana was angry enoughabout this to forecast that ;a disastrousflood was ine<itable;. One localemergency management chief thought thatthe cuts were imposed because ;It appearsthat the money has been mo<ed in thepresident2s budget to handle homelandsecurity and the war in IraB and I supposethat2s the price we pay;. He might ha<eput it differently - for capitalism killing

Katrina -Not aust an Vll Wind

7!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

people is more affordable than protectingthem from harm.

So what of the people who li<ed inthe path of the storm8 of the wind and theflood and whose li<es were to be sodramatically affected by decisions onwhere money was to be spentn In the <astmaMority they were black and in the lowerreaches of po<erty. In New Orleans twothirds of the population wasAfrican/American8 with a Buarter of themofficially graded as li<ing in po<erty. Inthe Lower Ninth Ward of that city8 whichsuffered particularly badly in the flood890 percent were African/American withalmost a third of them classified as li<ingin po<erty. In a flash of candour whichmust ha<e caused acute anguish to herminders Barbara Bush8 the mother ofGeorge Bush and the wife of the formerpresident8 shared her thoughts about this:;So many of the people in the area here8you know8 were underpri<ileged anyway.So this pfleeing from the hurricane8 fromthe floods8 the fear8 the death8 then li<ingin the sBualor of emergencyaccommodationq is working well forthem;

GovertyTypically8 the people li<ing at or below thepo<erty line endure bad housing withoutproper plumbing8 hot and cold water8 ashower or a bath. It also means that8crucially in America 8 they could notafford a car or any other ready means ofcarrying out the official ad<ice to e<acuatethe area before Katrina arri<ed - and thatif they did manage to flee they would ha<eno access to ready places of refuge. Itseems ob<ious that such people shouldhelp themsel<es from damaged shops andstores8 putting sur<i<al before capitalism2sproperty laws. They would not ha<e beendeterred to be told that this was looting8 a<ery serious crimeA nor would they ha<ebeen impressed by Defence SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld2s apparent condoning ofthe same type of acti<ity8 when it suitedhim8 in the case of IraB: ;Freedom2suntidy8 and free people are free to makemistakes and commit crimes and do badthings;. Perhaps Katrina had informed thelooters that to be poor can be to suffer adesperately inadeBuate life style withmiserable prospects and that the pooreryou are the worse this is.

Katrina was a disaster of epic scalefor the poor of the Gulf States8 fleeing thewinds and the waters8 or cowering in somenoTious shelter. There was some bad newsalso for the other side of the class di<ide.The firm Deloitte8 who are called;consultants; (which does not mean theyare readily a<ailable to gi<e ad<ice toanyone trying to get by on Social Securityof any kind) calculated that the hurricanecould ha<e damaged parts of the Americaneconomy on a scale comparable to thee<ents of 9/11. One of the firm2sspokespersons warned about the effect onthe insurance industry8 on tourism8 leisure8hospitality and the stock market. In factthe stock markets in London and Americahardly fluttered. In any case any tremorswere o<erridden by the good news for thekind of people who may consult Deloitte.Arguing that the damage to oil rigs in theGulf of MeTico would cause a shortage8

the oil firms were Buick to raise theirprices. On the assumption that becausealmost a third of America2s coffee cropwould ha<e been stored in New Orleansthe price of coffee on the market soaredby 11 percent.

GrofitsThe construction industry - notably part ofthe Haliburton Group8 which was oncebossed by Vice President Dick Cheneyand which prospers so well out ofrepairing the damage the American forcesha<e done in IraB - was eagerly preparingbids to reconstruct the damaged cities ofthe Gulf. Shares in Haliburton did not fallbut went up by two percent. In Englandshares in Aggrreko8 who supply portablepower generators8 soared by 7.5 percentand shares in Wolesley8 which suppliesplumbing and heating8 were up by threepercent. One financial ad<iser8 after theobligatory acknowledgement that a lot ofpeople had suffered terribly in thehurricane8 had something of a song in hisheart :

;The impact of e<ents such asKatrina8 while de<astating for the peoplein<ol<ed8 tend to be Buite short-term andyou should be in<esting in America8 orany other region for that matter8 for thelong-term - at least fi<e years andprobably 10 or more. O<er that period8 canyou afford to be out of the world2s largesteconomy and stock market8 which hassome of the best companies in the Worldn;

And how is the reconstruction likelyto turn outn If the eTperience of theaftermath of the BoTing Day tsunami isany guide8 the face of places like NewOrleans will be changed for e<er as luTurytourism is foisted on the place8 lea<ingone or two small areas where a kind ofsanitised memory is allowed to sur<i<e.The chairman of the New OrleansBusiness Council ominously spoke of how;to use this catastrophe as a once-in-an-eon opportunity to change the dynamic; ofthe city. Well8 the people of New Orleansand of the rest of the world ha<e beenwarned.

SocialismKatrina was a disaster of epic proportionswhich no style of human organisation8e<en one based on communal ownershipand control of the means of life8 couldha<e a<erted or controlled. But such asociety would ha<e pre<ented a calamityon the scale of New Orleans. A classlesssociety8 organised on the basis of humaninterests8 would not ha<e misMudged thepower of Katrina8 nor compromised thesafety of its people in its path byundermining the strength of defencesbecause it was financially ad<isable to doso. It would not ha<e bungled anynecessary rescue and support ser<ices.And as an open and democratic society itwould not ha<e been plagued bypoliticians disguising their true failuresand impotence behind a screen of lies."RC

Aspects of the disaster,published by Vndymedia,Tnited States.

!The city has a 4bc illiteracy rate.

!New :rleans Police Department officers, who have been accused ofdrug running, corruption and theft,were dcaughtd on videotape looting aWal-Mart. The Ari[ona Republicreported that its local sheriffs awatchedNew :rleans police officers loadingtheir patrol cars with items taken fromvarious businesses, a couple ofpharmacies, a hardware store, anauto-parts store and a grocery store.a

!The Bush administration, in everyyear since Cbb1, has cut or refused tofund New :rleans flood control, andignored scientists warnings ofincreased hurricanes as a result ofglobal warming.

!There are many first-hand reports ofrelief organi[ations being refusedentry into the city. The Red Crossdofficial website explains aThe stateHomeland Security Department hadreRuested--and continues to reRuest--that the American Red Cross not comeback into New :rleans following thehurricane. :ur presence would keeppeople from evacuating andencourage others to come into thecity.a

!New :rleans is the only deepwaterport in the 8S served by six class-onerailroads. None of these were used totake people out of the city.

!Tons of food ready for delivery by airto refugees was halted because ofPresident Bushds visit to the city. aWehad arrangements to airlift food byhelicopter to these folks, and now thefood is sitting in trucks because theywondt let helicopters fly,a said Casey:dShea, 8.S. Rep. Charlie Melancondschief of staff. It was not reportedwhether the supplies ever actuallymade it to those who most needed it.

!Private military companies havebeen employed to guard the propertyof the cityds millionaires from looters.

!eAs we approached the bridge,armed Gretna sheriffs formed a lineacross the foot of the bridge. Beforewe were close enough to speak, theybegan firing their weapons over ourheads. We Ruestioned why wecouldndt cross the bridge. Theyresponded that the West Bank was notgoing to become New :rleans andthere would be no Superdomes in theirCity. These were code words for if youare poor and black, you are notcrossing the Mississippi River and youwere not getting out of New :rleans.f

httpeeneworleans.indymedia.org

8 !ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

The recently sickening ravages ofproperty and life wrought byHurricane Katrina have beenextensively covered by the media,

but with some rather glaring omissions.The first was that a society based on

the rights of property over life had a greatdeal to do with exacerbating an already

traumatic situation. What we witnessedthe most on television were pathetic yetstark scenes of poor people huddled in asports stadium, homes lost forever,awaiting supplies and aid that tookendless days to arrive. Duringthis time more people died, the illwere uncared for, and conditionsof existence plummeted tounsanitary levels oftenassociated with the shanty townsof South America or Turkishprisons, but not with the 8nitedStates of America. While thesealready traumatised people hadto endure an additional trauma ofabandonment and lack of thebasic wherewithal to survive,millions of homes and officesunused and awaiting buyers satempty around the country. Butthey were not available to the millionhomeless of New :rleans, whose lifesavings had been lost in homes renderedrubble, or who simply never had thesavings to invest in their own house.

Nobody on television asked the mostsalient Ruestion of all: ashould peoplestruck by terrible tragedy be victims ofcharity at all, or should they instead beautomatically entitled to societyds wealthsimply by demonstrating clear-cut needsfor homes, hygiene, food, clothes, andcomfort;a Society as presentlyconstituted is not geared toward thesatisfaction of our needs, but rather to thesale of commodities to yield profits, andsuch a society proved itself demonstrablyincapable of meeting needs of the direand desperate kinds that followed on theheels of Katrina. But hey, there arealready millions of homeless and poorpeople in the 8nited States who are notentitled to those vast numbers of emptyhomes awaiting purchase, so why shouldthese victims of extreme weather be anymore fortunate;

Had you or I decided to by-pass thesleeping government and simply pick up acouple of homeless individuals and dropthem off in another town, we would havehad to do so only by taking time off work.Most of us, as workers, havecommitments to our employers that maynot be so casually by-passed. And incapitalism, even relief efforts are sub_ectto the welfare agenciesd budgetaryconstraints. Nver heard of the tens of

millions of starving and ill children who dieeach and ever year around the world forwhom there is simply not enough moneyto go around; While relief for those left inNew :rleans was certainly offered by theRed Cross and eventually by the state,few asked whether it is sane or eveneffective to meet critical human needs

depending upon how much money orhow many volunteers may beassembled. What if those of youdonating a few dollars atsupermarkets for Katrina victimssimply dondt raise enough; Doesthat mean that the plight of thosestruck by disaster is entirely theresult of your personal failures, or ofa society in which wealth is producedonly to be sold, and not to meet ourneeds; We socialists think the latter.

Nobody on television askedwhether by rights the wealth ofsociety should not be automaticallydue to all individuals. Thus, themillion New :rleanians with homes

tragically destroyed suddenly enter intothat category of ahomeless,a those withoutthe monetary means to buy or rent.Nobody on the idiot box asked the mostobvious Ruestion: awhy shouldndt homes

be available to anybody whoneeds them;a

A further Ruestion neverraised in recent televisioncoverage was about theseverity of the storm itself.Many scientists around theworld are now convinced thatthe ecological devastationwrought by modern societyhas played its part in alteringglobal weather patterns, evenwhile conservative politiciansand owners of pollutingindustry deny suchhypotheses and try hard to

keep them from being discussed in themedia. Tropical forests are vanishing atthe rate of city si[es per day, ice is meltingat the polar caps, storms are increasingand worsening, temperatures are rising,o[one levels are diminishing. huite a fewscientists have made calculations that if

present levels of ecological destructioncontinue unabated for the next ten, twentyor thirty years, then catastrophicalterations in weather will no longer beavoidable, even if pollution were stoppedafter such a date. While it is difficult to becertain if the damage to the planet causedby capitalist production has beenresponsible for recent changes for theworse in weather, one thing is clear - suchdire warnings from the scientificcommunity are not going to be takenseriously. This leaves us rightlyconcerned whether we are heading intoan era in which such similarly devastatingphenomena as Hurricane Katrina will notbe exceptions, but the rule. What are youall going to do about it; When willciti[ens take control, and stop leavingcritical decision making to leaders of allparties led by the supremacy of corporateinterests. What are you personally goingto do to render this planet a _oy to share,to create a society for you and yourchildren that meets our needs;

The World Socialist Party of the8nited States is a companion party of theWorld Socialist Movement. It aims tobring about a nonviolent revolution in theownership of the means of productionfrom private or state to common. In sucha society, money will no longer benecessary, as the things and services wereRuire to live fully Kfood, clothes, medicalservices, homes, transportation, and othermodern human needsL will be freelyavailable to all. This is because themeans of production will be owned incommon by the entire community, and willbe democratically controlled by thatcommunity as well, a society in whichleaders are replaced by truly democraticdecision making of all citi[ens.

In a society of common ownership,all war in such a nationless world will beimmediately abolished, while the end ofstarvation and dire poverty will Ruicklyfollow suit. Without the barriers ofeconomic cost holding back humanprogress, more ecologically sustainableways to provide energy and production forourselves will be immediately planned andcreated on a global basis. We willbecome for the first time in history a trulyhuman family looking after itself. "Ur. Who KWorld Socialist Party of 8SL

Colour coding - blacks ‘loot’ while whites ‘find’, apparently, in the New Orleans disaster

Bush leads the rescue effort

Hey Dad,flounder!

Don’t youalways?

,societyproved itself

demonstrablyincapable of

meetingneeds thatfollowed onthe heels of

Katrina?

Katrina: the poor suffer more

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 9

Understandably Allied ser<icemenin<ol<ed in the Pacific war8 many ofwhom eTperienced the unspeakablehorrors of Japanese prisoner of war

camps8 welcomed the atomic bombs as a;miracle of deli<erance;. With a few notableeTceptions8 e<en those historians whoconclude that dropping the bombs was notnecessary to obtain Allied <ictory - that itwould not e<en ha<e been necessary to in<aderrJapan - generally accept that using the bombsprobably shortened the war. E<en if only by afew weeks. In the grim reality of war8 the lifeof a single comrade sa<ed is worth a thousandenemy slain.

But what would such men think if theyknew that8 far from shortening the war8 theatomic bombs actually prolonged itn That forall the crocodile tears shed about the ;terribleplight; of the capti<esA for all hollow praiseheaped upon the ;heroic sacrifices; of thearmed forces they were8 after all8 merelyeTpendable pawns in the unrelenting hostilitiesof power politicsn That ;bringing our boysback as soon as possible;8 was not actually thefirst order of businessnUid the TS want Bussian intervention?

By the time the atom bombs weredropped8 Allied <ictory through o<erwhelmingmilitary superiority was <irtually assured.Also8 at Potsdam in July 19458 Stalin hadconfirmed his intention to enter the war on 15August. As President Truman8 writing in hispri<ate Mournal8 noted at the time: ;Fini Japswhen that comes about;. In fact Russiadeclared war on Japan on 8 August and thefollowing day - Must hours later in Far Easttime - Russian troops attacked in Manchuriaand Korea. The rapidity with which theypenetrated against the cream of the Japanesearmy is con<incing e<idence for manycommentators that Japanese surrender wouldha<e swiftly followed. Surely such apotentially decisi<e inter<ention would ha<ebeen welcomed by those pledged to ;bringingour boys back as soon as possible;n Surelye<ery effort would ha<e been made toencourage the speediest possible participationof the Russian military as a matter of utmosturgencyn Not som

The attitude of the US policy makersregarding Russian inter<ention8 e<en thoughinitially positi<e8 was ne<er entirely free fromfear-fuelled ambi<alence. And8 correspondingwith increasingly encouraging reports from theManhattan proMect8 that attitude e<entuallyhardened to become acti<ely negati<e. Well-founded mutual suspicion go<erned e<erymo<eA trickery and deception concerning theirrespecti<e intentions was eTtensi<elyemployed by both sides. And8 once again8American Secretary of State8 James F. Byrnes8unashamedly declared his hand. He thoughtthat it would be ;regrettable; if Russia became

in<ol<ed in the war. He was desperatelyworried that if Stalin knew about the awesomepower of the atomic bomb (he did) he might;immediately enter the war;. So Byrnessought to delay Russian entry. That hisattempts were unsuccessful is largelyirrele<ant and hardly the point8 which is thatthe US leaders did not want Russianinter<ention. Firstly8 because they were intenton using their atomic bombs before the war inthe Pacific ended and8 secondly8 they werereluctant to share their prospecti<e economicand political influence in the Far East withanyone else8 friend or foe.

Although Stalin had no Bualms aboutrescinding the Neutrality Pact with Japan8 thelikelihood of Russia entering the Pacific Warany earlier than it did8 e<en had it been urgedto do so by America8 was eTtremely remote.Yet there were two other a<enues throughwhich the US administration8 had it had theslightest inclination to pursue them8 couldalmost certainly ha<e succeeded in shorteningthe conflict. Instead8 to ser<e their ownagenda8 they approached these a<enues withsufficient circumspection to frustrate e<eryo<ertureA each manoeu<re calculated toobstruct the least chance of any kind ofrapprochement.Was aapan really suing for peace?

The e<idence that it was iso<erwhelming. Astonishingly8 Japanesediplomats initiated peace feelers as early aslate summer 1944. They continued to do so -through Sweden8 Switzerland8 Russia and e<enthe Vatican. Particular efforts were made <iaMoscow in the (mistaken) belief that theNeutrality Pact that eTisted between Japan andRussia made it the most <iable channel.Despite the fact that Stalin had pre<iouslydeclined to renew the pact8 Japanese fearswere somewhat mollified (but by no means

Buelled) by his assurance that it wouldcontinue to inform his decisions until itseTpiry in April 1946. But by the end of 1943he had already made known to Allied leadershis intention to enter the war against Japan andsigned an agreement confirming it8 at Yalta inFebruary 1945.

On the day following the collapse ofOkinawa (21 June 1945)8 Emperor Hirohitotold the Supreme Council for the Direction ofWar to re<erse their ;Basic Policy;8 urgingthem to seek peace by diplomatic means: ;Youwill consider the Buestion of ending the war assoon as possible;. It was the specific missionof the new cabinet of Prime Minister8 BaronKantaro Suzuki (appointed 7 April 1945)8 toseek peace. But neither the US nor Russiawere interested in Japan2s efforts for peaceA the

US wanted to wait until it could drop the atombombs and Russia until it was ready to declarewar. Not one of the messages imparted toMoscow by the Japanese ambassador waspassed on to America. This made littledifference8 howe<er8 since all Japanese codes -diplomatic (;Magic;) and operational (;ultra;)had long been broken. An eTtract from;Magic; Ns 1205 (13 July 1945) deciphering acable from Foreign Minister Togo toAmbassador Sato reads: ;His MaMesty theEmperor8 mindful of the fact that the presentwar daily brings greater e<il and sacrificeupon the peoples of all belligerent powers8desires from his heart that it may be Buicklyterminated;. The same transcript further states:;It is the Emperor2s pri<ate intention to sendPrince Konoye to Moscow as a Special En<oy. . .; And so he did8 but Moscow would notrecei<e him. Later President Truman;thanked; Marshal Stalin.

Stephen Harper8 in his book Miracle ofDeli<erance8 subtitled 2The Case for theBombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki;8 write8with commendable honesty: ;Ways could ha<ebeen found to eTplore the Japanese peacemo<es had there been any desire to do so8 butit seems clear that the doctrine ofunconditional surrender . . . had becomecompulsi<e thinking - an Allied blindspot;.Was it unconditional surrender?

On 21 July an ultimatum - the PotsdamDeclaration - was gi<en to the Japanesego<ernment. It was issued on behalf of thePresident of theUnited States8 thePresident ofNationalist Chinaand the PrimeMinister of GreatBritainA but notRussia. Its languagewas uncompromisingas these eTtractsshow:

;Following areour terms. We willnot de<iate fromthem. There are noalternati<es. We shallbrook no delay.

;There must beeliminated for alltime the authorityand influence ofthose who ha<edecei<ed and misledthe people of Japaninto embarking on world conBuest . . . We callupon the go<ernment of Japan to proclaim theunconditional surrender of all Japanese armedforces . . .;

Despite the inclusion of phrases such as: ;We do not intend that the Japanese shall beensla<ed . . .;8 ;Freedom of speech8 of religionand of thought . . .;8 ;. . . fundamental humanrights shall be established; - the single non-negotiable concession8 repeatedly demandedby Japan8 was noticeably absent: a guaranteeof the Emperor2s position. A crucial paragraphoffering Must such a guarantee was deleted bythe US Secretary of State James F. Byrnes.ConseBuently8 the Declaration was deemedunacceptable by Japan - Must as the US hopedit would be.

Much discussion has ensued concerningthe nature of the Japanese response. Someanalysts consider it to be an outright reMectionAothers no more than a pause for breath.Confusion was sown by the use of theJapanese term ;mokusatsu;8 which can mean:;take no notice of;A ;treat with silent

Why they dropped the bombsRichard Headicarconcludes his analysisof the reasons why theUS dropped atomicbombs on the Japanesecities of Hiroshimaand Nagasaki inAugust 1945.

Hirohito, June 1945- "You will considerthe question ofending the war assoon as possible".

Suspicion, trickery and deception -the Potsdam conference, July 1945

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00//10

contempt; or (most probably) ;withholdcomment;. Some writers ha<e emphasised theMingoistic and defiant statements trumpeted inthe Japanese media8 but these were ob<iouslyface-sa<ing propaganda eTercises designed toboost national morale. Other compellinge<idence makes it abundantly clear that8 so faras Japan was concerned8 negotiations were still<ery much ongoing. And that the US wasaware of it.

;Magic; intercept Ns 1218 (26 July1945) re<ealed the teTt of another messagesent from Foreign Minister Togo toAmbassador Sato. This was a reaction to abroadcast made to the Japanese on 21 July8 onbehalf of the US. The broadcast was made byCaptain (later Rear Admiral) Ellis M.Zacharias8 later to write an article for Lookmagazine (6 June 1950) entitled ;How WeBungled the Japanese Surrender;. Part of the;Magic; summary stated: ;It is impossible forus to accept unconditional surrender8 no matterin what guise8 but . . . there is no obMection tothe restoration of peace on the basis of theAtlantic Charter;. But once again Byrnesinter<ened and claimed that it was best torefrain from designating the broadcast as;official;.

That the issue of ;unconditionalsurrender; was the primary stumbling block tothe achie<ement of a peace settlement hadbeen recognised long before. A JointIntelligence Committee in March 1940commented: ;The cruT of the politicalsituation will lie in the all-important status ofthe Japanese Emperor;. After the war waso<er8 both Secretary of War Stimson and thePresident recorded their conclusions.;pHqistory might find that the United States8 byits delay in stating its position pon thesurrender termsq had prolonged the war; wroteStimson in his memoirs. Or as Trumansuccinctly remarked during the compiling ofhis: ;It was because of the unconditionalsurrender policy against Japan that Hiroshimaand Nagasaki were wiped out;.

Two days after the Potsdam Declaration8Prince Konoye was still making frantic effortsto make contact with Russian diplomats8contradicting the generally accepted notionthat the Declaration had been dismissed out ofhand by Japan. In any e<ent8 the decision todrop the bomb had already been taken: finally

confirmed on the same day asthe Declaration.

On 10 August8 the morning after thesecond bomb was dropped8 an offer ofsurrender from Japan was recei<ed inWashington. Once more it stipulated that anyagreement should ; . . . not compromise anydemand which preMudiced the prerogati<es ofHis MaMesty as a So<ereign Ruler;. Stimsonfa<oured its acceptanceA Secretary of the Na<yJames Forrestal suggested a compromiseAByrnes opposed it. For once8 Byrnes had togi<e way but8 ne<ertheless8 he was the onewho drafted the reply8 the key phrase of whichpermitted that <ital Japanese pro<iso: ;Fromthe moment of surrender the authority of theEmperor and the Japanese Go<ernment to rulethe state shall be subMect to the SupremeCommander of the Allied Powers;. It wasenough. The bombs8 apparently8 had notpersuaded Japan to drop its pro<iso concerningthe Emperor.

Byrnes2s reluctance to bend8 e<en at thisMuncture8 is hard to fathom precisely. What isseldom mentioned in popular accounts of thebombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki8howe<er8 is that a third bomb would ha<e beendeli<ered and ready to drop by 17 August1945.Why were the bombs dropped?

A compleT labyrinth of reasons laybehind the decision to drop the atomic bombs.Once the <astly eTpensi<e machinery ofproduction had commenced8 and the originalpurpose of its instigation forgotten8 sufficientresol<e not to use it ceased to eTist. Theastronomical in<estment of public fundsneeded to be MustifiedA the widespread publicantipathy of the American population towardsthe Japanese following the Pearl Harbourattack8 demanded re<enge - a mood of whichthe American leadership was acutely aware.As Secretary for War Stimson subseBuentlyobser<ed: ;No man8 in our position and subMectto our responsibilities8 holding in his hands aweapon of such possibilities could ha<e failedto use it and afterwards look his countrymen inthe face;.

A number of 2re<isionist2 historiansconfidently assert that the primary moti<e wasto gain diplomatic ad<antage: a powerfulpolitical le<er allowing the US to dominatefuture negotiations with the So<iet Union.They make a powerful case and undoubtedlythis was a maMor consideration in theformulation of atomic policy. But this couldha<e been accomplished with Must a single

bomb and8 surely8 not necessarily on a hea<ily-populated city.

The fact that two bombs were dropped8howe<er - without warning - on specificallytargeted and crowded locations which had

been spared aerial bombardmentA the fact thateach bomb had different technology (oneuranium-eTplosionA one plutonium-implosion)8each with different yields8 dropped at differentheights but both resulting in prolonged anddeadly after-effects of which little wasunderstood8 suggests the conclusion that theprimary moti<es might ha<e been the seldommentioned (almost unmentionable) one of;scientific; eTperimentation. A conclusion thatseems to be confirmed by the grimrecommendations of both the Interim andTarget committees detailed in the first part ofthis article (last month).

The terrible war in the Pacific8 incommon with all wars between capitaliststates8 had its origins in the protection andeTpansion of economic interests. There seemsto be no limit to the degradation and crueltyutilised to protect those interests. Anyone<isiting the Hiroshima museum would be ableto <iew the leaflets that were dropped warningof an atomic attack. In an act of macabrecynicism that almost defies belief8 thoseleaflets were not dropped until 9 August -three days after the bombing. Things impro<edfor Nagasaki - they were only one day late. "RICHARD HEADICAR

A list of the sources of the Buotes in thisarticle or further information on particularpoints can be obtained on reBuest to: SocialistStandard8 52 Clapham High St8 London SW47UN.

ThemarketfailsagainWithin a monthof the Liveiconcerts that

were supposed to influence theleaders of world capitalism to dosomething about poverty inAfrica, the charities had to gettheir begging bowls out again.This time for a famine in Niger,an ex-French colony to thenorth of Nigeria with apopulation of over 11.6 million.

In :ctober last yearvarious international agenciesincluding the 8Nds Food andAgriculture :rganisationsignalled that, due to a badharvest and an invasion oflocusts, cereal production inNiger in Cbb4-B was likely to beI.B percent below normal. Inaccordance with the law ofsupply and demand the price ofmillet, the main cereal grown

and consumed in Niger, beganto rise, with the result that thefarmers whose crop had failedwere unable to afford to buyenough food for their families.Malnutrition, especially amongstchildren, grew.

The government reactedby bringing in a scheme to sellmillet at a reduced price, butalthough this was below themarket price it was still twotimes higher than the price thefarmers had received for theirCbb3-4 crop.

Dr Isabelle Defourny, ofMldicins Sans Frontimres, takesup the story:

aIn early June, Nigerdsprime minister acknowledgedthat the governmentds responsewas ineffective when he notedthat hundreds of thousands ofthe 3.B million peoplethreatened by the food shortagewere too poor to be able topurchase cereal, even at a lowprice. Those most severelyaffected by the food crisis havethe least resources, includingfarmers whose harvests werepoor and cattle producers and

craftsmen. Many had alreadyexhausted their resources,selling goods and animals tofeed themselves.a KMessages,MSF newsletter, July-August,www.msf.frMdocumentsMbaseMCbbB-bI-b1-Messages13IQA.pdf L

MSF urged that afree fooddistribution is the only way tokeep the situation fromworsening and to prevent largenumbers of deathsa, a perfectlyreasonable proposal if we wereliving in a society geared toserving human needs andwelfare. But wedre not. Theauthorities took a different view,for reasons explained by socialresearcher, Jean-HervlJe[eRuel, in an interview in thesame issue of Messages:

a . . . in early June, at ameeting of the JointCommission for Consultation,the decision-making body of thedaction pland which includesrepresentatives of the state andof institutional donors, thegovernment of Niger declaredthat despite the seriousness ofthe food crisis, it would not setup free distribution operations.

The only political reaction fromthe institutional donors camefrom the ambassador of France,who was glad there was adpolicy that will not destabili[ethe marketsd. The ambience wasalmost surreal: ignoring theemergency food situation,economic considerations were,without hesitation, given priorityover the fate of endangeredpeople.a

The French newspaperLibération reported that somecereal merchants had held backstocks to drive up prices furtherand that others had adisposedof their stocks in neighbouringNigeria where the populationhas a higher purchasing poweraK9 AugustL.

So, yet again, as in everyafood crisisa since the GreatStarvation in Ireland in the1i4bs, the workings ofcapitalism have produced theobscene spectacle of the exportof food from an area wherepeople are starving because,not having money, they dondtconstitute a market and so dondtcount.

-ooking the Books f1g

Russian columns enter Changchun,capital of Manchuria, 1945

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 11

When a 2land forsale by auction2n o t i c eappeared at the

end of a cul-de-sac inBillericay8 EsseT8 thereaction was swift and wellorganised. A lettereTpressing concern that theland might be bought andoccupied by members of thetra<elling community with adetrimental effect on the<alue of their properties wasimmediately prepared bytwo residents and deli<eredto 180 houses in the <icinity.Within days a meeting washeld and a limited companyset up with some 45neighbours contributing tothe e<entual purchase priceof t758000. The landpurchased is part of a 2field28thickly o<ergrown mainlywith hawthorns8 most ofwhich is owned by aproperty company in the anticipation that itsgreen-belt status will some time be changed.

Whether or not the fears of residentsin this instance were well founded8 the nearimpossibility of finding legal stoppingplaces means that Gypsies and Tra<ellersha<e been forced into confrontationalsituations with local authorities andwith members of the settledcommunity in the areas where theyare encamped.

It is estimated that in Englandthere are between 48000 and 58000<ans and from 168000 to 208000Tra<ellers and Gypsies either intransit or without a legal place tostay (Environmental HealthJournal8 April 20058 online). Theshortage of sites means thatTra<ellers are forced to mo<e on8to the detriment of their health andtheir children2s education. It alsomeans that many more than wereintended are stopping on legalsites. This for eTample is thesituation at Crays Hill in Basildon8also in EsseT8 where there aresome 30 legal plots on a site butmore than siTty are occupiedillegally. Similar situations can befound in <arious parts of thecountry.

The plight of Gypsies andTra<ellers is not a popular cause.In 1973 Jeremy Sandford wrote inhis book Gypsies of the situationfor Gypsies who had always been<ulnerable to attack from thosewho ;perhaps from en<y of theirfree and easy ways; want to dri<ethem from ;our hedgerows8commons and public places; butwere now faced with legislationwhich effecti<ely outlawed theirway of life. He also stated in hisconclusion that at the present rateof progress ;it may well be into the2000s2 before there was a place on a site fore<ery British gypsy;. Howe<er far fromthere being progress the situation hasbecome much worse.

The 1960 Cara<an Sites and Controlof De<elopment Act had ;forced families tomo<e off agricultural land onto lay-bys andcar parks.; A go<ernment sur<ey re<ealed

the eTtent of tra<eller po<erty: more thantwo thirds were li<ing on sites withoutaccess to running water or rubbish disposal(Helen O2Nions8 The Marginalisation ofGypsies8 1995). The 1968 Cara<an SitesAct had the prime purpose of remedyingthis situation. Local Authorities weremandated to pro<ide ;adeBuate

accommodation for Gypsies residing in orresorting to their area;. Howe<er8 the sitesthat were pro<ided by councils were notnecessarily to the liking of Gypsies in thatthey made insufficient allowance for theirlifestyle. For eTample the collecting ofscrap metal and keeping of animals couldbe forbidden8 and there would not be roomfor the gathering together of eTtended

family groups. Councils hadadditional powers to remo<eGypsies not on designatedsites. The Act did not workas intended8 not leastbecause councils foundways around the duty topro<ide sites. By the timethe Conser<ati<ego<ernment remo<ed thestatutory obligations in 1994one third of Tra<ellers hadno legal place to stay.During the Thatcher erathousands of traditionalstopping places disappeared.

In what is seen as anattempt to make Gypsiesabandon the nomadic wayof life the Criminal Justiceand Public Order Act 1994ended the duty for localauthorities to pro<ide sitesand remo<ed go<ernmentfunding for them. It alsobecame a criminal offencefor cara<ans to stop on the

highway8 unoccupied land8 common land orland without consent. Gypsies wereencouraged to buy land and de<elop theirown sites8 but because of the restricti<ecriteria set by councils some 80 per cent ofthese applications are turned down. This iswhy some ha<e resorted to buying and

mo<ing on to land before seekingplanning permission. The positionwhereby green-belt land could beconsidered for Gypsy sites (;arecognition of the difficulty offinding suitable sites in suburbia;)was ended on the grounds that;Gypsies enMoy a pri<ilegedposition in the planning system;.Ironically councils were gi<enencouragement to allow buildingand de<elopment on green-beltsites.

The Labour go<ernment hasresumed the funding of sites andhas increased the amount it intendsto spend on them. Howe<er it hasnot put the responsibilities ofcouncils back to the pre-1994position. The Housing Act 2004placed a duty on local authorities toinclude Gypsies and Tra<ellers intheir local housing assessments and;demonstrate how these needs willbe met;8 with the Secretary of Stateha<ing powers to direct a localauthority to produce a plan.Brentwood is the first council to bechallenged in this way. If the Officeof the Deputy Prime Minister issuccessful in getting Brentwood tocomply it will encourage othercouncils ;to get on with the Mob;.Many councils do not needencouragementA the En<ironmentalHealth Journal cites the eTample of

Norfolk8 whose Tra<eller LiaisonGroup has already produced aTra<eller protocol and has fi<eauthorised sites and is planning a

transit site.Basildon council has 106 authorised

sites but still does not ha<e enough placesfor all of the Tra<ellers who wish to stop inthe district. Wakefield claims to ha<e one ofthe largest authorised Tra<eller sites in thecountry and is the first council to announceplans to apply Anti-Social Beha<iour

AreHypsies

theproblem?

Scenes from a caravan and gypsy effigy burning, Firle, Sussex,Oct 2003. The police dropped all charges against the 12villagers responsible.

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00//12

Orders toparticular illegalencampments. ThesereBuire a lowerstandard of proofthan normal courtproceedings but theGypsy Council isad<ising Gypsies tochallenge the ordersthrough the courts.

In someinstances localpeople protestingabout illegal tra<ellersites are alsosympathetic to theplight of Gypsies andTra<ellersA for eTample8 the CottenhamResidents2 Association and the Gypsy andTra<eller Law Reform Coalition forwardeda Moint statement to the Go<ernmentpointing out that the pro<ision of adeBuatesites by all local authorities would addressthe acute shortage of sites and also bring anend to illegal and unauthorisedencampments.

Whilst emphasis is put on theproblems caused by illegal sites and theeTcess numbers who are stopping onauthorised sites8 the widespread perceptionis of Gypsies and Tra<ellers as people wholi<e outside of the constraints which thesettled community are bound by8 who donot contribute in work or taTes but commitcrime8 spoil the en<ironment with theirrubbish and generally cause trouble by their<ery presence in an area.

Gypsies and Tra<ellers are much likeother peopleA most of them do work8 thoughnot necessarily in full-time wage labour8 andthey do pay taTes. A study for the Rowntree

Foundation among New Age tra<ellersfound that nearly half of those sur<eyedwere in work and many more had worked atsome time during the year. Most of theaccusations regarding criminal beha<iourare unsubstantiated but as in the rest ofsociety some commit crimes. Ironicallymany thousands of GorMios (non-Gypsies)choose to take cara<an and campingholidays8 and cook meals in their gardensAsome dump their old sofas and other rubbishin country lanes.

Gypsies ha<e maintained their identitythrough many centuries of preMudice anddiscrimination. They may choose to callthemsel<es Tra<ellers but not all Tra<ellersare Gypsies and not all Gypsies are of asingle group. Changes in their lifestyleha<e ine<itably been made. The mostob<ious being the disappearance of horse-drawn cara<ans which had earlier replacedbender tents. We ha<e shown some of thethings which ha<e made the itinerant life

more difficulto<er recentyears includinglegalrestrictions8 thedisappearance oftraditionalstopping sites(some afterhundreds ofyears in use)8constantly beingmo<ed on.Other factors arethe reduction incasual farmwork8 andrestrictions

imposed on scrap metal dealing.I li<e in that cul-de-sac in Billericay

but as a Socialist did not take part in theanti-Tra<eller action of the others. Thatwould be to target a group of fellow

workers for problems caused by capitalism.Could the reasonable enough demands ofthe Tra<ellers be met within capitalismnPossibly. It may be that local authoritieswill be persuaded to fulfil their obligationsbut8 since they are faced with competingdemands on their finances8 probably at theeTpense of other local ser<ices. But whatwill ne<er be able to be ended undercapitalism is the competition betweenworkers for Mobs8 housing and amenitiesarising out of the artificial scarcity that isbuilt-in to it and which gi<es rise to andsustains di<isi<e preMudices amongst thosewho are not socialists. It was preciselybecause there are so many problems whichcannot be sol<ed within the capitalistsystem that I became a Socialist. "PAT DEUTZ

Reudal relicIn July the House of Commons PublicAccounts Committee issued a report onthe finances of the Duchy of Cornwallwhich, since feudal times, has provided aprivate income for the heir to the throne.A reminder that the aroyal familya notonly supply heads of state for 8KCapitalism Inc but are also aristocrats intheir own right, with their own landedestates.The thrust of the committeeds report -dominated as the committee is by NewLabour MPs who favour a amodernisedacapitalism - was that Prince Charles wasnot running the Duchy as a propercapitalist enterprise. But the Duchy is alanded estate rather than a capitalistcorporation. The aim is still of course toend up with a surplus, but Charlesdincome comes mainly from the rents paidto his estate by tenant farmers and,increasingly it seems, commercial firmsfor the use of the land he has inheritedfrom previous heirs to the throne.According to the report, the Duchydsassets at the end of Cbb4 were valued atn4Ci million, most of it land.Nngland was the classic country of alandowning class of this type, and Marxdsmid-19th century analysis of theoperation of capitalism which then stillhad a large agricultural sector, like that ofAdam Smith and David Ricardo beforehim, was based on a three class system:a landowning class renting out its land tocapitalist tenant farmers who employwage workers. These latter producesurplus value which is then sharedbetween the capitalist employer as profitand the landowner as rent.Ground-rent is a pure monopoly incomewhich accrues to people who, foraccidental historical reasons, happen tobe owners of a portion of the globeowhich allows them to say, even tocapitalists, ayou candt use my land foryour farm or your factory or whateverunless you hand over to me a share ofthe proceedsa. So landowners areparasites on parasites. In the 19thcentury this was a big issue withcapitalist politicians continually raisingthe aland Ruestiona, but it eventuallyended in compromise and intermarriagebetween members of the two classes.We can now talk of an essentially twoclass system - capitalists and workers -even though ground-rent remains money

for nothing.Actually, Charles isalso a bit of acapitalist in his ownright. He marketsorganic food underthe label aDuchy:riginalsa but which,according to theTimes KCC JulyL, amade a profit of n1million on a turnover of n4b million, whichmost commercial enterprises wouldregard as an inefficient returna. But then,if youdve got an income from your privateestate of n11.9 million in the tax yearCbb3-4 KCommittee ReportL you dondthave to be so ruthless in your pursuit ofany commercial profit as you would be ifthis was your only source of income.But the New Labour MPs are right. If allcapitalist firms took the same aristocraticattitude to profit-making as Charles, thenBritish capitalism would be in trouble onworld markets. The typical capitalist firmhas to try to maximise its profits, not _ustto please its shareholders, but to keep ina fit state to continue to compete byhaving funds to invest in means toreduce its costs.In the 1i6bs when Marx was writingCapital the typical capitalist was still anindividual owner who ran his ownbusiness or a partnership of suchowners, though this was beginning tochange with the coming of the limitedliability company. Marx described theindividual capitalist as acapital personifiedand endowed with consciousness and awilla KQolume I, chapter 4L. Thus, theindividual capitalistds greed was not apersonal failing but a reflection of the factthat he personified capitalds need toexpand continuously.Limited companies Kwhich Marx diddiscuss in Qolume III of CapitalL are nowthe dominant form and maximising profitsis no longer a mere personal motivationoit is a legal obligation on those who runcompanies. The same applies to pensionfunds and other so-called ainstitutionalinvestorsao the managers and trustees ofsuch funds are under a legal obligation tomaximise the fundds income or face abreach of trust charge. Which makesthem as ruthless profit-seekers as anycapitalist corporation or 19th centuryGradgrind.Prince Charles is _ust not in this league,but then heds more of a personification oflanded property.

-ooking the Books f)g

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 13

Ror those gi<en to circular reasoning8the announcement on 12 Septemberthis year of a deal for a redundancypackage for sacked Gate Gourmet

airline catering workers will be seen as yetanother eTample of trade union officialsselling out or e<en deliberately sabotagingthe struggles of the working class. The caseseems harsh and clear. On 10 August GateGourmet8 which pro<ides airborne cateringto British Airways passengers8 sacked 667workers - infamously8 now - by megaphone.The employees had stopped work and hadgathered in the canteen to discussde<elopments in ongoing redundancynegotiations - chiefly the management2sdecision to take on 130 new temporaryworkers. This was clearly a pro<ocati<emo<e to try and undermine the eTistingstaff2s position. The staff were told to returnimmediately to work8 and they refused.

There is clear e<idence of deliberatepro<ocation - security guards were on handto control the situationA eTtra staff werebussed in immediately to replace the sackedworkersA the following working day8 all staffrecei<ed dismissal letters8 e<en those whohad been off sick the pre<ious day. The firme<en went as far as to inform othercompanies they work with of the dispute inad<ance.

Clearly8 management had chosen thebest time to orchestrate this attack: theheight of the holiday season8 with theguarantee of headlines about holiday chaosand passenger misery from the uniformlyloyal lickspittles in the capitalist press. Thisstrategy was gi<en a fillip when BritishAirways baggage handlers heard about thisruthless beha<iour8 and walked out to helpdefend people they work with daily8 who aremoreo<er in many cases their friends andneighbours. A wildcat solidarity strike. Thisspread the disruption and guaranteed morepassenger misery8 chaos and gangrene - orwhate<er other unpleasantness tabloids areattributing to strikes today.

The strike lasted for two days8grounding hundreds of flights. E<entually8the baggage handlers returned to work8 andunion officials from the Transport andGeneral Workers Union began negotiationso<er the status of the sacked workers.Although for legal reasons the union hadbeen unable to support the either the wildcator the solidarity strike they did established apicket of the company2s headBuarters tocontinue their campaign.

E<en this was too much for GateGourmet8 and ha<ing successfully called outtheir allies in the press to their cause8 they

then sent in their reser<es from the state.The High Court was asked to rule the picketunlawful - to protect those staff who wantedto continue working (as their de<otedemployers had it) from being intimidated bythe people who had been sacked bymegaphone and escorted from the groundsby gentle flower scented security guards. Ashining display of concern for their staff.

Although the court ruled that thepicket was 2lawful peaceful assembly2picketers were forbidden from blocking theroute into work8 taking photos of staff ore<en trying to talk to them8 at all. Further8the T&G union was made responsible forthe conduct of the picket - a mo<e thatdirectly threatened the assets of the unionshould any infractions of the courtsinMunction occur.

The role of the law has beensignificant in this case. Much of the pressmade hay from the 2illegal secondaryindustrial action2. This is not strictly correct8secondary action - where workers for oneemployer strike in support of workers for

another - is merely unlawful8 not illegal (i.e.it is not protected by law8 as striking is8 butis not itself pre<ented by law). This merelymeans that unions who engage in thepractice are liable for ci<il proceedings fromemployers for claims of restraint of trade. Itwas protection from such litigation - in theaftermath of the precedent of the famousTaff Vale case of 1901 - that spurred thegrowth of the Labour Party and the unions2interest in it.

Calling the action illegal8 though8 hasa significant symbolic and ideological rolein gi<ing the impression - to a generallylaw-abiding populace - that striking iscriminal and by eTtension wicked. A greatmany comment pages on the internet werefilled with people complaining aboutsecondary action (note8 not solidarityaction) and bemoaning the return to the1970s.

This dispute is being used by unionleaders to renew calls for changes toindustrial relations law in the UK8 citing itas a hard case that Mustifies modification of

those laws. At last month2s TUC conferencethe call went up that at least workers infirms with contracted out ser<ices - likeBA2s catering - should be allowed to engagein solidarity action. This is incrediblyunlikely8 since the go<ernment is desperatenot to look e<en remotely like it supportstrade unions and seems8 in fact8 to be proudof the restricti<e industrial relations law inthe UK.

It is also unlikely8 because such acourse would utterly undermine the wholepoint of contracting out - especially in itPublic Finance Initiate (PFI) form ofcontracting out state ser<ices. Outsourcingand contracting-out pre<iously in-houseser<ices is meant to change the legalstanding of union members so that they areofficially working for different companiese<en if they work together to pro<ide aser<ice. It is classic di<ide and rule.

The downside of this tack8 though8appears to ha<e surfaced in the GateGourmet dispute. It turns out that thecatering firm (or at least the Gate Gourmetpart of a bigger holding company) is losingsomething like t25 million a year. Thesestrikes ha<e come when Gate Gourmet hasbeen in the middle of trying to renegotiatetheir contract with BA. The seeminglypro<oked strike8 then8 works ad<antageouslyfor them8 because it means they can use thedisruption from their cost cutting eTercise todamage BA2s ser<ice and business. In effect8it seems they ha<e taken industrial action torenegotiate their contractual terms.Contracting out means handing o<er controlof labour management to outsidecompanies8 and opens up a firm - seemingly- to damaging industrial disputes not of theirmaking but in which they are snared.

All that aside8 the workers ha<epro<en8 yet again8 that anti-union laws donot stop them taking action. It is8 andalways has been8 the determination andconsciousness of workers that guides theirdisputes. No law could stop people refusingto work. As in most of the recent unofficialaction - other baggage handlers8 Royal Mailstrikes8 etc. - management will not try andpursue the matter afterwards anyway - thedamaging repercussions to their ownbusiness usually outweigh the benefits ofhounding strikers or bringing legal action.That is why Gate Gourmet pre-emptedtrouble by its union busting attack.

It is negotiating from a position of itsbottom line - making losses. It wants toshed around 700 Mobs. The deal struck withthe Union allows 300 of the workers -pre<iously classed as sacked - to apply for

Hate Hourmet -Another Tnion Sell-Out?

Left: workers during the recentGate Gourmet strike. Above:catering staff in happier times

,the workers haveproven, yet again,that anti-union lawsdo not stop themtaking action?

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00//14

redundancy at 2.5 times the statutory le<el.In such a situation where sa<ing Mobs isclearly going to be impossible8 pushing upthe market price of cutting Mobs is a rationalcourse for the trade union. Howe<er8 onlyhalf the sacked strikers are likely to get thatmoney8 as Gate Gourmet wants to try andensure that its union-busting sticks. Theunion continues to campaign to ha<e theremainder reinstated8 but this appearsunlikely.

The employees were hardly li<ing inthe lap of luTury to begin with - cateringassistants were pulling in something liket128000 per annum and dri<ers aroundt168000 - this in the London area with highhousing and general li<ing costs.Management e<en tried to get staff to comeback to work signing a new contract ondrastically reduced wages and conditions.When it came to the bottom line8 theyclearly felt they could ask their workers tostoop lower.

It is pointless to criticise unions fornot immediately launching a re<olutionaryinsurrection to protect Mobs - they are toolsfor the workers to engage in the labour

market8 not re<olutionary organisations.Their memberships are of many differentpolitical persuasions8 workers bandedtogether for the purpose of protecting theirinterests. If they ha<e to adapt theiroutcomes to market realities that is the faultof the market8 not the union. Wishing that

union bureaucrats would be replaced withmore radical leaders is no way forwardAthey8 too8 would only ha<e to abide by thewillingness to fight of their membership andthe lie of the labour market8 Must as thehacks do now.

It is not necessarily personal malice onthe part of employers that fuels industrialdisputes. Both sides are actors on a stage setto determine their actions. The law of 2noprofit no employment2 means that thesesorts of disputes will always occur. Theremorseless impersonal logic of the labourmarket will ensure that. Workers need tounderstand that no amount of unionsecondary action - legal or otherwise - canbanish this menace from their li<es.

To end the e<il of the wages systemwill take a re<olution8 though - and it2s notgoing to be started by a spark from a smallindustrial dispute. The re<olution needs tobe built in the hearts and minds of workerswho can defeat both the force and ideologyof the dominant class to remake society.Unions cannot make re<olutions8 only theworking class themsel<es can. Throughclear8 determined political action8 we canclear the way so that no-one need e<er gothrough struggles like the Gate Gourmetworkers again."PIK SMEET

Vam a difficult person to pleasewhen it comes to weather.Ha<ing li<ed all my life inBritain8 I find the climate too

cold in the winter and too hot in thesummer. Imagine my dismay then8when8 among the dross and thedri<el that passes for tele<ision inthis country8 a recent edition of theBBC Horizon programme forecastthat within twenty years8 Britain2sclimate could be similar toAlaska2s8 with 1963-type winterse<ery year8 pack ice around theBritish coast and ice stormsregularly bringing down electricityand telephone lines. The effects ofglobal warming are melting theGreenland icecap8 and increasedrainfall is pouring more water intothe great ri<ers of Siberia8 whichdrain huge areas of Asia and flownorthwards into the Arctic Ocean.

The effect of all this eTtrafresh water at high northernlatitudes is to interfere with thecirculation of the Gulf Stream8 orthe 2Con<eyor2 as it is now known.The Con<eyor pre<ents Britain8which is in the same latitude asLabrador8 ha<ing a harsh Labradortype climate. Warm water from theGulf of MeTico crosses theAtlantic8 and after warming upBritain and Ireland8 continuesnorthwards and ensures thatNorway2s ports are ice free. Thecontrast with Sweden could not bestarker. Sweden eTports much ofits iron ore through Norwegianports8 because Swedish ports ha<ea tendency to ice up in the winter8as the Baltic does not get thebenefit of the Gulf Stream.

The circulation of theCon<eyor is dependent on thewater maintaining its salinity.Fresh water does not con<ey theheat as efficiently. Obser<ationsoff the Faeroe Islands ha<e

re<ealed that the cold waterreturning southwards on its wayback to the Caribbean is 20 percentless saline than it should be. Basedon these obser<ations8climatologists are forecasting thatsometime in the neTt twenty years8the Gulf Stream could shut off.The results would be catastrophicfor the whole of North WesternEurope. And this is not merely ascientific theory. The FaeroeIslands studies demonstrate thatthe process could well ha<ealready started.

Nobody can be 100 percentcertain that the phenomenon ofglobal warming is due to humanacti<ity. What can be said withcertainty is that if it is a naturalprocess which would ha<eoccurred anyway8 capitalism2sindifference to the future of theplanet is eTacerbating a problemwhich has the potential to end lifeon Earth. Earth Summit after EarthSummit ha<e achie<ed little ornothing. While capitalism fiddles8Rome burnsA huge holes m theozone layer8 the retreat of theglaciers and rising sea le<els areproblems that are beyond theability of capitalism to sol<e8 withits concern for profits8 and itscompeting network of two hundredmini-capitalisms8 the nation states.

We may be facing a starkchoice: a socialist worldcommunity or no world at all. Ithas long been the <iew of theSocialist Party that capitalism willnot collapse of its own accordA itwill ha<e to be abolished. So the<ictory of the case for socialismdepends on a change of climate inpolitical thinking. It would be aswell8 in terms of our own future8that this should be the only seriousclimatic change we ha<e to face."GREENIE

Vt hit the country like abomb. It was uneTpected8unusual and more socoming from what is

considered as less endowedmembers of the community.27 people had died afterconsuming illicit brew8brewed8 distributed andconsumed in the fullknowledge of theadministration and otherleaders. Yes. Just like that.The distributor of the brew8Beatrice Ku<ia8 was arrestedand charged with selling beerwithout a <alid licence. Butnot with the deaths of 27souls.

The beer was brewedand laced with chemicals notfor the good of the consumersbut for profit. And that2swhere the whole story lies.

The <ehicle carryingthe otherwise referred to asillicit drink passed through 8police roadblocks and 10senior police officers hadtheir palms greased to allowthe safe passage to the drinkto its consumers. Thepro<incial administrationknew the woman distributorhad been in the business foras long as the eTistence of theworld. She had been taken tocourt on numerous occasionsbut in all these had been letoff the hook by being finedand8 ha<ing the money8 wasable to pay. At other times8she was released to docommunal work. So theMudiciary is culpable. Whoknows8 maybe the Mudgeswere corrupted.

This inhumanbeha<iour is pre<alent notonly in Machakos where theincident occurred but otherparts of Kenya as well. It hasbeen happening becausethere has been no political orotherwise will to stamp outthe beha<iour. People areready to be bribed to dothings they2d normally notha<e done. Poor Kenyans areready to partake any brewMust by looking at the pricetag. The said brews cost 10shillings per 300ml bottle.

But in a capitalist worldsuch things are bound tooccur. What is paramount isthe money coming out ofsuch transactions8 but not themorality of the trade. Andunless we come to our sensesand know what is the realcause of incidents such as theabo<e8 we2ll continue to die8be depri<ed of our rights andremain docile in socialsituations.

It2s time socialism triedto rear its head and darecapitalism and capitalists."PATRICK NDEGE,Nairobi, Kenya

While -apitalism Riddles Yuman Welfare No,Grofits ^es

Feeling desperate?

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 15

"Socialism and Islam are very close, otherthan on the existence of God" (GeorgeGalloway8 Sunday Times8 14 August).

We2<e heard of Jesus the Socialist.Now it2s Mohammed theSocialist. What neTtn As the MPfor Bethnal Green8 elected by

Muslim <otes and with the help of theSWP8 Galloway would say this. E<en so8 itis a curious statement for him8 as aCatholic who claims to be a socialist8 toha<e made8 acknowledging as it does thatsocialists don2t accept ;the eTistence ofGod;.

Since8 like all religions8 islam laysdown precepts for organising life on Earthas well as on what to do to get to hea<en(and a<oid hell)8 is there any basis forGalloway2s claim that islam is <ery close tosocialism if its religious side iso<erlookedn

The French historian and orientalist8MaTime Rodinson8 who died last year andwho adopted a generally MarTist-materialist approach (e<en though8 likeGalloway8 entertaining some illusionsabout Russia)8 certainly didn2t think so. Inhis Islam and Capitalism (1966) (written to

refute the <iew that islam was animpediment to the economic de<elopmentof Muslim countries)8 he wrote:

;Economic acti<ity8 the search forprofit8 trade8 and8 conseBuently8 productionfor the market8 are looked upon with noless fa<our by Muslim tradition than by theKoran itself; (p. 16).

;pTqhe Mustice ad<ocated by theideology of the Koran is not that whichsocialist thought has established as theideal of a large section of modern society.Muhammad was not a socialist; (p. 23).

;The alleged fundamental oppositionof Islam to capitalism is a myth8 whetherthis <iew be put forward with goodintentions or bad; (p. 155).

;pTqhe notion that it is possible to usethe traditional concept of property found inthe Sunnah8 and the relati<e restrictions itimposes8 in order to ad<ocate and promotea mo<e by Muslim societies towardssocialist structures . . . is utterly fantastic;(p. 175).

In a pre<ious book (1961)8Mohammed8 Rodinson had pro<ided amaterialist eTplanation of the origins ofislam. In Mohammed2s time (he was bornabout 571 of the present era and died in632)8 the Arabian peninsula was8 we cansee now8 in a process of transition fromtribal society8 which was breaking down8 toa state8 for which Mohammed was to beinstrumental in laying the foundations.

As Rodinson described it:;A mercantile economy was growing

up in the chinks of the nomadic world. Aswell as barter8 money transactions usingdinars (gold derniers) and dirhams (sil<erdrachmae) were becoming commonplace.The Bedouin borrowed from the richmerchants of the towns8 got into debt andwere sold into sla<ery or at any ratereduced to dependent status. Thedisintegration of tribal society had begun.Large and prosperous markets grew up8like the one at Ukaz8 attracting foreignersas well as Arabs from e<ery tribe. Thetribal limits had been o<erstepped;.

Mohammed himself8 although from amodest background8 had become one of thewealthy merchants that had emerged8 buthe realised that something needed to bedone to keep Arab society from completelydisintegrating under the impact of theunbridled spread of money-commodityrelations. His solution was to create a newArab community welded together by a newreligion that would regulate the emergingmoney/trading economy by imposing someobligations on the rich and some relief forthe poor.

Of course as a mystic8 Mohammedwas not as rationally calculating as this buteTpressed himself in religious terms. Thus8in the koran (which he belie<ed wasdictated to him by the archangel Gabriel8but which in fact8 whether he realised it ornot8 eTpressed his own thoughts)8 thegreedy and selfish rich are denounced (it isAllah8 the Zeus of the pre-islam Arabianpantheon who Mohammed makes dismisshis fellow gods as fakes8 who ispurportedly speaking):

;Whoso is mean and bumptious on

account of his wealth8Who denies the most eTcellent reward8We shall smooth his way to ultimate misery.His fortune shall not profit him whenhe falls into the abyss;(Koran Tcii8 8-11)

Rodinson describes some of theregulations that Mohammed brought inwhen in 6278 after slaughtering thepre<ious rulers8 he became the ruler ofMedina:

;There are a number of articles layingdown fairly strict rules about inheritances.This was apparently necessary in theunsettled situation which resulted from thedisintegration of the tribal structure. Thestronger must ha<e found it easier to layhands on the family or tribal possessions ofthe weaker. The rule of the Koranguaranteed e<eryone his share8 which wasworked out in a somewhat complicatedfashion. Women were allowed a share inthe property. (This seems to ha<e been thecustom in Mecca8 although not inMedina.). Admittedly their share was onlyhalf that of the men . . . Sla<ery8 naturally8persisted. People were urged to treat sla<eswell and encourage them to gain theirfreedom.. . . Loans at interest or8 moreprobably8 some form of them8 wereforbidden. This prescription seems inpractice to ha<e been aimed chiefly atthose who8 in the early days of the mo<e toMedina8 refused to make loans to the needywithout interest . . . But there seems toha<e been no intention of prohibiting thenormal practices of Meccan trade.;

So what does Mohammed2s;socialism; amount ton Only certain rulesto pre<ent the eTcesses of the rich fromleading to the decomposition of society in7th century Arabia8 but which stillaccepted the basis of the money/tradingeconomy that had emerged and wasspreading. The economic precepts of thekoran laid down a framework for the lessdisrupti<e functioning of such an economy8placing some obligations on the rich tohelp the poor while still accepting thedi<ision of society into rich and poor.

No doubt it is these limits on theunbridled and selfish accumulation and useof wealth by pri<ate indi<iduals that isbehind Galloway2s claim that ;socialismand islam are <ery close;. But this re<ealsmore about his conception of ;socialism;than it does about islam. As a formerLabour MP8 he still thinks in terms ofsocialism being the control or regulation ofcapitalism in the interest of the non-rich.But that2s not socialism8 but reformism.Islam is no more incompatible with thisthan it is with capitalism. In fact8 it is <eryclose to it8 eTcept when the religiouselement which gi<es its clerics an unduesay is brought back. Socialism8 properlyunderstood as a non-monetary8 non-marketsociety based on the common ownershipand democratic control of the means ofproduction8 and islam ha<e nothing incommon."ADAM BUICK

Vslam and Socialism

The first commie? Mohammed. Being moved in mysterious ways: Galloway

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/16

Uave hirin: Whatis `y Name, Rool?Sports and Besistance in the TnitedStates. Yaymarket Books, TSj1+.00.

What a refreshingchange to read abook about sportthat isn2t a <apid(auto)biography ofsome 2star2 or aM i n g o i s t i ccelebration of thetriumph of somenational teammZirin accepts thatsport can be used tostop workers fromworrying about

things that really matter8 but also sees howthe passion in<ested in sport can turn it into asite of resistance8 an arena where some of thedominant ideas of society can be challenged.While this is something of an eTaggeration8his book is still well worth a read.

Zirin traces <arious kinds of resistancewithin American sports8 concentrating tobegin with on opposition to racism.Professional baseball was segregated fordecadesA not until 19468 when JackieRobinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers8did a black American play in a MaMor Leagueteam. Robinson was subMected to horrendousbarracking and threats from opposing playersand fans8 but his ability e<entually got himaccepted. His criticism of Paul Robeson andhis support for the Republican Party showhim as a compleT indi<idual who was seenby many later black radicals as a 2white man2sNegro28 but Zirin argues that Robinson2scontribution to opposing racism should berespected.

Of course8 integrating baseball did notput an end to racism. While still known asCassius Clay8 Muhammad Ali went into aKentucky restaurant with his 1960 OlympicboTing gold medal around his neck and wasrefused ser<ice. Zirin eTamines Ali2s career8from re<iled and persecuted athlete to hiscurrent status as 2a harmless8 helpful icon2.The book2s title comes from what Ali yelledat eT-champion Floyd Patterson8 who foughthim as a 2patriotic duty2 (Patterson was aCatholic in contrast to Ali as a BlackMuslim). He was drafted into the army8 andhis response was 2I ain2t got no Buarrel withthem Vietcong28 at a time when there waslittle opposition to the US war in Vietnam.As with Robinson8 Ali became a 2safe28almost establishment figure8 but his earlierlegacy is the one that many remember.

If Ali2s remark about the Vietcong isfamous8 probably the best-known image ofthis period is from the 1968 Olympics8 whenmedal-winners Tommie Smith and JohnCarlos bowed their heads and raised theirfists on the rostrum when the US anthem wasplayed. As Zirin notes8 they also wore noshoes (to protest against black po<erty) andwore beads (to protest against lynching).They were stripped of their medals and senthome. Zirin inter<iews Carlos8 who for someyears had problems earning a li<ing (his wifecommitted suicide in 1977).

Clearly it took some courage for theseindi<iduals (and many others less wellknown) to stand up for their beliefs8especially in the face of the general

conformity of American society. The samegoes for those who support better treatmentfor gay and female athletes. Zirin reminds usthat people can be bigoted in one way but notanother: American footballer Reggie Whitespoke up against white supremacist groupsand worked to help drug addicts and eT-con<icts8 yet he was appallinglyhomophobic8 eBuating gays with childmolesters.

And what of classn This gets relati<elylittle look-in. Unsurprisingly8 most owners ofprofessional clubs are eTtremely wealthy8including George W Bush8 former owner ofthe TeTas Rangers baseball team.Professional sport is the tenth largestindustry in the US. Aside from a fewmegabuck-earners8 most athletes earnrelati<ely little8 and ha<e a shorter lifeeTpectancy than a<erage. Baseball playersha<e a strong union8 which helped toincrease wages and has a reputation for notbacking down.

Zirin ends with the reflection that sportcould be more cooperati<e8 without the cashincenti<e and the will to win at all costs8 withfar less distance between an a<erage personand a star. But8 as he says8 2This wouldreBuire a completely different world.2 Whilehis book doesn2t elaborate on this alternati<e8it should at least make you think a bit moreabout the role of sport under capitalism.PB

Yoward hinn: A Geopleis Yistory of theTnited States. Yarper -ollins. j1M.9+

O r i g i n a l l ypublished in1980 andr e c e n t l yupdated8 this isthe history youdon2t learn inschools. Zinn8 ah i s t o r i a n 8playwright andsocial acti<ist8set out to writethis book aftert e a c h i n g

history and2 p o l i t i c a l

science2 for 20 years8 half of which time hewas in<ol<ed in the ci<il rights mo<ement inthe South.

Zinn chronicles the passage of timefrom the arri<al of Columbus in 1492 up toand including the election of 20008cramming each of the 25 chapters withindisputable e<idence of man2s inhumanity toman under capitalism and empire building.He spells out clearly how cle<erly andcraftily the ruling elite managed andmanipulated their way to accumulating <astfortunes at the eTpense of the masses8 be theyindigenous Caribbean or North AmericanIndians8 black sla<es or the mulange ofEuropean immigrants who became today2smostly white populace.

He eTposes the lies and spin and self-interest from the time of the first presidentright through to the current incumbent. Heshows how fear8 suspicion anddiscrimination were deliberately harnessedas tools by those with power to set sectionsof the population against each other in orderto pre-empt them Moining forces against thereal tyrants. The steady march of capitalism

and the two-party system8 whilst promotingdemocracy and wealth for all8 ha<e their eyesset only on the twin goals of control at homeand control of the world8 i.e. democracy fornone and wealth for a few.

This book is in no way pessimisticA it isfactual and points out numerous eTamples ofindi<iduals and groups who ha<e refused tobe denied. Zinn cites heartening stories ofresistance8 protest and refusal to accept thestatus BuoA so many instances where peopleha<e demonstrated their opposition to thepolitics of empire and their support of;people power;. In fact there is much useful2ammunition2 for proacti<e socialists here.

His final sentence of the final chapter8post-9/11. attacks8 regarding the Declarationof Independence says8 ;Thus8 the future ofdemocracy depended on the people and theirgrowing consciousness of what was thedecent way to relate to their fellow humanbeings all o<er the world.;

The signs are growing all o<er theworld8 the people are sick and tired of allforms of empire8 the world is ripening forsocialism. Let2s be ready.Janet Surman

`arx on Hlobalisation. Sdited by UavidBenton. Wawrence and Wishart. C1L.99.

This is a selectionfrom the writings ofMarT and Engelsrele<ant to theglobal capitalismwe are eTperiencingtoday8 edited andselected by Da<eRenton8 whopro<ides a shortintroduction to thewhole work ando n e - p a g eintroductions to

each of the sections. Renton doesn2t reallyput any of his own (Leninist) politics in hiscontributions to the book8 which are kept to aminimum. The <ast bulk is taken up withselections from works by MarT and Engels.There are eTtracts from the CommunistManifesto8 The Economic and PhilosophicalManuscripts of 18448 The Poverty ofPhilosophy and Capital8 as well as a fewletters8 unpublished drafts and pieces ofMournalism.

For the first section8 on the worldeconomy8 Renton uses the 2Bourgeois andProletarians2 chapter of the CommunistManifesto. That MarT understood the long-term trends within capitalism to be global innature can be illustrated by this well knowneTcerpt: ;All fiTed8 fast-frozen relations8with their train of ancient and <enerablepreMudices and opinions8 are swept away8 allnew-formed ones become antiBuated beforethey ossify. All that is solid melts into air8 allthat is holy is profaned . . . the need of aconstantly eTpanding market for its productschases the bourgeoisie o<er the wholesurface of the globe. It must nestlee<erywhere8 settle e<erywhere8 establishconnections e<erywhere;. MarT and Engelswere the first writers to understand that thecapitalist society would spread and eTpand.

MarT and Engels didn2t use the word2globalisation28 as the term is a recentin<ention. Though many globalisation

Book 3e4ie5/

Zinn as a bombadier inWorld War II

!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/ 17

theorists argue that the world has nowentered into a new economic era8 Rentonpoints out that ;most commentators wouldagree that many of the processes beinganalysed today go back to the oldinternational economy8 which has been withus for some time. Such processes as worldcapitalism8 market trade between regions8the growth of finance and new patterns ofwork8 ha<e been part of our life since 1840s8when MarT and Engels began to write;.Despite changes and de<elopments8 from thenineteenth century to the 21st century8capitalism is still capitalism. In theintroduction Renton uses the followingBuote from Eric Hobsbawm: ;MarT andEngels did not describe the world as it hadalready been transformed by capitalism in1848A they predicted how it was logicallydestined to be transformed by it;.

The second section8 on progress8includes a passage from MarT2s Capital thatdescribes the origins of the industrialcapitalist. This is a good selection8 as this isthe part of this work that is the mostaccessible and in many ways the beststarting point for anyone reading Capital (ithas been said that it is best not to readCapital starting from the first chapter). Thissection also includes a speech by MarT from1848 in which he eTpresses contempt forboth backward-looking protectionism andsupposedly progressi<e free trade (e<enthough in the end he fa<ours free trade butonly because he sees it as hastening thecontradictions of capital and so the socialre<olution). Pro-globalisation folk praisefree trade and unfortunately many so-calledanti-capitalists make the error of ad<ocatingsome form of protectionism.

In the third section Renton askswhether MarT and Engels did actuallybelie<e in the ine<itability of one pattern ofeconomic de<elopment. In the 1840s theytook their eTamples from Britain and it isoften said that they belie<ed the whole worldwould ha<e follow that lead. But in a letter toRussian socialists MarT wrote that he did notbelie<e that Russia had to follow the Englishmodel in forcing the peasants off the land asthe first step towards industrialisation8 aslong as the social re<olution had taken placein Europe. In that case8 MarT mentioned thepossibility of Russia bypassing capitalismand passing to socialism on the basis of thecommunistic peasant mir.

The section on Imperialism countersthe argument of some modern globalisationtheorists who argue that world capitalismwill bring the third world up to the samele<el of de<elopment as the richest westerncountries.

Renton2s book is a good selection ofMarT and Engels work relating to the globalcapitalism of today and it ser<es well as anintroduction to their thought. It would makea good read for someone new to MarT.Gabriel

CorrectionIn the re<iew of the books on fascism onpage 15 of the August issue8 we stated thatMaTwell Knight later of MI5 had beendirector of intelligence of the ;British Unionof Fascists; in 1927. This should ha<e readof the ;British Fascists;. The BUF8 ofcourse8 did not eTist at that time - Editors.

-apitalism: No `agic Slipper

Make no mistake8 Cinderella Man is acrackerMack mo<ie which thoroughlyMustifies the praise la<ished on it. The truestory of Depression Era boTer James J.Braddock8 who rose from the welfare rollsto winning the World Hea<yweightChampionship8 thereby earning hisnickname8 ;Cinderella Man;8 is totallyabsorbing and powerfully directed by RonHoward.

Braddock2s story was representati<eof his time. The mo<ie begins in the late1920s8 when he li<ed in a nice suburbanhouse and was a leading contender for aworld title. It resumes when the Depressionwas at its worse in the early 30s andBraddock2s career was at its lowest ebb8hence his standard of li<ing too. As theDepression gradually recedes8 we followhis rise to a shot at the title (at odds of 10-1) and <ictory o<er the seeminglyunbeatable MaT Baer8 who was(dis)credited with two ring deaths.

Cinderella Man clearly depicts howtough times were in the early 30s8 whichdoesn2t mean it2s a happy-go-lucky romp inElysian Fields today. When Braddock2sdaughter asks for an eTtra slice of baloney8Braddock8 who hasn2t eaten that day8pretends he isn2t hungry. When a guy comesto their tenement apartment to switch offthe hydro8 Mae Braddock (who is unable topay the gas or milk bills either) attempts todissuade him. He tells her8 ;I2<e got kidstoo. If I don2t switch it off I2ll lose my Mob.;Mae and her three children tear the slats offa billboard8 for fuel8 risking trouble with theauthorities.

Though his pride has sustained somefierce body blows8 his spirit is unbroken.Braddock2s strength comes from hisclosely-knit family and the belief in hiscapabilities by Joe Gould8 who(unbeknownst to Braddock) sells his ownfurniture to pay Braddock2s trainingeTpenses.

As we follow Braddock2s new-foundsuccess it becomes clear this mo<ie is aboutthe indomitable human spirit. As RonHoward said recently8 ;It2s a film aboutpeople finding the strength to carry on anddo the things they ha<e to do.; Most of uslike to see the underdog triumph8 most of uslike to see a comeback8 and here we ha<eboth8 therefore8 we can enMoy this film.Although it2s perfectly OK to enMoy;Cinderella Man;8 it2s not OK to be taken inby it. Sure it2s a paean to the ne<er-say-die8gotta gi<e it my best shot feeling that eTistsin all of us. In that sense it2s uplifting and afilm in tune with the times we are li<ing in8let alone the 1930s.

But on a deeper le<el the message ofthe mo<ie is8 ;Hey8 take it easy buddy8capitalism ain2t so bad. Sure there are timeswhen it2s tough all o<er8 but if you hang intough and keep struggling like Jim and MaeBraddock did you2ll find things2ll work outMust fine.; This <iewpoint was echoed byRussell Crowe on the Da<id LettermanShow on June 8 and has become the mainmantra of the media.

On the docks8 Braddock befriends aneT-stockbroker who lost his Mob8 mortgageand belief in politicians the day the marketcrashed. When Braddock suggests things

might impro<e now Roose<elt is president8his friend replies8 ;FDR hasn2t got me mymortgage back.;

In implying that we shouldn2t trustpoliticians8 they are saying the right thingfor the wrong reason. Politicians of allkinds stand for a continuation of capitalism8a system that causes the conditions withinwhich the Braddock family8 like mostfamilies8 struggled.

The pity of it all is that Braddock8 likemost members of the working class8 didn2tlearn much8 but continued to belie<e societydidn2t need changing. In 19288 a year beforethe Wall Street Crash8 he lost J208000 whenthe Bank of the United States went belly-up. This was the year Herbert Hoo<er waselected president on the promise ofcontinued prosperity. According to Mr.Hoo<er8 ;We in America today are nearer tothe final triumph o<er po<erty than e<erbefore in the history of any land.;

Braddock8 who was paid J328000 forbeating MaT Baer8 e<entually gainedgreater prosperity by a deal that wasthoroughly in keeping with boTing2s8 hencecapitalism2s8 shoddy ethics. When Joe Louishad emerged as the outstanding challenger8Joe Gould informed him he could sign tenpercent of his earnings o<er the followingten years to Gould and Braddock8 should hewin8 or forget about a title fight. Knowinghe could be denied a title shot for yearsbecause he was black8 Louis signed.

Braddock died in his sleep onNo<ember 308 1974 at the age of 69. TheneTt day in the New York Times8 Red Smithwrote8 ;If death came easily8 it was the onlything in his life that did.;STEVE SHANNON

6i(7 3e4ie5

-e+(a&ation o8 9&in+i:(e/This declaration is the basis of ourorganisation and, because it isalso an important historicaldocument dating from theformation of the party in 1904, itsoriginal language has beenretained.

:b_ectThe establishment of a systemof society based upon thecommon ownership anddemocratic control of themeans and instruments forproducing and distributingwealth by and in the interest ofthe whole community.

Declaration of PrinciplesThe Socialist Garty of HreatBritain holds

1.That society as at presentconstituted is based upon theownership of the means of livingKi.e., land, factories, railways, etc.L

by the capitalist or master class,and the conseRuent enslavementof the working class, by whoselabour alone wealth is produced.

C.That in society, therefore, thereis an antagonism of interests,manifesting itself as a classstruggle between those whopossess but do not produce andthose who produce but do notpossess.

3.That this antagonism can beabolished only by theemancipation of the working classfrom the domination of the masterclass, by the conversion into thecommon property of society of themeans of production anddistribution, and their democraticcontrol by the whole people.

4.That as in the order of socialevolution the working class is thelast class to achieve its freedom,

the emancipation of the workingclass will involve the emancipationof all mankind, without distinctionof race or sex.

B.That this emancipation must bethe work of the working classitself.

6.That as the machinery ofgovernment, including the armedforces of the nation, exists only toconserve the monopoly by thecapitalist class of the wealth takenfrom the workers, the workingclass must organi[e consciouslyand politically for the conRuest ofthe powers of government,national and local, in order thatthis machinery, including theseforces, may be converted from aninstrument of oppression into theagent of emancipation and theoverthrow of privilege, aristocraticand plutocratic.

I.That as all political parties arebut the expression of classinterests, and as the interest ofthe working class is diametricallyopposed to the interests of allsections of the master class, theparty seeking working classemancipation must be hostile toevery other party.

i.The Socialist Party of GreatBritain, therefore, enters the fieldof political action determined towage war against all otherpolitical parties, whether allegedlabour or avowedly capitalist, andcalls upon the members of theworking class of this country tomuster under its banner to theend that a speedy terminationmay be wrought to the systemwhich deprives them of the fruitsof their labour, and that povertymay give place to comfort,privilege to eRuality, and slaveryto freedom.

18 !ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

4k GSB -SNTNo, this is not an article about the 4p percent. Bank Rate but about another itemof 4p per cent. that received almost noattention in the newspapers. It had to dowith the Governmentds annual Blue Bookon National Income and Expenditure, thelatest issue, covering the years 193i-19B4, being published the first week inSeptember.

For readers who are unfamiliar withthe sub_ect matter the Blue Book is noteasy to understando and when notunderstood its tables of figures can bevery misleading as is shown from time totime by Press comments on it. But some

of the tables tell us in precise terms andon official authority things that otherwisecan only be con_ectured on the basis ofpart information.

:ur present comment is concernedonly with the extent to which the aNationalIncomea has increased and the way inwhich that increase has shown itself inevery-day articles of consumption, thefood, clothing, entertainment, etc., thatconcern us from day to day. qrs

It shows that, after allowing for priceincrease, the purchase of consumptiongoods Kfood, clothing, tobacco, rent,entertainment, travel, etc.L, was in 19B4only 11 per cent. higher than in 193i. Butas the Financial Times K6 SeptemberLpointed out, the population had grown by

6p per cent., so that areal expenditureper head was 4p per cent up.a This,then, is the measure of what capitalismactually performs. When, therefore, theTory Government, as an electionmanoeuvre, held out the promise ofdoubling the standard of living in the nextCB years they are counting on somethinghappening in the future for which there isno support in the past.

KFrom editorial, Socialist Standard,:ctober 19BBL

6i8t; <ea&/ =>o

`anchester Branch`eeting Monday )4 October, i pm Hare and Hounds, Shudehill, CityCentre lS-VSN-S ANU SO-VAWVS`m

?eetin>/WV\VNHSTON B^-SWS-TVONThe Socialist Party stood a candidate in the Li<ingston by-election8 in central Scotland8 on29 September8 caused by the death of former ;ethical; Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. As ittook place while this issue was at the printers we are unable to report the result8 but detailsof the campaign as it progressed and its outcome can be found on the by-election blog athttp://realsocialism.blogspot.com

SdmontonTuesday 1M OctoberBTSSVA: AN ANAW SVS ORBS-SNT -YANHSSSpeaker: Qincent :tterAngel Community Centre, RaynhamRoad, N1i

9a&t; @e5/

A WALK IN RICHMONDRARK AND BY THE

RIVER THAMES.

Meet at Richmond Station.Sunday October 23rd 2005 at11.00 am. For information contact:Vincent Otter on 07905 791638 or020 8361 3017or Richard Botterill on 01582764929

NorwichSaturday + NovemberWelcome and informal chat for newvisitors.1pm: MealCpm: DiscussionMpossibility of formingan Nast Anglian branch3pm: Discussion of ADM items3.4B-4pm: Recent and future activityThe Conservatory, back room of TheRosary Tavern, Rosary Rd, Norwich

Uiscussions include:

!Delegated function within Party democracy

!Socialist analysis of terrorist bombing!Does the war in IraR change anything

in the Party case;!Implications for socialism of the end of

the oil era!The roots of irrational behaviour!Can we afford a paid media officer;!Should we establish a World Socialist

Party of the Nuropean 8nion;

ATTT`N USWSHATS `SSTVNHYead Office, Wondon SW4

Saturday )Mth and Sunday )9thOctober )00+

ADVANCE NOTICE: NEXT LONDONBRANCHES' CENTRAL MEETING

Saturday8 12 November8 13.30 to 17.00THE HUMAN REVOLUTIONGuest Speaker: Chris Knight (Professor ofAnthropology8 Uni<ersity of East London)Chair: Bill Martin (Socialist Party)Room 78 Friends House8 173 Euston Road8London NW1

19!ocialist Standard 'ctober -00/

Thug insuedeshoes

Anyone who feels a need to penetrate the Conser<ati<emind should steel themsel<es to read the letters page ofthe Daily Telegraph8 which is now in the throes of whatmight be called a debate about the respecti<e appeals of

the candidates for the party leadership. A most treasured recenteTample was a missi<e8 apparently intended to wind up thediscussion: ;My mother told me ne<er to trust a man who woresuede shoes. Does this ad<ice still hold goodn; It would not ha<eneeded a particularly sharp mind among the Tory acti<ists to workout that this referred to Kenneth Clarke8 who is infamous for8among other things (of which more later)8 wearing Hush Puppies inpreference to the politicians2 reBuired footwear of sober8 lace-upblack shoes. Asked about this highly sensiti<e matter some yearsago8 Clarke responded in characteristic style: ;The shoes are an actof defiance8 because people began to be rude about them and ifanything I began wearing suede shoes more often because I wasgetting ad<ised to stop wearing them;. He did not say whether hehad also recei<ed ad<ice to stop smoking large cigars and to dosomething about his rumpled clothes and his reputation8 which heassiduously culti<ates8 as an arrogant and insensiti<e political thug.Ri<als

Clarke was at Cambridge with a clutch of aspirant Torypoliticians who de<eloped into bitter ri<als - Selwyn Gummer8 LeonBrittan8 Norman Lamont (who Clarke replaced8 in the high spot ofhis career to date8 as Chancellor of the ETcheBuer) and MichaelHoward8 who now stands between Clarke and the Tory leadership.Before getting into Parliament for Rushcliffe8 Clarke fought twoelections in the hopeless constituency of Mansfield. In keeping withhis self-promoted image as someone whoenMoyed a fight8 after the first election hepromised the Mansfied Tories that hewould stay on to contest the seat again.The fact that he was more or less honourbound to do this did not pre<ent himcasting about for another8 safer seat. Hetried for Edgbaston but the local partypreferred Jill KnightA Clarke kept histwo-timing a secret and posed as a manwhose word was his bond.

When he got into the Commons hecommenced an unusually smooth Mourneyup the greasy pole8 through minor Mobs inthe 1980s in the Department of Health8Minister for Employment8 Secretary ofState for Health8 then for Education. Hewas promoted to Home Secretary in 1992and8 at his peak after the fall of NormanLamont8 Chancellor of the ETcheBuerfrom 1993 until the Tories were beaten inthe 1997 election. At that time the Britisheconomy was emerging from the slumpwhich had seen something like threemillion unemployed. Clarke2s coincidentperiod at the Treasury enabled him toclaim to ha<e designed the alleged economic reco<ery. This is acommon ruse among Chancellors of the ETcheBuer: in a boom theyclaim the credit for the easier times while in a slump they blamepressures which were out of their control.Bruiser

During all this time Clarke2s aggressi<e and dismissi<emanner ensured that the enemies a politician normally accrueswould in his case ha<e a particular edge to their enmity. While hewas at the Department of Health he riled the doctors with his plansto impose new contracts of employment on themA faced with theirresistance he described them as ;in the last resort a pretty ruthlesslobby;. In 1982 he dismissed the nurses2 obMections to NHS staffcuts with the sneer that ;They are a trade union and they don2t likethe idea of their membership going down at all; (which is trueabout the Conser<ati<es and any other capitalist party). Heinfuriated the ambulance crews (as well as substantial numbers ofthe <oters) with his response to their claim for a rise in eTcess ofthe 6.5 per cent on offer: ;The <ast maMority of ambulancestaffvare professional dri<ers8 a worthwhile Mob - but not

eTceptional at all; (so who would anyone knocked down on theroad prefer to see coming to help them - an ambulance crew orKenneth Clarken). This arrogance was too much for e<en thenormally supporti<e Daily ETpress: ;Whate<er happened to caringKenn Instead of the matey8 Molly fellow once known to colleaguesand public we now ha<e a truculent8 bad-tempered bully;. Thatcherwas no more help to her beleaguered ministerA at Prime Minister2sguestion Time she pointedly a<oided agreeing with Clarke aboutthe ambulance crews.

The teachers were another group to fall <ictim to Clarke2saggression. The changes in schooling introduced by Kenneth Bakerin 19988 which had resulted in schools being swamped withminutely detailed instructions on what they should teach8 how theyshould teach it and how they should report on it8 had pro<okedyears of hostility between them and the go<ernment. To call thesituation chaotic hardly did it Mustice. Clarke arri<ed at theDepartment of Education to restore some sort of order8 which hestarted to do in a manner customary to someone described byThatcher when she mo<ed him to Education8 as ;an energetic andpersuasi<e bruiser8 <ery useful in a brawl or an election;. ButClarke2s lack of finesse undid himA in a magazine inter<iew8subseBuently picked up by the Daily Mirror8 he said that pri<ateschools pro<ided a higher standard of education than state schools.Reminded of this comment in a Commons debate by Jack Straw8Clarke inter<ened with the opinion that the Mirror was anewspaper ;read by morons;. The Mirror2s response was immediateand crushing. ;That2s two fingers to 882308000 <oters8 Minister; itbellowed and the day after that it ran a telephone poll to establishhow its readers rated their Minister of Education - was he a prat ora moronn ;Kenneth Clarke was <oted a total PRAT last night as598000 Daily Mirror readers took part in one of the most fiercelyfought elections for years; it crowed8 with an unflatteringphotograph of Clarke as a bully who smoked too much and8 at 16st.9lbs8 was unhealthily obese.Sneers

Michael Heseltine said of Clarke: ;He is what he is. You getwhat you see. And people like that.; But what people do not ;like;

is a politician who rubbishes genuineproblems or who regards truth as somethingto be fashioned in accordance with theirneeds at any time. In 1980 the Americanpharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly launched anew wonder drug - Opren - on the market8claiming that among a clutch of beneficialeffects it could reduce arthritis pain. In factOpren had serious side effects such as li<erMaundice8 kidney damage and eTcessi<esensiti<ity to sunlight. There were 76 deathsattributed to the drug8 which was latersuspended by the Committee on Safety ofMedicines. At the time Clarke was Ministerfor Health. His reaction to the sufferingcaused by Opren was to sneer that it was;no more than the patients becominglobstered;. After their crushing defeat in19978 the Tory party set about electing anew leader. Clarke knew that his <iews onmany issues8 especially Europe8 would notendear him to the party faithful. (The DailyTelegraph damned him as ;the candidate ofthe past;). In an effort to attract the <otes ofthe right wing8 anti-

Europe membershipClarke cobbled up a partnership with theweird Eurosceptic John Redwood - a U-turntoo cynical for e<en the most hardened ToryMP. Now he is again bending what he callshis principles8 saying that Europe is not nowon the agenda and that his enthusiasm for itis ;no longer as constant as the North Star;.

Politicians8 like salespeople8 come inmany shapes and styles. Some are reticentand conciliatory. Others are brash8 brutal andnoisy. Nobody should be impressed byKenneth Clarke2s pose as the man for thepeople - matey8 frank8 reliable and human8 if engagingly boozy. Hehas shown himself to be as calculating and dishonest as all theothers. There is no more to be hoped for from him8 the candidate ofthe past8 than there is from those of the future. "IVAN

Redwood - weird

“A truculent, bad-tempered bully” - Daily Express

The TS Vs Staying Vndefinitely aThe Air Forceds top general said Mondaythat American warplanes would have tosupport IraRds fledgling security forces wellafter American ground troops eventually

withdraw from the country.... In aninterview earlier this month, GeneralJumper was even more explicit whenasked about the Air Forceds future in IraR.aWe will continue with a rotationalpresence of some type in that area moreor less indefinitelya, he said. aWe haveinterests in that part of the world and aninterest in staying in touch with themilitaries over therea KNew York Times, 3bAugustL. Theainteresta theyhave, is of course,IraRds oil.

Blessed AreThe Warmakers When the priestsand ministers inthe 8SA prattle onabout ablessed arethe peacemakersathey obviouslydondt know muchabout howcapitalismoperates. aThe8nited States isthe largest supplierof weapons todevelopingnations, a 8Scongressionalstudy says. Itdelivered morethan t8S 9.6billion in arms to

countries including those in the Near Nastand Asia in Cbb4, and boosted worldwidesales to the highest amount since Cbbb.The total worldwide value of allagreements to sell arms last year was

close to t8S 3I billion, and nearly B9per cent of the agreements were withdeveloping nations, according to theCongressional Research Servicereporta KSydney Morning Herald ,31AugustL.

Blessed are the Goor? Another piece of nonsense muchfavoured by the bible bashers isablessed are the poora. Good newsthen for the pious in the 8SAaccording to the latest figures. aThenumber of Americans living below thepoverty line rose for the fourth

successive year during Cbb4, extendingthe gap between rich and poor in theworldds wealthiest nation. .... At the otherend of the scale, a survey of the biggest8S companies by compensationconsultancy Pearl Meyers found theaverage payout for chief executives rose13c in Cbb4 to t1b.B million.a KGuardian,31 AugustL. uou are living in New uork onminimum wage; :h, blessed onev Consult

the 8S Bureau ofStatistics.

The Uoom `achine We often hear scaresabout the likely effects ofglobal warning, but thisreport seems to comefrom a reliable sourceand should scare us all.a:nly extraordinarychanges in the output ofwarming gases now anduntil CbBb would makeany difference, MartinParry told the BritishAssociation sciencefestival. ... The estimatescame from agovernment-funded studyby Professor Parrydsteam at the HadleyCentre, the Met :fficedsclimates forecastingcentrea KTimes, 6SeptemberL. The reportwas carried under the

headline a:[one rise will doom millions tostarvationa and calculated that about Bbbmillion are at risk but by CbBb this wouldrise to BBb million. Truly, moderncapitalism has become a doom machinev

Griorities aThe worldds poorest people are beingdenied access to drugs becausepharmaceutical companies are focusingtheir resources on diseases suffered bywealthy, middle-aged Americans, such asobesity and heart disease, a leadingexpert will say tomorrow. Dr DavidRhodes, the Health Protection AgencydsKHPAL head of business development willclaim that spiralling costs are driving firmsto invest primarily in drugs that tacklediseases of older AmericansaKObserver,11 SeptemberL. This is goodbusiness practice according to the ethicsof capitalism, a bit tough on thosesuffering from tuberculosis, malaria andwater-borne diseases in the lessdeveloped countries, though.

A World Vn -risis The columnist Lee Randall certainlysummed up the nightmare of capitalismwell when she wrote: aTwirl the globe andstab your finger anywhere. I could spendwhole days writing cheRues for innocentvictims of war, natural disasters, terrorism,

disease or poverty, and it wouldndt beenough. Nvery tomorrow brings newwoes. ... Idm sure Idm not alone in feelingoverwhelmed, uncertain about what canand should be done. But Idm open toideasa KScotsman, 1b SeptemberL. Howabout world socialism, Lee;

Groduced and published by the Socialist Garty of Hreat Britain, +) -lapham Yigh Street, Wondon SW4 ETNVSSN 00LE M)+9

by Bigg

Not leaving on a jet plane - the US in Iraq

Eeny-meeny-miny-mo,everywhere youfind new woes

Rree lunch