WHERE HAVE ALL THE WORKERS GONE?

TUC march, Manchester, 2nd October 2011     

SENT UP 'THE GARDEN PATH', EVERYONE.
When will they ever learn?  When will they ever learn?  


The answer, my friend, isn't blowing in the wind - it's being held in denial by those very same trade union organisations that workers are looking to for a sense of purpose and direction.


People are asking,"If there is little difference between Conservatives, Liberals and Labour, who do we vote for?"


The coalition government of Tories and LibDems will administer a swift death for our Welfare State and National Health Service.  Labour, on the other hand, prefer a more lingering demise.  Whichever is chosen, the result is the same.  The coalition government claims the cuts are necessary and Labour agrees.


The unions huff and puff, work people up into wanting to 'do something', arrange a 'day of action', book coaches in towns and cities and ferry thousands to either the capital or a major city to march with balloons, banners, flags, whistles, horns, drums and loud hailers to protest and demand an end to government policies - then they get on the coaches and return home.


What has been achieved?  Other than a superficial sense of solidarity, absolutely nothing because, the following day, it is as if the event didn't happen. Everything returns to 'normal'.  


The government continues its policies of attacking the standard of living and quality of life of those who depend on a wage or a salary (and those who are totally reliant upon sickness or disability allowances) for their survival.  Labour declares it would reform none of this legislation if elected to government and major unions continue to bankroll the Labour Party even though this party will not eliminate 'anti-union' laws which prevent unions from taking action to defend their members' terms and conditions of employment or act in solidarity to defend other workers against exploitation.


Workers become frustrated and angry.  They need to let off steam.  Organise a day's march and a rally!  Yes, that will do nicely to shut them up for a while.  How much more of this will workers tolerate before they begin to ask "What the hell are we doing here?  These marches are achieving nothing!"  How much longer will it be before workers tell the unions to stuff their marches and demonstrations and to provide some meaningful political leadership?


There was a time most unions 'educated' their new members, providing them with an understanding of Surplus Value and a sound understanding of the Class System.  Sadly, this has not been done for many years and is why workers look upon a major economic crisis, with its attendant unemployment and deprivation, with incomprehension.  If the system can plunge them and their families into destitution then there is something wrong with the system. It is inhumane. Surely, it is not beyond the wit and wisdom of the human intellect to come up with an alternative, is it?


At its November conference in 2009, the British Trade Union Congress completely endorsed the People's Charter.  This Charter explains why ordinary members of the British population, who did not cause the current economic crisis, should not be required to pay for it in terms of a severe reduction in their standard of living and quality of life.  


The Charter describes how the deficit could be met by closing the doors to 'tax havens' (make the super rich pay their taxes just like the rest of us), stop forking out vast sums for foreign wars, introducing a Tobin Tax (also known as the Robin Hood tax) with a tiny percentage paid on all business transactions and, controversially for Furness, cancellation of all further development of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems (such as submersible American Trident missile launch platforms - affectionately referred to as Trident subs in these parts). These measures would eliminate the deficit and provide funds for manufacturing leading to economic growth and a return to prosperity. 


Now, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?  Some trade unions appear to disagree for they have done precisely nothing to promote the Charter.  In Furness, the unions ignore the Charter completely and boycott all efforts to bring it to the attention of the general public.  Their blanket of silence is fully endorsed by the local Labour Party and the Labour MP, John Woodcock. Oh, they will make sympathetic noises but they are indifferent to the suffering which is about to be inflicted upon the constituents of this region and the population at large.


In closing, I am minded of what George Bernard Shaw had to say about the opposite of Love.
"The opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference."

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER STRUGGLE

TUC march and rally, Manchester, Sunday 2nd October 

SHOWING OPPOSITION TO TORY AUSTERITY MEASURES
The people have marched against war, they've marched against the Poll Tax, they've marched against racists and fascists and now they march against the Tory attack on our Welfare State and National Health Service.  When, I wonder, will 'marching fatigue' set in and the people demand more direct action? 


And, if and when they reach that stage of wanting something else what will they choose to do?  Will they engage in non-violent direct action (such as blocking major roads and bridges - as in the USA) or resorting to rioting (as seen recently in towns and cities here in Britain)?  Will doing either - or both - bring about the changes they claim to desire?  Unfortunately, no.


In the first place, the struugles in the street are only about economics - about jobs, benefits and pensions.  Yes, this is coupled to a defence of the Welfare State and the National Health Service, but there has been no complete awakening of class consciousness and the need to act politically, to move in a particular political direction i.e. socialism.  


Marxist-Leninists know the road to socialism is through class struggle which can be realised in three forms:economic, political and ideological.  Of these, the political struggle is the most important because it throws into relief the primary question of the class struggle - of power - and how it can be resolved.


Workers can complain and campaign until they are blue in the face but they will change nothing unless they are prepared to learn from the political lessons dished out to them by the boss class and organise to bring about a fundamental, revolutionary, political change.  

STILL PUSHING AGAINST INDIFFERENCE

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN NOBODY WANTS TO KNOW?
The answer to that is, of course, "Keep going" because, although the savagery of the cuts will eventually dawn on the local population - and this is likely to be 'later rather than sooner' in Furness if past performance is anything to go by - it might just be possible to awaken a few and then a few more.  It is slow, frustrating work, especially when the unions in Furness remain intransigent.


The local anti-cuts group has received assistance from the GMB which printed its posters for a public meeting - the group provided the paper - to be held at The Forum, Barrow, on the evening of Thursday 6th October.  A few members have been distributing the posters and unions and community organisations have been notified.  A 'street stall' on Saturday 1st October will publicise the meeting and further promote the local anti-cuts campaign.  


It is interesting to note Ryan Shaw, secretary of Cumbria PCS, who had promised support for the anti-cuts campaign, appears to have hibernated and is not answering phone calls, or responding to email or text  messages.  It must be the way unions do (or don't do) things around here for this is exactly how Deborah Hamilton, Secretary of Cumbria branch of Unison conducts (or does not conduct) union business, the secretary of Barrow Trades Union Council never responds to communications and neither does the secretary of Barrow NUT.  It has been asked "How do these useless officials remain in office?"  I wish all questions were as easy to answer as this....it is because nobody else wants the job so it ends up in the hands of someone who wants the status but not the responsibility.  What better set of persons could a lazy union member wish to have in place than a committee that doesn't  organise regular branch meetings or pester them to campaign to protect their own pay and conditions of work?


What local trade unions and their members do not seem to realise is that when they are called upon to take any form of action to defend their jobs, pay and conditions (such as the proposed national day of action on 30th November) they are going to need the public on their side.  To get that support means them being out on the street, weeks in advance, patiently explaining to the public why they are taking action - not just for themselves - but against the cuts that will affect everyone except the most wealthy.  If they do not apply themselves to this task it is likely the general public will be antagonised by any union action that causes members of the public any personal inconvenience (such as schools being closed for the day or cancelled hospital appointments, for example)  And this struggle against the cuts is one struggle that workers in Britain cannot afford to lose.  As has already been explained in earlier postings, a one day strike may allow workers to gain some idea of their potential but, politically, is of little consequence.  


Workers who will not defend themselves are easy meat for the boss class.  If workers do not fight the greed of the capitalist class they will, as Marx himself put it, be degraded to one level of broken wretches past salvation. "By cowardly giving way in their everyday conflict with capital, they would certainly disqualify themselves for the initiating of any larger movement."
K. Marx and F. Engels, Selected Works, Vol2, p.75


The people of Furness have certainly demonstrated over the past eighteen months that they qualify for such disqualification.  Given this, there must come a time when persistently fruitless efforts to motivate them are discontinued.  As of this date, I cannot envisage the anti-cuts campaign lasting beyond December.....

  ......but, for now, the struggle continues.






LATEST NEWS
Terry McSorely, agent of our local member of parliament, John Woodcock, has written that the MP will 'not be able to attend' the public meeting. No explanation was provided.
Note:  John Woodcock MP was also 'not able to attend' the previous Anti-Cuts public meeting held in March of this year.


OOPS!  Last digit missing from phone number - 1405 
Corrected as many distributed posters as possible even though it's most unlikely anyone will use it.  Phone number required for authentication purposes so it had to be correct.

DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

Billboard boy in Barrow earning a crust.

                 1936
LESSON FROM HISTORY
Italy has never seen anything similar to the type of planning exhibited by the Government of Soviet Russia.


When an important branch of the banking system, or a large-scale industry which could be confused with the "higher interests of the nation" has threatened to collapse, the Government has stepped into the breach and prevented the breakdown by emergency measures. If there is a field in which planning is necessary and can be done without notable obstacles, it is that of public works; but even a Fascist expert is obliged to recognise that "they are begun as required without a general plan in the region where the depression is most severe."  


The policy of the Italian dictatorship during these years of world crisis has been no different in its aims, methods, and results from the policy of all the Governments of the capitalistic countries.


The Charter of Labour says that private enterprise is responsible to the State.  In actual fact, it is the State, i.e. the taxpayer, who has become responsible to private enterprise.  In Fascist Italy the State pays for the blunders of private enterprise.  As long as business was good, profit remained to private initiative. When the depression came, the Government added the loss to the taxpayers' burden.  Profit is private and individual.  Loss is public and social.
Under the Axe of Fascism, Gaetano Salvemini, LBC, 1936, page 416


In Britain today, taxpayers bailed out failed banks to the tune of £1.3 trillion and workers are paying the price of this in job losses, benefit cuts, erosion of health care, wage freezes, and rising energy and food costs whilst the bankers and financiers are able to return to awarding themselves millions in annual bonuses.  And this has been achieved without the usual Fascist coercion techniques of blackjacks, torture or concentration camps.  How much longer will it be before the unemployed will be housed in 'hostels'  and engaged in 'work details' for the good of society - and will they be obliged to wear striped pyjamas, perhaps?


In the meantime, three men (one, in his twenties here in Furness) have died in eight days as a result of police using a combination of immobilizing tasers and pepper sprays.  There has been a significant increase in cases of police intimidation and brutality against young, elderly, and even disabled civilian demonstrators in recent years and courts are dismissive of any attempts to bring thuggish police to account.  The future use of water cannon and plastic bullets must surely now be on the agenda as protests against government-imposed poverty increase in size and frequency.

CRISIS OF CAPITALISM LURCHES DOWNWARD

'Workers' sculpture, shopping centre, Barrow in Furness

IT'S A RIGHT MESS
Whilst fully aware of events that are happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lybia and in some towns and cities here in England (but not Scotland or Wales, please note!) this blog is chiefly concerned with events and reactions here in Furness.  On the riots, let it be sufficient to quote from a recent Morning Star editorial: 'Someone who has a job, a home and a future does not riot.'


The general public here does not really seem to be aware of any particular crisis unless it is the one regarding seagulls.  Yes, that is correct - seagulls.  Some are working themselves up into quite a lather about seagulls 'pooing' on their cars parked in the street and on washing hung out to dry and are calling for these birds to be culled i.e. killed.  (Heaven help the bankers if this lot wake up and realise how they've been swindled!)  Fortunately, seagulls - and, unfortunately, bankers - are a protected species so any local councillor hoping to gain popularity by reducing the seagull population will have to think again.  Surprisingly, these gulls live by the sea - which is why they are called seagulls.  If some people don't like seagulls they should move away from the coast. Sorted.


On a more serious note - in just one edition of the Evening Mail it was reported that FOUR Barrow businesses are in trouble.  The Appliance Services Centre in Dalton Road has gone into liquidation (that's yet another shop front to be decorated with a giant photograph of a shop interior), Cumbria Commercials, a car repair workshop on Walney Road, has also gone into liquidation together with The Fire Place, a heating company based in Holker Street, and an engieering firm is currently under investigation by Her Majesty's Inland Revenue for alleged tax irregularities.  These losses will add to the 1,810 people already on Job Seekers' Allowance chasing just 128 vacancies (figures for June 2011). The breakdown is as follows:
Barrow Island  151
Central              299
Hawcoat             33
Hindpool          212
Newbarns        106
Ormsgill            219
Parkside           100
Risedale           166
Roosecoat        104
Walney Nth       104
Walney Sth       104
Dalton Nth         102
Dalton Sth         110


And the tide comes in and the tide goes out - twice a day.

DEFEND NHS CAMPAIGN CONTINUES

LABOUR PARTY HOSTS PUBLIC MEETING TO DEFEND NHS

Westmorland & Lonsdale Constituency

Labour Party called a public meeting to address government proposals to sell off the most highly profitable parts of the National Health Service to private companies.  The meeting was held at the Shakespeare Centre, Kendal, on Thursday 14th July and was attended by about 45 persons.

The panel (left to right) consisted of  Paul Gardner (Royal College of Nursing), Tim Ellis (Unison), Paul Braithwaite (W&L CLP) and Doctor David Wrigley, GP (Keep Our NHS Public campaign).

Dr Wrigley, a member of the British Medical Association Council, described the remarkable step forward when, 64 years ago, the National Health Service was introduced.  Minister Bevan described this as a Milestone in History and a Civilized Step for it provided health care for all that was free at the point of need. Gone was the great fear of falling ill and having to meet a doctor's bill for treatment and medication.  No health and social care for vulnerable people should rely upon service provided by some business that could, like some retail company, fail and be bankrupted. (Liquidation of Southern Cross care homes is a good example here - Muddz)  Dr Wrigley explained how the Private and Public Finance Initiative (PPFI), introduced by the previous Labour government, has cost £65 billion for a value of just £25 billion.

Tim Ellis stated the NHS needed to be fully resourced and trusted.  He stated contributions to the public purse would be much greater if the 49 richest people and 220 companies that PAY NO TAX were to pay the estimated £120 billion lost through their tax evasion.  The current White Paper is about introducing competition into the NHS and should not be amended but killed off.  Public pressure could sink this bill just as it did Thatcher's bid to introduce the Poll Tax in the 1980's. (Top Tories noted public opposition, feared this would have electoral consequences and so pressed Thatcher to drop it - Muddz)

Paul Gardner reported 98% of delegates attending the RCN conference in Liverpool gave a vote of 'No Confidence' on the current Secretary of State.  The RCN severely critical of commissioning by GP fund-holders and strongly suggests there be a nurse on every commissioning body.  Essentially, priorities are quality of care, safety, assessment of level of safety and of risks during and following hospital treatment and that the experience of the patient must be positive.  Minister Lansley's agenda undermined these.

There followed some good contributions by members of the audience with, of course, one by the token defeatist "These cuts will go through so what we've got to do is see how we can reduce their impact on people."  (It was noted that not a single person under the age of fifty years was in attendance - Muddz)

The meeting ended with an overwhelming vote to ask our local Members of Parliament to oppose the Health and Social Care Bill.

As the cuts begin to bite it is being reported that some (nonNHS) dentists are refusing to treat gum disease in children "because it is too time-consuming and thus not profitable." This on Dispatches: 'The Truth about your Dentist' ,Channel 4, 8pm, Monday 23 May 2011. Untreated gum disease, apart from being extremely painful, can lead to tooth loss and serious illness.

Some NHS Trusts are refusing to fund operations to remove infected tonsils as a cost reduction measure.  If untreated, diseased tonsils can be extremely painful, give rise to quinsy and blood poisoning with possible fatal consequences.


And yet other Trusts are now charging for cataract and hip replacement operations, and have privatised their ambulance service.


But campaigning against the cuts is being sustained by very few.  It was sad to note that Kendal Against the Cuts has folded owing to lack of consistent support but encouraging that Furness Against the Cuts remains active - street stall to be held from 10am until noon on Saturday  27 August and a Public Meeting already booked for The Forum, Barrow, from 7.30 until 9.30pm on Wednesday 14 September.


The struggle continues!
  

PENSIONERS' PARLIAMENT JUNE 2011

Assembling in Blackpool for the march to the Parliament

PENSIONERS' ANTI-CUTS
CAMPAIGN FLOPS AT THE 2011 PARLIAMENT
Unlike the pouring rain of last year, this year's march to the Winter Gardens for the 2011 Pensioners' Parliament was bathed in glorious sunshine.


Many had expressed the hope that, this year, the parliament would not just be yet another 'talking shop' and that a definite plan of campaign against the cuts would be formulated.  It was also anticipated that the government minister for pensions, Webb, would be given a 'rough ride' when he addressed the parliament as promised.  Neither of these things happened.


Delegates heard some rousing speeches from the platform and, in the various workshops, considered specific issues (e.g. failures of the Care Quality Commission).  However, apart from affirming support for the Pensioners' Manifesto (given below) there were no anti-cuts resolutions or even statements of intent to mount protest action against the government's proposed austerity measures and its plans for privatisation of the National Health Service and dismantling of the Welfare State. 


As for the government LibDem minister for pensions, he got off very lightly indeed by employing a well tried and tested political trick - whenever a delegate complained against a certain government decision he simply agreed with them (because it is impossible to argue with someone who keeps agreeing with every criticism)  A few delegates attempted to challenge the minister from the floor but, lacking access to a microphone, could not be heard by most people in the auditorium. Furthermore, the chairman conducting the meeting (who did have access to a microphone) chastised them rather than inviting at least one of them onto the stage to make their point.  Thus it was all kept under control, very civilised and polite, and the minister, acknowledging the applause of the majority of delegates, left the stage wearing a satisfied grin.  So much for a 'rough ride'!   What will such pensioners do if they get really angry - remove their teeth and give somebody a sound 'gumming'?


THE PENSIONERS' MANIFESTO 
All men and women shall be entitled to dignity, security and fulfilment in retirement that includes:
1 A basic state pension set above the official poverty level (estimated at £165 a week in 2009)  which is linked to the higher of earnings or prices, and paid alongside other existing concessions, to provide some financial security for all.
2 Free long-term medical and social care funded from general taxation and provided to the highest standards in order to maintain dignity and without the need for means-testing, rationing or postcode lottery.
3 Good quality local services funded through national income tax rather than council tax.
4 Free UK wide travel on all forms of public transport (buses, trams and rail) to encourage independence and greater mobility, as well as helping the environment and reducing demand on care services.
5 An end to discrimination where it adversely affects the opportunities, goods and services available to older people.
6 A winter fuel allowance of £500 per pensioner household to help maintain a warm and comfortable home.


Wouldn't some of the above be unnecessary if British pensioners received a pension that allowed them to 'pay their way' thus avoiding the need for special 'benefits', 'concessions', 'cut-price offers', 'hand-outs', and other charitable offerings?  Surely, pensioners want dignity and respect - not charity and sympathy, don't they?