They fear "social strife"? They should!

Print
Workers' Fight workplace bulletin editorials
13 April 2010

Now that the election beauty contest is in full swing, party leaders are not just trying to overbid their rivals. In a desperate attempt to lure voters to the ballot box, they are dragging their wives onto the campaign trail, to hide the ugly face of their politics.

Indeed, why would the working class majority of the electorate vote for parties which so clearly represent the interests of the rich? Why would we support politicians who state without any qualms that what they have in store for us is just more of the same joblessness, cuts and austerity, that we have been subjected to over the past 2 years?

The bosses' campaign

Perhaps the most striking feature of this campaign is the high profile taken by big business.

That a long list of business tycoons should line up behind the Tories to oppose Labour's NI contribution increase is no surprise. Any hint at increasing the funding of public services is, in and of itself, anathema to the bosses!

That these same tycoons should demand that, instead, billions be saved by "cutting waste in the public sector" is the pot calling the kettle black! Aren't these bosses and their companies the main recipients of state handouts, tax breaks, PFI contracts, etc., that is, the bulk of socially wasted government funding, year in and year out?

Besides, it is not as if these private bosses were in a different league than the bankers. They are the same people. They own shares in the banks and bankers own shares in their companies. For years these bosses surfed on the banks' mad speculative bubble to increase their personal wealth and the cash of their companies many times over. When the bubble burst, they used Darling's state billions to salvage their wealth, fat salaries and profits!

These are the people who demand today that "waste" should be cut to fill the black hole they dug in public finances. But these parasites who caused the crisis with their banking mates are the real cause of waste. They should be cut out, together with their profit system!

Ironically, many of these bosses had supported Labour and its "business manifesto" in 1997. And they have no reason to regret it: in addition to Darling's bailout, taxes on profits of all kinds have never been so low and the part of state funds going to them through PFI has never been so high!

So, today, these bosses are being ungrateful to Labour's slavish "what-is-good-for-business-is-good-for-all" line. They want to use the crisis to squeeze even more out of the working class to feed their parasitism. And they think that, since the Tories had no direct role in the banks' bailout, it will be easier for them to turn the screw on the working class by blaming the state's black hole on Labour.

Our future is not in the ballot box

There is no stake whatsoever in this election for the working class. Whoever gets into office after May 6th, the agenda will be cuts throughout the public sector and more attacks on jobs, wages and conditions in both the public and private sector.

We know from direct experience the effect of cuts in public services and how they are carried out blindly, regardless of the consequences for those who need these services. The fact that the Tory Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, appointed a £127,000/yr City "specialist" to carry out cuts, may be an electoral stunt. But it is both a foretaste of what is in store and a reminder of many similar appointments in local government and the NHS by Labour, for exactly the same reasons. Beyond the quarrels over numbers, there is no difference here either, between the 2 parties.

So, no it is not in the ballot box that the real issue will be decided - i.e., whether the thin layer of capitalist parasites who caused the crisis and benefited from it, will be allowed to carry on milking the system, earning tens of millions in salaries, generating more financial chaos through speculation and shifting the bill for their criminal profiteering onto the working class.

The politicians know this all too well. Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg expressed their fears when he declared that "serious social strife" might break out in the streets if a government elected with limited support took austerity measures after May 6th. They know that whoever wins the election will have limited support, if only due to a record low turnout.

And yes, the politicians are right to fear a backlash in the streets, because this is the only language that they and their capitalist masters have ever been capable of understanding. The working class has accounts to settle after the tide of attacks against its living conditions. It is high time this tide was turned. And this will only be achieved in the streets and in the workplaces, by using our collective strength.