Mar xist Journal of the Socialist Par ty Issue 17 l Spring 2023
The Book of Desire by Meena K andasamy
Rotten Prod by Emmet O’Connor
REVIEWED BY AMY FERGUSON
It ’s Okay To Be Angr y About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders REVIEWED BY DAVID VALLELY
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The Socialist Par ty is the Irish sec tion of International Socialist Alternative (ISA), a socialist organisation with groups in over 30 countries
w w w.internationalsocialist.net carries repor ts of struggles, analysis and a programme for the fight against capitalism.
the horrific war in ukraine, which began in Februar y 2022, is by far the biggest on the european landmass since world war ii, writes tom crean. total casualties, both dead and wounded, number in the hundreds of thousands. city af ter city in eastern and Southern ukraine have been reduced to rubble. the effec ts for the civilian population have been devastating. of the pre -war population of 40 million, 8 million have fled ukraine while 5.9 million more are internally displaced. the world Food program estimates that one in three households in the countr y is food insecure, in one of the breadbaskets of the world.
International Socialist Alternative (ISA) opposed Russian imperialism’s brutal invasion from the start and Putin’s attempt to deny Ukraine’s right to even exist as a nation. From the beginning, this war has been a battleground for the inter-imperialist conflicts which increasingly dominate our epoch, most
immediately between Russian imperialism and NATO, itself a “subplot” in the wider Cold War conflict between U S and Chinese imperialism Not only is the war far from over, but it is also clearly escalating with the possibility of becoming a much wider conflict.
The war in Ukraine has gone through several phases. In the initial phase, the Russian army sought to invade from several directions, make a lightning strike, seize Kyiv and depose the Ukrainian government. This was a complete failure. In the wake of this, Russian forces sought, with some success, to consolidate their position in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, using brutal siege tactics.
However, the tide turned when the Ukrainian military began a large-scale counter offensives in August, exposing weaknesses in the Russian front They took control of the Kharkiv region in the Northeast and continued making gains until the Russian army pulled out of Kherson in the South in November
Since then neither side has made a major breakthrough. The Russian military has dug into positions in Eastern Ukraine using freshly mobilized
troops The Russian military has also launched relentless drone and rocket attacks with the aim of degrading Ukraine’s infrastructure and leaving the Ukrainian people freezing in the dark through the winter
The battle for Bakhmut in the Donetsk region in Eastern Ukraine is being compared to battles in World War I and has come to symbolize the current stage of the conflict, a vicious war of attrition dubbed “the meat grinder” The Russian military, led in the battle for a period by the mercenary Wagner group, has nevertheless made some advances at huge cost in lost lives and may soon control the city
The Zelensky regime and its Western imperialist backers are increasingly concerned, however, that a coming Russian offensive using the 300,000 newly conscripted soldiers could make more significant gains or at least significantly complicate another Ukrainian counter-offensive. If the Putin regime is able to hold on to the territory it occupies in Eastern Ukraine as well as Crimea, a new Ukrainian offensive will not be the decisive blow to the Russian military that is intended by the U.S. They want Russian forces to be put clearly on the defensive and losing more ground with even their control of Crimea (occupied in 2014) threatened before entering negotiations
It is absolutely undeniable that Ukrainian soldiers, who are motivated to defend their homes and towns and have the enthusiastic support of the big majority of the population, have displayed enormous
determination and this has been a central factor in pushing back the Russian military juggernaut But as the Institute for the Study of War and many others have pointed out, “The pattern of delivery of Western aid has powerfully shaped the pattern of this conflict ” This stretches from the Javelin anti-tank missile that helped Ukraine defeat the Russian forces’ drive on Kyiv; to the large amounts of Soviet-era weapons systems and munitions sent by Eastern European members of NATO; to the delivery of more advanced Western systems including the HIMARS that facilitated the Ukrainian counter-offensive. From another point of view, the increasing coordination with Western imperialism pushed back any elements of workingclass resistance from below, as when nuclear power plant workers and residents came out to confront Russian troops early in the war in Zaporizhzhia
In general, there has been a shift from sending weapons that could be presented as “defensive” to weapons that are undeniably “offensive” – from Javelins to Bradley fighting vehicles and now tanks At the start of the war, the Biden administration presented itself as being very concerned about a direct conflict between Russia and NATO But it has been steadily going over its own “red lines ” At a recent conference led by U S defense secretary Lloyd Austin, representatives from 50 governments discussed arm delivery plans.
The U S has been prepared to take previously unthinkable steps in the course of this war. Longstanding American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has very convincingly argued that U S Navy divers working with the CIA and the Norwegian military planted the explosives that were subsequently detonated to blow up the Nordstream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea which was intended to supply natural gas from Russia to Germany as part of a major pre-war agreement. If Nordstream 2 had become fully operational, it would have provided for 50% of Germany’s annual consumption of natural gas
In the wake of the attack, U S Secretary of State Blinken declared, “It’s a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy and thus to take away from Vladimir Putin the weaponization of energy as a means of advancing his imperial designs.” So whether or not the U.S. did it directly, they certainly approve of it and almost certainly were involved, despite all the denials
As the war enters a new phase, Western, and especially U.S., imperialism has decided it needs to go further. Hence the drama that played out for weeks at the start of 2023 about sending battle tanks to the Ukrainian military Pressure was put on the German government to agree to authorize Germanmanufactured Leopard tanks (widely used by European armies) to be sent to Ukraine The German chancellor Olaf Scholz would not agree, however, until the U S also agreed to send Abrams tanks thus providing German imperialism with political cover
A whole series of countries from Poland to the UK and the U S have now pledged to send hundreds of tanks to Ukraine on a timescale ranging from a couple months to a year or more. But even before the tanks were promised, the U S committed to equipping the equivalent of two armored battalions with Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles.
However, on the very next day after the Germans agreed to send tanks and to allow other countries to send Leopards, an immediate hue and cry went up in the Western media: tanks will not be enough! It’s time to send fighter jets! And while the most advanced Western planes are apparently still off limits, Slovakia has already pledged to send Soviet-made jets If the tide of battle turns against Ukrainian forces, we can expect this and other red lines to be crossed as well.
The Kiel Institute reports that the total aid of all types committed (not delivered) by the West from January 24, 2022 through January 15, 2023 totalled over 140 billion euros. The U.S. alone has committed 44.3 billion euros ($47 2 billion)
But the question of escalation is not just about weapons systems On January 19, the New York Times reported that the Biden administration – which had previously opposed the Zelensky regime’s threat to launch an offensive on the Crimean peninsula – had changed its mind
On the one hand, the U S is considering supporting the Ukrainian military in trying to cut the land bridge from Russia to Crimea, seized during the 2022 invasion, which is vital to supplying the Russian military in Southern Ukraine But they are also moving towards the conclusion that unless the Putin regime feels there is at least a real threat to its control of Crimea itself, it will not be possible to force the necessary concessions at the negotiating table
This would in itself represent a significant escalation, attacking a region that has been part of the Russian state since 2014 and a large part of whose population seems to have accepted this. We stand for the right of people in Crimea and other minority communities in Ukraine, including Russian speaking areas, to determine their own future, just as the Ukrainian people have the right to do, free from interference and not at the point of a gun.
The New York Times reassuringly goes on to say that “fears that the Kremlin would retaliate using a tactical nuclear weapon have dimmed” but then admit that “For
their part, U S officials say they do not know how Mr Putin will react if Ukraine attacks Crimea using American-supplied weapons.”
To be clear, the Ukrainian military is not yet in a position to launch such an offensive but even the fact that the Biden administration is seriously considering this speaks to the escalatory spiral of this conflict. It continues to slide towards becoming a direct fight between NATO and Russia and not just a proxy war
The Ukraine war cannot be understood outside of the context of the new era of global instability where interimperialist rivalry and conflict is posed in a far sharper way than during the previous era of neoliberal globalisation. The inter-imperialist character of the conflict is not its only feature, because it also has the element of a fight against foreign occupation by an invaded people, as well as other features But to put it bluntly, the motivation, suffering and struggle of the Ukrainian people has, in agreement with Zelensky, been “hijacked” by Western imperialism for its own ends
The Russian regime has increasingly sought to break out of NATO encroachment and assert itself both in its own “backyard” and beyond as it has done in Syria and now in sub-Saharan Africa Putin and China’s Xi Xingping signed a “no limits” partnership right before the war that emboldened Putin The Putin regime also saw the humiliating exit of American forces from Kabul in 2021 as indicating that the U.S. and Western imperialism would be unable to effectively counteract a swift and successful invasion
However, the invasion of Ukraine was a profound blunder by Putin’s regime; they massively overestimated their own military capacity They massively underestimated the determination of the Ukrainian people to resist, the military training of the Ukrainian army since 2014 and also Western imperialism’s determination to not accept a Russian victory which would represent a significant blow to their interests and prestige
The U.S. in particular has seized the war as an opportunity to reassert itself globally and to strengthen NATO and their broader Cold War bloc not just against Russia but against China While it escalates militarily in Ukraine, U S imperialism is also waging economic war against China, seeking to cut off its access to high-end semiconductor technology and thereby block its development in high tech The Biden administration seeks to inflict a defeat on Russia in no small part to send a very clear message to Xi Jinping about Taiwan. The U.S. is now also directly warning China against sending military aid to Russia saying this would be a “serious problem” for rapidly deteriorating U.S./China relations.
“Aid” on the scale being sent by Western imperialism to the Ukrainian state inevitably comes with conditions There are no imperialist arms without an imperialist agenda. When this war comes to an end, Ukraine will be completely in hoc to Western interests. They will take control of the country’s resources and they will make Ukraine a permanent armed forward camp for Western imperialism.
Increasingly the U.S. is calling the shots as Ukraine becomes ever more dependent on Western powers for military hardware and finance But as former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has recently revealed, even in the early days of the war, the U.S. intervened to block his attempt to negotiate a cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia
There are those on the left, such as the Left parties in Sweden and Finland or the Squad in the U.S. Congress, who argue that we should unequivocally take the side of the Ukrainian bourgeois state in its fight with Russian imperialism and support its arming by Western imperialism They argue that this is essentially a war of national liberation and ignore or downplay the role of Western imperialism
Such a position represents a capitulation to U.S. imperialism which remains, despite its indisputable weakening, the dominant imperialist power in the world, and an enemy of the oppressed and working class everywhere. It would be to accept the narrative of Joe Biden that this is a fight of “democracy against autocracy ”
These leftists paint the reactionary Zelensky regime in rosy colors, ignoring its massive program of privatisations and anti-union legislation that has eliminated the rights of 70% of workers (in firms with less than 250 employees) to enter into collective bargaining with their employers. Among other consequences, workers fired for union activity in these companies have no legal protection
The logic of supporting the Ukrainian state also points to supporting the U.S. escalating its arming of Taiwan to defend it against a threatened invasion by Chinese imperialism Ultimately it would mean actively supporting U S , Japanese and other imperialisms if a war over Taiwan broke out, in the name of supporting the people of Taiwan Such a war to be clear is a very real possibility in the coming years
In general, the camp of Western imperialism, led by the U S , has acted in a more united way than even most capitalist commentators expected However, the divisions in the Western camp are certainly real. There are different views on the desired outcome of the war in Ukraine but also on how far to go in the wider conflict with China The interests of German and French imperialism, for example, do overlap with those of U.S. imperialism but they are also distinct.
In the course of the last year, Eastern European countries like Poland and the Baltic States as well as the
UK have had a far more bellicose position on the Ukraine war, backing up the U S , while there was hesitation from France and Germany But in the new year, the key European powers and the U.S. have been actually moving closer together, not further apart This of course could change again
In part, Germany and France have been emboldened as the projected energy crunch did not materialize (at least for now) in Europe in the way that was predicted due to a mild winter European total aid of all sorts committed to the Ukrainian state now totals almost €55 billion.
And while we see an increasingly assertive German and French militarism, half a world away, Japanese militarism is also on the rise as part of the developing anti-China military alliance in the Pacific. All of these powers are committing to rapid expansion of their militaries This shows how the Ukraine war is part of a broader global process of growing inter-imperialist conflict, with the attendant whipping up of nationalism, growing militarism and protectionism
There is no immediate prospect of the war to come to an end Neither side is ready to negotiate This points to the war dragging on for months if not years with the danger and even likelihood of further escalation There have of course been many threats by the Putin regime to use nuclear weapons. This remains unlikely for a number of reasons. However, as the past year has amply demonstrated, war, even involving nuclear powers, can escalate massively even while being restricted to the use of “conventional” weapons. The main danger is that the war becomes an ever more direct conflict between NATO and Russia and that it
But the consequences of the continued war go much further These include the disastrous effect on global food and fertilizer supplies caused by the war including the threat of mass starvation in parts of the world This has already begun in the Horn of Africa Another year or more of war will also have significant negative consequences for the fragile world economy despite the recent more upbeat projections by the IMF
A defeat for Russia remains the most likely outcome of the war although clearly there is concern in the Zelensky regime and NATO that the Russian military has “not said its last word ” Russia has far more soldiers and a population nearly four times the size of Ukraine Its economy has managed to counteract severe sanctions with huge revenue from oil and gas and its munitions factories are operating on triple shifts Latest reports indicate that Russia may be preparing to use its still largely intact and potent air force on a wider scale in Ukraine. The concern of the Zelensky regime is reflected in the urgency to get more offensive weapons from the West Military defeat for Russia would almost certainly produce a massive political crisis and possibly lead to the removal of Putin, though in the short term, given the weakness of the Russian left and labor movement, this may lead to an even more dangerous military dictatorship led by nationalist hardliners, not a social revolution But the horrific conditions within the Russian military and the decreasing enthusiasm for the war could also lead to a mass revolt within the armed forces, a situation akin to what happened to the U.S. military in Vietnam
On the other hand, recent reports point to problems with morale in the Ukrainian army due to the conduct
of the war by the regime This has been acknowledged by Zelensky himself Other reports indicate that there have been significant desertions of soldiers who understandably don’t want to be thrown into the “meat grinder” of Bakhmut. There are also signs of increasing tensions within the Ukrainian regime, with rolling corruption crises and cabinet dismissals
If or when Zelensky signs a treaty that falls short of restoring 100% of “Ukrainian territory” there will be a fierce reaction from sections of the population who have accepted the scale of casualties and destruction in order to achieve this goal Who is likely to lead such a struggle? At this point it would likely be the far right in Ukraine which would benefit in this situation But given the vicious attacks on working people by the Zelensky regime there is also the potential for the reemergence of the class struggle.
The course of the war completely confirms that there is no basis for genuine independence for Ukraine on the basis of capitalism This will require a revolutionary struggle led by the Ukrainian working class against all imperialist forces linked to a workers’ movement internationally conscious of its tasks.
The key missing factor in Ukraine today is an independent working-class force One question that arises is how such a force, if it were leading the struggle against Russian occupation, would arm itself since the West would certainly not be arming it A working class-led struggle would not just be military but more fundamentally political in character It would mean the mass mobilization of the population, the formation of workers’ councils in workplaces and communities to organise the struggle Ukraine today is awash in weapons and the working class would find a way to seize weapons.
But more importantly, a working-class force in Ukraine could potentially have enormous success in launching a direct class appeal to Russian soldiers, hundreds of thousands of whom are conscripts who don’t want to be there Our goal is to end the slaughter and to wage a common struggle against the real enemies of the people, the oligarchs in Kyiv and Moscow and imperialism in general.
Today, the warmongers are in the driver’s seat But this can and will change In Russia, the left and liberal opposition that came on the streets to oppose the invasion of Ukraine a year ago faces intense repression.
But while protest has been suppressed, the massive casualties and forced conscription have created enormous anger and resentment in wide sections of the population far beyond the metropolitan centers of Moscow and St Petersburg
In many NATO countries there has also been intense political pressure to toe the line of Western imperialism. There has been relentless propaganda in Sweden and Finland to join NATO In Germany there has been intense propaganda to support resurgent German militarism The same is of course true in the U.S. and the UK. However, polls show declining support for further escalation and increasing questioning of the costs of the war In the U S , because of the complete failure of the “ left” in Congress, including the so-called Squad, to put forward an independent position, it is the hard right that makes an “antiwar” case but on a purely nationalist basis
In parts of Africa, on the other hand, and not just there, the left and even sections of the establishment support Russia and China as the “enemy of my enemy ” War poses a unique test for the left and revolutionary left The bulk of the left, including the far left, has utterly failed this test. The reformist left in the West has lined up behind Western imperialism while many on the “far left” have been apologists for Russian imperialism, as the “ lesser evil” or even allegedly “nonimperialist” power. Our position is based on the tradition of consistent anti-militarist, anti-imperialist internationalism embodied by the great Marxists
Liebknecht, Luxemburg, Lenin and Trotsky during World War I. The task facing the labor movement today and especially its most conscious elements is to build a mass movement of workers and youth against the war, against all measures of escalation and against both imperialist camps n
in a shocking first, the early months of 2023 in the South were dominated by a series of protests against refugees in Dublin and multiple towns, orchestrated by fascist elements. why now, what has created the basis for this reactionar y development, and what does it represent? who are the far right and what impact can they have? and crucially, what can be done to push them back? here K e v i N M c lo u g h l i N responds to these questions.
“'The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” – Antonio Gramsci
Political reaction, which means opposition to political or social progress, has been a feature internationally now for many years, including with the reemergence of far-right and fascist forces. Ireland is now catching up, but reaction has been building up over time; nurtured in the wasteland created by decades of neo-liberal attacks on the economic and social position of workingclass people.
Internationally, reaction is a consequence of the sellout of the social democratic and labour parties in country after country over 30 years ago, when instead of fighting back against the neoliberal capitalist onslaught and providing an alternative to it, they went over completely to the side of capitalism – causing confusion, demoralisation and disorientation, and an overall knockback in workers' organisation and consciousness, the effects of which still persist In turn,
a further price is being paid for the inability of new mass left parties in general to emerge in response to the Great Recession of 2007-09 and its aftermath
Since then, the hatred of the political establishment who are culpable for the crisis has been reflected through other forces – with Trump coming to power in 2016 a highlight and trend setter, followed by Bolsanaro in Brazil in 2019. We've seen the further development of Le Pen's National Rally ( formerly National Front) in France, of the far-right Sweden Democrats and Brothers of Italy, led by Giorgia Meloni, coming to power in Sweden and Italy.
All the while Modi in India, Erdoğan in Turkey, Orban in Hungary, and many other despots around the world have maintained themselves in power, and incredibly there have been rightwing coups in Bolivia and Peru, and attempts at coups in the US and Brazil, and even a coup plot in Germany in 2022. This is the profoundly volatile world we live in
The overarching factor in the growth of reaction and farright forces is the long-term economic decay of capitalism itself, and the multiple political and social consequences that flow from that.
Working-class people are naturally fearful and anxious as living standards decline and basics like decent housing, healthcare and education are beyond everyone, save for the wealthy. Wealth inequality, exploitation, environmental destruction and oppression are all increasing, adding a further edge to people’s anger The alienation and the hatred of the establishment is palpable, hollowing out the support for the so-called liberal bourgeois democracy.
These are ripe conditions for socialist movements to grow, which was illustrated in Greece with the left party Syriza coming to power in 2015, but in particular by the mushrooming of mass support behind Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in Britain at a certain stage In many countries, before the far right gained new positions and influence, there was first a desire and openness for a genuine left alternative.
Millions were looking to Sanders and Corbyn for an alternative However, in these two cases, although it has to be said in every case so far, the chance was squandered and they proved incapable of giving a decisive socialist lead Stil, radicalisation and potential for the left is evident among young people, and young people are crucial
But ‘nature abhors a vacuum’, so other forces are stepping in Right-wing populism, consciously using demagogic attacks on the establishment or ‘elites’ (Trump demanding “drain the swamp”), has reemerged While the most capitalist classes in different countries do not want to embrace far-right or fascist rule, it does suit the system to begin to bring such forces into the mix in case they need them in the future.
In general, capitalist society is becoming less democratic and more authoritarian They are not able to rule as they did before Even the so-called liberal French President Macron has had to repeatedly resort to executive decrees – bypassing the French parliament –to push through deeply unpopular legislation Some rulers are therefore injecting divisive policies and ideas into society, essentially deploying the tactic of ‘divide and rule’. If they can divert attention away from their own responsibility for the state of the planet and the current economic and social conditions by pointing in other directions, including fabricating so-called “culture wars” and scapegoating refugees or migrant workers, they are satisfied
This is the context in which far-right ideas and forces are on the rise and gaining an echo, including among sections of the working class. Those in desperate straits can be affected and misdirected by ideas that can seem to help them make sense of the injustice they experience, including even by reactionary or racist explanations to the problems they face.
Undoubtedly, the emergence of the different social media platforms has given reaction and the far right tools, which they have expertly used, to make a real impact not only online. As Dr Ryan T. Williams has noted: “Far right groups are some of the most successful adopters to this form of digital communication, targeting vulnerable people online, often young white men Their strategies have become ever more sophisticated, radicalising people using vlogs, live streaming, and web forums ”1
We see this too in the rise of conspiracy theories, which social media has helped to spread exponentially As did events such as 9/11 in the US, which created disbelief and questioning on a different level than
before The subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, which were shown to be wars based on lies, all contributed to global instability and political confusion, which helped the far right to seed their false narratives. The wars that have developed since then, particularly in Syria and Ukraine, have produced a huge global refugee crisis There are now 30 million refugees worldwide (among 100 million forcibly displaced people), all victims of a brutal capitalist system and its militarism, experiencing untold hardship 2 And the far right have exploited this crisis at every step
Ireland seemed to be the exception in having no serious or substantial far-right presence in politics, with some mistakenly thinking it related to the apparent liberal nature of Irish people Conor Cruise O’Brien, a Labour Party TD in the 1970s, went so far as to state that, “The Irish character was peculiarly resistant to racism”.3 Significant immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon in Ireland, a country with a history dominated by mass emigration The xenophobia that featured in other countries, while not completely absent, had not become a major political issue and some saw this as a positive portent for the future The truth was more complex
The racism that did and does exist in Ireland should not be underestimated The delay in the arrival of more developed far-right organisation and more explicit racism didn't relate to anything in the “Irish character”, but to a combination of factors. The period in which Ireland did begin to see a rise in immigration coincided with the Celtic Tiger boom, which served to mitigate some of the worst effects of neoliberalism, with employment and wages going up generally. The belated development and urbanisation of the country, including the increase of women in the workforce, also meant that movements for social progress coming from below came into their own over the last 20 years, and acted as a progressive pushback against reaction, such as the Marriage Equality victory in 2015 and the victory of abortion rights movement in 2018
However, there have been other warning signs, in particular the passing of the racist Citizenship Referendum in 2004 by a vote of 79%, on a 60% turnout Even in the middle of the resistance to austerity and the bailout there were the developments around right-populist and confused conspiracy groups like Direct Democracy Ireland, which were a peculiar mix of anti-EU, pro-landlord ideas Furthermore, there was the 23.3% vote that Peter Casey achieved in the Presidential Election of 2018 having spewed scurrilous anti-Traveller racism in his campaign In fact, anti-Traveller racism has long been a widespread problem in Irish society, one rarely acknowledged as a political issue until recently.
The pandemic and the lockdowns also proved transformative The social and psychological impact of the pandemic on wide layers of the population is still
not fully appreciated A whole number of the currently existing far-right groups and individuals established themselves and their online presence in the early months of the pandemic, and it provided ideal conditions for them to grow their influence and their ability to mobilise – as seen in the demonstrations against lockdown restrictions, which numbered in the low thousands on a few occasions They were in a much stronger position to operate when the restrictions ended, rather than wilt as many hoped they would
Over the past year of Putin’s war in Ukraine there has been a tenfold increase in the number of refugees coming to Ireland To this government’s shame, refugees have often experienced poor quality accommodation, and some have shockingly been forced to sleep rough. Coinciding as it did with the already existing housing crisis, this gifted the far right an opportunity to organise protests in many areas, often using the idea that the government will act for refugees but do nothing for Irish people suffering from the housing crisis. And this idea has some power, because it has some truth to it Not because the government favours refugees (who it treats abysmally in Direct Provision centres), but because it had no choice. Under pressure from the EU it was forced to go further in finding ways to accommodate refugees, with an urgency it never displayed for either Irish or migrant homeless people in the last ten years.
As well as twisting the housing crisis to blame refugees, the far right operated straight out of the fascist playbook when calling protests against ‘unvetted males’ and whipping up a disgusting hysteria around the alleged threat of assault to women by refugees
emboldened by successes
An accurate assessment of where things stand is important in determining how best to combat these groups and their potential influence There are now a plethora of individuals and groups trying to make a name for themselves including, the Irish Freedom Party, the National Party, Ireland First, Yellow Vest Ireland, Rise Up Ireland, Seed of Ireland, Irish Council for Human Rights, and Anti-Corruption Ireland. There is undoubtedly cooperation among these groups and individuals, and connections with far-right and fascist groups in other countries, notably Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson. The methods and tactics used by the far right in the US and Britain are adapted to fit here
They have demonstrated an ability to use social media platforms to great effect. One informed observer estimates that they have up to 100 capable operators consistently working social media This ability to impact
was demonstrated in late December 2020 when within minutes of the Garda shooting dead George Nkencho, a young Black man in Blanchardstown, they organised through Telegram and other platforms to successfully flood social media with a slew of disgusting racist lies about George
In late 2022 and early 2023, beyond the still relatively small numbers of the fascist hardcore, there have been numerous protests with several hundreds on them, meaning that overall a few thousand have probably been involved in anti-refugee protests in recent months. A greater number of women have attended the protests compared to previous far-right actions Some of those attending do so out of misdirected anger at the housing crisis or fears about gender violence. Others attend because they are more generally disaffected, demoralised and frustrated, and want to lash out
Undoubtedly, the racist attitudes which do exist in society are also contributing to the attendance at these protests This has added to the atmosphere of menace on display No doubt the far-right and fascist groups are likely to recruit new members from these layers, and given that all the broad factors that helped this situation to emerge in the first place will continue, it is likely that they can also grow the periphery around them
The key questions are how much broader is their influence, and much broader could it become? They have already had an impact in society, making the issue of refugees a bigger political issue than it would have been, although the government’s disastrous handling of the influx was always going to make it an issue More clearly they have had an impact on official politics, with the position of the government parties shifting further to the right on the issue An article in The Irish Times recently put it:
“Virally spreading claims of sexual assaults by migrants on social media, demonising journalists and picketing accommodation centres are all tried and tested. The description of people as “unvetted” uses a word borrowed from the long-running immigration rows in the US The sequence of events that has played out across Europe since 2015 has been as follows. The logistical challenge of accommodating an influx of new people is exploited by those who are opposed to immigration already Political opportunists take up the issue, using shock tactics to court media attention and amplify their profile and message To compete with these upstarts and avoid being painted as “soft” on migration, established political parties echo and often ultimately adopt their positions, shifting the centre-ground towards the anti-immigrant right ”4
We’ve heard such comments from establishment politicians, including Leo Varadkar who said the government’s policy on asylum seekers should be “firm, fair and hard”,5 and the government has adopted a harsher approach to refugees, boasting about deporting 130 people in January alone.6
It would be a mistake to underestimate the potential of the developing fascist hardcore to broaden its influence further in the future. And of course it is refugees, migrants and people of colour who will feel the brunt of this racist rhetoric, including in threats and physical attacks, as well as constant fear
There must be a robust response to the far-right threat We are not just dealing with unpleasant, nasty people, we are dealing with an ideology and a movement that has a base and a history to it Fascism is an extreme form of capitalist rule, the last resort when democratic rights can no longer be afforded because they impede the ruling class and their pursuit of profit at the expense of society Fascist movements which develop into major forces are invariably funded by big business interests Historically, the goal of fascists was to undermine and crush democratic rights and especially working-class organisations
This was done by propaganda and brute force
Fascism mobilised the ruined middle classes and the most disenfranchised sections of the unemployed working class, and scapegoated certain groups as being responsible for the problems in society In that way, they divide and weaken the working class, pick off their enemies and grind their way to dictatorship.
The main lesson from the history of fascism is to prevent fascists getting a foothold In general, socialists adopt the position of ‘no platform for fascists’. That is, they should not be allowed to avail of the basic democratic rights in society to spread their dangerous poison For example, if fascists were organising a demonstration, a public meeting or opening an office, there should be a campaign to stop them going ahead, because if they succeed with any of these things it
would embolden them and their ideas Any success for them invariably leads to a growth in racism, misogyny and LGBTQ-phobia, and violent attacks
Fascists should not be allowed to avail of the democratic rights won by working-class people so they can in turn crush those same rights for us all The Socialist Party, others on the left and anti-racist activists have on numerous occasions in the past successfully forced the cancellation of far-right events, or forced fascists off the streets by the sheer weight of the numbers mobilised to resist them
However, the situation is now more complex than before When fascists have the ear of a section of people, instead of weakening them, shutting them down can create sympathy for them among some who don't really understand the danger fascists pose, and can potentially increase their support Also, social media facilitates everyone to publish and propagate their ideas, and the companies who run them benefit from the controversial content posted by the far right. In these circumstances it is extremely difficult for anti-fascists to implement a full ‘no platform’ position
impede the ruling class and their pursuit of profit at the expense of society. Fascist movements which develop into major forces are invariably funded by big business interests. historically, the goal of fascists was to undermine and crush democratic rights and especially working- class organisations.”
Generally, counter-protests are good and should be organised, but the whole point of a counter-protest is to significantly outnumber the fascists and by weight of numbers pressurise them from the streets, which is a blow and demoralises them If you can't outnumber them, then a counter-protest can actually be counterproductive What results is a standoff, or worse, they outnumber us and it backfires. If you call a counterprotest, you have the responsibility to properly organise a mobilisation broader than just those on the left It means mobilising working-class and young people from workplaces, communities, schools and colleges.
What follows from this is that a serious approach to pushing back the far right and fascists means spreading awareness and information, and engaging in discussions in the aforementioned arenas about the threat posed and what needs to be done Some people who have a liberal approach may think it is enough to make moral arguments about racism being unjust. However, it would be a mistake not to directly take up the arguments that the far right use to try to worm their
“Fascism is an ex treme form of capitalist rule, the last resor t when democratic rights can no longer be afforded because they
way into the population If at all possible, it is best to chip away at the broader layers that come around the far right through their manipulation and abuse of legitimate issues
Any campaign against the far right has to take up the housing issue, and the best way to show that the crisis is not the fault of refugees is to show who is responsible, namely the government, the landlords and private developers The most convincing and effective arguments against the antimigrant scapegoating are the ones that show that capitalist policies are at the heart of the problems we face; that there are more than enough wealth and resources for everyone to have what they need, and that the battle isn't among working-class people, but between all of us and the super-rich capitalist class. Obviously this means such campaigns must be independent of, and in clear opposition to, the government parties.
On 18 Februar y, tens of thousands marched in Dublin against anti-refugee
graffiti, leafleting the areas they covered and even door knocking to engage people and make them aware of what these forces really stand for.
As part of this we should show the far right's true colours, how they favour landlords over tenants, bosses over workers, in the same way as they favour militarism over the victims of war. We need solidarity among working-class people here, and among all working-class people internationally
It isn't just about making the correct arguments, it is necessary where possible to initiate active mass struggle – on housing and other issues – to provide concrete ways people can struggle on the issues. The Socialist Party has recently initiated community-based housing campaigns in Cork and Dublin West and are seeking to see if housing could successfully be made an issue for trade unions to organise on.
Generally, but certainly in the current environment, the trade unions have a responsibility to combat racism in the workplaces, so many of which are now multiethnic. Whether it be racism from management, the public, or from other workers, it needs to be stamped out Moreover, the unions, with over 500,000 members in the South represent the most powerful force that can be, and must be, mobilised against the far right’s growing presence in society
Some far-right organisations are attempting to build a base in particular geographical areas, where they poster, leaflet and knock on doors. It would perhaps not be advisable at this point to physically confront them on these activities, but it is completely appropriate to establish anti-racist networks of people in the communities, which respond to what the far right are doing For example, removing racist posters, stickers,
In that way, broad networks could play a role in firming up an intolerance in communities against the far right which could undermine their ability to be active. Such networks can also discuss and organise security and stewarding at events organised by groups that could be targeted for disruption by the far right
As mentioned earlier, young people have a crucial role to play and will tend to take the lead in challenging racism, but also crucially the transphobia and misogyny of the far right, which is deeply embedded in its DNA
In the past, youthful left-wing organisations, such as Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE), played a role in bringing young people together and organising against the far right Young people led Irish society forward on women’s and LGBTQ rights, and they can do the same on racism. Socialists will be at the fore in this struggle.
The emergence of the far-right in Ireland has been shocking, but it is forcing young people to consider getting active. Fighting the far-right, who are in essence symptomatic of capitalism in decay, necessarily raises the need for an alternative to capitalism, and there is a real prospect that many will draw the necessary socialist conclusions n
1 Dr Ryan T Williams, 12 May 2022, ‘Social Media and The Rise of The Far Right’, research tees ac uk l 2 Concern Worldwide, 9 Jan 2023, ‘ The 10 largest refugee crises to know in 2023’, www.concern.net l 3 Diarmaid Ferriter, 3 Feb 2023, ‘ The racism that has always lurked within the Irish has been exposed’, www irishtimes com l 4 Naomi O'Lear y, 8 Feb 2023, ‘ The lessons Ireland missed about resisting the far-right’, www irishtimes com l 5 Ciara Phelan, 9 Feb 2023, ‘Leo Varadkar: Ireland has to take fair, firm and hard approach to migration‘, www irishexaminer com l 6 H O'Connell and A Sherr y, 4 Feb 2023, ‘Simon Harris says State is depor ting people ever y single month’ www independent ie
Cambridge University Press, 2023
a new book by Japanese Mar xist Kohei
Saito has been an unlikely bestseller in Japan, selling more than half a million copies since its 2020 release. Saito's unambiguous message that capitalism is to blame for the environmental crisis and that we must over throw it to build a more sustainable world clearly caught the imagination of Japan's youth, leading the way in a revival of Mar xist literature in the countr y. Now, an updated version is available in english. ch r i S S t e wa r t reviews this impor tant work.
In Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism, Saito analyses Marx's key writings on capitalism's relationship with the natural world and uses them as a framework for understanding the ecological crisis in the 21st century. Building on his previous book, Karl Marx's Ecosocialism: Capital, Nature, and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy (2017), he traces the development of Marx's theory of capitalism's 'metabolic rift' with nature.
In recent years, 'eco-Marxist' writers like Saito, John Bellamy Foster, Paul Burkett and Brett Clark have revived Marx's ecological critique of capitalism, which was largely lost throughout the 20th century They have convincingly argued against the view of Marx as a 'promethean' who uncritically praised capitalism's technological domination of nature.
Accusations of Marx's 'prometheanism' are often based on Marx's early writings, such as The Communist Manifesto of 1848, in which Marx referred to capitalism's 'subjugation of nature to man' (p. 178). Marx was witness to the emergence of industrial capitalism in the 19th century and noted how it spurred revolutions in science, new technologies and industrial methods of production that were transforming human society, facilitating a huge increase in the exploitation of human labour and the extraction of natural resources
Marx's great insight was that capitalism was based on a fundamental conflict between the working class –who are forced to sell their labour to survive – and the property-owning capitalist class Under this system, he noted, workers face an intense alienation from their own labour as well as from the natural conditions of
their own existence, which are increasingly commodified in capitalism's pursuit of profit
The Manifesto, written as a call to arms to workers as revolution spread across Europe, 'seethed with revolutionary optimism' and reflected Marx and Engels's conviction that 'capitalism would soon be transcended through a socialist revolution triggered by a severe economic crisis'. When these revolutions ended in defeat and capitalism was revived, Marx sought to gain a deeper understanding of the contradictions at the heart of the capitalist system so as to better understand the system's workings, its dynamism and destructiveness
Saito shows that human society's relationship with the rest of the natural world was at the heart of Marx's materialist worldview, and that capitalism's predatory relationship with nature was a key part of his criticism of the system. As well as a system that produces profit from the exploitation of workers, Marx saw capitalism as a system of 'robbery' based on the expropriation of nature and the plunder of colonies
Saito argues that later in life Marx emphasised how 'sustainable development of the productive forces is not possible under capitalism because it only reinforces intensive and extensive squandering and robbery of human and nature for the sake of short-term profit and endless capital accumulation, creating more complicated and extensive ecological issues' (p 181)
Quoting at length from a collection of unpublished notes by Marx and Engels (which he is working on as one of the editors of the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) collection), he shows that Marx examined aspects of ecological destruction closely related to climate change today – 'the exhaustion of natural resources (soil nutrients, fossil fuel and woods) as well as the extinction of species due to the capitalist system of industrial production' (p 4)
In particular, Marx's dialectical understanding of human society as part of a 'metabolic interaction' with the rest of nature is crucial to understanding the scale of capitalism's ecological crisis today.
Marx's theory of value under capitalism holds that the capitalist market sees nature as a 'free gift' to be exploited and polluted at will. As such, environmental costs generated by capitalist production are 'externalised' meaning the capitalist does not have to bear them – the rest of us do Marx argued that this meant capitalism would inevitably degrade the inherent
value of the land, oceans, forests and atmosphere (which Marx included in his definition of 'natural wealth') for humans and all other living beings
Flowing from this, Marx argued that capitalism's endless drive for profit would mean expansion through relentless material extraction and pollution which would inevitably provoke a 'metabolic rift' in the natural cycles that humanity depends on, leading to crisis.
The key example used by Marx was soil erosion due to the intense exploitation of capitalist agriculture, but modern eco-Marxists have extended the concept to pollution of the atmosphere, ocean acidification and the disruption of the water cycle resulting from capitalist production
Part of this 'metabolic rift' for Marx was the divide between 'town and country' that was growing in his day Capitalism's expansion meant urban centres were becoming highly populated with a growing working class, while natural resources in the countryside were increasingly being hyper-exploited. This divide has increased massively in the recent decades, with marketdriven dispossession of poor peasants around the world leading to a boom in ever-expanding city slums while whole regions of the planet have become areas of extraction for mining companies, agribusiness and the fossil fuel industry
Saito connects this to 'ecological imperialism', where resource exhaustion, habitat destruction and pollution expand sharply in the neocolonial world as corporations from the imperialist powers extract massive amounts of wealth from them (p. 33). The 'material world' has been fundamentally 'reorganised by capital's initiative in favour of its own accumulation' (p 155) The system's expansion has polluted the atmosphere, poisoned
groundwater, flooded the planet with toxic chemicals and driven a collapse in bio-diversity across the world
'Since the earth is finite,' Saito writes, 'it is obvious that there are absolute biophysical limits to capital accumulation' (p 19) However, the system's constant growth cannot recognise limits. The relentless logic of competition between companies and even different capitalist powers for markets and resources means that the drive for profit is relentless and expansive
As such, capitalists constantly seek to stretch natural limits through what Saito terms 'metabolic shifts'. This includes technological developments that can, for a time, overcome limits – such as the overuse of chemical fertiliser to maintain soil fertility – as well as the externalisation of environmental costs to the neocolonial countries and to future generations
But because these 'solutions' are designed to continue the extraction of natural resources at everincreasing rates, they inevitably serve to deepen the crisis in the long-run, increasing the system's 'destructiveness against society and nature' (p 18)
Today, this manifests itself in the crossing of 'planetary boundaries' – global environmental conditions that act as a safe operating space for humanity (p 123) Capitalism is increasingly coming up against the ecological barrier to its unrestrained development, as seen in mounting natural disasters, resource depletion, and a global pandemic
However, Saito importantly points out that we should not assume that these crises will simply cause capitalism to collapse in on itself He argues that capitalism is an incredibly adaptive system that can
find new ways to profit, even as millions die and countless are displaced (p126) The only way to stop this disaster, Saito argues, is through 'the radical reorganisation of the relations of production for the sake of freedom and autonomy of the associated producers' (p 156)
In this context, Saito's book attempts to extend this Marxist analysis of the ecological crisis to key debates within the environmental movement today These debates are of vital importance to socialists and the workers' movement more generally because they deal with the nature of the ecological crisis and the programme of action necessary to fight it
As capitalist states have failed to come to any sort of solution to this crisis, they have increasingly turned to the idea that the crisis will solve itself John Kerry, for example, explicitly stated that half of US emissions reduction targets will have to come from theoretical technologies that do not yet exist, betraying the fact that the US has virtually no plan in place to meet its targets
This 'wait for technology' approach is supported by so-called 'eco-modernists', for example the US think tank The Breakthrough Institute, which argues that fundamental system change is not necessary because a mix of 'geo-engineering, carbon capture and storage and nuclear fusion' will end the crisis (p. 130).
A version of this idea has taken hold within parts of the reformist left Figures like Aaron Bastani and Paul Mason point to automation, advanced AI and the internet as holding the key to the downfall of the capitalist system They put forward an evolutionary vision of 'post-capitalism', in which new technologies utilised by social democratic governments will usher in an era of automated luxury (Ch 5)
While these figures make occasional reference to Marx, Saito points out that their utopian visions of 'post-capitalism' ignore the ways in which capitalism's erratic development has disrupted the metabolic processes of nature. Bastani points to a future of an 'extreme supply' of goods, with endlessly rising energy usage allowing us to 'lead lives equivalent – if we so wish – to those of today's billionaires' Such 'extreme supply' is only possible on the basis of extreme extraction of materials, which are not inexhaustible and are today largely extracted from the neocolonial world. Bastani simply waves this problem away with a reference to 'asteroid mining,' but such a utopian solution is not a serious approach to the ecological crisis.
Saito points out that underneath this technological optimism lies a pessimism in the ability for workingclass people to struggle to overcome the capitalist system (p 160) Unable to see a possibility for revolution, they look towards technology alone for solutions. But it is a complete fantasy that technology alone will bring about the end of capitalism or solve the environmental crisis Technological breakthroughs under capitalism have the opposite effect, accelerating the destruction of the environment as increased efficiency is used by capitalists to expand production (this is known as the Jevons Paradox)
Because of this, Saito argues that we need a total transformation of society globally in order to fight ecological breakdown Specifically he argues we need a society based on 'degrowth communism' (Ch 7)
'Degrowth' has become a popular idea in parts of the environmental movement in recent years. The basic idea proposed by proponents of degrowth is that endless economic growth is driving climate and ecological catastrophe through material extraction and pollution If we are to stay within the 'planetary boundaries,' a more sustainable relationship with nature must be built through 'degrowing' the economy, meaning a decrease in material and energetic throughput
In contrast to the many liberal degrowth supporters who see growth primarily as a kind of 'ideology', Saito is clear that growth is the result of the drive to accumulate profits under capitalism In recent years, many degrowth theorists have moved in the direction of anti-capitalism, with support for 'ecosocialist' degrowth. They argue for a radical redistribution of wealth, elimination of waste and a plan of production
around meeting people's needs while decreasing ecological impacts.
At the heart of this is a criticism of what capitalist economic growth actually means While politicians and the media talk about economic growth as if the benefits of it are equally shared by everybody in society, in reality the vast majority of the wealth produced under capitalism is hoarded by a tiny ruling class Often economic growth means increased profits and dividends for shareholders but little real gain for working-class people
As Saito points out, 'no matter how much capitalism increases the productive forces' the capitalist market constantly recreates artificial scarcity for working-class people (p 226) In the preceding decades of neoliberal capitalism, the basis for economic growth has often been the reduction of the share of wealth going to the working class Capitalism has suppressed wages, gutted public services, and eroded economic security Inequality has exploded as the gains of economic growth have congealed at the top. At the same time, the capitalists have promoted more and more consumption, fuelled in significant measure by debt
Capitalist 'growth' promotes a whole host of activities that are harmful, destructive and wasteful. The gargantuan arms industry uses massive amounts of materials and energy to produce nothing of use to working-class people, only weapons of death and destruction. The advertising industry exists largely to create false needs, often preying on anxieties and insecurities, to boost consumption Planned obsolescence means that products are deliberately built with a short lifespan so they must be frequently replaced by consumers Often products are shipped across the world to be packaged by workers in a country with cheaper labour, only to be shipped back to be sold
All of this flows from the bizarre, distorted logic of the profit-motive Creating more and more products that aren't needed or will be sent rapidly to landfill and generating more and more artificial demand may be considered 'growth' in capitalist terms, but it isn't progress.
A reduction in production and consumption is absolutely necessary if we are to avoid the worst climate impacts in the coming decades The key question is on what basis is this possible? Saito is clear that degrowth is not possible on a capitalist basis. In fact, when the capitalist economy periodically stops growing in times of recession, it is catastrophic for working-class people and the most oppressed (p 245)
“a democratically planned economy could do 'more with less', including raising the living standards of the majority of people as par t of a planned ecological transition – retooling useless or destructive industries, eliminating duplication, overproduction and planned obsolescence, focusing on fulfilling needs not generating ar tificial wants, and transforming agriculture, transpor t and energy production on a sustainable basis.”
As such, the only way to pull the 'emergency brake' on capitalism's destruction of the environment, he argues, is through socialist democracy and economic planning that can meet human needs without economic growth (ch 7) To achieve this, society's wealth and resources must be wrenched out of the hands of the big corporate polluters and put to use to meet the needs of people and the planet, rather than profit
The first and most urgent measure is the phasing out of fossil fuels, as well as the ostentatious consumption of the super rich Alongside reduction in many areas, there is an urgent need for a rapid transformation and development of society through green energy projects, including infrastructure,
sustainable social housing, massively expanded public transport, healthcare, education and green job guarantees A democratically planned economy could do 'more with less', including raising the living standards of the majority of people as part of a planned ecological transition – retooling useless or destructive industries, eliminating duplication, overproduction and planned obsolescence, focusing on fulfilling needs not generating artificial wants, and transforming agriculture, transport and energy production on a sustainable basis. In such a system whole industries, communities and cities would be planned democratically and on a completely different basis, putting an end to capitalist overproduction and waste and allowing for a more rational allocation of resources. Such a society could, according to Marx, 'govern the human metabolism with nature in a rational way' (p 205)
Crucially, capitalism does not just waste huge amounts of resources, but also wastes human potential and labour-power itself. As Marx wrote, “the capitalist mode of production begets, by its anarchic system of competition, the most outrageous squandering of labour-power and of the social means of production” (p. 238).
By eliminating such waste, Saito points out that a reorganisation of society could bring about a reduction of the working week and a sharing out of 'socially necessary' labour. This would not only eliminate unemployment but would also massively improve the lives of workers, freeing us up to participate in the running of society in a much fuller way. Marx himself argued that the increase in free time was an essential component of a socialist society that would be a key measure of its success – allowing for 'the true realm of freedom, the development of human powers as an end in itself ' (p. 234).
Marx in the Anthropocene is a useful contribution towards a Marxist analysis of the ecological crisis However, despite describing the need for a socialist transformation of society, Saito unfortunately avoids the question of how such a society could come about For Marx, the answer to that question lay in a united movement of the working class fighting in its own interests. Such a force, as we have seen recently with the powerful general strike of French workers, can paralyse production and bring capitalism's destruction of nature to a halt. The urgent task today is to organise such a movement around a clear programme of socialist demands aimed at taking the key sectors of the economy out of the hands of the profiteers, and transforming them to meet the needs of all people and the planet n
March 2023 will mark the 25th anniversar y of the signing of the good Friday agreement (gFa). predic tably, this will be marked with hubristic fanfare from the british and irish governments, and at least some of the sec tarian par ties in the Nor th. this will be combined with the visit of uS president Joe biden to ireland, who will specifically visit belfast. current and former capitalist establishment figures associated with the agreement are using this event to bolster their status.
Eager to join these backslapping celebrations will be two former heads of the Irish and British governments, namely Ber tie Ahern and Tony Blair, in the hope that they can rehabilitate their tarnished reputations. The latter is widely hated as a war criminal who, alongside George W. Bush, launched the brutal invasion and war in Iraq resulting in the deaths of over one million Iraqis. Ahern, on the other hand, is despised as the disgraced and corrupt politician that help bring about the 2008 economic crash in the South
Celebrations around the GFA by establishment politicians of different hues will desperately attempt to overlook the fac t that the institutions of the Agreement are currently suspended due to the
continuing deadlock around the Protocol. This is nothing new – for more than one -third of the last quar ter of a centur y, the Stormont Executive has been in suspension. Throughout the Nor th, there are still 100 peace wall barriers at different sec tarian inter faces. Ten years ago, a goal was set for the removal of such barriers. Its failure is a stark reminder of the fac t that the GFA has patently failed to break down sec tarian division.
Below we republish an abridged version of an ar ticle written by P E T E r H A d d E N in the immediate af termath of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in May 1998, entitled ‘ Will the Agreement bring peace?’.
Peter was a leading member of the Socialist Par ty, and its predecessor Militant, until his sad and untimely death in 2010. He wrote ex tensively on the national question in Ireland and elsewhere including Divide and Rule – Labour and the Par tition of Ireland (1980), Beyond the Troubles? (1994), Troubled Times – the National Question in Ireland (1995), along with Common Histor y, Common Struggle, which was published posthumously in 2017.
His writings, including the full tex t of this ar ticle, can be found at w w w mar xists org
why the agreement hasn’t delivered a solution to sectarianism and division
Around the world the Good Friday Agreement may have been trumpeted as an “historic compromise”, an “exercise in reconciliation” and a “step to a final solution” to decades of conflict.
Within Northern Ireland, and especially within the working class communities, there has been no such view Most people were relieved that there was agreement rather than disagreement but the mood was sceptical from the start and is increasingly so
The Socialist Party’s view on the referendum and the deal is in line with the approach of most working class people. We do not endorse this deal which is neither a solution, nor the basis of a solution, but we think it is preferable to vote Yes in order to continue with the peace process and in order to defeat the reactionary and backward looking forces who make up the No camp. Asked to choose between two roads to sectarian conflict we choose the longer, if only because it gives the working class movement more time to mount a challenge to the sectarians. Our position is clear and distinct
The real yardstick for socialists when considering the national question is what effect a particular stance will have in raising or lowering class awareness or consciousness as opposed to national consciousness and whether it will strengthen or weaken the working class movement.
In our view a No victory would be a victory for right wing sectarians, Orange and Green, would lower class consciousness and would quite drastically weaken the potential for unity between Catholic and Protestant workers.
The ultra-left shrug their shoulders as though this were of some passing significance The largest of these groups, the Socialist Workers Party, has this to say: “The alternative is not civil war or armed conflict ... In the unlikely event of the settlement being rejected that same pressure for peace would continue and socialists would give it every support.”
This unreal scenario is then the basis for the following conclusion: “It is time to break from all the sectarian agendas and put class politics to the fore Voting No to this deal will mark a start.”
The last thing a No vote would result in would be the coming to the fore of class politics and will be deaf to such “advice” It would be a victory for the camp of Paisley, McCartney, the LVF – and no-one else. There would be no Agreement, no Assembly elections and the idea of sending the political parties back to the table would have no credibility In short the peace process would be in tatters.
Would the working class then step onto the scene to offer another way out? Of course we cannot entirely dismiss this as a theoretical possibility but it would be extremely unlikely. The working class movement would be stunned and demoralised by the No victory The present right wing leadership would most likely signal a retreat The socialist left is not powerful enough at this moment to offer an alternative. Much more likely it would be the most confrontational sectarian forces
which would step into the political vacuum left by the collapse of the Agreement
The effect of a No vote on the consciousness of the Catholic population would be immediate, dramatic and enduring It would be seen that Protestants had said no to even a minimal equality agenda This time it would not be just the unionist politicians who would be held responsible, it would be the broad mass of the Protestant population
As when the demand for civil rights was blocked by unionists in the late 1960s, Catholics would conclude that there is no possibility of respite within the Northern state Nationalism, of the most virulent and sectarian variety, would be reinforced Far from putting “class politics to the fore” it would mean that among Catholics, North and South, the idea of building class unity with Protestants would seem less than credible Those, like the Socialist Party, who would continue to advocate this would risk isolation
Th current juncture, and with it this deal, has been arrived at through stalemate, war weariness and not through reconciliation. When the IRA campaign began in the early 1970s we argued that this method of struggle would not succeed, that its net effect would be to divide the working class, the real agency for progressive change in society.
When the Republican movement developed the armalite/ballot box strategy in the early 80s we argued that these two methods of struggle were mutually exclusive. While circumstances might allow the secretive methods of individual terrorism to run alongside the public mass electoral work for a period, ultimately they were bound to lead in opposite directions.
Sinn Fein’s peace strategy was born out of the exhaustion of the military tactic and the realisation of this by a decisive section of the northern leadership The electoral successes remained partial and the twin objectives of overtaking the SDLP and of making a breakthrough in the South remained out of reach Ongoing military activity came to be seen by the leadership as a barrier to these goals.
Meanwhile the theoretical basis of republicanism received a shock with the signing of the 1985 AngloIrish Agreement The real truth is that, from as early as the 1960s, the British ruling class would have preferred to withdraw from Northern Ireland Partition had outlived its historic usefulness and they would have preferred a single independent capitalist state in Ireland which they would have striven to dominate by economic, rather than by military or political means
The fact that the million strong Protestant community would not accept this, and that withdrawal would have led to civil war – with huge repercussions in Britain and internationally – made them hold their hand When the IRA campaign began in earnest in the early 70s, their stated target was the British military presence, and the objective was to force withdrawal. In
fact the campaign was based on a false premise: – that the British stayed out of an on-going imperialist interest rather than because the threat of civil war gave them no choice
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was drawn up as a part of the then British strategy of concessions to win over the Catholic middle class and isolate Sinn Fein and the IRA Its main agenda was a security one – to leave the republican movement without the cover of broad popular support and therefore easier dealt with by military means That Agreement – which it should be remembered was also proclaimed to be an historic breakthrough – failed in this
But it caused the republican leadership to question whether their basic premise – that Britain retained an imperialist interest in maintaining partition – was correct
Signals from the republican leadership that there might be a way forward through dialogue were picked up by British intelligence By the end of the decade the ruling class were embarking on a new strategy. Instead of attempting “solutions” which would isolate and undermine the “violent extremes” the new objective became an “all embracing process” which could bring all but the most recalcitrant of the republicans and loyalists in from the cold
The statement by Secretary of State Peter Brooke that Britain had no “selfish, strategic or economic interest” in Ireland was at one and the same time a signal to the republican leadership that the door of negotiation was open and a hook to entrap them on a peace strategy from which they would not be able to turn back.
These processes were reinforced by the collapse of Stalinism, the apparent supremacy of the market and apparent demise of socialism, the strengthening of the position of US imperialism as the “one world power” with an increased ability to intervene and exert leverage in conflict situations As with the ANC and PLO, the republican movement was thrown off-course by these developments and began to shift to the right. So this “anti-imperialist” movement ended by leaning on the representatives of US imperialism and looking to agencies of world capitalism such as the UN to help find a way forward.
The 1994 IRA cease-fire was the product of all this Most fundamentally it came about because the theoretical basis of the IRA campaign was eroded and when the campaign itself reached a point of exhaustion
By this stage the war weariness felt by the mass of the population had turned into open opposition to what had come to be seen as vicious and pointless military
attacks carried out by both loyalist paramilitaries and by republicans. The working class began to take to the streets demanding a halt to all killings.
This had an effect on the UDA and the UVF, just as it had on the IRA It strengthened the case for a loyalist cease-fire which was being put forward by some of the 70s generation of loyalist prisoners who were emerging from the prisons with a more sophisticated view Sensitive to the growing revulsion at loyalist atrocities and also aware that the IRA campaign had been effectively contained, they were able to gain support for the view that loyalist violence should end
By any reckoning the years since the cease-fires have seen the division within society, especially the division between working class people, deepen quite dramatically During this time the events which have had the most dramatic impact have not taken place in the Castle Buildings talks complex. They have occurred in the few acres of land in and around the Drumcree churchyard and along the Garvaghy Road The fall-out from these confrontations and from the manner in which the route was cleared for the Orange marchers has vastly increased the sectarian polarisation
Paradoxically the very fact of the cease-fires and the talks has also added to the division By the end of the 80s the Troubles had ground into a stalemate out of which a certain stability had been created The violence had reached the “acceptable level” which, during the explosive events of the early 70s, the ruling class could only faintly hope would one day arrive. The “peace process” disturbed this relative equilibrium The prospect of talks in which all issues would be on the agenda created new uncertainties
These were added to by the efforts of the main parties to marshal their respective communities behind their narrow sectarian agenda on every issue that came up through the negotiations. Even the Yes campaign in the referendum has been a further exercise in polarisation – one side rousing Protestants to vote Yes for the union, the other urging Catholics to vote Yes to help bring a United Ireland closer.
When the parties emerged in self-congratulatory mood from Castle Buildings on Good Friday the unpleasant truth was that their efforts had moved the two communities further apart. And when the votes in the referendum are counted, the real truth, obscured by the euphoric cacophony of the world’s press, will be that the net result of the victorious Yes campaign will have been to widen the sectarian divide even further.
A real solution can only be based on unity of working people and the integration of the communities It means not just a coming together on social issues but a coming together also on the difficult and currently divisive issues which arise from the national conflict An agreement which has widened all these divisions and which sees no way of overcoming them is no solution.
What resulted is a fudge on most issues, albeit a cleverly concocted fudge which allows different sides to read what they want to read into it The Agreement is not some new vision, creating new sets of relationships to take society beyond the conflict It does just the opposite. It takes the existence of the sectarian divide as permanent and, rather than diminish it, effectively casts it in concrete
Assembly members must declare themselves either unionist, nationalist or “other”. That unionists and nationalists each have a veto on key issues indicates the underlying assumption that the “other” category will always be an irrelevance In other words it reflects the view that there can be no solution, no reconciliation, but that sectarian politics will forever dominate
Those who constructed the deal might counter that the system of enforced power sharing overcomes this and forces everyone to work together. This was the premise in Cyprus and Lebanon where power sharing was adopted as the means to balance the interests of different national and religious communities The effect was to institutionalise the divisions and hinder the development of class unity from below In both cases the end result was civil war and effective repartition If it gets off the ground, the institutionalised sectarianism of this Agreement would ultimately have no better result
As to the debate over North/South bodies, the proposals of the SDLP and Sinn Fein would actually disenfranchise rather than empower the Catholic working class and Protestant workers also They called for North/South bodies to be “fire-walled” from control either by the Assembly or the Dail Unable to achieve reunification they were reduced to arguing for tokens,
paltry symbols which could be presented to Catholics as the “all Ireland dimension”
To have institutions “firewalled” from democratic control means handing executive authority over to a tiny cabal of senior government ministers, unionist and nationalist, to do what they like with the services under their control For working people the existing parliaments, the new Assembly included, are sufficiently distant and unaccountable, without adding a further, even more remote tier, “fire-walled” from the day to day demands, needs and pressures of the working class.
The main concessions made to Sinn Fein are on the “equality” agenda. These are not changes wrung from a reluctant British government in negotiations. Since the early days of direct rule it has been the policy of successive British administrations to eradicate the excesses of half a century of Unionist misrule. With or without the talks they would have proceeded with an “equality” agenda of sorts That past reforms of the old Orange State have had little impact on Catholic working class areas is largely down to the fact that any easing of discrimination has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in state repression, most of it directed at these areas
As with the moves made on “equality”, so the proposals made on “demilitarisation” amount to little more than a restatement of existing government policy There will be moves to close down military installations, reduce the army’s role, and review emergency legislation, but this return to what it calls “normal security arrangements” will be carried out “consistent with the level of threat”
There is nothing new in the promise that if the IRA go away the overt military presence will be cut back Whether security is lessened significantly; especially in border areas, will depend on whether the Agreement sticks and, if it does, on the effectiveness of the on-going military campaign by IRA dissidents Only on the prisoners issue has a firmer commitment been made Even this, the guarantee that all prisoners will be out within two years – is hedged with qualifications Releases, it states, will go ahead “if circumstances allow” From the government’s point of view the linking of releases to the ceasefires turns the prisoners into hostages and arm-locks the IRA and loyalist groups into a continuation of the peace strategy It also puts substantial pressure on the INLA to declare a cease-fire, if only to prevent their prisoners opting for early release and defecting to rival organisations
On the issue which Sinn Fein had made central –the independence of North/South bodies the Agreement awards game, set and match to the unionists The proposed cross border structures are clearly made answerable to the Assembly and Dail Within them there will be a unionist as well as a nationalist veto. In any case they will administer only
minor functions, most of which are already areas of cooperation between the relevant public bodies, North and South
The rest of the Agreement – the repeal of Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, the proposed Assembly, the British-Irish Council – is unionist territory In swallowing all this Sinn Fein have moved a huge distance, abandoning one central tenet of republicanism after another in the process In the sense that this represents an awareness that the old methods of struggle were counterproductive, and that the old republican ideology had no answer to the problem of a million Protestants, this could be a positive development – but not if the alternative strategy of the republican leadership leads only to another sectarian dead-end albeit by a different route.
Even before Sinn Fein entered the talks we predicted that the course they were taking would ultimately lead to a split A section of republican activists were bound to stand against Sinn Fein’s acceptance of the Agreement, against the Sinn Fein leadership entering a “partitionist” Assembly and against those who had led the “war” to destroy the state knocking on the door of ministerial office within it. Those who have broken, or are in the process of breaking away, will attempt to continue with a military campaign The most vociferous opposition has come from republicans in the South. The great bulk of the movement in the North is likely to be swung by the mood in the Catholic areas and go along with the leadership Many will do so without conviction, hesitant about the deal, but even more hesitant about the alternative. If a strong and united movement did not achieve its objectives in nearly thirty years of military struggle, what chance has a splinter group, especially when its on-going activities meet with hostility, even resistance, in the working class republican strongholds?
So long as the sectarian parties continue to dominate, and so long as politics is carried on in terms of unionism versus nationalism, working people will remain politically polarised and the divisions on the ground will remain.
Ultimately these divisions will force through to the political surface and undermine this deal This could happen in the short term or it might take some period of time. It could be the demographic changes or it could be some other trigger which would reignite the conflict
The road of sectarianism is ultimately the road to civil war. The unionist ambition to tie Catholics to a permanent acceptance of partition is unrealisable
The inability of capitalism to eradicate poverty from Catholic working class areas will mean an irrepressible desire for change
On the other hand, the nationalist idea that unionism will be driven back by the relative decline of
the Protestant population to the point where they will have to raise their hands in surrender and accept Dublin rule is an even greater illusion
The present situation is like a tug of war with unionists trying to draw Catholics into the existing state and nationalists trying to pull Protestants into a united Ireland The peace deal is the product of a certain stalemate in the contest. Looking to the future, demographic change makes it impossible for unionism to win outright But if nationalism should become too strong to hold back the Protestant reaction would be simply to let go of the rope.
Were demographic changes to bring about a majority vote in favour of a united Ireland the result would be civil war and the outcome of a sectarian civil war would not be reunification but repartition. It is important to understand this because it is not uncommon today to hear workers who back the deal say that if it doesn’t work the only other option is civil war. There is even an illusion that civil war would lead to a victory by one side and sort the problem out
In Bosnia there was a horrific conflict followed by a UN inspired deal which has solved nothing. There is now the potential for events in Kosovo to ignite an even more bloody conflict in the region
A series of wars in the Middle East have merely created new antagonisms and the latest impasse in what is left of the peace process could end with a declaration of independence by Palestinians and a new war
The complete breakdown of the Agreement and a movement towards civil war and repartition might leave the ruling class with no option but to recognise the reality being implemented on the ground and draw up lines of separation Bosnia style. Should this happen it would be the working class, Catholic and Protestant, North and South, who would be the main losers It would not bring stability but new accumulated grievances which, in the absence of any alternative, would weigh on future generations in the way that partition, unionist misrule in the north and nationalist misrule in the south, have come to weigh on the current generation.
There is only one way out for the working class. It is not to imitate the leaders of the trade unions and sit back and applaud the Agreement and the politicians who produced it. Rather it is to begin to build an alternative to sectarian politics, to unite working people, Catholic and Protestant, around common class interests and in opposition to all who attempt to maintain sectarian division. The urgency with which this is done can only come from an understanding that ultimately the choice facing the working class in Ireland is a choice of either socialism or repartition
A more drawn out perspective for the Agreement, together with a new impulse to the class struggle, might also throw the tendencies to separation which have been dominant in recent years into reverse The sectarian parties will seek to obstruct and prevent any real coming together of the working class communities
but the instinct to unity from below can be extremely powerful It is this instinct which has preserved shop floor unity and allowed workplaces to remain integrated, despite being repeatedly put under strain.
But the most important factor in shaping the future will be the direction taken by the new generation of youth. It was the wave of youth who took to the streets after 1968 who changed the course of history and turned Northern Ireland politics upside down Whether the next generation will get caught up in a new spiral of sectarian violence or whether they will be the engine of socialist change is not yet determined.
Whatever way society moves, whether towards sectarian conflict or towards a socialist solution, it will be through tumultuous events that the path of history will be plotted. Huge and dramatic events will shape and reshape the consciousness of the new generation Forces and obstacles which today appear unshakeable, the various sectarian forces included, can be melted down in the furnace of struggle. The building of a socialist organisation which can influence and effect events can be a crucial factor in determining whether the coming political and social upheaval leads towards a “carnival of reaction” or towards united class action to bring about socialist change
The Socialist Party is the only group on the left whose position on the national question has been updated to take account of present day reality Most other left groups have what is in reality a left republican position By holding to this at a time when all but the most backward sections of the republican movement have moved on will leave them standing with these people in an historical time warp
Socialist Party members, on the other hand, can have great confidence that our analysis offers the only explanation and that our programme offers the only way forward If we now go on the offensive against the outmoded and, at bottom, sectarian ideas which abound on the left and convincingly put our alternative forward we can make important gains on this issue
The national problem is not a problem of a single sectarian state in the North which must be destroyed. Partition resulted in the setting up of two sectarian states, one in the North and the other in the South This description is no longer entirely accurate given the changes introduced to both states over the last quarter
century More accurately the problem is now of two poverty ridden states each with features unacceptable to one or other section of the working class.
Neither can the problem be reduced to the issue of a discriminated against Catholic minority in the North There are now two minorities, each with a dual element in their consciousness. The Catholic minority retain the sense of being an oppressed group who have suffered discrimination and repression But they also have a growing sense of being a force on the up, and of being part of an overall nationalist majority in Ireland, a majority which has the wind of world opinion at its back
Protestants in part inherit their present consciousness from the days when they were the undisputed ruling majority within the north But increasingly they have a sense of being a minority in the face of this international pressure and with aspects of politics now undisputedly on an all-Ireland basis. Awareness of democratic changes and of the obvious territorial retreat gives an increasingly beleaguered edge to this minority consciousness. Socialists who recognise only the rights of one community and ignore the other will fall flat on their face on this issue
The Socialist Party position is to weigh equally the rights of both communities and to expose a solution which guarantees no coercion of either. This cannot be done on a capitalist basis Only on a socialist basis can basic democratic and national rights be guaranteed Socialism means the common ownership of the big industries and finance houses. By taking this wealth out of the hands of the profiteers and speculators and placing it under the democratic control of the working class it would be possible to create wealth and direct resources so as to end exploitation and for the first time in history to eradicate poverty Guaranteeing to every
citizen the right to a decent life free from need is the only way to create the necessary social stability and security to allow the national question to be peacefully and democratically resolved. Under socialism the administration of society would also be transferred downwards, into the hands of the people Socialism is the antithesis of power removed to distant parliaments or “fire-walled” political institutions over which ordinary people have no real control It means the maximum devolution of control to democratically established and representative institutions at regional and local level. It means the right of people to change their representatives at any time, through the right of recall, not once every four or five years Crucially it means cutting the working week so that working people have both the energy and the time to take part in the running of society, and don’t have to leave this to the “professional” politicians
A socialist government would guarantee the rights of all minorities, including their cultural and linguistic rights This goes not only for Protestants and Catholics but for all the other racial, national and religious minorities in Ireland. It would uphold every individual’s right to free expression of his or her national culture, but not their right to impose that culture on others
Socialists are opposed to the idea that a state or a nation must have a single “national” culture to which all its citizens are expected to comply In the same way we oppose the reactionary idea of any nation having an established religion.
The way to solve the national question is to build unity between the working class in common struggle against the present rotten system and for such a socialist society In reply to those who say “first solve the national problem, the class struggle must wait” we say “there is no solution to the national problem other than through the class struggle”. We stand for the unity of the working class to achieve a socialist Ireland as part of a democratic and voluntary socialist federation of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
We think that this idea could answer the fears and concerns of both Catholic and Protestant workers, but we underline this with the idea of no coercion of either community Guaranteeing the rights of the two minorities means opposing equally the coercion of
either into a political arrangement to which they are clearly opposed. So we would oppose the continued incorporation of the Catholic minority into a separate northern state if their wish is to leave Likewise and in equal measure we are opposed to any attempt to coerce the Protestants into a united Ireland against their will.
It is impossible to guarantee both these rights on a capitalist basis This is why the problem cannot be solved without getting rid of this system On the basis of socialism, which could only come about through the building of unity between workers north and south, and which therefore presupposes a degree of reconciliation, the precise administrative arrangements within Ireland could be agreed peacefully through negotiation.
The Socialist Party believes that the simplest and best solution would be a single socialist state, with maximum devolution. However, should a majority of Protestants remain visibly opposed, the guarantee of no coercion means their right to opt for a state of their own and the building of a socialist federation which would include two states in Ireland.
Those in Catholic areas would in turn be guaranteed the right to opt for either state This would not be the best outcome since a division of this nature would inevitably draw Catholic and Protestant apart. But it would be up to the people to decide free from intimidation or coercive pressure
Surrounded by the warring drumbeats of nationalism and unionism and mired in the poverty of a failed economic system this alternative and solution offers a unique way forward for the working class The Socialist Party is proud of the forces we have built and work we have carried out in advancing our cause North and South Our greatest force, however, is the power of correct ideas Our ideas and programme on the national question can now be a powerful lever in the building and development of our party n
The tech sector is in turmoil – facing its worst crisis since the dot-com bubble burst in the late 1990s. Stock prices are fluctuating wildly, profits are being squeezed, and hundreds of thousands of workers have been laid off. Tech companies in the US increased layoffs by 649% in 2022, with 161,411 job losses globally.1 2023 looks to be even worse, with 148,180 layoffs in just the first three months 2
The plight of Twitter workers following Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover in October 2022 generated the most headlines in the maelstrom, with Musk’s decision to make up for his terrible financial deal by cutting the workforce by half – 3,700 workers – while demanding that remaining staff commit to a ‘hardcore’ work environment Many more rejected this proposal and left of their own volition, leaving just 30% of the workforce in place. But other major, household-name companies have taken a similar cost-cutting tack: since November, Amazon has cut 27,000 jobs; Meta has cut 21,000; Google’s parent company Alphabet has cut 12,000; and Microsoft has cut 10,000.3 Hundreds of smaller tech firms have also been downsizing, with many startups going bust
The Big Tech crisis is symptomatic of the deepening crisis of the capitalist economy as a whole, which is now also being sharply exposed in the series of recent bank collapses, most notably of Silicon Valley Bank, which “had become the go-to bank for nearly half of all venture-backed tech startups”, according to The Guardian 4 Both the crises in tech and in finance are being driven by the policies of central banks around the world increasing interest rates in response to the inflation spiral, which itself is a product of multiple other problems in the capitalist economy – from the effects of the Covid pandemic, including supply-chain disruption; to the intensification of imperialist
by Keishia taylor & eddie mccabe
tensions, particularly with the war in Ukraine; to climate change; to anaemic growth and falling profitability over years
The truth is that the boom in the tech sector, particularly in the last decade and a half, was artificially inflated by low interest rates and the speculation it encouraged The growth and even the existence of many tech companies has relied on this access to cheap credit, in the absence of real profitability. Without this these companies will struggle to maintain their positions or in some cases to survive, and the downsizing we see today is the first recognition of this the
Without doubt this crisis is significant, not just for the tech sector but for the capitalist system as a whole. The market value of the tech industry is roughly $5 2 trillion, or 5% of global GDP Tech companies made up seven of the ten biggest companies in the world by market capitalisation in 2022: namely Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, NVIDIA, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, and Meta – or eight if you include Tesla, which resembles tech companies in many ways including its history of exponential valuation increases despite reporting losses (which it did every year until 2020, and even then it made more money by selling carbon credits to other car manufacturers than by selling its own electric cars) 5 6 Twenty years earlier, that list contained just two tech companies, Microsoft and IBM 7 Hence, not only are these some of the biggest companies in the world but their rise, and the growth of the industry as a whole, has been dramatic Consider that Amazon was founded in 1995 and Google in 1998, while Facebook was founded in 2004, Uber in 2009 and Zoom in 2011. These companies now dominate their various markets almost as monopolies
Consider also that some of their founders and CEOs have become household names, joining and then topping global rich lists over the last decade Their accumulation of personal wealth has been both obscene and staggering In 2010, for instance, Mark Zuckerberg’s (Meta) and Jeff Bezos’s (Amazon) fortunes amounted to $6 9 billion and $12 6 billion respectively; by 2021 – at their peak – they had surpassed $140 billion and $200 billion Elon Musk became a billionaire in 2012, and by 2021 his wealth was valued at $340 billion! Since that ridiculous peak, which coincided with the height of the global pandemic, their personal wealth has declined again significantly, with Musk’s net worth estimated to be $187 billion in February 2023 – still the richest person on the planet 8
These sums are incredible, almost unimaginable just a few years ago, but their wild fluctuations (the wealth Musk lost in 2022 was equivalent to the GPD of Hungary, a country with a population of nearly 10 million people)9 reflect a volatility at the heart of their businesses.
The tech sector has been the most dynamic sector of the capitalist economy in recent decades, since the age of the internet transformed communication, and increasingly, so many other aspects of our daily lives Innovation and technological breakthroughs are certainly part of this, but a significant factor in the growth of the tech sector is financial speculation, leading to a continuous inflow of cash which inflates share prices and leads to more investment – far beyond what any real innovation would warrant The rapid rise and fall of cryptocurrencies is a stark example of this phenomena.
In the context of falling profitability generally, investors have gambled heavily on tech as an arena that’s likely to continue to experience growth In the period following the financial crash of 2008, in which central banks pursued a policy of quantitative easing (increasing the supply of money) and low interest rates (making cheap credit widely available), investors and companies went on a spree. This included shifting investment from innovation and production to dodgy get-rich-quick schemes For example, Cisco, once the leading digital communications company in the world, has over the last two decades spent $152.3 billion – 95% of its net income over the period – on stock buybacks (literally buying its own stock) to prop up its stock price Unsurprisingly, as a result it has fallen behind competitors, particularly Chinese 5G companies, who’ve actually invested in R&D 10
Virtually every other major company in the world, but particularly in tech, has engaged in similar practices. One result of this is the prevalence of ‘Zombie
Companies’, whose profits or even revenues can’t cover their debts over an extended period of time, which should mean they go bust However the supply of cheap loans has kept these companies afloat To illustrate the point: in 1990, 1.5% of publicly listed companies in the world’s largest economies were considered to be zombies, by 2020 that had risen to 7% 11
Given the shift in monetary policy by the various central banks which are now increasing interest rates, these companies are clearly in grave danger, but so too is the tech sector as whole which has been massively boosted by the injections of cash due to the availability of cheap money – now no longer available. Of course the effects are already being seen, but how bad it will get when a global recession hits (and it will, part of the motivation behind interest rate rises is an attempt to provoke a recession to cut across demands from workers for better pay and conditions to counteract inflation) remains to be seen
As with any capitalist crisis, regardless of its causes, workers will be the ones who suffer – if not with job losses then with worsened pay and conditions to facilitate a return to profitability. It doesn’t matter that these companies collectively make hundreds of billions each year from the labour of their workers, without which all the cash injections and cheap credit wouldn’t go far. However, when things go wrong the ruthlessness that these companies display externally to their competitors is turned inward
An article in the New York Times by Nadia Rawlinson, a former chief people officer at Slack, put it bluntly, stating: “The layoffs are part of a new age of bossism, the notion that management has given up too much control and must wrest it back from employees After two decades of fighting for talent, chief executives are using this period to adjust for years of management indulgence that left them with a generation of entitled workers ”12
While tech jobs such as software engineering and design are generally well paid and sought after, they are nevertheless exploited like all other workers (contributing more value to their employers than they receive in wages or benefits) Even before this crisis a major trend within tech companies was the replacing of direct employees with contract workers with far fewer rights and worse conditions. For example, since 2018 contract workers have outnumbered direct employees at Google 13
Moreover, their jobs are often highly pressurised and demanding, with many reports of burnout and becoming jaded, including by the realisation that their work is not as meaningful as they might have been led to believe Rather than using technology for the benefit of society, tech workers are generally working to facilitate intensified exploitation of other workers, or finding ways to help advertisers bombard even more people, including with practices of collecting data that borders on mass surveillance.
While these tech companies take great pains to curate a friendly image, nothing could be further than the truth. In 2018, Google quietly removed its famous motto “Don’t Be Evil” from its code of conduct as thousands of its employees publicly condemned Google’s development of technology for US military projects.14 Big Tech companies claim to be leaders in the transition to green energy, cutting emissions and developing new technologies In fact, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are providing services to the likes of Shell, BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil to actually help them discover and extract fossil fuels faster, more efficiently and more profitably – to the tune of billions of dollars.15 Microsoft, with just one contract with ExxonMobil, is facilitating the emission of an additional 3 4 million metric tons of CO2 per year – blowing its ‘carbon negative’ target out of the water
One of the most insidious examples of the impact of Big Tech can be found in social media These platforms have provided almost limitless opportunities for connection, communication, and expression But they have been developed in order to maximise profit regardless of the human cost, particularly through advertising Based on every search, click and even pause in scrolling, we are bombarded with targeted advertising that uncannily exploits our insecurities, manufacturing demands to sell unnecessary products To maximise ad sales, these apps are designed to keep people scrolling and thus viewing ads for as long as possible by exploiting our dopamine reward response.
The mental health harms of social media, especially on young people, are increasingly well-documented, as are the algorithms that deliberately encourage eating disorders in young people.16 Similarly, social media algorithms have been shown to provide greater reach to right-wing and far-right content 17
All of this advertising and monitoring data has exponentially increased the need for storage and
processing facilities leading to the expansion of data centres, of which there are millions around the world –with each facility containing thousands or tens of thousands of servers, consuming more environmental resources than entire countries Data centres now account for almost 1% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions globally By comparison, the aviation industry accounts for 2%. Even after significant improvements in efficiency, data centres alone are responsible for around 1% of electricity use globally (excluding cryptocurrency mining) and could use up to 30% of Ireland’s energy demand by 2030, jeopardising domestic supply 18
New technologies provide a huge amount of potential for humanity in terms of communication, organisation, education and creativity, but in a capitalist system, run for profit, it is utterly destructive The whole industry could be transformed if it was wrestled from the grip of private profit, brought into public ownership and run democratically by workers and users, taking full account of its social and environmental effects In this way the tech industry could be purged of advertising, the wastefulness of data centres, the devastating impact on mental health, and collusion with the ruinous fossil fuel industry Secure jobs and working conditions would be safeguarded The internet and social media could be genuinely free and open source resources for all, democratically managed for the purposes of elevating humanity and saving not endlessly damaging the planet.n
1 Amanda Hetler, 1 Feb 2023, ‘ Tech sector layoffs explained: What you need to know ’ , www techtarget com l 2 Roger Lee, ‘Layoffs Tracker ’ , https://layoffs fyi/ l 3 A Capoot, S Pitt, 18 Jan 2023, ‘Google, Meta, Amazon and other tech companies have laid off more than 104,000 employees in the last year ’ , www cnbc com l 4 K Paul & J Bhuiyan, 15 Mar 2023, ‘ Wineries to affordable housing: SVB fall knocks out more than star tups’, www theguardian com l 5 Matthew Johnston, 24 Sept 2022, ‘Biggest Companies in the World by Market Cap’, www.investopedia.com l 6 Florian Zandt, 26 Jan 2023, ‘ Tesla’s race towards profitability ’ , www statista com l 7 Financial Times archive, FT com, specials ft com/spdocs/global5002003 pdf l 8 Julia Carrie Wong, 28 Feb 2023, ‘Elon Musk reclaims title of world’s richest man after Tesla shares rise’, www theguardian com l 9 Caitlin O’Kane, 12 Jan 2023, ‘Elon Musk sets world record with worst loss of for tune in histor y ’ , www cbsnews com l 10 M Carpenter & W Lazonick, 28 Feb 2023, ‘Losing Out in Critical Technologies: Cisco Systems and Financialization’, www ineteconomics org l 11 Jordan Whitehouse, 19 Dec 2022, ‘ Tracking the Rise of Zombie Companies’, https://smith.queensu.ca l 12 Nadia Rawlinson, 19 Jan 2023, ‘ The Era of the Happy Tech Worker is Over ’ , www nytimes com l 13 Ellen Sheng, 22 Oct 2018, ‘Silicon Valley ’s dir ty secret: Using a shadow workforce of contract employees to drive profits’, www cnbc com l 14 Anthony Cuthber tson, 21 May 2018, ‘Google quietly removes ‘don’t be evil’ preface from code of conduct’, www.independent.co.uk l 15 Valentina Stackl, 19 May 2020, New Greenpeace Repor t Exposes Big Tech Connection to Big Oil, www greenpeace org l 16 I Cueto & T Gaffney, 22 Mar 2023, ‘Social media is par t of a ‘self-perpetuating cycle of risk ’ for eating disorders and negative body image, per study ’ , www.statnews.com l 17 Adam Gabbatt, 1 Feb 2021, Claim of anticonser vative bias by social media firms is baseless, repor t finds’, www theguardian com l 18 ‘Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks’ repor t, www iea org
between June and December 2022, 2,471,000 days were lost to strike ac tion in britain and Nor thern ireland, the highest number since 1989. in this ar ticle, S e á N b u r N S analyses the impor tance of the general strike today, which recently became a topic of discussion in the wake of the strike wave in britain and the Nor th.
On 1 February 2023, half-a-million workers went on strike in a huge 'day of action' for fair pay rises and against the Tories' anti-union legislation Discussions about a general strike naturally became a talking point on picket lines and on social media; it made sense to workers that rather than having separate strikes, they should all come out together, at the same time, to maximise their impact
The press caught wind of these discussions and speculation about a general strike being called was rife. Headlines included 'UK could be moving towards de facto general strike', and 'General strike 'increasingly likely' in 2023'.
Unfortunately, it now seems many of the union leaders in Britain and the North are orchestrating retreats, accepting below-inflation pay offers and suspending action. At least temporarily, it is likely we
will see a lull in the strike wave But the question of a general strike may resurface as new ballots and struggles open up Examining this idea is a key question for the workers' movement
The generalised nature of capitalism's assault on our rights and living standards requires a general response that goes beyond localised, individualised disputes and ties together the experiences of every worker United campaigns and protest movements are extremely important in the struggle against the system's attacks, but the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of the working class is the general strike – it utilises the fundamental power of the working class as the producers, distributors, providers, carers etc. in society, without whom society can't function, by withdrawing from that collective labour until their demands are met Impressive examples of general strikes have been witnessed in recent years, not least the general strike of nearly 250 million workers across India on 26 November 2020 against the far-right Modi government's anti-labour policies and neo-liberal attacks on the living standards of farmers. After over a year of industrial action and mass protests, the farmers and workers won a historic victory and forced the repeal of Modi’s three brutal agricultural laws Other notable examples are the feminist strikes seen in the last decade, for example in the Spanish State where in 2018 an estimated 5 million people joined a strike against gender-based violence
A general strike is a strike which involves simultaneous strike action by multiple sectors The coming together of millions of workers on strike is both a massive morale boost to those on strike, who see that so many other workers are with them, feeling their collective power, but also the most significant and effective action workers can take in battle with employers. Even a oneday general strike shows clear-as-day who really runs society
Crucially, it is also a direct confrontation with the government of the day. There have been various types of general strikes throughout history: from those that have won significant victories, including some that have posed the potential overthrow of the entire ruling class and their system, but also those that have been exercises in 'blowing off steam' – leading to compromises or defeats
Britain has experienced a general strike once before, in 1926. Nearly 2 million people joined the strike action that lasted for nine days. The strike was called in response to attacks on miners from employers and the state The Trade Union Congress (TUC) called it but only under pressure from below. The real power of that action lay in the strength of organisation of the working class In Glasgow, one Clydeside striker at the time painted a picture of that strength:
'The central strike committees and the councils of action were 24 hours a day in session They had their own transport; they stopped all other forms of transport, but they had their own courier system to carry messages because there was no such thing as postal services, no such thing as the press The press had turned in 100% and stopped all the papers '
The 1926 General Strike illustrated in a very transparent way who runs society. It was an indefinite
general strike, i e not a once-off action and lasted for nine consecutive days In such a scenario, it is not possible to simply shut down society, because workers would quickly encounter problems in accessing basic goods and services such as food and healthcare Hence, it is quickly evident that workers must take control over the running of society and this is what happened during many such events. The strike committees referenced in the above quote illustrate workers taking control of society and organising production and services Prime Minister Lloyd George in 1919 would sum this up perfectly when he said:
'For, if a force arises which is stronger than the state itself, then it must be ready to take on the functions of the state, or withdraw and accept the authority of the state Gentlemen, have you considered, and if you have, are you ready?'
A similar situation is shown in the 1979 Iranian Revolution The establishment of shoras, literally translated as 'the council', were bodies of workers central to the mobilisations to overthrow the Shah. The shoras developed out of the real needs of the working class after the collapse of the Shah's regime Many owners and managers, particularly of state-owned firms close to the regime, had fled. The workers took over the factories and ran them through their councils. Both of these movements had elements of what Marxists call 'dual power', i e all the bodies of official society that we know today, the parliament, employers, police, etc. are suspended in midair unable to operate and ordinary people take control of how things are run These strike committees, if they were joined up, were the embryo of a new state, inherently a state of a totally different kind – one based on democracy from the bottom up
The situations outlined above are obviously very different to the situation today. Decades of attacks on the trade union and workers' movement and capitulation by bureaucratic leaderships have had a real effect, leading to a weakening of working-class organisation, and in turn a diminishing in confidence of its collective weight and power in society. General strikes have happened in the recent past, but precisely because of this pushing back of organisation and consciousness, they have not posed the question of dual power – of who could and should take over the running of society – in the same way
At the time of writing, millions have joined nationwide strike actions in France against the attacks on pension rights and the draconian measures the Macron presidency is using to push them through, namely, Article 49.3 in the French Constitution, which allows him to enact legislation regardless of the votes taken in the National Assembly (French Parliament) According to the CGT union, 3 5 million marched on 7 March 2023 against the proposed pension reforms. This
follows millions striking and demonstrating in January Such mobilisations are incredibly impactful and are exerting immense pressure on the Macron regime – his poll ratings have plummeted.
These strikes are inherently political They do not just confront an individual employer but rather the employer class as a whole and its allies in the political establishment Despite the vast majority of French people opposing the pension reforms and supporting the strikes, the government has not given in. Strikes such as this are what Lenin referred to as 'a school of war,' because they expose, in a way few other things do so clearly, the reality of capitalism: that when push comes to shove all the institutions of our society – the police, the courts, the parliaments – will act in the interests of the powerful and wealthy elite
In France, a key debate of the strike wave has been the idea of a 'renewable strike' whereby workers’ assemblies vote to continue or discontinue the strike action indefinitely as part of a general strike The call for this approach has been put out by the left unions It is a positive call and reflective of what is necessary to win. Another day of action spread across a period of months is not enough to secure a victory Spread out national days of action, while significant, can be brushed off. What the Government and the employers cannot ignore is continuous strike action from such a broad section of the workforce By pursuing a strategy that escalates action and expands its scale – ensuring broader support is built up along the way – is the way to secure a victory.
Crucially, this action needs to be organised from below with the election of strike committees in every workplace, school and district and linked up on local, regional and national level. Furthermore, this needs to be linked with the struggle for power; to bring down this 'President of the Rich' and fight for a democratic socialist government that can really meet the demands of the movement and go further – to take power (ownership of the economy) back from the capitalist class
In the recent strike wave in Britain, the Tories have unleashed a political attack upon the union movement They are using legislation to back up the employers and attack the right to strike. The introduction of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill would render effective
action in many sectors redundant This comes alongside the Public Order Bill, which would give police the power to shut down protests if they 'might' cause 'widespread disruption' These are direct attacks on the democratic rights of working-class people to organise. The trade union movement cannot shy away from confronting these attacks. The day of action on 1 February, which saw half a million workers on strike, was an important first step Unfortunately, it does not look as if this will be built on in any serious way by the trade union leadership.
The TUC appears to be relying on the courts to save the day, notwithstanding that this is the same legal system that upheld previous attacks on the right to organise. Norman Tebbitt's 1982 Employment Act substituted the meaning of trade dispute as occurring 'between employers and workers’ to 'between workers and their employer.' The act rendered sympathy strikes unlawful. The legislation narrowly defined trade disputes as relating to problems like pay, conditions, and discipline and made political strikes illegal The anti-trade union laws brought in by David Cameron further restricted the unions – limiting picketing to six people and introducing a minimum turnout threshold These are the same courts that upheld an injunction from Royal Mail against CWU strike action in 2020. They did not protect our rights then and we cannot rely on them to do so now
As in France, it is necessary to confront these attacks head-on. The TUC/ICTU wish to confine disputes to individual employers out of a fear that generalising strike action would be unpopular The TUC General Secretary stated as much to The Financial Times: 'it would make little sense to groups as disparate as teachers and physiotherapists who were worried about pay, but hardly inclined to militancy ' Such a view is the
opposite of reality! The mood was there for the calling of a general strike – it was clearly articulated by workers on the picket lines Mick Lynch, the leader of the RMT, reflected the sentiment in saying that 'if they (TUC) call it, we'll support it' We can see from motions demanding coordination passed at various union conferences, including the TUC's own conference, that this was present.
The other major contention of the TUC to calling a general strike is the legality of it. It is true that the direct calling of a general strike, even a 24-hour one, would run afoul of the anti-union laws But where there's a will, there's a way In 2011, over 2 million public sector workers from 30 different unions went on strike at the same time. Such action is possible even with the restrictive laws in place With so many ballots in place simultaneously, there was a clear opportunity to call for them to coincide and for new ballots from other sectors to be organised for the same time. Organising action in this way would not breach the anti-trade union laws, but would effectively be a general strike. This would have been a powerful response to the Tories' plans – the very thing they have feared for so long
However, we do not have to limit ourselves to obeying unjust laws - they can be fought. The threat of union funds being sequestered as punishment for supposedly 'illegal' strike action can be resisted The Miners' Strike in 1984 illustrates how During the strike, £750,000 was collected by the Gwent Food Fund alone, which in today's money would be valued at £3,084,319 62 Ukrainian miners raised 50,000 roubles (£46,000) for their British counterparts, the equivalent of £189,171.60 today. Overall, over £60
million was raised to support the miners, the equivalent of £246,745,569 70 today, according to The Guardian
Undoubtedly, if the RMT or other unions faced legal attacks, funds could be secured and the union defended both inside and outside the courtroom We need union leaders who are prepared to break laws when it is in the best interests of working-class people. This should not be done carelessly, but only when there is the strength to back it up
It is clear from the recent strike wave that neither ICTU nor the TUC have the wherewithal to organise the kind of action necessary to push back this government They have committed themselves to a strategy that is summed up in appealing to the establishment for a better deal This is not effective Well-organised, militant strike action is what gets results, as illustrated by workers in Liverpool docks who took significant strike action in 2022 and gained pay rises worth 14.3%18 5% Similarly, workers at Interface Europe, a flooring manufacturer based in Craigavon, won a 15 3% pay increase after taking a week of continuous strike action, and 4,800 Open University workers were de-casualised as a result of the UCU industrial action
The real strength of the union lies in the membership. In too many disputes, however, strategy is dictated by union officials, often unelected, who are incapable of developing strategies that are effective Workers are best placed to organise their disputes: they know their workplaces, they know what can maximise disruption and they can decide the most effective strategy Where union leaderships engage in bad strategies or sellout deals, workers can organise to intervene. The development of elected strike committees responsible for managing disputes is a key ingredient for victory Such bodies could coordinate pressure on the TUC/ICTU to take serious action, as well as coordinate independently of them if necessary The coming together of shop stewards in a strike conference, where delegates are democratically elected by different workplaces would be a key way to organise a general strike. A 24-hour general strike in the current situation would have a major impact as it would directly confront the Tory government and represent a significant obstacle to their plans. Millions of workers taking strike action would be electric and it would be an immense boost to the confidence of ordinary people that they have the power to win Alarm bells would ring in Downing Street, Stormont, and boardrooms across Britain, the North and beyond, because this kind of action clarifies that the fight for our rights, livelihoods and ultimately our lives is between workers and the bosses The various ways capitalism attempts to obscure that conflict would begin to be swept aside, as we open up the road to a genuinely equal and democratic society n
the toxic ideas of andrew tate have gained enormous trac tion via various social media and online platforms – collec tively known as the 'manosphere' – in the last year. in this ar ticle, h a r p e r c l e v e S analyses tate's ideas and why they are intimately linked with the existing capitalist status quo.
'What colour is your Bugatti?'
Chances are if you work with teenage boys, or have one in your household, you've become familiar with this question The sarcastic quip, quoted from an Andrew Tate video, has become a symbol for young boys the world over of what hyper-masculinity could provide you: wealth, status and confidence Even after being banned from several social media platforms in the summer of 2022, the #AndrewTate hashtag has racked up more than 22 8 billion views on TikTok He has also amassed a following of 5 3 million on twitter
To his supporters, Andrew Tate is the ideal of masculinity, but to millions of others he represents a dangerous backslide: a conscious antifeminism that has already had a tangible impact in schools, workplaces, and intimate relationships What does Andrew Tate represent, and why in 2023 is he able to have such an impact?
Tate doesn’t limit himself to bragging about expensive cars and lavish vacations. He also proudly refers to himself as a misogynist, saying that women are status
symbols and the property of men Women, according to Tate, belong in the home and under male control
The logical trajectory of this messaging is the promotion of victim blaming, predatory behaviour, and outright violence towards women Tate has said women 'bear responsibility' for being raped As a 36 year-old, he expressed a preference for dating 18 and 19 year-old women because he can 'make an imprint on them.' He has told young men how to 'grip her up by the neck' and has given tips on how to stop girlfriends from going out without their permission The conclusion young men will draw from watching these videos is that the first step on the pathway to fame and fortune is controlling the women in your life Male dominance is the trojan horse through which a generalised capitalistic 'fight your way to the top' mentality is peddled to Tate's male fanbase
This violent misogyny is not simply empty rhetoric Andrew Tate was arrested at the beginning of 2023 in Romania on charges of rape and human trafficking. He has been accused of forcing women to make pornographic content, after recruiting and housing them under false pretences. He also poses as a self-help guru to young men, and this has had a widely-reported impact, especially in schools where teachers often face misogynistic verbal harassment themselves but also worry about the girlfriends of the boys they teach. At a school in Wales, deputy headteacher Lisa McCall told The Guardian, 'There seems to be an increased need for boys to control girls '1 A UK study of 1,200 participants demonstrated that 45% of men polled between the age of 16 and 24 viewed Tate favourably, while only 1% of girls between 16 and 17 saw him in a positive light 2
It is worth stating that Tate does not just espouse dangerous views on women, but on many oppressed groups In interviews with Piers Morgan and other right-wing commentators, Tate will say he has no issues with transgender people However, these assurances are revealed to be vacuous, often in the very next sentence out of his mouth. He has told trans and gay people to 'leave the kids alone!' when questioned about what he thought of Drag Queen story hours, echoing the disgusting and false anti-queer trope that gay, bi and transgender people are groomers.
Andrew Tate's talking points promote a highly individualistic and hierarchical view of society and human nature His assertions that wealth equals value, that poor mental health is a sign of weakness, that male supremacy is natural and correct all point to a worldview that accepts asserting your superiority at the expense of others; a way of thinking that is bolstered by division and oppression in all of its forms, including queerphobia and racism.
a broader anti-feminist backlash
Andrew Tate is not the only source from which the gains of the feminist movement are being consciously challenged Andrew Tate topped Google's 'who is' search category for 2022 But it was Johnny Depp who was the most googled name overall last year because of the high-profile defamation case he took against his expartner Amber Heard Millions were spent pushing pro-Depp content on social media platforms where it became popular for users to mock Amber Heard's tearful recollections of abuse. This trial was belatedly recognised by leading feminist organisations and gender violence experts as a conscious victim blaming campaign and a backlash against the #metoo movement.
New studies have also come out that demonstrate how young people are exposed to online misogyny, including violent pornography, at increasingly young ages. A youth worker in Dublin said boys as young as seven are beginning to quote Tate, a sentiment that is similarly reflected in anecdotal reports from the UK and the US 3 A report by the children's commissioner for England has shown that one in ten children have been exposed to pornography by the time they turn nine years old Nearly 80% of young people have seen violent pornography by the time they are 18, with 33% of these actively seeking violent content. It is no surprise then that almost half of the 16 to 21 year-olds that took part in the survey assumed girls either expect or enjoy sex that involves aggression, including choking.4
Many young people see their first pornographic content on social media websites, just as they see their first Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, or Ben Shapiro videos. Because social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok make money by driving engagement, they design their algorithms so that you continue to see similar content in order to keep you on the app.5 'Similar content' when it comes to Andrew Tate is not
limited to 'the manosphere ' You might begin with a video admiring Andrew Tate's Bugattis and end up watching videos by Tommy Robinson, a far-right English nationalist and vocal supporter of Tate's. So even as these massive social media companies made a big show of kicking Tate off of their platforms last year as parents, teachers, and youth workers began to express concern, they profited off of his vile content, and still do as third party accounts continue to post his videos TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook are all willing to profit from content that popularises sexual assault, racism, and dangerous beauty standards. Profits, not people's wellbeing, is their bottom line
Shortly after Andrew Tate's recent arrest, he tweeted: 'It seems every generation's great revolutionaries suffer from unfair imprisonment ' In order to be a revolutionary, Tate would actually have to represent some sort of threat to the system, which he does not.
Tate often evokes the idea of 'tradition' to justify ideas ranging from controlling the sexuality of women, to arguing that women should stay in the home, to stating that queer people should not be allowed to raise families In a sense, he is right – such ideas are historically rooted in class-based societies and so therefore represent a form of 'tradition' This, however, does not mean that misogyny or queerphobia are in any way natural or inevitable, which is what Tate is really trying to say
In Friedrich Engels' crucial work Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State, he outlined how it is a unique feature of class-based civilisation to rely on gender-based oppression Pre-capitalist nomadic, hunter gatherer societies had much less distinct and rigid ideas about gender, sexuality, and gendered roles within the family This is still visible in indigenous cultures today; many have rituals and cultural artefacts speaking to a fluidity of both sexuality and gender 6 For example, among the Aka people of the Congo Rainforest the fathers stay within the babies' eyesight 88% of the time, undermining conventional wisdom that women have always been the primary caregivers 7 Hunter gatherer societies often had a gendered division of labour, but it was not hierarchical, nor was it rigid or strict, and these societies were classless: everyone had a hand in production and shared resources relatively equally amongst themselves in order to survive.
When human society began to settle and perfect farming techniques and animal domestication, men's previous roles began to transition to becoming that of farmers and breeders, i.e. the producers of surplus wealth in society that they could trade and barter to acquire more wealth With this ownership of surplus came class divisions, but also the social need for the patriarchal family. Wealthy male farmers now wanted to pass down their riches to their children In order to do this, they were compelled to control the sexuality of women, so that they could be guaranteed it was their progeny who inherited their wealth. No longer could
society allow sexuality, family roles, and gender to be fluid and based on the collective wellbeing of the group. Now society was organised around the protection of the surplus of the wealthy, and in order to protect and pass down accrued wealth, they needed to develop a rigid gender binary and strict controls on sexuality.
In ancient civilisations such as Greece and Rome, polygamy was an open practice of men, but monogamy was a legal requirement for women. Ancient Babylon punished female infidelity with death in the Hammurabi code This does not demonstrate that the gender binary is an inherent part of human nature, but rather, that it is socially-produced in a society predicated on inequality
Capitalism, which is the modern form of class-based society, relies on misogyny, transphobia and the patriarchal family in new ways. The Chinese state, seeing a decline in birth rates that threatens to weaken its economic position, is placing renewed emphasis on the family and quietly making it more difficult to access abortions. The Republicans in the US and the Tories in the UK are attacking trans rights at every opportunity, from Don't Say Gay bills, to Drag Bans, to blocking gender recognition bills
These right-wing world leaders, as well as being deeply bigoted individuals, see fear-mongering as a way to detract from the idea of a united class struggle, pushing the idea that there are scarce resources and rights that different groups must compete for as a way to distract from the wealth hoarded at the top Moreover, these parties, and all political parties that accept the logic of capitalism, fundamentally rely on the gender binary and the patriarchal family. Unpaid domestic labour, performed primarily by women within
the home, is thought to make up as much as 9% of global GDP, around $11 trillion.8
The unpaid labour done in the home is often referred to as reproductive labour Cleaning, feeding, childminding, caring for the elderly – all of these tasks that contribute to the daily drudgery and oppression of women allow millions of people to go to work every day to make profits for their bosses This reproductive labour by itself isn't directly profit-producing, including ( for the most part) when it is formalised and done in the workplace But without it, society is unable to function and therefore capitalist's profits are cut across when feminised care sectors are not in work. We saw this during the lockdowns when schools and childcare facilities were among the first jobs forced to return to in-person work so that workers with children could also return to their own profit-producing professions.
for
future: build a socialist feminist movement now Capitalism, with its reliance on oppression and exploitation, has caused untold suffering. However, it has also brought about one important development that laid the basis for the undermining of these gendered expectations: the introduction of women into the workplace. As women and queer people became workers, their social power increased, as did their ability to discuss, share ideas, and envision a world free from their exploitation as labourers, but also free from their oppression as women or members of the LGBTQIA+ community
From some of the earliest strikes of women workers in garment factories to the latest feminist movements, the misogynistic and oppressive ideology of capitalism
has been challenged by those who stand to gain the most from its overthrow. The global feminist wave of the last decade has put victim blaming, attacks on abortion rights, racism and transphobia at the centre of its struggle and in doing so has raised the expectations of a whole generation. Ground-up struggles for LGBTQIA+ rights have created the conditions in which more young people than ever before identify as queer and are prepared to fight for a world in which they can express themselves fully.
‘Ni Una Menos’ and #metoo have given women the tools not only to understand dangerous dynamics in their own intimate partnerships, but also to see the roots of gender violence in the system. Black Lives Matter and other anti-racist and anti-imperialist struggles have made the idea of systemic racism a generally accepted truth Amongst the youthful base of these movements, there is a strong sense that all struggles against oppression are interconnected, and that in order to fight for the liberation of any oppressed group, you have to fight for the liberation of all This desire for solidarity of the exploited and oppressed is replete with potential, and if combined with an understanding that gender and racial oppression are rooted in capitalism, and if orientated towards organising for major working class struggle and unity, can be deeply powerful.
These struggles have elevated consciousness on issues of oppression to such an extent that even popularly elected far-right leaders have not been able to rule with impunity Meloni of Italy has had to say she is not anti-abortion as a result of public pressure The Republicans in the US lost on every ballot measure in
the midterms that attempted to roll back abortion access further. Netanyahu and his far-right government in Israel are the subject of massive protests in which LGBTQIA+ rights are a key issue Even courts and the police in the US have been forced to fire and convict killer cops as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The vile rhetoric of Andrew Tate and others like him can make an impact in an environment where dissatisfaction and alienation reign, and where a template for misogyny, transphobia, and racism already exists to explain away the problems that capitalism causes Over the past three decades, the policies of neoliberalism strove to gut the workers' movement and aggressively pushed an ideology of individual progress, meaning that young people today have grown up in an environment where they have experienced very low levels of collective struggle. However, the reality of capitalism today has undermined individualism for many and young people have started to fight back
From attending Black Lives Matter protests; to ordering abortion pills online for their friends; to pushing schools to conduct LGBTQIA+ training; to walking out in school strikes against climate change, gender violence, and gun culture; to now contemplating what it means to get organised in their workplaces –more and more young people are confronting the limits of the system and are increasingly looking towards sustained, left-wing activism and ideas as an avenue to fight for their futures.
Marxism, as an ideology completely unique in its ability to analyse the source of workers' exploitation, climate destruction, racism, imperialism, and yes, the misogyny and transphobia at the core of Tate's ideology, is becoming increasingly attractive to radical people all over the world who want to fight to end human suffering Profiteering social media companies, politicians intent on divide and rule politics, a system that pretends to have scarce resources while hoarding wealth for the super wealthy at the top – we can end it all, if we become committed socialist activists today We have a world to win, one in which a pathetic creep like Andrew Tate would be a cringey memory of a more primitive past n
1 Sally Weale, 2 Feb 2023, ‘ We see misogyny ever y day ’: how Andrew Tate’s twisted ideology infiltrated British schools, www theguardian com l 2 Maya Oppenheim, 16 Feb 2023, ‘Figures that lay bare the shocking scale of toxic influencer Andrew Tate’s reach among young men’, www.independent.co.uk l 3 Neasa Cumiskey, ‘Irish youth workers ‘concerned’ over Andrew Tate’s influence on young boys’, www sundayworld com l 4 Sally Weale, 31 Jan 2023, ‘One in 10 children ‘have watched pornography by time they are nine’’, www theguardian com l 5 Christina Newberr y, 8 Feb 2023, ‘2023 TikTok Algorithm Explained + Tips to Go Viral’, www hootsuite com l 6 ‘ The Indigenous Origins of Gender Fluidity ’ , www globesmar t com l 7 Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, 2011, Mothers and O thers, Cambridge: Har vard University Press l 8 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, ‘Unpaid Care and Domestic Work: Counting the Costs’, www.apec.org
Marx’s Literar y Style, by Venezuelan poet and academic Ludovico Silva, is a useful, if not essential, work, analysing par ticular aspects of how Karl Mar x wrote. Without reading this book, Mar x is still ver y much accessible, but anyone hoping to conduct a serious study of Mar x ’s writing would benefit from some analysis of how he wrote.
Written in 1973, this book has just been translated into English for the first time by Paco Brito Núñez, published by Verso, with a foreword by Alber to Toscano.
Born in 1937, in Caracas, to a middle - class family, Ludovico Silva studied in Europe, but returned to Venezuela by 1964 He was active in the literar y scene as an essayist and poet, and, though sympathetic to the ideas of Mar xism, disdained to join the organised left. From 1970 almost until his death in 1988 he was a professor of philosophy at the Central University of Venezuela. In par ticular he was interested in things such as alienation under capitalism and what he called “ideological surplus value ”
In writing Marx’s Literar y Style, Silva argues that Mar x consciously adopted a par ticular style in order to communicate his ideas. Mar x, “is not content with the clean conscience that comes from having used the scientifically correct terms” but rather his writing uses “ever y linguistic resource at its disposal.” Mar x wrote not just to understand the world, but to change it.
Some critics of Mar x point to his use of imager y and metaphor in order to slander him as unscientific But Mar x use such devices to make clear and concrete difficult and abstract concepts. As Silva writes: “His metaphors constitute an additional expenditure of verbal energy that ensures effective communication with the reader. Many scientific writers consider additional expenditures of this kind inappropriate and silly ; they do not seem to aspire to communication – in fact, some take an unhealthy pleasure in not being understood”
The first chapter describes Mar x ’s origins as a writer. Perhaps the most enlightening point here is that Mar x star ted off as a journalist, writing on politics and philosophy, before becoming a theorist in his own right. He originated as someone whose task was not just to record ideas, but to communicate them effectively to his audience Other points raised here, his failed effor ts at poetr y, his study of the classics, are more in the realm of interesting biographical details.
The second chapter, which is the key par t of the book, is divided into sections each analysing different features of his style, beginning with the “Architectonic of Science ” This was perhaps the weakest point, and the
most poorly explained, but essentially seems to outline that Mar x ’s analysis of capitalism across his entire oeuvre is one internally consistent system. As Mar x writes to Engels, “the advantage of my writings is that they are an ar tistic whole ”
“ The expression of the dialectic, or the dialectic of expression” is a far more interesting section, pointing to a sentence structure used time and again by Mar x, “in which opposite terms are neatly drawn in an antagonistic correlation before being fused in a synthetic phrase ” What this amounts to is an explanation of things in a dialectical way – drawing out how seemingly opposite concepts depend on and presuppose one another. This type of wordplay isn’t just ornamental, but both explains the immediate subject being discussed and engages the reader in thinking dialectically.
In the third par t of the chapter, Silva speaks not just about Marx ’s use of metaphors, but also presents a ver y solid argument that too often Marxists have treated his metaphors as theories. For example, he argues that “base and superstructure” and “ideological reflection” are not theories in their own right but only metaphors to explain a broader theor y of ideology – metaphors which, though useful, break down when studied on their own and out of context. Base and superstructure, for example, is used to point out how a society ’s ideology is built on a material “base” – its economy and so on But this fails to bring out the full nuance of how a society ’s ideology develops in response to the development of its economic system, and how this ideology is in turn used to ensure that development The ideological superstructure and the material base it is built upon are not static forces but are ever changing and developing, and this metaphor only seeks to help readers to understand this, while the full theor y is elsewhere
Finally, the chapter discusses other features – Mar x ’s spirit of mocker y, his indignance, his spirited attacks on his opponents, how he renders the abstract concrete. All are clear throughout his work. Just note how many of his works’ titles begin with the words “a critique of ”
The third chapter seeks to appraise Mar x ’s works on the basis of the features laid out in chapter two.
Overall, Marx’s Literary Style is a wor thwhile book. For anyone making a serious study of Marx ’s writing, as all
By Meena Kandasamy Galley Beggar Press, 2023
Reviewed by Isidora Duran
Stewar t“The Book of D esire is pure love poetr y ” remarks Meena K andasamy in the introduc tion to her latest book , an English translation of the third book of the classic Tamil tex t, the Tirukkurral. Composed in the first centur y BCE and largely attributed to Tiruvalluvar, of whom few biographical details remain, the Tirukurral is a book of 1,330 verses divided into three sec tions concerning moralit y, materialism and desire. The third, the I npattuppal or K amattuppal, presents a dramatic telling of a relationship bet ween t wo anonymous lovers. Out of the three, it has been the most censored.
The Tirukkural was first translated into English 220 years ago and has passed through more than 100 iterations since, only one of which has been by a woman. K andasamy ’s is the first to take an internationist feminist approach. She weighs the words of previous translators and commentators, of ten proponents of the caste system with a distinc tly patriarchal agenda, and restores them to embody what the tex t has been long revered as: a celebration of female agenc y
K andasamy ’s work is revelator y, not just for the poetr y itself, but because it exposes the depths to which misogynistic ideas can be entrenched, and, like in the field of translation, for how long it can go unchallenged She ack nowledges this confluence in her introduc tion: “ The fault lines that run through societ y are the fault lines we see in scholarship.”
Each verse takes the metrical form of the kural – a couplet in which the first line consists of four feet and the second, three. The book consists of 250 kurals divided into 25 chapters with titles such as ‘Renouncing Shame’, ’ The Lament of Memor y ’ and ‘ The Delights of Sulking.’ The kural is unique to Tamil, the historical suppression of which Kandasamy centres in her introduction, asser ting that “entwined in this stor y is the stor y of the Tamil script ” The Brahminical caste, the highest within the caste system, has long referred to
socialists should strive to do, thinking about what is being written and why is helpful, and this book cer tainly lends itself to that although, even at a bit more than 120 pages, the book could be more concise. The main substance is contained in one fifty page chapter in the middle of the book, and if one wanted only to absorb the book ’s key points, they could get them here. Perhaps not ever y argument made within necessarily holds up, but the majority of points are valid and well made n
Tamil as a ‘low language’. In the 10th centur y CE, a community of Brahmins who hereditarily control a prominent temple to this day, refused to par t from Tamil manuscripts that they had locked away until they came under significant pressure to do so – even though the request had come from the King
Today, Tamil is still forbidden to use in places of worship in Tamil Nudu, the southern most state of India.
“ Why speak of caste in a book that speaks of love?” –implores K andasamy “I f we exorcise the ghosts of British colonialism, are we [ Tamil speakers] content with a de -fac to second class status?” Af ter Britain’s selfser ving retreat from I ndia, and its bloody par tition of the sub - continent, the caste system – as well as all the other divisions it helped foster – remained The Tirukkural then, as a Tamil tex t, has long been in the hands of those whose interests lie in the preser vation of a system that is rife with inequalit y
K andasamy ’s inter ventionist approach is felt throughout. She explains in her introduc tion how she closed a sec tion break bet ween the first seven chapters and the 18 remaining The splitting of the I npattuppal, which can be seen in ever y Tamil volume
still in print, was done to imply that the second half (which contains more erotically charged verses) took place af ter the marriage of the t wo lovers She upholds that removing such changes was paramount to eradicating a culture of misogyny that had been imposed upon the tex t
She approached the translation of Tamil to English through a semantic break- down of component words ( Tamil is an agglutinative language – it builds upon its root words) to first understand their meaning, before choosing the appropriate English. For example, the official translation of nirai is fullness, completeness, containment, but many previous editions rendered it to ‘chastit y ’ K andasamy chose ‘unwavering mind’ to invoke a sense of self-fulfillment: “ The battle -axe of passion / breaks down my door / of my unwavering mind / bolted with my coyness”
She also chose ‘man’, ‘woman’ and where possible, the gender-neutral ‘lover ’ over ‘husband’ and ‘wife’. Similarly, penniyalar ellarum had long been translated as ‘all women’, but she states that the Tamil meaning brings it closer to ‘womanlike / feminine’ She updated the verse accordingly : “ever yone with womanness / publicly feasts their eyes / but I will not embrace - / your debauched chest ” Comparing The Book of D esire
Emmet O’Connor ’s Rotten Prod: The Unlikely Career of Dongaree Baird is an academic historical monograph situated in a period of histor y that can be ver y useful for the contemporar y socialist to study It was a period when a rising workers’ movement and a heating-up of sectarian tensions car ved spots side -by-side in the political landscape In covering the dramatic life of James ‘Dongaree’ Baird, O’Connor examines the political forces and considerations behind the Belfast shipyard expulsions of 1912 and 1920, during which, thousands of Catholics, along with Protestant trade unionists and socialists, were driven out of their homes and workplaces by loyalist gangs.
It is difficult, in the space of such a shor t review, to cover all interesting and impor tant aspects contained within this book, but I will focus on some key points
This book illustrates that the value of the stor y of Baird stems from the fact that, in many cases, he was not a par ticularly unique ‘Rotten Prod’ He was one of hundreds of workers from protestant backgrounds who became radicalised by the 1919 Engineering Strike (or
with older translations of the Tirukkural would allow the reader to see the true breadth of her changes
The Book of D esire is a collec tion of emotionally rich love poetr y that transcends time and place. Each verse is replete with sincerit y and invites the reader into a nuanced relationship that is full to the brim with feeling. K andasamy ’s introduc tion, which I have alluded to, presents a thoughtful and highly researched exposition of the histor y of the Tirukkural and its role in language -based oppression and cultural misogyny, both of which have been historically used to bolster casteist ideology.
Her decision to publish her translation, a projec t she had been wor k ing on for a decade, was largely infor med by the absence of Tamil women in the book ’s previous translations and commentar ies: “D oes this woman ever exist outside of the tex t?” O dd, she obser ves, for a wor k that is so concer ned with them Her feminist translation is a watershed moment for classic literature and her inter ventionist approach cannot be understated I t takes the Tiruk kural straight from the hands of revisionists who attempted for centur ies to distor t a book so admired for its openness, declar ing in k ural 972: “all lives are equal af ter bir th ”n
‘Belfast Soviet ’ as it is occasionally referred to), or the conditions that created it, and by the conser vatism of the British amalgamated and craft unions Where Baird was unique was in the public presentation of his politics: from ar ticles and polemics against private land ownership, in his suppor t for socialism, to representing working- class Belfast as a representative on the
municipal council It was during his role as a councillor that he developed the ‘Dongaree’ nickname by attending meetings straight after work, donning his shipyard uniform, much to the distaste of well-to- do establishment politicians
Fascinatingly, Baird got a taste of two ver y different forms of labour organising in Ireland, from industrial Belfast to the more rural Water ford; from the shipyards to farm labourers In the latter, Baird found himself caught between the radical demands of the labourers, and the cautious approach of the ITGWU leadership. Baird was popular amongst the labourers and slammed as a ‘Bolshevist ’ by the big farmers’ association, but it was precisely because of his ‘Bolshevist ’ politics that he was so popular amongst the labouring population in the first place. This is also a reminder that the call for democratic rank-and-file -led trade unionism has been a vital principle and practical necessity throughout the histor y of the workers’ movement.
In 1912 and 1920, the Belfast workforce was rocked by violent expulsions from homes and workplaces at the hands of loyalist gangs What made these expulsions different from previous ones was that both Catholic and a significant minority of Protestant workers were victims While Catholics were targets because of their religion, Protestants were targeted if they were seen as par ticularly militant trade unionists or socialists. They were given the name ‘Rotten Prods’; Protestants who betrayed their expected loyalty to unionist politics
So why did such expulsions occur? The context was the resurgence of labour politics in the city, that was drawing together workers of all backgrounds in their common class interests, especially, but not exclusively, on the question of wages, and causing workers to draw quite radical socialist conclusions. For instance, on May Day 1919, 100,000 workers attended a march and rally at which they voted to suppor t the revolutionar y workers of Russia against western imperialist inter vention. Such ideas posed an existential threat, not
Bernie Sanders’ t wo runs for President of the United States as a self- described democratic socialist played an impor tant role in rallying millions of workers, youth, and oppressed people to a radical platform of social and economic justice
just to Unionist par ties, but to British imperialism Labour was publicly declared as Unionism’s greatest threat As a result, O’Connor notes, the 1920 expulsions in par ticular were driven by an especially high level of collusion between the gangs and the Unionist political leadership
This shows the vital impor tance of working- class unity in Ireland. It still poses the greatest threat to the capitalist system, because it ’s our greatest chance at over throwing it An impor tant tale in this book, however, is the utter failure of the labour leadership to build upon peaks of industrial action, and to forge an independent working- class political voice –independent of both the right-wing nationalists and Unionists – that could hold the class together. It is also a vital reminder that simply ignoring or wishing away divisions in the working class is not enough to overcome them; it only allows them to fester and be built upon in times of crisis by right-wing political forces, as was the case with these expulsions.
To conclude, this book is a really impor tant work with plenty of novel insights into this vital era However, it is not-without the pessimism of hindsight. O’Connor notes that Baird, like the near-revolutionar y years of 1917-1923 in Ireland generally, was forgotten because he only represented a brief and unusual blip of radicalism in our past.
First of all, this is not true. From the Outdoor Relief Strikes (1932), to the actions of the labour movement in countering sectarianism during the Troubles, to modern day : our histor y has many examples of militanc y and cross- community politics. The reason they are forgotten is not due to an irrelevanc y, but because the histor y we are taught, and the histor y that is promoted, is shaped by the interests of the ruling class. As Mar x famously said, “If you can cut the people off from their histor y, they can be easily persuaded ” This is exactly the motive of the sectarian and establishment par ties in hiding this period of histor y from us, nor th and south.n
A new book by Sanders – It ’s OK to be Angr y About Capitalism – promises to be “a progressive takedown of the uber- capitalist status quo that has enriched millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the work ing class, and a blueprint for what transformational change would ac tually look like.” But, is it?
First off, it is ver y refreshing to see someone with a platform like Sanders speak so clearly about the work ing class and about the “class war ” being waged by the rich against ever yone else. Sanders clearly remains deeply affec ted by the injustices of life under capitalism in the US Page af ter page lists a litany of the hardships endured by ordinar y people.
However, co -written by John N ichols, the book bears little resemblance to Sanders' impassioned speeches which inspired so many on the campaign
trail in 2016 and 2020 I nstead, it reads as a stale defence of work ing with the machine now, rather than against it.
The book star ts with a chapter recounting the 2020 Democratic primaries Sanders won the first three primar y states, the first time any candidate had ever accomplished this feat.
This ter r ified the US ruling class That momentum had to be blunted, and the D emocratic establishment moved with might and main to ensure this happened. S anders recounts the “debacle” of the Iowa pr imar y where the D emocratic organisation appeared incapable of counting the votes and the media were able to por tray Pete Buttigieg as the winner. Then there was the choreography around “Super Tuesday ” where a slew of candidates dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden in order to catapult Biden into the lead.
Sanders dropped out of the Democratic primaries and the presidential elec tion just as the Covid pandemic took hold At the ver y moment that his demand of ‘Medicare for All’ was of the most critical impor tance, with 87 million Americans facing into an unprecedented health emergenc y uninsured or underinsured– he instead endorsed the establishment nominee, Joe Biden.
Sanders of ten begs us over the course of the book to think big, but he himself is guilt y of think ing too small, for example when arguing that “today, we have a strongly entrenched and well-funded t wo -par t y system Could that change in the foreseeable future? Maybe But not tomorrow That means that, if we are going to bring about the k ind of change this countr y desperately needs… we need to completely transform the Democratic Par t y – from the bottom on up ”
Sanders likes to say how, as President, he wouldn’t just have been the Commander-in- Chief, but the “Organizer-in- Chief ” . But beyond expressing solidarit y with strik ing workers on pickets, he does little to outline how he would organise Even now, imagine the resources Sanders, with his base, would be able to commit if he took a similar position to Socialist Alternative and Seattle councilmember Kshama Sawant who have launched the nationwide Workers Strike Back rank-and-file organising campaign? How might this forge the outline of a new work ing- class par t y in the US?
Sanders' conception of a “political revolution” is seemingly to return to the politics of the New Deal or LBJ ’s ‘Great Societ y ’ . While the book title refers to capitalism, throughout the tex t he always describes the system as either “uber- capitalism” or “unfettered capitalism”. I t ’s as if he holds out hope of returning to a better, more humane capitalism.
But this is to profoundly misjudge the nature of the system, and also the political environment then and now openness to an alternative to capitalism is clearly growing. Sanders is able to connec t the growth in inequalit y and the weak ness of the US labour movement to Reagan’s smashing of the air traffic
controllers’ union, PATCO, in 1981 But what was the spur for this offensive by the Reagan regime? Was it simply bad politics or a reflec tion of the political imperatives that flowed from the crisis of profitabilit y capitalism faced in the 1970s?
Capitalism had to make the work ing class pay to maintain the system, so it had to tr y to smash the organised work ing class This wasn’t simply a US phenomenon, as neoliberalism spread throughout the world. The first t wo chapters of this book are ample evidence that the Democratic Par t y is firmly held in hock to this ideology by big business and the superrich who fund them
I t ’s enough to quote Sanders in conclusion:
“ The sad truth is that, if you boil it down, the essence of the Democratic message in recent years has been: ‘ We’re prett y bad, but Republicans are worse So vote for us. We’re the lesser of t wo evils!’ Given the realit y of the Republican Par t y today – their growing attacks on democrac y and women’s rights, their abysmal record on climate change and the environment, their suppor t for tax breaks for the rich and cuts in programs for work ing families and the poor – there’s more than a grain of truth in that message
“[But] it doesn’t recognize that, when the oligarchs and the corporate world are waging class war against work ing Americans, the work ing class needs a par t y that will fight back And win ”
On this point we can agree, but the verdic t we draw from Sanders' own experience is that that par t y cannot be the Democratic Par t y n
