November December 2022

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FIFA Corruption and the Qatar World Cup stage. already think pieces are rolling out giving credit to the World cup for minor reforms of the Kafala system. this is no accident. the government has offered expensive junkets to press and fans alike in exchange for positive coverage in media or online — an effort which amounts to the whitewashing of repression and modern slavery.

An abysmal record on human rights this year’s fifa World cup yet again takes place under the shadow of controversy. it’s taking place in Qatar, a small yet extremely wealthy country and one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies. Qatar’s wealth comes from its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. it is one of the most unequal societies in the world, with an abysmal track record in terms of rights of workers, women, lGbtQ+ people, and migrants, and democratic and human rights in general.

Migrant worker deaths in the course of construction for the World cup alone, it’s been reported that 6,500 workers have died. however the Qatari regime is tight lipped on the issue and the figure could be higher. like other states in the region, Qatar operates a system known as ‘Kafala’ (‘sponsorship’), whereby migrant workers are brought in to the country and are totally beholden to their employers under slave-like conditions for little, if any, pay. this has proven to be an extremely profitable system — the vast majority of people in Qatar at any given time are temporary workers brought in under this system — 2.2 million migrant workers in a country with only 313,000 citizens.

FIFA’s woeful record

State-led LGBTQ-phobia homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, under threat of death. one lGbtQ australian football player already has expressed concerns for his well being should he travel there, and many fans also feel trepidation. many more are outraged that such an event would be held in a country which commits such atrocities at all. one Qatari World cup ambassador just this month described homosexuality as “damage of the mind” and “forbidden.”

Enshrined misogyny the regime is also repressive in terms of women's rights. one fifa worker was forced to leave the

country after being investigated for having sex outside of marriage.

Punishments for such an offense include flagellation. Women in Qatar must obtain permission from male guardians for a variety of things, including leaving the country under the age of 25, working for the government (where the majority of Qatari women are employed), and so on.

Domestic violence is not illegal.

this is not the first World cup to be marred with controversy. most recently, 2018’s cup took place in russia — this in the context of the russian occupation of crimea, attacks on lGbtQ+ rights, violence against protestors, and more. the day the cup opened also marked a massive offensive on pension rights in russia. in the games

By Jonathan Diebold

before that, in brazil, again construction was marked with abuses of workers’ rights and frequent accidents and deaths on the construction site.

Profits before footballers and fans ’ Why does fifa choose to host games in countries such as Qatar? the answer is: money. this year’s games are the most expensive in history, with $220 billion being spent. millions were paid in bribes to officials by both Qatar, and russia before them, to secure hosting rights. fifa’s revenue for 2019-2022 is expected to exceed $6.5 billion in spite of the pandemic. football is being run not in the interests of fans, nor of players or of workers, but of profit.

Buying media whitewashes the World cup being held in Qatar is a huge propaganda victory for the Qatari political establishment. it allows a hugely repressive regime to present itself as a modern country on the world

“Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living” Transgender Day of remembrance 2022 RANS DAY of Remembrance is a day when we mourn the death of our trans siblings around the world.

With 375 trans people murdered in 2021, it was the deadliest year on record. But it also must be a day when we remind ourselves of our struggle as a community and empower ourselves to stand up and say, enough is enough.

state to provide trans healthcare, with little option but to travel abroad at great expense.

The exploitative sex industry profits from perpetuating the exotification and the fetishisation of trans bodies. In so many countries in the world, including in Ireland where some sex workers have been convicted for brothel keeping, trans sex workers face harassment and criminalisation from the state.

Conservative establishment

Transphobic forces

Our struggle is one that is pitted firmly against the conservative political establishment in Ireland – one that continues to stand over the unacceptable continuation of single-sex Catholic influenced public schools; one that allowed trans people to be excluded in the recent census; and has presided over the egregious scenario in which now Ireland has been deemed as having the worst trans healthcare in the EU. Facing discrimination in seeking jobs and housing, a situation exacerbated by the cost of living crisis, large swathes of trans young people, especially trans women are increasingly given no option but to do sex work.

This also relates to the failure of the

Right-wing political and religious forces, as well as TERFs and the LGB Alliance, peddle transphobic rhetoric, spreading anti-trans propaganda, demonising the entire community and creating a false narrative that trans people are dangerous.

The actual truth is that the trans community is always the one left behind, along with intersex people. Intersex children are still being mutilated and there is no legislation protecting them.

This is the result of the constant negligence of the state towards the trans and intersex community. We must remember that victories such as that of Repeal of the 8th or Marriage Equality were fought for, not given. Why should we be

by river arches

T

Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin is hosting an event on Saturday 19 November at 2pm outside Dáil Éireann on our knees constantly begging for the state to finally give us what we deserve?

Instead, we need to demand our rights.

Struggle for liberation

We need to demand a free and accessible, consent-based model of trans healthcare, accessible locally via GPs rather than the paternalistic, gatekeep-

ing failed model. This is the only way to protect working-class trans people.

For years we have mentioned transgender healthcare, trans liberation and trans rights in our protests, but we chant the same chants demands the same demands and end up with empty words or empty promises. Under capitalism, a system of permanent crisis,

even when we win our gains are under threat. When the system denies your there will be no trans liberation or any liberation of any kind.

The radical change we need can only be won through struggle by the trans community as part of a working-class struggle for socialist transformation of society.

HousiNG Crisis

3

The socialist

record 11,000 in emergency accommodation

Govt housing policy in total shambles

by Peter mcGregor

T

HE HOUSING and homelessness crisis in Ireland is a defining legacy of the cycle of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail governments, and the various parties that have propped them up. Official statistics show there are nearly 11,000 homeless people accessing emergency accommodation, which is the sharp tip of the iceberg of the overall crisis, that includes tens of thousands on housing waiting lists and thousands more without secure accommodation.

Unbearable costs

And for those with accommodation costs are ridiculously high. Interest rates are now 2% higher than before the summer, with the difference exceeding €2,000 annually on repayments on a tracker mortgage of around €200,000.

For renters, the average cost is now over €1,500 per month – 50% higher than Celtic Tiger levels. In Dublin, average rent is now over €2,000! Some landlords are now ‘providing’ a bunk on a bunk bed at €650.

This crisis is affecting almost everyone in one way or another, yet the gov-

ernment is continuing with business as usual.

Student accommodation

For many students getting accommodation just isn’t possible and for others it’s a choice between paying €6,000€10,000 a year or living in a room with no access to it on the weekends. One student in Galway was forced to live out of her car as there was no accommodation available.

Just 19% of the purpose-built student accommodation is publicly owned, the other 81% is owned privately by vulture funds or individual landlords, who are making a killing by charging outrageously high rents.

Build public homes!

In Berlin last year a referendum delivered an important blow to corporate landlords and showed what’s possible when working-class people get organised. In total, 56.4% voted to demand that 240,000 apartments purchased by vulture funds be taken into public ownership and used for public housing. It’s that type of working-class people power approach that we need in here too.

The resources and capacity exist to solve this crisis, but the Fine Gael, Fi-

by robert cosgrave Housing movement must force change from below

anna Fáil, Green Party government is never going to make it happen. They caused the crisis and have only made it worse. They want to let the market handle it with minimal intervention from the state, but this has clearly failed.

The only solution is to make housing a right, not a commodity. The state

must invest in an urgent and expansive programme of building social and affordable housing; ban vulture funds and nationalise all the units they own; implement real rent controls; and take the big construction companies into public ownership to build the public homes we need quickly, safely and up to proper standards.

shameful treatment of Ukrainian refugees – build public homes for all less, or you can have the money-grubbing, privatising capitalist approach.

You can’t have both.

by manus lenihan

B

ACK IN October, refugees from Ukraine and other countries had to sleep in Dublin airport because there wasn’t a bed for them anywhere in the state. People who had just escaped from war were queuing outside the Capuchin day centre for food.

The ‘solution’ arrived at? Prefabs in army barracks!

Six months ago government plans supposedly anticipated 100-200,000 Ukrainian refugees. But at 50,000 plus, the system is already bursting at the seams. Everyone understands that this is a huge, unprecedented effort. But eight months into the war, this effort is still not being pursued in a serious way.

It’s a mess. And it’s one that the government parties, and Labour, are directly responsible for due to their housing policies over decades, but particularly in the last ten years. Thousands had already been languishing in emergency accommodation and tens of thousands on housing waiting lists for years before the Russian invasion.

These parties have proven utterly incapable of dealing with the housing emergency – the latest scandal is unfortunately not unexpected.

Racism and hypocrisy

There is a disgusting double standard in the treatment of refugees. Those from outside Europe are segregated for years in Direct Provision centres without rights or incomes. In the eyes of

Stop the evictions at Tathony House!

Right to housing, right to asylum

Ukrainian refugees: Suffering more because of government’s housing policy

the state and the media, it seems there are ‘Good Refugees’ and ‘Bad Refugees.’ The state has taken in 50,000 of one (Ukrainian refugees) and only 15,000 of the other (‘International Protection’). Yemeni, Syrian and Ethiopian people come from warzones just as real, just as brutal, as that of Ukraine. Let the government and the online trolls try come up with all kinds of far-fetched justifications; the issue is obviously race.

Meanwhile, homelessness continues to rise. It’s a triple shame on Irish capitalism – the failure to find beds and/or homes for Ukrainians fleeing a horrific eight-month-long war, the shameful treatment of refugees generally, and the

mass shortage of housing that working-class people can afford.

Housing crisis

The government’s failures in housing have created a degree of resentment toward refugees, including Ukrainians.

But refugees are not in any way to blame. The housing crisis has been getting worse since 2013. Anyway, refugees are people like anyone else, with the desire to work and to contribute to society.

In a different way, however, these problems are linked. If you don’t build public housing for decades, this is what you get. You can have compassionate treatment of refugees and the home-

Providing for all refugees equally would require first of all an end to all racist immigration controls, such as the policy of ‘Fortress Europe’ which has claimed thousands of lives – those tragically drowned in the Mediterranean. Respecting the right to asylum and the right to a home would mean building public accommodation on a massive scale, undercutting the inflated market.

The problem is that those in power are obsessed with market solutions.

Our ruling class is determined that no roof can be placed over anyone’s head until vulture funds, developers and landlords all take their cut.

Regarding both housing and refugees, people are growing angry with the government and its piecemeal, makeshift approach – one panicked improvisation after another.

Whenever the market fails, the government tries to plug the gaps with massive piles of public money handed over to private operators. One in four hotel rooms is now paid for by the state.

The homeless, those paying high rents and mortgages, and refugees from all countries have a common interest in calling for one simple thing: a genuine policy of housing for all, through the building of public accommodation.

LAST MONTH, 100 residents of Tathony House – an apartment building in Kilmainham, Dublin 8 – were served eviction notices as the landlord planned to sell up.

Such mass evictions were meant to be impossible with the introduction of the “Tyrrelstown Amendment” six years ago – brought in after Tyrrelstown tenants, assisted by Socialist Party local reps, were able to fight an attempt at their eviction to facilitate the sale of their homes to a vulture fund. the landlord is attempting to claim an exemption on the basis that selling the building with the tenants in situ would mean “undue hardship” for him. a heart of stone would break for this millionaire landlord. for the tenants, who may as well throw him into the poorhouse, they have the privilege of returning to the rental market and a housing crisis which, far from showing any signs of abating, is worsening almost by the day.

The right to resist this type of behaviour from landlords is all too familiar to renters across the state, and will intensify as the housing crisis goes from very bad to even worse. for the landlord class, however, this crisis has been anything but. the tenants in tathony house should fight this eviction by all means, including if necessary refusing to leave when the eviction notice is up. as well as doing all that is needed to defend the residents of tathony house and any and all other tenants fighting against landlord greed, there is an urgent need to build a national mass movement based on the consistent activity of working-class people to overcome the housing crisis. and to truly overcome this crisis, the root problem – the commodification of housing, a basic right required by all – needs to be tackled.

Previous mass struggles in the south, from repeal to Water charges, prove that when workingclass people organise themselves with clear demands and tactics, they can win real victories.

4 speCial feature COP27 took place in Egypt as the climate crisis worsens and it grows increasingly clear that the Paris Agreement 2030 targets will not be met, writes MICK BARRY TD. In October, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) reported that there are now record levels of all three greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane) in the atmosphere.

L

AST YEAR saw the biggest yearon-year jump in methane concentration in 40 years. The growth rate for carbon dioxide concentration was greater last year than the average over the last decade.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas said: "The continuing rise in concentration of the main heat-trapping gases, including the record acceleration in methane levels, shows we are headed in the wrong direction."

The WMO also revealed that temperatures have increased at double the global average rate in Europe over the last 30 years. European temperatures increased by 0.5C each decade from 1991-2021.

Impact on Global South

Climate crisis events directly affected half a million people in Europe last year and caused $50 billion of economic damage. The most terrifying impacts of climate change are seen, however, in the Global South.

In Pakistan, more than 1,500 people have been killed in floods this year and tens of millions displaced from their homes. In the Horn of Africa, millions are currently starving from extreme drought.

Despite this, a COP held in an African country is likely to see the capitalist governments of the Global North resisting attempts to organise serious financial compensation for loss and damage in such nations.

In the aftermath of Russia's imperialist invasion of Ukraine, capitalist governments are organising a new arms race in the name of "defence". More than $2 trillion will be spent on this arms race this year.

Huge financial firepower that could be used to combat the climate emergency is being wasted instead on militarisation. Instead of taking a decisive turn towards investment in green energy, these same governments are invoking "energy security" to justify increased investment in fossil fuels.

For all these reasons and more it is increasingly clear that the Paris Climate Agreement target of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5C by 2030 will not be met.

Anti-capitalism

In fact, the United Nations has warned that the world is on track for temperature increases of 2.5C this century which equates to climate catastrophe.

It is a very welcome development that Greta Thunberg used the launch of her new book in October to place responsibility for the climate crisis at the door of capitalism and to call for its overthrow.

Greta said that capitalism is "an extreme system built on the exploitation of people and the planet. It is a system defined by colonialism, imperialism and oppression and genocide."

Greta's journey from school striker and climate campaigner to support for the anticapitalist left is a journey that can be, and hopefully will be, undertaken by many others in Generation Z. Many questions arise for those taking this journey: l What is the alternative to capitalism? l How to go from where we are today to mounting a challenge to the system? l What programme can take the climate movement forward now?

The Socialist Party and our cothinkers in International Socialist Alternative believe that the interests of the climate and the interests of the working class are indivisible. This was seen in Germany this summer where pressure from below resulted in a progressive cost of living measure (very cheap public transport) and a 1.8 million tonnes reduction in carbon emissions.

Free public transport should now be implemented all year round in every country in Europe. In Britain, the rail workers union is campaigning for the renationalisation of the railways which is a prerequisite for free public transport in that country.

Socialist transformation needed

A massive programme of public investment in green energy is necessary so that fossil fuels can be left in the ground. But such a programme could create tens of millions of well-paid

COP27 in Egypt: Greenwashing a dictatorship The Egyptian dictatorship, which organised a military coup in 2013, is attempting to organise a publicity coup and to greenwash the regime by hosting COP27. There are 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. Environmental organisations which criticise the regime are routinely harassed and spied upon. Now they are being filtered out of COP27 attendance.

The so unionised jobs worldwide too.

A four-day working week would raise hourly wage rates and create more leisure time for workers while significantly reducing energy consumption.

Massive wealth taxes could fund free public transport, a four-day week and green jobs. But at the same time, such taxes would reduce the number of private jets, private swimming pools, McMansions and other luxury goods that are deeply injurious to the environment.

The capitalist establishment would fight to the bitter end to prevent such a programme from being implemented, however. Capitalist opposition could only be overcome by destroying its power bases in the economy and the state machine.

No trust in this system

That means the nationalisation of the big corporations and financial institutions, seizure of billionaire wealth, the sacking of the top brass in the military, the police, the judiciary and the civil service with the creation of a new state democratically controlled from below by ordinary, working-class people.

This is the outline of a democratic socialist society which would put the environment before profit. The corporations and the governments that will dominate COP27 are part of the problem, not the solution.

Any progress that is made in Egypt will be marginal at best at a time when massive strides forward are needed.

Only a struggle by climate campaigners and the international working class for a new world can show a way out of the crisis.

cop27: cheap t while capital

economic turmoil means the er

by Daniel Devlin

I

N THE last number of weeks job losses and hiring freezes have been announced across the Big Tech sector.

Meta, Twitter and Stripe, to name just three, have axed thousands of jobs – an enormous blow to the workers concerned. These companies have been the great success story for capitalism over the last decade and a half, becoming both monopolistic giants and household names.

So why are they shedding jobs now?

Are these announcements a proverbial canary in the mine as far as the living standards and jobs of working-class people are concerned? The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an annual report published in October presented a gloomy picture of the world economy.

All the big capitalist countries and blocs are facing further economic slowdown, including China, which played a crucial role in maintaining economic growth over the last number of decades. Coming on top of a major inflation and cost of living crisis this will mean further misery for workers and poor people globally.

Fueling precarious growth

The problems confronting Big Tech speak to the wider malaise confronting capitalism internationally, flowing from a number of varied and interconnected factors. The most immediate and pressing issue is the ending of the era of cheap money through low-interest rates

that the capitalist class enjoyed since “the Great Recession” in 2008-2009. In general, this was a vital tool for capitalism to generate growth, albeit superficially, in that period.

The world’s central banks, particularly in the advanced capitalist countries, slashed interest rates to near zero, or in some cases below zero. This was connected with a policy of Quantitative Easing (QE) – in which trillions of dollars and euros printed by these banks found their way into the hands of the super-rich to engage in massive speculation in property, stocks and shares.

Cheap money acted as a lubricant for the capitalist class to squeeze out enormous profits, and the value of their assets surged. At the same time, in a stark illustration of the parasitism at the heart of the system, big businesses used this source of cash to buy back shares in their own companies and in turn drive up their stock prices, resulting in bigger dividends to their super-rich shareholders.

In 2010 Mark Zuckerberg’s and Jeff Bezos’s 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 over $300 billion!

Growing inequality

While the value of the assets of the ultra-wealthy mushroomed, living standards for the working-class majority

stagnated or declined. Unsurprisingly, precious little QE money found its way into investments to improve public services or infrastructure, or living standards generally, or into measures to tackle the existential threat of climate change.

However, for some working-class people, the low-interest rates of the 2010s acted as respite at a time of austerity and stagnating wages. In Britain, while wages grew on average by 33% a decade from 1970 to 2007, they have stagnated in the last decade. Now many are faced with rising mortgage rates at a time of rising prices generally, putting a major squeeze on living standards.

Attack on living standards

Capitalist commentators and representatives justify the rise in interest rates as a means to combat rising inflation rates.

However, like inflation, these measures are part of a class war offensive by the big bankers and bosses against workers– to boost profits at our expense.

They hope to provoke a short-lived and controlled recession. However, they are far from being in control of this crisis, it is likely to be far more severe than they expect. A recent report by the United Nations found that a 1% rise in interest rates by the Federal Reserve will result in a corresponding fall of 0.8% in economic output for wealthier countries and a 0.5% fall for poorer countries.

Perversely, mass unemployment flowing from such a recession will be a welcome development for them. It will

speCial feature

ocialist

5

Ukraine: Crisis for Russian imperialism as war enters new stage

by Darragh o'Dwyer

talk & empty promises, lism burns the planet

ra of cheap money is at an end

The IMF’s annual report has forecast economic slowdown for all the major economies

allow them to attempt to drive down wages and conditions by putting fear into workers, thus weakening their bargaining power, which has grown in the post-pandemic period – as illustrated by important strike waves in countries like

Britain and the United States.

This is no episodic crisis; it is the latest stage in the long-term decay of the capitalist system. The economic crisis is only one of the manifestations of this decay, along with war, ecological catas-

trophe and the resurgence of the farright. We need to get organised now, to defend our livelihoods, our rights and our futures. That means organising for a socialist alternative to the chaos of capitalism.

WHEN THE Ukrainian army took back vast swathes of territory in a surprise Kharkiv offensive in September, a new phase of the war began. Previously Putin was sitting tight, hoping to grind Ukrainian forces down militarily and exert pressure on the west through severing gas supplies to Europe. the dynamic has now shifted. alongside the rapid advances in Kharkiv, russian troops in Kherson have been pushed back 20-30 km and Kremlin installed officials have announced an “organised, gradual displacement” of citizens from four towns in the region. Do these breakthroughs mean the war is closer to an end? or are we facing the prospect of further escalation, up to and including the use of nuclear weapons?

Kerch Bridge and Russian airstrikes the destruction of parts of the Kerch bridge which connects russia to crimea was a real blow for Putin. retribution came in the form of air strikes targeting infrastructure in a number of cities including Kyiv, the first time since the war’s beginning that the capital was under attack. Such callous attacks illustrate that Putin’s onslaught is not yet exhausted. however, these are really acts of desperation as problems pile up for Putin’s war. hundreds of thousands of men of fighting age and their families reportedly dashed to flee russia through airports and land borders; a new wave of anti-war protests erupted, and there were reports of recruitment centres torched by molotov cocktails.

Joining an already undersupplied and underfed military, significant numbers of conscripts mobilised against their will could add to the sense of demoralisation within the russian army, rather than turn the tide of the war in Putin’s favour.

Putin’s isolation the internal turmoil that Putin faces is mirrored and compounded by increasing isolation on the world stage, even amongst russia’s allies. the russianled cSto military alliance, established as a supposed counterweight to Nato, verges on disintegration as armenia threatens to leave. likewise, some point to potential cracks in the no-limits partnership of Xi and Putin. but despite the inevitable contradictions within the russia and china alliance, they remain pressed in a bloc against an emboldened uS imperialism and its western allies. massive military aid flowing in from

the uS and Nato is not sent in the interests of ordinary ukrainians, but to rebuff russian imperialism and send a message to chinese imperialism.

War hawks and nuclear weapons the russian war hawks have also become more vocal in pushing for escalation, making open criticisms of what they see as a weak approach to waging the war. Putin himself has threatened the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Whereas at the war’s beginning Putin made similar remarks, he did so from a position of apparent strength, now he is on the defensive, backed into a corner with his options running out. Nevertheless, if he were to make good on his threats, he would risk provoking a significant rupture in the china partnership, or, even more dangerous for the regime, a mass movement against war and nuclear weapons. for that reason, he seems to have opted for other forms of escalation for now.

Resistance and solidarity international Socialist alternative (iSa) opposes all imperialist powers and the dangerous military build-up currently taking place. We call for an international movement of the working class and oppressed to resist the slide into further conflict. therefore, alongside implacable opposition to the invasion of ukraine and the demand for the immediate withdrawal of russian troops, we oppose Nato and uS imperialism’s intervention in ukraine, including arms deliveries.

While Western imperialist arms are decisive to the war currently being fought by the ukrainian army, this is not the only way which russian imperialism’s invasion can be resisted. already, the fact that ordinary ukrainians are motivated to volunteer to defend their homes has been a crucial factor throughout the war. this willingness to resist needs to be harnessed into a movement led by the ukrainian working class to repel the occupation, both with arms in hand, but also through mobilising the full power of the masses through strikes and protests. Such a movement could appeal to russian soldiers to refuse to fight, and spur on the mass movement to bring down Putin’s regime. crucially this movement must be independent of Western imperialism and the pro-capitalist Zelensky regime. to do so would require adopting a socialist program and waging a struggle against the capitalist system itself, building a global movement against imperialism, war and climate destruction.

6

The socialist

review & tHeory

review: all Quiet on the Socialism 101 series #9 western front directed by edward Berger are all workers exploited? are there no good bosses?

by harper cleves by thomas carmichael

A

GAINST A backdrop of an imperialist war of aggression in Europe and growing geopolitical tensions between superpowers that threaten to spill over into conflict far deadlier and more destructive than any yet seen in the 21st century, the current period makes fertile ground for director Edward Berger’s fresh adaption of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic anti-war novel.

We open with naïve teenager Paul and his friends, newly graduated from school, whipped into a nationalistic fervour along with the rest of their schoolmates by their reactionary schoolmaster, practically tripping over themselves in their excited rush to enlist in the German army in early 1917.

The harrowing opening sequence has already given us, the viewer, a taste of the horror they are unknowingly committing themselves to, as we see hundreds of bloodied and tattered uniforms stripped from the dead at the front, washed, mended and sent back along the line to be redistributed to the fresh lambs for the slaughter.

Finally arriving at the trenches, the first grim task assigned to the enthusiastic new recruits is the collection of dog tags from the bodies of their dead

comrades. Shortly thereafter, they have their first encounter with enemy shelling and from this point onwards their lives resemble a downward spiral of blood, mud, trauma and death as they encounter machine gun and rifle fire, barbed wire, tanks, poison gas, flamethrowers and all the other myriad horrors of war, all in the name of hopefully claiming a few hundred yards of wasteland from the enemy.

Meanwhile two subplots, one following a German politician negotiating for peace with the French high command and the other a right-wing German general bemoaning what “social-democrats” are doing to his beloved Fatherland – as he wines and dines lavishly from the safety of an abandoned manor house behind the front lines – drive home the sheer and barbaric futility that the horrors of the main plot were being carried out in aid of.

Berger pulls absolutely no punches in this depiction of not only the unbridled horror of the trenches but also the criminality and barbarism of the ruling class in starting and propagating it. As our protagonists are ordered from one devastating battle to the next as if they were nothing but pawns on a chess board, we see the French generals refusing to agree to a cessation of hostil-

marxist journal of the Socialist Party:

Socialist Alternative no.16

ities to save lives on both sides while armistice negotiations are ongoing.

While the film does not give an explicitly socialist analysis of this being a war for capitalist domination of markets and the expansion of imperialist spheres of influence, in which the working classes of the belligerent nations were played off against each other for the benefit of their respective ruling classes; it does however leave no room for doubt that it was a conflict in which those at the bottom of society were sacrificed in vast numbers by those at the top in the name of nothing that was really worth fighting for at the end of the day.

All this is at no point clearer than at the very end of the film when the reactionary German general, after giving a speech with echoes of the ideas and rhetoric that would soon take root in German society and give way to the rise of fascism, sends his men on a futile, last-ditch attempt to claim one last line of trenches from the enemy, even though the armistice has been signed and the hostilities are due to end in a mere fifteen minutes. Making for a devastating and infuriating climatic moment for the audience to sit with, and ruminate that the lessons of that pointless, criminal chapter in human history are sadly no less relevant today than they were at that 11th hour.

S CIALIST Marxist Journal of the Socialist Party Issue 16 Winter 2022 / 2023 €4 / £4

includes articles on: l Global inflation Spiral: a capitalist crisis l Socialists and a Sinn féin Government l marx, the ‘metabolic rift’ and capitalism’s assault on Nature l interview: Strike Wave in britain and Northern ireland l revolutionary uprising in iran: a Programme to Win l china: Xi Jinping Purges ccP’s top ranks l how mussolini triumphed l reviews of Athena, Nothing Compares, The Janes and Russia: Revolution & Civil War

€4 / £4 Get a copy from any Socialist Party member or order online or subscribe at: socialistparty.ie

"2+(10&+* .5 ,%" 2 ( &* . * .+$. ))" + &*

INSIDE

Global Inflation Spiral – a Capitalist Crisis Socialists & a Sinn Féin Government Marx, the ‘Metabolic Rift’ & Capitalism’s Assault

on Nature

IN EARLY November Elon Musk purchased Twitter. Within a week of his ascendancy, he had arbitrarily laid off over half of his staff internationally — by email.

This is far from the first time workers have been unceremoniously sacked; the tenacious former Debenhams workers were also dismissed over email in 2020, and this past March P&O ferries fired 800 employees via video message.

In today’s world, examples of bad bosses abound, but surely they’re not all bad?

Karl Marx wrote of the bourgeoisie; the super wealthy elite that owns the companies with the machinery and resources that allow for the mass production of most of the world's wealth, and the proletariat; the masses who need to work in order to survive, and whose work actually produces the wealth.

The relationship between these two groups, Marx argued, is inherently exploitative. The bosses have to compete, and continually increase profits, which are directly accrued from the unpaid labour of the workers. So every increase in wages means less profit for the bosses. It is for this reason we hear some of the draconian stories about Amazon workers peeing in water bottles in order to keep up with the high yield demands set by Amazon management: the more wages, benefits and ‘down time’ for the employees, the less money for those at the top.

Even so, many people will have had bosses that were a good deal nicer (and a lot less wealthy) than the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos of the world. Family restaurants who let staff eat for free, nonprofits with casual Fridays and weekly employee check-ins, even big corporations with generous salaries and other benefits. This begs the question, can bosses be good?

On an individual basis, of course, bosses can have nice personality traits. CEOs and small business owners alike might love their mothers and be nice to animals.

But capitalism is not simply a conglomeration of individuals acting completely independently and according to their own morals.

It is a system, composed of interdependent parts in which each human is shaped and guided by their social position. Under capitalism, individuals in their roles as bosses — and certainly those considered to be successful — are not compelled by their workers’ well-being, but rather by the logic of the markets.

Hence, even workers with relatively cushy, high paying tech jobs have been dumped as soon as their multi-billion dollar companies see their profits squeezed.

Many bosses are not billionaires or millionaires. Small businesses often struggle under this system.

Capitalism favours the already wealthy. It is not enough to simply set up a business; the resources to compete are also needed: money to advertise, money to improve technology, money to expand a small franchise to new locations.

Big businesses try to dominate markets and very often squeeze smaller competitors out, until only a well-resourced few are left.

In this environment, even the seemingly kindest small business owner will feel the pressure to cut costs to maintain some semblance of profit. Pay cuts and layoffs are almost always the first port of call.

In all situations, then, the fundamental divide seems to be this: bosses vs workers.

Malcolm X once said, “Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a bloodsucker.” Regardless of how pleasant or otherwise bosses may be as people, as bosses they can only exist by exploiting, i.e. by systematically appropriating the products of other people's work.

The 3,311 billionaires who have amassed $11.8 trillion between them did so by denying billions of workers the fruits of their labour.

But these workers have the numbers and means — by organising and striking together — to halt the profits of the capitalists, and take away their power. By doing so, workers could get the wages, conditions and security they really need. But to create lasting equality we need to go further, and reorganise society for socialist change.

As Karl Marx said, ‘workers have a world to win’. We could add: one without bloodsucking bosses.

iNterNatioNal & NortH

7

The socialist

Brazil: far right Bolsonaro defeated in deeply polarised election by mark Johnson

Left and worker’s movement need to rebuild

T

ENS OF millions of workingclass people across Brazil breathed a sigh of relief with the news of the defeat of president Jair Bolsonaro. His viciously right-wing administration was like a foot on the neck of all workers and poor people, but especially women, immigrants, black, indigenous and LGBTQ folk.

A constant feeling of threat hung over their lives for the past four years, as repression, corruption and attacks on rights were rampant. At the same time economic hardship has intensified with the enormous increase in the cost of living, especially energy and food.

Nearly 20 million go hungry every day.

Moreover, with his reckless, anti-science policies, Bolsonaro oversaw the deaths of over 680,000 people from Covid-19, and stepped up the corporate destruction of the Amazon.

Bolsonaro’s base

And yet the election, won by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was extremely close. Bolsonaro has strong bases of support amongst the wealthy and upper-middle classes, and amongst farmers, ranchers, logging and agribusinesses who saw increased profits due to his removal of environmental protections and eroding workers’ rights. The religious right, especially evangelicals which have seen significant and rapid growth in Brazil in

Lula defeated Bolsonaro by just 2 million votes

the past decade, was the heart of his campaign.

It was a campaign that used every rotten method from spreading fake news, to intimidation, to bribery, to even using the federal police to conduct blatant attempts at voter suppression in areas where Lula was ahead.

Lula’s weak approach

Lula’s victory was much more a rejection of Bolsonaro than an endorsement of himself or his party (the PT) or policies. Over the last four years, while

Brazil had significant struggles and strikes, Lula had a mainly electoral orientation to remove Bolsonaro, which sought to demobilise struggles and redirect their focus to the elections. At the same time, Lula, who will be president for a third time, attempted to show himself as a statesman and a safe alternative for big business. He sought alliances with traditional right-wing parties and figures, making neoliberal Geraldo Alckmin his vice president, and even sought support from Michel Temer who had orchestrated a soft

coup against the last PT government led by Dilma Rousseff.

All of which meant that his program left little to inspire, other than that he was not Bolsonaro. This explains how Bolsonaro, who was racked by constant scandals, could catch up to within 2% of the vote.

Bolsonaro supporters did very well in the Senate election, however, which means Lula is now likely to widen his alliance with even more conservative parties and thus further water down his already limited program.

Lula will unfortunately disappoint by not addressing the deepening social crisis with the kind of radical programme that’s necessary. This will in turn create the space for Bolsonaro, or Bolsonarism, to make gains and come back.

The left party PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party) on paper did well in these elections, increasing its number of deputies to five Federal and 12 State, which is positive, but it made a significant mistake by not running its own presidential candidate in the first round, instead announcing long in advance that it would fully endorse Lula.

This meant that Lula was under no pressure to adopt any of PSOL’s programme, and in the national televised debates no clear left arguments that could really take up Bolsonaro and the system he represents were on offer.

Lula's victory and the defeat of Bolsonaro is a victory for the working class and those fighting oppression, but as of writing Bolsonaro supporters are in the streets blocking roads and an event like the US January 6th assault on the capitol building is entirely possible.

That's why the workers’ movement needs to organise and mobilise in the streets to stop Bolsonaro in his plans, to force Lula to prosecute Bolsonaro and his supporters, and implement measures to address the social crisis.

North & britain: interview with nurse after vote for strike action health workers to act. We are likely to see another historic event with the rcN carrying out its first uK-wide strike in its 106-year history.

Members of the Royal College of Nurses (RCN) in the North and Britain have voted for strike action over pay. They will soon be joined by other unions balloting their members in health. The Socialist spoke to Socialist Party member and RCN activist, Pat Lawlor, about these important strike ballots.

First of all, what do these ballots represent? in truth, the ballots themselves do not convey the extent of anger, frustration, and disrespect we feel we have been treated with over the last decade or more. health workers were initially disorientated and demoralised when we were thrown into the pandemic completely underprepared. We were put at physical risk by our employers and unfortunately, many health workers paid the ultimate price with their lives. the faux support and pretend hero worship by clapping, grinning politicians in Westminster and Stormont who have themselves implemented systematic cuts in pay, staffing, terms and conditions, and services, have only crystalised and sharpened our anger. the health strike of 2019/20, which brought out the rcN for the first time in its 103-year history, was seen as a partial victory – winning

There are 47,000 unfilled NHS nursing roles across Britain

pay parity with england. this strike is keenly remembered as unfinished business, as coviD-19 cut across the remaining issues of staffing shortages and the crisis in services. all these issues have been exacerbated in the last two years across the whole

of britain on top of the ‘cost of greed crisis’ by big business and the rich, whose inflationary demand for profits is pushing nurses into poverty. however, the ongoing strikes and recent pay wins by public and private sector workers are emboldening

The ballots are primarily on pay – what are the other issues at stake for workers across the NHS? for nurses, pay, staffing and services are interlinked. it is not a coincidence that poor pay and the lowest levels of recruitment are running together. the evidence is clear, nursing vacancies are at a record high. there are now over 2,000 vacancies across Northern ireland and approximately 47,000 unfilled NhS nursing roles across britain. thousands of burned-out, underpaid nurses have left our profession in the past 12 months. i have consoled colleagues in tears, unable to provide basic nursing care, completely overwhelmed with anxiety and stress, who would rather resign than spend one more day at work. the latest ucaS figures showed a 7% drop in applicants accepted on to nursing courses compared to last year. although nursing graduates initially earn above the median wage, within 10 years their earnings fall below the median in comparison to similar workers such as teachers or firefighters. Poor pay and career progression are not attractive to new

people thinking of entering the profession.

Without enough nurses across our NhS, waiting lists will continue to grow, wards will lie empty, and highquality patient care and safety in hospitals and community services will continue to deteriorate.

How can young people, patients, and working-class people generally who don’t work in the health and social care sector support NHS workers? the easy answer is – get involved!

Support any protests, demonstrations and strikes. the NhS we are fighting for is your health service. it provides the safety net of a public-owned universal healthcare service, as well as the security of public-sector jobs and careers with trade union pay, terms, and conditions.

We would encourage you to talk to your family and friends and send messages of support to health workers on strike. if you belong to a union, ask your union and branch to formally support strikes, and raise these issues in your school forums and university student unions. our NhS is a fundamental plank of a progressive, equal and fair society for all, it is essential we all join the battle to defend it.

TheSocialist

PaPer of the SocialiSt Party

iSSue 150

WE STAND WITH SURVIVORS

November / December 2022

Sexism, misogyny, transphobia violence & victim blaming

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ROSA

international day for the elimination of gender Violence

Socialist Feminist Movement

stand out: 6pm Fri 25 nov @ the spire, dublin

what the socialist party stands for: “The day has passed for patching up the capitalist system; it must go.” — James Connolly was right. The immense social, political and economic crises that dominate life in the 21st century all testify to this truth, but the climate emergency gives added urgency to its meaning. That’s why the Socialist Party stands for revolutionary socialist change, and why we are organising to bring it about. We support every right and reform that can improve life for working-class people, while fighting for what’s needed. We say: if capitalism can’t afford to provide for our needs then we can’t afford capitalism.

Workplace • All workers need double-digit wage rises.

For a €17 an hour minimum wage.

• End precarity and bogus self-employment. For guaranteed hours with permanent contracts for all workers.

• A four-day work week with no loss of pay.

• Reduce the pension age to 60. A guaranteed decent pension for all.

• No layoffs. Open up the books and take large job shedding companies into public ownership, under democratic workers’ control and management, with compensation paid only on the basis of proven need.

• Repeal the Industrial Relations Act. For the

right to organise and effective action.

• For a fighting trade union movement that organises the unorganised and mobilises the power of its membership. All officials should be elected, subject to recall and live on the wages of the workers they represent.

Housing • Reduce and freeze rents at affordable levels. Ban evictions.

• For a major programme to build public homes. Take the big construction companies into public ownership. Seize vacant properties and unused land being hoarded for profit.

• Provide culturally appropriate accommodation for Travellers.

• Nationalise the banks and repudiate the odious debt. Reduce mortgage payments to affordable levels.

Public services • End church control of schools and hospitals – full separation of church and state.

• For a major public works programme to build public schools, hospitals and childcare facilities.

• For a one-tier, national health service free at the point of use. Bring all private hospitals, nursing homes and pharmaceutical companies into public ownership.

• Free publicly-run childcare scheme for

join The socialisT parTy

every community. Extend fully-paid parental leave to two years and provide high quality early-years education.

• For 24-hour free counselling services and education programmes to begin to tackle the mental health crisis.

• Free education and training for all. Abolish the Leaving Cert system and provide a Third-level place for all who want one, with a living grant for all students. Build affordable, accessible student accommodation.

Environment • For substantial investment in an expanded, reliable and free public transport system.

• End the reliance on fossil fuels — keep them in the ground. For extensive state investment in renewable energy, retrofitting homes and public buildings, and green jobs.

• For a just transition to a zero carbon economy, with no job losses or regressive carbon taxes.

• Take the fossil fuel companies, big agribusinesses and corporations into democratic public ownership to stop the destruction of our planet for profit.

Equal rights for all • Oppose all forms of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.

• For LGBTQ-inclusive, consent-based sex education in schools. Fully fund trans healthcare.

• Reduce the voting age to 16.

• Defend the right to asylum. End Direct Provision. Abolish all racist immigration laws.

• Black lives matter! Oppose far-right division.

• Fight to end gender violence, abuse and harassment in all its forms.

• For a socialist feminist movement that unites the whole working class in the struggle against oppression.

For workers’ unity in Ireland • For the unity of the working class, Protestant and Catholic, North and South, in opposition to all forms of sectarianism, paramilitarism and state repression.

• For a socialist Ireland, with no coercion and the rights of minorities guaranteed, as part of a free, equal and voluntary socialist federation of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, as part of a socialist Europe.

End the rule of the billionaires • Take the wealth off the 1%. For real progressive taxation on incomes, assets and profits to fund public services.

• Stop tax avoidance and evasion by the wealthy.

• Double corporation tax. End corporate welfare policies.

• No to all forms of privatisation in health, education, transport, housing, energy, sanitation, water and broadband provision.

For socialist change • Capitalism produces inequality, environmental destruction and war. We need an international struggle against this system.

• Solidarity with the struggles of workers and oppressed peoples internationally.

• Oppose all imperialist powers, wars and occupations. No to NATO and EU militarisation. US military out of Shannon.

• No to corporate “free trade” agreements.

No to the bosses’ EU and “Fortress Europe”.

• Build a new mass party that organises workers and young people in struggle against all injustices and for a socialist alternative. For a working-class movement to bring about a left, socialist government that breaks with capitalism.

• Take the key sectors of the economy — the monopolies in banking, industry, services, agriculture and big tech — into public ownership under the democratic control of the working class.

• Replace the capitalist market with a democratic socialist plan of the economy based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people and the environment.

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