Living on Low Wages

In 1865 Karl Marx advised workers to drop the conservative motto ‘A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work!’ and instead advocate the abolition of the wages system. Over a century and a half later, reformers are still ignoring Marx’s view, and the Living Wage Foundation campaigns for ‘the simple idea that a hard …

Cooking the Books I: Monopoly money

In June Mark Zuckerberg announced that in 2020 Facebook would launch its own ‘digital currency’. Since Facebook is the F in the GAFA group of US technology corporations that are widely criticised for harvesting private information for profit and/or not paying enough tax (the others are Google, Apple and Amazon), suspicions, not to say conspiracy …

Wood For the Trees: Same Difference?

One of the less used items from within the dialectical toolbox is the sameness/difference duality. Its paradoxical nature is highlighted in the much used retort: ‘but that’s like comparing apples with oranges’; a phrase often used to emphasize the inappropriateness of a particular analogy. This kind of critique always insists on difference rather than similarity, …

Material World: Nobody should own the Earth

Our Euroelection leaflet came to the attention of Lesley Docksey who referred to it in an article on ‘Why Do We Think We Own the World?’: ‘Most political parties (barring the alt-right) will claim some desire to help protect the environment, by which they mean ‘manage’. Take this example from a Socialist Party’s leaflet, with …

‘king’ Boris: The Wages of Duplicity

Boris, the indefatigable, is crowned King After each of Boris Johnson’s many gaffs and indiscretions one imagines that he must finally be dead and buried politically, yet he rises from the grave like a zombie in a B-Horror movie. Now he has achieved his life-long ambition and been crowned premier by a reluctant rag bag …

Socialism and Planning Part 2: ‘Feedback’

Socialism and Planning: The Need for Feedback Last month we explained why socialism could not possibly be organised on the basis of ‘society-wide’ planning – that is, a single vast plan encompassing everything. Though the numerous production (and distribution) units would obviously all be engaged in planning, the overall pattern of production would be unplanned. …

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