SPC Newsletter

[Socialist Party Head Office]

                      The Socialist Party of Canada

General secretary’s report, November 1, 2011

Email report

–          Left Streamed – Public Services, Good Jobs, and the Ontario Election.

–          The Bullet – Occupy Wall Street, Beyond the Rhetoric.

–          WSPNZ – EC Minutes for September received with thanks.

–          The Bullet – From Protest to Disruption.

–          The Bullet – The Logic of Occupy Wall Street.

–          The Bullet – Occupy Action – From Wall Street to a Campus Near You.

–          The Bullet – Greece on the Brink of Emergency.

–          The Bullet – Canadian Government announces multi billion -dollar warship building program.

–          The Bullet – Afghanistan – Ten Years of War and Resistance

–          The Bullet and Left Streamed are not based on scientific socialism but are available for information purposes.

        

The Good of the Movement

–          The library video and discussion went well and was attended by 12 people.

–          The ‘Occupy’ movement was leafleted twice with positive feedback. Many thanks to those who turned out to represent socialism.

–          If anyone who is living in an ‘occupied city’ would like leaflets to hand out, let me know.

–          The Fall Imagines have been sent out. If you did not receive one, or if you would like a few to hand out, let me know.

–          Next activity – Thursday November 10^th. We will leaflet the Occupy

Movement in Toronto in the afternoon and there will be a socialist discussion and coffee meeting at the usual Second Cup at 6:30. More details will be sent to Southern Ontario members in due course.

–          One introductory package sent out.

–          One member questionnaire received, under consideration.

Finances

–          Secretarial expenses for October, $27.94. Donation of $35.

Karl’s Quotes

–          Despite all the discussion about the ‘dispossessed’ middle class which is supposedly responsible for the occupy movement and the outcry against bank bailouts and the rich generally, it was the advent of capitalism that reduced the classes is two, eliminating the aristocracy, at least as a force. The WSM, of course, has always proposed that the mythical middle class is indeed part of the working class who are doing OK, for the time being. That time, it seems, has run out. By the way, Michael Moore was interviewed last night by Piers Morgan in a town hall meeting. There it was proposed that it was the middle class that was suffering because the poor were taken care of by social programs! Marx comments, “ In relation to the capitalist class as a whole, however, the proposition that it must itself cast into circulation the money needed to realize its surplus-value (and also to circulate its capital, constant and variable) is not only far from paradoxical, it is in fact a necessary condition of the overall mechanism. For here there are just two classes: the working class, which only disposes of its labour –power, and the capitalist class, which has the monopoly of the means of social production, and of money. It would rather be a paradox, if, instead, it was the working class that initially advanced the money required to realize the surplus-value contained in commodities, out of its own resources.” (Capital Volume II, p.497, Penguin Classics edition). And let’s not forget where the capitalists’ money came from in the first place!

Food For Thought

–          The Occupy movement continues to be a thorn in the sides of  government and Big Business, and even capitalism is often singled out as the main culprit. Although socialist understanding is often lacking in the comments by participants, it is exciting to see a spontaneous movement against the establishment materialize out of nothing. Of course, there are severe circumstances for many. In Spain, for example, The New York Times (23/10/2011) writes that unemployment for youth is around 40% and 20% overall. Young people are being asked to work for a pittance with little chance of getting hired permanently with benefits. This temporary work, “…creates an enduring second-class job tier similar to the phenomenon of ‘permatemps’ in the United States in the 1990s”.

–          Comments from Wall Street as reported by New York Times – “Most people view it as a ragtag group looking for sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.”

–          “”Who do you think pays the taxes/” “It’s not a middle-class uprising. It’s fringe groups. It’s people who have the time to do this.” (maybe because they are unemployed?). The newspaper asks, “Do the bankers get it? (Obviously not!)

–          On CBC radio, the one percent was invited to comment. One was, ‘don’t forget it’s the one percent that provides the entrepreneurs and the driving force for the economy’. The old myth that we depend on them and we would be lost and staggering around starving without them.

–          The good thing is the speed with which it spread around the world – as we always say, ideas respect no boundaries and socialism would do the same. Also, capitalism is becoming the target more and more.

–          Despite all this, the bank bailouts continue, although there is little else that can be done if capitalism is to be saved. The Toronto Star reports (Oct 23 2011) that the Eurozone is close to settling on a plan worth one hundred billion euros (C$414 billion) to recapitalize European banks, while The New York Times reports (Oct 11 2011) that “China’s Gains Benefit Banks, Not People”. Well that’s a surprise.

–          While the Arab Spring has proven to be enduring, widespread, and a popular movement, it is not a done deal. Apart from the lack of socialist understanding, gains won are hard to hold. The Toronto Star reports (Oct 1, 2011) that actor Sean Penn turned out with thousands of others on the Egyptian streets to urge military rulers to end emergency laws that date back to Mubarak. That’s the problem of waiting for the next great leader and hoping he/she will be a good one. Democratic councils would have been a major step forward and would have done the job once and for all.

–          After Gadhafi, who’s next? There are lots of top candidates, the Al Khalifa family in Bahrain, Abdullah Saleh in Yemen, and the top prize, Bashar Assad in Syria. Whatever the outcome you have to give top marks for people who face guns every time they protest.

–          The Toronto City council is trying to ban the sale and use of shark fins. With a large Chinese population, it is facing some tough opposition. Culture is often cited for keeping the fin, but we are in capitalism and money triumphs over all. The price of a bowl of shark fin soup at top Hong Kong restaurants will set you back $200. Shark fins sell for $1 600 per kilogram on the specialty markets. Do you think that if they sold for $10 per kilo there would be the outcry against banning the practice?

–          Speaking of sharks (the human kind), Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler CEO has weighed in with a call for cutting costs of auto manufacture. The union gave up the right to strike as part of Chrysler’s bankruptcy restructuring in 2009 so he expects an easy time with the contracts. He wants worker compensation to reflect how well (or not) the company is doing. He also came out with this gem, “As a producer, you cannot be small and cute and compete. You’re going to get killed.” There goes the myth of the small entrepreneur being the driving force of the economy. Welcome to capitalism. He wants to end the present two-tier wage system, saying it makes for an unhappy work force. He would like everybody to be on the lower rate, of course!

–          No wonder the latest beating of the workers is gaining ground with little opposition. I refer to the practice of work auctioning. In Canada so far, it is limited to determining what shifts you will work, according to desire and seniority. In the US, the price you are willing to work for has already been introduced. Up to now, it’s used for nurses to work extra shifts who bid for them with the wage they want to earn. Right now bidding begins at regular wage rates and saves the hospital; money by replacing hiring from temp firms that charge much more. Will it be long before the floor drops below the normal wage, or is applied to all work? Capitalism gets uglier by the day and spawns the occupy movements, hopefully, digging its own grave.

–          Last month I reported on how India was addressing poverty (a database to find all those who need assistance). This month, we learn that in India, a sweeper earning $1.50 a day (a grandmother raising her two grandsons) is not poor enough to collect benefits as the government lowers the threshold. (Toronto Star, Oct 9,2011). The World Bank estimates that 455 million Indian citizens, or 40% of its population, live on less than $1.25 a day, the bank’s poverty line. If they jeep on moving the line, maybe they will be able to eliminate the data base and write the names of those eligible for assistance on the back of an envelope!

–          How different it is for the rich and famous. Chelsea Clinton has been appointed to the board of a large corporation at age thirty- something with no experience and a salary of $300 000 per year.

–          Canada’s Tory government lost the Supreme Court case to close the safe injection site in Vancouver. It could have probably opened safe sites in every major city with the money spent on lawyers. Our ‘tough on crime’ government would rather lock them up and count them as criminals. Many, of course, have mental health issues but there won’t be any money going there any time soon.

Reading Notes

–          “ We do not have to go that far back in time from our breathless modern world to discover another world of small self-contained agricultural communities, where life depended upon maintaining a subsistence economy capable of producing a small surplus, which, on one side could be traded for goods not locally available, while on the other it was due as tribute to a small governing class whose power and wealth depended upon maintaining the system of central government”. From ‘A Brief History of the Age of Steam’ page 1, by Thomas Crump. How little things change!

Finally, it is my sad duty to report the death of comrade Bill Johnson. Bill was a long time member of the SPC and served as treasurer for many years. I had the pleasure of meeting and camping with him on my trip to Vancouver a few years back. He will be missed by all in the socialist movement.

For socialism, John    

[Socialist Party Head Office]

                        The Socialist Party of CanadaSecretary’s Report for December 1, 2011Email Report-          The Bullet – Organized Labour and the Occupy Movement.-          The Bullet – Corporations Occupy Fair Trade.-          WSPNZ – EC minutes for October received with thanks.-          The Bullet – The Regressive Politics of the Iranian-Canadian Khavri Petition.-          The Bullet – Italy and Greece; Rule by the Bankers.-          The Bullet – You Can’t Evict a Revolution.-          The Bullet – Crisis in Italy and Greece: Marx on Technical Government.-          The Bullet – Resisting Expropriation of the Occupy Movement.-          Left Streamed – Understanding and Fighting Austerity.-          The Bullet – Unraveling Carbon Markets.-          The Bullet – Resistance Takes Root in Barcelona.-          Note that he Bullet and Left Streamed are not based on scientific Socialism but are available for information purposes only.Good of the Movement-          The November meeting took place at Occupy Toronto. The experience was really good. The camp was extremely well organized along socialist type lines – no leaders, elected committees to run everything, discussions and education all over the place, a speakers corner every night where anyone can get up and speak and voluntary labour. I urge anyone in a community with an Occupy movement to make contact and put forward our socialist ideas and show an alternative to the reformist ideas that some hold.-          Next meeting – coffee and discussion on Wednesday, December 14th, atThe Second Cup, north side of Bloor Street, 4 stores east of Spadina Avenue, Toronto, 6:30 – 8:30pm. Feel free to bring a friend.-          One introductory package requested.-          One member questionnaire successfully completed. We welcome Zachary Lohnes of Nova Scotia.-          Tom Coles has set up a facebook group for political discussion. Go to Facebook, type in Clearwater Forum and make a friend request to join the group. Many thanks for your efforts, Tom.-          There will be a General Administrative meeting in December. Please send in any comments, suggestions, proposals to spc@iname.com-          We are preparing for the Spring edition of Imagine. If you have articles, pieces, suggestions, comments, please start sending them in to us. Thanks.Finances-          Secretarial expenses for November, $26.88. Donation of $20 received with thanks.Karl’s Quotes-          On surplus-value coming free to the capitalist, “The circulation mechanism, however, has shown if the capitalist class casts money into circulation to be spent as revenue, it withdraws this same money again from circulation, and so the same process can always begin anew; considered as a capitalist class, therefore, it remains now as before in possession of this sum of money needed for the realization of its surplus-value. If the capitalist not only withdraws surplus-value from the commodity market in the form of commodities for his consumption fund, but at the same time the money with which he buys these commodities flows back to him, he has evidently withdrawn the commodities from circulation without an equivalent. They cost him nothing, even though he pays for them with money. If I buy commodities for one pound sterling, and the seller of these commodities gives me back my one pound in exchange for a surplus product that costs me nothing, then I have obviously received the commodities for nothing. The constant repetition of this operation in no way alters the fact that I constantly withdraw commodities and constantly remain in possession of the one pound, even though I part with it temporarily in order to obtain these commodities. The capitalist constantly receives this money back as the realization of surplus-value that cost him nothing.”  (Capital, Volume II, pp550/551, Penguin Classics edition).Food For Thought-          Top international climate scientists, meeting in Africa had somesharp warnings for the world’s governments – “Get ready for unprecedented extreme weather.’ They point out that since the 1970s, 95% of fatalities from storms have been in developing countries. Making preparations, they say, will save lives and money. Perhaps the latter might have some effect on the worlds’ governments!-          Meanwhile, scientists say that the Arctic sea ice has declined more in the last half century than it has in the last 1 450 years.-          However, The New York Times points out that the environment is no where to be seen in the US and has disappeared from the political agenda, “ …now that nearly every other nation accepts climate change as a pressing problem, America has turned agnostic on the issue.”-          The Arab Spring continues as the Egyptians once again take to the streets because they see that the old rulers, the army, will become the new rulers. The brutal crackdown by the military seems to confirm their worst fears.Meanwhile, Tunisians interviewed by The Toronto Star (Tunisia: The Jobless Revolution, 26/Nov/2011) are mainly saying that nothing has changed for them. Unemployment remains high, life remains a struggle, and they have put their trust in new untried and largely unknown leaders. The future looks very uncertain. Taking a page from the Occupy Movement (see below) would be a large step forward.-          The Toronto Occupy Movement has now been evicted by court order and by the actions of the police and the city, but, as we like to say, you can’t evict a conversation or an idea. So I expect the movement to carry on in some yet to be determined form. Some of the more important aspects are tenets such as anyone affected by decisions should be at the table making them, no one gets left behind, and the organization of the camp, i.e. no leaders, everyone speaks and listens, democratic decisions, volunteer labour. Hopefully this will be carried on in the future. Also remarkable was the speed and cohesion of the movement in setting up camp and the rapid spread throughout the world. If this movement can shed its reformism and adopt the socialist case, it could be a major step forward.  The press mainly continues its establishment stance – The Washington Post wrote, “For those of us who don’t live near one of the protest sites, Occupy Wall Street supplied some comic relief, but they were never meant to survive the onset of inclement weather. Good riddance.” However, David Olive of The Toronto Star points out that it was mainly the courts, the city, and the police that did the evicting. He also notes that 1.3 million Canadians and 26 million Americans are unemployed or have given up looking for a job. Also, since 1959, wages, as a percentage of the GDP have fallen from 51% to 44%, worth one trillion dollars that have been diverted into profit. The Star editorial also comments that the occupation is a 40 day wake-up call to put right the ills that afflict our system. Let’s hope the movement comes back to bite the establishment!-          The Toronto Star has been running a series on the BRIC countries (those emerging countries that have attracted the avaricious eyes of the countries in the northern hemisphere and who have invested heavily to make big profits, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, Brazil etc.). Economic indicators are shooting up and a little is trickling down to a few workers but mainly it’s business as usual for the average Joe. For example, the Star reports, one in two Indian children are malnourished, 74% under three years are anaemic, and 400 million Indians live in poverty – i.e. $1.25 a day! In South Africa, large investment in Mining has pushed up the GDP and unemployment has improved from 37% (2001) to 23% today. However, amid the new wealth, 67% of Africans, 41% of coloured, 14% of Asian/Indian, and just 4% of whites are considered below the poverty line. Life expectancy for the nation is 49.3 years. As always, wealth goes back to the investors and the rest share a few crumbs.-          In Canada, we have failed to live up to the 1980s promise to eliminate poverty by 2000, just as the provincial governments much trumpeted 25% reduction in poverty in 5 years has failed. The recession was cited as an excuse, of course. Now, 10% of children live in poverty and they make up 40% of the nearly one million food bank clients, Canada’s main growth industry.-          Canadian business likes to point out that, although not recession proof, we are better positioned to cope and our banks are better regulated .Last month, though, Canada lost 54 000 jobs, most in manufacturing and construction, the unionized and better paying jobs. Socialists know that no one can escape the world economy.-          Meanwhile, mobile infrastructure company Nokia Siemens has announced that it will be cutting 17 000 jobs over the next few years. In a burst of loyalty to his employees, the CEO said, “As we look toward the prospect of an independent future, we need to take action now to improve our profitability and cash generation.”-          The futility of reform – the auto industry agreed to a two-tier wage system with new hires paid as low as $14 per hour. Chrysler chairman, Sergio Marchionne disagrees with the two tier system and wants every worker on the same scale – the lower one!-          Recession does not to hit some very hard though. The Globe and Mail Reported (Nov 2, 2011) that Prince Charles had to scrape by with just 133 staff to look after him and Camilla, more than 60 of them domestics such as chefs, cooks, footmen, housemaids, gardeners, chauffeurs, cleaners, and his three personal valets, who look after his wardrobe plus the important task of ironing the laces when Charles takes off his shoes.Just a Thought-          Watching a European soccer game recently, I noticed the Italian team wore the sponsor, Arab Emirates, on their sweaters. The Spanish team did likewise with its sponsor, Bahrain Union. Do the capitalist enterprises put away their differences if money is offered? Just wondering.Reading Notes-          Explaining how in emerging organized societies and later, the powerful came to their position, Philippe Gigantes, in his Book, “Power and Greed”, writes, “For centuries, the Brahmins in alliance with the next caste, the warriors, grand acquisitors all, lorded it over the rest of the population. This is the oldest political alliance of all time: very early in human history, the autocrat with the big club and the witchdoctor with his potions and maledictions, became natural allies. The one with the big club organized the hunt and the defence of territory. The sorcerers took care of the uncontrollable, the unpredictable, and the inexplicable – he took care of god in other words. The two, king and priest, in modern parlance, ran the tribe through the fear of violence and the fear of ‘God’. In that tribal system, they each took a much bigger share of everything.”Sound familiar?For socialism, John

[Author]

Posts