alanjjohnstone
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It may have been addressed at the Discords talks but one of my questions is that while I understand that the tax burden ultimately rests upon the backs of the capitalist class because of the Law of Value, that the level of wages paid to the worker must reflect the amount paid on his or her behalf by the employer to the State, there exists a time-gap.
Wages are determined by the contesting forces of class struggle. If taxes goes up, (like any other cost of living) workers are required to engage in industrial struggle to raise the price of their labour-power to compensate.
But that requires time and strength to organise to successfully extract pay-rises from the employer. Nor is it evenly spread throughout our class.
If income tax is raised tomorrow by 10%, it is a wage cut of 10% until workers eventually manage to obtain a 10% pay rise. And that is not automatic. So for a temporary period only, a tax increase is beneficial to the employers in that the cost of government is now being paid, albeit in part, by the worker.
I rarely read this important caveat in our explanation.
Biden promised to cancel a miserly $10,000 of student debt. Five months into his presidency and he hasn’t made a move to do so.
The story features on RT
We have a new Israeli prime minister and now a new Iranian president.
Both will have something to prove which may not be good news for the world
I’ll keep to politics rather than the poetry
Dylan and JFK assassination.
‘Murder Most Foul’, an example of his eulogizing
How different when just weeks after LHO shot JFK, Dylan could say at the Tom Paine Award speech.
“…I got to admit that the man who shot President Kennedy, Lee Oswald, I don’t know exactly where – what he thought he was doing, but I got to admit honestly that I too – I saw some of myself in him. I don’t think it would have gone – I don’t think it could go that far. But I got to stand up and say I saw things that he felt, in me – not to go that far and shoot. (Boos and hisses) You can boo but booing’s got nothing to do with it…”
Paula, what the party always supported is effective political action which in the UK meant using the existing political apparatus.
The majority of working-class males already had the vote so were the majority and the contemporary campaign for female suffrage was for parity with the existing eligibility rules, meaning only propertied women, not property-less working-class women in their own right, would be granted the franchise which would have strengthened the anti-socialist voters.
The Women’s Social and Political Union was described as “essentially a rich women’s organisation.” by the Party.
In a Socialist Standard answer to a correspondent, it said
“E.C.R. asks “How do the S.P.G.B. propose to overthrow the present system of society and establish Socialism on Democratic lines and legislative means without Man and Woman Suffrage?”
Reply – “The Socialist Party is not opposed to Adult Suffrage, but maintain that the working class have quite sufficient votes at their disposal to effect the revolutionary purpose when the class are sufficiently class conscious to make the time opportune. It is a question of education, not of extensions of the franchise; and since the line of social cleavage is drawn through classes and not through sexes, there is nothing undemocratic in proposing to proceed even with our present limited male suffrage.”For comparison, the ILP position at the time was not to support a separate women’s bill to get the vote but which (unlike the SPGB) did include a campaign for full suffrage for all adults as a reform in its manifesto.
Many claim that PR is progressive. We already have a version in Scotland for the Holyrood Parliament. It hasn’t made too much of a political difference.
Elsewhere across the globe, one complaint is that it strengthens the right-wing fringe parties because the thresh-hold for parliamentary representation is too low. (likewise also for the left-wing as in the case of the Scottish Socialist Party)
But, more importantly, for us as a Party, there is an even bigger issue, with the most popular electoral reform proposal, the alternative vote
We call for votes from only those convinced of socialism and who agree and support our ideas. Yet, we could have our candidates elected on 2nd choice votes, meaning the voter’s favoured option is a pro-capitalist party but their alternative vote may be cast for ourselves. How can we reconcile that contradiction?
We will still be calling for a form of ballot abstinence.
However, to be politically relevant in other countries, such as numerous African nations and also in the increasing number of US states where voters’ rights are being curtailed we may have to engage in political activity to obtain a democratic vote.
John Bercow, the former Tory MP and Speaker of the House of Commons, announces he has switched his political allegiance to Labour.
Bercow says he regards today’s Conservative party as “reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic”.
“I am motivated by support for equality, social justice and internationalism. That is the Labour brand.”
I do recall that he came to the defence of Corbyn in the anti-semitic smears but how can he cooperate with one of the people who orchestrated it?
Another trial, another city, another eligibility criteria
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/18/new-york-homeless-cash-young-adults
$1,250 a month to 40 participants aged 18-25 for up to two years, with the aim of helping recipients find stable housing
For those who may be involved in debates about the origin of COVID-19 an article that suggests the lab-leak theory does not hold up to scrutiny
Octopuses and lobsters have feelings and should be included in the animal sentience bill, a group of Conservative MPs has said.
These animals are discriminated against in legislation because their “neurological architecture differs from our own”.
“…What matters, though, is whether that experience entails conscious experience of pleasure and pain. We believe that the evidence is sufficient to show that these animals do experience pleasure and pain.”
Weekly Worker letter from Campaign for Democratic Socialism
Another push for shorter working hours
the introduction of a four-day working week with no loss of pay would aid efforts in reducing Britain’s carbon footprint, with a possible reduction of 127 million tonnes per year by 2025.
A follow-up Discord meeting on Sunday, 20 June at 11 am (UK time). Cde Schauerte (Japan) will attend this meeting and he will take up any points arising from the talk that you wish to raise.
