Socialist Party Head Office
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Reply received from LEW who wrote the book review:The review noted that The Political Economy of Development provided detailed evidence of the failures of the World Bank and the neo-liberal assumptions which still guide its activities. But we ask again: What of the alternative? ln a chapter co-authored by Fine, it is argued that “lt is insufficient simply to inform of more appropriate analytical frameworks and content” and that progress crucially depends upon “‘activism’ against the Bank’s roles in advocacy, scholarship and policy” (p.45; original emphasis). In the book’s Concluding Remarks, also co-authored by Fine, a number of recommendations are made with regard to the Bank’s roles, particularly in the way it carries out its research (p.281-282).Leaving to one side the nature of those recommendations, it is clear that the contributors to this book see a continuing role for banks in general and the World Bank in particular. In that case it is inevitable that they will follow one monetary policy or another. When it comes to monetary policy there is only either the neo-liberal ideology of “sound money” (what used to be called “monetarism”) or broadly defined keynesianism which according to the original review is governments spending their way out of trouble. (This probably does an injustice to Keynes but it is how Keynesiansim is generally understood.) In other words, either the currency is issued sufficient for capitalism to operate or the currency issue is inflated for political ends.The contributors to the book reject neo-liberalism; Fine now says the book does not propose Keynesian approaches or solutions, though that is not stated or implied anywhere in the book. Perhaps Ben Fine can explain what monetary policy he does favour?
A comrade from the US has drawn our attention to this article on the Reform or Revolution question in relation to the Occupy movement.
Leaflets arrived from the printers today and have been sent out.It won’t just be rallies in Kingston, Maidstone and Hertford that will be leafletted but also Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Cambridge, Canterbury, Norwich, Manchester, Lancaster, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, central London and Brixton. List not complete yet.
Here’s the wording of the leaflet that Socialist Party members, including those who will be on strike themselves, will be handing out on 30 November:
Quote:Beyond CapitalismIt’s simple really.Your pension is a part of your wage or salary that is deferred until you retire. Political concerns over increasing life expectancy – described sometimes as a ‘burden’ on society – are smoke screens designed to obscure this fact. In reality, lowering pension levels and raising the retirement age are pay cuts.Pensions are money returned to us from the wealth that we ourselves have collectively created. Yet public sector workers are being told that they must pay more, work longer and get less, that there is a ‘problem’, pensions must be curbed, a claim which demonstrates that the market economy cannot provide for the needs of the people who produce and distribute all of society’s wealth.Fight back is necessary – the gains made by wage and salary workers on pay, pensions and other related issues have not, after all, been granted by benevolent governments or employers – they had to be fought for. And the only way for working people to defend those gains is through democratic and unified action. If governments and employers win on pensions and wages they will try it again with something else. As important and necessary as trade union actions are, they do not go to the heart of the matter. We strike because we are forced as workers to sell our lives by the week or by the month to our employers. No matter how many workplace battles we fight, we will always have to fight more. So, trade union action like this, even at their best, cannot bring us permanent security or end poverty. Trade unions are necessary but they can’t work miracles. They cannot defeat the underlying logic of capitalism. Austerity and insecurity in a world of potential plenty will always exist for members of the working class while capitalism continues. For a solution, we have to look beyond our immediate situation. Besides trade union action, political action is needed founded on a clear understanding and awareness of our class interests. Without that understanding, militancy can mean little.It is down to us. Only we, the working class as a whole, can remove, through democratic political action, the system that constantly requires us to fight off attacks upon our livelihood.We do not, like conventional political parties, ask for your blind support. Nor do we put ourselves forward as leaders. Instead, we ask you to consider the realities of our lives as workers and take action with us not to reform the capitalist system but to remove it entirely. Over the past century we have seen reform movements rise and fall; we have seen slogans fade; we have encountered scores of “solutions” acclaimed by governments and campaigning groups only to be discarded once they have been seen to fail. We have seen them fail, time and time again.Reforming capitalism is not an answerThe single fact we urge working people to consider is that capitalism generates problems it is incapable of solving. And the remedy – the only remedy – is to consciously put an end to the property system that divides and oppresses us.If you are interested in discussing the alternative society, get in touch with us.Thanks. Noted. The two new shops have been added to the list of those sent each month some Standards to sell.
A comrade from the Midlands reports:Myself and a fellow party member visited the Occupy Birningham protest today. To be quite frank they nearly drove me mad with boredom. ‘Underwhelmed’ does not even get off the mark as a description of how I felt upon bidding them goodbye. There were three very nice prim and proper youngsters from the ‘Food not Bombs’ campaign who were dishing out ‘reclaimed food’ and a few confused types who seem to be groping at some solutions to the vagaries of capitalism. One guy quite earnestly told me in no uncertain terms we should all strive to be capitalist when I suggested a moneyless, stateless, leaderless world in common. He said – “Look Man, I am a capitalist, we should all have the chance to be capitalists.” Another woman told me she was simply ‘against everything’ and while we gave a free copy of Ron Cook’s Yes Utopia to another chap he said – “hey, I don’t dig politics, it’s the environment I care about!”
ALB wrote:Pity you couldn’t make it since it seems to have been a bit of currency cranks convention, with only one person saying anything sensible:Quote:Question: Banks’ money is balanced because each deposit is balanced by a debt?Confirmation of why we need to be there to take part in these discussions.
A member has emailed to say that he was the person who posed that question, adding
Quote:along with talking about the social relations that exist in capitalism which seem to have been conveniently ignored in his summing up.So, we were there after all.
A US comrade has sent in the declaration adopted by Occupy Atlanta:
Quote:We have envisioned a new world. One without foreclosures, bank bailouts, war, corporate personhood, and the state-mandated murder of human beings. A world where the many thousands of homeless men and women in Atlanta do not have to sleep on the cold sidewalks of locked, empty buildings. A world where 15 million children do not die from hunger each year while every plant, grocery store and bakery throw away countless tons of food every single night. We have envisioned a world where the profit incentive is not only void, it is taboo – and the compassion for fellow being and for planet is paramount. A world where everyone shares so that everyone has enough.A comrade from New Zealand writes:
Quote:It’s just the same here in New Zealand. Lots of people extremely dissatisfied with the Capitalist system, but not knowing how to get out of it. We have elections coming up. I went to talk to some of the people occupying Civic Square in Wellington. One of the guys asked me if I had any good ideas for slogans for their banners. Oh Boy! Did I have some ideas!
