Our Land – Our Precious Resource

by John Maryon

As a vital part of the earth's biosphere, the land we live on, along with the air we breathe and the water we drink, are basic for the survival of life, including our own. One of Lenin's first decrees was to abolish the private ownership of land in the countryside and to redistribute it from the church and aristocracy to the peasants. Land is too precious to be regarded as a tradeable asset for speculation or to form a basis for the accumulation of wealth. All land should belong to the people under common ownership as their birth-right.
    The private ownership of land allows for exploitation in the form of rent and access costs for living or any economic activity. Landowners can levy a charge whilst making no contribution in return. They did not create the land. Their regular income represents a never-ending drain on wealth created by others. Two-thirds of all registered land in Britain is owned by just 189,009 families whilst fewer than 5,000 landowners own 27 per cent. Land ownership is increasingly seen as a tax efficient speculative strategy by wealthy foreigners and off-shore fund managers.
    Britain's large land owners include the Church of England, pension funds and aristocrats. Many are pillars of the establishment with strong links to the Conservative Party. This class has ensured that the pledge in the Labour Party's 1945 Manifesto for a radical solution to the crippling problems of land acquisition was never implemented. The Royal Family are also large landowners, along with the Dukes of Westminster and Northumberland.
    Whereas Britain's 189,000 large land-owners are liable for council tax if they own property, they pay no tax on owning their land. In England it is estimated that less than one per cent of the population own half the land. If the land were distributed, each one of us would have about half an acre. The form in which agricultural subsidies are paid each year is being transformed post-Brexit and is currently estimated at £3 billion per year.
    The New Communist Party calls for public ownership of all land with provision for leasehold without charge for owner-occupiers. It is NCP policy to cap rents and impose proper taxation for land ownership that would close off-shore tax havens. The funds generated could off-set council tax, which is, in reality, a regressive tax measure.
    In urban areas, land ownership is the biggest factor in the cost of housing or productive enterprises. In 2020 the costs for building land, generally speaking, ranged from £300,000 per acre in Northern Britain to £1-million in the South. The most expensive land is to be found in central London, where the recent opening of Pandora's Box revealed a billionaires’ playground. The NCP regards the system of land ownership in Britain as obscenely undemocratic.
    Thousands of acres of public-owned land are being transferred into private ownership at an alarming rate. Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects, the conversion of streets into shopping arcades and the privatisation of utilities, along with the sale and lease-back of public buildings, including health centres, all contribute to this process.
    In the countryside the problems are no less acute. The number of small farms is in decline as they struggle to cope with the volatility of milk, beef and lamb prices. With the ending of the Milk Marketing Boards, many have been forced into contracts that expose them to full market forces. Tenant farmers have been affected by an increasing rent burden. Big business is taking over, and the large estates are increasing in size.
    Farmers have traditionally been stewards of the countryside. By being in close daily contact with the land they loved, they could take a pride in protecting wildlife and ensuring a good level of biodiversity on their farms. Prince Charles has himself been outspoken in his calls to protect the environment.
    With average house prices over 10 times the annual income of most rural workers, housing has become a growing problem. A dwindling stock of affordable housing for key workers such as teachers, nurses, police officers, and land workers has forced many young people to move out, leaving an ageing and increasingly isolated population. Villages are being turned into dormitories for wealthy incomers. Pubs, shops, schools and even churches are being converted into upmarket housing. Cuts and privatisations have devastated public transport and have led to a growing dependence on cars and a divide between those with and those without.
    The NCP calls for the urgent building of council houses, funded by local council bonds, to supply a basic and affordable social need. The NCP also calls for the restoration of rural bus services and post offices.
    Serious concerns exist about the potential damage from fracking to extract shale gas – often in areas of outstanding natural beauty. Contamination of the water-table with methane is a risk, and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) that had been locked away in the rocks is released when the gas is burned. The NCP is totally opposed to fracking in the UK.
    According to the Big Issue magazine, over 20 per cent of the UK population live in poverty, a high proportion of whom live in rural areas. With benefit cuts and fuel poverty caused by rip-off energy costs, the dependence on foodbanks continues to grow. Wages and conditions for agricultural workers in England and Wales are no longer protected by the Agricultural Wages Boards and many permanent jobs are increasingly being replaced with casual labour. The NCP calls for the full and immediate restoration of those Boards that were abolished.
    Land is a precious resource upon which we all depend. Those who work on the land should be respected and paid well. Our land and all the creatures that live on it must be protected and managed for the benefit of all the people. It is not a commodity to be used to line the pockets of the exploiting class.

Protecting our Beautiful Blue Planet

 By John Maryon

Yuri Gagarin was amazed as he observed the natural wonders of the Earth from the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 1 on 12th April 1961. The world's first cosmonaut said " Orbiting the Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it".
    Pollution and the depletion of natural resources affect our quality of life but the greatest threat to all life on Earth comes from global warming caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases. The most important are Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide and Fluorinated Gases in addition to the presence of water vapour. These gases allow sunlight to pass through but have far less transparency to infra-red radiation reflected back from the Earth's surface. This greenhouse effect could develop into a runaway form such as is believed to have destroyed the environment on Venus causing the oceans to boil away.
    Carbon Dioxide, (CO2), released from burning fossil fuel is the major cause of global warming and climate change. The problem is being made worse by the destruction of rain forests in Brazil and other areas which retained large quantities fixed carbon. Until recently the US administration was in denial of the problem, driven by political and commercial motives. They have now rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and accepted that action has to be taken. Global temperatures have almost reached the 1.5 °C limit and urgent action is required.
    The Paris agreement to limit temperature rise allowed individual countries to set their own targets taking account of trees, soil and oceans to absorb CO2. Climate finance would be made available to enable poorer countries to adapt and switch to renewable energy.
    The New Communist Party's policy for a Planned and Integrated Energy Strategy highlights the challenges facing Britain and puts forward active measures to overcome the problems. Privatisation of energy utilities has made essential planning virtually impossible due to the desire for quick profit and short termism. We call for full public ownership of the power generating capacity and supply networks. The infrastructure does not exist for a rapid transfer to all electrical vehicles making the shift from private car and road freight to public transport and rail goods transport important. Investment is required to convert all existing diesel rail links to electric, restoring rural bus services and for the development of hydrogen engines that only exhaust water vapour as they produce power.
    A balanced and safe energy mix for electricity generation will require more investment into land and off-shore wind farms, solar power, tidal and wave energy. It may be possible in the near future to collect solar energy from space with large collectors and beam it down to Earth.
    Coal fired power stations could possibly be equipped with carbon entrapment technology. CO2 is then captured at source and transported to an underground storage area. Such power plants or a new generation of much safer nuclear units are required as base stations for those times when the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow.
    Nuclear power remains an option but it is controversial and comes with its own risks including the problems of nuclear waste storage, high decommissioning costs and possible pollution. Current proposals for joint Chinese/French ventures are in jeopardy as the government comes under increasing pressure from the US to cut investment ties with China. Energy from nuclear sources is a risky proposition due to the catastrophic events which may result due to human error, technical failure, cyber-attacks, natural disasters, war or terrorism. Reactors may be of a type that can breed fuel for nuclear weapons or to produce further energy. Future developments may include more advanced types of Reactor such as the Molten Salt unit that uses Thorium as fuel and may have certain advantages from safety and security considerations. Many now consider that Fusion will be the power source of the future.
    The New Communist Party is firmly opposed to fracking technology to extract gas from rock formations; a process which can pollute water tables and cause subsidence. Fracking increases CO2 levels by producing more fossil fuel, that was locked away, now to be burnt. During the operation there is the risk of releasing methane into the air and water systems.
    Many northern British cities still bear the scars of the Industrial Revolution. Blackened stonework on buildings being testament to the grim reality of the environmental destruction that was caused. Moths and butterflies developed into new sub-species to blend with the soot.
    Britain possess the technology to become carbon zero. The NCP calls for all new homes, schools and public sector buildings to be developed in this manner. A combination of solar power, heat pumps to upgrade ground-heat and solar heated water, along with improved levels of thermal insulation can make a big contribution. Tree planting and green spaces are essential to absorb CO2.
    It is not only climate change that causes concern. We live in an age of colossal waste and rampant pollution in which we are consuming our natural resources faster than they can be replenished. A build-up of microscopic plastic particles and nuclear waste dumping by Japan into the Pacific along with oil spills all contribute to the contamination of the seas. Fish and small mammals struggle to cope in our polluted rivers. Greater efforts should be made to make the polluter pay the price.
    One of the more obvious areas of concern is that of packaging. Plastic bags are out but but the problem goes much deeper. Most packaging includes plastic rather than card or paper. In many cases it is totally unnecessary being solely a means of making the product more attractive. It should be made a legal requirement that almost all types of packaging should be capable of being recycled. More domestic appliances are now unrepairable and often it is not possible to even replace batteries. We have become a throw away society. It is less costly to dump in developing countries than to bother with recycling. Inbuilt obsolescence, trendy fashion and dubious marketing gimmicks are the hallmarks of a capitalist market.
    We clearly cannot continue in this manner. A strong political will and the acceptance of a shared responsibility for our actions are required. The NCP calls for new policies and a new way of thinking that puts environmental issues above the greedy pursuit of profits. Communists will respect and live in harmony with the natural world including all the other creatures with which we share a common home.
    In 2019 China manufactured 80 per cent of the world's solar panels. The US instead of applauding this achievement has made attempts to wreck the industry by making unfounded allegations of human rights abuses to curb sales. It is the gas guzzling US itself that is a major cause of world pollution and shows little respect for both its own citizens or others with its permanent aggression to bomb and sanction the world.
    The New Communist Party stands with the Greens in their sincere and noble aims of protecting our planet. We also believe, however, that success involves a greater political dimension that tackles the ideological causes behind the problems. Environmental protection cannot be considered in isolation. It needs to be seen as a part of the larger class struggle.