The Battle for a Socialist Britain

 by John Maryon

During the summer of 1951 around 8.5 million people visited the Festival of Britain held on the south bank of the Thames in London. It's aim was to celebrate Britain's achievements in culture, architecture , science and industry. It also sought to encourage recovery from the horrors of the Second World War and foster national pride. Remembered for the iconic images of the Skylon and Dome of Discovery the exhibits were colourful and contemporary. People were encouraged to look forward to a brave new world marking a bright new future for Britain. I was there.
Britain still had a strong industrial base and the thriving co-operative movement played an important role in the lives of working class people. We believed that socialism was just round the corner as people were starting to benefit from new social and health care benefits. The NHS had been established three years earlier and new state industries starting to rebuild and modernise our neglected infrastructure. A powerful trade union movement was fighting for better pay, shorter hours, safer working conditions and good pensions. The slums were being replaced by beautiful new council houses. Villages still had their own butchers, bakers, post office and rural people grew all their vegetables. Most people could not afford a motor car but with cheap buses everywhere that did not matter.
We naively believed that with scientific advances and developing technology things could only get better. We envisaged a great future without wars, all sickness would be cured and unemployment become a thing of the past. In many ways the period represented a high point for the socialist ethos in Britain. Since those halcyon days the rich have much more wealthy. Medical advances have failed to conquer many terrible diseases. Imperialism has carried out forever wars. Our economy is failing, our infrastructure is falling to pieces and years of austerity have brought suffering to millions.
Communists recognise the prime cause of Britain's decline is the terminal crisis of capitalism with its irreconcilable contradictions. A crisis made worse by the greed, incompetence and detachment from reality of our so-called leaders. Most Western nations suffer the same malign affliction. The Tories sold all the family silver in a great orgy of capitalist excess when they privatised essential public services. Governments have failed to engage in long term infrastructure investment and many companies have failed to invest in Britain. Essential high tech investment has been neglected in favour of paying workers an appalling basic minimum wage to continue working obsolete systems without innovation.
The debacle has been possible because the working class has not mobilised. The mass media, including the British Brainwashing Corporation (BBC) have been able to anaesthetise people's critical thinking with lies and crude propaganda. We need an effective fightback through class struggle. Labour having abandoned it's socialist values is not in a position to introduce radical policies for change. Many small left wing parties in Britain today are mostly sectarian and prefer to talk among themselves rather than engage in alliances with others. ‘Your Party’ with the respected and trusted Jeremy Corbyn will sadly be unable to tackle the underlying causes of the crisis with a social democratic platform. And then there is the fake left that hover round the Morning Star, who claim to be communist, make a lot of noise, damage working class unity, weaken the struggle against imperialism and achieve very little of substance.
It is essential for a vanguard party committed to Marxism-Leninism to show the way forward and encourage a renewed class struggle. The chief policies of the New Communist Party of Britain are as follows:

* Tax the Rich: More money is needed to properly fund our vital public services, repair the collapsing infrastructure and to invest in green energy, sustainable development and transport for future generations. And it is the wealthy who must pay more. For decades they have amassed huge fortunes by the exploitation of working people. We believe that progressive taxation measures should be introduced to disgorge their vast wealth. Increases in top rates could shift the burden of taxation away from the workers onto the capitalists. Tax evasion by companies should be made illegal and be enforced.

*Public Ownership: Full red:blooded socialist measures are absolutely necessary. Key strategic industries, investment bodies and utilities must be owned and controlled by the people. Within the framework of a planned economy short termism, market anarchy, pollution and cyclical crisis would be avoided. And the surplus value generated spread fairly between the workers and the requirements for new public investment. By public ownership we mean full ownership rather than a loose arrangement in which many functions are out sourced and some assets remain in private hands.

*Independence: Britain needs to free itself from American hegemony and the pretence that it has a special relationship . We must say no way to their obscene demands for increasing war expenditure to five per cent of GDP. We would make peace a major policy and work with diplomacy to build trust and understanding. The war mongers who have governed our country seek forever wars that guarantee huge profits for arms manufacturers. None of the US lackeys ever talk about peace. Of course any nation should have the right to defend itself. We have no obvious natural enemies who would have any interest whatsoever in starting a war against us so expenditure should be measured and adapted to real needs. We oppose warmongering weather from politicians or the BBC who appear to have changed their stated aim of nation speaks peace to nation with the promotion of fear and mistrust.

*Freedom: Socialism with its foundations of equality and fair distribution of wealth in intrinsically more democratic than Capitalism can ever be. But we should always be on our guard against corruption and excesses in the early stages of building socialism. In Britain today many people have been conditioned into being unable to think critically. We would take back the BBC and turn it into a real voice for the people by allowing it to reflect all points of opinion and so enrich our social and cultural development. To achieve real freedom we have to struggle for it through the class struggle and the New Communist Party of Britain will always stand tall in that endeavour.

To learn more about our policies I urge you to become a regular subscriber to the New Worker and join the struggle by joining the NCP today.

Rise and Shine!

 By John Maryon

Originally forming part of a biblical verse from the book of Isaiah that calls for God's light to shine, today it has become an idem to encourage anyone to get up and achieve something. And in the context of the working class to stand up for their rights through class struggle. An essential time to take the path of building socialism and lay the foundations of a beautiful communist society. The New Communist Party of Britain (NCP) is part of that struggle and recognises that complete emancipation from capitalism and imperialism can only be achieved by a revolutionary change.
Our chosen route and rate of progress will be influenced by both internal social and economic conditions and also the international threat from imperialist aggression.  We may face trade sanctions, attempts to cause political instability and “colour revolutions” or direct military aggression.  The British road would have been much quicker when the spirit of revolution was in the air immediately following the Second World War. and before Mrs Thatcher sold off the family silver. These events are history so let us examine the prospects for building socialism in Britain today.
We must through our political work overcome the apathy and servile acceptance by the masses to their deteriorating social and economic conditions. Within a socialist society people would not be left to shiver in the cold, too afraid to turn on their expensive heating.  Bringing back the Electricity and Gas Boards would provide a mechanism to control prices and allow for long term strategic planning that would provide secure and affordable supplies.  Engineers, not marketing men, would decide how to invest and provide the best possible service to their consumers.  Events such as the Heathrow outage would become impossible and energy costs would be a fraction of today's inflated values. State owned utilities are much more efficient and accountable than rip off get rich quick outfits.
Water, fresh air, shelter and food are all basic human requirements. Water and sewage systems were once upon a time in England provided by local councils and paid for through the rates. Public ownership of these essential public services ensured affordable services that were the envy of the world. Millions of pounds wasted on water meters could have been spent fixing leaks. In the good old days we could water our favourite flowers and vegetables with confidence. 
Socialist housing would mean a roof over their head for everyone with rough sleeping just a horrible nightmare from the capitalist past. A National Housing Board should be established to build enough wonderful council houses  for all who need them.  In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea housing is now becoming a free vital service paid for from the profits of State enterprises. This is the power of true socialism.  How unlike Britain where rents are becoming unaffordable and homeowners struggle all their lives to pay the mortgage on a home which may then have to be sold, to pay extortionate fees for private care homes, when they become elderly. 
Education is an investment for the future. A proper socialist government would make education free up to university level and create trade apprenticeships for all those that need them. Every one would reach their full potential and society would flourish.  In Britain today the children of deprived or broken families are not encouraged by the system to make an effort. They remain destined to live a dull, hard life in some dead end job on minimum wage.  To build a successful socialist society we have to enable these children to rise and shine. A full socialist society would overcome the social barriers between so called manual workers and those who occupy white collar professions.  It is important to note that the so called middle class are just better off members of the working class itself. They also serve the super rich capitalists who run their world. 
Those who are fortunate enough to live in a low stress caring socialist society are starting to become more healthy and live longer than we are.  Rebuilding the NHS to the body it was intended to be would provide free full dental treatment, free podiatry care and free prescriptions and full medical and social care for long term sick and elderly. And importantly proper loving care for those mentally ill. Rapid referral would avoid waiting for years in pain for treatment.
We seek a return to a fully funded aftercare service to allow patients to stay in convalescent homes before being returned home to an often cold bleak house without proper food. And of course under socialism, doctors, nurses, ambulance staff and all ancillary workers would be paid properly with secure defined benefit pensions.  New hospitals would be planned well in advance of need and steps taken for proper full funding. No PFI would be allowed. When the NHS was founded in the 1940s it should have been allowed to manufacture its own drugs and equipment, which would have saved a fortune. 
People's China has demonstrated how its people's have been able to rise and shine under socialism.  What, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, it has managed to achieve is amazing, improving the quality of life for over a billion people with infrastructure development and a dynamic expanding economy.  A socialist Britain would recreate a national public owned integrated bus and train network for a safe, green and stress free environment. Socialism would make available large amounts of cheap renewable energy to power a new transport system. 
Socialism is far more than just improving people's standards of living and welfare. Under it's benevolent wing the arts, music, books and films are able to flourish, stimulate, enrich and nurture an ethos of comradeship, harmony and cooperation in opposition to the selfish individualism of western society that leads to conflict and aggression.  The working class may create and enjoy its own culture, one without elitism. 
One may well ask where all the money is coming from to construct and develop our brave new world.  I have a little list.  Major fiscal changes to tax the wealthy and use the money to help the less fortunate in our society. Modest profits from the nationalised utilities and industries would be ploughed back to improve and expand services.  An end to outsourcing by the NHS and other public services would lead to impressive savings. Slashing the obscene levels of military expenditure, and the funding of neo-fascists, would enable billions of pounds to be directed to peaceful construction and building a better life for everyone.  As the economy expands under socialism greater public income would be generated to make tax cuts a reality. We would quit NATO, forget the European Union and join BRICS for expanded trade.  And finally we could join China's Belt & Road Initiative to benefit from infrastructure investment projects. 
Socialism offers a bright future in which we all can excel. With it would come a new spirit of fraternity and comradeship.  Capitalism has little left to offer apart from continued recession, economic decline and endless warmongering.  I know who I am batting for.  Support the NCP and hasten the day we can all rejoice!

Economics for the 21st Century

by John Maryon

Socialism and Economic Cybernetics: towards a manifesto: Dr Elena Veduta, Second Wave Publications, 2014.Pbk, 48pp, RRP £10 but £7:50 including dispatch for UK New Worker readers and €14 for readers in the European Union.

Professor Elena Veduta is a prolific author and celebrated cybernetic economist working at the Lomonosov Moscow State University as Head of the Department of Strategic Planning and Economic Policy.  The academic is also Head of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Veduta is also a true Marxist.  Her views contrast with the reactionary academics of the school of market socialism that emerged in the mid 50s as Khrushchev's revision started to undermine socialist development in the USSR.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is concerned with the development and application of computer systems to simulate human intelligence.  Cybernetics relates to the study comparison of control and communication in living and machine systems. Economic Cybernetics is defined in The Great Soviet Encyclopedia as a scientific field in which Cybernetics is used to assist economic development.  Veduta analyses the causes of the current capitalist global crisis and shows that socialist planning is necessary to overcome the failings of market driven economies. In view of the difficult and complex problems the use of AI and algorithms in the application of cybernetics is considered essential. 
The book is divided into a number of sections.  These include a full analysis of capitalist contradictions and an examination of the alternative experience in coordination of production relationships in the USSR.  An analysis for today looks at the role of Trans National Corporations and how the distribution of wealth works in their favour. The impact of protectionism as practised by the USA is also studied. 
There is no doubt that computers play an important practical role in socialist planning, particularly as economies develop and become more complex, with the need to respond quickly to vast streams of input data.  The rise of AI in which the abilities of computers may surpass human capabilities must be considered as important. Wars in the future, including economic competition, may be controlled by AI which raises important ethical questions. The author examines in detail the experiences of the USSR in the field of Economic Cybernetics in its competition with the USA.  The effects of the Belt and Road Initiative are also considered. Professor Veduta states that within the framework of chaotically organised capitalism there can be no effective management of the economy.  It is suggested that in order to preserve capitalism AI may be used as a tool, to control people, rather than it's proper use as effective management of the economy. 
This important work by Professor Voduta deals with a very complex subject in such a way that non-academics may gain an understanding of the principles involved and the importance of the subject matter.  The work also serves as an important reference for specialists in the field.  It is a necessary read for those who may wish to analyse why the Soviet Union’s awesome rise was followed by a decline and to understand the economic forces at play in the modern world.

The booklet is available at a special price of £7:50 for UK readers (£5:00 plus £2:50 postage and packing) and €14 including dispatch for readers in the European Union. Orders to:

NCP Lit, PO Box 73, London SW11 2PQ. 

Johnson’s new tax is grossly unfair to workers

Boris Johnson was back on form this week fending off a backbench revolt over his plan to raise National Insurance rates to help the health service and social care for the elderly while at the same time mocking the ineffectual Labour opposition which takes its lead from the utterly useless Keir Starmer.
    Johnson’s new tax is grossly unfair to working people and it will raise nowhere near enough to address the current problems of the care home community.
    Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is calling for a “National Care Service” for all, funded by progressive taxation, including a wealth tax while Richard Burgon from the Corbynista camp spelt out the demand for a 10 per cent tithe on the super-rich - those with assets over £100 million – that could raise £69 billion to deal with the funding crisis.
    Even Dame Margaret Hodge, the Blairite MP for Barking, said Johnson was ignoring a "raft of better alternatives" including raising income tax or dividend tax. Sir Keir Starmer, however, confined himself to the usual platitudes, accusing the Tories of “putting their rich mates and donors before working people” while avoiding making any concrete counter-proposals.
    Starmer’s crowd will make the usual ineffectual statements. Union leaders will make paper calls for “action” and the assorted left poseurs will tell us that the only answer is to sign their petitions and join their factions. We shouldn’t be surprised at this. They've been doing the same thing for over 100 years.
    Labour’s first Prime Minister was Ramsay MacDonald in 1924. He talked about “socialism” – but only as a dream for future days. His job, he said, was to administer capitalism which he loyally did in the 1920s before openly betraying the labour movement to join the Tories in the bogus “National Government” of the 1930s. Tony Blair never talked about socialism at all. Nor does Starmer.
    Well, we need to talk about socialism. The capitalists do it all the time. Before the Russian Revolution they said that socialism sounded good in theory, but it could never work in practice. After 1917 they said it wouldn't work in the Soviet Union. And when the Soviet Union did survive they argued that it wasn' t really socialist and they presented it as a distortion of what it really was.
    They say, in essence, that the only economic and political system which works is one in which a tiny minority -- themselves -- exploit the rest of the population to ensure that they live lives of ease and luxury.
    If we were Martians observing the Earth from afar we would see how absurd and self-serving this theory is. Unfortunately many working people believe this because they are brought up to accept their own slavery.
    We have to prove them wrong. We have to say that capitalism is brutal and oppressive system that exists solely to ensure that the rich can continue to live the lives of Roman emperors on the backs of workers and peasants.
    Capitalism is the dictatorship of the rich. Their “democracy” is democracy for the exploiters and dictatorship for the exploited. Bourgeois elections are used so that the smallest number of people can manipulate the largest number of votes
    We don' t need to make any concessions to the ideology of the ruling class. Its system is failing and socialism is the only way forward.
    Capitalism had a progressive role once when it emerged from the feudal period. It's certainly not the case now. It's outlived its sell-by date. It's an oppressive and backward system which stifles the hopes and ambitions of the people who produce all the wealth of the world. The 21st century belongs to us.

For a better tomorrow

 In feudal days everyone knew that virtually all the wealth in the world came from land. That’s why the nobles spent so much of their time killing each other to get more of it. To be fair the lords and clergy who lived off the back of the peasants who tilled it would often pretend to despise the comfort and wealth that came with being a high caste. The nobles claimed they were “protecting” their serfs. In fact, all they were defending were their own privileges while the medieval church, whose clergymen who lived off the fat of the land, would routinely absolved itself by making saints out of those who actually took the teachings of the Prince of Peace at face value by embracing poverty and abstinence.
    The bourgeoisie, on the other hand, began by elevating the “work ethic” in their struggle against the aristocracy and the feudal Catholic church. They turned the Protestant doctrines to their own account to justify their own hegemony and when they won they only reserved the “virtue of work” for those they exploited and oppressed.
    In 1848 the Communist Manifesto told the bourgeoisie that “a spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism” while warning the workers that “all the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies”.
    Though the Paris Commune, the first workers’ state, was drowned in blood in 1871 the spectre came back to haunt the bourgeoisie after the 1917 Russian revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union, the first workers and peasants republic of the 20th century.
    Fear of workers’ power fired the growth of fascism in Europe and the development of reformist bourgeois economic theories like Social Credit and Keynesianism which sought to tithe the rich during boom times to stave off social unrest by buying off a section of the working class with reforms and state welfare schemes. American New Dealers’ and Nazi economists embraced Keynesianism in the 1930s. This was followed by virtually all the governments of Western Europe after the Second World War and the victorious advance of workers’ power in Eastern Europe that triggered the confrontation between US-led imperialism and the Soviet bloc.
    British social-democracy and the post-war bourgeois consensus Labour helped build revolved around Keynesianism. Now with the end of the Cold War the ruling class have no further use for it. They flaunt their wealth like a badge of honour. They claim that the more they have the better for everyone else. This is the bogus “trickle-down” theory that an American radical journalist, the late William Blum, said was based on “the principle that the poor, who must subsist on table scraps dropped by the rich, can best be served by giving the rich bigger meals”. Sadly it is also the belief of the Blairites and those who follow in Blair’s footsteps at the head of the Labour Party today.
    Socialism is just a word Sir Keir Starmer will occasionally use to keep what’s left of the Corbynistas on side during election campaigns. For Starmer & Co socialism is just “a burning desire to tackle inequality and injustice” – a meaningless platitude that is unlikely to turn the heads of those who have abandoned the Labour ship since the fall of Jeremy Corbyn.
    What does socialism mean? First of all it means that the ownership of the means of production — the factories, mines, the transport industry and the land — are taken from the hands of the capitalists into state or collective ownership. The people will take over the banking and finance sector. A people’s democracy will be established that will build a new society with the unions and mass movements. The age of classes and exploitation will be over. The greed, speculation and corruption of the bourgeoisie will end and a new era will dawn.