politics for the 99%

Published on World Socialist Web Site WSWS, by Robert Stevens and Julie Hyland, Aug 24, 2016.

As the right-wing putsch against him intensifies, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been outlining his economic programme for government. Having won the support of an overwhelming majority of party members and supporters for his stated opposition to austerity and war, Corbyn has been stressing the difference between his policies and those of his opponents //

… In the current leadership contest, forced by the right as part of their efforts to remove him, Corbyn’s main pitch has been a 10-point programme to “rebuild and transform Britain.” This centres on investing £500 billion in infrastructure, manufacturing and new industries backed up by a publicly owned National Investment Bank and regional banks, for an “economy that works for all.” The plan would “allow good businesses to thrive, and support a new generation of co-operative enterprises.”

McDonnell boasted that this is endorsed by some business groups, such as the Confederation of British Industry. Such “fiscal stimulus” policies have gained traction amongst sections of the ruling elite following the surprise vote to Leave the EU. The Bank of England is again pumping vast sums of public money into the economy, while the Conservative government is speaking of abandoning its target for “deficit reduction.” But the recouping of such “investment” demands an increase in the exploitation and impoverishment of the working class.

This week Corbyn launched further policies, including the abolition of the House of Lords and its replacement with an elected second chamber. Speaking at a rally Sunday, Corbyn proposed “citizens’ assemblies” that would “extend democracy in every part of public life: in national politics, communities, the economy and the workplace—and in our own party.”

He described this as a “democratic revolution in our politics, communities and workplaces,” in contrast to “decisions in Britain,” which are “overwhelmingly taken from the top down. And that’s crucial to why our country is run in the interests of a privileged few” … //

… Calling for Labour MPs to back Corbyn if he wins September’s leadership vote, Seddon reassured them that descriptions of his programme as “hard-left” were “nothing of the sort. It [Corbyn’s programme] more resembles a mild form of social democracy which has had its echoes in Guardian editorials for almost as long as I have been a reader.”

Labour’s right wing and their supporters in the British bourgeoisie are fully aware that this is the case. After all, the Labour Party accommodated him for 30 years on its backbenches without any overt conflict.

What is most important from the standpoint of the political education of workers and youth is that even the mildest suggestions of social reform cannot be tolerated. This is because it is not Corbyn that the Labour right, and the likes of media oligarch Rupert Murdoch, fear. Rather they fear the growing discontent among masses of workers and young people of which his election was a product.

This is the starkest confirmation that the defence of the most basic social conditions and democratic rights cannot be achieved through Labour, which is a right-wing, bourgeois party, committed to the interests of British capitalism.

The central issue placed before the working class is the building of a genuine socialist and internationalist party of the working class that fights for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism on a global scale, as the necessary basis for a socialist society.

(full text).

Links:

Biden’s blank check to the Baltic states, US will wage war on Russia in your defense, on WSWS, by Robert Stevens and Julie Hyland, Aug 24, 2016: on Tuesday, US Vice President Joseph Biden traveled to Latvia to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to go to war with Russia in the event of a conflict between Moscow and the Baltic states … (my comment: an absurd statement, the US is pushing for war, not Russia. But why the american socialists accept this pitfall? – Heidi);

Two Months On From EU Referendum Result – And Still No Brexit Plan, on Sky News, by Faisal Islam, Aug 24, 2016:
there is some office space now. There is a structure. But so far it involves more of a to-do list than even a plan about a plan;

Centrafrique: Samba-Panza et les Millions évaporés, dans Air Du Mboa, le 23 août 2016: Début août, la Cour des comptes a officiellement demandé à Catherine Samba-Panza d’indiquer en détail à quoi elle a affecté le don de 10 millions de dollars que l’Angola avait octroyé à Bangui en mars 2014 – somme dont un quart n’est pas rentré dans les caisses de l’État;

Burkaverbot und Wahlkampf, Chaos im BAMF – Report Mainz, 28.28 min, von PolMed2016 am 23. Aug 2016;

The Fight for $15 and a Union – a movement in the making? on Stansbury Forum, by PETER OLNEY and RAND WILSON, Aug 14, 2016: after both the Republican and Democratic parties nominating conventions, there was a convention of a very different kind in Richmond Virginia on August 12 and 13. Thousands of low-wage workers and activists from all over the United States gathered for a Fight for $15 convention. The convention highlighted the links between the Fight for a $15 minimum hourly wage, economic equality and the struggle for racial justice …;

Our Revolution is just getting started, on Stansbury Forum, by PETER OLNEY and RAND WILSON, Aug 14, 2016: now that the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia has ended with Hillary Clinton as the party’s nominee, Bernie Sanders’ campaign for “political revolution” moves to its next phase …;

Who rules the world now? – Noam Chomsky, 17.13 min, uploaded by Channel 4 News, May 14, 2016 … full length interview;

Phantasialand Israel, Zwecklügen aus den sogenanten “Schriften”, 8.25 min, von ZweckKind am 7. Mai 2013

… and this:

• Heaven and Earth – Kitaro, 7.39 min, uploaded by Mario Rodriguez, August 6, 2007.