Newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
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Improving the Content, Extending the Readership in 1998
Britain and the Presidency of the European Union
The Working Class Movement: Setting the Agenda in 1998
Opposition to MAI an Urgent Task
Government Launches "New Deal" for the Young Unemployed
Disabled People Protest at 10 Downing Street
Workers' Party of Korea New Year Editorial
The Independent Programme of the Working Class:
| AS 1998 BEGINS, working people cannot but reflect that the Labour Government was in fact brought into power in order to carry on the anti-social offensive of the rich against the people, in circumstances where the previous Conservative government had brought too much discredit on itself and on the entire system to carry this offensive further. All the facts of eight months of Labour rule make this clear. As the last year ended, the storm over cutting single parent benefits had forced Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to defend their policies. They argued that the changes to the welfare system were not "cuts-based", were not "economy-based", but were essential reforms to the welfare system to make it better serve the interests of the people. This is a complete fraud. Under the fraudulent claim of "modernisation", of bringing in something new, they have intensified the anti-social offensive carried on by the previous government, cutting spending on social provisions, robbing the state treasury to hand over billions to the rich by making debt repayments the priority over all other expenditure and in a thousand and one other ways. Rather than modernising, moving things forward, they are hell-bent on going backwards, on abandoning altogether the concept that society has some responsibility towards all its members. How else can the imposition of tuition fees on students, the attacks on and criminalisation of the youth, the so-called "New Deal" for young unemployed, the NHS changes and other policies be seen? They have put forward a progamme to Make Britain Great Again, with all its echoes of the long hated 19th century imperialism. They have gone all out to win the workers behind their particular monopoly to make Britain Number One in the globalised economy, a programme not only doomed to failure from the outset, but just in the attempt contributing to the global conflict, even war, that such contention between the big powers will inevitably bring. When the times cry out for people to be empowered and nations to determine their own futures, they have engineered a type of Scots Parliament and Welsh Assembly which denies sovereignty to the Scots and Welsh nations, maintains all essential power at Westminster and is an attempt to block the national aspirations for self-determination of the Scottish and Welsh nations. They are manoeuvring to bring about a new arrangement in Ireland and between Britain and Ireland which is designed to frustrate the legitimate demands of the Irish people to end British interference in their country, end partition and sort out their own problems on the basis of their right of self-determination, acknowledged by the previous British government but never made reality then or now. To this end they are inciting and organising all manner of mayhem in order to create a climate in which they can push through an arrangement favourable to the rich and the powers-that-be in England. In foreign policy they have seen their advantage in clinging to the coat-tails of US imperialism, acting for instance as the most loyal junior partner of US imperialism in its war threats against Iraq, in the strengthening and expansion of the scope of the warmongering NATO alliance and in other dangerous manoeuvres. They brought to a close the direct colonial control over China's territory of Hong Kong but openly proclaimed that interference of a new type would continue. In short, the Labour government has carried forward the programme of the rich, where the Tories were no longer able. This can only lead to disaster for the people. This cannot be accepted by the working class or any progressive people. The working class must develop, on behalf of the whole people, its own independent programme. This programme must have as its central demand the reversal of the entire direction followed by the Labour government on behalf of the financial oligarchy. The demand must be to Stop Paying the Rich – Increase Investments in Social Programmes. From this follows the other demands of the working class such as the democratic renewal of the political process, in particular a modern Constitution based on the empowerment and sovereignty of the people; a moratorium on debt repayments as the first stage towards an economy based on the wellbeing of the people; withdrawal from Ireland and an end to all British interference in the affairs of the Irish people along with the demand for independent sovereign states of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland too, with a free and equal union if so desired; and support for the struggles for national and social rights of the peoples of the world. Such a programme would reverse the entire direction of the programme being carried by the Labour government on behalf of the rich which is taking society back towards medievalism, and will take society forward towards the creation of a new system fit for human beings, with guarantees for the wellbeing of all; in short to a new socialist society. |
| From January 1 to June 30 this year, the British government holds the presidency of the Council of Ministers of the European Union. Tony Blair claims that the Labour government wishes to make the EU "work for the people" and to ensure that it "tackles their priorities – jobs and prosperity, peace and progress, crime and the environment". But the fact is that the European Union has never worked and can never be made to work "for the people", since it is the reactionary organisation of the various European monopolies, designed to serve their interests and further their profits and competitiveness in the global market. The British government's priorities for the EU – achieving a "more effective single market"; creating the conditions for the monopolies to become "more competitive"; providing an "adaptable workforce"; attempting to move towards a single currency; enlarging the EU in Eastern Europe – are all measure designed to serve the interests of the British and other monopolies, not the interests of the peoples of Europe. Far from solving the problems of the peoples of Europe, the EU has worsened them. For example there are over 18 million people in Europe who are unemployed, and the EU has contributed to the growing rivalry between the major powers and trading blocs, creating great dangers for the people of Britain and other countries. What is more, the people of Britain and those of other European countries have no say in the EU or its reactionary programme. National sovereignty and national barriers are being destroyed in the interests of big business. The working class can have no illusions regarding the government's claims that its presidency of the EU provides an opportunity to "give more priority to the interests and needs of ordinary people". In its own interests and those of the people of Britain, it must demand withdrawal from the EU. |
| WHEN faced with summing up the NHS White Paper "The new NHS" published by the Department of Health last month, the first question that arises is: do its proposals have the aim of meeting the requirements of the people for an adequate level of health care and answer society's responsibility to meet the claims of its members on it? The answer has to be: by no means. Instead, some other aim is made the main requirement, that of doing away with the so-called "internal market" introduced by the Conservative government. Without being versed in the jargon, or the technical terms, that have become rife as the Conservative government from Thatcher onwards sought to take action to serve the rich as the welfare state went into crisis, it is impossible to understand much of the White Paper purports to address. However, when one gets down to brass tacks, what is fundamental to the proposals is that spending on health care is to be capped. However the cookie crumbles, the Labour government's proposals are not geared to creating the "modern" health service it claims, but instead they violate the principle that in a modern society health care should be a right freely available to all according to their need and not available only according to ability to pay. This has to be the aim of any health service approaching the 21st century. Instead, the reality is that the people will still be faced with closing hospitals and cuts in services. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) will remain in operation whereby the NHS is used as a source of profit and geared to the needs of the monopolies. The proposals in the White Paper even retain the "purchaser/provider" split introduced by the previous government according to which cash payment is made the yardstick of service. Workers' Weekly will pay serious attention to the government's proposals as they develop and keep its readers informed, as well as covering the struggle of health workers and all other sections of the people for a modern health service, for reversing the direction of the cuts and for increasing investments in social programmes. |
| AS WE START THE NEW YEAR of 1998, what is becoming increasingly clear to the workers is that the New Labour government was brought to power, not to meet the needs of the people in opposing the anti-social offensive of the Conservative governments of the last 18 years, but to salvage this programme for the ruling class and take it to its conclusion. Together with this, what was clearly elaborated at the TUC Congress in 1997 was that central to this plan of the ruling circles is a new arrangement, or "partnership", between New Labour, big business and the TUC and trade union leaders so that the workers get behind their employers in the "global market" and abandon their independent agenda that the rights of the workers and those of the society as a whole be put in the first place. What is facing the working class movement is how to defeat the anti-social offensive, place the well-being of the people at the centre of developments and take the lead in extricating society from its crisis. The workers must oppose the present offensive which has been launched by the government against the most vulnerable sections of society. This offensive is withdrawing any notion of a modern society where society, and the government as society's representative, is responsible for the needs of all people in providing health, education and social welfare. The ruling circles wish to withdraw the notion that society and government should respect and protect the rights of the minorities and the most vulnerable. This is what is behind the repeated statements of Tony Blair when he "took charge" of welfare reform to benefits for the disabled in late December before his departure to the Seychelles. He said, "Work is the best answer to poverty". So blatant is this offensive against single parents, disabled people and so on, that John Monks leader of the TUC was forced to remark in his new year message that he had a "major worry that I hope Ministers will be able to dispel early in the new year. There are suggestions that the government has adopted the strategic aim of reducing the proportion of national wealth that goes into public services and the public sector... And of course with such a goal, it will not be possible to convince voters that welfare reform is anything other than a money saving device rather than something that puts the needs of the vulnerable at the heart of public policy." Workers are rightly concerned that the "New Deal" for the young unemployed launched by the government in a number of pilot schemes on January 5, is none other than a new cheap labour scheme which will do nothing to solve mass unemployment among the youth. Unemployed youths are to be forced into these schemes with the threat of loss of benefit. In spite of the "New Deal", as with all the previous schemes of previous governments, mass unemployment remains and the causes of mass unemployment remains in the capitalist system itself. It is essential that the working class movement take up that the right to a livelihood is a basic human right and that such a right must be recognised as a fundamental law of the country. A crucial problem that millions of workers face is that their right to organise in defence of their rights and interests is under attack and their struggles are criminalised. There are those unable to gain recognition for their trade union and many are involved in struggles such as those of the Liverpool dockers, the Magnet workers and workers at Critchley, in which workers were sacked for organising in a trade union and demanding that their collective agreements were recognised. This is not just a question of "simple civil right for people at work" but part of the whole question of the criminalisation of the people's struggles, the banning of whole categories of workers' struggles, and the marginalisation of the people and their collectives from playing a full political role in the running of society. It is crucial that the working class movement must place on its agenda the empowerment of the people, first and foremost by demanding renewal of the political process with election candidates to be selected by the people and a modern constitution and legislation that guarantees the right to life, to a livelihood, to education, to health care, housing and security during old age. One of the most important questions facing the workers' movement is that society remains at the mercy of the present arrangements. These are anachronistic arrangements which favour the owners of the means of production and are causing devastation to the working class and people. These arrangements dictate that the making of maximum profits by the rich be put in the first place, as the government hands over the funds from the state treasury garnered from the people to the most wealthy, whilst, at the same time, cutting back on social welfare programmes to the most vulnerable sections of the people in the name of "helping" them back to work. Are the claims that society cannot afford social welfare, and cannot increase the investments necessary to guarantee health care, education and other social programmes of the people, to be accepted? No, such things will never be accepted by the broad masses of working class and other progressive sections of the people. The programme to Stop Paying the Rich! Increase Investments in Social Programmes! must be the starting point of the agenda for the workers' movement. As we enter 1998, it is vital for the workers' movement to prepare its agenda and develop new arrangements for the 21st century. Preparing for the 21st century means that the working class has to take up its own agenda. This agenda must recognise the rights of all individuals as human beings and start from cherishing the interests of the vulnerable and not make them scapegoats for problems which arise in present day society and which are not of their making. This agenda can start by the workers' movement developing the class struggle around a new direction for society to Stop Paying the Rich! Increase Investments in Social Programmes! and by organising people on a new basis and making new arrangement to unite all progressive sections of society around itself. |
| One of the most sinister developments taking place behind the backs of the people is the secret negotiations in Paris on the so-called Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). Britain is participating in these secret negotiations carried out in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to the detriment of the peoples of the member nations and the world. The treaty is presently scheduled to be completed by April this year for signing in May. The OECD Policy Brief dealing with MAI calls it "a free-standing treaty open to all OECD Members and the European Community and to non-members willing and able to meet its obligations". The participation in this treachery by the Labour government shows the dangers which they have in store for Britain and the British people. Not only is the OECD an unelected, unaccountable 29-member economic bloc dominated by the United States, but it has been working on MAI for more than two years in virtual secrecy. The only copy of the MAI draft which the public is aware of is a "pirated" one being circulated by opponents of MAI. It is more than 170 pages long and sets the law which member-nations who are signatories to the Treaty will be legally-bound to follow. Nearly every page sets down the measures to provide foreign investors and transnational corporations with unrestricted freedoms to operate within the boundaries and jurisdictions of national territories. It imposes unprecedented responsibilities on nations which forfeit the right to hold those investors and corporations responsible in any way whatsoever. Each contracting party (a MAI member nation) "shall accord to investments in its territory full and constant protection and shall not limit in any way the operation, management, maintenance, use, enjoyment or disposal of investments in its territory of another contracting party". MAI recognises no restrictions to foreign ownership whatsoever. All sectors are open including property, all cultural domains and natural resources. It makes all protections established by the state as concerns labour and welfare standards, as well as any subsidies whatsoever, a matter of "unfair competition" and "unlawful" under MAI. MAI will give corporations the right to sue any member nation, or a state, province, county or municipality within that nation, if that entity violates the terms of MAI. This would, for instance, include minimum wage laws, environmental regulations or any law, statute or regulation that limits "in any way the operation, management, maintenance, use, enjoyment, or disposal of investments in its territory". The United States is the principal promoter of MAI, called by one of its backers "a constitution for a single global economy". And, of course, Tony Blair is one of the biggest proponents of "making Britain great again" by competing in this "global economy", under which pretext he exhorts the workers to forget everything but getting behind the monopolies to make them "successful". The developments with the Multilateral Agreement on Investment clearly show that the working class and people must activate themselves to set the direction for the economy and end their marginalisation from the affairs of the polity which is imposed by the current unrepresentative democratic process. It is the right of the working class and people to determine the direction of the economy and the government has no right whatsoever to give up the exercise of this right on their behalf. |
| ON Monday January 5, the government launched its £3 billion "New Deal" for young unemployed. The initial scheme, for 18-24 year olds who are out of work for at least 6 months was unveiled with pilot schemes in 12 areas around the country. At the same time there was an announcement of a £250 million scheme that will be introduced later to "get the older jobless back to work." It is reported that in Tayside to launch one of the pilot projects, the Chancellor Gordon Brown appealed to employers to offer unemployed opportunities, and he spoke of a "national crusade to clear for once and for all the social divisions entrenched in our society because of unemployment". The New Deal, he said, marked the start of a long haul towards full employment, which would include applying New Deal principles to getting the over 25s back to work. Young people who declined a place on the scheme would face the penalty of benefit reductions, he said. He warned: "From today there will be no option of staying at home on benefit and doing nothing." It is claimed that under the initial scheme that the young unemployed will be offered four options: • A job with an employer, who would get £60-a-week subsidy for up to 26 weeks. The employer would also get £750 towards training costs; • Six months working with the government's environment task force; • Six months' work in the voluntary sector; • Full-time education or training. The grandiose appeal of Gordon Brown to employers for a "national crusade to clear for once and for all the social divisions entrenched in our society because of unemployment" shows how far the Minister in charge of economic policy of government is prepared to go to try and conceal the reality that this scheme is to try and hoodwink the workers into accepting the government's solution to unemployment and to use the schemes to serve the interests of the bourgeoisie to tackle the shortage of trained young workers at this time. Similar schemes introduced by previous governments, both Conservative and Labour could not conceal the fact that mass unemployment is an incurable ulcer of the capitalist system. The "New Deal" will not be any different. |
| ON Tuesday December 23, disabled people organised a militant protest outside the gates of 10 Downing Street against the government's welfare reforms. Around 20 people took part in the protest which was organised by the Disabled People's Direct Action Network. One protester handcuffed himself to the gates across Downing Street whilst others daubed the gates and pavement in red paint and directed their anger at the Prime Minister Tony Blair before police arrived and made several arrests of the protesters. Speaking about the present situation one of the disabled protesters pointed out, "I feel that the government are picking on us as soft targets, but we are going to show them we are not soft targets," whilst other protesters pointed out that cutting the benefits would make it impossible for them to pay for home helps, afford transport and maintain their existing lifestyle. Following this action on December 25, Tony Blair made a statement dismissing the protest and justifying cut backs in disabled peoples social benefits. He said, "I didn't come into politics to harm people who are genuinely disabled or in need... But it can't be right – and this is why we will stand fast on this programme – to be spending as much money as we do (£100 billion on benefits) whilst people who are in poverty don't get the help that they need." In other words New Labour intends to cut benefits to all the most vulnerable sections in society whilst, just as the Conservatives before them, claiming that they are only targeting benefits at "people in poverty". It shows that they intend to erode even the present level of social programmes to the disabled by refusing to recognise their rights by dint of their humanity and their rights as a collective. At the same time it becomes clear that the government "welfare to work" programme is not about providing a livelihood and raising the standard of living of the disabled people and other vulnerable sections of society but an excuse to cut benefits and place these resources at the disposal of the financial oligarchy. |
| This report on the closure of the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall is reprinted from a recent issue of the Cornish World Bulletin. It is one more example of the way the claims of the workers on society are the last to be recognised and how the national economy is being destroyed under the banner of competing in the global market. The management of South Crofty plc are preparing to close the last mine in Cornwall. This will end a thousand years of tin and copper mining and bring great sadness to the Cornish people at home and abroad. The mining industry throughout the world will also grieve to see the end of one of their earliest areas of living history where so many mining engineers have learnt their skills. The UK government has not refused to provide funds to support the mine but has required that the mine owners find a substantial contribution from the private sector. This requirement is believed to be in the region of £1.5 million. No commercial funding was available to the management and no one could be found to purchase a share in the mine. The only possible way to acquire such funds was to sell tin in a futures deal to tin brokers. Recent depressed tin prices have made this impossible and the few other options to save the mine look very distant at this time. Notices of Redundancy are expected to be posted within the next few days. The management has decided that this is the most cost effective method of closing the mine. It will mean that the miners and other staff will be required to work out their redundancy period instead of 'going down the road' with a substantial redundancy payment. This is not expected to be welcomed by the workers who had supported the mine with reduced wages and were looking forward to the redundancy payments to set them up in business or pay for their removal from the area to better prospects in England. The usual course of action for people made redundant under these circumstances is to obtain alternative employment. This, sadly, is not possible in the area. The management will continue to pursue options to save the mine and, should they be successful, the redundancies notices can be withdrawn. |
| Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee, and Joson Inmingun have published a joint New Year editorial entitled "Let us push ahead with the general march in the New Year under our great party's leadership". In reference to last year's achievements, the editorial says 1997 was a year of rigorous struggle and victory in which the entire party, the whole army and all the people brought about a positive turn in the Korean revolution with indomitable faith and will. The editorial notes: "The struggle waged by the Workers' Party and people of Korea last year was a decisive one. The years of the 'arduous march' were, indeed, a hard time for our people. They dynamically pushed ahead with the general march of Korean-style socialism, overcoming manifold hardships with brave offensives. They have defended socialism by themselves and uplifted the dignity of Korea, the homeland of Juche, undaunted by serious natural disasters and economic difficulties. It is a miracle rare to be seen in history." The editorial notes that it was thanks to the revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il that it was possible to smash the imperialists' aggressive moves and avert a grave danger of war last year. Noting that this year marks the first New Year after electing Kim Jong Il as General Secretary of the WPK as well as the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea by the great leader Kim Il Sung, the editorial goes on: "The 50th anniversary of the DPRK is an important occasion in exalting for all ages the exploits of Comrade Kim Il Sung, father of socialist Korea, in building the country. It is a meaningful event to fully demonstrate the advantages of the Korean-style socialism which has taken deep root in the hearts of the popular masses. We should make the country and the motherland more prosperous in the same indomitable spirit and fighting spirit that were displayed in the 'arduous march'." Calling for unity around the respected leader Kim Jong Il, the editorial further says: "The socialist fortress of Korea should be built up in the economy. It is the most cardinal task in socialist economic construction at present to boost agriculture, coal industry, electric power industry, railway transport and metal industry decisively and give full play to the potential of the independent national economy built at the cost of blood and sweat of our people. In particular, we should do farming with nation-wide assistance to increase agricultural production drastically and solve the food problem completely. We should continue directing big efforts to the implementation of the party's guiding lines of light industry-first policy to produce more consumer goods and go ahead with the powerful struggle to increase the quality of products and construction in all domains of the national economy. Scientists and technicians should resolve the urgent scientific and technical problems in a revolutionary way. Intellectuals in the service of education, literature and arts and the press should hold in check the ideological and cultural poisoning by the imperialists, defend the ideological position of socialism firmly and develop socialist culture further still." The editorial warns the US imperialists against provoking a new conflict on the Korean peninsula and continues: "The new year 1998 is a historic year that the Korean nation will open an epochal phase in reunifying the country in an independent and peaceful way. No matter what situation may come and no matter which way the wind may blow we will, in the future, stand true to the three principles of national reunification as taught by the respected Comrade Kim Jong Il. There should be a fundamental change in south Korea for early accomplishment of the cause of national reunification. No change can be expected from the mere alternation of 'governments' and 'presidents' in south Korea. The south Korean authorities should change their policies and take the stand of national independence. By changing the anti-DPRK policy of confrontation into a pro-DPRK policy of reconciliation, pulling down the concrete wall, abrogating the fascist 'National Security Law' and dismantling the 'Agency for National Security Planning'. They should show their willingness to reunify the country. Their oft-told 'improvement of inter-Korean relations', 'dialogue' and 'unification' minus such practical measures will remain empty talk. From this point of view, we will watch the future attitude of the south Korean authorities. All the Koreans in the north and south of Korea and abroad should turn out as one in a patriotic, sacred struggle for the acceleration of the independent and peaceful reunification of the country with fresh confidence and optimism under the banner of great national unity." The editorial concludes: "Our party and people will, in the future, too, firmly maintain an independent stand, always pursue an external policy of independence, peace and friendship and make great contributions to bringing forward the day of the victory of the cause of global independence and socialism." |