Heart-stopping (1988)

From the September 1988 issue of the Socialist Standard

"The biggest cause of rheumatic heart disease was lack of sufficient food and, by his estimate 400 million people throughout the world were malnourished. He said enough food was produced to give every person a satisfactory diet of 2,500 calories, but food was grown to earn money and distribution was thus unequal". 

Professor Christiaan Barnard, reported in The Johannesburg Star, 22 March 1988.

Observations: Dealing in death (1988)

The Observations Column from the September 1988 issue of the Socialist Standard

Dealing in death

In the week that 290 men. women and children aboard an Iranian civil airliner were blasted out of the sky, and the rest of the world was condemning the American military. British capitalism was congratulating itself on the sale of billions of pounds of armaments to the Saudi Arabian ruling class.

The British media failed to inform its readership and audience of the connection between the two events. They echoed the response of the British capitalists, who were overjoyed at having superseded their American cousins as the foremost dealers of death in the Gulf states. Coverage ranged from extolling the sales as a personal triumph for Thatcher and hooraying the safeguarding of 24,000 jobs in the arms industry, to sticking two fingers up in the air at the Americans The jingoism accompanying this triumph omitted, of course, to remind those on the end of the brainwashing that the purpose of the commodities is to kill human beings.

The majority do not yet understand that the interests being defended in military actions in the Gulf and elsewhere are of no concern to them whatsoever. While the killing of Iranian workers was undertaken by members of the American working class, it is the determination of capitalism to protect its trade routes, markets and strategic supplies that is ultimately responsible for such murderous incidents and the profitable sale of sophisticated means to these ends.

Class of 88

The conferring of degrees took place in a suitably grand place The great hall of the university, built in the later part of the nineteenth century, reflected the munificent philanthropy and aspirations of the capitalists responsible for its erection In that age of certainty they saw no irony in depicting on the exterior of the building a frieze showing the working class labouring at the production of wealth, wealth that enabled the capitalist to endow this centre of learning

Prior to the presentation of degrees the professorial staff of the Faculty walked in procession through the great hall. (1 note, for male readers interested in pursuing a career in higher academia, that beards are de rigeur.) The pomp and ritual of the ceremony seemed to underline the hierarchical structure of society, an impression reinforced by the Vice-chancellor in his winding up address. The graduates, it was implied, were merely small cogs in a large machine.

References to working for the common good failed to disguise the assumption that an alternative system of society to capitalism is impossible. One was left with the feeling that to present these dignitaries with the news that they too are members of the working class — the propertyless majority who sell their labour-power, whether physical or intellectual, in order to live — would cause them to throw up their hands in horror and deny the fact vehemently, albeit in beautiful prose.

At the end of the ceremony, as the new graduates wind their way slowly out of the great hall, some serious, some smiling, some smug, some shy, it is difficult not to be cynical. For most of these youngsters believe that the piece of paper just conferred on them, the result of years of hard work, is their passport to success. Capitalism, of course, does nothing to discourage this attitude. Indeed, before returning the hired gown and mortar the new graduate will find waiting for them a copy of Graduate Post, the newspaper for student and graduate jobhunters. Here, another piece of the capitalist indoctrination jig-saw falls into place. Shock, horror’ “Teaching shortage poses threat to economy" screams the front page. "See inside for immediate and forward vacancies" it cries. What do these people think? Do they believe that the years spent at university were designed to encourage their personal development as human beings? Don’t they know that this is a capitalist world they're living in? They may have a degree but they are about to become wage-slaves like the rest of us.

Dave Coggan

Compensation announced for farmers (1988)

From the September 1988 issue of the Socialist Standard

Agriculture

Annual compensation payments of up to £200 a hectare will be offered to farmers who “set-aside" at least one-fifth of their arable land by taking it out of production for five years. Mr John MacGregor, Minister of Agriculture, announced in the Commons.

Mr MacGregor said that the new EEC scheme to reduce surplus agricultural production by set-aside of agricultural land was agreed in principle at the European Council in February, It was compulsory for member states to introduce the scheme for the I988-89 crop production year, but participation was voluntary for farmers.

Land set aside would have to be kept in good agricultural condition as fallow, put to woodland or used for non-agricultural purposes, it could not be grazed.

Land developed for residential, industrial, retail or similar purposes would not be eligible; but the scheme would not include other limitations on non-agricultural use, though planning controls would continue to apply.

Rates of payment would vary. For fallow land and woodland, the payment would be £200 a hectare a year, except in the Less Favoured Areas, where it would be £180 a year. There would be a reduction of £20 in either ease if the fallow area was rotated round the farm.

For non-agricultural use the set-aside payment would be reduced by £50 a hectare.

There were Conservative cheers when he said he had decided not to take up an option under the Community rules to permit land set aside from arable crops to be grazed by livestock, subject to limits on the numbers, because of the difficulties of ensuring proper controls and the adverse effects which such an option could have on existing livestock producers, especially in the upland areas.

Payments would be based on farmers' arable crop pattern in 1987-88 and the first payments would be made for the 1988-89 cropping year.

The Times (15 June 1988) giving details of payments for not growing food.

A class warrior (1988)

Book Review from the September 1988 issue of the Socialist Standard

Churchill's War, Vol I: The Struggle for Power by David Irving (Veritas. 1987)

Despite the detailed research which goes into many historical works, they often tell us more about their authors than the subject matter in question. This offering by provocative right wing historian David Irving is a case in point

Churchill's War is a companion study to Irving s earlier work Hitler's War, remembered by many for its claim that the Nazi dictator knew nothing about the Holocaust. The main thrust of this volume is that Churchill, conspiring with Jewish leaders and Russian diplomats, helped provoke a war that Hitler did not want and ultimately led to the dissolution of the British Empire. In turn this resulted in the post war ascendency of the United Slates and, worst of all, Russia

The author s basic premise — that during the 1930s the British Empire had reached its most "magnificent extent" — is to say the least, superficial. After the 1914-18 war Britain ceased to be the major commercial and financial centre of the world and the Second World War merely served to confirm America's ascendency, along with state capitalist Russia.

It is a pity that Irving's erroneous interpretation of history tends to overshadow much of the detail he has uncovered about Churchill himself, for some of it is well worth reading and sheds a good deal of light on a man who was an implacable opponent of the working class until the end. For instance, he reveals that Churchill's fascination with war and his indifference to public suffering were documented again and again

In 1944 crowds jeered him when he appeared in dazzling RAF uniform in a newly blitzed suburb of London and declared "This the thing! It is just like being back in the best days of the blitz again".

For those who choose to remember him as a bulwark against fascism, the book records his praise for the "discipline, order, goodwill and smiling faces" of Italy's corporate state. The future ally of Joseph Stalin also commented to Roman Journalists in 1927.

If I had been an Italian I would have been entirely with you from the beginning to the end of your victorious struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism . . . your movement has rendered a service to the whole world

When First Lord of the Admiralty in 1939 Churchill recommended selling enplanes to Italy in return for motor boats, as a way of developing fruitful Anglo-Italian trade. Rather better known is his reference to Hitler in the Evening Standard of 17 September 1937:

If our country were defeated I hope we should find a champion as indomitable to restore our courage and lead us back to out rightful place among the nations

Of course, statements and actions such as these make a nonsense of the claim that Britain fought a war against the Axis Powers for ideological reasons, or to protect freedom and democracy. Churchill acted in the interests of his class and was a protagonist for war when circumstances dictated it. While il is not for socialists to comment on the strategic conduct of wars, it is worth remembering that Churchill was responsible for a number of disastrous battle campaigns in both World Wars, which resulted in the loss of thousands of working class lives.

Roosevelt apparently labelled Churchill a "drunken bum". David Irving provides him with perhaps a more fitting epitaph still: "He was rarely a creator, always a destroyer".

DAP