Sting in the Tail: Do It Yourself (1990)

The Sting in the Tail column from the December 1990 issue of the Socialist Standard

Do It Yourself

The idea of the division of labour runs deep in capitalism. Just as most workers entrust their health to doctors, their children's education to teachers, etc., so they leave their political thinking to politicians.

Even on the issues which most seriously affect their lives, such as war, the environment and employment, the attitude is "we needn't bother our heads over these things, that's the politicians' lob and anyway they know best". This attitude was voiced by the wife of a British hostage in Iraq who wants her husband home:

  All this politics is above me. Why can't they sort it out like adults? Why don't they leave it to the Arabs?

The Guardian 22 October

Obviously the lady hasn't even begun to bother her head over what the conflict in the Gulf is about, but the first condition for solving a problem is to know its cause, and workers who ignore the issues and leave their thinking to others do so at their peril.

Bulgar Bunkum

Besides expecting politicians to do their thinking for them, some Bulgarian workers imagine that politicians feed and clothe them and even oil the wheels of industry!

The strike committee of the Burgas petrochemical works say:

   We want a government which can feed us, clothe us, and supply as much oil as our installations need to work.

The Guardian 7 November

The committee has got it all wrong: it is the workers who do those things for politicians and not the other way round. Bulgarian workers obviously know as little about their role as wealth producers as do workers elsewhere. What have the Bulgarian "communists" been telling them these past 45 years?

What is a T-O-R-Y?

At a conference in Perth recently, delegates exchanged punches and kicks, one told another "his face would be punched in", the chairman invited one group to "shut up or get out" and various participants were described by others as "thugs", "soccer casuals" and "monsters" (Glasgow Herald 12 November)

A get-together of the Mafia's British section perhaps, or maybe a unity conference between the SWP and the RCP? No, it was only the Scottish Young Conservatives in typical action.

These YC's have been taken over by the "Radical Right" and no opportunity was missed at the conference to bash (sometimes literally) the "Wets", especially "the member for Baghdad and Sidcup"(Ted Heath) and the "enemy within" (Michael Heseltine), while the air was thick with pledges of undying loyalty to Mrs. Thatcher, appeals for a "a radical manifesto", etc., etc.

Most of this "Radical Right" will eventually grow bored with all this posturing and settle down to become the type of Tory personified by Messrs Hurd, Major and Patten, but in the meantime the term 'Tory" when applied to them should be an acronym for 'Thoroughly Obnoxious, Reactionary Yobs".

True Blues and Reds

Graeme Souness, the manager of Glasgow Rangers Football Club, hit the headlines of the Glasgow Herald on 10 November. Nothing unusual in that you may think — newspapers are always displaying an interest in the trivial — but this time it wasn't football that was the issue but politics.

Souness had barred the Glasgow Herald journalist James Traynor from any contact with Rangers officials. He was displeased with an article Traynor had written about Rangers failure in the European Cup.

  According to Traynor, the manager then said: "I've been reading your stuff over the past couple of years and it seems to me that you are just a little socialist."

Again you might think, so what — after all Souness probably knows less about politics than football and anyway Rangers have the reputation of being a True Blue Protestant Tory organisation, but the article on the sports page was an eye-opener. It stated:

  A socialist, according to the dictionary is an adherent to the theory, principle, or scheme of social organisation which places means of production and distribution in the hands of the community.

Now that is unusual. A newspaper that more or less correctly defines a socialist. Perhaps the sports editor should have a word with the news editor who constantly incorrectly describes the Labour Party as "socialist".

God on their side

While armies move along the Iraq/Saudi Arabia border preparing for the hellish conflict which begins to look more and more likely, the divines at home ponder on the morality of the affair.

  In Britain The Times has been running letters on the concept of a just war, mostly from Anglican bishops, since September. The Americans and French bishops debated the Issue at length at separate conferences last weekend, and on November 7th, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Most Reverend Roger Malory, sent a letter to Mr. James Baker, the American secretary of state.

The Economist 17 November

There is something particularly nauseous in the spectacle of young workers preparing to meet death, disfigurement and pain; while bishops in London and Los Angeles debate the pros and cons of a "just war".

The history of war is full of examples of religion supporting "just wars". In the case of the Gulf Crisis the battle for oil will be disguised as a moral crusade. As the late unlamented oil billionaire Paul Getty said when he heard one of the beatitudes — Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth — "Yes, but not the mineral rights."

Supermarket Politics

Commenting on the similarity of Mr. Heseltine's policy to those of Mr. Kinnock, Peter Kellner in The Independent (16 November) compared the policies of the Labour Party and the Conservative Party to the goods on sale at Tesco and Sainsbury.

  Filling party manifestos is fundamentally not that different from filling supermarket shelves: both require a judicious mix of new and old, innovation and imitation. And an efficient political market is likely to generate choice among alternatives that are basically similar.

So there you have it — your choice is between "alternatives that are basically similar". Both Labour and Conservative stand for the continuation of the capitalist system. As far as socialists are concerned both are well past their sell-by dates.

Nightmare Economics

Capitalism is a real nightmare for the politicians who attempt to control it. Consider the current row over EC subsidies for its 10 million farmers. These subsidies allow uneconomic farmers to survive and the EC to undercut competitors on world food markets.

These competitors, especially the USA, all need to export food too, so they demand big cuts in the subsidies. But Germany and France have hordes of small farmers who have votes and can, as they have shown, cause serious civil disturbance, so they have persuaded the EC to cut subsidies by only 30%.

The outraged competitors have threatened to retaliate by excluding EC products from their own markets and set off a world trade war.

This is the nightmare facing the governments of the 105 nations attending the conference in Geneva this month on expanding free-trade. A nightmare indeed, but one which those who seek to run capitalism bring upon themselves.