Sting in the Tail: Capitalism obscene? Never? (1995)

The Sting in the Tail column from the October 1995 issue of the Socialist Standard

Capitalism obscene? Never?

Although the European Union still has its butter, beef and grain mountains, it destroyed nearly 3 millions tons of perishable food in 1993.

According to the Daily Mail (7 August), this consisted of apples, peaches, oranges, cauliflower, tomatoes and many other fruits and vegetables which were pulped as part of the EU’s policy of supporting farm prices.

Labour MP for Wallsend Stephen Byers declared “this is obscene”, a sentiment echoed by the Mail's editorial. But what both found “obscene” was the cost of this policy to “the British taxpayer”, which is only their way of describing British capitalism, and never, never the social system in which such insanity is rooted.

Pragmatism down under

The fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War Two was called VJ Day in Britain and America but not in all of Japan's wartime enemies:

“In many countries ‘Victory-Japan or VJ Day, has been quietly transformed into ‘Victory-Pacific’, or VP Day. In New Zealand and Australia the celebrations will be muted by the realisation that Japan is now the major trading partner and must not be offended. Elsewhere in the Pacific there is a reluctance even to acknowledge the victory " (Guardian, 7 August).

Australia changed the name because it “did not want to ruffle feathers with their greatest export market” while New Zealand was “concerned that the huge numbers of Japanese tourists who flock to its golf courses might take offence and disappear”.

In future, when Binyon's familiar "Lines" are spoken at remembrance services Down Under they should be changed to:

"They shall not grow old as we 

who are left grow old, nor the

 years condemn

   But at the going down of the

profits from exports and tourism

We shall remember on which side 

our bread is buttered."

They won't go away

During the Thatcherite 80’s we were assured that large chunks of the working class were being absorbed into an ever-expanding middle class which could look forward to a secure and prosperous future, and that the old conflict between capital and labour was dead.

Now, Larry Elliott has debunked this theory in the Guardian (21 August):

“Certainly popular capitalism seems to have lost its lustre. The middle classes, who believed their loyalty to the corporation meant a job for life, are living in fear of the sack. The skilled working classes have seen their homes repossessed. ”

He also notes that:

“There is no sense that management and workforce are on the same side, and why should there be, given the disparities of income and the knowledge that the redundancy notices will be handed out at the first sign of trouble. ”

Elliott concludes that all this, plus a growing awareness that most workers are “just one pay packet away” from penury, is fostering the belief that “we’re all working class now”. To paraphrase Mark Twain; reports of the death of the working class and the class struggle are greatly exaggerated.

Breathless business

If you ever wondered why it is that in a society capable of great scientific innovations and medical advances, some disorders never seem to be cured and, in the ease of asthma, become more widespread, then ponder the priorities capitalism puts on medical research. Rhone-Poulene-Rorer, a French/American enterprise that markets steroids, a second-line attack against asthma, plans to spend £1.7 billion, not in research to combat asthma but to buy out Fisons, a firm that produces a first-line attack, namely inhalers. Why this mammoth expenditure?

“Asthma is big business—a £6 billion world-wide market. It is growing rapidly, faster than the industry as a whole. And there is no cure. Just treatments’’ (Observer Business, 27 August).

So while asthma kills one Briton every five hours and more than 9 million suffer from it, including 2 million children, the big players are much more anxious to get a bigger slice of the “big business” than research means of beating the disorder.

Football and capitalism

The origins of football are obscure. Some claim that it was played in the Americas by the Plains Indians before the European invasion; others that it originated in Britain in the 14th century. But, whatever its origin, it is generally agreed that it was a healthy, enjoyable social activity. It was fun.

However, inside capitalism, a good example of what it has become is provided by Barry Hearn, the millionaire snooker and boxing promoter, who recently bought the football club Leyton Orient.

“I'm coming in with a great deal of experience in how to exploit sport, commercially and through the media. And I find this very motivating. Thats why I am in it: for me. You see I am not a football fan. I don't think I can sit through 90 minutes. It’s the business that's the buzz ’’ (Independent Magazine, 19 August).