I've been catching up on my post after a visit to the Earth First! Gathering in Norfolk, where I interacted mainly with (non-violent) anarchists, plus a solitary Marxist from the tiny group Permanent Revolution. I had previously said that I would not submit any further letters to the Weekly Worker after they refused to print a long submission from me in full - but I've generally found it absorbing reading and cannot resist contributing to debates taking place in that newspaper; consider this message a submission to it (and I'll trust its editors to decide how much they want to publish). The fall in web readership from 45,000 at the height of its popularity last summer to 15,000 now is clearly a sign of the weakness of Marxism, which is (in my opinion) partly of their own making with strong attacks on other Marxist organisations - particularly the Socialist Workers Party, although they have concentrated recently on
the Alliance for Workers' Liberty after its leader Sean Matgamna has (to some extent) come out in support of an Israeli nuclear attack on Iran. I have (perhaps more consciously) contributed to the demise of Marxism, arguing instead for a form of socialism with a government elected by proportional representation.
I find anarchists better allies than reformists, and thus think the initiative by the French LCR of a revolutionary anti-capitalist party (to be launched in January 2009) a positive development in the wake of the problems experienced by the various broad socialist organisations (and some so broad they also welcome non-socialists), such as the Scottish Socialist Party, Solidarity, Respect Renewal, the Left Alternative (the new SWP front organisation after the split in Respect) and the Campaign for a New Workers' Party.
However, for a far left formation to take off, it needs to be seen by the electorate as credible, which probably requires splits in mainstream parties (specifically Labour in Britain, with the Convention of the Left during the upcoming Labour Party conference being an ideal opportunity to prepare for such a split, or the Scottish National Party in an independent capitalist Scotland which is highly likely if the Tories win the next general election) as well as a severe enough economic crisis.
Economists and other commentators differ in their predictions of the severity of the credit crunch and how long it will last. However, they all seem to disregard a vital factor - banks are in massive difficulty due to "prime" mortgages in the USA, not just "subprime" ones. Whereas in the UK, mortgages generally have a variable interest rate, which banks and building societies can adjust to try to ensure they make a profit, NORMAL MORTGAGES IN THE USA HAVE A FIXED RATE FOR THE ENTIRE TERM. If inflation rises dramatically, as is now the case particularly with food and fuel prices, the banks will endure even more severe losses. They will be unable to pass those increases on to borrowers, and financial institutions around the world will continue to write off massive sums of money, with many going under. New Labour will probably continue to bail out
banks in trouble, since failure to do so would mean certain electoral wipeout, but the Tories have indicated that they would let such banks go to the wall (and they could blame Gordon Brown's economic incompetence). [I predicted that BARCLAYS BANK WILL GO BANKRUPT, after learning of its emergency loans from the Bank of England before Northern Rock; its recent avoidance of a rights issue which would have entailed scrutinisation of its finances by other banks suggests it is still in difficulty, but realistically its demise won't occur until New Labour is swept from office.] THE CREDIT CRUNCH WILL NOT END UNTIL THERE IS A MASSIVE COLLAPSE OF WORLD CAPITALISM. Hopefully this will result in democratic socialist societies, in most if not all countries of the world, rather than some sort of authoritarian and/or capitalist alternative.
In his article "What is Marxism?" in the August 28 Weekly Worker (http://cpgb.org.uk/worker/734/whatis.html), Hillel Ticktin writes: "The proletariat consists of all those who sell their labour-power. In other
words, the proletariat, in the words of the early Marx, is the universal class." At first I thought that means that he and Marx wanted everyone to be in power, not just the working class ("proletariat" in Marxist terminology), as is implied by "universal"! [Middle managers are generally regarded as middle class despite them selling their labour-power; it is unclear whether this was a deliberate slip by Ticktin.] A quick look at the Wikipedia page for "universal class" suggests Ticktin's definition instead: "It is the class destined to emancipate humanity by emancipating itself." Perhaps, however, the early Marx intended a meaning similar to my conception of socialism where we are all in control of society.
Ticktin almost completely ignores the middle class in his article, which is intended as part of the programme of the Campaign for a Marxist Party. However, in the article "Taking Stalinism seriously" in the current edition of the Weekly Worker (http://cpgb.org.uk/worker/735/WW735web.pdf), Mike Macnair says that "according to a 2007 survey, 57% of the population think of themselves as working class, including many people who before World War II would have self-identified as middle class". He suggests that it would become "more attractive to work for wages than to run a small family business or farm; and at the end of this process there is nothing left in society except wage-workers, with the result that classes cease to exist." Surely, however, the 43% of the population who don't think of themselves as working class would resist the imposition of "the dictatorship of the proletariat" rather than wait to be gradually assimilated into the working class before gaining any
power!
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Steve Wallis (Glasgow, Scotland)
For important/urgent communications, please email:
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Founder, Good Intentions Network: http://www.goodintentionsnetwork.org
Founder, Ethical Capitalism Network: http://www.ethicalcapitalism.net
Founder, Foundation for PR-based Socialism: http://www.PRsocialism.org
Founder, Revolutionary Platform Network: http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net
My socialist band, Red Day: http://www.red-day.net
Author, "Revolution Destroyed? Have I ensured that a world socialist revolution will never happen?": http://www.revolutiondestroyed.net
For discussion of the credit crunch, go to
http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net/forum/index.php?board=156
For discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories, go to http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net/forum/index.php?board=89
For discussion of the environment, including global warming scepticism, go to http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net/forum/index.php?board=106
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