No 1390 June 2020 Contents

Regulars

The Socialist Standard is a monthly socialist newspaper published without interruption since 1904 by the Socialist Party of Great Britain.

Introducing the Socialist Party

• Editorial: Socialism hasn’t failed – it’s never been tried

• Pathfinders: Locked up in lockdown

• Cooking the Books I: Will capitalism collapse?

• Wood For the Trees: Responsibility

• Material World: Guns before healthcare
• Cooking the Books II: Negative prices: how come?
• Rear View
• Free Lunch Cartoon by RIGG

Features

Open any textbook on economics. The concept of ‘scarcity’ soon appears, maybe even on the first page. And you’ll read that there are scarce resources and unlimited wants, and that economics is the study of the choices that people make to deal with this situation. More >

The coronavirus crisis has demonstrated, as if it needed demonstrating, that it is the working class who keep our society running and create the value in our society, not executives or financiers. More >

One world or many states?

We have been asked for our view on the movement for West Papua to gain independence from Indonesia.

Here is our reply >.

More Economics: the Marginalist Fallacy

What is ‘value’ (economically speaking)? It is a good question and one that has often generated controversy. Classical economists like Adam Smith maintained that a commodity’s value depended on how much labour went into making it. This argument was taken up and refined by Marx. More >

Lesser evil or lose-lose situation?

On the face of it, the lesser evil argument seems only common sense. If you have a choice between something bad and something worse, who would choose the worse? In fact, in everyday life, who does?

In politics it is rather more complicated ..More >

End of an Epoch?

As the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis appears to be abating a little, some commentators have begun to speculate as to longer term consequences. That there will be marked social, economic and, therefore, political impacts is surely beyond doubt. But, how accurately can they be predicted? More >

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