SPC June Newsletter

The Socialist Party of Canada

Secretary’s Report for June 1

Email report

– WSPNZ GAC minutes for April received with thanks.

Good of the Movement

– Meeting held May 27^{th in Toronto.}

^Finances

^{– Secretary’s expenses for May, $38.60}

^{Karl’s Quotes}

^{– The basis and main tenets of capitalism never change and are, in fact, unable to do so given the nature of the system. Marx noted in his time, "And whereas in the sixteenth century, and partly still in the seventeenth, the sudden expansion of trade and the creation of a new world market had an overwhelming influence on the defeat of the old mode of production and the rise of the capitalist mode, this happened in reverse on the basis of the capitalist mode of production, once it had been created. The world market itself forms the basis for this mode of production. On the other hand, the immanent need that this has to produce on an ever greater scale drives it to the constant expansion of the world market, so that now it not trade that revolutionizes industry, but rather industry that constantly revolutionizes trade. Moreover, commercial supremacy is now linked with greater or lesser prevalence of the conditioned for large -scale industry…. In India, moreover, the English applied their direct political and economic power, as masters and landlords, to destroying these small economic communities." (Capital volume III page 451) It’s a preview of globalization and a snapshot of methods applied to get there.}

^{Food For Thought}

^{– Crime and society – on March 27th. Federal Justice Minister, Peter Mackay, announced a grant of $500,000 for a three year plan to reintegrate youths who have been in Prison in Toronto. He further stated that the ‘For Youth Initiative Plan’ was making a real difference, but like the war on drugs, the war on crime will continue as long as a system of deep inequalities exists.}

^{– A mobile home park in Barrie, Ontario is closing its doors as have most such sites in the province. Trouble is many who live there for their affordability will be hard pressed to find accommodation elsewhere. David Amborski, director for Urban Research and Land Development at Ryerson University was able to put it succinctly, " It’s (the closing is) driven by market forces to a large extent. The owners aren’t in the business of providing affordable housing. They are in the business of making a profit. They see an opportunity to sell it and cash in." Another example where profit comes before people.}

^{– Need more examples? – the BP Gulf oil spill, GM’s recall of cars because Of a faulty ignition switch worth pennies, the train disaster at Lac Megantic, Quebec, the loss of a Boeing 747, the sinking of a ship that ‘turned too quickly’ and many more, all of which could have been avoided with more money on infrastructure and maintenance. That money, though, would have to come from profits and hence does not happen, clearly showing capitalism for what it is.}

^{– Recently, Grand & Toy announced the closing of the remaining nineteen}

^{Canadian stores ‘affecting’ one hundred and sixty employees. By ‘affecting’ they really mean firing and being unemployed. In a socialist society it would be a wonderful thing to free up workers to do something more necessary and no worry about where the means of life would come from. In capitalism it means misery, making choosing between the two systems an easy task!}

^{– Terrorism is big business. The Toronto Star of May 10th. reported that Britain spent $5.9 billion on domestic counter terrorism measures in 2010/11 while the US has spent $1 trillion since 9/11. The chances of dying in a terrorist attack in the States is one in six million. The odds of dying from a wasp, hornet, or bee sting is one in 75,000. As usual, capitalism can’t get its priorities right.}

^{– The same issue tells us that Japan is in deep trouble as its population declines and is projected to drop to 50 million by the end of the century compared to its high of 128 million (2008) That would be good news in a world that wants to control population increase, but in capitalism it is the death knoll as the economy is shrinking and to be successful, as we all know, you must keep on growing.}

^{– A report by the Canadian Council of Canadians on the impact of shale Gas development said, " There is not enough known about the environmental and health impacts of fracking to declare it safe. Key elements of the provinces’ regulatory systems are not based on strong science and remain untested." Despite that, the federal government has refused to make amendments to those regulations. Contrary to what people say, you can, then, trust governments. You can trust them to do whatever suits the needs of big business and to hell with the problems.}

^{– The Toronto Globe, May 2, included a photograph of workers demonstrating against austerity in the May Day parade in Paris. They obviously want capitalism without austerity and that is impossible. Governments trying to balance a budget will make cuts in welfare, medicare, education, and other social programs because they are attempting to run capitalism and must save money wherever they can. If the workers must suffer, well, so be it as long as more money is not needed from profit to save the cuts. The only solution is a society without the constraints of profit and money and where people’s needs are the priority.}

^{– Following up to the article on the Lac Megantic rail disaster last year (reported in Imagine, Fall, 2013), the Quebec government has arrested railway workers with criminal negligence. According to Greg Gormick (Toronto Star, May 18), they are charging the wrong parties. Instead, the government of Canada is responsible for decades if failed transportation policies. The railway’s competitors, the trucking industry, has had their highways lavishly funded for little investment from the industry. On the railways, individual companies are expected to fund their own highways, the rail system, out of revenues. Light-density lines have been phased out and "On the remaining lines, the physical and human assets are constantly squeezed to wring out profits to maintain the infrastructure and service while keeping investors happy." This encapsulates the main problem of the capitalist system – that of doing anything, even if it kills people, to create a profit. "Under these conditions, should anyone be surprised if some railways – especially smaller, less profitable, short lines – wind up cutting corners to the point of negatively affecting safety?" Short answer – NO, we are not surprised one bit!}

^{– It’s been four years since an earthquake devastated Haiti and still international promises remain unfulfilled. A recent audit found that the US government aid program had delivered only a quarter of the planned number of houses at nearly twice the estimated cost. 105,000 houses were destroyed in the quake that killed more than 200,000. Of the four thousand houses the US Agency for International development planned to build, only 906 were completed by December 2012. Of the 11,000 additional building sites the agency planned to prepare, only 6,220 were in deed done. Although immediate responses are generally good, the reality of cost often slows the process of rebuilding and efficiency. One would expect things to be quite different in a socialist society.}

^{– Yet another manufacturer has closed shop in Southern Ontario. The Heinz ketchup plant, in that town for 105 years, is pulling up stakes and leaving the usual mess and betrayed feelings. By the end of June, just 250 workers will be left to continue if they accede to one of the tricks of survival these days, – lower wages, as yet to be determined, and this says nothing about the farmers who supplied the tomatoes. One need not feel betrayed by capitalism because loyalty has never been in its vocabulary if a better chance comes along.}

^{– On any day of the year tourists pay up to $100 a day to get into Florida’s Theme parks. There, they will be waited on by homeless people who, in the case of Disney World, work for $8.03 per hour. Many live in cheap motels because they can’t afford to rent anywhere else. As one mother said, " It’s hard just trying to get our feet inside the door with the combined expenses of application fees, security deposits, and the first month’s rent needed for a place of their own." Nor does the county have any shelters for the 1,216 households with children. Some motel owners who are strictly small time businessmen are suing the local sheriff to force him to evict guests who have not paid rent and are in violation of the policy of four people to a room. This is another typical screwball situation thrown up by a crazy economic situation that condemns many to a life of poverty. Abolition of that system is what is needed.}

^{– The Metro News of May 5 claimed that, "Lawyers sanctioned for criminal like activity by The Law Society of Upper Canada in the last decade have stolen, defrauded, or diverted some $61 million held in trust funds for clients. They treat client trust accounts as personal piggy banks, facilitate multi-million dollar frauds, and drain retirement savings of the elderly. Fewer than one in five were charged criminally and most avoided jail. In one case, a lawyer took $75,000 in part because he wanted a Lexus. Of those sentenced criminally, the punishments were as lenient as house arrest and community service. Of forty-one who were tried, only twelve went to jail. The Law Society of Upper Canada does not, as a rule, report suspected criminal acts by lawyers to the police. Some will argue that there are honest lawyers but, nevertheless, crooked or honest, all exist to uphold the status quo and therefore enable the capitalist class to legally steal from the working class – better a society were there are no lawyers.}

^{Reading Notes}

^{– In a profit society, a dead soldier may well be worth more than a  live one. In "1493" by Charles C. Mann, he writes on the agrarian revolution taking place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the desperate need for fertilizer, " At the time, the best known soil additive was bone meal , made by pulverizing bones from slaughter houses. Bushels of bones went to grinding factories in Britain, France, and Germany. Demand ratcheted up, driven by fears of soil depletion. Bone dealers supplied the factories from increasingly untoward sources, including the recent battlefields of Waterloo and Austerlitz.’It is now ascertained beyond doubt, by actual experiment upon an extensive scale, that a dead soldier is a most valuable article of commerce,’ remarked the London Observer in 1822."}

^{For socialism, John}