Cost of living crisis
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TM:”And every homeless man i’ve met has boasted of his military exploits and told me we need the draft back.”
OK but how can we effectively address such reactionary and irrational sentiments? Clearly, responding to these sentiments in purely rational terms, though necessary, has proven to be far from sufficient or adequate. The proof of this lies in the complete lack of progress we have made thus far.
Paradoxically, as “scientific socialists” (I don’t really like this term) we need to transcend – or go beyond – our scientific or ultra-rationalistic approach to changing society if we are seriously intent on making progress. In short, we need to adopt a more eclectic approach.
As I have suggested, to discuss this it would be better to start a completely new thread. Personally speaking, I would want to steer well clear of the kind of approach advanced by some on the left that things need to get significantly worse in order for the working class to develop a revolutionary outlook (the history of the rise of the Nazis decisively refutes this claim!) or that there is something about the nature of socialist ideas that condemn them to be the province of only a small minority and therefore inherently unrealizable (the Walsby Society et al).
Arguably this is is the most important discussion we socialists should be having at the present time: how to break through the barriers of irrationalism that prevent our ideas from being seriously considered at the present time. In that regard our ultra rationalism has proven to be a blunt tool
Another example of a government opting to make something free rather than going for a ‘fair price’:
Interesting article on the resistance
Octopus Energy to give free cash to customers if they are struggling with bills this winter.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/19679602/octopus-energy-grants-free-cash/
Is that a sufficient concession for Don’t Pay to call off the payment strike against them?
Incidentally, Octopus are our party’s gas and electricity suppliers but I don’t think there is any cap at all for non-domestic customers.
The bourgeois class will always give small pieces of bread to the workers to pacify them. We want the whole bread, we support reforms but we are not reformists. We do not propagate the slogan of the left-wingers to make the rich pay, we want to eliminate profits system and the whole monetary system, we do not support better wages, we support a society without wage slavery. We want the workers to understand that this is a normal crisis of capitalism and that capitalism is an unstable system that they can not depend on, that they should not support either, our explanation of all these social and economical issues are totally different to the left-wingers, we want workers to understand that this economical system can not be reformed, and any reform produce the next crisis
SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon has announced a rent freeze for public and private rented properties as part of efforts to help people struggling with rising bills and banning evictions during winter and freezing rents until spring.
There are also plans to freeze rail fares and to boost the Scottish Child Payment to £25 per week from November.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-62807578
The Scottish Association of Landlords accused the the government of “attacking landlords for political reasons”.
Full list of cost of living payments to be given between September and Christmas.
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/full-list-cost-living-payments-7548170
Breaking news: Liz Truss to freeze energy bills at £2,500 a year average, funded by borrowing.
https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/personal-finance/2022/09/08/energy-market-updates/
As the graph in that Guardian article shows, the price cap will go up from £1971 in S22 to £2500 in Q4 22. Note also it is nearly double what it was last winter.
This, I suppose, is a measure of the pain the government considers acceptable to inflict on workers to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Will Don’t Pay still be advising consumers not to pay the increase? Or do they consider it an acceptable concession?
“Will Don’t Pay still be advising consumers not to pay the increase? Or do they consider it an acceptable concession?”
https://dontpay.uk/articles/its-working/
This crisis is far from over.
The government has been forced to act but we have to be clear: what is being proposed is a bailout of the energy industries to protect their profits. It will not protect us and we are the ones who will pay for it for years to come.
Thanks. I saw that too but it was written before the exact details were announced and the government was still toying with the idea of allowing the utility companies to increase bills for the next 20 years to enable them to repay loans to them. At least that it what I take “we are the ones who will pay for it for years to come” to be a reference to. Surely they can’t be referring to the extra interest on the National Debt that the Taxpayers Alliance is going on about, can they?
There are also signs of delusions of grandeur:
“The threat of 180,000 of us pledging to strike has already forced the government to act.”
Certainly, to try to allay working class discontent and avoid the threat of widespread social unrest will have been a factor in the government’s decision, but for Don’t Pay to claim the whole credit for this for their marginal campaign is a cheek.
There was a general understanding even amongst supporters of capitalism that something had to be done, as it had been in other European countries. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the distraction of the Tory leadership race, would no doubt have been done earlier. It was just a question of what the details were going to be.
As YMS pointed out on another thread, there is a dispute amongst the capitalist class as to how it was to be paid for — by the capitalist class as a whole through the National Debt or by the big gas producers by a tax on their profits.
In the event, the government decided to let the gas producers keep their windfall profits. Though they are making a pathetic attempt to get others who have benefitted (companies supplying electricity from other sources than burning gas) by politely asking them to forgo windfall profits:
But as the article says the generators are “likely to seek very attractive terms to compensate them for forgoing high prices now” and are in a strong bargaining position to get this.
British Gas owner Centrica plans to voluntarily cap booming profits in an effort to cut household bills and defuse outrage over them.
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