SPC Newsletter 1st Nov 2017
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THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF CANADA
worldsocialism.org/canada | spc@worldsocialism.org | twitter.com/spc_news
Secretary's Report for November 2017
Email Report
– WSP (India) EC meeting minutes No. 180, Sunday, October 1, 2017, received with thanks.
– Report of the proceeding of the autumn annual school & membership meeting of the World Socialist Party (India) October 7&8, 2017 received with thanks.
– New pamphlet: History of Universal Suffrage (WSP India) ready for publication.
(members wishing the above minutes, email spc@worldsocialism.org).
Good of the Movement
– Two introductory packages and one new member application sent out.
– SPC Toronto Branch public meeting, held Wednesday, October 25, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, The Second Cup Coffee House, 324 Bloor St W, Toronto.
– Toronto Branch upcoming meetings Nov 29 & Dec 27 (tentative): 6:30pm to 8:30pm, The Second Cup Coffee House, 324 Bloor St W, Toronto. Visit Toronto Branch Facebook for further details: https://web.facebook.com/Toronto-Branch-Socialist-Party-of-Canada-1120836671294008/ & our website https://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/
– WSM An Introduction to World Socialism – A Post-Capitalist Society – a brief and well produced video of the case for Socialism. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ZZonz0YE50A&feature=youtu.be
– Imagine Sring 2017 – Visit https://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/ for online version, or contact the secretary at spc@worldsocialism.org
– Socialist Studies Educational Materials http://www.socialiststudies.org.uk/YouTube Channel Marxian Economics https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXq0kw9sU6xvrr34yezA_Tw
– Socialist Party of Canada Facebook public page https://web.facebook.com/socialistpartycanada/ & members' page https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012582758245
– SPC new email spc@worldsocialism.org.
– Toronto Branch new email spc.toronto@worldsocialism.org.
– Socialist content and education website for redistribution & hyperlinking, S. Shenfield (WSPUS) http://www.whatissocialism.net/
– Ongoing request from Cormade Matt Culbert (SPGB Blog Committee) requesting SPC members use our Imagine Blog, dormant since November 2010. Suggestion is for members to post several times per week. Members, please write in and use this free site – The Imagine Blog http://imaginespc.blogspot.co.uk/General Admistrative Committee 2017-2019
– One GAC seat remains vacant.
Finances/Expenses – Printing $3.64; Post $1.80.
Dues – $25 per year or $2 per month. Funds are used to conduct Party work such as post, photocopies, public meeting expenses and internet url services. All other Party activity is voluntarily run. Members needing dues waivers please contact our treasurer or general secretary to arrange.
F ood for T hought – member views & contributions – send to spc@worldsocialism.org
● On September 29 Barack Obama gave a speech at the Toronto Convention Centre in which he enlightened us all with this pearl of wisdom: "If you ask yourself when has humanity across the board been wealthiest, healthiest, most educated, most tolerant, least violent, the moment would be now". He may well be right, but he didn't say what planet he was talking about. A guy like that should, at least, be specific when he a says things like that so we can go to whatever planet he was referring to.
● Whadja mean things cant get any crazier? A couple in Toronto's plush Forest Hill neighbourhood sued a neighbour for having her house renovated to look like theirs. They were seeking $1.5 million in damages, $20,000 in statutory copyright damages and an injunction on the copycat to change the design of her house. Nor was she the only defendant; they also sued the builder, the architect, the contractors and the real estate agent who profited from the sale – well I guess theirs nothing like going for overkill. The allegations were not proven in court so the parties agreed to settle out of court and the terms were not disclosed. Logic, if it came in anywhere was that the plaintiffs felt there house was robbed of its uniqueness and therefore devalued. Whatever you make of the above one things for sure, within capitalism everything has a price tag.
● So the Saudi sheiks showed they’re not a bunch of lousy chauvinist jerks at all, having just passed a law allowing women to drive next year, but, but, but, wait a minute, there may be more to this than meets the eye, perhaps we will find it in the profit and loss account and guess what side of the sheet? Car sales will increase, there will be showrooms, car washes and service centres just for women, insurance and advertising companies will do well out of this and gasoline sales will increase. Facts Global Energy said a ten per cent increase in driving would add about 60,000 barrels a day in gasoline sales. Certainly governments sometimes pass"good laws'' that are beneficial to the working class, but are nevertheless even more beneficial to the capitalist class or they would never pass them. How about a society where there are no ''good laws'', because they wont be needed?
● It's now official after many generations in the retail business Sears Canada will be closing it's 131 stores in Canada making 12,000 people unemployed, which is 2,000 more jobs than those created overall in Canada during September. Liquidation sales will finish no later than January 21 in an attempt to pay off the companies debts. Those let go will not be getting severance pay, nor is it certain they will receive their accumulated pensions. A lawyer representing Sears pensioners said his group will move to get their claim paid first ahead of other creditors; the pension fund is owed $260 million. Sears seems to be the victim of online shopping and Walmart. So many times during the 50's and 60's, workers in the UK, Canada and the US, said to me, "Why do we need Socialism when we have almost full employment, low inflation and a good standard of living?" Yes it always lasts!
● An article in a recent issue of the Canadian Jewish News focused on a problem that rarely makes front pagenews but is, nevertheless, another disgusting aspect of life under crapitalism, that of cyber-bullying. During the summer 12 year old Courtland Millman created the hashtag #StopTheBully in hopes of raising awareness among her peers about the effect cyber-bullying can have on people. Ms Courtland did this in response to the bullying received by her friend and her sister, who was told,''You are fat, you are ugly, you are not worth it''. She reported that 75 per cent of the response she has received has been positive. The effect of bullying on young people's self esteem can be devastating and can effect their personality for the rest of their lives, particularly if they do not feel comfortable enough to discuss it with their parents, which Ms Courtland strongly advises. The effects of daily life in capitalist society have a dehumanizing effect on most people and sooner than attempting to analyze why many folk of all ages try to drag others down to give themselves a lift. The young observe it in adults and follow suit. One must applaud Ms Courtland for her efforts but realize she is attacking the symptoms not the cause. It would be so much better if we lived in a society where the very effects of it would give everyone a lift. For those interested in the article see CJNews.com October 12.
● Disputes between capitalists over the Ontario governments proposed minimum-wage hikes are too stupid to be taken seriously therefore are good for a laugh. The Toronto-Dominion Bank and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce are outraged at the thought of workers getting paid at least $14 bucks an hour next year and $15 in 2016. The ''worthies'' at the chamber, which is heavily dominated by Progressive Conservatives, (an oxy-moron), claim if this is allowed to go through, 185,000 jobs will be at risk. The TD Bank's economists said 50,000 to 150,000 jobs will be lost by the end of the decade. Now isn't it touching(?), those dudes are all heart, they'd be so much happier if workers struggled along at the present $11.40 an hour. They would probably argue the costs of products would increase to a point that people won't buy and companies would go bankrupt, whereas research has shown that the impact of wage hikes has never seriously damaged an economy. If wage hikes could have it would already have happened, especially when one considers the fat salaries and bonuses many of the complainers pay themselves. A recent report by professional economists said that recent wage hikes in the US showed, ''There is no credible evidence that this clear trend in labour policy is hurting job creation''. Employers who pay high wages benefit from reduced turnover, lower recruitment costs and greater productivity. Insofar as it concerns manufacture, a survey conducted some years ago revealed that only 7 per cent of the cost of a product, on average, went on wages. The plain fact of the matter is that in a world without money we could all think of the above nonsense and laugh.
● Disturbing news has recently emerged concerning pollution in Chemical Valley, Sarnia, Ontario. There companies such as Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, Suncor Energy and Plains Midstream have their plants. 57 companies are registered as polluters with the Canadian government, all within 25 kilometers of Sarnia. The smell of Benzene pervades the air. An independent company measured the levels at 50 parts per billion. If sustained over 30 minutes that would be 22 times higher than the provincial safe standard. The report, and 500 others conducted in 2014 and 2015, was obtained by a national investigation involving the Toronto Star, Global News and 2 Toronto schools of journalism. On April 26, 2016 benzene levels were logged at 161 micrograms per cubic meter — 23 times Ontario's standard – for half an hour. Hospitalization rates for respiratory problems are higher in the Sarnia area than nearby Windsor and London. There are more lung cancer cases and mesothelioma than the Ontario average in part because of the regions production of asbestos. As one Sarnia resident put it, ''If I fed you arsenic every day I'm poisoning you and you could charge me. These companies are leaking things and slowly doing harm and they get a slap on the wrist or nothing at all. We have to prove it, but there are so many companies how can you point out one? So capitalism doesn't just stink figuratively it all stinks physically.
● If you thought flipping burgers in a fast food joint was a crap for pay job, pretty soon even this sorry excuse for wages will be toast. Shake Shack, a New York based burger and fries chain, says front order cashiers will be a thing of the past at their Astor Place store, undoubtedly with more to come and competitors forced to follow. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/02/shake-shack-to-open-a-cashlesskiosk-in-new-york.html
● And on that happy topic of job redundancy, Walmart, one of crapitalism's paramount achievements of parasitical 'success,' announces its jolly robot floor checker that takes stock, reorders when necessary, and generally keeps track of everything, including, one would suppose, the occasional would-be shoplifter (“smile, you're on candid 24/7 robotic camera!”). Of course the days of even the lowly shelf-stocker are numbered. Why the hell would crapitalist skivers like Walmart want a wage slave to pay to stock shelves when they can hustle profits without paying for such viable capital as a worker's cost of reproduction!
● The Toronto Star's edition of Oct.7 continued its series of exposures of the abuse migrant workers are subject to in the Canadian food industry. To read the complete article, thestar.ca. I will mention a few significant points here. Many female workers are exposed to sexual abuse and are afraid of complaining to the authorities because their boss will immediately fire them and they will lose their right to be in Canada. When some want to complain they find a grey area of responsibility between the federal and provincial governments. The federal one has to ensure the employers live up to the terms of their Labour Market Impact Assessments, which means they have to explain why they were unable to recruit Canadians for a job and are paying them the agreed wages. It was reported that Employment and Social Development Canada does not, to put it bluntly, get-stuck-in. They conduct few on-site inspections and fewer interviews. They have though received tips on their hot line about employers lack of regard for safety, poor living conditions for the workers and threats of deportation. So whatever rights they have become meaningless when faced with the fear of deportation. Furthermore Ontario is the only province in Canada where agricultural workers cannot form a union. It all reads like a chapter from Steinbecks, Grapes of Wrath, which shows how little things have changed. You may say, something should be done about it, and you would be right — something can be, but it won't be under capitalism.
https://blog.walmart.com/innovation/20171026/thats-smart-see-the-tech-helping-us-serve-youbetter
Socialist literature for your interest
A couple of muck-raking films for socialists to keep piling on the evidence that capitalism just ain't worth any of our brother & sister workers' time: Roger Waters, one of the founding members of many folk's fav. bands, Pink Floyd, narrates this incisive documentary, The Occupation of the American Mind, exposing the US-Israeli media mind-funk on the hoi polloi to keep locked their “mind-forged manacles” about the Palestinian apartheid. http://mediaed.org/occupationmovie/
The Corporation sequel is set for release soon, this time exposing the capitalist fight for workers' hearts and minds by further cutting public education and keeping us prolies' minds hoodwinked so as to not get ideas of revolt or rebellion. See the original film that shows capitalism for the madness that it is: http://thecorporation.com/
– WSP (India) History of Economics: A Scientific Investigation into the Political Economy and Its Swindler 'Economics' published. 50.00 Rupees/CD$1-1.50. Contact E-mail: spindia@hotmail.com; Website: http://www.worldsocialistpartyindia.org for more information to purchase.
– Red Lion Press:
Revolutionary Socialist: Life of the Socialist Party of Canada and the OBU, 1910-1922.
Fred Casey's Thinking: An Introduction To Its History and Science.
Method in Thinking: An Introduction to Dialectics.
Costs: $3 for Pritchard, $6 each for the Casey's plus postage costs. Contact E-mail: redlionpress@hotmail.com or enquire with the publisher: https://web.facebook.com/search/more/?q=Larry+Gambone&init=public
– Ward, O. (1888). The ancient lowly: a history of the ancient working people from the earliest known period to the adoption of Christianity by Constantine. Chicago, Charles H. Kerr.
For those interested in understanding the origins of modern Christainity and its more radical traditions, this is a definitive example of primary evidence work: a free online version of this 1400pp two volume text is available at The Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13490680M/The_ancient_lowly
For socialism, Steve, Mehmet, John & all contributing members of the SPC.
Greetings Everybody,
Hoping you are all well as capitalism and its proponents spin ever out of orbit and beyond sane or sustainable life.
Please find attached our November 2017 Monthly Report for your interest and review.
If you have news or views you want to share with our readers, send your correspondence to spc@worldsocialism.org
Yours for Socialism, John, Mehmet, Steve & GAC members
—
General Secretary, Socialist Party of Canada
PO Box 31024 Victoria BC Canada V8N 6J3
https://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/
https://twitter.com/spc_news
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