SPC Secretary’s report 1st January 2013

[Socialist Party Head Office]

The Socialist Party of Canada

 

General Secretary’s Report, Jan 1, 2013

 

Communication

–           WSPNZ GAC meeting notes for November received with thanks

–           Book and pamphlet order received and filled (with help from SPGB-thanks) from Edmonton.

 

Good of the Movement

                   –     Two introductory packages sent out

                –           Member questionnaire completed and under review at time of writing.

Finances

–    Secretarial expenses for December, $24.60. Two donations of $20 each, received with thanks

 

Karl’s Quotes

–           A major part of the class struggle is over the division of the surplus produced by the capitalist mode of production. Marx writes, “ Let the average composition of the social capital be 80c (constant capital, spent on means of production) + 20v (variable capital used to purchase labour-power) + profit 20%. In this case the rate of surplus-value is 100%. A general rise in wages, everything else being equal, means a fall in the rate of surplus-value. For the average capital, profit and surplus-value coincide. Say that wages rise by 25%. The same amount of labour which previously cost 20 to set in motion now costs 25. We then have a turnover value of 80c + 25v + 15s (surplus) instead of 80c + 20v + 20s. The labour set in motion by the variable capital still produces a value sum of 40 (i.e. in this new case 25v + 15s). But if v rises from 20 to 25, the excess s or p (profit) is now only 15. A profit of 15 on 105 is 14-2/7 per cent and this would be the new average rate of profit. Since the production price of commodities produced by the average capital coincides with their value, the production price of these commodities would not have changed. The increase in wages would therefore involve a decline in profit, but no change in the value of commodities or their price of production.” (Capital, Volume III, page 303, Penguin Classics edition). In other words, if wages go up, profit goes down which explains the constant tendency of capital to reduce wages to zero and the current attack on unions because, generally, they gain higher wages and benefits. Michigan has just become the twenty-second state to enact ‘Right to work’ laws that are attacks on union organization. The workers call the laws the ‘Right to work for nothing’ laws.

 

Food For Thought

–           An article in The Toronto Star highlighted the fact that with Afghanistan an entire country suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. A Nation-wide survey revealed that forty-two per cent suffered from the problem and sixty-eight per cent exhibited signs of a major depression. In other words, most of the population is suffering from psychological injuries. This shows exactly what years of war will do to people – another good reason to abolish the cause of war – the capitalist system.

–           Yes, after a brief respite in socialism (declaring the arctic wealth as the property of the whole world!), China is definitely back in capitalism. Apparently, several new cities remain unoccupied like ghost towns. Everywhere building materials are piled high, unused. This, we are told (CBC News) is the result of an economic downturn, Developers have run out of money/credit to complete the job. This shows China is no different to any other country where capitalism prevails. Boom and bust are the normal order of the day.

–           A movie made in 1949 might not be thought to be relevant today. However, “All the King’s Men” was recently shown on the movie channel TCM. Based on Robert Penn Warren’s novel that is a fictionalized treatment of Louisiana Governor Hugh Long’s career, the movie shows clearly how the political machine corrupts even the most well-intentioned politicians. Long (Willy Stark in the story), brilliantly portrayed by Broderick Crawford, was elected in 1928 when Louisiana was one of America’s most economically backward states. With his initial compassion for the ‘poor folk’, mostly dirt farmers, Long set about building roads and bridges to help the farmers get produce to market, schools, and hospitals. Gradually, taking his cue from his opponents, Long became a blatantly corrupt demagogue, which led to his assassination. Ironically, at the end, the dirt farmers were still as poor as they ever were, proving economic conditions never permanently improve for the worker in the capitalist mode of production. The movie proves the maxim that ‘all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Let’s have done with a system where individuals weald power over others.

–           Ontario Tories will enact Right to Work legislation if elected in the next election a la tea party Republicans of USA. Senior Tory MPP, Christine Elliot, said that only then will new businesses pick Ontario to locate in because they will have the “flexibility” they need to get the job done without tangling with unionized workers (Toronto Star, 15/12/12). The Tories would rip up the Rand formula, in effect since 1946 that requires all union members to pay union dues, effectively eroding the financial basis of the unions. Workers, the attack on your pay and benefits, and bargaining rights is strengthening and it only shows the futility of reform if that reform can stand for 66 years and then be wiped out with a stroke of the pen. Putting capitalism in the waste bin is the only answer.

–           The New York Times wrote (16/12/12) that Fire (specifically the recent one in the Bangladesh garment factory that killed 112 workers) Exposes a Deadly Gap. The gap is that between those who order the making of the garments, in this case Walmart, Sears, and C&A, and those who do the work. The coercive laws of competition that rule capitalist production will always drive companies to the lowest price, of course, but the companies must be well aware of the conditions in Third World factories otherwise they wouldn’t be there at all. Just the normal operation of the profit system and another reason to get rid of it.

–           In David Baldacci’s recent book, “The Innocent”, one of the characters dies from cancer contracted in the first Gulf War. A former comrade-in-arms comments, “I’m telling you it’s all the crap we breathed over there. Depleted uranium, toxic cocktails from the artillery blasts, fires burning all over the damned place, painting the sky black, burning crap we didn’t know what the hell it was. And there we were just sucking it in.” If this story mirrors real life, then it’s no wonder so many who have seen active service return home physically and/or mentally sick. If the enemy doesn’t get you, your own side will.

–           Recently, Andrew Weaver, a scientist at the University of Victoria, BC, said, We are losing control of our ability to get a handle on the global warming problem. “ One wonders when we ever had that ability in capitalism’s pell mell dash to make profits regardless of the consequences. In 2011, 38.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide were pumped into the air from burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil. That amounts to 2.4 million pounds per second, according to the journal, “Nature Climate Change”. Most carbon stays in the air for a century so it’s unlikely that signatories to the Kyoto agreement can keep temperature increases to two degrees centigrade.

–           With perfect timing, UNICEF Canada released a brochure entitled, “Survival Gifts – Keep a Child Alive. Help a Child Thrive”. It contains a list of forty-five gifts one may contribute to in order for a child to survive. Typical examples are anti-infection tablets $20, exercise books $23, clean water kits $28, malnutrition relief bundle $30, child survival kit $44. It’s easy enough for anyone with any love for humanity to contribute but to do so helps maintain the status quo that causes the very problems we are being asked to solve and as long as no one questions the status quo, children will continue to starve and die from malnutrition and preventable diseases. The best thing any one can do is to work to remove the cause of all poverty, including child poverty.

–           An article in the Toronto Star, December 1, focused on the destruction of the ‘beautiful, pristine Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest” in Wisconsin by Mexican drug traffickers who are using the land to “grow millions of dollars worth of marijuana and leaving behind their garbage, poached deer carcasses, fertilizer, and pesticides” Investigators say that it’s likely just the tip of the iceberg. The advantages to the traffickers are, not having to cross a border and less likelihood of detection on public lands. In a socialist society the need for artificial stimulants would be low to nothing as the stress of daily life in this society would virtually disappear, and the lack of money and profit would end trafficking and those who work in that field would be able to make a real contribution to society.

–           We are constantly told that ‘if you’ve got what it takes and work hard you can make a fortune’. One such person who seemed to personify that attitude was John Letnik, a Hungarian immigrant who came to Canada with nothing and eventually opened a restaurant called “Captain John’s”.  It was on a ship in the Toronto harbour. The City of Toronto shut it down six months ago to make way for a planned park. Letnik refuses to move and lives on the ship in squalor and vows to go down with it. He spends his nights sleeping on the carpet and hopes to find a buyer so he can pay back taxes of $568 000 and ‘leave with dignity’, a quality that is in shorter supply than the water the City is promising to shut off. Like reforms, financial success can be fleeting in a profit society.

–           In the financial pages of the press it was recently announced that to remain profitable Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. Would cut 4 500 jobs by 2016. Citigroup Inc., recovering from the financial crisis stated that it cutting 11 000 jobs world wide to save $1.1 billion a year in expenses. For a company to survive it must make a profit and sometimes that involves firing people. These are the iron-clad laws of capitalist economics that will never change under the profit system. Insecurity for all workers is a by-product of it.

–           How capitalism creates war. Japan is beginning to wake up to the fact that China is a military as well as an economic power as the latter flexes its muscle in SE Asia. Japan is retaliating by providing its first military aid abroad since WWII, spending millions on training troops in Cambodia and East Timor and providing the Philippine Coast Guard with 10 new cutters worth $120 million. In other words, it is building alliances against China for future confrontations that would be called on in the event of military action. Too bad they can’t put this kind of forward thinking into scientific, medical, and educational activities that would benefit mankind!

–           The Toronto Star Business section (1/12/12) reported that US home improvement giant, Lowes, has offered $1.8 billion to buy Quebec-based Rona. The idea is that the industry is somewhat ‘overbuilt’ in Canada, meaning that the big players got greedy and expanded ahead of the demand. The “good” thing would be that the takeover would lead to a store ‘rationalization’ meaning reduction of the number of stores. Somewhere in all this jargon is the fact that a lot of people are going to lose their jobs – but that’s the last consideration when accumulation of wealth is at risk.

 

Best wishes for 2013 to all, for socialism, John

 

 

    

[Author]

Posts