SPC Secretary’s Report for Jan 1

[Socialist Party Head Office]

The Socialist Party of Canada

Secretary’s Report for January 1, 2012

Email Report

• The Bullet: Social Democracy and the Economic Crisis.

• Left Streamed: The Left’s Responses to the Crisis in Europe and North America.

• The Bullet: Audacity, More Audacity.

• Left Streamed: Occupy the Toronto Transit Commission.

• The Bullet: Greening Work in an Age of Uncertainty.

• The Bullet: Crisis as Capital’s Opportunity.

• The Bullet: Mayor Ford versus the Public Sector Unions.

• The above publications are not based on scientific socialism but ca be sent to you for information purposes.

Good of the Movement

• Three introductory packages sent out.

• One membership questionnaire sent out.

• The December meeting was sparsely attended but we did manage to get

about one hundred and fifty pamphlets distributed.

• Many booklets received from SPGB with thanks for sale at our various

functions.

• The GAC meeting was completed and you should have received a copy

of the minutes.

• Party dues are due in January – $25 for one year. Please send in to The

Socialist Party of Canada, Box 4280, Victoria, BC, V8X 3X8.

• Next meeting will be in January when we will try to attend one of

Occupy Toronto’s meetings to present the socialist case. Those in Southern Ontario will get short notice as we have to wait until they publish their weekly schedule.

 

Finances

– Secretarial expenses for December, $17.27

 

Karl’s Quotes

• Today’s corporations, and their apologists in the various think-tanks

funded by them, who spend untold millions in capitalist propaganda are not the first to do so. They come from a long line of liars as Marx pointed out when he quoted Mr. Drummond, the British Secretary of the Embassy in Washington, reported in “The Nation”, October 1879 wherein he proposes how the workers could better themselves, “The working people have not kept up in culture with the growth of invention, and they have had things showered on them which they do not know how to use, and thus make no market for (Marx’s comment – every capitalist naturally wants the worker to buy his particular commodities). There is no reason why the working man should not desire as many comforts as the minister, lawyer, and doctor, who is earning the same amount as himself. (Marx’s comment – these particular ministers doctors, and lawyers will certainly have to be satisfied merely with desiring many comforts). He does not do so however. The problem remains, how to raise him as a consumer by rational and healthful processes, not an easy one, as his ambition does not go beyond a diminution of his hours of labour, the demagogues rather inciting him to this than by raising his condition by the improvement of his mental and moral powers.” Marx comments,” Long hours of labour seem to be these ‘rational and healthful processes’, which are to raise the condition of the worker by improving his ‘mental and moral powers’ and making a rational consumer out of him. In order to become a rational consumer of the capitalists’ commodities, he must before all else – but the demagogues prevent him – begin by letting his own labour-power be consumed irrationally and in a way contrary to his own health, by the capitalist who employs him. What the capitalist understands by rational consumption is shown when he is condescending enough to take a direct interest in the consumer behaviour of his worker, i.e. in the truck system (= the company store, my note), which even includes the supply of housing to the workers involved, so that the capitalist is simultaneously their landlord – one line of business among many others.”

 

Food For Thought

• The Irving shipyard in Halifax has won the contract to build twenty-one

Canadian combat ships for the navy. The accompanying photograph in the Toronto Star article shows the workers pumping their fists in the air. Those shipyards that lost out will have to pare down or close. Such is the nature of capitalism, for every winner there is a loser. Even the winners soon become losers. An employee of the Saint John shipyard tells how when the yard closed down the last time that the work ran out in his yard, “A lot of guys got divorced and lost homes and houses. A lot committed suicide.” And we have to rely on the production of killing machines to gain a livelihood.

• The house to house battle in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 polluted the city with

the use of white phosphorous by the American troops to light up the city. The chemical rained down on the houses. It has resulted in a staggering rise in birth defects – 15%. Compared to a global average of 6%. There are no support systems for the care of these children.

• At the peak of the Iraq war, there were 505 US bases and 170 000 troops

in Iraq. The equipment left behind is staggering – 26 000 trailers (housing units), worth $124 million, 89 000 air conditioners worth $18.5 million, 900 vehicles worth making a total of $350 million. The waste of war in equipment is staggering to say nothing of the human and infrastructure costs.

• The war was all about giving the Iraqis freedom and democracy (?). The

Toronto Star of December 17 reports on the protest against ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) wherein Senators and corporate executives are wined and dined at the best resorts so that the corporate world can tell the senators what legislation they should be enacting. Corporations such as AT&T, Wal-Mart, GlaxoSmithKline, UPS, Pfizer, Bayer, Verizon, amd Koch industries meet the senators to ‘provide public and private sector workers members with a unique opportunity to work together to develop policies and programs that effectively promote the Jeffersonian principle of free markets, limited governments, federalism and individual liberty’. A spokesperson says it creates the best agenda for taxpayers to create jobs and increase the overall standard of living. Some two thousand state legislators belong the organization that has created an arsenal of 800 ‘model’ bills that get tabled about one thousand times a year. Most of them, of course oppose climate change legislation, privatize prisons and schools, rollback workers’ rights, limit voting rights, and promote tax breaks for the wealthy.

• In addition, a recent book – Republic Lost – How money corrupts

Congress and how to stop it – by Lawrence Lessig, it states the less than one per cent of Americans contribute to political campaigns and members of Congress spend a phenomenal amount of time pursuing these elites – between 30 and 70%. Some democracy the Iraqis have gained!

• TheToronto Star of December 10 published the latest Corruption List by

Transparency International. New Zealand leads the ‘clean’ list with 9.5 out of ten, Canada ranks tenth (8.7) and at the bottom are Somalia and North Korea ranking at 182 tied (1 out of 10). Not surprisingly, the Arab Spring countries rank below 5 with Egypt in 112^th spot at 2.9 out of 10. Obviously, transparency isn’t high on the priority list in capitalism.

• It didn’t say where China ranked but this may be an indication. In Wukan

Village, farm workers have been protesting over the selling of the land to developers without their permission. In fact, they were offered rice and cooking oil to sign a blank paper. The police responded to the protests by blockading the village. The standoff continues. Does anyone need further proof that China is a capitalist country?

• Chinese-Canadian and world champion figure skater, Patrick Chan

complained recently how his parents had to sacrifice so much for him and that probably wouldn’t have happened if they had stayed in China. TheToronto Star, in reply, reported on a Chinese gymnast who, after a career ending injury, was forced to sell off his medals and beg in the streets to survive. Like any commodity, use it and throw it away!

• Capitalism as usual – 1. On Friday, December 2, Angela Merkel said,

“ The German government has made it clear that the European crisis will not be solved in one fell swoop. It’s a process and this process will take years.” In other words, years of unemployment, under employment, poverty and misery for the workers. 2. Canadian blackberry producer, Research In Motion (RIM) is faced with the usual dilemma – deliver a new family of highly-anticipated smart-phones on time, but with flaws, or invite the ire of the markets by delaying the release to get the product right. It’s a no- brainer in capitalism – get the crappy stuff out fast!

• Strangely, The Toronto Star published an article with the title “Wage

Hike the Key to Cutting Poverty” and then goes on to tell how supervision is needed to get employers to pay immigrants the minimum wage. Many pay cash only and at rates below the legal minimum.

• The same newspaper reported on the slowness on Employment insurance

claims. One claimant had to wait 46 days for his insurance, missed his mortgage, car insurance, and hydro payments and was slapped with a $400 non-sufficient funds penalty. It also reported the grim fact that a poll commissioned by the Canadian Payroll Association showed that 57% of respondents could not deal with a one-week delay in their pay – astonishingly high in a rich country.

• Surprise! The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development reported that in Canada a small group of winners was reaping a disproportionate share of global wealth and noted that we were the country with the sharpest increase in income inequality. Wonder where these guys have been for the last one hundred and fifty years!

• There are other winners too. The Star article, “Yes, Virginia, You Can

Contract Out Christmas reports that the owner of Emblem Florists put up a fourteen foot Christmas tree in his home on Toronto’s prestigious Bridle Path and adorned it with three thousand lights at a cost of $7000. A client requested six trees done for $25 000. One has to think how many starving children could be fed with that money.

• The banks, of course, are managing quite well. The Royal Bank of

Canada reported fourth quarter profits of $1.6 billion, up 43% and the Bank of Nova Scotia did OK, too at $1.24 billion in profits. That’s only about $15.5 million a day. Just wondering if they are among the ‘small group of winners reaping a disproportionate share of global wealth?

• Finally, the environment – As expected, representatives of the Canadian

and American capitalists clearly showed their disdain for the Kyoto Accord or any post-Kyoto Accord at the recent UN climate meetings in Durban. Any attempts to help poor countries of the Southern hemisphere to preserve their ecologically vital rain forests were snubbed. Presumably, any whiff of making a profit out of the resource would bring them running back. The drive for profit is merely a short term and blind point of view but thoroughly consistent with the needs of capitalism. When Canada and the US experience coastal flooding, desertification, and massive crop losses, these people who ignore climate action might wonder if there is a better system after all.

 

Have a healthy and successful 2012

 

For socialism, John

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