Mirthless May Day. The Workers and their Future

The legacy of World War Number 2 is not relished by its heirs. The dismal consequences of total conflict are ruins, starvation and despair. Nothing has been settled. On the contrary, the fears and uncertainties that haunted the minds of the workers previously are multiplied as they watch their rulers make pathetic attempts to grapple with a world that appears more complex than ever. Pity the poor “statesman”—the hurdles are upon the rider before he has time to get used to the saddle.

The Labour Government has been in power for nearly two years. They have not covered themselves with glory. It is no use pleading that they are trying to heal the wounds of war; these wounds show no signs of healing. A greater lack of food and houses for the workers at home; quarrels and military conflicts abroad. Is this the kind of world the workers expected from the party they helped to build and raise to power?

Added to this is the effrontery of the Labour politicians in aping every propaganda trick used by the capitalists whenever they wanted more work for less pay.

“Work harder and spend less.”
Full employment, but not full stomachs!

Whining about the “poverty” of “debt-ridden Britain” cuts no ice with Socialists. The capitalists of this country are not poor. Despite the hole made in their coffers by the war they are rich enough to allow their providers, the working-class, a higher standard of living and still have plenty left over for themselves. Why should they if Labour leaders are not ashamed to stump the country with the old familiar sob-story on the employers’ behalf?

But our Labour politicians should occasionally read the press. They would have been informed that at the beginning of April this year £100 millions of British capital has been invested in the Union of South Africa for the purpose of establishing new industrial enterprises; in a recent issue of the Tribune it is revealed that the total of British capital invested in South America is still in the region of £900 millions. Think how much food this could buy.

The transfer of £100 millions must surely have enhanced the flavour of the Royal visit or is this purely co-incidental?

The swindle behind the “We-Are-Poor-Now” story is known to every company promoter. The capitalist class as a whole form themselves into a limited company known as the State. Thus they can incur debts collectively whilst as individuals they remain the owners of vast wealth. Was there ever a time when employers showed generosity?

The picture is no more inviting when we turn to world affairs.. At the time of writing the representatives of the big powers are in Moscow staking the frontiers from which they can launch the next world war. This is no exaggeration. Professor H. Laski argued at a meeting held in London on March 2nd that the Russian armies would only leave Germany if driven out by force. Every report from this conference of former allies confirms this opinion. This means that Europe will remain an armed camp until the next war starts.

The ruling class of Russia is playing a desperate game. No one can tell for certain what the conditions of the Russian masses are At the present time, for the facilities for independent inquiry normal to Western capitalism are absent. The standards of living must be nearer the Asiatic levels rather than the already lowered European standards. Guarded speculations made recently in the Manchester Guardian concern themselves with the parlous state of the Soviet State capitalist economy, which, despite the “blood transfusion” of plunder from Germany and Austria, must be at its lowest ebb since the civil wars of 1920. The return of Russian soldiers from higher-developed countries, must be giving serious trouble to the Russian authorities, for an intelligent comparison makes nonsense of Russian internal propaganda. The new law forbidding marriage with foreigners shows the straits to which the rulers of Russia are reduced. A further pointer is the brief report in the People dated April 6th that Kharkov will be occupied by troops to deal with “thieves” who have over-run the city.

Let there be no misunderstanding. The rivalry between the United States and Russia, which is nothing less than a dispute over the mastery of the entire globe, poses even more serious problems for the workers of this and other countries than did the conflict between Britain and Germany. Gone is the easy optimism of Labour circles about “friendship with our Soviet comrades.” The hypocritical statements by Mr. Attlee during the recent Parliamentary debates on foreign policy and conscription, asking for British military strength in order to “support U.N.O.,” deceived no one.

This is the situation to which the development and interplay of the forces of capitalist economic rivalries has brought the human race. At a time when all mankind could have been free to enjoy the fruits of its technical progress, the vast majority is condemned to slave more feverishly for the meanest subsistence and cower in fear of more terrible instruments of destruction. For this situation the movements of so-called “Social Democracy” and “Communism” must bear a large share of the blame. They have used the natural desires of working people for a better life to win power for themselves and by their ghastly failure have destroyed the aspirations of millions who might have become the builders of world socialism. Instead, cynicism and frustration dominate the working class political scene.

For this crime the parties responsible must eventually suffer. Already, all the signs point to further and more convulsive crises, political and economic, particularly in Britain, France, and, dare we say, in Russia?

In this country the Labour Government is resting on very shaky foundations. The press abroad freely speculates on the early possibility of its fall and the formation of a “Coalition.” This fall might free many workers from the shackles of mistaken loyalties, and help to fit them mentally for the Socialist movement. One thing is certain: Only a rapid development in Socialist understanding can save the world from another, and more devastating, catastrophe.

S. R.