Letter: The rusted mirror (1983)

The following letter and essay appear exactly as submitted. While we cannot agree with some of the points made, the writer's perceptiveness contrasts sharply with most of what usually passes for social criticism.

Dear Editors

Recently at my school we were set an essay to write: its theme being the good and bad aspects of the world today, with reference to The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, which we are reading at the moment. Incidentally, this book is set in the future which has reverted to the past after a nuclear holocaust — or "tribulation" as it is known in their world.

I spent a considerable amount of time thinking about the posed title; writing an essay which was depressing but, I felt, true. I admit my conclusions from the essay were highly influenced from reading some copies of your magazine, which I was sent on inquiry. I was not entirely pleased with the final product, but I was definitely convinced that my principles were right.

As I am still convinced. I am sending a copy of the essay to you; I hope you enjoy reading it. I certainly enjoy reading the Socialist Standard and will continue to do so. Please accept my appreciation for being able to learn a lot from your magazine, and also for being able to quote it in my essay to strengthen my standpoint.

Yours for socialism 

Charlotte Brown (age 14)

Hatfield. Herts.

Talking about ‘The Old People”, i.e. those in our world, it is said “Nobody knows . . . where they were right and where they were mistaken”. Give your views on the good and bad aspects of our world.

I would like to begin this discussion with a comment on a quotation from The Chrysalids. In it, Uncle Axel says of the word “tribulation": "A word, a rusted mirror, reflecting nothing. It'd do the preachers good to see it for themselves. They'd not understand, but they might begin to think”.

This phrase is useful, as I believe it can be used in the context of world leaders of today; that they wish to attribute all the wrong in the world to certain phrases when really, if they could only realise that their “mirror was rusted", they would be able to be more constructive.

This is, then, my first point about a bad aspect of our world: that the people who are able to improve conditions (whether they should be in this position or not), seem to be unwilling to do so. As thousands of people in the world starve to death many politicians say that this cannot be stopped by financial aid since this would cause inflation. So thousands of people continue to starve. This sort of attitude (that of "let it be") is also present in other problems: unemployment, evil dictatorships, poverty, repression, etc. And then there is, of course, the arms race. Much negotiation seems to be impossible because of the threat of nuclear war. Millions of pounds are spent daily on weapons — the instruments of destruction — while people in the world struggle to survive, let alone manage to enjoy their natural environment.

Before I discuss the world’s problems in greater detail. I feel compelled to suggest a reason for so much of the misery present in the world. I have valiantly attempted to think of another reason for the pointless aspects of the world. None is forthcoming. I condemn world capitalism for a lot of the bad aspects of the world. This quotation, taken from a socialist publication, I feel illustrates my point well (all quotations in this essay are taken from the Socialist Standard):

  The Official Coroner’s Statistics for 1981 reported nearly 5.000 suicides in Britain that year an average of one every other hour. Of those they leave behind, in one hour, six were made redundant in Britain alone, and in the world as a whole 3,500 people starved to death.

This statement clearly shows the insanity of the world at present. I do not pretend that I am "world wise" and have experienced any of the evil things that exist in the world. But I hope that I am capable of realising their existence. Speaking of Britain specifically, here are the things which, in my view, are causing unhappiness:

Unemployment. This predicament is affecting 4½ million people in Britain in 1983 (this figure includes "housewives"). People struggle to live on the small amount given to them through social security. They struggle with boredom and frustration, ever-present in an unemployed person’s life. They struggle to remain sane and rational. They struggle to find other employment. And they struggle to stay optimistic that there is a job for them. But they struggle in vain — their lives are not self-controlled.

Employment (Yes!) and “the Rat Race”. Even people in employment have to face difficulties. Apart from having the worry that perhaps tomorrow there will not be a job for them, they are often underpaid and over worked. Jobs can be stressful physically and mentally. Many people slog at a boring job all of their lives, going from home to work, then back home again, to demand supper from the woman of the household (whether working or not) and then to collapse in front of the television — the substitute for what really should be happening to them, for example, seeing oil tycoons "living it up”, or endless advertisements for holidays in the sun. I shall give another quotation, which describes perfectly the reality of "the rat race":

  After a tiring, often frustrating and humiliating day at work and a crowded, stressful journey home, thousands of workers in Britain eat a meal at roughly the same time and flop in front of the television set. What they see and hear must not disturb their recreation this period of rest and recuperation which, together with a night's sleep, enables and encourages them to go to work tomorrow and tomorrow.

Violence. In Britain (Scotland. Wales and England. at least), there is no official war. The army trains but on this isle never has to make its practice reality. So what I am referring to here is the violent attitude of Britain. The "triumph" of the Falklands War proved that British people accepted having their money spent on weapons and death. 70 per cent of the British population, according to reliable surveys, wish capital punishment to be re-enforced in Britain. This is not limited to the death penalty — many people also believe that criminals should be publicly whipped and humiliated. One group of people stated that they thought capital punishment was justified, even if it was not a deterrent against crime. People (especially men) resort to violence towards people they know because of their frustration with themselves or, more truthfully, their situation.

Violence breaks out on the streets, be it in the form of shop burglary, muggings, rape or victimisation. Most of these acts of violence can be explained because of people being emotionally insecure, or because they need money, or because they need someone to be responsible for their own misery. Although I do not condone people acting violently, or encourage them to do so, I can understand why they are forced to do so. Because Britain is a violent nation. Whether violence is approved of (for example, in wars) or condemned (as in muggings), it is noticed.

Prejudice. Violence leads to another bad thing present in Britain: prejudice. Prejudice towards women, or men, towards white people or black people, towards Indians or Jews, towards Catholics or Protestants, towards young people or old people, towards poor people or rich people, towards clever people or stupid people. It is all bad and unjustifiable. I admit that black people often have cause to hate white people, or that the Irish people often have cause to despise the British people, but my opinion still remains the same: it should not exist. But it does exist because our society is so unfair; for it not to exist would seem odd. Some people have reason to hate their "opposite", while others do not. But whatever the prejudice, it results from the fact that someone is "better" or "worse" than yourself, and should be hated for that reason. No one seems to accept that differences do not equal "better" or "worse". Prejudice is an attitude of a capitalist doctrine.

As I have mentioned the main problems of Britain I am unable to spend so much time on the problems of the rest of the world. In most cases, problems in other countries are far, far worse than in Britain. Many nations have no system of democracy whatsoever; they have to suffer under evil dictatorships, and people are punished for possessing any views of their own. Many nations are extremely poor, and the people of these countries consistently suffer from famine and starvation. Many nations are troubled with wars of religion; religion rules their lives and often prevents them from seeing the truth. Many nations are unfair to certain groups of people; especially to women, who are still second class citizens in the majority of countries in the world.

Many nations have civil wars raging; they also have unfair imprisonment, sadistic "lawful” punishments, and torturing. Many people in the world are too ignorant to be able to alter their situation.

My conclusion from all this is that most problems have their roots embedded in certain attitudes: that being able to destroy another is more important than to be able to feed another, that people are never equal and should never be treated as such. It is an evil situation that these attitudes are so embedded. I hope that soon the rusted mirror will be able to shine, but most of all to reflect.

Are there any good points, then?

Comparatively, yes. This means that I am more fortunate than my ancestor, and that I am more fortunate than my foreign neighbour. At least I am able to give my views. No doubt some will disagree with them, but no one will be able to stop me declaring them. I am warmer now than I would have been before electricity. I am more healthy than I would have been a hundred years ago. The whole texture of living is undoubtedly richer than the past; it is also more interesting. It is the attitudes of today which are harmful.

I have a better chance of getting a job (as a girl) and of being accepted as an equal being. I am certainly more enlightened about many things than my ancestor, although not really because of education but because of the opportunity, not to only survive but also to think. Newspapers. books, television programmes and radio are all available to teach me. I always have enough food.

But what about the rest of the world? Well I believe, despite all the evil present, that modern advancements will make it easier for us to abolish evil. We can communicate with people thousands of miles away. We do have the ability, now more than ever before, to give everyone enough to eat. enough clothes, good living conditions. to make the best use of the world's resources. Why. then, when our knowledge is so exceptional, can we not use it correctly? Because of the awful attitudes about war and peace which exist. Destroy world capitalism and I believe we have destroyed the nuclear threat, poverty. starvation, violence, war. and so to a certain extent unhappiness.

  You want to eat, to live in a decent home, to be fully mobile, to enjoy the pleasures of the world — but the world refuses to let you.

Pension Risks

Pension savers are withdrawing too much from their retirement pots – as figures show record numbers were dipping into their savings earlier this year. 

More than £35 billion has now been withdrawn from pots since new flexibilities were introduced in 2015, figures from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) show. In the first quarter of 2020, 348,000 people made flexible withdrawals from their pensions – a 23% increase on the same period a year earlier. It was the highest quarterly total since records started in 2015. The average amount withdrawn per person in the first quarter of 2020 was £7,100

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The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that the recent stock market falls could mean some people are permanently worse off in retirement than they had expected to be. The IFS said the recent fall in stock markets has reduced the wealth of those with DC pension pots invested in equities. It warned that if equity prices do not recover, or do not do so by the time people need to draw on the savings they have built up, then people with pensions invested in equities will either need to make do with less in their retirements, delay their retirement, or save more to fill the gap. It said people who are already retired and are drawing down pension savings, rather than taking an annuity, will also be hit – and people making flexible withdrawals from pensions invested in equities will either have to scale back what they take out or see their pension pot permanently reduced as a result of the crisis.

David Sturrock, a senior research economist at IFS, said: “The recent fall in the stock market is likely to hit the future retirement incomes of a lot of people. It will also hit many pensioners already relying on defined contribution pensions. Since 2015 they have not had to take an annuity and many are instead drawing down income from their retirement pots. They are likely to be permanently worse off in retirement than they expected even if the stock market returns to where it would have been, and much worse off if it does not.”

Tom Selby, a senior analyst at AJ Bell, said: “Independent research commissioned by AJ Bell suggests one in 10 over-55s have already accelerated plans to access their pension as a result of Covid-19. Anyone going down this route needs to think carefully about the sustainability of their retirement income strategy.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/personalfinance/record-348000-people-withdrew-money-from-pensions-in-first-quarter-of-2020/ar-BB13qcBT?ocid=spartandhp

Covid and Class

Residents in deprived areas have experienced double the death rates of those in affluent areas, new figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal.

Of the 20,283 Covid-19 registered deaths in England and Wales to 17 April an overwhelming proportion of fatalities were of people from the poorest areas.

 The most deprived area had 55.1 deaths per 100,000 people, more than double (118%) that in the least deprived areas, where the rate was 25.3 deaths.

Jobless and Hungry

Many families are struggling to put food on the table as the coronavirus lockdown robs them of their income. A report by food bank charities points to an alarming rise in the number of people in need of essential supplies. 

Amie Smith and her partner Marcus were just about getting by before the coronavirus lockdown. Now they have had to give up their zero hours contract jobs and are relying on universal credit payments, food vouchers from the government and the occasional food parcel from local schools. Their biggest daily struggle is finding enough food in the shops for their four children, aged two to 13. 

"We have gone without meals so the children can eat. It isn't nice when you are feeling hungry and you open the cupboard and there is nothing in there for you."

The children are entitled to free school meals, which translate into food vouchers during lockdown, but they can't find anywhere to spend them. Amie says she has about £200 worth of vouchers, but they are mostly for upmarket shops like Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, which are absent in their South London district. Under the current scheme, run by private contractor Endenred, every eligible child is entitled to £15 a week in vouchers. The school or parent must choose a supermarket at which to redeem them, from the following list: Aldi, McColl's, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Waitrose and M&S. The government  recognises it may not be convenient for some families to visit one of these shops. It is "working to see if additional supermarkets can be added to this list". In the meantime, it is advising schools to prepare food parcels for pupils on free meals.

Many families - who may not have children on free school meals - are turning to food banks for essential supplies. This is putting an enormous strain on charities that provide them. A new report by the UK's biggest food bank network, the Trussell Trust, said it handed out 81% more emergency food parcels in the last two weeks of March, than at the same time last year. People struggling with the amount of income they were receiving from working or benefits was the main reason for the increase, the trust said.

"Like a tidal wave gathering pace, an economic crisis is sweeping towards us, but we don't all have lifeboats," said chief executive Emma Revie. 

Sonya Johnson, who runs Ediblelinks, an independent food bank in North Warwickshire, has noticed a big increase in families with previously comfortable incomes seeking help. These new clients tend to be small business owners, or sole traders, such a hairdressers or cafe proprietors. They are waiting for universal credit payments or money from the government's business loan scheme. The food bank has seen a 20% increase in demand week-on-week since coronavirus took hold.

"There are fresh faces coming through the door," she said. "People who really don't want to be here, who have never used a food bank but suddenly find themselves at a point of crisis." 

Debt charity Christians Against Poverty says one in 10 of its clients live without a bed or mattress, or skip meals on a daily basis. It, and others in the sector, fear coronavirus will mean more people living like this - perhaps for the first time. Payment "holidays" put off, rather than cancel, regular bills such as rent or council tax. There is concern people are simply piling up unmanageable debt for the future.

Trussell Trust, is calling now for a coronavirus emergency income support scheme. They say many families need money urgently, to prevent them being from being "swept into destitution".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-52455776

Thinking Beyond COVID-19

Nothing in human history is inevitable. We are not living and organising society according to any pre-ordained schemes. We are masters of our own history, not slaves of it. We can do what we choose.

The society we live in produces war. There is a split between the minority who own and control the means of life and the majority of us who produce the wealth. A split, that is. between those who produce but do not possess and those who possess but do not produce. The economic rivalries among the wealth owners over market territories, areas rich in mineral resources and strategic locations on the trade atlas are often fought off the conference tables on the battlefields. Society based on competition and property is a war-producing society.

If humanity makes war to conquer nature then we will be on the losing end of such a conflict. We need to switch soicety to a new mode of living that does not collide with our environment. There is no solution other than ending capitalism entirely. Like any virus capitalism if left intact will mutate and adapt itself to its new conditions. The capitalist system will endeavour to normalise the ever present threat of pandemics. Capitalism faces the paradox of one of its infamous contradictions, an increasing globalisation of the economy alongside and a retreat of nation-states into their own traditional borders to resolve global problems. Some populist politicians are calling for stricter immigration controls while some corporations are railing against protectionist policies. But the people need socialism to assure the safety and flourishing of all our planet’s people.

United Nations' secretary-general Antonio Guterres told the BBC he's "disappointed" the world had not come together in a coordinated way to confront the pandemic.He said individual nations pursued their own strategies – and the lack of collective action helped the virus spread. He also bemoaned the failure of the world’s strongest nations to combine what he called power and leadership. That has created much of the dysfunction and fragility, as he put it, in today’s world. He also said there was an opportunity for countries to re-tool their economics in ways that are more environmentally sustainable. He called on governments to withhold emergency financial support from fossil fuel and carbon-intensive companies and to focus instead on green jobs.

The interests of workers and capitalists are diametrically opposed. The idea of nationalism has been supported by the ruling class because it deludes the workers into believing that within one territory. under one flag, they have a united interest with the bosses. Nationalism is divisive among workers and is used to help work up antagonism between workers from different places for them to fight the cause of their masters. It is not "our” country; Itis not our world; it is theirs — the capitalists’. 

Workers of the world have no country. We want a new social system. We do not want to sort out the chaos of capitalism, and futilely try to make the system run smoothly. This system can never work well for us. But it works well for the bosses and that’s why they keep this system going. 

Working people, however, can change the ways things are, if they so wish.

Placing Blame

Let us not forget another epidemic that caused 10, 000 lives.

Independent UN rights experts today called on Secretary-General António Guterres to urgently step up efforts to fulfill a United Nations pledge to help victims of a cholera epidemic in Haiti.

The experts said more than three years ago, the UN acknowledged the role played by its peacekeepers in causing the epidemic. It has since failed to pay any compensation and its subsequent underfunded aid effort has amounted to little more than a spate of symbolic development projects.

“Serious shortfalls in funding and expenditures make the UN’s promises illusory. Despite initially seeking $400 million over two years, the UN has raised a mere $20.5 million in about three years and has spent a pitiful $3.2 million. This is a deeply disappointing showing following the loss of 10,000 lives,” they said.

U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston, says, “At a time when some countries are expressing outrage and demanding accountability in relation to what appears to be a natural mutation, it is useful to recall the fact that not one of those countries said or did anything to hold the U.N. to account when the facts are indisputable and its responsibility unquestionable.”

The Filipino Health Workers

Health-care systems in developed countries rely heavily on immigrant workers, many from poorer nations—to keep them running. 

Figures from New American Economy, a research and advocacy organization, show that 16.5 percent of all health-care workers in the United States are immigrants, with even greater representation in specific fields such as home health aid, where nearly 37 percent of workers are immigrants. And perhaps no place has played as large a role in this as the Philippines, which for decades has provided the nurses, porters, and aides who have formed the crucial infrastructure of hospitals, clinics, and other health-care facilities in wealthier parts of the world.

“Without the immigrant population right now serving in health care, the majority of these health-care industries would probably collapse,” Leo-Felix Jurado, the chair of the Nursing Department at William Paterson University, in New Jersey, and executive director of the Philippine Nurses Association of America, said.

The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the fragility and inequity baked into systems and societies around the world, among them the pipeline that has consistently brought health-care workers from poorer countries to richer ones. Even before the pandemic, the Philippines had been suffering from a shortfall of nurses in the tens of thousands. This deficit has been exacerbated by the coronavirus as nurses, as well as leading doctors, have been dying in startling numbers, Oscar Tinio, of the Philippine Medical Association, in Manila, explained. 

The need is so great that this month the government moved to restrict some nurses from working abroad. And overseas, Filipino nurses have found themselves thrust into medical systems—even those in more developed, and theoretically more capable, countries—that have proved ill-prepared to handle a public-health crisis on the scale of what the coronavirus has brought.

Six Filipino nurses have died in the U.S. because of complications from COVID-19, according to the Philippines embassy in Washington, D.C. The toll is higher in Britain: Twenty-two Filipino nurses and hospital workers employed by the NHS have died. These numbers are almost certain to rise as countries struggle to bring the pandemic under control.

 “They were invisible pre-COVID,” Jean Encinas-Franco, an assistant political-science professor at the University of the Philippines said of these nurses. Now “they have become collateral damage for governments that are ill-prepared to fight this pandemic.” The praise given in recent weeks often “legitimizes the suffering and sacrifice that they are experiencing abroad,” underpayment, employment scams, and racism in the workplace.

Significantly better pay compared with what they would make at home remains the main driver for many Filipinos to seek nursing employment abroad. Nearly 70,000 nurses migrated from the Philippines for work from 2008 to 2012, government data show, and in 2017, the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute found some 145,800 Filipinos working as registered nurses in the United States. In Britain, just over 18,500 Filipinos work for the National Health Service, according to a parliamentary report published last year. Significant populations of Filipino nurses also work in Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, and in Japan, caring for the country’s aging population. Spain this month said it would fast-track Filipino nurses’ entry into its workforce to prop up its strained health-care system.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/the-frailty-and-inequality-of-the-global-nurse-pipeline/ar-BB13qwJs?ocid=spartandhp

To Fellow-Workers Fraternal Greetings

To all who suffer the torments of capitalist exploitation and oppression, hope of the workers lies in their socialist knowledge. We call upon the workers to think. We oppose with venom the political careerists who treat the working class with contempt and who preside over the slaughter of millions of our class. They have never had the interests of the working class at heart.

Socialists are determined people. We know what we want and we know how to get it, and nothing will stop us. The world is rotten with capitalism and the immediate future looks grim and difficult. But, comrades and workers, do not despair, the future is in your hands. We have a message for May Day . It is “The world for the Workers." The day of the social revolution is getting closer. Friends, we are doing our share. When are you going to do yours?

But what distinguishes the Socialist Party from all other organisations is that our members constantly point out that far more than trade union activity or political reforms are needed to achieve a decent world; one without money or a wages system where the means of production will be owned by society and can therefore be used to satisfy people’s needs instead of being cramped by the dictates of the market.

What is needed for such a social revolution is a majority of working men and women understanding what Socialism entails and determined to establish such a system. This understanding will grow (is growing) out of the collective experience of workers under capitalism —a process which socialists attempt to encourage by their propaganda activities. So even while socialists are engaged in the struggle over wages and working conditions, they never cease putting forward Socialism as an immediate demand. Far from standing back from the day-to-day struggles of the working class, socialists are involved in these efforts —and complement them with a socialist perspective.