Pick a card, any card...
When a magician offers you a choice of cards, it doesn't matter how you decide to pick one, you'll always get the card they want you to.
It's the same with any joker who thinks that capitalism can be made to serve us all. Government is there to make sure that the unequal relations of capitalism are maintained.
Not because of some conspiracy but because any party in power finds itself confronted by the might of the people who own our society. It ends up ruling in their interests, rather than the vast majority who work for a living.
That's why in the financial crisis we're being made to pay with lost jobs and wages.
You're being asked to choose a new way of electing those governments that attack you. It's something that matters a lot to politicians, because it decides how many of them and their mates get the good jobs.
What matters more is what we use our votes for. If we vote for more rulers and the ownership of the world by a handful of people then it doesn't really matter how politicians share the spoils. But if workers use the vote to reject the false choices that are framed within the context of an owning class dominating another class, we will be further on the road towards a truly democratic society.
If we vote to make the wealth of the world common property in which we all have an equal say, then we can finally have what we call Socialism. We can put an end to minority rule, and we can organise our affairs in our own interest.
That's why the real choice before you this May isn't AV or First Past the Post, but choosing to reject class based society. The best choice you can make this May is to join us in campaigning for common ownership.
Copies of this leaflet for distribution can be had by writing to 52 Clapham High St, SW4 7UN or by email to spgb@worldsocialism.org
"The best choice you can make this May is to join us in campaigning for common ownership."
ReplyDeleteWhile this is indeed a worthy choice to make people can also vote for a different voting system. While FPTP and AV are similar, FPTP hides many peoples first choice. Of course in most cases that is irrelevant when the only choices are spokespeople for capitalism. Spoilt ballots are counted but the results don't show if all spoilt ballots are marked with SPGB. On the rare occasions when a truly socialist spokesperson is on the ballot many people are tricked into thinking they should vote for the "softer" capitalist to keep the scarier alternative out.
So people who are prepared to mark capitalists as an alternative vote may not have got it yet, but recognition of their first preference can only help in raising the level of debate for the real alternative.
Under FPTP we don't know how many people think the emperor is naked. Under AV we can see. I am hopeful of what that may lead to.