Explaining socialism

There will be a general election on Thursday 7 May. We'll be standing two candidates in London (and another 8 elsewhere in the country). The two constituencies are: Islington North and Vauxhall where our candidates will be, respectively, Bill Martin and Danny Lambert.

Rather than being a tool to assist candidates putting their case forward, the media is a tool of power that shapes the debate, nevertheless, there are the letters page of the local newspapers.

In the Islington press:-

The current debate about "splitting the vote" is missing the point. If people are in organisations so similar that they are robbing each other's votes, then they should become one party. The fact that they are not one party suggests they are putting forward different policies and different choices for the electorate, and should have no shame in standing their ground. As Eugene Debs said: "It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it." The Socialist Party will be standing in ten seats, to put forward the case for the abolition of the wages system, and will stand irrespective of whoever else puts themselves forward in those seats.

An election must be coming. Jeremy Corbyn has been appearing in print around the shop calling for rent controls as a means of curbing the housing crisis. Rent controls, though, have never worked, and never will. They are an attempt to fix the market, and market rates will out, with landlords either letting their stock go to wreck or withdrawing from the market to protect their profit rates. The only solution to the housing crisis is to build enough homes for all; but the market is patently failing to do this, and never will. If there were enough homes for all, how could a landlord collect rent?

No one can help taking up space, or needing shelter, and no-one should have it denied them because of market whims. Just as no-one can help falling ill, and should not have health care denied them because of market whims. We need housing free at the point of use.  The only way we can get this is through the common ownership of the wealth of the world. Anything less will always see profit (and rents) put before people's need.

Bill Martin

Socialist Party Parliamentary Candidate for Islington North