Corbyn and Austerity

The SPGB Media Committee has made this statement on Corbyn and the Labour Party leadership contest

It appears Jeremy Corbyn will see off the challenge to his leadership of the Labour Party. As his opponent has adopted the same cause, his promise of an end to austerity would appear to be a key factor in his success so far.

Governments can only spend at the expense of profits.  Corbyn should know better.  It was his Labour Party in the 1970s that tried to spend it’s a way out of a slump and it didn’t work then. More recently we have seen the failure of the left-wing Syriza government in Greece.  While capitalism is in a slump, austerity cannot be ended.

The market system cannot be made to work in the interests of the majority. This has been the experience of all previous Labour governments, which have resorted to using troops to break strikes, starting or supporting wars and attacking workers living standards to protect the profits of British industry.

Rather than face inevitable disillusionment, any socialists backing Corbyn and his piecemeal reform plans should instead put their efforts into a peaceful and democratic campaign for a complete and immediate change from capitalism to socialism. With modern methods of production, distribution, transport and communication this is now possible, and would bring about an end to austerity forever.