Breach of Promise

After the Liberals’ “pledge” to “build an economy that works for everyone, not just the richest”, Corbyn pledges, in the foreword to their manifesto published today, that:

“Labour will rewrite the rules of the economy, so that it works for everyone.”

But that’s precisely what the experience of all the reformist governments that there have been has shown cannot be done : the rules of the economy — the capitalist economy — cannot be “rewritten” to stop profits and profit-making having to have priority.

Where you have got class ownership of productive resources and production for sale with the aim of making a profit, definite economic laws come into operation which act with the force of laws of nature and impose themselves on governments, whatever governments may want to do (or have pledged).

Governments do not control the way the economy works; it’s the other way round. Governments have to conform to the imperative of allowing profit-making to continue unless they want to provoke an economic downturn. 

In the end, all governments are compelled to recognise and act on this. A Corbyn government (if it ever happens) would discover this is within a couple of years.

Capitalism simply cannot be reworked so that it works for everyone. It is a profit-making system that can only work in the interest of the few who live off profits.

ALB