Towards a Positive Future

Campaigners of every type are rolling out their agendas, envisioning the crisis as potentially kick-starting a more just and sustainable economy. The reasons for optimism are that major economies are now subject to state interventions on a colossal scale which have directly contradicted the prevailing ideology of the neo-liberal free has operated across the world for several decades now. 

Governments are forced to undertake economic planning in order to avert a public health and economic catastrophe, particularly by rolling back punitive austerity measures and the privatisation of public services. State-imposed lockdowns have necessitated welfare safety-net policies that were previously unthinkable. But there has been little alternative to governments stepping in to secure the livelihoods of millions of people. It has de-bunked the myths that the State cannot afford to implement radical social reforms. The question is when the worst of the pandemic is over, what will be the response of working people when such State protection, albeit limited, is withdrawn. Beyond this emergency relief, will people recognise the urgent need to transform the global economy in the longer term.

The burden of paying the price of the 2008 recession was not shouldered by the elite and the wealthy but landed upon on the backs of the poor and the vulnerable. Will this be different with respect that many of us have now learned our place in society - as essential key workers?

The Socialist Party envisions a society where the evaluation what should be produced and be allocated the necessary resources should be based on what is essential and what is actually needed. 

 In many ways the lockdowns and self-isolating restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic means this is happening right before our us.

 The Socialist Party suggests that this rational approach to producing for peoples needs rather than the socially superfluous drive to simply make a profit for owners or share-holders in businesses must be made permanent. The capitalist market system has been revealed to hold fundamental weakness which does not serve the welfare of the people and even now it is being haphazardly made to be fit for purpose by identifying those key workers which makes the world run smoothly and directing supplies, equipment and personnel to those vital services and industries by what can be described as ad hoc improvised socialistic solutions. 

The Socialist Party is saying is that society should be organised in this planned way all the time. Ignore those who claim the transition to socialism takes decades - it can be achieved very quickly. From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs right now.

It turns out that we can function without stock-brokers , but we really cannot function without nurses, doctors, care workers, delivery drivers, the stackers of supermarket shelves or good neighbours. The chaos, panic and the human cost caused by the coronavirus has exposed the deep faultlines of the capitalist system. 

Not only is COVID-19 killing people but it is also killing the trust and faith in the current world order. For sure in some countries this is being seen in the rise of populist authoritarian nationalism. Yet the pandemic is showing that none of us is safe until all of us are safe. Walls and fences may give the protectionist populists a few more votes, but cannot ensure safety and security for all. No one country can win this fight on its own. International cooperation and solidarity is proving it is saving lives. This compassion and altruism is spreading to every street, every neighbourhood, every city and every country. If capitalism continues its carnage we will suffer more and more “natural” disasters.