The same old same

 The alliance between the US and the UK should be known as the "indestructible relationship", agreeing to a new Atlantic Charter to give the world "a more peaceful and prosperous future",  Boris Johnson told the BBC. 

The original Atlantic Charter, now 80 years ago, was an alliance signed by Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt during the Second World War, promising all manner of good things for future times when the USA and UK divided up the spoils between themselves once the war was ended.

 Britain's Boris and Biden make similar optimistic noises of a better world for the future with their revived Atlantic Charter when the pandemic is over.

The Socialist Party will treat their supposedly good intentions with exactly the same scepticism that we held for the original Atlantic Treaty. 

Back in October 1941, the editorial of the Socialist Standard declared:

 "...Capitalism cannot be made to work satisfactorily. It must be abolished. Those who think differently, and this includes all those who have hastened to applaud the sentiments of the Atlantic Charter, should at least face up to these problems and decide where they stand."

The article explained:

 "All the emphasis in the Atlantic Charter is laid on the relations between nations, but what about the great capitalist combines at home? The Atlantic Charter sees the need to protect the small nations against dominance by the larger ones if they are to trade and have access to raw materials on equal terms. But if capitalism is to continue, as Roosevelt and Churchill take for granted that it will, how is this to be done? How will they deal with the great capitalist concerns like Unilever, Imperial Chemical Industries and similar concerns in other lands? Who is going to slay these giant international semi-monopolies which are the real dominators of world trade?"

The names of the corporations which now direct the global economy may be different but the very same threat exists to social harmony and economic progress from them.

Nothing much changes