Instability of capitalism is causing the storm
On 5th December 2007 a headline in The Independent asked, 'Is Britain's economy heading for the perfect storm'? It cited the triple whammy of 'storm clouds' over the jobs market, a 'chilly climate' on the high street and a 'typhoon' of bad debt buffeting the banks.
DR. PAUL SUTTON analyses the financial crisis that is sweeping the world today and argues that it is being resolved on the backs of the working class.
The Independent cited the triple whammy of 'storm clouds' over the jobs market, a 'chilly climate' on the high street and a 'typhoon' of bad debt buffeting the banks. It could also have cited a falling housing market, rising mortgage costs and collapsing confidence among many sectors of business to add to the general woe.
Race is an issue the US cannot afford to ignore
An abridged version of Barack Obama's speech: Philadelphia 17 March 2008.
Go to - www.my.barckobama.com - for the unabriged version.
"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union..."
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy.
Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
Are we seeing the end of New Labour?
Prime Minister Brown, having got a good press for his dealing with 'crises' ('foot and mouth' and floods) early in his Prime Ministership seems now to be in freefall.
ALEX DAVIDSON asks if this is the end of New Labour.
Gordon Brown's honeymoon period was brought to an end by his own decision at the end of 2007 not to call a General Election. Much as he denied it, the public perception was that it was a negative poll report which decided it for him and he got cold feet. The truth is that he decided against a November election because the Northern Rock crisis would have been at its height in the midst of an election. Given that his campaign was to rest on his well-established 'economic prudence' this made a November election impossible. Since then he has been buffeted from pillar to post, the polls got worse and the May local election results in England and Wales were Labour's worst performance for four decades.
Sheffield and the £1m apartment
Recently the Sheffield Telegraph carried the ominous headline "Is Sheffield ready for the £1m apartment?"
MAURICE PARKER continues our series on "What and where is the working class?" and looks at capitalism and the working class.
A block of flats is being built in Ecclesall, on the west side of Sheffield where many professional and business people live. The property boom in the city, referred to as "regeneration", has so far provided unaffordable housing on cramped sites. Estate agents seem delighted with these increasingly elite properties. They think Sheffield has arrived.
Civil nuclear power's renaissance underway
As well as changing the world, climate change is also changing the political climate in favour of civil nuclear power. So much so that a civil nuclear power renaissance is under way in the UK and throughout the world.
JAMES THOMSON reports.
On 10 January 2008, the Secretary of State for Business, John Hutton MP said it was in the country's vital long-term interest that nuclear power should play a role in providing Britain with clean, secure and affordable energy. He then invited energy companies to bring forward plans to build and operate new nuclear power stations. Events since that landmark announcement indicate that the Government is keener than ever to press ahead with new nuclear build. Britain's nuclear industry and international energy companies have moved into top gear to keep pace with the UK Government's urgent time scales and ambitions.
What are we to make of the 'Colour Revolutions'?
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the world the UK was on a mission to spread democracy. He said "the Left" should join with "the neo-conservatives" in "spreading democracy around the world" using the full range of diplomatic and military means, as this was "a great progressive project".
GREG KASER examines the nature of the 'Colour Revolutions' around the world.
For David Miliband, a foreign policy promoting democratic government is not simply a "moral impulse" but in every country's national interest, since democracy is the "best custodian" for free Four years earlier, Jack Straw had delivered a similar speech proclaiming "a new era for foreign policy", in which Britain pursued "an integrated agenda... to build lasting safety and prosperity [around the world] underpinned by justice" through sustainable development and by promoting democracy, good governance and human rights.
1858: British Commerce and Finance
During his period in London (1848-1883) Karl Marx, among many other things, was a correspondent for the New York Tribune newspaper. In his many articles for that paper (1) he cast a brilliant light on the woes and workings of capitalism. Below we reproduce his article on the Commerce and Finance Crisis of 1857-58.
KARL MARX:
British Commerce and Finance.
New York Tribune, December 15th, 1858.
In reviewing the Report on the Crisis of 1857-58 of the Committee appointed by the House of Commons, we have, first, shown the ruinous tendencies of Sir Robert Peel's (pictured below) Bank Act, and, secondly, done away with the false notion, attributing to banks of issue the power of affecting general prices by an arbitrary expansion or contraction of the paper currency.
READER'S LETTER to The Socialist Correspondent
NOT ONLY CORRUPTING THE WORKING CLASS
With reference to some of the points raised in Helen Christopher's article in your first issue, relating to the corruption of the working class, especially through the sale of council houses under Thatcher.
This phenomenon ought not to be seen solely in terms of its corrupting influence on the consciousness of the working class, or having been intended only for that purpose. Rather, it was the surface manifestation of underlying processes relating to the movement of finance capital. trade and internal stability and is even "a strong safeguard against inter-state war"!
