MISSING THE OBVIOUS.

Posted on July 25, 2016 by stutteringsteps

A palpable sense of relief has been expressed in the mass media that the lone shooter of 8 plus people in Munich was not connected in any way with the Islamic fundamentalist movement, currently headed by ISIL. Within one day a provisional diagnosis of psychological problems was suggested by the German Police, the European political elite and the sycophantic press. I suggest the increasingly frequent reference to the possibility of mental disorders to explain such atrocities, is motivated by the relief that a confrontation with religious mysticism, extremism and reactionary ideology can once again be publicly avoided.

The recent events in Nice, Paris, the UK and elsewhere – instigated or recognised by the Islamic extremists of ISIL – has compounded the opinion held by many people that this particular religious form of belief has much to do with most of the current manifestation of targeted violence. I share the ‘obvious’ opinion that religion has much to do with many of the atrocities, but I also suggest a word of caution. By wanting a simple answer, it is too easy to miss another obvious connection. In actual fact, religion is not the only causal aspect of the modern manifestations of terrorist brutality. There is another.

Whilst the religious connection is obvious to all those not in denial, what is missing from the ‘official’ analysis is that this religious connection itself is yet another symptom stemming from the five-fold crisis of the capitalist mode of production. The extent of this compound crisis is causing high levels of dissatisfaction and anger among many of the millions effected negatively by one or more of the elements of what amounts to a large-scale global crisis. The economic part of the crisis is one of relative over-production, (exemplified by the symptoms of unemployment, precarious employment, low-paid employment and austerity) which mostly effects those among the working classes and poor. This economic part of the crisis also disproportionally effects the lives of young people – that much is obvious. The financial aspect of the crisis primarily effects those who live off, or depend upon, financial investments (shares, foreign currency dealing, futures trading, investment banking etc.) of one kind or another, but this also indirectly effects everyone.

The social dimension of the crisis, (housing, health, education, social services etc.) mostly effects the working classes and the poor, but again it disproportionally effects young people. That much should also be obvious. The ecological and moral elements of the crisis – themselves of substantial magnitude – also effect how disaffected some people feel with the world in which they live. In particular, illegal wars in which millions are killed unjustly by western armed aggression – can radicalise previously passive citizens. How much more will this fact alone radicalise many of those under 30 years old, who feel disgust at such barbaric injustice, particularly those who have so little to lose and want to hit back? What should also be obvious is that radicalisation and anger against the present neo-liberal capitalist system is unlikely to take the form of flowing through existing political channels. It is common knowledge that these channels have proved useless in the past and are choked with the detritus of existing ‘mature’ elites, who apart from rhetoric, are just out for themselves.

Disaffection with how capitalist societies are run, how the system divides up the wealth created, how its representatives bomb and invade countries and how productive activity for profit destroys the planets ecology, is now an almost universal if not co-ordinated reaction to the current multi-faceted crisis of this present mode of production. And deterioration and consequent dissatisfaction is bound to increase. To constantly ignore all this dissatisfaction, as most commentators do, is clearly to miss the obvious. For with this background in mind it is obvious that some sufficiently disaffected people will commit crimes against individuals, or property. Some may gather together and riot as they have done in the past!

Yet others will retreat into depression, drug addiction or commit an even quicker form of suicide. It is also obvious that some will even join a movement which is not only against the present system, but is in favour of another form. So despite a number of differences, what connects most of these 21st century outrageous acts, by small group and lone wolf perpetrators of mass killings, is the fact that they are predominantly the work of disaffected youth. Decades of history reveal that in a systemic crisis, young people (ie those above 15 and usually below 30 years of age) are invariably the first to become radicalised in one form or another.

During past crises of capitalism, radicalised young people (predominantly those between the ages of 17 and 30) also joined movements of violent pro-active action and resistance, such as the various fascist parties, socialist parties and communist parties.  This same age group also became the main shock troops of the two world wars, (1914 -18 and 1939 – 45). They sat in the trenches, piloted the warplanes and manned the naval vessels of various types. Of course, young people are not the only ones disaffected by modernity, but they are often the most alienated, energetic and self-sacrificing, members of our communities.

For the above reasons it is obvious that if in a maturing crisis, they are not provided with a decent living, a positive direction and motivation to make sense of their lives, some of them will individually hit out in anger and frustration. In other words they can be expected to react in just the way some have already done in Norway, America and now Munich. It is also obvious, that others will be influenced by one aspect of the crisis or another, to join organisations such as ISIL which collectively hit out and idealistically promise better things. Both these results or outcomes of the current multi-faceted crisis are occurring almost simultaneously within the towns and cities of the advanced capitalist countries of Europe and  North America.

The bourgeois characteristic of ‘missing the obvious’ is for me yet another example of the old saying ’there are none so blind as those who won’t see’. The current elite-led focus on remedies aimed at surface symptoms, such as gun control, airport security, personality profiling and increased policing will not remove the growing dissatisfaction of communities with the failing mode of production or its violent expression in one form or another. The real challenge for adult humanity, is to recognise the validity of the current dissatisfaction of young people and others and create a means of overcoming it which becomes a more attractive, comprehensive, achievable alternative than the self-defeating alternatives of depression, drug culture and individual or collective terrorist violence. When the Mayor of Paris told Parisians that they must learn to live with terrorism, this indicated a typical one-sided bourgeois hypocrisy and bankruptcy.

We in Europe and the west have lived with terrorism – state orchestrated terrorism – for decades as was practiced in Vietnam and numerous other places since. It just never greatly effected us directly. However, in the wake of the Afghan and Iraq wars and Syrian and Libyan interventions – it now does – and that too should by now be obvious as the long awaited report on the war in Iraq, makes clear. In contrast to the Mayor of Paris and the elites who think like him, we should no longer be prepared to live with state organised terrorism nor the form orchestrated by the reactionary ideologues of religions – all religions. We should actively oppose both! Another world is possible, but not if it is based upon the capitalist mode of production – state run or corporate controlled. All this should be glaringly obvious and yet it is obviously missing in the bourgeois and petite-bourgeois media outlets. Once again we are witnessing those who support the capitalist mode of production, demonstrably and perhaps deliberately ‘missing the obvious‘.

Roy Ratcliffe (July 2016.)

Posted in Anti-Capitalism, capitalism, Critique, Ecological damage., Finance, neo-liberalism, Politics | Leave a comment

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.

Posted on July 22, 2016 by stutteringsteps

As with many things influenced by the capitalist mode of production, the motives for political correctness are not all what they seem. On the surface, the promoters of this strand of bourgeois ideology seem to be concerned with how people ‘feel’ and appear to be anxious not to allow any disrespect to be shown to others. However, dig a little deeper and its true purpose can be seen to be fuelled by power, ambition and monetary concerns – not concerns for humanity. Those arguing for political correctness are highly selective in who they defend and who they attack; who they support and who they neglect. They are far from being universally benevolent. Some advocates of political correctness stayed silent on, or colluded with, the war on Iraq and the bombing of wedding parties in Afghanistan. Unsurprisingly the origin of the concept and practice of political correctness lies in the field of politics. The clue to its evolution and function clearly lies within the term itself – politics – and the less advertised, behind the scene, links to the economics of capitalism and state capitalism that politicians have.

In passing it should be remembered how Political Correctness was used under Fascism, Bolshevism, Stalinism and Maoism – all variants of capitalism, state orchestrated in this case rather than corporate. Under those particular political elites, any and every form of critical discourse, sarcastic comment or harmless joke against the ‘leader’ or the ‘system’, was met with savage reprisals. Within a short time of these elites gaining power, such was the oppression meted out to critics that self-censorship was practiced by all but a few. Indeed, in some of these former ‘systems’ and more recently others such as Egypt, ISIL and (last week) Turkey, such savage retaliation can still occur. Political correctness, whether exercised officially or unofficially, means pressure to never do, say or think something that the elite and their supporters do not like. The more power the elite have the more they are able to sanction or silence criticism with the most draconian measures of punishment. At the moment the western capitalist based elites and their supporters usually only detrimentally influence their own critics by neglect, disaproval or censure, for they are still platonically wedded to a modicum of free speech. But for how long?

‘Money now makes the world go round’.

Under the extended phase of the capitalist mode of production, it is not productive activity which determines how money moves around, but it is the way money (in the form of capital) moves around which determines productive activity. Under capitalism, making money is the primary concern which dominates all else. Whether by working or investing for profit, obtaining money currently determines, how we live, where we live or even if we live. But everyone knows that the economic and political elites get the lions share of the available wealth distributed on the distorted ‘money-go-round’ of capitalism. They also have most to lose if anything interupts or interferes with the steady flow of cash which is channelled into their bank accounts.

It is potential social disturbances effecting these elite-destined power and cash steams which the concept of political correctness is designed to prevent. In the west, it is a concept originally coined by those whose cash flow is gained exclusively or predominantly through the bourgeois economic and political processes. Its open purpose is to modify attitudes and circumvent criticism of issues which are of vital concern to the economic and political elite. For example, issues such as religion and of course, the form of immigration practiced under the capitalist mode of production. In other words in the west, the concept of political correctness is yet another form of bourgeois and petite bourgeois intellectual thought control. Its undeclared purpose is to deflect a serious examination of the exploitation and oppression at the heart of capitalism and it’s desire for the ‘free’ movement of capital and labour.

The term has also been taken up as a valid form of linguistic currency by others within the middle classes, but for very different reasons. Nevertheless, even these particular dealers in political correctness and it’s associated boo words are also under the shared illusion that politics and capitalism are natural and therefore eternally valid forms of human interaction. In fact modern politics along with such terms as ‘political correctness’ are nothing more than social constructs manufactured by the bourgeoisie during the 20th century of their epoch. Like any other coin of the realm, ‘political correctness’ has two faces – a heads and a tails so to speak. The main side, the purpose for which it was fairly recently minted, was to avoid offending or alienating sections of the producing, purchasing and voting public in the modern mixed urban and global settings spawned by capital. But before exploring this aspect further, let us remind ourselves of what we already know.

‘All my troubles Lord, soon be over’.

The bourgeois (capitalist) mode of production has in the past few centuries, forcibly created a world market for its goods and services. During the periods of Colonial expansion and Imperialist control, the bourgeois economic and political elites had no fear of offending anyone or any group who stood in their way. With swords and guns in hand, they conquered lands and peoples. They bought and sold human beings, ethnically cleansed native populations and decimated indigenous peoples. Later still they bombed them into submission or into an early grave, whilst continuing to use the most foul language and disrespectful terms to describe them. The inhabitants of the Niger region of Africa or gentlemen of the western orient were shortened into nasty and frequently used expletives.

The elites who instigated and orchestrated this brutal extractive process, needed by the accelerating productivity of the capitalist system, were deeply racist and sexist and were mainly men. Until the advent of universal suffrage, their positions of power were not substantially reliant upon upsetting anyone and so as noted above, the names they chose to apply to their victims in Africa, Oceana, the Americas, and Europe were highly offensive and derogatory. In the 19th and 20th centuries whole departments of middle-class bourgeois intellectuals created fields of so-called science based upon the alleged and in most cases manufactured inferiority of the different non-favoured, non-pale skinned so-called ‘races’. Since these males dominated society, they also dominated the intellectual discourse within bourgeous culture and their racism and sexism permiated down the class structures into popular culture. And sad to say pockets of it still persists in all classes and genders.

‘The times they are a changing’.

However times have changed and the pro-capitalist political elites in the ‘advanced’ capitalist countries have by now assembled a cultural mix of religions and ethnicities in all the major towns and cities who are not only cheap sources of labour for production, distribution and sales, but voters in elections and consumers of capitalist commodities and services. So now there is an urgent need not to offend any section of global society in case those offended cease to purchase goods and services (the primary vehicles of profit) from certain suppliers, cease to supply essential or ‘strategic’ raw materials, or fail to vote for an eager new candidate or currently incumbent politician.

Hence the the fear side of the political correctness coin. So much fear exists amongst the economic and political, elites that they will not publicly condemn any cultural or religeous backwardness unless they are forced to. Hence female genetal mutulation, forced marriages and honour attacks have until recently, had a blind eye turned to them. The fear of offending Zionists Jews has resulted in silence or muted complaints against the continuing slow genocide of Palestinian life in Gaza and the West Bank. The patriarchal ideology and practices of all the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are passed over in silence or even colluded with as if they and the capitalist mode of production were not the most significant parts of the problem facing humanity. Atrocities done in the name of Islam are classed as terrorist in order to avoid confronting the fact that some terrorist acts are directly inspired by Islamic religious ideology and their mainstream religious texts. Atrocities done in the name of the ‘war against terror’ are classed as self-defence in order to avoid confronting the fact that they are inspired by neo-liberal capitalist ideology. This type of hypocricy is all part of the broader spectrum of bourgeios ideology along with its recent appendage, political correctness.

‘Old man river’.

Then, as mentioned earlier, there is the other side of the political correctness currency which has a different motivation. This stems from a knowledge and understanding that the Colonial and Imperialist period of denegration of foreign peoples, women and homosexuals, was incorrect, inhuman, counterproductive and needed to be corrected – at least verbally. The concept of Political Correctness therefore had a warm reception amongst some sections of society. Not wanting to perpetuate the negative stereotypes of those who were once forced to plant and pick cotton, tobacco and sugar cane etc., this section of society in the name of ‘acceptance’ also kept silent or turned a blind eye to patriarchal and brutal practices such as child marriages and genetal mutulation, long condemned within the advanced capitalist countries. In this section of 20th century society too, there was no longer a need or desire for a crude derogatory regard for other cultures and ideas,

From the compensating and welcoming, non-judgemental perspective, the rights of women and children (or rather lack of them) were viewed as culturally and religiously specific. The right to openly criticise religious ideas and practices were (and are) seen by many in this mileu as phobic abberations. Political Correctness guru’s have wielded mis-used terms such as anti-semitism, (when they were actually witnessing Judeophobia), Islamophobia, (when they witnessed anti-Muslim racism), and racism (when they encountered ethnic or social intolerance). These accusations they levelled at anyone and everyone who dared raise an intellectual eyebrow let alone engage in any form of rigorous criticism against reactionary actions and ideologies. Some of these political correctness wielding individuals used (and still use) their positions of power and influence to ruin the careers and reputations of those who could not be silenced by any other means. As a result, self-censureship became part of the political correctness exchange currency within the so-called democracies. But at what cost?

The cost of political correctness can now be measured by the changes in politics itself. A resurgence of right-wing political movements is gaining ground because the politically correct left has abandoned a radical criticism of the capitalist mode of production and it’s reactionary and aggressive symptoms. The social-democratic left is in total denial concerning capitalism and crisis and the radical anti-capitalist left is in sectarian melt-down. Once again (as in the 1930’s) the main orchestrated radical voice arguing against the ongoing symptoms of capitalism in crisis are from the right-wing nationalists. These proto – fascist parties and individuals are correct when they say 21st century immigration is primarily a way to lower wages in the advanced capitalist countries.

They are also correct when they point out that the welfare system provided under the current neo-liberal economic and political structure are being stretched too far and applied unfairly. They are also correct when they argue that the EEC is a bureaucratic gravy train for business, banking and the political elite. In these and on other issues they are not original but merely echoing what large numbers of ordinary people already think. Being right on some issues of course does not mean that the right-wing proto-facists are not without extremely dangerous dispositions. However, it is far too simplistic to deny or ignore these realities because the proto-fascists constantly dwell upon them. Of course, what these right wing petite bourgeois elements do not say is that all these symptoms are the logical outcome of the capitalist mode of production in the 21st century. But neither do most of the left. And there is the danger.

‘You’ve got me, under your spell’.

While the ‘left’ has been intellectually hypnotised by the concept of political correctness swinging purposefully before their eyes, the ‘right’ appear to address reality – at least as far as some of the symptoms go. It cannot be surprising therefore if many people threatened by unemployment, low pay, deteriating welfare, health and educational opportunities are listening to the right-wing politicians rather than the left. The amazing response of much of the politically correct left (and even some of the so-called anti-capitalist left) to this outcome is to blame the white and blue collar victims of bourgeois practical and ideological domination. Workers (as yet not revolutionary minded) who want to protect themselves against unemployment, low pay, over crowded schools, poor housing, and hospital waiting lists – and say so – are designated by the politically correct, as racists or closet racists.

As perhaps could have been predicted, this ‘political correctness’ syndrome leaves no option for an anti-capitalist struggle based upon class, since class divisions are ignored, glossed over or dissolved by the acid of political correctness. Instead, there is a taking of sides over a distorted form of cultural and religious relativism. Political correctness is certainly not an aid to critical analysis of anything let alone the critical analysis of the capitalist mode of production and the manifold symptoms which emanate from it. Political correctness is nothing more than a means of curtailing analysis of anything the economic and political elites along with their petite bourgeois supporters deem detrimental to their interests. It is the thin end of the wedge being driven into the (perhaps no longer needed?) bourgeois notion of free speech. As such it can be extended to anything the elite designate as in the ‘national interest’ which of course is bourgeois interest carried into the insitutions of the state.

Politics is part of the problem for humanity, not part of the solution. One only needs to consider the recent events in Europe and North America with regard to the political elite, to appreciate that this is the case. Their evident self-interested manouvres and back stabbing during and after the 2016 Brexit, on the one hand, and their imposition of austerity, as in Greece etc., on the other, (how politically correct is all that?) is a sufficient indicator of the problems they cause and the incompetence they display. The working class and those identifying with working class struggles against the capitalist mode of production needs to be guided by political correctness like they need an additional (non-natural) hole in their head.

Roy Ratcliffe (July 2016)

Posted in Critique, neo-liberalism, Politics, Sectarianism | Tagged | 3 Comments

BREXIT AND THE BLAME GAME.

Posted on June 26, 2016 by stutteringsteps

If the gloves were off among the economic and political elites before the counting of the referendum votes – and they were – then  there is no sign that the combatants are ready to step out of the ring. The two sides in the Brexit debate, in the run up to the vote, consistently misrepresented the other side, fabricated information for their own side, ignored the real issues and thoroughly discredited themselves further in the process. Even before the debate, very few people believed more than a fraction of what any politician asserted was the truth about anything let alone what was in their own particular interests. This whole episode has merely confirmed the polite view that politicians are extremely economical with the truth and has given further credence to the cynical answer to the rhetorical question; ‘How do you know when a politician is lying; Answer; when they open their mouths.’  Bourgeois politics has no real credibility with increasing numbers of ordinary people – and not just in the UK.

On the political surface of European and British politics at the moment, everything is in turmoil, yet below this surface nothing has really changed. The Conservative Party is split between ‘inners’ and ‘outer’s’, its leader Prime Minister Cameron has resigned and internal chaos, close to war is the order of the day. Many members of the Parliamentary Labour Party, also split between, ‘inners’ and ‘outer’s’  have openly replaced their pugilistic debating gloves with knives poised to plunge into each others backs. The ripples are already spreading across Europe as the implications, repercussions and recriminations turn into a tidal wave of financial speculation and political manoeuvring. This effects is also being felt in Scotland and Northern Ireland within the UK. The financial markets, already in another condition of undeclared leverage crisis, will now be as volatile as they were before the 2008 financial crisis. Everything seems to be changing and it is, but only on the surface.

For at the economic and social level nothing substantial has changed. The global capitalist economy is still bogged down in a crisis of relative overproduction and  falling demand. Unemployment, low paid employment and precarious forms of employment are still endemic in all countries, in or out of any federal system of states. The world is still full of failed or failing nation states with regard to internal wars and refugee exodus, or with regard to the post-second world war consensus on welfare reforms. The effects of climate change, pollution and ecological damage continue to rapidly accumulate.  There is still a gigantic gap between the 1% (or less) and the 99% (or more) and none of the mainstream politicians can be even bothered to seriously challenge this state of affairs. The five-fold crisis of the capitalist mode of production is the elephant in the room which is generally ignored by  the elite and was absolutely ignored by all the sides in the Brexit debate.

The results of the Brexit referendum produced figures of approximately 17.4 million in favour of leaving and close to 16.2 million to stay. This bifurcated result has been promoted as a new substantial division between the citizens of the UK, but this too is merely to glance at appearances without considering many underlying factors.  It was presented as a single issue referendum, and on the surface it was, but this is to ignore what is going on below the political surface of European society in general and the UK in particular. Among the population in general, there is deep seated anger concerning the economic and social welfare under the neo-liberal phase of the capitalist mode of production. There are far more losers than winners in this new phase of capital accumulation. The Brexit referendum needs to be viewed with regard to this underlying socio-economic picture.

Of course on both sides there were also those who had different outcomes in mind. The right-wing, racist politicians among other things desired a return to nationalistic views, whilst some financiers and production firms wanted advantageous terms for present and future profit taking.  The elite politicians no doubt had in mind their future careers beyond politics – for them any lucrative seat in Brussels or the IMF is better than none. This mixture of temporary allies were successful in recruiting large sections of the population to vote their way, but the voting behaviour did not necessarily reflect the same motives as the leaders of both campaigns. In the confusion and contradiction of the pre-vote debate, some UK citizens may have just voted out of dislike for certain politicians, others may have voted because they liked, or hated less, certain politicians. Others may have tossed a mental coin to decide. Yet others may have simply boycotted the whole shabby charade.

Yet there were undoubtedly millions who thought (or hoped) that their situation would not get worse if they stayed within the EEC/EU. There were also millions on the leave side who thought (or hoped) that things would not get worse (as they have in Greece etc.) if they left this crumbling capitalist federal alliance. In other words, for the bulk of the population the real division was over how to prevent things getting worse and  hopefully would get better. For the bulk of the population there was (and is) the desire for things to get better, for improvements to hospitals, wages and salaries, job security, pensions, savings etc. In my estimation, the difference for the majority of the UK population was a difference in how best to achieve those outcomes, not a difference over what these outcomes should be. Yet the interests of the elite is to talk up the blame game to create an atmosphere in which what happens next economically and financially – and because of the profound nature of the crisis it will all be negative – will be the fault of one side or another.

And any blame game taking place among the oppressed and exploited in the aftermath of Brexit is the greatest danger. It has already begun among the political elite and they will try to involve others. Indeed it has already begun among the left, including the ’socialist’ left.  After only one or two days we are witnessing the ‘don’t blame me’ disclaimer in articles and posts, which only others on the left will probably read. This attitude assumes there are literally millions to blame for what follows – not the capitalist mode of production! How ill-considered is that, from so-called ‘socialists’? Such sectarian posturing of imagining there is a ‘correct’ line on everything – and only they know it – is to be expected, but also to be resisted. An allied danger is labelling all those who voted out because of immigration fears as racists or fascists. This would be a grave mistake and cause serious divisions. Not all those who voted one way are racists and not all who voted the other way are paradigms of virtue. Blaming the victims of the capitalist mode of production, for being under the influence of bourgeois prejudices (where they actually are) and for not immediately drawing revolutionary conclusions, is itself a product of bourgeois or petite-bourgeois modes of elitist thinking.

The real revolutionary-humanist non-sectarian position with regard to the Brexit vote is to remind the workers and others on both sides of the vote that their real problem lies with the capitalist mode of production and not with each other. The task, among other things, is to point out that their shared goals for decent homes and standards of living depend upon not blaming each other but of coming together to change the mode of production.  The task is to explain that all the negative symptoms raining down upon the vast majority of the world’s populations are the results of a mode of production which has outlived its ‘sell by date‘, never mind its ‘use by date‘. It is time for a revolutionary change – at the very least in thinking – not time to use this Brexit side-show as an excuse to indulge in a reformist blame game.

Roy Ratcliffe (June 2016)

Posted in Anti-Capitalism, capitalism, Critique, Nationalism, neo-liberalism, Politics, Revolutionary-Humanism, Sectarianism, The State | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

MOHAMMAD ALI

Posted on June 17, 2016 by stutteringsteps

Predictably there has been a far greater outpouring of sentiment over the death of the charismatic boxer Mohamad Ali, than was apparent when he was alive. As was the case with the death of Nelson Mandela, establishment figures have queued up to heap accolades upon Ali, when before his death, the same establishment figures (and more) heaped animosity and scorn upon the many causes he stood for. Particular anger and contempt were levelled at him when he changed his name, then when he joined the Nation of Islam and when he refused to enlist for the American-led war in Vietnam. However not only was he the most accomplished boxer of his era and will probably be so for many generations to come, but he was considerably more. So it is not just his many boxing skills for which he will be remembered but because he was also something of a consistent activist, particularly for black rights in North America and elsewhere.

The media and the establishment will undoubtedly mention his activism, as they did with Mandela before him, but also from a similar reformist perspective. He will be presented and viewed as an active reformer for bourgeois human rights, and this is essentially the correct characterisation, for he never embraced a revolutionary anti-capitalist position. In all his criticisms of the social and economic situation for black Americans and white workers there was no hint of an anti capitalist perspective. His decision to discard his given name of Cassius Clay as with his other stances took bravery and strength of character but his consciousness never went much further than the religious understanding of The Nation of Islam. Nevertheless, for the most part and in his actions he represented a strong humanist trend albeit within the boundaries of a religious perspective.

This limitation of Ali’s understanding is not surprising and his failure to go further and become a revolutionary – humanist rather than a religeous – humanist cannot be really laid at his door. The example of anti capitalism presented to the world in the form of the former Soviet Union, China and their local defenders in the various sectarian Communist Party guises, acted as a barrier not only to talented charismatic persons such as Ali, but millions of ordinary citizens as well. The rapid degeneration of the Bolshevik model of anti capitalism into repressive state capitalism had sealed off generations from the revolutionary – humanist perspectives of Karl Marx and other such 19th century humanist orientated anti-capitalists. All that remained with a modicum of humanity for those dissatisfied with the many negative characteristics of capitalism in the late 20th century, was left reformism, institutionalised voluntary work and religeous introspection.

So it is well that ordinary people celebrate the life and perhaps mourn the death of Mohamad Ali as an example that not all those who succeed within the capitalist mode of production and make millions of pounds, dollars etc., are as thoroughly corrupt as the rest of the capitalist and pro-capitalist establishment. Ali stands for what the rest of the capitalist elite are not capable of becoming ie radical reformers, but he also demonstrates the limitations of the individual and of limited understandings of the current mode of production based upon capital and wage labour. The latter is something the present and future generations will have to re-discover in order for humanity to really put behind it divisions of race, religion, gender and ability and move on to a less destructive mode of production.

Roy Ratcliffe (June 2016 )

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WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOCIALISM?

Posted on June 9, 2016 by stutteringsteps

The capitalist mode of production has always attracted criticism, predominantly for its effects upon the poor, the underprivileged and the working classes. The unremitting greed of those who accumulate prodigious wealth directly or indirectly through their connections with capitalist production and circulation, has also brought about very negative comments. Furthermore, the enormous gap between rich and poor engendered by Capitalism has periodically produced scathing condemnation. More recently the defects of capitalist speculation, corruption and financial crisis, along with industrial pollution and ecological destruction have drawn much adverse attention.

Yet it is possible to be steadfastly against all these symptoms emanating from the domination of capital without actually understanding the unresolvable conflicts and problems of alienation which lie at the heart of this particular mode of production. Critical views of capitalisms symptoms combined with a lack of understanding of its fundamental and irreconcilable contradictions, has given rise to two associated phenomena within the social and political spheres of modern societies. They are reformism and socialism. Both of these are the result of superficial understandings and emanate predominantly from within the middle-classes. This lack of analytic understanding, I suggest is what is wrong with those who cannot see beyond reformism and ‘socialism’. Elsewhere I have critiqued reformism, so in this particular article I will criticise the concept and practice of socialism.

What is Socialism?

A fairly concise definition of ‘socialism’ is; ‘a system of political governance which replaces competition with Co-operation through state ownership of land and capital and which introduces a policy of social equality.’

We can see right away that the description contains it’s own oxymoron. A system of political governance for a start can never create social equality. Politics is already an elevation of one section of a community over the rest who are, or then become, a formal elite. Furthermore state ownership of the means of production – land and capital – becomes the province of the political and bureaucratic state elite – which is yet another source of social inequality. It is often case that the term Co-operation can sound positive and life affirming, but only if we do not stop to think about it. However, if we do stop to think, our knowledge will tell us that the socialist state of the Soviet Union insisted – gun in hand – on the co-operation of those in industry and agriculture as well as those in the numerous Gulag concentration camps. Co-operation is also enforced in the armed bodies of men and women who our elites order to wage war on other such armed contingents. In other words, the term Co-operation is just another meaningless abstraction until it is filled with content and there is clearly no social equality within the content of these and many other co-operative projects.

The concept of ‘socialism’ is also one which has become so elastic that it has been stretched to include a wide spectrum of beliefs, opinions and actions. On the one hand it is used to describe any feeble institutionalised action a pro – capitalist state may take to offset any of the negative symptoms arising from the capitalist mode of production. On the other hand it has been used to characterise the establishment of the huge nation states mentioned above (Soviet Union and China etc.) in which everything was owned and controlled by the state. The use of this term to describe such a varied selection of actions and policies indicates the confusion and superficial understandings of those who continue to utilise it as if its meaning was clear and agreed, or could now ever become so.

It is true that the term ‘socialism’ originally attracted a strong element of anti-capitalist thinking, this is perhaps why a few people still cling on to it’s use. However, this element has long since gone. It was partly emptied of this content due to its adoption by Stalinists and Maoists to describe the systems of state controlled compulsory wage-slavery they developed in the Soviet Union, China and other such command economies. The mode of production they and a few Stalinists and Maoist imitators actually ruled over is more accurately described as state-capitalist. This type of draconian outcome could have been predicted and indeed was predicted. In addition, decades earlier Marx had criticised ‘socialists’ on a number of occasions and in his own research notes on capital had commented;

“.. the idea held by some socialists that we need capital but not the capitalists is altogether wrong.” (Marx. Grundrisse. Page 503 ebook version.)

So in the case of the Soviet Union, China and their imitators, the state elite held control of the natural resources along with the means of production and workers continued to work part of the day for their own maintainance and the rest of the day for the state – instead of an individual capitalist firm. In this way the state elite dictated the type and scale of production and controlled the surplus labour and surplus value produced rather than the previous owners or shareholders of industries or firms. In other words the workers continued to be wage-slaves (one of the essential foundations of the capitalist mode of production) and were treated with as much – or even more – brutality and indifference than any former capitalist employers might have displayed.

The term ‘socialism’ was also emptied of any lingering anti-capitalist content by those middle-class ‘socialist’ reformers who enjoyed privileges under the capitalist mode of production and thus wished to retain it. Many from this section of society were offended by the heartlessness of many aspects of capitalism and wished to use state intervention as a means to keep any extremes in check. The New Deal in the USA and the 1945 Labour Government in the UK being prime examples of the implementation of these ‘socialist’ style reforms in the 20th century. This desire to moderate any rampant capitalist exploitation from above, they claimed was a socialistic one and indeed by any strict definition it was. Because of this confusing spectrum of uses, I suggest those who wish to bring clarity in the anti-capitalist struggle, can have very little reason to continue to use the term ‘socialism’ as a rallying call or as a concept which describes their views. Those anti-capitalists who continue to cling to its use out of some misguided loyalty to tradition, are clearly not revolutionary with regard to the language they use or how they choose to portray themselves. Indeed, seriously considered, revolution and tradition are even incompatible as abstract concepts let alone when applied to the anti-capitalist struggle.

So who are the Socialists?

There are many who describe themselves as socialists. It is to be expected, from what has been written earlier, that those who do so comprise of a wide spectrum of socio-political positions. ‘Socialists’ can be found among all economic classes. Yet the most influential category, under the capitalist mode of production, are to be found among the educated middle-classes. It is from among this mileu that the two main types of ‘socialists’ can be found. The first type are the genuine petite bourgeois socialists and the second type are the opportunist petite bourgeois socialists.

Genuine middle-class socialists are those who subscribe to and sincerely wish for a future socialistic type state-moderated capitalist mode of production as an end. They honestly aspire to bring about a more benign public/private partnership; a socio-economic mix of state-capitalist and private capitalist co-operation within nation states or federations of states. These individuals have been unable to recognise that a radical change in the mode of production has become necessary and that the only way to achieve that is by a revolutionary transformation. So even genuine ‘socialists’ of the public (ie state) ownership persuasion represent a conservative element within the struggle between capital and labour; between workers and capitalists. Unless such individuals undergo something of an epiphany, they will invariably act to protect the system in order to retain their ‘positions’ and pursue their goal of attempting to reform its worst aspects. They invariably fail to recognise the extent to which the upholders of the system will resort to dirty tricks and violence in order to prevent its demise as well as resist or subvert any reforms they do not approve of.

Indeed, it is precisely the deviousness and violence of the elite upholders of a system in crisis which introduces the necessity for revolution. The elites and their supporters will not sanction the transformation of the system they benefit from despite the fact that from the perspective of humanity as a whole, it does far more harm than good. Just look at the heartless vigour they are exercising over austerity and the privatisations of public resources in Europe and elsewhere. Revolution, therefore, is no more than the political term used to describe the socio-economic process of creative destruction that becomes absolutely necessary to end one mode of production and replace it with another.

The second group who may from time to time call themselves ‘socialists’ are merely those opportunists paying lip service to a socialist future in order to gain votes or credibility among potential working class voters. Tony Blair and his accolites spring to mind here. These ‘socialists’ are often political chameleons who change their political complexion according to the environment they find themselves in. These in times of social or political unrest will also act to conserve the system because their social and political ambitions are to personally prosper within the system.

Both the genuine and opportunist ‘socialists’ can be found enjoying privileges within the political theatres such as parliaments, left political parties such as the British Labour Party and of course trade unions. In these arenas they can be found promoting their brand of reformist ‘socialist’ nonsense which they assert is in the best interests of the working class and the poor. It is nonsense because the fundamental problem with the capitalist mode of production lies not in the myriad of negative symptoms which arise from it, but from the causal defect at the core of it. The problem lies in the historic dispossession of the vast majority of humanity (the workers) from direct control of their means of production and what is produced.

Dispossession and alienation.

Throughout most of the long evolutionary history of the human species, there has been a direct connection between the work done by individuals and groups and the ownership of the results of that work. In the early socio-economic communities if an individual chose to create an object out of the materials the natural world provided then the object belonged to the individual. The individual decided how to utilise the chosen object because it was a product of his or her own labour. If a group (family, local community, tribe etc) created an object or a number of objects these objects of labour belonged to the group. The group would collectively decide how to utilise them. The connection between their labour and the object or objects created was direct and could only be given away or alternatively taken away from them by force.

The advent of slavery and feudal semi-slavery ushered in periods in which what the economically active population produced was proportionally confiscated as tribute or tax/rent in kind. But with perhaps the exception of slavery and imprisonment, even during those periods there was still a direct connection between what was produced and ownership of the results. Not so now. Apart from within the home, the fundamental connection between what communities of people make and who gets to own the results has been broken. Modern ‘socialists’ in the main do not recognise that this fundamental fact is the substantive problem within the capitalist mode of production.

Dispossession.

In fact the eventual world domination of the capitalist mode of production, commencing several centuries ago, only became possible due to the severing of four previous socio-economic communal connections to production. 1. The severing of workers from direct control of productive land. 2. The separation of the workers from direct control of the tools of production. 3. The disconnection of the workers from independent sources of subsistence. 4. The dissolving of any previous direct feudal ties or personal servitude to the conditions of production (ie the ending of serfdom and slavery).

This fourfold severing, which was actually a form of incremental dispossession, created a working class almost completely devoid of materials, tools, means of subsistence and communal obligations. These dispossessed workers were then ‘free’ to work for those who now controlled these means of production – the capitalists. That sort of ‘freedom’ is the bourgeois way of looking at this historic separation of the bulk of humanity from collective control of production. However, there is another viewpoint. The progressively dispossessed workers were (and are) not free, they are actually compelled by the lack of alternatives to become wage-slaves. This historic disconnection at the heart of production cannot be reversed by reforming the existing system or by the introduction of what its advocates call ‘socialism’.

The entire evolution of the capitalist mode of production has proceeded by developing the productive forces of society in such a way that those who work (the working classes) and create all the wealth, do not have a direct claim on the wealth they produce. Under the capitalist mode of production all the majority of workers get in exchange for the vast amounts of commodity and infrastructure wealth they produce and service, are wages or salaries which are only sufficient to survive at a moderate level when they manage to get employment and even less when they cannot. The huge resources working people collectively produce are appropriated by the capitalists and their elite buddies who now store them in the form of luxury goods, property, land, bonds, banked money-capital and of course use some to invest in further surplus value (profit) realising ventures.

Alienation.

Yet all this wealth, including the money capital, is nothing more than the combined value of stored up previous products of labour in various money or commodity forms. Therefore, to paraphrase Marx, the stored up value of capital is the product of collective labour and the product of collective labour now for the first time in history predominantly appears as capital. The product of collective labour now belongs entirely to someone else! In other words it is alienated from those who create it. The working classes are the creators of all wealth yet under the capitalist mode of production they are made to appear as the incidental secondary (precarious) and disposable elements of the production processes. In fact they – along with nature – are the primary elements.

Under the capitalist mode of production, every worker is also now a potential pauper. This is because if a capitalist concern cannot realise surplus labour/value (thus profits) from employing him or her, then the worker will be laid off. Thus under the normal or crisis conditions of capitalism sooner or later a proportion of workers will be unable to purchase the adequate necessities of living and be forced to beg for alms (state benefits, food banks etc) or other forms of charity. Thus alienation from capital dominated production can lead to alienation from life’s necessities and in extreme cases (as with some economically motivated suicides) from life itself. Capitalism has alienation and pauperism built into its very economic foundations.

As long as this system persists a relatively small capitalist and pro-capitalist elite can dictate what is produced, how much is produced, where it is produced, how much pollution and ecological destruction results from it and whether countries go to war to obtain resources and markets. The form of representative democracy and the law developed under capitalism are designed to secure and promote this mode of production – with all its major features intact! Representative democracy and bourgeois property laws are designed not to question capitalisms basis or to seek it’s transformation into something more egalitarian and which re-connects workers with the products of their labour.

For all these reasons it represents a real advance within the workers movement to have gained a consciousness of the real basis of the capitalist mode of production and therefore the limited nature of placing demands upon the capitalist state, which ‘socialists’ routinely do. It is a real advance in understanding to recognise the need for humanity to develop a post-capitalist mode of production. It therefore represents a serious failure and retreat to avoid including that understanding in any campaigns to defend workers conditions. Such a failure places any such demands within the framework of bourgeois ideology and amounts to no more than reinforcing the illusion that the capitalist mode of production is not fatally flawed and can go on forever. The perpetuation of that particular reformist illusion is now the predominant content of the term ‘socialism’ and it is the role of ‘socialists’ within the workers movements to promote it. Those who doubt the counter revolutionary nature of ‘socialism’ and socialists during severe structural crises of capitalism should consider the role both (including the ‘national socialists’) played in Germany during the 1930’s. Or at least read ‘Nazis: a double warning from history’ on this blog. For a more contemporary example consider the role played by the ‘socialist’ Hollande and his cabal in even banning peaceful demonstrations by trade unionists. So, what is wrong with ‘socialism’? In my opinion – all the above and more!

Roy Ratcliffe (June 2016)

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Posted in Anti-Capitalism, capitalism, co-operation, Economics, Marx | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

THE DEATH AGONIES OF CAPITALISM

Posted on May 20, 2016 by stutteringsteps

Any mode of production which is contradictory and has reached the limits of its ability to expand, sooner or later is bound to disintegrate and then collapse. However, before the final demise, such modes of production go through periods of convulsion and struggle as those who benefit from them make repeated desperate efforts to stave off the inevitable end of ‘their’ system. In this sense there is not one ‘death agony’ but a series of agonising episodes before the final gasp. This was true of modes of production based upon ancient slavery, feudal semi-slavery and it is true of modern capitalist economic system based upon wage – slavery. For example, the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, as extensively catalogued by Edward Gibbon, did not occur over night, but went through a long period of expiring glory and convulsive degeneration. A similar pattern, but with varying distinctive features, can be identified in the decline and fall of the previous empires of Egypt, Persian and Greece. And despite surface appearances to the contrary, the capitalist mode of production has also been disintegrating for some time.

The relatively modern empire of global capitalism has been going through a protracted period of convulsive degeneration and temporary regeneration for over a century. These periodic agonies attending the episodic degeneration were motivated primarily by the uncontrollable desire of capitalist elites to expand their field of operations. The basis of this motivation to continually expand is the capitalists need to maintain and augment their capital. This need has driven capitalists and pro – capitalists periodically to extreme measures. Broadly these have taken the form of Colonial and imperial exploitation, two world wars with many millions killed and injured, continuous environmental degradation, rising global poverty, uncontrolled deforestation and more recently the continuing privatisation of practically everything except the air we breath.

These symptoms are all byproducts emanating from the needs of the capitalist class to continually expand and accumulate wealth despite the natural, social and any moral barriers to that expansion. This expansion has quite definately caused repeated large scale and small scale agonies for individuals and communities throughout the world. These degenerative agonies now also include the almost complete failure of the advanced nation – states of the world – and the complete failure of the less advanced – to ensure the safety and welfare of their citizens. Under the guidance of capitalist elite, we now witness the spectacle of millions of refugee civilians without a functioning country and in some cases countries without a functioning civilian population. How self destructive is that? States have also become willing to defame, arrest and incarcerate their own citizens in order to resist any serious pressure for radical change.

In short; under the pressure of its own internal contradictions, the capitalist mode of production is again coming apart at the seams!

In previous articles (‘Capitalism and Crisis’, and; ‘The Five – fold crisis of Capitalism ‘) I have dealt with many of the internal contradictions of the capitalist mode of production. In this article I wish to consider the contradictions of this mode of production in a much broader context. That is to say from a framework of ideas that consider the implications of these contradictions for the human species as a whole. It is in this latter regard that it is important to recognise that the economic life of the vast bulk of humanity is now inter -connected by a global network of production and consumption. That is now the economic and social reality for the human species. This means that ideas and ideologies based upon past tribal, religious, and national identities no longer corospond to the reality of the 20th and 21st century socio-economic networks. These ideologies were created during past pre – global socio – economic circumstances of human communities and are now clearly reactionary. They threaten to tear the human species into warring tribes, religions, and nations. It is true that the current global network is distorted and continually threatened by by the needs of the capitalists and the elites who benefit from it – but it is a global system nonetheless.

Unless we are to help extend the death agonies of capital even further or return to ealier modes of production, then we need to distil new ideas from the new realities which face us in the 21st century. I suggest and hope to demonstrate that the old phalanx of warring ideas of identity need to be replaced by humanist ideas attached to a revolutionary perspective. That is to say ideas which represent the human species as a whole and which recognise that the contradictions within the capitalist mode of production cannot be corrected without going beyond the capitalist system itself. This struggle of revolutionary – humanist ideas against reactionary ones is also one of the symptoms emerging from the ongoing death agony of capitalism. The future for humanity – if there is to be a progressive one – needs to be guided by revolutionary – humanist ideas toward a post – capitalist mode of production. This is because, as we shall see, the basic needs of all human communities – eating, sleeping, making and mating – cannot be adequately met by a socio – economic system dominated by the needs of capital.

Eating, sleeping, making and mating.

It is clearly obvious that there are four fundamental necessities for life to exist in any known individual or social form. Presupposing breathable air and the existence of advanced forms of life on this planet the first necessity is the procurement or production of food and water (eating.). The second is to provide shelter ànd rest (sleeping). The third is to create and maintain the tools of production (making). The fourth is to ensure biological reproduction (mating). Although expressed rather crudely, the terms eating, sleeping, making and mating, represent the minimum requirements for the survival of any social species – including the human species. How these necessities are met determines, to a greater or lesser extent, the economic structure of the society in question. But for a species to survive and evolve, these necessities must be met by the economic structure each day, week, month or year! Otherwise, as study of nature reveals, species decline and eventually become extinct.

What may be called the total socio – economic reproduction of species or societies (ie eating, sleeping, making and mating) is therefore an absolute given necessity for any species or group. What differentiates human socio – economic reproduction, from other earthly species, is the more or less conscious evolutionary development of different modes of how this total social reproduction is organised and achieved. Hunter – gatherer, pastoralist, herders, agriculturalist and industrial modes of production have all had their distinct group formations, divisions of labour and appropriate tools, adapted to the different resources they have had at their disposal. But whatever the mode of production adopted or adapted, they have all needed to fulfill and ensure – as far as humanly possible – the basic necessities outlined above. When the social form or habitat location ceased to allow these necessities to be adequately met then the rationality and cooperative abilities of humanity brought about a radical change. If moving away (migration or emigration) was not a solution in the past, and in many cases it wasn’t, then a revolutionary change in the mode of production became necessary. Why should the present mode of production be viewed differently than past ones?

Total social reproduction under Capitalism.

As the most recent mode of production, Capitalism was able to grow out of the circulation processes of earlier modes of production. It took the form of the accumulation of money. Hoarding and speculation in order to accumulate the monetary form of wealth took place due to the activities of those involved in commerce between countries and between communities. However, these activites and the wealth accumulated from it existed for generations before money as capital came to totally dominate the production of the necessities for eating, sleeping, making and mating. However, they do now and we should consider how they do so along with the implications for humanity.

A) Economic production – 1 (food and water.)

Where it dominates, the owners of capital have by various means appropriated the main means of food and other allied forms of commodity production and distribution. They or their agents now control the amount, cost and quality of the food we eat and the water we drink. But the domination of capital over modern societies controls much more than these qualities and quantities. The capitalist mode of production also controls our access to these necessities. This control has created a further necessity for the bulk of the population. People have to obtain a wage or salary from one group of capitalists in order to purchase these necessities from another group of capitalists. Previous modes of production, bad as they were, left at least a minimal ability for individuals to obtain, food, water, shelter and rest for themselves.

Capitalist ownership and control of nearly everything means that wages and salaries are necessary to obtain sufficient food, water, clothing and housing to survive as individuals and communities. Capitalists have become the gate – keepers to access to these necessities for individual, group and species survival. The fact that unemployment is now a large-scale structural part of the capitalist mode of production means that the gate has been closed to millions. There are now literally millions who now are unable to access sufficient food and adequate water. Hence the appearance of food banks in the advanced countries, and food aid deliveries in undeveloped ones – with all the personal and social symptoms and tensions this implies.

B) Economic production – 2 (shelter, clothing and rest)

In this category also, the capitalist class by its ownership and control of land and machinery has removed the possibility of most human families and communities to provide their own supply of adequate housing, clothing and of determining their own requirements for quality rest and enjoyable leisure. For working people, white – collar and blue, a wage or salary is absolutely necessary to obtain an adequate supply of these additional fundamental requirements. And here too, the fact of mass levels of unemployment means people can become homeless, hungry, cold and listless – through no fault of their own. Even with a wage or salary – if it is a low paid one – then humanely adequate levels of these necessities are practically unobtainable. Embarrasing short-lived charity and state benefits are often provided, but these are not a long term solution to the problems facing the bulk of humanity.

C) Economic production – 3 (tools of production.)

As already noted, any mode of production will have developed the tools and machines necessary to procure he necessaries described above. Whether the tools were simple stone flakes, shards of animal bone, horn or wood, for digging, piercing, pummeling or cutting, these needed making and renewing when they became worn out, damaged or completely broken. Under the capitalist system these tools (factories, machines, methods and research facilities) have as a result of the skills and energies of generations of working people, become so extensive and complex that they are currently controlled only by the combined resources of the capitalist elite. Whilst these tools of modern production are socially created instruments of production they are utilised only for the benefit of those who now own or control them.

The owners and controller’s (and their agents) of these means of production use them not for the benefit of society as a whole but for the benefit (via profits) of a small elite group – the one percent. When profits cannot be made these resources are scrapped or left to rot whether or not they might be useful to others, and the workers made redundant with all the problems outlined in the above sections. The capitalist mode of production would be bad enough if these were the only problems emanating from the domination of capital over the socio – economic intercourse of human communities, but there is another important one.

D) Biological reproduction.

It is only too obvious that societies need to ensure the renewal of the worn out generation, by the creation of a new one to replace them. It should also be obvious that to be effective rather than defective, this biological reproduction depends upon an adequate supply of the previously noted necessities to both the parents and children. Without adequate food, water, shelter and rest, then biological reproduction is effected in a negative way. Under undernourished, malnourished, nutrient deficient or toxic food and environmental conditions new generations are less fit and strong, more prone to illness and less able to maintain adequate levels of economic and social activities. Under circumstances of air, water, and food contamination, human life itself can become deformed and lives drastically shortened.

For the vast majority of the members of the human family, the procurement and production of all these fundamental necessities is now absolutely dependent upon the profitability of capital. That existential dependence cannot be the future economic and social basis for a species which wishes to survive the many problems facing us. It is already common knowledge that pollution and environmental degradation as well as birth defects and other health problems are a result of capitalist methods of industrial production. It is also common knowledge that the productive capacity of modern means of production are so efficient (due to automation and computerisation) that fewer and fewer workers, blue collar and white, are needed to be employed in them. More and more of these workers are becoming redundant and thus will become incapable of procuring adequate necessities for a decent life. Continuing with the domination of capital can only make matters worse.

The capitalist system is in terminal melt down – again!

It was asserted earlier that the death agonies of capitalism have included two world wars between 1914 and 1945, which involved the premature deaths of millions of working people. Any serious study of the socio – economic situation in the early decades of the 20th century will reveal the profound crisis of relative over production and the mass unemployment in Europe and North America which preceded these wars. On a bourgeois ideological (and therefore superficial) level these two wars appeared to be the results of democratic governments standing up to the militarism and fascism of Germany. However, this view misses the real underlying essence of these struggles which lay in the need of rival capitalist alliances for domination of markets and sources of raw materials. Such domination was and still is, necessary in order for capitalist concerns to continue to produce for profit and thus not only preserve their capital but increase it. Under the capitalist mode of production some sections of humanity have to die in order for others to live. Some sections of humanity have to be robbed of their resources for others to consume them.

Despite these 20th century death agony sacrifices of humanity, once again the capitalist system, driven by the greed of its elites has created huge levels of poverty and environmental degradation. Once again the capitalist system by its total domination, denies direct access to adequate food, water and shelter to millions of people around the globe. Once again the capitalist mode of production is unable to profitably employ millions of people even in its most wealthy centres of capital accumulation. Yet again its elites surround themselves with armed bodies of men to keep what they consider as ‘order’ in their countries when it is clearly a serious disorder of the system when their own citizens cannot obtain or maintain an adequate standard of living. Demanding and struggling for the right to be able to provide adequate resources for satisfactory eating, sleeping, making and mating is obviously a species necessity which the capitalist elite now consider a crime. For a few (the one per cent) capitalism is the perfect mode of production, for a further group of hangers on it is an acceptable mode.

However, from the perspective of humanity as a whole capitalism is failing the first requirements for species survival – direct access to adequate eating, sleeping, making, and mating within an unpolluted environment. Capitalism has frequently, and correctly, been condemned morally, but it is own economic logic – production for profit and capital accumulation – also condemns it as a mode of production for humanities survival into the uncertain future we face.

R. Ratcliffe (May 2016)

Posted in Anti-Capitalism, capitalism, co-operation, Critique, dispossession, Nationalism, Revolutionary-Humanism | Leave a comment

THE FETISHISATION OF TIME.

Posted on April 11, 2016 by stutteringsteps

This article is a departure from my usual practice of commenting on contemporary social and political issues from an anti-capitalist and revolutionary humanist perspective. Although, as the reader will see, the topic here chosen is also intrinsically connected to the functioning of the capitalist mode of production. I therefore hope that the unusual choice of subject matter which follows doesn’t disappoint too many of those who regularly visit this blog. The catalyst for my departure has been a long winter of viewing television documentaries headed up by scientists, academics and other specialists who, whatever else their expertise comprises of, have clearly not understood the applicability of at least one key concept they continually use – ‘time’.

I have elsewhere dealt with the frequent application by ‘experts’ of human values and motives to non human species, a facile habit known as anthropomorphism. For example frequent statements such as; ‘This animal is choosing the best mate in order to pass on its genes’ – as if an animal was aware of biology or the implications of DNA and any genetic possibilities. Even most humans don’t mate on that basis. The process of selective genetic breeding among humans, known as Eugenics, never really became popular – and for good reason. The reality for humans and animals is that ‘attraction and sexual activity is selective enough and can feel terrific’!! No other motive is possible for animals, and caste and class apart, the same goes for human beings. The pleasure of mutual attraction and sex is the motive which has ensured species reproduction alongside much of species evolution.

That topic aside, in this article I wish to discuss in more detail, the repeated inaccurate use and application of the concept of ‘time’. The habit of abstracting and detaching the concept of ‘time’ (as with other concepts) away from its human origins and limitations and attaching it to nature and/or the universe seems to be proliferating. In my experience, this practice is most frequently exhibited by cosmologists and astronomical theoreticians in academia and the media. Popular science based programmes on television and radio are littered with examples such as; ‘…since time began – billions of years ago . etc…’ ; ‘The history of the first stars stretches back in time to the beginning of the universe, etc.’

Stars having a ‘chronological record of events’ (ie a ‘history’) is sloppy thinking enough, but the incidence of such expressions concerning the begining of ‘time’ are just too frequent to think they are individual lapses. They appear to have become part of some firmly embedded trend, at least within the popular media. The avowed purpose of such TV programmes is to simply update the listener or viewer with the latest ‘facts’ and educate them beyond their current knowledge base. However, too often what is confidently communicated to the audience  – as fact –  is no more than speculation and imagination. Take yet another bizarre example introducing one popular commentator of a TV series entitled ‘Wonders of the Universe‘; “Discover the role of time in creating both the universe and ourselves”. ‘Time created the universe and humans’ – really!

The real ‘wonder of the universe’ is that this sort of fanciful nonsense, gets past the editorial staff. However, we should not forget, that under the capitalist mode of production, these programmes also serve a number of other functional purposes. Purposes such as facilitating or advancing the careers of individuals, justifying the funding of the institutions which produce research on these topics and promoting the image of a serious dimension to television broadcasting. They also represent a small but significant personification of the ideological hegemony required under the bourgeois mode of production.  While they pocket their substantial incomes and gaze at the heavens, not only are these professors of esoteric speculations uncritical of the dominant mode of production, which cripples the lives of millions, but they are mostly uncritical with regard to the theories and assumptions made within their own discipline.

Such media-elevated individuals are part of the capitalist systems spectrum of ‘experts’ which we lowly workers are meant to look up to, learn from and trust. They are paid to interpret the world in which we live for us and invite us to accept their conclusions as scientific and thus unbiased. Such ‘authorities’ (economic, political and scientific) are granted access to mass media outlets to publicise their views, precisely because they serve such a deferential inducing purpose. They are there primarily because they do not question the ideology and practice of system they are a part of. While we the viewers are supposed to be dazzled by the size and intricacy of their multi-million pound (or Dollar) instruments (Telescopes and Hadron Colliders [£6 billion or $9 billion.] A few hospitals could be built for that!) and are reassured by their confident assertions, they draw comfort from their present status and future pensions. However, to increase the general level of scepticism among ordinary folk, which I suggest is important, let us consider how ‘expert’ they really are with regard to their use of the concept of time.

Capitalism and time.

Undoubtedly, time is a crucially important element within the bourgeois mode of production. The business cliché ‘time is money’ openly demonstrates its roots in the capitalist production process. It is a process in which profits (or losses) are dependent upon production times, delivery dates, turnover intervals and investment periods – all measured by units (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years) commonly denoted as parts of time.  As the capitalist mode of production has developed so too has the importance of accurate time keeping. Clocking in and out of work, working round the clock, time and motion studies, have all become part and parcel of capitalist economic life. The concept of time and its length measured by ever smaller intervals has been predominantly shaped by the needs of the capitalist classes in pursuit of wealth and profits.

The rapid motion of machines, as with calculating the exact duration of processes, means that the measurement of motion (time) has been increasingly honed to a high degree of sophistication. Under the capitalist mode of production, revolutions per minute have been constantly increased, millisecond transfer speeds in communications have become necessarily routine. In every aspect of life, the modern capitalist world is dominated and obsessed with time. It cannot be surprising, therefore, that this centuries-old obsession with the economic importance of time has permeated all aspects of bourgeois culture, from so-called ‘common sense’ and carried into the realm of science. Time as with many other concepts needed by the current mode of production is assumed to have a natural and eternal existence.

This idea that the concept of time has an existence entirely independent of humanity and the mode of production has a long and contradictory history but as noted, this actually ahistorical perspective reaches it its most sophisticated, speculative and esoteric forms in the 20th century. It has become something of a fixation. A number of celebrated thinkers, both pre and post Einstein, have assisted in this process of detaching the concept of time from its purely human origins and purposes and envisioning time as a product of the universe itself. A more recent leading intellectual figure in the promotion of this perspective is the renowned author Stephen Hawkins. For various reasons I shall take Professor Hawkins as a suitable modern embodiment of this trend.

An even briefer history of time.

Steven Hawkins in his book ‘A brief History of Time’ quotes the centuries old St Augustine as writing ‘that time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe’.  Professor Hawkins seems to agree with this assertion for he goes on to argue that; “As we shall see, the concept of time has no meaning before the beginning of the universe.” The first part of that sentence is interesting; “..the concept of time has no meaning before…”. No meaning before what? He seems to be half way to grasping the real ‘relativity’ of the concept of ‘time’ but then fails to draw the obvious conclusion that it did not exist before a certain stage in the evolution of humanity!

He later adds “We may say that time had a beginning at the big bang,” The concept of the ‘big bang’ itself is another imaginative speculation, resting on inferences derived from sparse inter-galactic evidence which may in future, as in the past, be differently interpreted. Yet it is here asserted as fact along with his assertion that it marks the moment when ‘time’ began! These examples illustrate the fact that even highly acclaimed scholars can fetishise the concept of time and assume it has existed almost for ever.  Despite the fact that he makes a link between the concept of time and the existence of a material universe which is moving, Professor Hawkins fails to draw conclusions which might undermine his fully absorbed bourgeois assumptions about time. Unlike Einstein for example, who actually drew attention to the fact that;

“..time-values can be regarded essentially as magnitudes (results of measurements) capable of observation.” (‘Relativity, the Special and General Theory. Chapter 3)

According to Einstein, time values are the results of measurements made by observations.  Of course they are! Only humans are capable of measurement and observation! Planets, stars and Galaxies obviously are not. I hesitate at this point to delve further into Professor Einsteins later, often contradictory, use of the concept of time (space/time continuums etc) as if it were in fact more than an imaginitive conceptual tool with the inevitable ‘relative’ limitations and inaccuracies any human concept or tool is bound to have. In passing I merely note that he too asserted the following;

“The idea of the independent existence of space and time can be expressed dramatically in this way: If matter were to disappear, space and time alone would remain behind...” (Einstein ‘Relativity, Special and General’  Appendix V. emphasis added RR)

After considering the following paragraph and the next section, the reader will draw their own conclusions from the above imaginative statement supposing what would be left after the disappearance of matter. However, rather than pursuing Mr Einsteins thoughts further in this article, I return to the assertions of Mr Hawkins. The mistake Mr Hawkins makes, and before him St Augustine, among others, is to assume that any concept could exist before the creators of concepts  (the human species) existed. The concept of time by definition could not have existed before humans conceived of it. Measured by the probable number of the planetary revolutions of the Earth, before human life evolved to the level required for any form of time reification or fetishism to take hold of the human intellect, the ‘history of time’ is indeed brief.

What did exist before humanity evolved, as far as we presently understand it, is a planetary system in which spinning objects we call now planets (instead of gods) along with other miscellaneous gallactic debris, revolve around other spinning objects (sun’s and stars) within a spiralling galaxy. Is it not obvious then, that before humans existed there were no minutes, no seconds, no days, no years, no centuries – in fact – no ideas? What existed before humanity was not time, but repetitive circular, elliptical or irregular movement of matter in motion, which we now generally describe as spinning (complete with periodic wobbles) and orbits.

A short – but real – history of time.

When humanity reached the level of intellect to recognise, articulate, investigate and record the repetitive patterns of this objective motion, it created the terms we now call in English language – days, nights and years. From that period humans began to count and record the effects of the spinning and orbital motion, which lacking suitable instruments, they for a long period inaccurately observed. Only from that stage can we say that ‘time’ as an important concept existed. Despite a lack of technical innovations, early humanity had invented the concept of time by counting (or measuring) the movement of observable matter. At first this measuring was crude and far from universal, but experience along with technological intelligence and ability added sophistication to this measuring and recording.

Sundials allowed the splitting of daylight periods into segments which became popularly known as hours – but not all communities chose to split a day into 12 or 24 hours. Earth orbits were given the title of years and divided into months and days but again – not all early human communities chose to divide each earth orbit into 12 periods or months. Some in fact calculated by lunar orbits. For a long period there was no agreement on how the concept of time should be callibrated and regularised.  Even the number of days once chosen caused the eventual creation of leap years to bring the choice into closer (but not exact) synchronisation with the real pattern of orbital  rotation. These facts alone should caution against any ahistorical use of the concept of time.

With the invention of water clocks and sand timers it became possible for the daily subdivisions to be extended to cloudy days and even nights. However as noted earlier, the obsession with time only fully matured with the full development of the capitalist mode of production and it’s complete absorption within bourgeois culture. Mechanical timepieces progressively led the way to accurate commercial navigation, close-run railway time-tables, and factory clocks. From all this actual history it emerges that time is nothing more than the human measurement of movement whether that is the movement of sun, water, planets, pendulums controlled and weight driven toothed wheels, spring driven mechanical escapements or battery induced oscillations within electronic microchips. Now in view of the above what should the reader make of Einsteins assertion that; “If matter were to disappear, space and time alone would remain behind.”

Having said all this the concept of time and the instruments developed to record it’s passing can be very useful to humanity, even though they are currently of more use to the owners of industrial, commercial and financial capital. But as with any other concept and tool it can be misused particularly when, amid global, regional, and local levels of poverty, vast quantities of human and material resources are swallowed up in non-entertainment speculation and experimentation concerning the so-called origins of time and the even more ludicrous fantasies concerning the possibilities of time travel. So back to the subject science, the cultural absorber of much wealth, and its too frequent use of so-called absolutes.

 Science and time.

In this section I feel it is worth briefly indicating another problem with the bourgeois induced assumption that the concept of time has an independent and invariable existence. If we accept that time in  the modern period is the more or less precise measurement of movement by using regulated rotating or oscillating instruments known as clocks or other forms of measuring instrument, then certain implications should logically follow. We should be constantly aware of the relative nature of anything which utilises this conceptual tool as a basis for any form of abstract speculation. Take for example the allied concept of speed. Speed is a practical based concept also referred to constantly, almost obsessively, since the 20th century, when even the speed of light was estimated and assumed absolute.

Speed is calculated by measuring a set linear distance travelled within a set amount of time. But speed calculations depend upon the measurement and relationship of these two human constructs – and another – number!. In the case of speed we have linear movement measured in one agreed concept – distance – usually reckoned in units of feet, metres,  miles or kilometres; measured against another agreed concept – time – usually reckoned in minutes or hours. And of course this is given a numerical value – which of course is another human concept. The calculation of speed – even the much vaunted speed of light – therefore depends upon these three human concepts and in addition cannot even approach being precise without ‘relatively’ accurate instruments made by humans – no two of which are exactly the same in accuracy – and none of which pre-date the 15th century, let alone humanity!

All this should be obvious, but obviously it is not! It is clear that the use of imagination in science, can lead well away from the obvious, to ideological, self-serving, stipend-achieving speculation. So travelling back in time – at whatever rate of motion – is therefore complete Holywood nonsense as most sane people realise. Even reversing the direction all the things that have moved on either by orbital movement or evolution – which of course is impossible, except in imagination – would not reverse this procession.  That is not how the natural world works. The real world works by moving or evolving and not according to imaginative counting, sophisticated equations or speculative fantasy. Yet, as in the past, some areas of modern science exist on very little other than imagination, complex abstract equations and speculative assertions.

Although there are more important immediate issues to deal with, I suggest it is important for revolutionary-humanists and anti-capitalists to learn to deal with the real world, and not be drawn into dangling even one foot into a view constructed by the imagination of numerous bourgeois professionals. In the modern bourgeois era, much of astronomical science, as with history, economics and to some extent biology and anthropology is a product of imagination, speculation and assertion. Theories are too often tested by the best argument or the most influential contender, rather than observation and experiment. Even with observation and experiment what is often proposed are unproven hypotheses presented as theoretical facts. Observations can be selected in order to fit the theoretical framework preferred by the observer – and in too many cases they are!  That is until they are exposed as nothing more than self-serving, plausible fictions.

Far too many so-called scientific assertions when seriously examined are also nothing more than functional myths. That is to say myths that conserve the ‘status quo’ and thus serve a very definate social, professional or political function. In addition, as Thomas Khun broadly observed (in ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’) most scientists absorb and conserve the paradigms and theories learned as students and maintain them despite the fact they may no longer serve the originally intended purpose due to contradictory evidence. At a certain point a revolution in thinking becomes necessary as well as a revolution in practice. But of course, as in other realms, (such as economics and politics) not all those employed in these fields are open to new evidence. So I suggest it is best that we develop a healthy scepticism and keep our ‘crap detectors’ well tuned.

Roy Ratcliffe  (April 2016)

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ISLAMO-FASCISM?

Posted on March 23, 2016 by stutteringsteps

It has become popular in some left circles to label Islamic movements which bomb and kill as fascist or at least fascistic in their outlook and actions. In contrast others on the left have seen Islamic fundamentalism as a chaotic and contradictory anti – imperialist movement of the oppressed. Both opinions are mistaken and dangerous. Despite some similar characteristics to past movements, such assertions are superficial, partial and therefore far from adequate. Indeed, such partial labelling is part of the current problem as well as seriously misleading.

It is true that Fascism was brutal, murderous and sought to ruthlessly gain territory by armed conflict, as do militant Islamic fundamentalists.  But so too did most capitalist states during their colonialist and imperialist stages. It is also true that fascists genocidally eliminated human communities who opposed them in occupying resources they wished to control, as many militant Islamists do. But so too did the North American governments with regard to the native Americans, the Spanish in South America, the British in various parts of Africa and more recently the Zionists in Palestine, to name but a few.

It is therefore not good enough to latch on to specific characteristics which are similar and then go on to draw general conclusions – and sweeping ones at that! To my mind those on the left who do so are demonstrating their immaturity as well as frequent sectarianism. A much more detailed  consideration of the phenomena of Fascism and religious fundamentalism, (of which Islamism is a part), is necessary. More detail and accuracy is necessary to make adequate sense of the world we presently live in and to know how best to react to these changes.  The treatment of such socio-political developments needs to be thorough.

To be thorough it also needs to include an assessment of the utter failure of the left to create an alternative pole of attraction to religious radicalism and to the new forms of right-wing radicalism.  In this regard oppression and disgust need to be viewed with peripheral vision and not narrowly focused only upon economic deprivation. Some of the most militant and aggressive are not from poor backgrounds, nor are they all those who have failed to prosper under the system. This wider viewpoint is particularly relevant, not only with reference to Islamic fundamentalism, but also to the reaction against this phenomenon and immigration both of which are assisting the appearance of neo-fascism.

The contrast between Fascism and Islamism.

Fascism is much more than simply being brutal and intolerant to those it considers the ‘other’. From the period of the Egyptian Pharaohs, Persian autocrats, through the Greek colonialist empire of Alexander, and on to the expansion of the Roman empire, practically every elite controlling societies – at one time or another – behaved in that way. Incidentally beheading, burning, crucifixion along with concentration camps, are not recent inventions of modern depraved individuals and movements. Such inhuman brutality has been in the repertoire of Catholic and Protestant establishments and government agency’s over centuries.

Fascism since its emergence in the 20th century has predominantly been, nationalist, imperialist, racist and sexist. But has also been more. Fascism, as a modern form of totalitarianism, has sought to actively structure and manage the inevitable struggle between capital and labour. Fascism in its modern form is a product of the capitalist system in crisis. Its purpose, when it first arose, was to reconcile and regulate the class struggle – within the capitalist mode of production.  This was its attraction to the capitalist class particularly during the 1920’s and 30’s periods of crisis and class conflict. And this regulatory function was also the reason that Fascism was attractive to large sections of the working class – when this class also felt existentially threatened. So the past, present and any future danger of Fascism is that it can be attractive to broad sections of the working and middle classes – when they see no radical alternative.

In contrast, one of the weakness of Islamic fundamentalism is that it is not attractive to broad sections of the working and middle classes – even in countries dominated by Islamic ideology. Islamic fundamentalism is only a beacon for a small proportion of Muslims and an even smaller proportion of converts to Islam. It is true that Islamic fundamentalism in the form of ISIL and other such groups have become expansionists (now in the forming of a territorial Caliphate) but they are clearly not nationalist, not racist and not imperialist in the normal senses of the words. For nationalism, racism and Imperialism were the means by which the dominant form of capital (which was interest bearing), controlled by the banks, sought to dominate national and international economies via industrial, merchant and interest bearing capital.

Fascism retained a commitment to capitalist manipulation and involvement of big capital in developing production and consumption across the world it sought to conquer and control. On the other hand Islamic fundamentalists seek to create, or rather recreate, a modern version of a Caliphate in which there are no national boundaries, no racist discrimination and no direct commitment to local or global integration and production. Production on a national or global scale requires cultural and religious tolerance and co-operation between peoples. These are three characteristics that fundamentalists such as ISIL abhor.

So like the Caliphates before them the ISIL elite aim to spread religion and consume the world’s wealth, rather than maintain production in order to create it.  So Islamism is not another form of Fascism even if it shares some characteristics with it. Just like Catholicism, Islam is a pre – capitalist form of religious ideology and so is not fit for purpose for the economic structure of modern capitalism, let alone a post-capitalist society. Modern Islamic fundamentalism is simply a militant version of a reactionary form of social ideology with its dualistic mode of thinking and total reliance on superstition and myth for its existence.

The roots of Islamic fundamentalism.

It needs to be remembered that modern Islamic fundamentalism began many decades ago in the Middle East and began as a response to and reaction against capitalist modernity both economically and culturally. Capitalist economics via colonialism and imperialism had dispossessed, and dislocated local economic activity and introduced different cultural values throughout the world. All of which were experienced by the majority population in many middle eastern countries as losses with very little gains to offset these losses. Resentment against this process eventually flowed into anti- colonialist and anti – imperialist movements.

However, political independence, once gained, did not bring economic security and well being. Instead, it brought more of the same but administered by a local elite (often claiming to be socialist) rather than a European imperialist one. Predictably this situation created a disaffected and frustrated working class, even though for a time it also created career pathways for the middle-classes within and without the state. It was during the post-colonial period that a return to the fundamentals of Islam was seen by some Muslims as the antidote to the exploitative practices, corruption in politics and state along with the decadent behaviour of western capitalist culture.

Egypt was a significant arena for the theoretical growth of this fundamentalist phenomena within Islam so it is worth considering some of the ideas which fuelled its growth there. The Muslim Brotherhood, for example, was one expression of disillusionment with the inaptly named Arab Socialism headed by Gamal Nasser in Egypt, but it was not aggressive enough for some Egyptian intellectuals. One such critic was Sayyid Qutb, a secular intellectual who went over to Islamic Fundamentalism. After a visit to the USA he rejected the rampant decadence of capitalism and the political support he saw there for Israel. He therefore called for the creation of a Muslim ‘vanguard’. And in the 1960’s he wrote;

“The forming of this vanguard begins with an individual who believes in the faith coming from God to  mankind; and in him begins the existence of the Islamic society.” (Quoted in ‘Fundamentalisms Observed.’ Martin and Appleby. Page 371.)

After this it cannot be surprising to read that many other such ideas emerged during that period and after. Reflecting a more fatalistic and assertive expression of Islamic aggression is the following statement;

“The Qur’an makes it clear that, whether we want it or not, war is a necessity of existence, a fact of life, so long as there exists in the world, injustice, oppression, capricious ambitions and arbitrary claims….and that is why Islam has recognised war as a lawful and justifiable course for self -defence and restoration of justice, freedom and peace.” (Hammudah Abdalati, ‘Islam in focus’, page 142.)

There is a definite ideological link between those mid-20th century ideas and practices, which runs through Islamic fundamentalism up until the 21st century emergence of ISIL. This latter extract demonstrates both the threat militant Islamism poses (ie ‘war is necessary’) which energises the Islamic extremists, but it also reflects its overall weakness in the 21st century. The Qur’an was written in a period in which a call to engage in a religious war clearly had a chance of success, so much so that  an empire was built upon this call. Islam was not alone in that regard. Indeed, much later the appeals of the Catholic elite for a war against the Muslim occupation of Jerusalem, also found a multinational audience willing to respond and risk their lives on ten such crusades.

The limits of religious fundamentalism.

However, religiously inspired causes – sooner or later – always tend to tear themselves to pieces as they did in the case of Christianity and Islam. The last example of precisely this sectarian outcome was in a 30 years war between Catholic and Protestant elites, for economic and political control of European states. In addition to being irrelevant, such is the nature of modern warfare, that only a combination of industrialised nations now have sufficient state power and resources to conduct a war on the scale necessary to win any serious territorial conflict. It needs to be added that a victory in such total wars is always decidedly Pyrrhic.

The age of religious wars has gone. ISIL’s armed contingents along with its ideology could easily be outflanked as soon a really serious effort was made. Far stronger previous Islamic incarnations, than ISIL were defeated in the past. Even if ISIL managed to cling on to a significant area of territory, Islam and its religious elites have no serious cadres which sufficiently grasp the complexity of productive activity and they also lack a serious economic analysis of capital. As we have seen, Islamic fundamentalism is critical of much of the moral and political attributes engendered by the capitalist mode of production but has nothing else to put in its place except ‘terror’. Its bankruptcy and frustration is evident in its increasing reliance upon devastating acts of terror by individual cells. Its ideology is reformist and reactionary, not revolutionary and progressive.  It cannot unite broad sections of humanity or recruit them to its sectarian cause. Islam in general is also exceptionally reactionary with regard to half the global population – women! Its time has surely past. For example;

“…..Muslim society does not socialise men to win women through love; they are badly equipped to deal with a self determined woman; hence the repulsion and fear that accompany the idea of women’s liberation…..Fathers and husbands feel horrified at their own family and sexual patterns being transformed into western patterns….(which leads to the ) mutilation of the women’s integrity, her reduction  to a few inches of nude flesh whose shapes and forms are photographed ad infinitum with no other goal than profit. While Muslim exploitation of the female is cloaked under veils and hidden behind walls, western exploitation has the bad taste of being bare and  over exposed. (Patina Melissa,  ‘Beyond the Veil’ , page 167)

I hope this brief contribution has assisted the reader to avoid confusing the issues of radical Islamism and Fascism. I suggest  it is important that revolutionary humanists are able to tell the difference and to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of both forms of potential totalitarian dictatorships. This is because both are a threat to the emancipation of all working people from further exploitation, oppression and prejudice. It is also important to recognise that although in the 21st century both Islamic fundamentalism and neo-fascism have roots in the fivefold crisis of the capitalist mode of production, one is actually more dangerous in the long run than the other.

The roots of Fascism and neo-Fascism.

So in the 21st century, there is a potential problem of fascistic developments, (as there was in the 20th). Actually in 2016 it is as yet only neo-fascism. The real threat of neo-fascism and full blown fascism arises from within nations not from within religions. In the 1920’s and 30’s, when the last profound economic and social crisis had sufficiently devastated the lives of millions of working people there arose among them a yearning for a solution to their problems and fears. In Europe other socio-political movements had failed to provide satisfactory solutions to these problems but fascism appeared to offer one. In Europe the fascists tried to give shape and focus to the dissident forces arising from this profound socio-economic crisis. In every country they attracted significant support from workers and capitalists. By offering scapegoats along with a programme of populist and socialist policies, fascists in three European countries (Italy, Germany and Spain) gained sufficient popular support that they succeeded in gaining control of state power.

In Europe and North America particularly we see a similar pattern evolving.  Radical right-wing members of the elite are funding political movements which despite the obvious causes of workers unemployment and poverty – capitalist crisis – scapegoat the immigrants. They pretend to be concerned over the contraction of public services but instead of pointing to the reduction in funding by the pro – capitalist elite they again blame immigrant workers. However, let’s not imitate the ostrich or pretend that this developing situation is entirely the fault of the neo-fascists. Humans are not born racist or fascist, they have to become so. Exactly how and why working people  become so is not a subject for this article.

However, it is a fact that many workers in the nations of Europe are increasingly anxious about being gunned-down or blown up as in Madrid, New York, London, Paris and now Brussels.  They are also concerned about increasing levels of unemployment, low wages or salaries, and suffering from reductions in the quality and availability of social services. Since there is very little believable alternative proposals being offered by the left, then some workers are supporting neo-fascist policies. This and the simplistic response by the politically correct of classifying all these workers as racists and fascists, are dangerous developments. Apart from a relatively few determined right-wingers and racists, many people are learning and choosing to be racist and neo-fascist out of a heightened sense of vulnerability and the perceived needs of self-preservation. If the real culprit for their problems is not sufficiently and convincingly pointed out to them, then it cannot be surprising if many of them orientate toward the neo-fascists and blame a scapegoat.

Is History repeating itself?

Despite the differences in technology, is not too difficult to recognise that the present economic and social crisis bears a considerable resemblance to the one in  the 1920’s and 1930’s. At the economic level it is characterised by a crisis of relative-overproduction. At the social and political level it is characterised by failing states. Once again there is a clear yearning for a solution to the existential fears of millions of people. There is also a growing anger over the continued disintegration of living standards, which will inevitably explode in violence – sooner or later. Nor is it too difficult to recognise the fact that extreme right-wing political movements are gaining acceptance in Europe North America and elsewhere as they did in that previous crisis. Sadly what also seems to be a similar pattern is the role the ‘left’ is taking with regard to these problematic developments.

The soft left is too committed to social democracy (ie democratic capitalism) to be sufficiently radical to defend the living standards of working people. This means they cannot act to focus the rising discontent in a progressive way in order to curtail even the worst excesses of the owners of productive, merchant and finance capital. This leaves the debate open for the demagogues to exploit. The situation of the so called ‘hard’ left means it is also currently unable to act in this capacity. It is so split into rival political dogmatic sects that it cannot even act as a focus for all those who recognise the need to go beyond capital. There is an urgent need for the left to engage in self-criticism with regard to its own failure and the resurgence of neo-fascism. It also needs to adopt radical attitudes and policies which attract working people rather leaving them to become the dupes and tools of the those who are intent to establish totalitarian forms of capitalism.

What is desperately needed in the present situation are non-sectarian groups of people who are capable of explaining to the wider community the difference between Islamism and Fascism. This explanation needs to include an assessment of their reactionary content and the reasons why neither can solve the economic and social problems created by the domination of the capitalist mode of production. It also needs to be made clear that western neo-liberal domination and armed interventions in the middle east, along with austerity in Europe, are not simply the result of misguided and heartless politicians and military chiefs. They are also the symptoms of the unfolding logic of the capitalist mode of production in the 21st century – the need for resources, markets and profits. These symptoms, therefore, cannot be overcome by a change in the politicians or the complexion of political parties in government. That is only tinkering with the symptoms, whilst supporting or ignoring the cause. These symptoms can only be removed by a revolutionary transformation of the mode of production to a post-capitalist form.

Roy Ratcliffe  (March 2016)

Posted in Anti-Capitalism, capitalism, Critique, dispossession, Economics, Egypt, Fundamentalism, neo-liberalism, Politics, Religion, Revolutionary-Humanism, Sectarianism, The State | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

IN – OUT – SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT!

Posted on March 15, 2016 by stutteringsteps

When I was a young chap (before television, let alone the internet) there used to be at celebratory gatherings a silly collective song/dance called the Hoky Coky. Forming a circle the participants of this silly, but harmless, nonsense were encouraged to sing along with the music. The words included the following; “you put your left leg in, your left leg out; you do the Hoky Coky and shake it all about”.  All the parts of the human anatomy were progressively instructed by the compare to be moved toward the centre of the circle and taken out again in time to the music, before ‘he’ (yes usually a he) called an end to the activity or the band stopped playing. To my mind this vintage form of keeping busy by fruitless ‘entertainment’ stands as a cultural analogue to the political encouragement the working classes are now having from the elite. Working people are being encouraged to put their efforts, time and votes into deciding whether to place themselves in and out of a capitalist Europe.

A number of years ago workers were encouraged by a section of the pro-capitalist elite to vote in  – so things will get better. Now they are to be encouraged by a section of the elite to vote out – so that things will get better. Does the hollowness of that promise ring any bells? Should we be trusting any of them? To my mind its another invitation to a political game of Hoky Coky (or should that be Hocus Pocus) dressed up as a question of profound political importance – for everyone! The six-month (or more) debate on ‘IN’ or ‘OUT’ of Europe, dubbed ‘Brexit’, began in the UK in late February 2016 and doubtless will continue to dominate the media in Europe and elsewhere for some time.  Despite the steady disintegration of the capitalist dominated European Economic Community and the crumbling socio-economic collapse of the various nation-states of the world – including the most advanced – the British media, in particular has focussed public attention on the outcome of a fairly useless referendum.

Is it not a remarkable fact that the issue of in or out of the European project has never been one instigated or generated by working people or the poor? There have never been petitions or demonstrations generated initially from working class organisations demanding the joining or leaving of the EEC. The question of being in or out of the economic and political organisation of European states has always been one that the capitalist and pro-capitalist elite have initiated and in some cases sustained. The topic is also one which has divided these elites on the basis of their perceived interests. Some have calculated that they would benefit from being in the ‘club’ others that they would be worse. Each side of this elite-promoted disagreement have sought to involve others including the working classes and poor (and their organisations) as voting fodder to assist whichever outcome they prefer.

In or out of Europe, the world will still be in the grip of a fundamental economic, financial, social, ecological and moral crisis, in which the elite ‘system’ will be used to impoverish the working classes and poor. The only difference to being in or out will be which set of finance-capitalists and bureaucrats will be at the forefront of orchestrating the squeeze on the living standards and welfare of the poorest in society. For this reason ‘in or out’ of the European Economic Community, the working-classes, white collar and blue along with sections of the middle-classes will be fighting not only to prevent further deterioration of their standards of living, but in many cases for their actual lives. The working classes and the poor would do well to concentrate their time and energy in achieving solidarity with each other than solidarity with one or other sections of the pro-capitalist establishment. Because ‘in or out’ our societies will continue to be ‘shaken about’ as the rich and their representatives defend their privileges with all means possible.

Roy Ratcliffe (March 2016)

Posted in capitalism, Critique, Economics, Finance, neo-liberalism, Politics, The State | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

SECTARIANISM IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR – 2.

Posted on February 3, 2016 by stutteringsteps

Revolutionary illusions and delusions.

Despite the fact that many participants in the Spanish Civil War were convinced  they were engaged in an anti-capitalist revolution, the reality as it unfolded in the 1930’s, demonstrated something different. Events proved in 1930’s Spain that an anti-capitalist revolution was never more than an ideologically inspired illusion for some and a deliberately promoted delusion by others. In most cases  an anti-capitalist aspiration was nothing more than a politically induced fantasy!  In Spain, as elsewhere, during this entire period, the factors necessary for a post-capitalist society were not in existence. In addition, it seems clear that a basic level of understanding of revolutionary transformations was deficient if not entirely missing from much of the ‘left’ public discourse within Spain as well as internationally. To have a chance of being successful, an anti-capitalist revolution requires the following.

First the mode of production must have ceased to represent the needs and aspirations of a majority of those who are part and parcel of its economic, social and political fabric. Second, sufficient socio-economic elements of a new potential mode of production need to have already materialised. Third, any general dissatisfaction with the existing state of affairs, has to sufficiently seep into the ranks of the ruling elites to cause serious intellectual and practical splits among them. Fourth, the dissatisfaction among the general population requires the more or less rapid development of a common focus, a generally shared goal, large numbers of activists and crucially a more humane practice than those who are determined to defend the outmoded system.  None of these factors were more than partially fulfilled.

The end result of this lack and the above-noted illusions (along with the divisions yet to be discussed) was not a social revolution but a political polarisation of society and a descent into a bitter civil war.  From very early on the struggles within the Spanish Civil War quickly degenerated into a veritable holocaust of death and destruction. As we shall see, this outcome was a result which the sectarians among the anarchists, communists and socialists played an active part in promoting. It was a tragedy that has haunted the collective memory of Spain for decades and it should not be hard to understand that it still has a degree of contemporary relevance – for sectarian battles continue within the contemporary class war.

A sectarian war within a class war.

It is in the early stages of what became a civil war that the previously noted political differences on the left – including the revolutionary left – became transformed from a battle of ideas into direct physical combat. Some militia groups attached to Anarchist groups and socialist groups began to compete to implement agrarian reform by the forcible dispossession of large landowners possessions. The class war intensified. In other areas of Spain ancient hatreds against economic oppression and exploitation spilled over into assassinations of hated figures whilst other groups in other places burned churches and killed priests. In many places local self governing committees were set up to control roads and communications networks.

As noted, there were socialist groups, trade union groups, anarchist groups and non-affiliated groups who had their different agendas and modes of operation. Such diversity might have been a creative advantage offsetting the fact of no centralised control by involving ever greater numbers in becoming self-active, self motivated and organised. But sadly this was not to be. The dominant sectarian tradition within these left forces, meant that each section thought their ideas and practices were the ‘correct’ ones and should dominate proceedings. Thus began an internecine struggle for resources and domination among the forces opposed to Franco and the nationalists.

Like many other internationalists, (famous and otherwise), the writer George Orwell had joined a brigade as a fighter in the Spanish Civil War. His experiences there led him to make the following observation concerning left infighting, in the book  ‘Homage to Catalonia’ based upon his time there;

“In Barcelona there had been a series of more or less unofficial brawls in the working class suburbs. CNT and UGT members had been murdering one another for some time last; on several occasions the murders had been followed by huge, provocative funerals that were quite deliberately intended to stir up political hatred.” (Orwell. Homage…. Chapter 8.)

He observed that after only 6 months of fighting, the republican government had to resort to conscription which indicated a lack of support and the lack of a clear positive purpose which would encourage a sustained flood of volunteers. He also noted that politically conscious people were far more aware of the internecine struggle between Anarchists and Communists than of the fight against Franco. That direct experience in Spain led Orwell to gradually explore the logic of the system of political sectarianism with full control of state power. Two of his subsequent works, ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘1984’, both in different styles, in literary form, laid bare the internal structure of the Stalinist form of this schismatic aberration.

But this sectarian struggle of militant left political activists against each other was not the only debilitating problem created by political turmoil in Spain. Another dimension of the sectarianism in Spain was in relationship to those who – for whatever reason – stayed neutral or were critical of the ideas and methods of some of the extremist militia men. Paul Preston in his well researched book, ‘The Spanish Holocaust’ noted the following with regard to the make up and actions of some of the armed patrols.

“Thus the armed members of the patrols were made up of a mixture of extremists committed to the elimination of the old bourgeois order and some recently released common criminals. In the main, they acted arbitrarily, searching and often looting houses, arresting people denounced as right-wing and often killing them. As a result, by early August, over five hundred civilians had been murdered in Barcelona.” (Preston. …The Spanish Holocaust. page 228.)

Paul Preston devotes a whole chapter in the above-noted book to this ‘gratuitous’ violence on the left which although, as he points out, was much less than the right violence, was nevertheless considerable. There were also many extra-judicial assassinations by the left of other left personnel. Arbitrary searches, looting and arresting on the basis of denunciations without some kind of transparent, accountable process or proof was no better than what happened under the previous form of aristocratic authority and later under the Fascist. I suggest this behaviour was part of the ‘muck of ages’, noted by Marx!

The muck of ages.

I have elsewhere written on the comment by Marx on the need for the revolutionary class to rid itself of the muck of ages. [See Marx and the Muck of Ages.] Here I will draw attention to another remark Marx made which is relevant to this context. It is with regard to the consciousness of those who see the eventual necessity of revolution against the capitalist mode of production. He argued that;

“A class must be formed…which does not claim a particular wrong, but wrong in general…a sphere of society which claims no traditional status, but only human status…This…as a class is the proletariat. (Marx. Contribution to Critique of Hegel’ s Philosophy of Right.)

In other words the working class, or at least large sections of it, need to understand that to be successful they need to rise above their immediate own class interests. Their own freedom from oppression and exploitation can only be achieved by ending all forms of systemic oppression and exploitation. A revolution against the domination of capital means more than a struggle for their own immediate protection or improvement under the capitalist mode of production. Revolutionary workers need to see themselves as acting on behalf of all sections which suffer under capitalism.

Additionally, a post-capitalist revolution needs to be a thoroughgoing social revolution not a political revolution. In short the working classes seeking to free themselves are in effect representing the future for all humanity.  In this endeavour they must do all they can to represent and defend those unable to defend themselves. More than that they need to do their utmost to gain support not only from those already convinced and committed, but from those who are at first neutral or even for a time passively hostile.

This realisation was clearly not the case for the left in Spain during this period.  Much of the left in Spain seemed not to realise – or not to care – that anyone who they robbed, tortured or killed unfairly or unnecessarily had friends and family. Many of those family and friends were turned against those perpetrating or justifying such arbitrary violence on the left as well as the right.  Such extreme incidents, once set in motion on the left, not only acted as a barrier to some people from joining the anti-capitalist or republican struggle but such ‘dawn-squad’ groups acted as a pole of attraction for those who actually enjoyed unleashing violence.

Indeed as the civil war developed another twist was added to this downward sectarian spiral. When Franco’s side committed bombing atrocities and killed people, the extremists on the republican side wreaked violence not on the guilty, who simply flew away, but on right wing people close by who were innocent of any crime. This indiscriminate violence was mirrored by the Franco-led nationalists who also took revenge on innocent republicans when they could not easily get at the perpetrators of crimes. On the republican side as well as the nationalists side people, were increasingly detained, tortured and assassinated simply because of their political affiliation – even if they had not committed any direct injury or act of aggression.

This inhuman degeneration could not but negatively effect the chances of winning the civil war, let alone transforming the war into a revolution.  The extremists on all sides, left, right and centre saw everyone who did not agree with them as not deserving to be treated as human beings, but as pests to be eliminated. This included turning on each other for the slightest doctrinal difference. Outstanding among these sectarian thugs on the republican side were some of those affiliated to the Stalinist Communist parties, sections of the anarchists, some of the bourgeois liberals and some left socialists. Outstanding purveyors of depravity on the nationalist side were the Falange, the North African brigades,  the Foreign Legion and some Catholic clergy and of course Franco.

So it is a matter of historical record that sectarians on all side’s tortured, raped, stole, lied, cheated, murdered and betrayed. In an important sense it matters little that the side associated with Franco’s nationalists outdid by 3 to 1 the inhumanity of the republican side. The result was that millions who might have been won to a genuine revolutionary transition, stayed neutral, became critical or even in some cases swapped sides. The unfolding of this sectarian depravity and its sustained virulence was one of the important factors which destined the class struggle for a change in the mode of production in Spain to be deflected and thus defeated. The anti-capitalist struggle simply disgraced itself and was deflected away to be replaced by a war between democracy and Fascism.

As a consequence, even the transition to a open civil war was to the disadvantage of the republican side and to the advantage of Franco and the nationalists. In such circumstances and under such a combination of conditions, how could it be otherwise? And given the conditions of Spanish life at the time, most of this disastrous outcome could have been predicted, because 90 years previously Karl Marx, – who some of the sectarians claimed to follow – wrote the following;

“These conditions of life, which different generations find in existence, decide also whether or not the periodically recurring revolutionary convulsions will be strong enough to overthrow the basis of the entire existing system. And if these material elements of a complete revolution are not present (namely, on the one hand the existing productive forces, on the other the formation of a revolutionary mass, which revolts not only against separate conditions of society up until then, but against the very ‘production of life’ till then, the ‘total activity’ on which it was based), then as far as practical development is concerned, it is absolutely immaterial whether the idea of this revolution has been expressed a hundred times already…” (Marx. German Ideology.)

It needs to be recognised that the revolutionary masses in  Spain, and that includes those who self-appointed themselves to leadership positions, were not clear on the previously noted requirements. They could not go beyond or rise above trying to settle old scores, wreak arbitrary vengeance or satisfy their own particular conditions or sectarian perspectives. It is also clear that the other part of the ‘necessary material elements’, the existing productive forces, were insufficiently developed in Spain at the time to sustain a post-capitalist mode of production. However, the latter requirement might have perhaps been developed if the former (the muck of ages) had not been present. But it was.

Concluding remarks.

So in effect the underlying class struggle element within the Spanish Civil War (as it was during the Second World War) became diverted away from a social revolution against the capitalist mode of production, into its opposite. Despite a profound crisis of the capitalist mode of production working class energies were deflected and directed into a struggle between two tendencies among the national and international bourgeoisie; in fact three tendencies if we include the Stalinist state officials as among those dedicated to continuing capital (state owned) and maintaining wage-labour.

In the 20th century working people, were drawn into a global struggle between the democratically inclined bourgeois classes and the undemocratically inclined; between the State-capitalist Fascist and the State-capitalist Stalinist elite and the Liberal Democratic capitalist state elite. Workers were again drawn into killing each other – on mass – for the purpose of being exploited by one ruling class or another Their fate was to be used as cannon fodder in order to become the wage-slaves of Fascism, Stalinism or Liberalism.

Undeniably, sectarianism played an instrumental role in sowing illusions and divisions among working people. This in turn assisted the bourgeoisie in undermining and diverting of the struggle against capital.  It is a historical fact, still with contemporary relevance, that the relative small size of ruling elites requires them to be able to divide those they seek to conquer and/or rule. The cliché ‘divide and rule’ is no less relevant by being repeated add nauseum. Left sectarianism, once injected into working class struggles, created another division conveniently erected and maintained by the left itself.  The ruling elite in Spain led by Franco were thus materially helped by left sectarianism as well as by the military support provided by Hitler and Mussolini.

Finally, in any serious crisis of the capitalist mode of production, it helps the ruling elite to invent or create an existential ‘enemy of the people’ in order to invite or compel working ‘people’ to fight for the capitalist system rather than against it. The 20th century saw the rise of Fascist state-capitalism and Bolshevik state capitalism both of which served to deflect the struggle against capital into one of support. In the 21st century the evolution of militant Islamic Fundamentalism creates another potential diversion of working class energies and creativity into defending neo-liberal capitalism instead of opposing it. And of course injecting the poison of sectarianism into the working class struggle remains the default characteristic of many of those considering themselves anti-capitalist.

Roy Ratcliffe (February 2016.)

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