Milton’s unflinching devotion to the
‘good old cause’, his total idealism, unwavering commitment to human freedom
and hatred of tyranny in all its forms makes him attractive to
revolutionaries today. And Milton, as well as being the second greatest poet of
the English language, remained a revolutionary by instinct till his dying day.
He was born four hundred years ago on December 9th 1608.
For there to be a revolution does there have to be violence? To the sectarian mind the answer is always in the affirmative. Marxists look at the question in a more rounded out manner, looking at the many factors that come into play: the balance of class forces, the nature of the leadership of the working class, the tactics and programme adopted, and so on.
For there to be a revolution does there have to be violence? To the sectarian mind the answer is always in the affirmative. Marxists look at the question in a more rounded out manner, looking at the many factors that come into play: the balance of class forces, the nature of the leadership of the working class, the tactics and programme adopted, and so on.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has
estimated that government finances are out of control, and New Labour will have
to make cuts of £37bn to balance the budget over the longer term. These cuts
amount to 2½% of Britain’s GDP. As right wing Labour MP Frank Field tartly
points out, “The government’s forecasts of debt levels have a terrible habit of
being way out. This year’s borrowing is 40% up on its estimate last year,
standing at a staggering £118bn.” (Guardian 08.12.08) As borrowing rises faster
than income from taxes and other receipts, the mass of government debt is
likely to hit £1 trillion for the first time ever by the end of 2009. The
Financial Times commented, “Mr Darling’s projections look gloomy. The worry is
that they may not be gloomy enough.”
Graham Turner has published The
Credit Crunch. (The credit crunch by
Graham Turner, published by Pluto Press) Turner is an independent consultant
who worked in the City of London for many years. What singles out this book is that it claims
to approach the problem from a socialist perspective, or at least it has been
adopted by the left. Turner has spoken
at many left forums in recent months.
What is Graham Turner’s message? He outlines his aim in the preface: “the
roots of this crisis must be understood to ensure there is no repeat of the
flawed economic policies that have created the biggest credit bust since the
1930s. If we understand the causes, the
damage can be mitigated”.
On Wednesday 19th November UEA’s Socialist Society hosted a joint meeting
with the UEA Green Party. The meeting took the form of a debate between Norwich
City Councillor Rupert Read (Green Party) and Fred Weston on the important
issue of the food crisis. The question of whether the crisis is one of
production or distribution was the starting point of the debate, enabling the
speakers to explain their perspective on the cause of the crisis and
ultimately, their proposed solutions.
The question of the State in capitalist society is of key importance for Marxists. We do not see it as an impartial arbiter standing above society. The fundamental essence of every state, with its “armed bodies of men”, police, courts and other trappings is that it serves the interests of one class in society; in the case of capitalism, the capitalist class.
The question of the State in capitalist society is of key importance for Marxists. We do not see it as an impartial arbiter standing above society. The fundamental essence of every state, with its “armed bodies of men”, police, courts and other trappings is that it serves the interests of one class in society; in the case of capitalism, the capitalist class.
Single parents and those on incapacity benefits are due to
suffer as a result of government rule changes. From now they will be
transferred from Income Support to Job Seeker’s Allowance. They will have to
show they are ‘genuinely seeking work.’ If not, their benefits could be cut by
up to 40%. This is workfare on the way.
What a difference a few months make! In the summer Gordon
Brown was on the ropes. Over the past couple of months he has picked up a
thoroughly undeserved reputation as the ‘saviour of the world economy.’ Brown has embraced Keynesian policies wholeheartedly,
without explaining his U-turn. His solution to our economic ills is to hurl
money at them. ‘Never apologise, never explain’, seems to be his motto. So what
is making Brown look good? The Tories, that’s what.
As our editorial last month pointed out,
what killed the citizens of Pompeii was not the pyrotechnics of the explosion
of Mount Vesuvius, but the resulting ash that choked the people. It is
possible, though not inevitable, that we have seen the worst of the banking
collapse. But the results are destroying jobs all over Britain.