Britain

Last week, the Bank of England hiked its
interest rates, yet again, to 5.75%. This
was the fifth rise since August 2005.
And the head of the bank, Mervyn King, said that "further action" on
interest rates could be necessary. Most
observers reckon the interest rate that most borrowing and mortgages are based on
– the bank rate – will go to 6% or more by the end of this year.

As the Middle East descends deeper into a vicious cycle of
death and destruction, the Reverend Blair has stepped once again
onto the world stage as international envoy for the Middle East,
representing the "Quartet" of the European Union, Russia, United
Nations and United States. In this new role, Blair has the strong
backing of the US President George W. Bush, who is the key player. In
other words, Blair will bend the knee as always to US imperialism and
its interests.

Yesterday the smoking ban came into effect in England. But as socialists, should we be applauding such
state interference in our lives? Smoking kills thousands of people each year, but by supporting a smoking ban are we no better than the New Labour leadership who constantly patronise and blame working class people for the ills of capitalist society?

In the education
field Brown is continuing where Blair left off. In his endorsement of city
academies, Brown has called on Britain’s big business to form partnerships with
every primary and secondary school in order to get the kind of education
capitalism needs.

This is the final part of the British Perspectives document approved by the national conference of the Socialist Appeal. The issues which it covers are the trade unions and the Labour party, and the Marxist’s orientation towards the mass organisation. Also covered is the importance of the youth, emphasing the importance of theory and the training of Marxist cadres for the enormous events that impend in Britain and elsewhere.

The most astonishing piece of news to have been
greeted with relative apathy by the bourgeois press this week has to be the
rumour that Tony Blair could be serving as a Middle East envoy. When the ruling class becomes this divorced from reality, what they might do next is anyones guess.

In this section we deal with the question of the Blair government, the increasing abstentions of the working class, and the growing discontent affecting all sections. It also deals with the Conservative party, the natural party of the ruling class, which has shifted to the “centre” ground and won back
a layer that voted Liberal Democrat. Their hope is that Labour voters will stay
at home and traditional Tory voters will turn out to vote. On this basis they hope to win the next election, but that remains to be seen. Amongst other questions this section deals with the developments unfolding in Scotland and Wales.

While GDP in Britain is supposed
to be the fifth largest in the world, the division of this wealth is extremely
unequal.
What growth has taken place has mainly been by increased exploitation of
workers. The market principle of profit comes before education and health. Yet British capitalism’s share of world exports has continually decreased. Now young Asians are portrayed in
the media as potential terrorists, in the same way as the miners were portrayed
as the "enemies within".

Thanks
to the sabotage of some 300-odd members of the Parliamentary Labour Party,
ordinary Labour Party members and affiliates, who were expecting a leadership
election, ended up with no election and a "one member, no vote" imposed
candidate. The task now is to strengthen the left in preparation for future
battles.

This document is a statement on Britain, an analysis which was agreed unanimously at the national conference of Socialist Appeal in April. The statement constitutes an analysis of the deepening social, political and economic crisis of British capitalism. This perspective applies the method of Marxism to these developments, seeking to uncover the trends and processes within, and serves as a guide to action for all those workers and youth who want to struggle for a socialist transformation of society.