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The latest news and analysis from The Communist, alongside reports of our activity. For Marxist theory and history, click here.

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Recession and class struggle in Europe

The disarray among ruling circles in the
European Union could hardly have been more clearly depicted than at the
‘summit’ over the weekend of October 4th and 5th. In
reality the event was little more than a photo-shoot. The meeting brought
together the Prime Ministers of Britain, Germany, Italy and France. The Prime
Minister of Spain clearly had his nose put out of joint by the lack of an
invitation. The other EU members (currently 27 nation states) also may well
have asked why they weren’t to be asked to take part in decisions that could
profoundly affect their futures.

The only realistic reply could be that the
meeting would have been even more of a shambles. Europe cannot get its act
together. First the participants at the summit swore to unite in action in the
teeth of the crisis. Secondly, when it came to pumping money in to the European
banking system (which must come if the plan is serious) they all got cold feet.
National interests came first. German finance minister Peer Steinbruck blew the
gaff. “We as Germans do not want to pay into a big pot where we do not have
control and do not know where German money might be used,” he complained. Since
the EU nations are not hanging together, they will hang separately.

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AIG – Partying at public expense

Last
month we reported how insurance giant AIG had to be bailed out by the US
government for $85bn. It’s all part of ‘Socialism for the rich, capitalism for
the poor.’

 

Less than a week after the bailout, the company held a week-long retreat for
its executives at the luxury St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., running
up a bill of $440,000,

At the opening of a House committee hearing about the near-failure of the
insurance giant, Congressman Henry Waxman showed a photograph of the resort.
Waxman said the executives spent $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and
$23,000 for the spa. 

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“Justice now! Free the five!” – Report of vigil for Cuban Five in London

Yesterday saw an impressive show of
solidarity for the Miami Five in front of the US embassy at London’s
Grosvenor Square. About five hundred people turned up to the annual
candlelit vigil organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in Britain.
Hands Off Venezuela joined the protest, which marked the 10th
anniversary of the arrest of these five courageous men.

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“Reformism or Revolution” launched in London

On Wednesday, (October 1st,
2008) around one hundred people gathered in Bolívar Hall in
London to attend the launching of the English language edition of
Alan Woods’ latest book, Reformism or Revolution – A Reply to
Heinz Dieterich. The event was organised by Hands Off Venezuela
and Wellred,
the Marxist Publishing House. Comrade Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist
Appeal, chaired the meeting and introduced the two speakers,
Samuel Moncada, Venezuelan Ambassador and Alan Woods himself.

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Editorial: 1929 again?

The Banks are going down like ninepins. It’s just over a year ago that
Northern Rock went bust. That was the first time we heard of the
‘credit crunch’ – the fact that banks were nervous of lending to each
other. Why? Because they realised the whole financial system was stood
on an unstable house of cards of credit. The pyramid had been built up
over years of mad speculation. They had got to the stage where they did
not know which bits of coloured paper in their vaults were sound and
which were non-performing toxins.

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Hands Off Venezuela at Leeds Freshers’ Fair

Supporters of Hands off Venezuela at Leeds
University intervened during the week long freshers’ fair at Leeds University
Union to promote solidarity between students here in Leeds and the workers and
youth in Venezuela who are struggling to create a new society based on
socialist principles. There was a great deal of interest in the university’s
HOV society and the programme of events that the comrades have lined up. The
society managed to sign up 13 members and collected more than 50 contact details
as well as selling books, pamphlets and HOV magazines.

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Boris and the bankers

Boris Johnson defends capitalism. 
“Go on.
Admit it. You don’t feel altogether sorry for those bankers, do you? When you
read about the collapsing pillars of the temples of mammon, you don’t feel the
tears beginning to prick the corner of your eyes. 

“When you
read that the masters and mistresses of the Universe are being expelled from
their glass palaces, ferrying their possessions in cardboard boxes, you can’t
quite find it in you, somehow, to mourn…”

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At the sharp end of the crisis – homelessness and poverty in the US

Our
lives, those of our children, our health and living are subjected to the whims
of the gambling table, otherwise known as the ‘world financial system’. In what
way can betting on the prices of stock and shares benefit humankind? Rather, it
inevitably leads, at some stage, to crisis, as the blind bets get called in.

Now,
with the crisis of the capitalist system unfolding, the poverty, hunger and
homelessness experienced by some sections of working class people is spreading
to wider and wider layers. This is initially being expressed in foreclosures on
home loans and an increase in homelessness.

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Bradford & Bingley nationalised – let’s take the rest

Bradford
& Bingley has finally been put out of its misery. After months of
cliff-hanging the government has been forced to nationalise the bank. In
many respects the ‘rescue’ plan is a clone of the $700bn Paulson plan being
pushed through in the USA. The basic idea is that the good stuff is sold off to
the private sector while the taxpayer is lumbered with the bad debts, the
toxins. Socialism for the rich and the rigours of free enterprise for the rest
of us!

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Hands Off Venezuela at Edinburgh Freshers’ Fair

Supporters of the Hands Off Venezuela
Campaign in Edinburgh held a stall at the two day long Societies’ Fair at
Edinburgh University.

The
comrades were hoping to highlight the gains of the Venezuelan revolution and to
draw attention to recent events in Bolivia as well as to restart the lapsed HOV
society at the university.

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Bail-out blackmail

Last week US Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson unveiled a dramatic plan to arrest the present financial crisis and
prevent future economic catastrophe. It is to cost $700bn.

It sounds like a breathtaking break from
neo-liberal philosophy. It’s not really. Neo-liberalism was always a giant lie.
Homeless people don’t matter. People in danger of losing their jobs in a
recession don’t matter. But, when it comes to banks and billionaires,
self-reliance is for the birds. These people are hapless bums.

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