For centuries Britain has been at the top of the economic table, reaping the benefits of an empire that spanned the globe.
But the working class has long been content with crumbs dropped from the top of that table – now, even those crumbs are hard to find.
Year after year, social, economic, and political life for the British working-class gets worse and worse.
Things are getting so bad that many workers in this country who are living in the most deplorable of conditions would rather commit a crime so they would be sent to prison. At least there, they think, they’ll get 3 free hot meals a day, shelter, and safety.
This is a better life than a lot of workers receive as ‘free’ citizens. Even the life expectancy in Britain has decreased in recent years. People are literally dying earlier because of the poor living and working conditions of modern-day Britain.
Has the ruling class in this country hit their peak? Are they fit to lead us anymore? Is it time for a new kind of leadership in this country, a working-class leadership that will bring this country forward to a new society, a new era?
One of the biggest economic issues in Britain right now is inflation. What causes inflation? Printing money can be a factor, like we saw in the Weimar Republic in 1920s Germany, when hyperinflation was so bad people resorted burning money to keep themselves warm, because the currency was worthless.
Another cause of inflation and the cost of living crisis British workers are struggling through is our government bailing out the private sector and the most corrupt in this country.
From airlines, private housing associations, to the most private members of the Royal Family – 100s of millions of tax payer money contributes to the bailing out of people and entities that are completely divorced from the working class.
The working class never get to see any of that money back. This causes a further polarisation of class in Britain, as the rich get richer off the backs of the workers, and the working class are continually oppressed, pushed down and depressed by the ruling class.
Another big cause of the cost of living crisis, as well as inflation, is the fact that the cost of everything goes up while wages stay the same. Meaning even though workers are essentially being paid the same on paper, but in practice, their wages are worth less.
This is one of the very reasons the RMT voted overwhelmingly in support of taking strike action. Railway staff have had no wage rise in 5 years, meanwhile since then, inflation at CPI has gone up to about 14%. Even if the RMT win and the government offers a pay rise of 7%, it will still be a pay cut compared to the value of worker’s wages 5 years ago.
Inflation like this has monumental consequences on British society; socially, economically, and politically speaking. Such material conditions causes widespread discontent amongst the people. As anger and frustration builds, violence and crime has the potential to blow up.
Further, such material conditions also perpetuates the same parasitic capitalist cycle of polarising the classes in Britain – making the rich richer and poor poorer. This strengthens the dictatorship of Capital in this country while weaking the power of the working class.
This increasing class antagonism is fuelling the inevitable class war which will bring workers to power in the future!
Another major consequence of these material conditions is the austerity measures the British people have had to endure for the last 20 years of conservative rule.
Slashing funding to our vital public services, such as the NHS, our education system, and doctors surgeries, will, inevitably, have detrimental consequences of the intellect and health of our nation’s people.
Physical and mental health will deteriorate, and independent, critical thinking will soon cease. If this sounds rather Orwellian, that’s because it is. This is the path this country is going down. A dystopian, corporate, police state ruled by an omnipotent capitalist class. However, this miserable and depressing future can still be reverted.
So how do we, as workers, and as socialists, battle this future. How do we combat the current material conditions of this country?
Firstly, we should nationalise all industry. All major economic centres should be nationalised under public ownership. We can’t trust foreign companies and transnational conglomerates to have the best interests of the British working class at their heart.
The only people who can best serve our class and our people are those who share the same class interests as us. This means that all British industry should be owned and organised under the leadership of the working class. Another thing we could be doing is organising a movement which would put pressure on the government to help decrease or at least subsidise the cost of fuel.
Everyday, thousands of people in Britain slip into fuel poverty simply because they can no longer afford the petrol to run their cars. This is unacceptable and the government have a duty to step in and help the people. If they can do it for banks, corporations, and the royal family, why not us, the people? Fuel protests have erupted all of Britain in the last week and we should absolutely be supporting this movement.
It is clear that the problems raised here are problems that are inherent within capitalism. These are symptoms of a capitalist disease and the antidote is working class socialism.
For all who understand this to be true, the actions required are clear. For all class conscious workers, we know what needs to be done. We need a democratic state where workers run the economy and organise society for the good of the people.
Things will only get worse so long this parasitic, monopolistic capitalist class stays clinging to the reigns of political power. We need working class socialism, and our time is now.
SCOTTISH WORKER 