After reading an article by Janet Daley in the Sunday telegraph I felt compelled to respond to her comments. Below I publish a copy of the letter I have sent to the Sunday Telegraph letter page, of which I am sceptical about the possibility of it being published. The article written by Janet Daley can be found here.
In last weeks copy of the Sunday Telegraph (June 27) Janet Daley in her column stated “Virtually everybody who is in touch with political reality now accepts that the old contest – socialism vs. Capitalism is over.” I can honestly say that I was shocked by this ascertain, I don’t see how Janet can match this with reality at all.
I have been an active campaigner and advocate for socialism for the last 7-8 years since the age of 17, in that time I have witnessed a growth in the support for socialist ideas particularly over the last 2 years and more increasingly now. Indeed it was as recent as June 16th that the BBC News at 10 aired a piece about Nottingham. The news piece showed the leader of the council Kay Cutts with a picture of Thatcher on her office wall on the one hand. On the other hand the news piece showed activists organising against the proposed cuts. In particular it showed a meeting of the Socialist Party and referenced the increasing support recently due to the polices of all the main parties in response to the recession, the reporter even went as far to say that the old ideological battlegrounds are being redrawn!
Whilst Janet infers that none of the major political parties in Britain now engage in this ideological debate, agreeing that capitalism is the only way forward. It is simply untrue to say as she did that “those in touch with political reality agree capitalism is the only way”. It is of course the capitalist policies which have created this global recession. This current financial crisis was not inevitable it is only capitalist policies which make this kind of policies inevitable and this is becoming recognized by more and more workers and young people.
If Janet Daley is so confident about her claims that anyone politically in the know would rule out socialism then why doesn’t she attempt to prove that and agree to a public debate with me? Capitalism or Socialism? This could happen within the pages of the Telegraph, on the Telegraph website in text or video, on my own blog or a live debate in person. I am confident enough that my ideas and views can hold up in a debate but is Janet? Or is she just wiling to make these kinds of statements when they can go unchallenged?
She completely misses two fundamental points. First off, with wages and conditions getting worse, low-paid jobs aren't a route out of poverty. Pray tell me, which low-paid jobs have any opportunities for progression? Which voluntary placements actually lead to paid employment? The fact is if you're on a minimum wage job you'll still be there a decade later, unless it's some graduate scheme.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, she forgets that people are on the dole largely because that's exactly where capitalism left us by destroying whatever opportunities we may have had, leaving about 3-4 million people on the scrapheap.
Capitalists have also jumped to the conclusion that our generation's going to spend the next 50-odd years in hardship paying off the massive debt we've been left with, no questions asked. Maybe we'll refuse. Maybe there'll be a revolution. Maybe there'll be an exodus from the UK.
While quite angry at Daley's ridiculous assertions, I'm not particularly surprised. Free-market thinkers often brush the exploitation and oppression of the working class aside with one simple sentence, because any sort of debate about capitalism is difficult for them for obvious reasons. Remarkable.
ReplyDelete"We all believe, with greater or lesser degrees of enthusiasm, in free-market economics. "
Do we? Daley doesn't even want to argue anymore, just deny the fact that anti-capitalism exists. She also notes that the 20th century gave examples of all-powerful states causing economic and social turmoil and repression. I would be interested to know whether Pinochet in her mind counts as one of these creators of the huge, controlling state, considering that thousands of those who did not work with his free-market paradise were detained, tortured and murdered.
the article was published by the telegraph though it was edited and this is what actually appeared
ReplyDeleteSocialism’s strength
SIR – Janet Daley (Comment, June 27) states that “virtually everybody who is in touch with political reality now accepts that the old contest – socialism vs. capitalism – is over”. I can honestly say that I was shocked by this assertion. I have been an active campaigner and advocate for socialism for the past eight years, ever since I was 17. In that time I have witnessed a growth in the support for socialist ideas, particularly over the past two years. It is, of course, capitalist policies which created the financial crisis, and this is becoming recognised by more and more workers and young people.
Glyn Matthews
Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan
The media in collusion with the neo liberal political parties have pretty successfully managed to delude a large section of the western world, in quite an orwellian echo chamber, that the financial crisis was the result of too much public spending and too much government when it is blatantly obvious to any thinking person that it was the result of 30 years of rampant free market capitalism. The challenge for us, as socialists, is to defeat this new orthodoxy that tries to silence our ideas.
ReplyDeletewww.apublicserviceannouncement.blogspot.com