Editorial: A voice for working people PDF Print E-mail
Wednesday, 15 July 2009 11:12

Socialist Review is a magazine for working people.  We don't pretend - like the corporate media - to be unbiased.

They claim to speak for the "general public" but at the end of the day they represent the views of their advertisers and owners. This is a deception and the coverage of the recession makes that clear. We are not "all in this together".
Most people are working longer hours but despite this what was taken for granted 25 years ago, like a house and a decent retirement, is now a struggle to afford.
Our bosses on the other hand are rolling in dough. The National Business Review had to double the entry level to its Rich List from $25 million to $50 million because being a parasite has never paid so well. And then the media tells us we are all in this together, that the recession hurts all of us equally, even that we are to blame for borrowing too much and living beyond our means. The nerve of it.

Household debt has skyrocketed even as government debt declined. All that was achieved by 25 years of neo-liberal "balancing the books" has been a shift of the debt load onto the shoulders of individuals and off the ample back of business. Labour's lightening of the student loan load has only served to entrench an inequitable system.

Illusions of growth

The appearance of rising living standards is maintained in illusory ways. Firstly, the housing bubble: This was greeted with mindless euphoria by the media and market commentators. The system seemed to be working beyond their wildest dreams as tens of thousands of dollars of fake value were added to ordinary suburban homes. Many young people were priced out of the market and homeowners bullied or tempted into remortgaging wildly and plunging deep into debt. In hindsight, the media remember their morals and lecture us on the sin of greed and the virtue of hard work.
Secondly, overwork: Where once the 40-hour week was the norm and provided a living wage for a family, now one-income families are increasingly rare. The capitalist system has perverted the demands of the women's liberation movement - women are increasingly expected to work and keep the house as well.
Thirdly - cheap imports: The removal of many trade tariffs decimated manufacturing as cheap second-hand motor cars and electronic goods flooded in from East Asia. Shoes, cars and stereos may be cheaper than ever but this wealth is based on the misery of millions in low-wage economies, and the decimation of local industry.

Recession

Now as capitalism enters yet another crisis, we are expected to tighten our belts once more.  NZ is yet to feel the worst of it but already the bosses have pulled out the knives to slash wages, conditions and of course jobs. We detail some of the losses from the first half of the year on the following page.
Every job loss is a disaster for the the families affected but it is also an attack on your wages and conditions. As unemployment rises the pool of poor and desperate pushes job security out onto the street. The recession is a disaster for workers and the bosses who go under, but the boosters of the system are quick to point to the advantages to the companies that survive, as our bargaining power is undermined and opportunities to buy up  bankrupt businesesses and laid-off workers increase.

Social wage

It's not just in your pay packet that you will feel the pinch. National is preparing to pare back the public service - to hack away at health and squeeze education. Not that Labour would have done any different if they were faced with this dilemma. Even in the boom years while profits soared, the privatisation of education continued apace. School fees were normalised and student fees rose year on year.
The "social wage" includes roads, rail, TV, radio, parking, libraries, galleries, buses, parks and so much more. Freely available facilities and services save working people thousands every year. Tax ensures businesses pay a share of the load. Cutbacks on the social wage are attacks on the living standards of all.

Prisons

One part of public spending seemingly immune to cuts is the prison system. On this point, prudent economists and fiscal conservatives suffer sudden fits of generosity. An ideology of punishment and a worship of "law and order" blinds businessmen and politicians to reality and costs. Because prisons do not cut crime. If anything they provide an environment for it to breed.
New Zealand's prison population is growing fast. It is foolishness to think there is a limited number of criminals you can imprison and solve crime once and for all. Our "law and order" ideology pretends to provide security for the majority but this is yet another illusion.
When desperation rises, so does reaction - the racist, sexist, homophobic bile that sits half-digested, close to the heart of the capitalist system. The prison population provides a handy enemy of the people but social dislocation creates the homes where evil becomes real. Instead of solving the problem we are taught to fear the symptom.

Study, organise, build a workers party

So long as working people have no voice we have no choice. We need to study the world, organise, and build a workers party.
We want to provide reliable information on issues confronting working people and ideas to change the world. In the long term we want to build a party to replace Labour, a party that genuinely represents the working class majority. If you agree with this aim, then take out a subscription - now only $5 for three issues - or better yet, join the International Socialists Organisation.

Mike Tait