We The Labouring Masses.

         I recently received a comment from a comrade, Loam, on a piece I wrote, Organise, Prepare, Act. "Turn off the damn computers, phones and televisions. Turn off cars, turn off lights. Turn off everything ... Keep silent, stay still, invisible, uncontrolled ... The masses become invisible to their exploiters. The streets, the shops, the buses, the subway ... nobody. The system is nothing without us, the people." A fact that doesn't seem to come to the forefront of most people's minds, we are the power, we have all the power that keeps this stinking system alive, we have the power to shut it down. Without us the system wouldn't exist, we can stop it at will, and that's the point, we have to realise we can stop this insanity and summon up the will to do so. We should remember----

WE THE LABOURING MASSES.

We the people have, every brick laid,
have fed the world with sweat and spade,
every instrument played in every band
created by the skill of the craftsman's hand.
We made every truck and every load,
our toil our effort every winding road,
every ship that ever sailed the sea,
our power our imagination made it be.
Cities and towns large and small,
our labouring hands fashioned them all,
every home, every spire,
luxury mansion or humble byre.
No matter what dreams the mind might spawn
without labour's hand, never see the light of dawn,
without labour's strength and labour's skill,
we would be foraging beasts in a jungle still.

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Phoney Figures Conceal The Savage Insanity.

        Though this article from Its Going Down, original source, Anathema, was referring to America, it applies to the entire capitalist world. The three pillars of the capitalist cathedral that are necessary for its survival are, increase market share, reduce costs, and increase profit margin. Of course these are impossible to maintain in a finite world. Disaster for the many is the only outcome of such an insane system, its destruction is the only road open to a sane and just world, and that task is up to us, the ordinary people of this world, the corporate parasites will fight tooth and nail to hold on to their privileged insanity.  

        The following essay from Anathema argues that the success of “our” economy that we are told about over and over, from a variety of parasites, is nothing more a cycle of boom and bust that is designed to explode every few years, trapping us both in poverty and jobs that we hate.
        Despite constant governmental controversies and the raging disaster that is the global capitalist system, in late August President Trump was able to announce record-setting economic success as the U.S.’s bull market became the longest running in its history. For those struggling to find work and stay afloat, it may be surprising to hear that the economy is doing better than ever and unemployment at an all-time low. How is that possible?
       To start with, the stock market is not an accurate indication of how well the economy is actually doing. Even to many capitalist experts, the current valuations of the market seem like a serious stretch. But more importantly, to correctly assess current economic phenomena would require a historical perspective on capitalism and certain insights into its tendencies that no mainstream economist is willing to take on — hence professional analysts’ sometimes amazing inability to understand or predict economic trends.
       A basic tendency of the capitalist system is that it needs to keep expanding in order for it to preserve itself. At this point in its history, global capitalism has been struggling for some time to find new markets and other ways to continue growing profits at the massive rate that is now necessary. Its growth has happened through increasingly constricting labor costs in a number of ways – through employers decreasing full-time jobs with benefits, automating more jobs, and employing temporary, part-time, or even unpaid labor, as in the notorious case of prison inmates. Some specific manifestations of this have been the rise of the gig economy, which, in promoting “flexible” working arrangements, cuts the costs and responsibilities that corporations would have if they maintained a permanent workforce; the adjunctification of labor in universities, in which professors are hired on a cheaper, temporary basis instead of the university maintaining tenure-track lines; and a major shift towards what’s called just-in-time production, which similarly involves a dramatic increase in temporary work, as employers adjust their workforce based on supply and demand.
       So the fact that Walmart is posting high earnings does not mean, as mainstream analysts are suggesting, that consumer power is up and the economy will keep doing great. It just means that Walmart is a corporate distributor using just-in-time supply chains to crush labor and reduce costs to the absolute minimum. Meanwhile, news media is reporting unemployment in the U.S. is at 3.9%; it seems poised to hit 3.7%, the lowest it’s been since 1969. As we’ve written previously, this low number is actually the result of more and more people giving up on looking for work and no longer being officially counted in the “workforce.” This number has nothing to do with the total population of the U.S. and the significant actual changes in the nature of labor mentioned above. It is hopelessness and misery that are spreading, not the number of jobs.
         At what point will global growth actually peak, and another recession kick in? The U.S.’s current economic success is in part the result of the Trump administration’s massive tax cut, spending increases, and aggressive stance on trade, all of which have been calculated to grow the market for now without necessarily holding up well in the long term.
       Moreover, trade tariffs and the looming reality of Brexit stand to lead to a loss of investment confidence and tank the markets; however, it seems very possible that the escalatory trade threats with China are just Trump politicking and that nothing will actually happen until after the midterm election. The real sign of a looming recession is wage inflation, meaning the rise in the price of goods that happens when wages increase.
       It seems obvious, given the reality of employment conditions in this country, that there will not be any significant wage growth any time soon. Average hourly wages have risen only 2.7% in the past year, which is much lower than usual in a strong economy. What the current market’s success really indicates, then, is ongoing success by employers in keeping their workers underpaid and unstable, while pushing more and more people out of the job market altogether. While labor organizing and reforms may occasionally still have some successes, to reverse these trends and go back to better labor conditions under capitalism is structurally impossible for the capitalist system, which depends on increasingly minimizing labor costs.
      The only way forward for this economy is for the obscenely rich to get richer through devastating the livelihoods of more and more of the world, crushing the ability or will of the latter to do more than survive, let alone rebel.

        The two sides of the cancerous capitalist nightmare, the privileges of corporate parasites depend on the poverty of the many.

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The Coming War On China.

 

      The other night I did something unusual, I sat and watched a 2 hour documentary on TV, I must admit it was 2 hours well spent. The documentary was John Pilger's "The Coming War On China", it was jammed pact with facts and figures, backed up by photos and statements. What it shows is that there is a savage insanity running through the whole Western capitalist system. War and destructive power are its main ingredients. There is not a shred of humanity to be found in the plans and aims of this juggernaut of manic hate, driven by the militarised American empire. From blatant use of humans in experiments with radioactivity, to outrageous lies to communities, to commandeering whole islands, and destroying the lives and way of life of thousands of ordinary people. All this driven by a paranoia that sees China as something that must be destroyed, no matter the costs.  In their marble halls of power they sit and draw up plans that could, if implemented, destroy all life on the planet, this is, somehow in their deranged minds, is defending freedom.

       If there is anybody out there who still has doubts as to the destructive nature of capitalism, then I ask you to sit and take the time to watch this documentary to the last frame. Not only was my disgust for this system supercharged, my hatred of the capitalist system strongly reinforced, my anger went off the scale. On top of that there was a foreboding feeling of dread, tinged with fear for my kids and grand kids. Watch this Documentary and join the millions across the world who are fighting to bring down this nightmare cancer that is eating at the heart of our planet. It could be much later than you think. 

       As the American establishment feels its power diminishing, it becomes more desperate, more paranoid, more deranged, and grasps around for ways to regain its world dominance, to to them China is seen as the root cause of their slipping power, and so must be destroyed, and to hell with humanity. Sadly, we are part and parcel of that insane destructive nightmare with our Trident nuclear submarines and there nuclear weapons. We are truly living in an asylum, we must break down the walls and regain our freedom before it is all too late.   

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk