On 3rd March 1985, the miners were formally defeated. On May 11th 1985 a smallish demonstration of 500 or so mostly young (but at least one South Yorkshire miner) marched behind the banner of ‘’Behold Your Future Executioners’’ through swanky Kensington. Fast forward through years of Tory and Labour administration, the result of the defeat of the miners and other workers struggles fought in sectional terms and failing to become generalised working class struggles. This has allowed for wars, deregulation, speculation and financial crash. The ruling class are unfurling the same banner. Bash the Rich has become Bash the Poor and this time it’s not just street theatre.
Like a good magician, the ruling class know all about misdirection. As they try to talk up the anaemic ‘’recovery’’ their assault on the poor gathers pace in the shape of massive cuts which have hardly begun to be implemented. The logic of the ruling class is transparent enough; the UK’s capitalist economy is in bad shape, the UK’s net public debt stands at £1.21 trillion, which is equivalent to 75.9% of the entire economy. Investors are wary. Class War is inevitable. Time to Bash the Poor.
Speaking at a factory in Birmingham, Osborne warned a further £25bn spending cuts would be needed after the next election.
_“Mr Osborne has argued the savings needed after 2015 can be found entirely from spending cuts, with welfare accounting for about half of the £25bn targeted; the remainder coming from a further squeeze on departmental budgets.” [_http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25617844]
Osborne feels no need to hide the holocaust to be unleashed, probably because in terms of what capitalism offers in the long term, these are the good times.
Attacks on welfare we deal with in the front page article but there are more. Local authority cuts will also target the worst off. According to the BBC;
_Between 2010/11 and 2015/16, it says, the percentage cut in spending will be 10 times greater in the most deprived areas than in those least deprived._
The contrast could not be starker as the following figures show.
% Cuts of the Top and Bottom 5 Local Authorities
Most deprived:
Liverpool City Council: 27.1%, London Borough of Hackney: 27.1%, London Borough of Newham: 27.7%, Manchester City Council: 26.1%, Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside: 27.4%
Least deprived:
St Albans City and District Council, Herts: 3.6%, Rushcliffe Borough Council, Notts: 9.4%, Harborough District Council, Leicestershire: 4%, Elmbridge Borough Council, Surrey: 2%, Waverley Borough Council, Surrey: 1.3%
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25953444]
The alarm bells are ringing on every front. The rich and fortunate the world over are chaining up the door. They are going to balance the books on the back of societies reduced to concentration camps without barbed wire. Are you going to pretend you can’t smell the stench, and look the other way or are you going to get up and join the fight back? Many are now looking for a way to fight back. In the longer run only a massive response from the exploited and marginalised on an international scale can prevent the descent into social collapse and worse.