Archive for the ‘Socialism’ Category

Letter: Wealth tax is a giant step toward socialism – Shreveport Times

John Odom, Letter to the Editor Published 12:22 p.m. CT April 13, 2021

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President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeh Warrens wealth tax would cause a disruption in the markets that could cause losses of value in the retirement and investment accounts of the middle class.

This is because the wealthys wealth is not in cash but largely in stocks, real estate and art. To pay a wealth tax they would have to sell large blocks of stock that would force market prices down for everyone invested in the markets.

Warren is not ignorant of the market disruption her proposed Wealth Tax could take. Indeed, it is the opening salvo toward government control of industry. The next step is for a responsible Congress to intervene and prevent the disruption in the markets that could cause the middle class to incur losses in their retirement accounts when significant stock liquidations occur as the wealthy prepare to pay their taxes.

The cure will be to require the taxes be paid by transferring stock to the government in a private sale.'' The government may even state what stocks it will accept. The end game is to have enough stock transferred to the government for the government to be able secure seats on the boards of selected companies which will eventually result in government representatives controlling senior management.

As long as we maintain free and fair elections, which are also under attack, the citizens can maintain some control, but the march toward government control of all aspects of our society is underway.

I, for one, do not think Warrens wealth tax is intended as a short-term solution to pay off massive debt, but a plan designed with a socialist outcome intended, probably with a lot of input from Sen. Bernie Sanders.

John Odom

Shreveport

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Letter: Wealth tax is a giant step toward socialism - Shreveport Times

Don’t take the word of Socialist Democrats – Tullahoma News and Guardian

I would like to thank The Tullahoma News for giving our city and surrounding communities a platform to express their opinions. While some opinions dont agree with mine, I would like to offer two other excellent forms of media to enlighten those who are in desperate need of understanding whats happening in our world today.

NewsMax, channel 216 on Dish, is an excellent source of truthful, up-to-date coverage from around the world as well as how the United States of America is falling into the hands of Socialist Democrats and failing to uphold the Constitution written by the founders of America.

I recently subscribed to Epoch Times. It is a weekly newspaper full of honestly reported news. Reporters actually report factual news, not lies the liberal left wants us to believe.

Both of these media outlets are reporting the facts which the American public is not aware of, mainly because we dont take time to check the facts. We believe what the liberal left and Socialist Democrats want us to believe. This dereliction of our rights state in the First Amendment will cause America to become a third world country, where fascism, socialism and communism thrive and freedoms are lost forever.

Quoting Mr. Bobby Fanning in the April 11 issue: God wanted our country to have new leadership. Yes, God wants our country to have new leadership, but I believe He had His Son, Jesus Christ, in mind.

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Don't take the word of Socialist Democrats - Tullahoma News and Guardian

Of big tech, big data and the need for digital socialism – Khaleej Times

If you are not paying for it, then you yourself are the product. This just about sums up the essence of the business in this era of information dominated by the social media, Google, Amazon and a few other assorted data and device-making companies.

We, as individuals, are just data points in the vast digital landscape created by the Big Tech. Our lives are inextricably enmeshed in the vast intricate web dominated by a few tech companies. We yield a lot of data to algorithms and aggregators as we make decisions in both our personal and economic life on the world wide web.

Our attention is their economy. The more we engage with them, the more data we give away. This data is a source of vast wealth amassed by the digital companies which mine every single byte of information we generate and gain insights into our lives with sophisticated analytical tools. This precious knowledge is sold to companies eyeing to sell goods and services to the very consumers who yielded the data to the digital players.

Recently, I came across an interesting and thought-provoking argument made by Andy Mukherjee, a Bloomberg columnist. He tackled the issue of compensating the vast number of individuals who are the source of data that rakes in billions for the digital behemoths. He proposed the idea of funnelling a share of the profits into a depository trust which can redistribute it among the individuals serving as data points. He compared it to the much-talked-about concept of universal basic income whose time, he thinks, may have come.

Anonymity of money is bound to disappear in the rapidly changing technological world. The big data can analyse the multiple transactions of an individual and plot the patterns of their spending and earning, Digital wallets on your phones will serve as your money purse wherein your share of profits from your data can be deposited. This sounds too good to be true. It is truly utopian. But nothing wrong in chasing new ideas that disrupt the existing unequal relationship between the individuals and the companies making money out of him.

Much as we may like to say data is new oil, it is not the same, says Andy Mukherjee in the seminal column. Data is not a standalone asset like oil and it does not make sense on its own. Data points have to be clubbed and patterns have to be discerned through algorithms. Only then will it become commercially viable. So claiming proprietary rights over data may not work and is of no use. So give away your data and expect something in return is the message of this point of view.

I would like to propose a slightly different idea which too draws upon the idea of trusteeship. I have made this argument on my social media handles off and on. The argument centres around making digital infrastructure a common property run by a non-profit trust for the good of everyone. The most apt example in this context is Internet itself which is managed by a non-profit consortium. The second most important digital asset in this genre is Wikipedia.

Both the above-mentioned non-profit institutions have made an amazing contribution to the advancement of knowledge. The Internet has enriched everyones life and brought about a fundamental change in the way modern society functions without treating its users as data points and as source of profits. If Internet was to be a for-profit listed company, its valuation would have crossed several trillions. The same holds true on a smaller scale to Wikipedia, which is a crowd-sourced and crowd-funded compendium of knowledge.

If the world wide web itself is a common property, why not Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon, etc. Here I am advocating a sort of nationalisation of all key digital properties which can be dubbed as a sort of digital socialism. When Internet serves everybody by being a non-profit without losing any of its effectiveness, why not the same thing does not hold good to digital companies operating in the Internet ecosystem. The Big Tech has made big money out of their enterprises. It is time they surrendered their assets to the common good, much like the drug formulations which are freely available for anybody to produce after their patents expired.

The word socialism evokes bad memories for many. Experiments with community ownership of properties in the erstwhile communist countries resulted in huge inefficient systems that ultimately collapsed. But that should not deter us from creatively experimenting with that mode of ownership in a post-digital world.

Socialism need not be a dreaded word. Much less so digital socialism. Aggressive profiteering by digital companies has left many players in the Internet behind. One notable instance is that of newspapers whose survival has become precarious as their print products are fast becoming redundant and their digital services are not earning enough income. The Internet arena is heavily loaded in favour of Big Tech players who are mainly content hosters, not content creators. They monetise the space but do not share the revenues equitably, justly with those who create and upload content. This unequal relationship has sparked a crisis in many old style industries.

Device makers like Apple too aggressively use their monopoly to fleece lesser players who sell their wares via App Store.They demand as much as 30 per cent of the revenue generated via their store. It is nothing but criminal. The anti-competitive behaviour of the digital bigwigs is a different subject matter and deserves to be dealt separately.

The solution to all these crises lies in looking at altering fundamentally how the Big Tech functions. The paradigm change may be the need of the hour. A basic institution such as search engine can be a common property much like web browser which is a neutral vehicle for accessing the Internet. There could be issues such as routine maintenance and updation but they can be resolved by trusts tasked with running these digital institutions.

sreenivasa@khaleejtimes.com

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Of big tech, big data and the need for digital socialism - Khaleej Times

Socialist Equality Party (UK) holds meeting calling for a network of rank-and-file action committees – WSWS

An April 10 meeting of the Socialist Equality Party (UK) calling for a network of rank-and-file action and safety committees was attended by workers from many sectors including education, health care, transport, engineering, food and drink manufacturing, warehousing, services and the gig economy.

Also attending were a number of students. Greetings were brought by World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) US labor editor Jerry White and Gregor Link of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Germany.

The WSWS and the Socialist Equality Parties internationally are assisting workers everywhere in the building of an interconnected network of rank-and-file committees, independent of the trade unions that work on behalf of the employers and the government. These committees will provide the new and democratic organisations of class struggle workers need to stop the spread of COVID-19 and fight back against attacks on jobs, pay and conditions.

UK Socialist Equality Party Assistant National Secretary Thomas Scripps opened the meeting by warning of the dangerous new stage reached by the global pandemic and the policy of herd immunity still pursued by the worlds governments, repackaged as learning to live with the virus.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reopening the economy, which means not only a return to mass sickness and death, but to job losses, wage cuts and attacks on working conditions.

This is the ruling class ruthless class war strategy, said Scripps. The most urgent political questions today is for the working class to organise around its own class war programmeseizing control of the wealth and productive resources of society and using them to protect all lives and livelihoods

There are currently no mass organisations of working-class struggle. What masquerades under the name of the trade unions is a giant apparatus for suppressing industrial and political action. Building new fighting organisations of the working class can only be done through a determined insurgency against this apparatus. That means the setting up and expansion of rank-and-file committees, run by, and accountable to the workers, resolutely independent of the trade unions.

Above all, Scripps explained, this requires the fight for a new, socialist political perspective in the working class, for a massive redistribution of social wealth, the planned coordination of the world economy to meet human needs, and the necessary political struggle against the worlds capitalist governments.

Jerry White noted that the US population had by that time suffered 575,000 deaths, the highest number of fatalities of any country. Cases are rising again in several states. It is under these conditions that the Socialist Equality Party in the US has won increasing support for its call for educators and other workers to build new organizations, independent of the corporatist unions, to fight this murderous policy.

Workers have joined a growing network of national and international rank-and-file committees to organize the fight to save lives and oppose the brutal austerity being demanded by the corporate and financial elite, which is hollering that there is no money to save lives or pay living wages after receiving a multi-trillion bailout that has allowed US billionaires to increase their wealth by more than one-trillion last year.

White referred to the defeat of the unionization campaign at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama yesterday, which exposes the extent of workers alienation from the pro-corporate trade unions.

Workers opposed joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), even though US President Joe Biden himself had called for a vote in favour. The operation to install the RWDSU at Amazon did not arise from a movement of workers from below. Rather, it was an operation of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the ruling class, and the state from above. The intervention of the Democratic Party and Biden reflects calculations within substantial sections of the ruling class that the working class can be better restrained by placing it under de-facto state guardianship within the unions.

Gregor Link explained, In Europe, almost one million people have died of COVID so far, with 25,000 people currently dying each week. Tens of millions more will suffer long-term health problems and the consequences of increased exploitation and ruin

Opposition in Germanyas across Europeis widespread and growing The night after [Chancellor Angela] Merkel and the state prime ministers refused to impose the necessary lockdown two weeks ago, the hashtag #generalstrike was the No. 1 most-discussed trending term on Twitter for more than three hours.

The SEP in Germany has established a network of rank-and-file committees for safe schools and workplaces and is fighting to organize independently of the unions and reach out to workers all over the world. We intend to fight for a general strike that includes and unites workers across Europe and beyond to shut down schools and non-essential production. All affected workers and small business owners must be completely recompensated.

SEP (UK) member and special needs teacher Tania Kent spoke on behalf of the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee established last September. It was clear from the beginning of the pandemic that the fight against its deadly impact and the protection of lives could not be left in the hands of the Labour Party and the trade unions, who supported the policy of herd immunity and the protection of profits over lives.

The Committees founding statement said its purpose was to unite all those opposed to the unsafe reopening of schools and provide the necessary leadership to prepare for a nationwide general strike to halt the reopening of schools.

Kent said, This continues to be the essential task before workers. The launching of a network of committees today is an essential step in providing this leadership and programme across all industries.

Claire, a high school student, said that at her school, we have assembly twice a week with about 300 people and masks are not enforced at all.

SEP member and bus driver Miles Driver said, Among key workers, London bus drivers have suffered one of the highest death tolls from the pandemic. More than 60 drivers have needlessly died from the pandemic over the last year

If anyone listening believes the unions can be reformed, or pressured to the left, or forced to fight for our interests, I urge you to consider the experience of bus workers with Unite.

On April 10 anger turned to fury after Unite, the union, which covers 20,000 bus drivers in London, sent thousands of letters to drivers stating that PPE was not recommended. The letter was signed by Unite Official John Murphy along with the head of Transport for London and top bus company executives.

In September, as a new wave of infections developed in the garages. the London Bus Rank-and-File Committee was established The Committee has enabled workers to begin to act in their own interests. Our initiatives in defence of safety forced the companies and Unite on the back foot at a number of garages, exposing Unite's role as an industrial police force for Transport for London and the Johnson government.

Rory Woods, an SEP (UK) member and nurse at an NHS hospital, told the meeting, I have been involved in the SEPs NHS Fightback campaign since its founding in 2012 Our experience during the pandemic, as well as over the last four decades, shows that workers cannot place any faith in the unions. If I were to list all the sell-outs carried out by the Royal College of Nurses, it would take more than an hour.

Last month, when the Johnson government proposed an insulting 1 percent pay offer for health workers, the RCN union was quick to announce a strike fund of 37 million. This was simply to appease the 450,000 members... That hot air has gone now. Theres no talk of a strike anymore.

The unions had said there would be a fight for workplace safety during the pandemic, but tens of thousands of staff have contracted the virus. Around 1,000 health and social care workers have died of COVID-19 over the last year. This is 1 in 150 of the deaths that occurred in the UK! Sadly, two of my colleagues are among the dead.

Lucia, a parent, raised the issue of long-COVID: The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show one million sufferers and one in ten educators and I can see that situation getting much worse as everything opens up. It is estimated that half of children will become infected unless safety measures in schools were drastically improved. Children, educators, and their parents are being used as cannon fodder for short term economic gain.

Lucia added that there are still a lot of vulnerable people in this country who are unvaccinated.

Dennis, a worker in further education, said he had been assured he and his colleagues would work in separate bubbles before the first return to work, but within a month he was being asked to cover for someone across a bubble. After the second lockdown, they were told there would be no bubbles. Tutors are currently being asked to work up to 7.30pm every evening.

WSWS UK editor Robert Stevens detailed the privileged existence of the trade union bureaucracy, with Certification Office records for 2019/20 showing that the union bureaucracy controlled assets worth 2.2 billion. The annual financial returns of the unions show that 22.1 percent of unions paid a salary to their general secretary of over 100,000; 19.2 percent paid between 60,001 and 100,000; 10.7 percent paid between 30,000 and 60,000. The average pay of 29 union leaders on more than 100,000 a year was 153,935 in 2019.

The unions, Stevens explained, seek at all times to suppress the class struggle, which is the greatest threat to their privileged existence. In 2019/20 the Unite union, with over 1.2 million members, held 245 ballots. But from these the outcome was only 25 strikes or actions short of a strike. The other of the two largest unions, Unison, held 234 industrial action ballots, also leading to just 25 strikes or actions short of a strike.

WSWS writer Tony Robson spoke about the GMB unions betrayal of the British Gas workers struggle, warning that due to the refusal of the unions to mobilise workers behind their strike, hundreds would be sacked in a fire and rehire operation. He insisted that the growing militancy of workers must be given an organised and political expression and that's why today's meeting is such a significant step forward.

School teacher Helen, a union rep in a primary school, said she had been fighting for safety in her school but was given no support by her trade union. The harassment from the school and from the head teacher had resulted in a major impact on my mental health and the union has isolated me as much as the school has done I have networked and found that my case is just the tip of a very big iceberg.

Scripps concluded the meeting by noting a question posted asking if the Corbynist wing of the Labour Party set up a new party, whether it is likely that the unions would switch their funding from Sir Keir Starmers party to a new left party?

Scripps answered that Corbyn and his co-thinkers had no intention of leaving the Labour Party. The political function of Corbyn, and the so-called Labour left, is to serve, as has been proved time and again, as a trap. They are trying to drag leftward moving sections of workers and youth back to the Labour Party where they can be politically neutralised and disposed of.

We place no confidence whatsoever in any section of the Labour Party This is an organisation which is viciously hostile to socialism and to the most basic interests of the working class. A genuine workers party, the Socialist Equality Party, has to be built and it has to be based on socialist principles and the complete political independence of the working class.

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Socialist Equality Party (UK) holds meeting calling for a network of rank-and-file action committees - WSWS

We are actual Democratic Socialists, and here is what we believe | Column – Tampa Bay Times

The papers are full of opinion pieces by liberals and conservatives warning us of the dangers of socialism. We are told that socialists want the government to run everything, take away your freedom and stifle individual initiative. Yet, there is a strange disconnect between these descriptions and the views of self-described Democratic Socialists in current and past U.S. history like Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Dr. Martin Luther King, Helen Keller and others.

Actual Democratic Socialists support policies like Medicare for all, tuition-free college, an increased minimum wage, strong unions, an end to big money controlling our political system, protecting voting rights for all, ending continuous wars to protect corporate profits abroad, etc. These have no relationship with the caricature presented in many mainstream media depictions.

Democratic Socialists believe in democracy. An unfettered capitalist economic system undermines democracy because it creates massive inequality. The wealthy then buy their preferred political outcomes; inevitably they have way more influence than ordinary working people.

But what does socialism mean? In simplest terms, it means reversing our unbalanced power relations in both our economy and our political system: political and economic power would be transferred from the few (the 1 percent) to the many (the working class). Both our economy and our politics would be brought under democratic control.

We can measure how socialist a society is by the degree to which it has transferred political and economic power from a small group of capitalists (the 1 percent and its surrounding highly paid functionaries) to the working class, a large majority of the population. The more a society has achieved that transfer, the more socialist it is.

A modern conception of Democratic Socialism must transcend the old view of socialism as strictly government ownership and a 100 percent planned economy. Modern socialism will have a use for markets as well as planning but those markets must be shaped and controlled democratically and not rigged for the benefit of the capitalists and their henchmen. By democratizing the economy, modern socialism will do a better job of rewarding people who do useful, beneficial work rather than those who take advantage of the system.

Democratic Socialists strongly combat all forms of discrimination against any segment of the working class. We oppose racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, religious bigotry, xenophobic nationalism and the like. All these discriminatory prejudices undermine democracy.

Modern countries closest to Democratic Socialism are the Scandinavian social democracies. Of course, they are not entirely socialist but they have come closer than any other countries in the world. They consistently rank among the worlds most democratic, most egalitarian, healthiest, most prosperous, most environmentally responsible, most highly educated, most crime-free countries in the world.

Are they unsurpassable utopias? No. But they are more socialist than other countries, and various metrics prove that their socialist policies deliver a better life than is available under a strictly capitalist society.

It is time Democratic Socialism was depicted accurately. What we have written here is what we Democratic Socialists actually believe.

Bruce Nissen, Carol McNamee and Sean Armil are members of the Pinellas County chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

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We are actual Democratic Socialists, and here is what we believe | Column - Tampa Bay Times