Policy to Stop the Slide
Socialist Organiser1981 1981-08-20Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 10 →
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A 29% cut in real wages since 1975, and over 9,000 jobs gone in the same period - in decaying capitalist Britain; railworkers seem to be faced with a constant struggle just to check or slow down the deterioration in their living standards and conditions.
How can the slide be halted and reversed?
The productive resources exist to guarantee everyone a decent and improving standard of living. Only the chaos, crisis, and inequality of capitalism stand in the way. But if workers sacrifice wages and jobs "in order to get through the crisis, the sacrifice won't stop the crisis. The bosses will just demand more sacrifice.
Automatic monthly cost-of-living increases, in line with a price index established by workers' committees, and work-sharing without loss of pay, should be basic demands for the whole working class.
The need for decent living standards and jobs should come first, not profits. Working hours should be cut, not jobs.
If the bosses protest that these basic demands are economically impossible, then - let's see the books.
Banks
Let's see the balance sheets, not only of this or. that loss-making industry, but of the banks and financial institutions and the state.
Millions
Let's see where millions are going.
And if the profit system does make the basic demands impossible, then let's get rid of the system - and replace it with a democratically planned economy, with workers' control.