Christmas Presents

Its coming up to Christmas and all the main parties are falling over themselves to hand out presents in the form of Tax Cuts. The Tories in Britain are setting out today their plans for cutting tax - offset by cuts in Public Spending, which they no doubt won't specify - the Liberals have proposed Tax Cuts to be matched by Tax increases on what they claim will be the Rich, but will probably actually be aimed at the Middle Class leaving the real owners of Capital untouched, whilst Gordon Brown and the Labour Party are to set out their proposals next week. Brown who has now found a new confidence in appearing to lead the global response to te Financial Crisis is even proposing a global Keynesian stimulus package be adopted by the G20.

In the US Barack Obama and the Democrats are proposing a new Keyensian stimulus to the flagging US economy. On CNN the other day leading Democrat Barney Frank confronted Republican Ben Stein - perhaps better known by film buffs as the Economics teacher in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Stein was trying already to blame the economic mess on Obama, even before he has taken office, and was saying that given the size of the US economy even the $300 billion stimulus the Democrats were proposing would not be enough citing the $1/2 trillion package the Chinese had announced. This, of course, from the Party that used to be known for its Conservative "Balance the Books" policy!

If Capitalist Governments really wanted to stimulate their economies, the simplest way would be to simply hand out more money to the poorest in society, because they would be likely to spend it. They could massively increase the Minimum Wage so that the poorest paid workers didn't lose out. They won't do that because Capital needs to keep that pressure on the lowest paid workers in order to keep the pressure on those just above them. Such measures would strengthen workers hand against Capital, and the Capitalist State is not in the business of doing that. That is why they prefer Tax Cuts, which keep them sweet with the Middle Class, and Government Programmes of varying kind, which line the pockets of the State's bureaucrats and hangers on in various quangos.

In short, the Capitalist State will use whatever measures are necessary to stabilise its economies, and if some workers benefit from those measures such benefit will be accidental, not by design. Workers should not waste their time beleiving that this State will work in their interest or waste their time placing demands upon it. As Frederick Engels once set out the Marxist attitude to that State of the Capitalists, "We ask them for nothing. If they give us something we will take it, but we will show them no thanks."

The reason for Engels attitude is simple. He and Marx beleived that workers should not place their faith in the Capitalist State, and Marxists should not miseducate workers into beleiving it would act in their interests or even impartially. Workers could only resolve their problems by looking to their own self-activity, now and in the future, through their own collective action whether that was defensive action to defend their wages through their Trade Unions, through collective action to build up their own economic and social position, by developing their own Co-operative property, or their collective action, to challenge the power of the bosses to frustrate their progress, in the Parliamentary institutions, by developing their own Workers Parties. No better advice could be given to workers today.