Yet another important contribution to the growing literature indicating the collapse of welfare standards in Britain has been made by the Socialist Medical Association. In their pamphlet "Poverty and Old People" *, the socialist doctors have collected together much of the evidence about the serious neglect of the aged which has come to te a normal characteristic of our miscalled "welfare state", The author, while drawing attention to the statistics of deprivation, (discussed in a review of Peter Townsend's new fabian pamphlet three weeks ago) are not content simply to call for higher pensions, or for higher pensions at 70 years of age than at 65, They continually and rightly stess the isolation and loneliness of old people, the inhumanity of current attitudes to retirement and the sense of futility, of sheer uselessness, which is so widely engendered by them and the attendant standards of capitalist morality.
"Old age is imposed by society, if retirement is involuntary. ....
Infirmity then develops more quickly, and, in fact, forced retirement
is a definite threat to health. Moreover, the increased pace of
work in modern industry has meant that there are fewer elderly people
at work now than 40 years ago." The figures speak most eloquently in this matter:
The decrease in % of gainfull loyed older people, 1921 to 51
Age Gainfully employed 1921 1951
55-9 94.0% 95.0%
60—4 88.0% 87.8%
65-9 79.0% 42.7%
70—4 52.6% 27.47%
75+ 27.0% 12, 6f Of course, the monstrous "earnings rule", which eats away the pension rights of those who earn more than the most meagre pittance, has a great deal to do with the story, If the rhythm of work in factories was adapted to the needs and impulses of people, instead of being imposed upon. them, then the increased reliability, accuracy and meticulousness of older men would be most useful in industry. Le Gros Clarke discovered that one fifth of 65 year-olds who could still do useful work, were forced to retire by the rigid standards of their normal jobs, When we read about the myth of Procruster, who stretched his victims on a rack, and sawed them short, in order to have them fit his standard pattern of what was right, we can still feel horror. But modern capitalism has all the edge on Procruster, It can get men driving: themoelves silly with worry to diminish their stature by the requisite. amount, or killing themselves with exertion in order not to seem smaller than the demands of their job. Only 10% of 65 year-olds retire by custom or their own wish, 10 to 15% are pushed out by rigid. rules, 20% can no longer keep up the pace of work demanded, and 104 retire because of serious ill health, Social class gravely affects the ability to go on working: in social class V, (the unskilled workers! grouping) the proportion unfit is 4 times that in class I, (the professional and higher managerial group). There is a need for serious trade: union attention to all these problems, *Available 9d p.p. from SMA, 13, Prince of Wales Terrace, London W.8..
over/
Poverty and 01d People /continued
The pamphlet also provides a serious documentation of ill health and distress caused by bad housing, malnutrition and hypothermia, or in plain English, lack of fuel, In 1955 one fifth of the old people surveyed in Sheffield were badly nourished. Dorothy Wedderburn calculates that 200,000 old people can't hear properly, but have never had an aural test. 100,000 more than this can'tsee properly and haven't had their sight tested recently, 670,000 need chiropody:
"Lack of mobility due to foot defects is a potent cause of ill-health
and social breakdown." All of this, (and there is a lot more to learn from this horrendous pamphlet) adds up to a demand for a real explosion in provision for the old: pensions, remedial services, health centres, day centres and clubs, help of a hundred kinds, need organising and financing. In housing, hospital, and general health services, vast areas of neglect need urgent attention, Of course, with the bankers on its back, the Government is not anxious to rush to grips with such problems. The old have a comforting habit, from the point of view of abstract economics, of ceasing to pose problems, They die. "Dynamite and abrasive" policies in the factories will bundle out more and more prematurely retired men, who will then decline or fade away, Money spent on welfare would on the best event be merely a palliative in this situation: but the palliative will not be applied. . . . Not, that is, unless the conscience of Labour can be awoken, and the trade union opposition can move over to the offensive to reverse the policies of Wilson, driff} and rot.