Government for the People — but Which People

Foy marxists it is axiomatic that the Government of any state is the "executive committee of the ruling class." In a capitalist state it acts in the interests of the captialist class and, ipso facto, against the interests of the working class, That it dees so does not depend on the goodwill or ill intentions of the Cabinet Ministers of the day. Unless thev are prepared to introduce legislation which will completely replace the existing social system with one based an the social ownership and control of the means of production, distribution and exchange, all their actions will tend to bolster up the capiatlist system, This does not mean to say that some sections of the capitalist class will not suffer. The tendency of capitalism ig for competiticn to lead to monepolies and this is graphically illustrated by the current fever of ' giant mergers in the ekctronic inductry, in textiles and banking. Eccnomic power becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, The state, whether ruled by Labour or Tory Governments, gives its blessing tn these ventures because the result is a streamlining and rationalisation. which is essential if British capitalism is to meet the fierce competition of its rivals in the international scramble for markets, Since Labeur came to power there has been a steady rise in the number of millionaires. This during a period when a vicicus wage freeze has been imposed on the working class; when factories have been closed or gone on short time; when hundreds of thousands have been thrown out of work, It can hardly be claimed that this makes any advance towards socialism, But this is not all. The sector of the population which has gained mest from Labour's three years in power has been the owners of Ordinary shares quoted upon the London Stock Exchange. The facts speak for themselves. The Financial Times In'tustrial Ordinary Share Index, published less than two weeks agn, rose to the highest figure in its history. As the economic corresponient of the Sunday Telegraph pcints out, every £100 invested in these shares in 1964, just befcre Labeur won the General Election, is now worth £116. Shares bought for £100 in the last three months of 1966 are now worth very nearly £140. He goes on to add, cynically, that these sharesholders can face the future with a reasonably warm plicw, despite Mr, Jenkins' promises of two years hard slog. These figures only refer to the average parcel of shares, Some did very much better. G.E.C. shares which stond at 44s last year have now risen to 93s9d (A.E.1I. workers at Woolwich, please note!) Martins Bank rose from 16s to 28s 6d. By contrast, during the last three-and-a-quarter years cf Tory rule, the stock market on balance did not rise at all, This is indeed astonishing. A stagnating stock market under a Tory Government and a boom under Harold Wilson, despite the fact that the econcemy as a whole is stagnant. There is a lesson here which all members of the Labour Party should pender, In whose interest is Labour ruling? Is this what we voted for in 196) and 1966 — bigger profits for stock exchange speculators and high unemployment and closed factories for the workers? Perhaps Dick Crossman will be able to tell us that this is what he means by socialism!