Unemployment, job insecurity, ‘reforms’... The left-wing of capital is always out to get the working class

With attacks and redundancies multiplying in Europe (VW-Audi in Germany and Belgium, Port Talbot Steel in Britain, Auchan and Michelin in France, Fiat in Italy), the bourgeoisie can count on its left-wing parties to push through this assault on the working class. In Britain, a country where the proletariat has suffered the worst attacks in Western Europe for decades, the Labour Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has promised “an in-depth reform of workers’ rights”. But this “historic turning point” is still two years away, and will undoubtedly be another well-packaged attack on workers' living conditions. In the meantime, there will be austerity for the working class, as Starmer has already announced a “painful”  budget. In addition to the fall in income due to inflation, the left is adding billions in budget cuts. At a time when energy prices have soared in recent years, the Labour government has, for example, decided to end the allowance that enabled some ten million pensioners to keep warm in winter. To sweeten the pill, the NHS, the UK's beleaguered health system, will receive “investment” that is totally ridiculous in relation to needs, and has announced tax increases to “rebuild public services”. Over the last few months, in the UK as in other countries, the bourgeoisie has been clamouring about raining taxes on the super-rich. This is the traditional refrain of the left and far left parties of capital to make the exploited believe that it is possible to make the capitalist system ‘fairer’ with their ballot paper.

In France, this mystification has been taken to the height of ridiculousness: Michel Barnier's right-wing government, in order to push through its huge €60 billion austerity package, has also promised to raise taxes “on the richest”. This is obviously a crude way of justifying the claim that “everyone has to make an effort”... especially the working class! It's all the more hypocritical because the rules on tax optimisation are such that the ‘effort’ of the ‘rich’ and ‘big business’ will be much less than announced.

In Italy too, the far-right government has played the same tune. Giorgia Meloni attacked the ‘citizenship income’ intended for the poorest by promising to introduce a “tax on super-profits”... before watering down her tax measures. In Germany, the government of the ‘socialist’ Olaf Scholz swears with his hand on his heart that he wants to “support the economy, consumers and companies in difficulty”, but is nevertheless preparing to raise taxes on energy and shamelessly attack minimum social benefits!

In reality, contrary to the lies of the left-wing parties, ‘tax rises’ are absolutely not designed to ‘rebuild public services’. On the contrary, they are necessary for the bourgeoisie to cope with the economic crisis and the huge increase in military spending. Germany is preparing for its second consecutive year of recession, while France and Italy are drowning in debt. Against this backdrop, Europe is set to spend €552 billion on ‘defence’ by 2023, an increase of 62% in 10 years! As capitalism plunges into chaos, this spending will continue to explode in the future: France plans to spend €413 billion on armaments by 2030; Germany has doubled its military spending in ten years to reach 2% of its GDP; the UK's colossal military budget will grow by a further €3.5 billion in 2025; Poland's could exceed 5% of GDP...

Raising taxes ‘for greater tax justice’ and ‘better public services’ is nothing more than a despicable fable peddled by the left to make it easier to accept the attacks on the working class, mass redundancies, ever lower wages and job insecurity!

EG, 4 November 2024