I read an article yesterday discussing the rise of the right, laying the blame for this at the feet of the left; the left which has fallen away, marginalised as no longer relevant in our globalised world of free markets and corporate driven politics. I happen to disagree with this statement. I believe that socialism has it's place at the table of political debate and, in my mind, beyond just that. But then it has become a dirty word, tarnished by the cold war era of Bolshevism and kicked, sullied, into the verge where it has remained; off topic, off the table of debate and certainly out of UK the political sphere since Thatcher and the Conservative Party so ruthlessly destroyed the unions and social syndicates of working class British communities.
Mrs Thatcher herself deemed Tony Blair her greatest achievement; a legacy of her ideals born within the ranks of the Labour Party - and so we lurched to the right, to live out the century as middle class, one and all, while a neoliberal beast quietly took hold. It is a beast of self preservation, a parasite of sorts - driven by profit, GDP, growth; all the while tightening it's strangle hold on our politicians & media. The balance sheet is king, the worth of things measured only by the bottom line and so the public sector, with it's aspirations to help the most vulnerable, prop up the needy, feed, clothe, treat, ferry, advise, represent - without the need for profit: must go. And so we strip it all away, strip the state back to corporate tax breaks and transnational trade agreements with a comprehensive disregard for the effects of a dog eat dog world ruled by corporate wolves.
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