The Socialist 24 February 2010 NHS: not safe in their hands! Private 'vultures' to run NHS hospital How to stop cuts and defend public services Demo opposes £29m Notts county cuts Young people deserve a future: Join the Manchester march for jobs on 13 March Youth Fight for Jobs Demonstrations RMT branch supports challenge to Denham Support the TUSC election challenge Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition General Election launch rally British Airways cabin crew v management: Round two Anger on Teesside over Corus closure ID cards - an expensive threat to civil liberties Tories attack community café... Nominate Roger Bannister: Unison's leadership battle South Wales: Demo against council cuts Staythorpe: the fight for workplace safety Port workers battle bosses... and high court Leeds university: Support lecturers striking to save jobs Fighting leadership needed for UCU CWU women vote for political review CWI Latin America school: A continent on the brink Iraq: All eyes on the oil prize Campaigning rights victory: But questions remain on new Waltham Forest policy How can the racist BNP be defeated? Scottish Defence League defeated: Working class political alternative urgently needed |
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Home | The Socialist 24 February 2010 | Join the Socialist Party CommentThe Eton co-op won't workHAS DAVID Cameron swapped his top hat for a cloth cap by calling for public sector workers to set up their own co-operatives? Nancy TaaffeThe co-operative movements have their roots in the excesses and barbaric conditions that accompanied the development of early 19th century capitalism. They emerged as a response and played their part by working people attempting to implement a rudimentary system of welfare, healthcare and education. They also represent an early form of the idea of 'ethical' business. They were part of a time when trade unions were being forged, Marxism was being debated in working class clubs, and state welfare provision as an idea, was gathering momentum. Cameron's modelWhat David Cameron has in mind has nothing in common with the co-operative pioneers. His co-ops would be a backward step, a completely regressive idea. Ever since the working class won state provision, big business has been looking at ways to cut the bill to maximise their profits. For a number of years now socialists have been arguing that the welfare model put forward by New Labour and the Tories is a pre-world war two model, fragmented, uncoordinated, poorly funded, privatised and based on pot luck provision. It is a testimony to the legacy of the welfare state and the place it occupies in the working class psyche, that David Cameron has to borrow ideas and images from our history to try and confuse us with what is actually being proposed. With a nearly £200 billion hole in the public finances Cameron's co-operatives would have little money, and too few workers. As a consequence the service users would probably have no proper service and no democratic control over the service. If the last 12 years have taught us anything, it is beware any politician using the word "empower" who approaches with a huge scythe! Council house sales?It is telling that Tory spokespersons are hanging the popularity of their coops, as an election winner, on the memory of council house sales, which started under Margaret Thatcher. Although many council houses were badly designed and in a woeful state of disrepair, what was needed was more public investment not privatisation. The loss of council housing is a huge loss to the next generation who are at the mercy of rotten landlords, or forced to share crowded accommodation or stay at home for longer than they should. Or face a life of indebtedness through massive mortgages. The task of a socialist administration is to develop affordable accommodation, as the Militant-led (forerunner of the Socialist Party) council built in Liverpool in the mid 1980s. There, we built a campaign and mobilised people to fight for it. Our legacy is there in bricks and mortar. Co-operatives based on a system of want and deprivation often fail, and out of the mouths of Tory politicians are destined to do so. In this issue
Youth fight for jobs
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
Socialist Party news and analysis
Comment Unison witch-hunt
Workplace news and analysis
International socialist news and analysis
Socialist Party news and analysis
Anti-racism
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