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From The Socialist newspaper, 18 May 2011
Pay gap grows ever wider
'Under capitalism the rich get richer and the poor get poorer'. Merely Marxist propaganda? Not so. A new report by the high pay commission shows that the wage gap between UK's highest earners and the rest of workers will soon be as wide as in Victorian times.
According to the commission the top 0.1% of earners will see their pay rise from 5% to 14% of national income by 2030. The last time this concentration of wealth was seen was in the early 1900s.
Last year according to the report the average salary of corporate fat cats was over £3,747,000. This sum is over 145 times greater than the national median full time wage of £25,800.
The report says the trend is likely to see a further widening of this gap to 214 times by 2020.
Undoubtedly, right wing trade union leaders will seize upon such figures as strengthening the call for a return of a Labour government.
However, recent figures published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies show that income inequality between rich earners and the majority of workers accelerated under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 18 May 2011:
Socialist Party workplace news
Strike back at pensions robbery!
Fight all the cuts - come to the NSSN conference
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Derriford hospital announces huge cuts
Socialist Party editorial
Crisis deepens in the eurozone
Socialist Party news and analysis
The Hardest Hit march and rally
Teachers' strike stops job cuts
Iraq war: Labour's lie machine
Socialist Party feature
Britain now facing crisis on all fronts
International socialist news and analysis
Northern Ireland: The 'no change' elections
Socialist Party workplace news
UCU at the crossroads on pensions
CWU conference: Support joint union action on 30 June
BA dispute: Mass meeting votes to put latest agreement to membership
Socialist Party youth and students
Con-Dems: Supporting Youth Enslavement
Yorkshire Youth Fight for Jobs regional conference
Socialist Party feature
Tory cuts hit children and young people
Teachers strike and parents picket at Shorefields
Campaigners put pressure on Lambeth council
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