The loss of hospital beds and outright closure of
hospitals must stop. Under New Labour, NHS
hospital waiting lists in real terms have increased from just over 1 million to 1.6
million, while private health care has continued to flourish on the back of NHS resources,
as it did under the Tories. New Labour has
actually spent less – as a percentage of GDP – than the Tories expended in their
last year of office.
Our objectives involve the abolition of
all forms of private medicine and health care; an
end to all contracting-out services; strengthening
primary care, not at the expense of secondary or specialist services but properly funded
care based on community, family and individual needs;
increased training and recruitment of all NHS staff;
an end to Hospital Trusts and GP fund-holding;
re-opening all “mothballed” hospital wards and re-establishing district
and cottage hospitals; restricting
nurses’ and doctors’ hours to the average working week without loss of pay; and adequate provision of NHS nursing homes free
of charge for those who need them.
The Socialist Labour Party is committed to
taking into State ownership the pharmaceutical industry, so that the provision of
essential drugs is not determined by profits to shareholders but by the needs of all
patients.
Our concern is not only for
communities but for the workplace, where many workers become ill, disabled or lose their
lives through poor and dangerous conditions at work.
Socialist
Labour Party believes that a safe, clean workplace is not a luxury but a basic
right. The scandal of deaths in the
construction industry is one example of why we are committed to improving the rights of
workplace safety representatives, with increased powers and staffing of the Health and
Safety Executive, and no notice for workplace inspections.
We want to extend the list of
occupational diseases and to see a no-fault compensation scheme established so that
discrimination is eradicated.
The cost of restoring Britain’s battered NHS to the best health service
in the world requires an immediate investment of �15 billion per year. This sum could easily be met by cutting
Britain’s defence budget by two-thirds.
Pensions
Restore the ‘Link’ Now
In 1978, the government concluded an agreement with workers and pensioners
designed to guarantee old-age pensioners a decent pension which would not lose value. In exchange for workers paying higher National
Insurance contributions, pensioners were guaranteed that there would be an annual increase
in pensions equal to the average increase in wages or the rise in the Retail Price Index,
whichever was the higher.
The Conservative government of
1979-1997 blatantly betrayed Britain’s pensioners and took away that contractual
‘link’ between the annual wage increase/RPI – yet the New Labour Government
which came into office in 1997 has compounded this betrayal by refusing to restore the
link, despite previous promises to do so.
Today in Britain there are 12 million
pensioners, many growing old in poverty, unable to buy sufficient food or heat for their
homes.
To add insult to injury, the Government
and local authorities ‘steal’ the savings, assets and homes of pensioners who
have to face long-term hospitalisation or who go into care.
Our Party is committed to stopping this outrage;
to take someone’s home, their savings and assets simply because they have to
go into care is tantamount to theft, and tramples on the rights of people who during their
working lives have already paid for their own health and welfare care.
We Socialists want to see a properly
funded national contributory pension scheme based on contributions of employers and
employees, which will guarantee all workers on retirement with a proper index-linked
retirement pension. Contributions to the
national fund would be transferable to occupational pension funds (and vice-versa) with no
loss of benefit.
The Socialist Labour Party opposes
stakeholder pensions – a move by the New Labour government designed to further reduce
government expenditure on pension provision and compel workers to pay into what will be a
private money-purchase pension scheme.
With stakeholding, an individual’s
pensions contributions are invested in shares, property and other assets designed –
so the architects of this scheme tell us – to build up a fund which at the date of
retirement can be converted into a regular pension payment.
Occupational pensions were traditionally
based on the principle of a final salary scheme. In
other words, workers on retirement would receive up to 66 per cent of their final salary
normally index-linked, for the rest of their lives.
We have never understood why an
occupational pension scheme did not or does not allow for the payment of 100 per cent when
based on the final salary principle, but even under the present arrangements it is
infinitely better than a private stakeholder money-purchase pension scheme – which is
based on shares and on investment return over the lifetime of the pension scheme.
To add insult to injury, a stakeholder
pension will depend on what the annuity rates are at the time of retirement. This is yet another scheme designed to remove
central government’s responsibility for providing decent pensions to men and women
who during their lifetime have paid enough by way of national insurance contributions and
income tax to be entitled to a pension no less than the best occupational pension schemes
currently in existence.
Occupational pension funds are deferred
pay, and no employer or government should be able to take one penny out of an occupational
pension fund. Pension fund monies should be
used for one purpose and one purpose only – to pay pensions to pensioners and
beneficiaries.
The Socialist Labour Party condemns the
Myners Review as a cynical attempt to gain even further control over occupational pension
funds. Our Party rejects all of Myners’
recommendations, proposals which have already been thoroughly discredited.
The trustees of occupational pension
schemes should be those who are members, either contributing members or beneficiary
members of the schemes. These trustees should
also have control over investments which cannot be left to the incompetent (and, in some
cases, corrupt) investment policy decisions taken by the so-called
‘professionals’.
For example, contributor/beneficiary
trustees would never have agreed to �450 million being stolen out of the Mirror Group
pension fund and put into Robert Maxwell’s private companies, a theft not prevented
or revealed by that fund’s accountants and professional investment managers.
If the investment strategy recommended by
the National Union of Mineworkers-nominated trustees of the Mineworkers Pension Scheme had
been followed rather than the strategy of the professional fund managers and
management-nominated trustees, then the Mineworkers Pension Scheme would today be hundreds
of millions of pounds better off.
Myners is a professional fund manager, and
his Review like others before it is designed to allow professional fund managers to take
complete control of pension funds, investment
policy and effective day-to-day control of pension fund monies which rightly belong to
members of the schemes and not to city investors and or managers.
New Labour, the Tories and Liberal
Democrats all support taking control of occupational pension funds – including
investment policy - and are committed to the introduction of stakeholder or private
pension schemes.
In addition, New Labour, the Tories and Liberal Democrats all refuse to
restore the ‘link’ for Britain’s 12 million old-age pensioners. If the ‘contractual’ agreement reached
in 1978 was restored, the pension of single pensioners would rise from �72.50 to
�102.65, whilst a couple’s pension
would increase from �115.90 to �166.48, an increase of 42 per cent which, if implemented
in full would do no more than restore the level of pensions to that received in 1979.
Our party is committed to restoring the ‘link’, a policy which
would cost �6 billion; a sum which could easily be met out of the �10 billion saved if
Britain withdrew – as it should - from the European Union.
Education
We
Socialists believe that all people have a basic right to free, high-quality education
from infancy through to old age. We want free
creche, play group and nursery provision for all children, and full-time school-based
nursery provision from the age of three.
Because of the stress
caused by serious under-funding and wider social problems, teachers including head
teachers, especially in England and Wales, are leaving their jobs and our schools in
droves.
School services and
facilities are being privatised. On top of
that, the Government is seeking to destroy the comprehensive school system – a system
which has been consistently undermined by both Tory and Labour governments through public
spending cuts and ideological opposition.
School selection by
so-called ‘ability’ must end. The
Socialist Labour Party is committed to retaining comprehensive education, and opposed to
current government policy which will provide a good education for those who can pay, a second-rate education for those who cannot - and
a third-rate system for the vast majority of children.
Our education system
must be funded according to need, which means radical changes in the way resources are
distributed. We are committed to abolishing
the private and ‘independent’ sectors; the considerable resources they enjoy
should be used for the benefit of entire communities.
All privatised
education services and their assets must be returned to local public control. Proper administration of nurseries, schools,
colleges or universities is utterly incompatible with privatisation in any form, including
competitive tendering.
The Socialist Labour
Party is committed to the full restoration of trade union rights for all education
workers, whose pay and conditions must be determined through proper negotiating
structures.
We
Socialists believe that class sizes must be sharply reduced and more teachers
employed, thus ensuring educational standards for our children that will benefit the
nation as a whole.
We are also committed
to promoting full democratic participation by students as well as teachers and governors
in decision-making structures. School
communities should be more involved in the appointment of head teachers, and
accountability should be shared by teachers, parents, students and pupils.
In order to meet the
needs of all working class children, girls and boys, students from ethnic minorities and
students with disabilities, the school curriculum must be relevant to them. We want assessment methods that promote and
encourage students’ further development, with learning methods based on co-operation,
not competition.
In higher education,
student grants must be restored and the student loan system – which has kept so many
young people from education – must be abolished.
The Socialist Labour Party believes that grants in line with minimum wage levels
should be available for all full-time students. All
benefits (including housing and unemployment) that have been withdrawn from students since
1979 should be restored.
Education should be
available to us all at whatever age. All
adults should have the right to planned study leave during their working lives – and
effective campaigning by the Labour movement to reduce the working week can turn such an
opportunity into reality for millions.
There have been
positive moves in Scotland on education, particularly insofar as student grants are
concerned. However, even this type of measure
is only palliative.
What is needed
throughout England, Scotland and Wales is a system which provides free education at
colleges and universities, the payment of all grants by central government and an
undertaking to pay students an income equal to the national minimum wage.
The cost of providing Britain with an education system capable of meeting the
needs of children and young adults in the 21st Century requires an immediate
increase of �5 billion per year in education expenditure.
This cost can be paid for out of the �30 billion profits of the industries and
services privatised over the past 22 years.
Housing
Affordable, adequate
safe housing is a fundamental human right. We
say that homelessness and housing unfit for habitation are products of the capitalist
system. In our towns and cities, thousands of
properties lie empty and unused – from derelict homes and flats to office blocks
which have never been occupied.
Yet thousands of
families try to cope day after day with hostel accommodation, while still more individuals
are completely without shelter of any sort.
The Socialist Labour
Party believes it is the responsibility of government to provide and regulate housing on
the basis of need. The so-called ‘right
to buy’ of council homes greatly reduced social housing stock and contributed to
homelessness.
We
Socialists want a full programme of social housing, homes built and renovated,
employing building workers hired directly
– using the capital receipts at present still held by local authorities from the sale
of council housing. Such a programme would provide not only homes but jobs
for the multitude of building workers currently unemployed.
We know it is
possible with the right policies to make available a million new or rehabilitated homes
every year for five years, a policy which would eradicate homelessness in Britain for the
first time.
In the short term, we
propose measures that could immediately improve the lives and welfare of many people; stop the mass transfer of public housing stock to
the private sector; reinstate housing
benefits so that everyone can afford adequate housing;
integrate housing association properties into council stock, and abolish the
Housing Corporation, Scottish Homes and the Housing Directive in Wales; promote co-operatives and the ‘right to
rent’ as opposed to pressure to buy.
We Socialists are
committed to a ‘fair rents’ system so that it again becomes unlawful for any
authority to charge above the levels set by the Government’s rent officer. ALL tenants must not only have security of tenure
but be able to help determine their environment, and legislation should ensure that all
authorities maintain high standards of upkeep and repair.
The cost of providing a million new or rehabilitated homes per year is �15
billion which could and should be paid for out of the �20 billion profits of
Britain’s major banks. We could
eradicate homelessness simply by using 75 per cent of the profits of Britain’s banks.
Our
quality of life: culture and sport
Everyone by right should be able to take part in and experience music, dance,
drama and the visual arts including painting and sculpture. Observing and/or participating
in all art forms enriches our own lives, our understanding of one another and thus of our
society.
Under capitalism, however, the arts are governed by money interests which
exclude most of us from sharing in these experiences.
The same is true of sport, which is now totally under the thumb of big
business and sponsorship pressures.
Under capitalism, the talents of millions go unrecognised and undeveloped,
adding to the frustrations of individual lives and contributing to an unhappy, unstable
society.
The Socialist Labour Party believes that sport and the arts belong to all of
us, and should be funded and managed so that from early childhood everyone has the chance
to discover and develop our creative interests and potential, not just for our own
pleasure but to help us to contribute more to the world around us.
Theatre, dance, music and the visual arts should be part of every
community’s life, linked to our schools and welfare provision for people of all ages
– and linked to libraries and local museums as well.
The butchery of local and branch libraries is one of the worst social crimes
committed over the past 20 years and it must stop. Community libraries, including mobile
libraries, museums and art galleries must be re-established.
Likewise, community-based sports facilities must be regenerated, available to
all our children, and to adults as well (it’s time to stop New Labour selling off
school playing fields which by right are an integral part of each community).
Instead of nearly �1 billion wasted on obscenities like the Millennium Dome,
Government funding should go towards making these basic facilities available to all.
Transport
For social and
economic reasons, the Socialist Labour Party believes that all transport systems and
industries – on land, sea, rail, inland waterways and air – should be in public
and municipal ownership, managed in a fully accountable way and complementing, not
competing with, each other. This means that
all transport (public or freight) and transport networks (roads, rail, waterways) would
operate on behalf of the British people, our communities, our regions and the environment.
Even our class
enemies agree that the sell-off of Britain’s rail network has been an unmitigated
disaster. The major rail disasters at
Ladbroke Grove and Hatfield are just two tragic examples of the chaos caused by
privatisation.
The Socialist Labour
Party wants to see the entire rail network taken back into State ownership and
control. At the same time we want to see
Britain’s bus and tram services taken into or back into municipal ownership.
An integrated
transport system requires massive public investment, not
private finance initiatives (PFI), nor a system of bonds which involves big
business. The raising of capital to develop
our rail, bus, tram and motorway networks should be funded by central and local
Government.
Experts now acknowledge the detrimental
effects of the car and heavy duty lorries on our environment, our roads, our villages, our
countryside. Only Socialist policies for an
integrated public transport system can tackle the problem.
Long distance road haulage should be
replaced by rail, sea and/or waterway. Regenerating
our railways, bus and tram networks and our badly disused inland waterways – would
save us all from the hideous juggernaut lorries that do so much environmental damage.
A Socialist policy means not only taking
all the railways, buses and trams back into State ownership, but putting into place
low fares or free travel which encourages still greater use, stimulating local economies
while liberating people from the ghettos created by high-cost transport.
This means creating or restoring public
transport networks to serve isolated areas and communities.
A sensible integrated transport policy must also involve the introduction of
environmentally-friendly trams in all our cities and towns.
Encouraging the safe use of bicycles and
the protection of pedestrians, especially in our towns and cities, would further help to
reduce our dependence on cars.
Developing such a policy – ensuring that all our rail, bus, tram,
airline and waterways are in municipal and State ownership, with accountability at
all levels – will require at least �100 billion over the next 10 years, or �10 billion per year, a sum which would still
leave Britain trailing behind the French and Dutch systems.
This �10 billion annual investment can be met from the �18 billion profits
of Britain’s major oil companies and the �10 billion subsidy which the government
hand to Railtrack - now that would be an environmentally acceptable investment!
Energy
Policy
Britain has never had an integrated energy policy. As a result, our economy has never been able to
plan energy supply and, more important, plan the cost of such a policy.
The situation has become worse during the
past 22 years, particularly as a result of the attack on Britain’s deep mine coal
industry. Our indigenous energy resources are
now badly abused whilst we have to rely increasingly on coal imports, oil imports,
opencast mining and gas for the generation of electricity, despite the fact that
Britain’s gas supplies will exhaust within 10 years.
Economic common sense plays no part in
this current energy abuse. Following the pit closure programme in 1992/1993, gas prices rocketed in 2001 from 4 pence a therm to 29 pence
a therm, whilst the OPEC countries have reduced output by 1 million barrels per day, a
move which will adversely affect people in Britain.
The price for deadly nuclear power is astronomic – at least 450
per cent more expensive than coal, 350 per cent more expensive than gas, and over 300 per
cent more expensive than oil.
Common sense would see dangerous, unnecessary nuclear power phased out as
it has been in Denmark and Sweden and is
being in Germany and more countries throughout the world.
Britain needs a long term integrated
energy policy based on a deep mine coal industry which is publicly owned and controlled,
together with renewable forms of energy such as wind, wave, tide, geothermal and solar
power.
An energy policy of this kind would result
in the employment of 100,000 people, and our balance of payments would be at least �2
billion per year better off as a direct result of Britain no longer buying costly
subsidised coal and oil from abroad.
The Socialist Labour Party would not have
handed �110 million subsidy to the privatised coal industry. We would take the industry back into public
ownership. The government’s decision to
hand over �110 million subsidy does not make economic sense, particularly as it could
have purchased the privatised industry for less than �100 million – a sum well below
the subsidy it handed over to the private coal owners.
The fact that New Labour implemented this policy demonstrates their abandonment not
only to State ownership but even to nationalisation.
The Socialist Labour Party’s energy
policy is not only cost effective but a policy which would provide cheaper energy for the
consumer. Our proposals would actually reduce
energy costs, not increase them.
We estimate that introducing an integrated energy policy would cost �20 - �2 billion per year over 10 years. This would include the cost of new technology for
power stations, and moving away from nuclear power to an indigenous deep mine, clean
coal-based, integrated energy policy – a policy which would involve taking the mining
industry back into public ownership, the opening of new coal mines, re-opening coal mines
which should never have been closed and, above all, developing renewable energies such as
wind, wave, tide, geothermal and solar power.
The cost of developing a properly integrated energy policy would be �20
billion, or �2 billion per year over a 10 year period, a cost which could easily be met
by scrapping the dangerous and highly expensive nuclear power industry.
Protecting
the earth
The Socialist Labour
Party’s environmental policies are closely connected to those on transport and
energy. We believe that only Socialist
strategies can deal with pollution and toxic waste, ensure animal welfare, protect food
chains as well as forests from destruction.
As a Party committed
to extra-Parliamentary struggle, we applaud direct actions taken against motorway
development, the live export of cattle and opencast mining.
We are proud that Socialist Labour members are involved in these campaigns, and
believe that their actions set an example for us all.
The scandal of BSE
has been a direct product not just of intensive farming methods but of a system which is
prepared to risk people’s lives in pursuit of profit.
Not only did the
Government allow BSE to develop over years,
but when it was finally exposed, the Government tried to justify its position and argue
that there was no danger to people from CJD, the human form of the disease. That argument was and is a lie, and the price is
being paid and will continue to be paid by both people and livestock throughout Britain.
The foot and mouth
outbreak of early 2001 could and should have been avoided. The refusal of successive
Governments to vaccinate our livestock, domestic and wild, means we were wide open to the
crisis that occurred. The refusal to
vaccinate had nothing to do with science and everything to do with cost – yet the
2001 outbreak will cost at least �12 billion, with the decimation of jobs and a dramatic
increase in the price of food. There will be
a loss of �7 billion in tourism, whilst farmers and farm workers will lose at least �5
billion.
The slaughter of
animals in this crisis is due solely to profit and not to a disease which is endemic in
many countries; this is a disease which could have been prevented by a simple vaccination
programme. No Government would, for example,
advocate widespread slaughter of human beings in the event of a meningitis outbreak –
why, then, pursue a slaughter policy for livestock, particularly where the disease could
have been more easily prevented?
This tragedy is
linked, of course, to the production of food, which under capitalism is managed for profit
rather than social need. The commercial irradiation of many types of food – without
our knowledge, let alone our consent – means that a number of foods now last weeks
rather than days, but at what cost? What
effect does irradiation have on the human body, and how long before we all have to pay the
price of the fast-food, get-rich- quick system which now operates in Britain?
The development of
genetically modified crops is highly dangerous, and is something against which our Party
campaigns. Those who try to ‘play God’ with our food, environment and the earth
itself threaten disaster for future generations; they should be actively opposed in their
manipulation of our eco-systems.
We want to protect
the countryside and all creatures who live in it. We
are completely opposed to all blood sports, and condemn those who advocate the killing of
innocent animals and birds in the name of sport. Oscar
Wilde was right when he described fox hunting as the ‘unspeakable in pursuit of the
uneatable’. We go further, and say that
those who hunt and kill for pleasure are the unacceptable pursuing for self gratification
the defenceless and the innocent.
The Socialist Labour
Party is committed to developing an environment in which living things are safe. There was no point in holding a world summit in
Rio which lay down targets for reducing and eliminating pollution and then allowing
countries like the USA – the worst polluter in the world - to blatantly breach
international guidelines set `for the elimination of pollution.
We can transform the environment. We can eliminate
acid rain by introducing gas de-sulphurisation units into our power stations. We can reduce dramatically the ‘greenhouse
effect’ if power stations were to use fluidised bed combustion, together with a
combined heat and power system. This would not only combat pollution but more than double
the energy efficiency of coal-fired power
stations, as compared to the performance of today’s coal, oil or gas-fired stations,
making them more than twice as efficient as oil, gas or nuclear power stations.
Our Party is
committed to dealing with toxic waste, which should not be burned in incinerators; to help ensure the protection of animals including
ourselves, and of our habitats, pollution
from chemical and other plants must be declared illegal.
We call for the scrapping of all nuclear weapons including Trident nuclear
missiles, and ridding Britain of the war bases planted by the United States and used by
NATO.
We estimate that a properly funded environmental policy designed to clean up
Britain would cost �7 billion, a figure which could easily be paid out of the �30
billion annual profits of Britain’s privatised industries and services.
Employment
Full employment
should be an essential aim of any government. The
human and financial costs of unemployment are devastating, as people in Britain know too
well. A study by the Rowntree Foundation
reveals facts hidden behind the Government’s fabricated ‘statistics’.
The unemployment
figure of just under 1 million trumpeted by the Government in March, 2001 was a lie. That figure is based only on those who are allowed
to claim benefit. Government unemployment statistics do not include the millions who are
in part-time work, or on short-term contracts trying their best to cope with low pay, poor
conditions and total insecurity about the future.
The truth is that at
the beginning of the 21st Century we have, according to an independent report
by the Rowntree Foundation, more than 7 million people of employable age who have no job. Further evidence of the real level of unemployment
can be seen by reference to the number of households which have no wage earners. For
example, in 1980, 5 per cent of British households contained no wage earners – a
figure which had risen dramatically to 20 per cent by 2001.
The Government’s
policies actually create unemployment,
deliberately butchering industries and services, destroying not only individual lives and
families but devastating entire communities, leading directly to the social misery and
unrest around us today.
At the same time,
government policies have backed employers who continue to pay miserable, almost slave
wages, and ruthlessly exploit their employees.
The massive
privatisation programme has led to obscene salary increases, bonus payments and
‘golden hand-shakes’ for top executives and company directors – while
anti-union laws have been brought in to stop workers from effectively protecting jobs,
industries, pay and conditions.
Meanwhile, our
manufacturing industries have been butchered. Once
our nation had over 80 per cent of its economy based on manufacturing, with vibrant coal, steel, ship building, motor car and
heavy and light engineering industries supporting a strong economic structure.
Today, less than 20
per cent of our economy is based in manufacturing. We
have developed an inverted pyramid with a top-heavy service and financial structure,
supported on a fragile 20 per cent manufacturing base – an economic system which is
not sustainable.
.
Rebuilding and
restoring our economy can only be done by regenerating our deep mine coal industry,
re-developing our battered steel industry and ending all coal and steel imports into
Britain.
It can only be done
if we re-establish a British motor car industry with a Socialist perspective. Economically, if the French and Germans can each
support three major motor car manufacturers, then Britain – which gave birth to the
industrial revolution – can surely sustain its own motor car industry, but one which
meets social and environmental needs.
We have to rebuild
– again, from the perspective of social need - our engineering industries, and
restore the mighty ship building industry which was once the envy of the world.
Unemployment –
even under this unjust capitalist system – could be wiped out virtually overnight. It requires just three basic measures:
�
A four-day working week;
�
A ban on all non-essential
overtime;
�
Retirement on a voluntary basis
with full pay at age 55.
These steps would
create jobs for all who are able to work, but they must be real jobs
– whether full-time or part-time (for those who cannot work full-time). They must be permanent jobs (no more short-terms
contracts) and they must be jobs paying a decent wage.
The introduction of a four-day working week, a ban on all non-essential
overtime and retirement on full pay at age 55 would cost some �75 billion. The vast majority if not all of this cost could be
met by saving the �60 billion currently paid out for unemployment and related benefit and
the National Insurance contributions which would flow from people in work.
Money lost in purchasing power and income tax revenue through unemployment
costs taxpayers at least �25 billion a year. Our
employment policies would not only mean jobs for unemployed workers but a better deal all
round for Britain’s taxpayers.
National
Minimum Wage
One of the most
terrible indictments of this society is the ever-growing gulf between poor and rich. Workers, particularly youngsters and pensioners,
are ruthlessly exploited in Britain’s so-called service industries, and child labour
is back with a vengeance.
The gap between rich
and poor is widening not only in Britain but internationally. The richest 20 per cent of the world’s
population receive each year 86 per cent of the world’s wealth - whilst the poorest
20 per cent of the world’s population exist on just 1 per cent of the world’s
annual wealth.
In Britain over 10
million live on or below the poverty level, whilst 12 million old-age pensioners have seen
their State pension decrease in value by over 42 per cent since 1978 - a scandal of
monumental proportion.
Studies show that
some of our lowest paid workers have actually suffered pay cuts over the past four years,
whilst Britain’s top 20 company directors receive average yearly incomes of �2
million. By any standard, this is obscene.
The Socialist Labour
Party is totally committed to setting a proper statutory national minimum wage as the
first essential step in putting things right. We
call for the introduction of a minimum wage of �7 per hour – a figure which would
give workers on a 35-hour week �245, or an annual wage of �12,740.
Women workers,
including those who work part-time, must be guaranteed equal pay (along with equal
conditions and promotion opportunities) and young workers must have the same pay and
conditions as other workers.
The introduction of a national minimum wage of �7 per hour would cost �6
billion, a figure, which could be easily met out of the profits of the North Sea oil
companies. The monies paid by oil companies
to central government could be doubled without any trouble, particularly if these
companies are taken into public ownership.
Repeal
all anti-trade union laws
The anti-trade union
laws retained and introduced by the New Labour government relate directly to unemployment
and low pay. The Socialist Labour Party is
committed to scrapping these laws altogether. They
have been a weapon used to frighten workers and their unions, and are designed to stop
them taking action to protect jobs, decent wages and good conditions – including
pensions and sick pay.
We believe that trade
unions, controlled democratically by their members, are vital for a free and just society. British workers are being denied the human rights
set out in the United Nations Charter and in International Labour Organisation
conventions. Trade union activity has become
in many cases a criminal offence. Workers are
denied the right to effectively defend themselves or other workers without facing
prosecution, and at the beginning of the 21st century we still have no right to
strike in Britain.
Trade unions which
seek to defend jobs, services or industries face massive penalties, including the freezing
of union funds (sequestration) or even receivership – all designed to stop unions
from functioning effectively on behalf of their members, or in support of members of other
trade unions.
Tragically, many
unions are failing to defend members against exploitation and abuse. The Socialist Labour Party believes that trade
unions should refuse to co-operate with unjust laws.
Defiance by the trade union movement as a whole would render government anti-trade
union legislation totally ineffective – as it did over a quarter of a century ago in
1971 and again in 1984/85 during the great miners’ strike.
Had this type of defiance been used over the past 22 years, it would not only
have saved the jobs of millions, but would have protected vital industries throughout
Wales, Scotland and England from butchery.
In place of these laws we support a programme of positive trade union rights,
which are in line with the UN charter and the conventions of the ILO.
State
ownership and control of industries and services
Our economy is in a
mess that cannot be fixed by cosmetics. The
real problem goes deeper than the terrible damage done by the Tories between 1979 and 1997
and by New Labour since 1997.
It is capitalism that
is responsible for the destruction of our industries and services, mass unemployment,
homelessness and the tragic social problems which follow.
We Socialists can only begin to solve these problems by attacking their root
cause, and that means the eradication of capitalism itself.
The privatising of
key industries and services, telecommunications, gas, water, electricity, coal, railways
and health and welfare care has devastated our economy, which has been in poor shape for
over 25 years.
New Labour’s
talk of a ‘share-owning’ or ‘stake-holding’ society is rubbish. The entire basis on which our economy operates is
not only corrupt but fundamentally incapable of meeting the needs of the British people.
The fact is that
nearly half (48 per cent) of the United Kingdom’s privately-held wealth is in the
hands of just 10 per cent of the population. That
contrasts sharply with the 8 per cent of wealth held by 50 per cent of the population. The myth of a share-owning democracy has long
since been exposed – by a 1993 report which revealed that 87.9 per cent of company
shares were owned by only 4 per cent of the adult population!
The sell-off of key
industries and services has been a major factor in Britain’s economic decline. We see what privatisation has done to our
railways.
Privatisation means
not only lack of investment, it means low pay, poor conditions, falling of safety
standards, the destruction of jobs – and all that, in turn, means higher unemployment
and further economic stagnation.
Energy, water, public
transport, telecommunications are all vital to any society’s welfare. Like health care they are services on which we all
depend. They belong by rights to us all and
they must be returned to State ownership. This time, however, they must be properly managed, so
that our industries and services are controlled BY the people FOR the people.
The Socialist Labour
Party is firmly committed to taking all the industries and services privatised in the past
22 years back into State ownership. At
the same time we want to see Britain’s banks, which recorded over �20 billion
profits in 2000, the major oil companies, along with the major insurance companies and
other industries and services all taken into State ownership.
With Democratic
control and proper management operating for the common good, State and municipal
ownership can always out-perform private enterprise.
Nearly 90 per cent of the British people support the policy of taking back
the entire rail system into State ownership, whilst the vast majority support the
taking back into municipal ownership buses and trams which, together with rail, should be
at the heart of an integrated transport system. Experience
has shown that privatisation results in chaos and disaster.
The solution is a commitment to State and municipal ownership where industries
and services are owned and controlled by the people as a whole.
Taxation
Since 1997, the
British taxpayer has paid substantially more – not less – in taxes. In fact, the average British family is worse off
now than it was 4 years ago, and considerably worse off than it was 22 years ago.
Taxes have actually
risen since New Labour was elected in 1997. Mortgage
tax relief for house buyers has been abolished and the tax burden has been moved from
direct income tax on to indirect value added tax (VAT).
This iniquitous tax, increased under New Labour by 3.4 per cent, was introduced as
part of the price Britain had to pay for joining
the European Union.
Tax collected from
all sources in the year 2001 totalled �188 billion compared with �164.2 billion in 1996
- whilst VAT increased from �43.1 billion (26.2 per cent) in 1996 to �55.7 billion (29.6
per cent) in the year 2000. A tax system
cannot be fair when a multi-millionaire or someone receiving in excess of �250,000 per
year pays exactly the same tax (VAT) for goods or services as someone who is unemployed or
a pensioner struggling on �72.50 per week.
The Socialist Labour Party is committed to the introduction of a completely
new tax system – one which would abolish the iniquitous VAT altogether, and transfer
tax liability from indirect to direct taxation.
Socialist Labour Party would increase corporation and capital gains tax
by 100 per cent, and these measures together with a graduated income tax system would wipe
out the European Union’s VAT/indirect tax liability, as well as ensuring that the
‘fat cats’ and all those on very high incomes would have to pay income tax
directly in accordance with the income they receive:
a fair policy based on Socialist principles.
This policy would provide British taxpayers with a fair and sensible tax
system and would also pay - at least in part
- for the policies advocated in this Socialist Manifesto.
Military
spending
Arms expenditure
should be cut by two-thirds and the Trident missile programme scrapped alongside every
other aspect of the nuclear power industry.
The Socialist Labour
Party is committed to turning ‘swords into ploughshares’. We would free the billions currently spent on all
weapons of death and destruction, putting those monies to use in building/renovating homes, schools, hospitals,
re-building our industrial infrastructure, creating literally millions of jobs –
including jobs for those who are currently employed in the defence industry. This policy would save Britain at least �16 billion per year.
The Socialist Labour
Party condemns the unlawful bombing of Baghdad and Belgrade. We call for the scrapping of NATO, and demand that
no European Union army be established. The
sheer hypocrisy shown by the United States and Britain in bombing Iraq and Yugoslavia to
regain a hold of oil reserves, or because they do not like those countries’
governments contrasts sharply with their non-intervention in the Middle East, where Israel
continues its policy of murder against Palestinian people whose land is illegally
occupied, in conflict with United Nations resolutions.
How would Britain
react if a super power bombed Britain because it disliked our policy in Ireland? Or because they take exception to the fact that we
continue to occupy islands in the Falklands that clearly do not belong to the United
Kingdom.
We should end all
sanctions against countries such as Cuba – which has been subject to a blockade for
over 40 years. Lift the sanctions which are
causing death and destruction in Iraq.
Question the ethics
of a Government which can allow its bombers to take off from Turkish airfields to bomb
Iraq in pretended protection of Kurdish people, whilst at the same time turning a blind
eye to Turkish bombers taking off from the same airfields to bomb the Kurdish people who
live in land occupied by Turkey.
Why is there no real
international protest against the continuing illegal occupation by Turkey of the Northern
part of the island of Cyprus? Why does this
government continue to sell arms to vicious dictators?
We Socialists want to stop money being spent on the weaponry of death
and mass destruction and use it instead to help restore a natural balance in the
environment of which humans are only one element. We
would cut defence expenditure by two-thirds, thereby saving �16 billion per year –
money which could and should be spent on the NHS saving and improving the quality of human
life, rather than building weapons designed to destroy life!
Equality
for all women
Women make up more
than half the human race, yet – along with children – we are a majority of the
world’s poor and disadvantaged.
In Britain
women’s pay still averages only two-thirds that of men, and in many cases only 50 per
cent. In the home, women still bear most of
the burden of housework and childcare, as well as looking after others – all unpaid
labour. This burden has been increased in the
past 22 years with the attacks on welfare services and the way the government has
implemented ‘Care in the Community’.
Meanwhile, violence,
pornography and sexual exploitation continue unabated.
If anything, there has been a shift backwards over the past 20 years in ideas about
women’s dignity, independence and freedom.
Socialist Labour
supports and promotes women’s equality within our own Party and is committed to the
following measures that would benefit all women:
In the workplace:
equal pay and conditions including for part-time workers, and a minimum wage to bring all
low-paid workers out of poverty; flexible
maternity/paternity leave on full pay; paid
leave for women and men to care for sick dependants.
At home: policies at work and elsewhere that enable men to
be equally involved with women in child care, caring for others and domestic labour.
Socialist Labour believes in providing real options for child care, ranging from free,
good quality nurseries to financial support that enables parents to care for children at
home.
All communities
should provide good quality care and support for elderly, disabled and mentally ill people
– not only for these people, but to relieve the caring burden carried by so many
women.
The right to choose: women must have the freedom to choose whether or
not to have children without being punished for their choice. There must be free, safe and reliable
contraception available to women on the NHS, and free abortion on demand. The NHS must be able to meet women’s health
needs and make available health information we can understand.
Education and
training: women and girls must have equal
access to education and training. That
includes creche facilities for parents returning to work or study after time off to care
for children. In our schools we must ensure
an end to all sex differentiation in the subjects offered to girls and boys.
Safety from
sexual/domestic violence: society must ensure
that women can move through their lives without fear.
Domestic and sexual violence are problems for society as a whole and should be
treated with utmost seriousness. Women who
are victimised by either problem should have access if necessary to safe re-housing. Sexual harrassment in the workplace also creates
misery for many women and we want the promotion of workplace policies to eradicate it.
Fighting
racism
The Socialist Labour
Party recognises that the poison of racism runs through the whole of British society. There is therefore a racial dimension to our
policies on all matters where Black and Asian people suffer disproportionately –
including education, housing, employment, immigration, and ‘law and order’.
It is no accident
that the racist upsurge, including hostility against asylum seekers, that we have seen
across Europe in recent years coincides with huge attacks on organised labour, as the
controllers of the European Union devise policies in order to meet the criteria laid down
by the Maastricht Treaty and the Nice Summit.
In Britain, Black and
Asian people have been increasingly scapegoated by Government and the main opposition
parties alike, at the same time as attacks on trade unionists and unemployed workers
intensify.
Racially motivated
attacks, murders, racist policing in ethnic minority areas are made worse by the press and
pronouncements of Government. This creates
fear and anxiety not only among Black and Asian Britons but among our many refugee
communities. Whatever the consequences of the
Macpherson Inquiry into the brutal death of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, they have not
prevented intensified racist hatred and resentment spreading throughout Wales, Scotland
and England.
This has nourished
the far Right, and we all find ourselves facing a social crisis in which racial hatred is
so legitimised that violence and murder become common place.
It is not surprising
that Black and Asian people, especially the young, feel alienated and isolated from
politics and the political process. Surveys
indicate that up to 60 per cent of Britain’s Black and Asian population is unlikely
to vote in a General Election. They simply
have no faith in the political process.
For those who seek to
settle here having fled from persecution and war abroad, the alienation is even more
intense. We are opposed to all racist
immigration laws and New Labour’s ‘Fortress Europe’ proposals, and oppose
discriminatory measures which create social problems rather than solving them.
The Socialist Labour
Party challenges racism – in hiring, education and training – within our
policies for full employment. We want the
introduction of “positive action” alongside real training to ensure that
minorities are not trapped in low pay and low status positions.
We would end
inequalities of housing, health care and education, and direct resources into largely
Black and Asian areas of our inner cities in full consultation and co-operation with the
communities there. Black and Asian communities must be centrally involved in the
monitoring of all anti-racist measures, including those that involve the police and the
legal system. Racist miscarriages of justice
including deaths in custody of Black and Asian people have to be stopped, and stopped now.
Racism in Britain is centuries old, and only through Socialist policies can
it finally be eradicated.
End
disabilities discrimination
Those of us who are
in any way disabled want rights, not charity, and the Socialist Labour Party wants
provisions that enable everybody with disabilities to play a full and active role in
building a better society. In order to
achieve this, we want to outlaw all discrimination in employment, services and amenities. Disabled people are best able to help themselves
through control over their own lives.
There must be full
and equal access to transport, services and activities.
We want provision of ‘self assessment’ so that those who depend on aids
such as wheelchairs can be involved in deciding what equipment is best for them to use. We want an end to segregated education, and
provision of resources to ensure that integrated education works properly.
We want an end to
institutionalisation; we with disabilities should be able to live and participate fully in
the life of our communities.
For those of us
struggling with forms of mental illness there must be support that meets inner and outer
human needs. Mental ill health takes a
variety of forms, which are affected by class, age, gender and race. We demand policies that acknowledge these
differences and provide care which aims to help and heal.
Gay,
lesbian and bisexual rights
Lesbians, gay men and
bisexuals are still treated as second-class citizens because of their sexual preferences
and orientation. The Socialist Labour Party
is committed to abolition of all laws, which discriminate against lesbians, gay men and
bisexuals.
We want an end to all
discrimination at work, including within the armed forces and diplomatic service, and
would outlaw discrimination in the provision of goods and services. There must be an end to police harassment, with
proper resources for monitoring all homophobic attacks.
Homosexual
partnerships should be recognised, including legally on a par with heterosexual ones. Sexuality should not be a bar to the custody of
children, applications for fostering and adoption. Sexuality
cannot be a bar to Aids and IVF treatment.
When it comes to any
aspect of criminal law, homosexual behaviour should be treated exactly the same way as
heterosexuality.
A
future for youth
No section of society
has suffered more than the young during the past 22 years.
The butchery of industries, services and apprenticeships has gone hand in hand with
attacks on every area of education and training. In
British society today what hope for the future can young people have?
Hopelessness leads to
despair which is not solved by the ‘law and order’ outlook of both the Tories
and New Labour. Young people must be able to
participate fully in our society and in the world, while they themselves are growing and
learning.
Our full employment,
minimum wage and equal pay policies would help accomplish that. In rebuilding Britain’s industrial and
manufacturing base we would re-establish proper apprenticeship schemes, paying a proper
wage. Reducing the working week with no loss
of earnings would create more jobs for our youth and help generate more purchasing power
within society.
Proper funding would
be restored in further education too, with student grants and a payment equivalent to the
minimum wage and restoring benefits during vacation.
The civil rights and
liberties of youth must be respected by society as a whole.
We support voting rights at age 16. We
believe in comprehensive sex education in schools with contraceptive advice and
contraception available to all. Young people
should never be forced or coerced into parenthood whilst they still need parenting
themselves. Abortion on demand, based on the
right to choose, must be available.
In today’s
society the young are especially vulnerable to the abuse of police powers; Socialist Labour’s policies (including
scrapping ‘stop and search’ laws) would end that abuse.
Young people – including Black, Asian and Irish youth, those involved in
the peace and animal rights movements and in anti- globalisation campaign groups - have
been specifically targeted by Special Branch and MI5.
We are committed to ending this intrusion and injustice, and to scrapping the laws
and the agencies responsible for this type of surveillance.
Children’s
rights
The exploitation and
abuse of children, including abuse for profit, is one of the ugliest features of
capitalist societies such as Britain.
We can have no higher
goal than doing our best to ensure that every baby born into this world is wanted and will
be cared for physically and emotionally throughout childhood and into adult life.
This is the
responsibility of families (in the many forms that family life can take) and society,
including schools and communities. We cannot
legislate for love; however, education in the fullest sense (including sex education),
full employment, decent housing and free health care would lay a proper foundation for the
welfare of all children.
Justice
for all
Laws have been
created over the centuries by some human beings for the purpose of controlling other human
beings. In Britain, the legal system has been
systematically used to hold down struggles against unemployment, poverty, war and racism. It also ignores and denies many basic human
rights.
The Socialist Labour
Party wants a complete overhaul of Britain’s justice system. We are committed to a written Constitution which
sets out clearly the human rights and civil liberties of all who reside here
Proper legal
representation, a fair hearing and a fair opportunity to put your case – these rights
should be available to all, not just a privileged few.
Plans to end the
right to trial by jury are an attack on civil liberties and human rights. These plans seeks to reverse a right won over
centuries of struggle for a person to be judged by his or her peers rather than a single
Judge who has in all likelihood come from a privileged background based in the main on the
Oxbridge universities.
We cannot allow the
right to trial by jury to be taken away, and our Party will not only defend that right,
but campaign to reverse any measures introduced which seek to erode it.
By bringing in full employment and wiping out poverty, Socialist policies
would create the basis for a completely different kind of society – a society fit for
all youngsters to grow up in. Socialist
policies in effect would wipe out the basic causes of violence and crime. In turn, there would no longer be a need for much
of Britain’s costly law and order procedures, so that in terms of reforming the legal
system, our policies would pay for themselves.
The
Constitution
The Socialist Labour
Party is firmly committed to a written Constitution which incorporates a democratic
proportional representation voting system. For
example, if the British had had a proper proportional representation system similar to the
one used in France, the Socialist Labour Party would have had at least 8 Members of
Parliament at the 1997 General Election.
Proportional
representation, common ownership and strong welfare state system, is a Socialist demand. It was a demand supported by outstanding
Socialists such as Keir Hardie, John McLean and James Connolly, and for years formed a
cornerstone of Socialist demands for a democratic electoral system in Britain. If Britain had introduced a fair proportional
representation system at the end of the Second World War, no Tory government would ever
have been elected.
Our Party is
committed to the dissolution of the monarchy and its replacement with Republic and a
democratically elected Head of State. At the
same time we want to see the complete abolition of the antiquated, unelected, undemocratic
House of Lords which has no place in a modern society.
A written Constitution should embody all individual and collective rights so
that Judges would implement and not interpret the Constitution; this, together with a Bill
of Rights, would allow a fair democratic system in which people could determine what type
of Constitution we should have and then ensure that it is at all times upheld in the
interests of us all.
SCOTLAND AND WALES
The creation of the
Scottish Parliament and the Assembly for Wales in 1999 have not altered the nature of
capitalism in Scotland and Wales and the need for Socialist policies that apply to those
countries as well as England.
Whilst in both
countries there have been significant policy decisions – particularly in Scotland
– these in themselves are not enough. The Scotland Act which established the Scottish
Parliament does not seriously affect Westminster’s firm grip on the purse strings
that control funding.
In Wales, devolution
has not brought primary law-making powers. During the past 22 years, Wales has lost nearly
all its coal industry, an industry which at its height employed 140,000 people and which
was the envy of the world, producing the finest anthracite coal available anywhere.
Alongside this
destruction, thousands of other jobs have been butchered, first by the privatisation of
British Steel and then by decisions of the new private steel industry owners to close
plants such as Llanwern.
We have seen a
similar picture in Scotland with the butchery of the coal and steel industries, including
the closure of the giant steel plant at Ravenscraig.
Ship-building in Scotland – also once the envy of the world – is now a
rump. Docklands in Scotland as in Wales and the North East of England have become theme
parks rather than bustling centres of international trade.
In both Scotland and
Wales, as in England, health care, education, housing, employment and community life have continued to deteriorate.
In 1997 the
Socialist Labour Party warned that the policies of both the Tories and New Labour would
lead to more closures and lost jobs in Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the
North East. Tragically, our predictions have
proved to be accurate, as New Labour has followed the Tories and slavishly adopted the
so-called ‘free market’ system – a ‘free market’ which has
destroyed not only people’s jobs but their communities and ways of life.
The Socialist Labour
Party is opposed to Scotland or Wales joining the European Union in the same way as we
oppose Britain’s continued membership of the EU.
It would be a nonsense to argue for more or complete independence, whilst at the
same time agreeing to give away that independence to the European Union, thereby having
the affairs of Scotland and Wales controlled by Brussels.
Whilst the Socialist Labour Party acknowledges and celebrates the history of
both Scotland and Wales with their rich and specific cultures, ours is a Socialist and not
a nationalist perspective. We believe that the people of Scotland and Wales must have the
right to vote for or against full independence.
A decision of such profound importance must rest with those who are directly
involved and whose lives would be most affected by the consequences - but we know that for
all people, fulfilling the need for self-determination can only come alongside fundamental
economic change.
An
independent and united Ireland
The Socialist Labour
Party is in favour of an independent, united Ireland.
For centuries, Britain has treated the whole of Ireland as a colony, and that
remains true today, despite the ‘Good Friday’ Agreement.
Lasting peace can
only be achieved throughout Ireland, and between Ireland and Britain, by ending all
British interference, starting with a withdrawal of all troops from the North of Ireland.
The Socialist Labour Party calls for an immediate withdrawal, military and
politically, from the North of Ireland; an immediate and unconditional repeal of all Acts
which have divided the island of Ireland and a firm commitment now to re-unite the whole
of Ireland into the one country it once was.
A
peaceful and prosperous world
We are an
internationalist party. We do not accept that
wars, poverty, unemployment and oppression are inevitable or acts of God; they spring from the injustices of a
corrupt capitalist system.
The Socialist Labour
Party’s international policies emanate from our commitment to change the world by
eliminating these injustices and inequalities.
We believe that each
nation can achieve a decent and dignified quality of life for its citizens, alongside every other nation.
This includes safeguarding the environment and rights of each nation’s
indigenous peoples.
The Socialist Labour
Party is opposed to aggression and interference by any country or group of countries in
the affairs of a sovereign nation whose internal affairs should be determined by its own
people, and not by outside aggression or interference of any kind, including economic,
social, political or by the use of embargos and/or sanctions of any kind.
The world today is
controlled by financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World
Bank and the World Trade Organisation. These
are undemocratic bodies that exist to defend and maintain capitalism around the globe. The Socialist Labour Party believes it is
necessary to withdraw from them and make clear our abhorrence of global capitalism and of
all those who support it.
Our Party is
committed to withdrawing from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO. We do not agree with Britain’s current
military alliances that tie British foreign policy to multi-national companies and other
governments that defend them. We oppose the
concept of a European army or task force which can only exacerbate conflict and not
resolve it.
We want links with
international trade unionism and with movements for peace, environmental protection,
women’s rights and above all, Socialism.
The Socialist Labour
Party condemns the use of economic and political blockades or sanctions which are used by
international capitalism against countries - such as Cuba – that challenge the very
basis of capitalism.
We support the
cancellation of debts held against impoverished nations, and believe that the world
trading system is creating ever greater inequality. We
demand ‘fair trade’, not ‘free trade’.
We believe that
Britain’s defence industry and forces are far too big for our real needs. We would withdraw all British forces from
overseas, cut our defence budget by two-thirds, and plough the billions released into the
NHS and re-building the economy. The Socialist Labour Party really would turn swords into
ploughshares.
Britain does not need
nuclear weapons. The Socialist Labour Party
supports unilateral nuclear disarmament and wants an international ban on all weapons of
mass destruction, including anti-personnel devices, Trident nuclear missiles and the
removal of all foreign bases from Britain.
We would end
Britain’s reliance on the evil arms trade and halt all production of instruments of
torture. We would stop the sale of arms
– this is a trade which deals in death. Instead,
we would export equipment to help third world countries to help themselves maintain and
improve the quality of life.
With today’s world racked by unjust wars, we oppose all of
Britain’s racist asylum and immigration laws which condemn people seeking refuge to
detention, imprisonment, torture or death. The
Socialist Labour Party is committed to fighting racism wherever it occur.
Socialism
The policies outlined
in this Manifesto deal with the injustices and inequalities that people currently face in
our society. They are not, and cannot be, a
long-term or permanent solution to a system where a small section of society feeds off the
majority – inevitably creating crisis after crisis with devastating effect on human
lives.
The solution lies in
abolishing capitalism and replacing it with socialism whose institutions represent the
people as a whole, and which are democratically controlled by and accountable to them.
We want to secure for
the people a full return of all the wealth generated by Britain’s industries and
services on the basis of state ownership of the means of production, distribution and
exchange.
We are committed to
establishing the most equitable distribution of that wealth, ensuring a free health
service at the time of need and upon demand, together with a free education system
available to all.
Our Party is
committed to freedom of assembly, movement, speech and association, and to promoting and
protecting an environment in which the Earth’s resources are properly used – not
just for human beings but for all other forms of life.
The Socialist Labour Party wants to see a world that is truly at peace, with
liberty, justice and prosperity for all. Above
all we want a Socialist world.
Our demands are not excessive. They
are in fact most moderate. We only want the
Earth.
SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY
