Thu 11 Jan 2018, 14:39 PM | Posted by Mark Langabeer
It is almost 100 years since Labour adopted clause IV, the Socialist aim that was printed on every member’s party card. (See below) It was revised out of recognition by Blair and his cohorts during the mid1990s.
The reasons for its introduction in 1918 were twofold: the privations caused by Great War and the Russian Revolution, which acted as an inspiration to the Labour Movement in Britain and internationally. In my opinion, clause 4 is as relevant today as it was in 1918.
Two documentaries, broadcast by the BBC on the same evening, are good examples of the relevance. The first documentary exposed the chronic under-staffing at branches of Boots the Chemists, the main dispenser of prescription medicines in Britain.
The programme believes that it may have contributed to three deaths between 2012 and 2013. Pharmacists, often described as the eyes and ears of the Health Service, are not given sufficient time to dispense medications safely. Management at Boots refused to divulge the time they allocate to dispense each prescription, on grounds of commercial confidentiality. There appears to be no set regulations regarding staffing levels and they can differ from one company to another.
Boots Management even refused to disclose a report into one of the deaths to the Police. The officer interviewed described this as morally wrong, but legal. The Union for Pharmacists believe that many staff fail to speak out for fear of retribution of some kind.
The programme didn’t provide solutions. In my view, control and ownership should be in the hands of the NHS and it’s staff, not private companies, whose primary interest is profit.
This was followed (in between EastEnders), by a Panorama report on bankruptcy and insolvency. Bankruptcy is a growing problem and devastates the lives of those that are affected. However, the millionaire class are able to play the system with regards bankruptcy law. The programme concentrated on a former Tory donor, Malcolm Scott, who was even Treasurer of the Scottish Conservative Party.
He went bust and ended up owing £41 million. He led the Bankruptcy Service a merry dance and was finally served with a Bankruptcy Restriction Order. This should have prevented him from running a business for 15 years. The BBC investigation showed that he was running a property development company in breach of his BRO. Interestingly, BROs don’t prevent major shareholdings, only directorships. Scott claimed that he is simply an employee of the business.
The presenter concluded that the bankruptcy system was fraught with difficulties, lack of resources, regulation, monitoring and robust sanctions. Her conclusion was that the system threatened genuine business. I would argue that swindling is part and parcel of Capitalism and can only be cleansed by establishing a Socialist society.
Clause IV: To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.
