The film perpetuates the myth that Thatcher was a tough but brave leader
who made very difficult and unpopular decisions but did what was necessary for
the country in difficult times. The implicit class condescension, making
difficult but necessary decisions for the people which the latter couldn’t
possibly understand, is typical of conservative propaganda. Let’s investigate
whether or not there is any basis to it.
In an article on Wikipedia, it
is written that in 1979: “After entering 10 Downing
Street, Thatcher … emphasised deregulation
(particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the
privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the
power and influence of trade unions.”
Let’s analyse the legacy of such policies.
De-regulation
of the financial sector generally, and in London in particular, has in the long
term contributed to and exacerbated the greatest economic crisis in history.
Bankers were encouraged to de-regulate, a policy supposedly based on the
neo-liberal economics their bourgeois stooges were conjuring out of their heads
at the time. The ‘free market’ (capitalism) was supposed to drive innovation
through competition with companies breaking their necks to produce the best
services for ‘consumers’. They could only do this if the state didn’t go
meddling in ‘their’ affairs. Whether or not they actually believed that these
theories had any basis is hard to establish. What is certain, though, is that
their policies have been shown to be complete balderdash.
Coming
to power at a time of heightened class struggle in a period of economic
stagnation, Thatcher inherited a militant working class movement. This in her
opinion was one of the most potent factors contributing to Britain’s declining
world position and economy. Taking on the working class and defeating the trade
unions would reverse the trend. Typically, workers wanting decent working and
living conditions were seen as the enemy. Thatcher took on many sectors of the
working class, most notably the miners, and won, defeating militant strike
movements using police brutality and criminalising many ordinary forms of industrial
action. The leaders of the labour movement were reluctant to cross the legal
threshold and so were defeated.
Not
content with this victory, Thatcher and the Tories shut down a significant
proportion of British Industry wholesale. For example, by 1990, 97 out of 174
(56%) state-owned mines had been shut down completely, the remaining 44% being
privatised. Eventually 150 suffered the former fate. This devastated the
communities in which the miners worked, increasing unemployment in those communities
to unprecedented heights. Many, if not all of those communities today are still
suffering from these closures.
An
infant can understand that this policy’s primary aim was to rid Britain of the
most militant section of the working class; “the enemy within” in Thatcher’s
own words. But the Tories had the audacity to suggest that Britain didn’t need
its own industry. Apparently we could have a prosperous economy based almost
entirely on finance and the service sector in ‘The City’. Apparently we would
make so much money from these sectors that we could import all of the things we
used to produce without any disadvantages. Again this has been shown, in the
long term, to be nonsense. Britain’s economy is predicted to grow by only 0.3%
this coming year (i.e. by nothing). Thatcher’s policies have caught up with
Britain, policies continued under Brown and Blair whilst the conservative party
were too unpopular to remain in power.
Having
a prosperous society based almost completely on finance capital was a utopian
fantasy dreamt up by the conservatives. It
was an attempt to solve the problems of Britain on a capitalist basis which is
impossible.
As
Marx explained it is the contradictions of capitalism which causes economic
crises: the continual driving down of wages whilst producing more and more
goods; the lack of a planned economy in a society with very definite needs; the
concentration of capital and the increasing productivity of labour welding the
labourer to the machine for longer and longer hours. The policies of Thatcher
had no scientific content and were the desperate attempt of a class in terminal
decline to resurrect the system which they represented, at any cost.
Today,
the coalition government are continuing with the same policies of
Thatcher. They have frozen wages and
fired workers at a time of depressed demand. They have even refused to regulate
The City, to the amazement of Europe, at a time when no-one doubts that this
contributed to the crisis. They are attempting to privatise not only the NHS
but the education system. In the words of Trotsky, they are “tobogganing to
disaster with closed eyes.” Unfortunately, they are not being opposed in any
meaningful way by the Labour Party.
Ed
Miliband and the reformist Labour Party leaders are not opposing cuts to public
services and privatisation in general but are only opposed to the rate at which
they happen. They are not supporting workers in struggle but are opposing their
industrial action on the grounds of national unity. They too believe that this
crisis can be solved on a capitalist basis, but a more ethical and responsible
capitalism, yet they fawn before The City and capital in general. They are
trying to square the circle!
George
Galloway’s recent landslide victory in Bradford is proof that the old argument
made by Labour party tops that left wing policies are un-electable is rot.
Labour will only gain strong support with a radical socialist program to oppose
cuts and build a sustainable economy. There is no alternative. Until that
happens, the coalition will stumble from one disaster to another as their
heroin did.
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