Chatshow - Shake It Down (EP)

My union is again, much to my continued dismay, extolling the virtues of New Labour. This time under the guise of the Unite4Labour website.

Having lived under successive Labour/Tory governments from 1971 onwards I am quite confident in my ability to state that there is very little to choose between them. They meddle and they muddle and they try their very best but, in truth, I doubt they make little impact as capitalism rolls on in its circular orbit of growth and recession. They take turns taking credit for the good times and blaming others for the bad times.

The problems inherent in capitalism have always been here and will always be here. That has to be the case for as long as capitalism exists - it is inevitable because history demonstrates as much. Every generation of do-gooder politicians wishes to reform this or that particular area of legislation, dependent upon their particular lobby/politics/side-business/interest, but the problems remain generally the same. Then, give or take a few years, they swap a few seats round and it begins again.

In The Road To Wigan Pier, by George Orwell, he relates the poor diet of an unemployed miner and his wife and makes reference to the campaign of the time (the book was written in 1936) to improve the eating habits of those on low incomes: "Would it not be better if they spent more money on wholesome things like oranges and wholemeal bread or if they even, like the writer of the letter to the New Statesman, saved on fuel and ate their carrots raw?" He goes on, "And the peculiar evil is this, that the less money you have, the less inclined you feel to spend it on wholesome food."

The similarity to the current vogue for the promotion of healthy eating among the masses, in the face of the Obesity Epidemic™, is striking.

Orwell also makes reference to the plight of the elderly and, more significantly, the unemployed. Both of which remain problems today albeit for possibly different reasons. And he also highlights the rise of Fascism as a response to these problems and now, 70 years later on, the BNP are getting elected.

Casting my own mind back to the 1980's the predominant themes are (Cold) War, unemployment, the NF, the disparity between rich and poor, manufacturing recession/financial growth and the failure of the Labour party to mount a challenge to Tory dominance. Swap some of the words around and they could be current headlines and I daresay anybody born from around 1920 onwards could say the same.

So if we accept then that there are certain problems inherent in capitalism that are, in some cases, essential for it to function- do we cease to regard them as problems or do we tackle them side-on with all our parliamentary power, legislate like we have never legislated before and then subject them to a less-than-thorough, temporary reform?

Or do we just face the simple fact that you can't polish a turd. And never have been able to.


I originally had a copy of this record from the long-defunct 1978's Attic which started promisingly but tailed off quick.

Chatshow - Shake It Down (EP) (Federation Records FED007 1986) 320kbps

1. Shake It Down
2. Betrayal
3. Shake It (Gaddafi Mix)
4. Junk City
   

Reform is futile - pwd: c4ctusm0uth