On this blog, we have used the phrase, "the offensive of capitalism." An article in this week's Business Week makes the meaning of this phrase entirely too clear.
Employers are dismantling all of the gains that workers have won since World War II, in wages, job stability, benefits and retirement. The statistics in the Business Week piece tell the story of dramatic increases in profits for the capitalist class, at the expense of a decent life for workers. A few examples:
-Pay for production and nonsupervisory workers is 9% lower than it was in 1973, after adjustment for inflation.
-26% of the workforce is "nonstandard" including parttime workers, independent contractors, temps, day laborers.
-Of that 26%, most had no access to health care from their employer (61%) and only a small minority had any kind of retirement plan through their employer (27%).
-Meanwhile, profits in 2006 hit a 400 year high as a share of national income, 10.2%.
Walmart jobs are the new goal for capitalism: low wages and no benefits. Better yet, hire mostly temps so they are easier to get rid of when CEOs cut workers in order to keep profit margins high. Capitalism has been and continues to be on an offensive, destroying the living standards of workers, and the Business Week piece also includes some statistics that show the terrible toll that financial insecurity can take. In a 2009 study, workers who were laid off or fired in the last year were twice as likely to have symptpms of severe mental illness as people who kept their jobs. The offensive of capitalism is a form of violence in the lives of those who are laid off.
The offensive of capitalism and its devastating results in the lives of workers leave us with no choice but to struggle to get rid of the system itself. The Business Week article makes it clear that capitalism has every intention to continue its offensive whatever the cost to workers may be. The only alternative for workers is to overthrow capitalism and build a democratic socialist society.
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