02.11.1995

Mere numbers on a page

THE Sunday Times (October 22) published an article by David Smith entitled ‘Wage restraint puts a brake on inflation’. I have never read such a self-righteous piece of technocratic, inhuman and degrading pomposity.

Smith contrasts the “grim” aspects of John Major’s term in office - ie, leaving ERM and tax increases, with the major “achievements” of the man in grey. These “achievements” are nothing more than a set of convoluted facts and figures which highlight the harsh realities of life as a worker in a modern capitalist society.

For example: wages are down “to their lowest ever share of the national income, down from a peak of 72% in the mid-1970s to 62% now”; the “proportion of workers in full-time tenured employment dropped from 68.7% in 1975 to 44.9% in 1993, and is on course to fall below 40% in the next couple of years”; “new workers start on low wages ... This has the effect of restraining wages for those already in jobs for fear they will be replaced by cheaper new entrants” etc.

Smith justifies this economic violence against our class by declaring that pay settlements must be kept low to avoid high inflation. Thus the human condition under advanced capitalism is revealed as one which is subject to the madness of the market place, the tomfoolery of the technocrats, and the sham of statistics.

This accountancy mentality is bereft of humanity. Indeed the entire article could easily have been written by an automaton, were it not for the rider, “It could be that the forces that would push up both inflation and pay settlements are coming to the boil.”

I wonder who or what Smith is referring to - perhaps he is deigning to refer to the people who actually inhabit this world of numbers?

I certainly hope so, as I believe that the working class can no longer expect to be treated with the disdain which showed through so insidiously in this article. Workers are sick and tired of being treated like numbers. They are sick of drudgery at work and on the dole.

Smith claims that unemployment is falling fast, but by his own admission many of those returning to employment will be on low wages and without permanent contracts.

The combination of insecurity, low incomes and alienation must be resolved through the politicisation of our class. Awareness is everything. It is time to lance the boil of capitalism.

Dominic Handley