03.10.1996

Slave labour plans laid

A prime, and ugly, example of Britain’s regression into social barbarism is the alarming growth of ‘workfare-ism’. Previously regarded as virtually unthinkable and as something that could not happen in civilised Britain, it now looms on the horizon. The reality to come for millions of unemployed workers is one of forced labour and humiliation. Make no mistake: unless we upset the plans of the capitalists now, the unemployed will be forced to work for their pittance of a dole cheque, while slave labour will further drive down the wages of all workers.

It now seems almost certain that a promise to implement some form of workfare scheme will appear in the Conservative Party’s general election manifesto. Senior Tory circles have been working on a ‘Contract to Work’ scheme for some time, finding inspiration in US initiatives. Labour has their own version thinly veiled under the user friendly term ‘Jet’.

Significantly, workfare has already made a ‘physical’ appearance in Hull and Maidstone, where two pilot studies are in operation and ‘going well’, as far as the Tories and the local bosses are concerned.

In these areas, anyone aged between 18 and 50 who has been unemployed for more than two years is given intensive ‘help’ over 13 weeks in order to find them a job or training place. If they are still unemployed after that, they must work for 13 weeks on a ‘community’ project - which involves all manner of menial and manual labour, guaranteed to undermine the morale of the workfare victim. In return, they receive normal unemployment benefit plus the princely sum of £10 a week. Welcome to New Britain.

The Tories claim that two out of three people would back some form of workfare. While this may be an exaggeration, we have to face the fact that a rightwing ‘common sense’ culture is developing amongst large sections of the British population - including many of those who will be the first victims of such an ‘anti-welfare’ regime. This reflects the widespread belief that there is no alternative to capitalism and market forces, no matter how much you wish there was.

The unemployed have the right to work, not to tug their forelock in gratitude every time they sign on. This entails lifting the sights of the entire working class, so it is not content with the occasional crumb from the capitalist table.

Paul Greenaway