16.02.1995

Fighting fund

Phil Kent reports on the Weekly Worker fighting fund

OH DEAR. Red nose rip-off night will soon be here again, when ‘comedians’ will be taking up the annual opportunity to further their careers. Comics who supposedly express the alienation of the underdog are to prostitute their talent to save the rich the expense of paying to clear up the mess they have made.

Charity creates the illusion of clearing up this mess. But poverty, war and ecological disaster cannot be conquered with sticky plaster solutions. These gimmick merchants take good intentions and fritter them away by tackling the symptom and ignoring the cause. In the end it produces compassion fatigue. The objects of pity become the objects of contempt because the problems always end up by growing larger. The lesson of throwing good money after bad is learned, but negatively. Capitalism benefits by dividing the forces against it. The working class, sitting in front of TV screens, remains passive and atomised, the more easily manipulated by the ruling class.

Attacks on charity always sound callous, but it is charity itself that is the cruel illusion. The answer is hard but it is fair. All the world’s major problems can be solved by humanity bringing its affairs under its conscious control. This requires socialist planning and revolutionary action. Come out of your living rooms: help build a Party that can do this. Use your resources to create a new world. Do not waste your time shoring up capitalism.

February’s £3,000 fund has made a good start with over £1,100 already in. Send in your donations to see us laughing all the way to the bank.