1 Socialist Standard April 2021

Socialist Standard April 2021 1 Introducing the Socialist Party The Socialist Party advocates a society developing Russian capitalism under a where production is freed from the one-party dictatorship. Both failures have artificial constraints of profit and given socialism a quite different -- and organised for the benefit of all on the unattractive -- meaning: state ownership basis of material abundance. It does not and control. As the Socialist Standard have policies to ameliorate aspects of pointed out before both courses were the existing social system. It is opposed followed, the results would more properly to all war. be called state capitalism. The Socialist Standard is the combative The Socialist Party and the World monthly journal of the Socialist Party, Socialist Movement affirm that capitalism published without interruption since is incapable of meaningful change in 1904. In the 1930s the Socialist Standard the interests of the majority; that the explained why capitalism would not basis of exploitation is the wages/money collapse of its own accord, in response to system. The Socialist Standard is proud widespread claims to the contrary, and to have kept alive the original idea of continues to hold this view in face of the what socialism is -- a classless, stateless, notion’s recent popularity. Beveridge’s of the natural world can have limited wageless, moneyless society or, defined welfare measures of the 1940s were effect and run counter to the nature of positively, a democracy in which free and viewed as a reorganisation of poverty and capitalism itself. equal men and women co-operate to a necessary ‘expense’ of production, and Gradualist reformers like the Labour produce the things they need to live and Keynesian policies designed to overcome Party believed that capitalism could be enjoy life, to which they have free access slumps an illusion. Today, the journal transformed through a series of social in accordance with the principle ‘from exposes as false the view that banks measures, but have merely become each according to their abilities, to each create money out of thin air, and explains routine managers of the system. The according to their needs’ why actions to prevent the depredation Bolsheviks had to be content with All original material is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales (CC BY-ND 2.0 UK) licence. 2 Socialist Standard April 2021 Editorial A woman’s lot Every so often a terrible event takes 24 March). There have been rises in the ‘professional’ occupations and some place which reveals the inhuman nature incidence of rape. As the perpetrators are have become political leaders, women of the capitalist system. In May last invariably male, the focus has been on are still disproportionately employed year, the killing of George Floyd shone male behaviour. So there are suggestions in the lower-paid and less secure jobs a spotlight on the racism inherent in that young boys should be educated at and usually earn less than their male capitalism. On 3 March this year, the a young age to respect women and girls. counterparts. Under capitalism, women’s abduction and murder of Sarah Everard, The government has proposed sending bodies have been sexualised through the while she was making her way home plain-clothes officers into nightclubs and pornography industry and are frequently from a friend’s house in South London, Jenny Jones of the Green Party advocated used for the promotion of commercial laid bare the misogyny and sexism that a punitive curfew on all men after 6 products. is rife in modern society. This triggered pm. However, none of these measures This does not mean that women and an outpouring of anger among women at address the root of the problem. men have interests that are diametrically what they see as a society that engenders If we are to combat misogyny and opposed to each other. On the contrary, violence directed at them. This anger was sexism, we need to look beyond working-class women and men have further fuelled when the police roughly individual male behaviour. With the rise more in common with each other than handled women attending a vigil in of private property society, descent was they do with their counterparts in the Clapham Common on 13 March, and by traced through the male line, which capitalist class. They are both exploited the revelation that the alleged killer is a allowed mainly men to accumulate by the capitalist system. serving police officer. private wealth and become dominant in Therefore, working-class women and In the UK last year 118 women were the emerging ruling classes. The nuclear men must work together, not to work murdered by men. The pandemic has family, with the man at its head and for palliative reforms that only treat the witnessed a spike in instances of violent the woman’s role mainly as mother and symptoms of the problem, but to get rid abuses. According to a YouGov poll, 86 housekeeper, became the basic unit of of the capitalist system altogether and percent of young women in the UK have social organisation. As social production establish socialism, where everyone, said that they have experienced sexual moved away from home-based cottage regardless of gender, can participate harassment, with 71 percent of women industries to large-scale industry and equally. A political movement where of any age reporting the same (Four-fifths manufacturing, women’s social power women are not treated as equals is not a of young women in the UK have been was further eroded. Although women revolutionary socialist one. sexually harassed, survey finds, Guardian, have made advances in the better-paid Subscription Orders should be sent to the address above. Rates: One year subscription (normal rate) £15. One year subscription (low/unwaged) £10. Europe rate £40 (Air mail). Rest of the world £40 (surface). Voluntary supporters subscription £20 or more. Cheques payable to ‘The Socialist Party of Great Britain’. Socialist Standard April 2021 3 The Price of Everything LAST YEAR, you will not be astonished the field. If they have to provide detailed publish several articles based on their to learn, a great many peer-reviewed recommendations on papers that should research in academic journals, in effect research papers on Covid-19 were have been ‘binned’ by the journal’s editor, moving responsibility for evaluating published. Upwards of 75,000, to be that’s less overall incentive for the reviewer doctoral research from university exact, with another 10,000 or so available and more useful research time wasted. committees to journal editors and on pre-print servers, i.e. awaiting peer That might just be one overworked and reviewers’ (bit.ly/2OwkAv6). So much for review (New Scientist, 16 December - bit. jaded view though? the appliance of science. ly/2OwgvqM). Great, you might think. Not according to psychologist Stuart Well ok, but papers are at least reliable The brainiacs of the world rolling up their Ritchie: ‘We think of science as being this because they’re full of citations of other sleeves and getting down to business on a objective thing that […] produces all these work, right? Right, but 90 percent of somewhat pressing matter. The world of scientific papers, which are almost sacred papers are never cited at all (Smithsonian, science should be delighted. things. But a lot of people don’t see how above), so citations tend to come Er, not exactly. Papers are being shunted the sausage is made. […] In a lot of cases, disproportionately from a very few papers. out at the rate of 4,000 a week, and who the science is useless, not worth the paper Then these citations in turn spawn further can possibly read all that? Scientists it is written on’ (New Scientist, 19 August citations, in an ever lengthening and say they’re not reading but drowning, 2020 - bit.ly/3qLYDoZ). In his view, the uncritical chain, until the original paper and they want new smart tools to wade review system isn’t up to much either. can end up all but forgotten. through it all (bit.ly/3bNJIGD). Even if reviewers try to check, they usually To give one example, low-fat diets have But still, it’s been an unusual year, so can’t get access to the raw data, so they been a nutritional shibboleth for decades, you’d expect a tsunami of research papers, can’t really verify what they’re reading. yet when the lo-carb craze kicked off a few wouldn’t you? Actually, this is no different And on top of that, they can often guess years ago and sent seismic shocks through from any other year. Scientists have for a where a paper has come from, despite the the weight loss industry, some researchers long time been decrying their ‘attention supposed anonymity, so bias can creep in. actually looked again at the published decay’ in the midst of an ever-increasing But even so, it can’t be right that people research on dietary fat. It turned out that flood of academic studies (Independent, are writing useless papers, surely? What all the established ‘knowledge’ about fats 11 March 2015 - bit.ly/3eEQiB0). And incentive is there to do that? Are they in diets, and the official advice given by the their libraries need a lot of magazine simply incompetent? Here the in-house US and UK for decades, stemmed from just subscriptions too. No one knows how editor becomes especially illuminating. 6 studies in the 1970s. Even those studies many scientific journals there are, but To paraphrase the conversation: ‘You were heavily qualified by the researchers several estimates point to around 30,000, have to understand how the system at the time, with some saying dietary with close to two million articles published works.

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