Alex Jones and conspiracy theories

At times like these which we live through a fundamental crisis of global capitalism not just a cyclical crisis but a fundamental crisis of the system all sorts of conspiracies can come to the fore. People are understandably looking for an explanation of the current crisis and don’t want to have to look far and wide for one. They want a theory to fit into what they know already and they want someone to blame and fast. “Conspiracy theories have had something of resurgence in recent times. Even during the global Occupy movement it was common to meet people who claimed that a secret clique of bankers are running the world, that money is the source of all our problems, or that 9/11 was an inside job. In general conspiracy theories claim that important political, social or economic events are the products of plots by secret groups that are largely unknown to the general public. They can sometimes ring true because of the fact that banks and big business do exercise an inordinate amount of power over our lives. They can sometimes seem radical because they often attempt to question the way the system is run in the interests of a tiny minority. Why has interest in conspiracy theories risen? The global capitalist crisis, the most serious crisis since the 1930s, has dramatically worsened the problems working people face. Jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate and living standards are declining. For many young people a secure job is not even on the cards. In many ways people are questioning why the capitalist system is failing them. People feel like hidden forces beyond their control dominate their world. There is an increasing sense of alienation and this is leading people to search for explanations and solutions. This is where the likes of Alex Jones one of the most well known internet sensations who hosts a regular radio show with millions of listeners and a you tube channel drawing in even more. The thing is, Alex Jones, his cult-like followers, and those with similar views don't see the system for what it is, as they've been conditioned to believe that the system is supposed to work a certain way and in doing so results in all sorts of freedoms and prosperity for everyone. When the system doesn't work that way, they assume it's because of some alien - some "other" - deliberately fucking the system up. Marxism explains it much better. In the past, people could turn to a strong labour movement, which embodied many critiques of capitalism. Marxism is a highly developed labour movement critique that lays bare the class basis of capitalism. Marxism explains that society is essentially divided into classes: workers who are forced to sell their labour-power in order to live, and capitalists, who pay workers less in wages than the value that workers produce. Through a materialist understanding of these social relations, Marxism, or scientific socialism, is a theory that analyses both the economic foundations of capitalism but also the political and social processes that take place. It is based on the history and real experiences of the working class going back hundreds of years and it can explain in detail the boom/bust cycle of capitalism. In the last thirty years however, the labour movement has been under constant attack. Neo-liberalism became the dominant economic ideology and the mass working class political parties that once existed have either shifted to accept this ideology or disappeared. This process was accelerated by the collapse of Soviet Union, which at the time provided a living, but degenerated, alternative to capitalism. Capitalism, we were told, was the only way of running society. Margaret Thatcher’s phrase ‘There Is No Alternative’ summed up the attitude of this era. Consequently class consciousness has been set back and so has the standing of all alternative ideologies. The lack of popularised alternative ideas means that newly radicalised people are sometimes starting their search for explanations and solutions from scratch. They find these explanations in the many ‘new’ ideas, principles or theories that have been invented or discovered by this or that would-be universal reformer, including conspiracy theorists. Real conspiracies versus conspiracy theories Socialists do not claim there are no conspiracies or that the ruling class does not lie to the public. There is plenty of evidence that they do. One only needs to look at Murdoch’s phone hacking, the lies about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, or the Watergate scandal. There is no doubt that members or sections of the ruling class ‘conspire’ and manipulate in order to further their own interests. However, it’s not so much the point that individuals and specific groups conspire to achieve their ends, but rather that behind those individuals are material reasons which cause them to behave in very specific ways. Simply put, these reasons are the necessity for capitalists to maximise profits and accumulate capital, as well as ensuring that the necessary social, political and economic conditions exist to do so. If one group of capitalists were replaced by another, they would behave in a similar ways, with similar outcomes. This is true for the Rothschilds, Henry Ford, and for Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer. In this sense, the problem is a systemic problem, not one of individuals. In this sense Marxism is actually the best framework for analysing those conspiracies that do actually take place. This is because it looks at them within the objective drives and contradictions of the capitalist system, rather than seeing them as constituting the driving force of the system itself. Obscuring reality The most obvious problem with many conspiracy theories is the lack of empirical evidence and the tendency to speculate wildly. Having placed a great deal of effort in showing inconsistencies in media and government accounts of events, conspiracy theories often then simply make up their own interpretations, often relying on ‘hidden’ factual information. This is not a solid basis on which to provide a genuine critique of the complex processes occurring in world politics and the global economy. The actions and motivations of business owners and world leaders become much clearer when they are viewed within the framework of class. The reality of the contradictory interests between the working class and the capitalist class is particularly evident in this era of economic austerity. We have witnessed banks and businesses being bailed out with public money, whilst continuing to reap enormous private profit. The result of this has been the piling up of huge sovereign debt, leading to drastic cuts in social spending that has worsened the living conditions of workers in many parts of the world. This is no secret, but cannot be properly understood without a class analysis of how the system works. No singular ‘amazing’ factual revelation will expose or change the fundamental function of global capitalism. Conspiracy theories are also often inherently implausible. Usually they try to claim that control of the system is exercised by members of tiny groups that are usually countable on one’s fingers. How would it be possible for these individuals to make all the decisions necessary to run a complex modern society? Even if they could, such a system would be extremely unstable and easily overthrown. On the contrary most capitalist societies have been relatively stable since the Second World War. While socialists would agree that under capitalism a ruling class (those who own and control the means of production) exercises control over the majority of working class people (those who must work for a wage or salary), it is not true that this class is of such a tiny proportion. The definition of class is based primarily on an individual’s relationship to the economy. Business owners, for example, may compete for market share, but they also have common interests in terms of weakening labour laws, undermining unions, lowing social spending to allow for business tax breaks and so on. Their common interests on the basis of their class position mean many business owners act similarly despite not being members of a secret society. This minority maintains their control of economic relations through a complex state machine which ensures continuation of their privilege. This is achieved not through an all powerful secret society, but through the laws, courts, and dominant ideology taught in schools and university. Despite this, should their privilege be challenged in a serious way, police, armies and jails are used to quell any resistance. For example, in 2008 when numerous banks and credit funds were found to have acted disingenuously and were in danger of collapse, they were bailed out by governments with taxpayer’s money. Rather than being taken into public ownership under democratic, taxpayers control, their ‘right’ to continue business-as-usual, profiting with the use of public funds was backed up by courts, parliaments and the dominant economic ideology. On the other hand, when ordinary people started to protest and question why their money was being handed over to private business, many were attacked, pepper sprayed and jailed by police! These events happened very much out in the open, and very similarly across the world. This is not due to elaborate, underground co-ordination amongst a secret group, but because the crisis of capitalism presented itself similarly in different countries that are part of a highly connected global economy governed by the same ‘free-market’ ideology. This is the logic of capitalism at work, not the arbitrary will of secret elite. By having an understanding of how capitalism works we can see what unites the ruling class but also what divides them. While on the one hand the ruling class is united in its quest to exploit the working class, it is divided in the sense that it is competing amongst itself for profits. Understanding this helps us explain, in scientific terms, the causes of wars and inter-imperialist conflicts that have shaped the last century. Conspiracy theories, including some presented in the ‘Zeitgeist’ films, often claim that a secret group deliberately caused the global economic crisis. This of course begs the question of how it could possibly be in the interest of the system to enter into deep recession, which has wiped trillions off share values, sent production into decline and caused enormous social unrest. The truth is that rather, than being an elaborate conspiracy; economic crises are the result of the internal contradictions of capitalism. Rather than searching for a secret group with unexplained motivations to ruin the economy, we need to focus on the business owners, banks and politicians who openly oversee and defend a system in which internally created the slumps and crises that ruin people’s lives. There is a long list of things that are wrong with conspiracy theories. One of the most serious problems is that they often attempt to cut across working class unity, by creating divisions along national, ethnic or other social lines, for example anti-Semitism in banking conspiracies, or the claim that leaders of the Russian revolution were really aiming for Jewish world domination, for example in the hoaxed Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Real solutions Apart from being a confusing and inconsistent way of trying to understand the world, conspiracy theories do not outline any strategy for practical action to solve the problems we face. It seems many conspiracy theories are solely focused on trying to inform people of a hidden conspiracy, but lack any advice on what to do about it. In this sense conspiracy theories are disempowering and demobilising. History has shown many times that the best way to utilise the power of ordinary people is to unite them in action for social change. Other ‘solutions’ put forward such as those prominent in the Zeitgeist films, amount to withdrawing from the world to try and build a new society. This is impossible given the unceasing (and militarised) search by capitalism for markets and resources. This rejection of the possibility of changing the world we live in is again contradicted by the history of the workers’ movement. Not only have working people organised and won reforms from capitalism, but they have made revolutions that have fundamentally changed societies. It is no accident that historically both reforms and revolutions were often guided or influenced by a thoroughgoing Marxist analysis of capitalism. Over the past 160 years Marxism has developed and tested a strategy for achieving social change. Marx’s understanding of class struggle, Rosa Luxemburg’s conception of the general strike, Trotsky’s theory of the permanent revolution, and Lenin’s contributions on the role of the revolutionary party are just some of the component parts of a scientific theory that concretely suggests what should be done to advance the interests of working people. This is something that conspiracy theories completely lack. Conspiracy theories can sometimes seem quite radical, because they are hostile to bankers or other exploiters, and decry the status quo generally. However conspiracy theories obscure a realistic understanding of important processes and events. Because of this they offer no real solutions. They can often have the effect of serving the system by deflecting blame and attention from where it belongs. Instead of exposing imagined conspiracies, what is needed is a rigorous scientific approach, one which is capable of laying bare the class nature of the processes that shape capitalist society. This understanding can then inform how and why we struggle against the ruling class and assist in mobilising people to fundamentally change the world for the better.” With extracts from http://www.socialistpartyaustralia.org/archives/4047

Solidarity with workers across Europe

As the crisis in capitalism grows deeper and deeper and the ruling classes look increasingly desperate for ordinary working people they haven’t seen this drop in living standards for a very very long time possibly ever.



In Britain, as in every country of Europe, millions of working people are following events in Greece with baited breath. In part this is because of fear of what the deepening economic crisis in the euro zone could mean for workers in Britain. But it is not the only reason. It is also because workers are inspired by the defiance of the Greek population.
Seventeen general strikes have shaken Greece in the course of the last two years as Greek workers have refused to accept the mass impoverishment demanded of them. And now the Greek working and middle classes have shouted their defiance in the elections - shattering the electoral base of the previous establishment parties - Pasok and New Democracy - and voting for those who opposed austerity.
Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) was the biggest beneficiary of the anti-austerity mood in the recent Greek general election, increasing its vote from 4.6% to 16.78%.
Since then Syriza's principled stand, refusing to join a coalition that accepted more austerity and instead demanding a left government, has led to increasing support in opinion polls - as high as 26% - mostly topping the polls. This also shows the potential for left, anti-cuts candidates to make breakthroughs outside of Greece, including the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in Britain.
The right-wing and fascist Golden Dawn won 21 MPs in the 6 May elections but has since seen its support plummet in the polls. This gives an indication of how support for the far right can be undermined when a credible left alternative emerges. But it is also a warning of what could emerge if Syriza does not lead a battle against austerity.


All across Europe workers are being forced to accept austerity in Ireland next week people will go to the polls to vote on the European austerity treaty as socialists we call for a strong NO vote rejecting permanent austerity and being locked into a straight jacket in terms of Ireland’s options from this point on.

The capitalist classes of Europe are now cranking up the pressure on the Greek working class, trying to blackmail it into voting 'the right way' at the recall general election in June.
Typically Cameron has led the charge, crudely sending "a very clear message to the people of Greece: there is a choice - you can vote to stay in the euro, with all the commitments you made, or if you vote another way you're effectively voting to leave."
Cameron is attempting to turn the general election into a referendum on the euro. He is gambling on the fact that a majority of the Greek population still want to remain in the euro, fearing the prospect of being a small, isolated and impoverished country.
It was not the Greek people that made a "commitment" to endure endless misery. This was done by the previous government parties and, as a result, the Greek population punished them at the polls.
The policies demanded by the troika of the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, and implemented by Greek governments, have left sections of the Greek population destitute and the vast majority in terrible poverty.
The Greek economy has shrunk by 20% in four years, a catastrophe not seen in Europe since the 1930s. Public sector wages have fallen by 40%. The church is now feeding an average of 250,000 people each day as sections of the population literally face starvation.

As the pressure of the axe-men and women mounts on the Greek people to submit, the working class of Britain, along with workers across Europe, needs to send a resounding message to the Greek people: 'We stand 100% with your rejection of austerity. We support your struggle and will step up the battle to stop cuts and defend living conditions in our own countries, as the best means of assisting your struggle. If, as is overwhelmingly likely, the capitalist classes of Europe force you out of the euro zone, you will not be isolated - the workers of Europe stand in solidarity with you.'
What better support could workers in Britain give to workers in Greece than by bringing down the hated Con-Dem government?
It is not only in Greece but across Europe that the working class has rejected austerity on the streets and at the ballot box. The defeat of Sarkozy in France and of Merkel's party in Germany's most populous state, the huge vote against the Con-Dem's in Britain's local elections, plus the local election results in Italy; are all electoral indications of a growing tidal wave of opposition to austerity.
The battle against austerity must be linked to struggle against capitalism - a system in a profound crisis. It is not the supposed past profligacy of the peoples of Greece, Spain, Ireland or Britain that has led to the current catastrophe but the economic crisis of capitalism, and the past and current profligacy of the financiers and speculators who dominate the economy.
The euro zone has become an austerity zone, where all the problems of the capitalist crisis are intensified. We as Socialists always warned that the euro, a single currency for very different economies, would not work on a capitalist basis.
When the world economy was growing it could appear a success, but in a crisis it would become a terrible trap for the working classes of Europe.
The leaders of the euro zone, headed by German capitalism, are trying to overcome the crisis by driving the working class into the dirt.
Cameron is applying the same policy in Britain. But this is exacerbating the economic crisis and is creating a gigantic revolt. It is fear of a deepening of the economic crisis and, above all, of the revolt that is coming, that is forcing the leading representatives of capitalism, including Obama, to put pressure on German capitalism to move towards some measures to stimulate the euro zone’s economies.
The economic crisis is not caused by a lack of profits for big business. The capitalists have huge piles of cash. The Wall Street Journal estimates that in the US, the euro zone, the UK and Japan, some $7.75 trillion in cash, is sitting in the vaults of big business.
Because the capitalists refuse to invest this money, we call for an immediate 50% levy on it, in order for it to be used for a massive programme of investment in public work and job creation. However, there is no prospect of capitalist governments carrying out this kind of serious stimulus, which would create howls of outrage, and opposition, from their big business backers.

So let’s join together across Europe and look across borders and see we are all fighting the same enemy and that if we unite across borders workers can finally feel their huge strength they do hold. Once workers in Europe break out of their chains the tide will turn very quickly. In Britain we can do our bit by helping to bring down this weak rotten con-dem government which is intent on making the poor pay for a crisis they did not create. This October on the TUC demonstration we also need to have placards and banners with messages of solidarity with Greek, Spanish, Irish and Portuguese workers on this will scare the ruling class’s with the ideas and solidarity that is spreading like wild fire across Europe as we speak.

Its time to fight back, its time to unite but most of all stand together.

The lessons for TUSC in the recent local elections

Overall I feel the recent elections were good to be honest for TUSC in many places we were standing for the first time. We may not have made a significant breakthrough but I am still confident our time will come.

Labour gained big numbers of councillors and control of councils again this is a last chance for labour if you like given to them by those who voted. This is no way an endorsement of the labour party and their slow cuts strategy but an anti Tory vote where people looked to punish the government including Tories and lib dems. This at the moment has meant labour has won big but unless they break from the base of capitalism they are based on they too will be carrying out the cuts and feeling the wrath of the anti cuts movement.
It is certainly going to be a very interesting period now with still only a estimated 9% of the cuts been seen so far many labour councils will have to make the cuts if they want to stay true to their capitalist masters. If they do break from this and do stand up for ordinary people and refuse to make the cuts all well and good that is what we want to happen but frankly from the evidence so far where labour control councils this does not appear to be the case at all.


If anything they seem to not even debate the cuts just interested in the speed of the cuts not the cuts passé. It is a good time for TUSC now we really have to keep our nerve and keep firm to our principles stand by what we’ve stood on and build on these elections.

Standing as broadly as we can in new areas building the TUSC name is key for this coming period between now and the next elections. We can’t just be seen as another party who is only seen at election time. We must be standing shoulder to shoulder with workers in struggle be that on strikes on demonstrations and mass movements as the crisis in capitalism will deepen there is no doubt about that.
As Marxists we see the struggle for a new society based on the needs of people over the profits of a few a process which can be and flow seeing our movement thrown back at times when other times we can advance consciousness and make gains. The recent elections have clearly given labour one last chance to prove they can stand up for ordinary people against the cuts. We know this won’t happen but people have to see this in action and will be betrayed. We have been told well why you don’t join the labour party to affect change from within. This is a dead end argument as we were in the labour party and were expelled for giving workers a voice. We are not prepared to sit in the labour party and sit by as the working class goes to hell in a handcart. We are actively trying to give a lead to workers and that alternative which is being searched for more and more.

As some commentators and others on the left think this will be the end for Tusk and the likes of Dave Nellist who unfortunately lost his seat to a new labour pro cuts candidate on Thursday but this is not the end if anything it is just the start and we will be there on the right side of the picket lines standing with ordinary workers who need our support against the boss’s

So onwards and upwards I say let labour show us what they are all about now as we will be watching closely and ready to expose them.

Greece on the edge, will the EU leaders let them go ?

At the present time, foreign creditors and the Troika (IMF, ECB and EU) are trying to impose a new round of severe cuts on Greece, including 20% wage cuts in the private sector and an immediate slaughter of 15,000 public sector job as part of the destruction of 150,000 jobs by 2015. At the same time, support for the parties supporting the technocrat government of Papademos is in sharp decline. In one recent poll, Pasok, the now neo-liberal former social democratic party, is down to 8%, from 44% in 2009, when it returned to power! The anger and fury about the cuts is now reflected in the hesitancy that ND, the traditional conservative party, and Laos, a right-wing populist force, - in alliance with Pasok behind the Papademos government - are trying to present to the public, before again surrendering to the demands of the markets. “I will not contribute to a revolution out of misery that will then burn the whole of Europe”, Georgios Karatzaferis, the leader of Laos, was quoted, trying to distance himself from the government he supports.



General strike, 7 February 2012

The former banker, Lucas Papademos, was presented in November as a ‘neutral’ technocrat, above the different parties to save Greece after the fall of the Pasok government. On taking over the job of Prime Minister, he had approval rates of 60% or more. Now his support is shattered, and the parties supporting him – Pasok, ND and Laos – have fallen from 83% combined in October 2009 to less than 45% today, with ND on 31% (from 33.4% in 2009) and Laos 5% (5.6%).


Still, the ruling class and their politicians can feel that the mood is explosive.

The failure of two years of severe austerity after decades of stagnation and crisis in Greece is now obvious. The capitalist media and TV channels openly discuss the vicious circle of cuts and further economic decline. It’s widely acknowledged now, that this policy of austerity is a blind alley and capitalist commentators now raise the idea of limiting austerity to allow some limited measures promoting growth. The Troika is more and more criticised for imposing their policies and making the situation worse.

Still no significant part of the Greek capitalists wants Greece to leave the Euro-zone, but the debate is in full swing now on what would happen if Greece is kicked out of the Euro or leaves the common currency itself. Parts of the Greek capitalists are trying to use this as a tool to demand more concessions from the Troika.




With the narrow vote of the Greek parliament last night narrowly voting through new austerity measures mentioned above to be able to qualify for the next installment of the bailout from the IMF. This looks dire for Greecea s it is. They are effectively bankrupt already huge huge unemployment and the suicide rate is shooting up in the last year.

Greek gdp fell 7.3% in 2Q 2011. Est. -5% for 2011. Unemployment est. to be at 1.2M in a country of 12M how can they pay the debt?

Answer is they simply cant. I have a feeling that the EU leadership the ruling class's in germany and France are preparing the ground now for a exit of teh Eurozone for Greece. To me the EU cannot afford to bail out Italy and spain and Greece i think they will sacrifice Greece to try and save the rest of this failed capitalist project.

As for democracy in Greece i think now its long gone. With elections called for April time but all parties manefesto's has to be passed by the IMF. If you think that is democracy having your manefesto passed by the markets first you can think again.

Its time for the greek workers to over throw their government once and for all and to refuse to pay any more of the debt. To urge the cancelation of the debt and the bringing into public ownership the commanding heights of their economy to begin to rebuild Greece under a socialist planned economy.

World capitalism teeters on the edge of disaster

More andm ore gloomy news meets us this week with the news that the world growth figures have been downscaled and world capitalsim edges ever slowly towards another global depression set to dwarf the great depression of the 30's. This is a real crisis now and one we are not getting out of anytime soon.

Only yesterday the worst-case expectation was that the UK’s Gross Domestic Product – the key measure of growth – fell by 0.1% between October and December. But today’s official figure from the Office for National Statistics reveals that the UK economy actually shrank by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2011, and is heading for recession.

Accumulated UK government debt broke through the £1 trillion mark as a dual consequence of falling tax revenues, continued support for the financial sector and higher welfare bills as a result of soaring unemployment.

Despite the ConDem’s stated intention to reduce the country’s dependence on debt, its combined corporate, public and household debt has increased to 507% of GDP and the country remains where it was in the league table of the richer nations when the crisis broke in 2007/8 – right at the top.


The world's economy is "deeply into the danger zone" because of risks from the eurozone, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

The IMF predicts the global economy will grow by 3.25% in 2012, down from an earlier forecast of 4%.

The growth forecast for the UK economy has been cut to 0.6% from 1.6%.

But the eurozone is set for a "mild recession" in 2012, with GDP expected to shrink by 0.5%, compared with a previous forecast of 1.1% growth.


Not one of the capitalist leaders of teh ruling class know how to solve this crisis and prescribe more austerity to deal with this sinking us further and further into misery . While the rich get richer the poor get poorer. The contradictions and failings of world capitalism are becoming increasingly clear for all to see now.

What we marxists argued at the time of the 2008 financial crash and after there is no way out of this crisis as there is little fat on the bone left to play with. With china's economy slowing and having a knock on affect in South America and Africa where it had been investing heavily wil be scaled back leading to recessions and even longer term depressions in other parts of the world. No where will escape this i feel and unless this rotten system of greed over peoples needs is brought to a end where the wealth of the working class is expropriated for the benifits of the 1%.

It is time society was re organised and the worlds resources planned for the needs of the planet and its people which can all be met if wealth was shared out equally. In a socialist planned society