Dear Comrades
On this fine day of action, I'd like to share the Seven Point Plan in the
below - please do share it onward with your children, your grandchildren and
all comrades.
Abundant thanks and e-hugs
john
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STARTS
*** Delivering A Fair, Safe and Peaceful Society ***
I consider that our socialist goal is to create a fair, safe and peaceful
society, and, that, the key to delivering such a socially and globally
ethical society is, undoubtedly, the economic system in which it is
embedded.
In a phrase, we need to create an economy where people are in control of
their lives: working for the long-lived benefit of all, rather than for the
profits of a few and the poverty of the planet.
A world, in other words, where we live in trust and respect for, both,
one-another and the planet .
But how ?
To find the elusive step, we have to have strategies for all three of
capitalism's central features: ownership of the workplaces used for profit,
ownership of land used for profit and ownership of money used for profit.
To be able to deal with all three of these aspects of capitalism, we must,
first, return money to its proper use - as a lubricant of human activity,
created by, and flowing through, nationally-owned, democratic, Public
Service Banking and Financial Systems - a set of 'National Wealth Services'
perhaps?
With that in place, we can, then convert share-holder workplaces into
appropriate co-operative enterprises - each having due stewardship of land
and
knowledge resources - and all working for the commonweal:
* ensuring that everyone receives a fair, guaranteed income.
Engaged together, in networks of workplaces, which maximise, in William
Morris' phrase:
"Useful work, not useless toil."
Given that strategy, how about these for tactics?
*** Co-operative Socialism - A Seven Point Action Plan***
1) Convert competitive activities into worker co-operative partnerships and
remodel monopoly activities as stakeholder co-operatives
(see points two and five for the funding mechanism to achieve this);
2) Redistribute added-value from workers' co-ops through
nationally-collected corporate taxation, distributed into local,
democratically-controlled Community Banks, thus making money available for
wealth creation and community development
(and the conversions referred to above);
3) Maximise necessary service provision (health, education, libraries,
transport (?) etc) on a free-at-the-point-of-use basis, retaining
(initially?) money as a mechanism for access to discretionary purchases.
4) Introduce guaranteed income maxima and minima for all, and, so, abolish
personal taxation;
5) Abolish money-lending for profit, operating banking as a Public Service
(see point two above);
6) Reintroduce international exchange controls as necessary;
7) Make capital grants (not loans) to developing countries.
I hope this analysis forms a good basis for practical, co-operative (and
sustainable!) democratic socialism.
I'd enjoy receiving any comments.
Your Friend in peace, co-operation and equality,
John Courtneidge 13 North Road Hertford SG14 1LN (UK)
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
(+44) 01992 501854
ENDS
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