This is a two-part article looking
at the decline in the quality of life for working people in Britain today.
The first article focuses on the workplace, where there has been relative
decline in wages and deterioration in the conditions of employment. The second
part looks at the attack on the 'social wage'. Real wages, i.e. purchasing
power has been declining and the overall infrastructure of what once was an
advanced welfare state, has been crumbling.
Lal Khan was speaking
in Birmingham on June 1 at a meeting organised
by the local PTUDC, where he outlined the developing crisis in Pakistan and
highlighted the need for socialism as the only answer to the problems of the
workers and peasants.
The New Labour government is on the rocks. The wreckage of
Blairism, under the leadership of Gordon Brown, was dealt a further crushing
blow at the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. A 7,000 Labour majority was turned
into a 7,000 Tory majority in a swing of 17.6%. It was the Tories' first
by-election gain in 30 years.