Secrecy of labor unions and capitalist bankers

Secrecy of Labor unions and capitalist bankers

The two main controllers of all economic activity are too secretive.

Both labor and capital are too important to be left just to their own structures. They are both, naturally, focused on self interest but they have such strong influences over everyone else that these self interests need some form of accountability to the rest of the population. If we are to have democratic government, then surly we need open democracy within the two main levers of economy. We are all so interdependent in the the modern time, that the economy affects and to a degree, controls us all. Having elected government without any form of democratic control over these twin pillars of economic activity, is detrimental to democracy itself.

Trades unions, the cooperation between workers to improve their pay and working conditions, is such a worthwhile idea, yet it has always been mired in some sort of conflict. From the Toll Puddle martyrs, through the crooked teamsters union in USA, to the present day where (according to press reports) a leader of a teaching union can be elected without, prior to the election, being a member of that union. There is always a hint of corruption, of doubtful and less than transparent methods of control and administration. Why is this? Sure in the very early days when such unions were actually declared illegal, their introversion and secrecy was necessary but not in the modern world. Even in Britain today millions of honest working people pay subscriptions to unions and part of the subscription is a “political” fund. This is a worthy ideal, the union membership helping finance a political party that will in turn support them. The odd thing is that recent elections and opinion polls suggest that many, a great many, of these workers actually vote for other political parties when it comes to a general election. There are many opinions as to why this is, especially in the last general election in Britain, but it does appear that these workers, although they are union members, do not want extreme socialism as a form of government.

Almost everybody in developed nations, can read and write, they have access to historical records, they can find out about the deprivations and destructive forces unleashed by uncontrolled socialist zealots. It is a reasonable guess that they vote against this rather than for the other parties. If a proportion of the members vote against extreme socialism, why do so many people, appearing to be extreme socialists, get into well paid positions of power within the unions? May be a clue is in the reaction to any effort to legally impose reform and clarity on union management and operational practices. Mrs Thatcher was a Prime Minister in Britain who actually came from middle class society, yet was the most hated and vilified “enemy” to the union management, yet she won more than one general election. Her crimes against the working class, according to union leaders, were manifold. She tried to make the activities of the unions stay within the law. She tried to make it illegal for unions to act without actual proof they had the support of the majority of the members. She also tried to make industry and unions face the economic realities of the modern world. She tried to shine the light of open democracy on the way the unions were run. She was opposed, vilified, lied about, attacked from all side, some attacks may have been deserved but the vitriolic personal abuse and the levels of personal hatred stirred up went way beyond reasonableness. Why? What did the unions have to hide? Do they still have reasons to keep their decision making processes secret?

Capitalism, as practiced in the early 21st century, is no better. It is a, shielded, closed and introvert form of society. It is usually assumed the leaders, who ever they are, are motivated by material greed, but they may have a political agenda that verges on fascism. Who are these people and organizations, that appear to have control over world wide financial activity? Is there an organization that these unknown controllers belong to? How do they operate so successfully? The Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has thrown up interesting questions. Just about every government of every nation, has had to spend money helping those sick and subsidizing their national economies. They all borrow money. Who from? Who has so much money they can lend it, with interest charges, to nearly every nation? Where did this money come from in the first place and where do they keep it until they find a nation willing to pay interest on it? A British Tory Prime Minister, Edward Heath, called it the unacceptable face of British capitalism, and he was supporter of capitalism in general. He called into question the speculators who ruined perfectly good manufacturing enterprises and placed thousands out of work simply for personal financial gain. Even he could not stop or even fully expose these financial manipulators.

Just as we hear of politicians who spout socialist slogans but have life styles and personal lives that are normally associated with the very rich, we also hear of extremely wealth individuals who chose to live as if they had very little wealth. These are always unsubstantiated stories. Both sides of this equation have money and power, they both can employ specialists to ensure the public persona is directed to a model they choose, rather than any actually truthful revelation. We scrutinize our political leaders down to what are sometimes absurd levels of personal intrusion. The media make scandalized exposes of activity, that if it was practiced by an average person would pass without comment let alone disapproval. Yet those who can manipulate the economy, and so manipulate the life of almost all of the population, act in secret and without ever facing scrutiny. There has to be a question about any collusion between these two secret controlling groups, a George Orwell type conspiracy to control the masses.

It is time we change the mechanisms of democratic governance. It is time we embraced modern methods and so greatly reduce the influence and control by non-elected groups, these groups range from the bureaucrats in administrative positions, to the financiers. From the union leaders to the political party controllers. Democracy can not flourish while the main leavers of government act in secret.