Unemployment on the Rise

The latest unemployment figures have revealed that the number of people unemployed in the U.K now stands at 2.62 million, the highest number of people out of work since 1994. This number includes over 1 million people aged 16-24 which means that 1 in 5 young people are unable to find work.

This is nothing less than a historic crime for unemployment inevitably implies poverty and poverty in this day and age is criminal. People unable to find work are forced to survive on subsistence handouts, the government having deemed that £53 a week is enough for a human being to live off. To live off of such a paltry sum is just about manageable if the individual is willing to forgo taking any enjoyment out of life and endure a life of constant miserable struggle. The saddest fact of all though about the unemployment figures and the related poverty is that things do not have to be this way.

Unemployment is a product of the capitalist system that we toil under. In this system we the working class do not own the means of production, the machinery and the natural resources, to produce the things we need. Instead the capitalist class owns these things. To buy the things we need we are forced to sell our ability to perform work to the capitalist who then pays us a small fraction of the money they have made off of our work.

However when the capitalist doesn’t believe that they can make money for themselves by hiring workers, then they don’t hire anyone and often they sack workers they no longer need.  The workers are then unemployed which is bad for them but still good for the capitalists. This is because the capitalists can then drive down the wages of the workers they employ and exploit them even more to make even more money for themselves. If the workers resist these attacks on their living standards the capitalists say “well if you don’t like it don’t work here, there are plenty of other people unemployed who would gladly take this job on the conditions I offer”. The worker is thus forced to accept the worse terms. Therefore high unemployment as we are facing now is great for the capitalist class but disastrous for the working class.

Unemployment also means that people who are in work are forced to work harder and do the work that was previously done by the people who are now unemployed. This increased workload can lead to disastrous consequences. Workers become worn out and die younger, strains are put on relationships and higher pressure leads to a higher likelihood of, often deadly, accidents in the workplace.

There is but one solution to the problem of unemployment and that is socialist revolution. The working class must seize control of the means of production and start using them in the interest of the great majority of the population rather than for the lecherous, pilfering, selfish interest of the tiny few. There is plenty of work to be done in the world to improve it. People need better housing, better food, better educational opportunities, easier transport, beautiful art and stimulating entertainment. These things are not available to the vast majority in capitalism because they don’t make profits for the capitalists. In socialism everyone who wants to work will be able to contribute to building this better society and unemployment will be a concept understood only from the pages of history books.