Post office give away

[red flag over teeside]

Today in the UK the Post Office was mainly given away to rich speculators and all without any serious resistance from either the Labour Party or the CWU. I know that nationalisation is not a steep towards communism but today has felt somehow wrong. Am I being a sentimenatlist?

[GiantMonkeyMan]

I wouldn't say that there has been no resistance from the CWU. There's been national strikes and smaller local strikes in preparation. But, yes, it's another shit aspect about the current government. Prices are going to go up and up just like the energy and rail companies until the average person can't realistically afford to use the service anymore.

[brigadista]

sorrowful - Mail used to be a militant workforce to be reckoned with - more carpetbagging by the toffs

[Comrade Jacob]

And of course the post-men sold out and accepted the shares...

[Devrim]

And of course the post-men sold out and accepted the shares...

What on earth are you suggesting here?

Devrim

[Devrim]

sorrowful - Mail used to be a militant workforce to be reckoned with - more carpetbagging by the toffs

Yes, it was when I worked there. I think that compared to other sectors in the UK it still has quite a high level of strikes though.

One of the things that has weakened the workforce there is the declining importance of the post itself. Changes in society, particularly the development of the internet, have decreased the power of postal workers.

Devrim

[A.J.]

One of the things that has weakened the workforce there is the declining importance of the post itself. Changes in society, particularly the development of the internet, have decreased the power of postal workers.


There has been a decline in the volume of letters in recent years. However, the parcelforce division of Royal Mail has, at the same time, undergone a significant expansion.

With it being privatised there's nothing to stop private courier firms such as UPS and DHL organising a cartel just like the big energy firms, leading ultimately to exponential price hikes.

[Proteus2]

Aside from all the usual talk in the media about prices, efficiency etc, I would like to make the simple point that it is fundamentally immoral to take something from 65 million people without asking them and hand it over to private investors who care nothing about the workers and stakeholders of Royal Mail but only of themselves. But that's progress and I'm a dinosaur.

[red flag over teeside]

I think that the sell off of Royal Mail is a sign of the historical low levels of working class confidence which allows the bourgeoise to get away with such things. While the CWU has led strikes and are preparing further strikes these strikes are little more than symbolic gestures which will be ignored not only by the government but also by the new private investors. Look at the oversubscription of RM shares. Not a sign that the investors are worried about union resistance.

On the point of the workers accepting free shares. In the long run I don't think that this will make any difference or that it is any refection of workers selling out to the capitalist sytem. The problem that for many workers socialism has been completely marginalised and workers have come to an uneasy acceptance of capitalism. Hopefully this perspective will change as the effects of the crisis deepns with both the LP and unions unable to protect the living working conditions of workers.

[Marshal of the People]

I wholeheartedly agree with both proteus2 and red flag over teeside.

I think that the mail service shouldn't be privatised, I have been hearing over here in Australia on the news about how the government in the UK is privatising everything and I feel sorry for all those who live there (in the UK). Long Live Socialism Comrades:grin: