The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-06-04
BY ]. T. MURPHY.
(Member, British Communist Party.)
written Especially for the Daily
Worker.)

NhSHpeTJ 5ritlSn communist Party.)
written Especially for the Daily
Worker.)
F it is still necessary to make clear
! that the Labor party has become
the custodian Of Liberalism then the
general chorus of approval from "all
classes" for the budget of the labor
government adds to the proof already
given. Mr.. Snowden simply beamed
when Labor cheered, the Liberals
praised and the Tories gave grudging
appreciation. We had better examine
the situation.
What Have the Workers Got
Out Of It?
The following reductions in taxa
ton ION foodstuffs will for a short
time add to the spending power Of the
workers.
Reduction in sugar. I'D per pound
Reduction in tea-.......4 per pound
Reduction in cocoa......11sd per pound
Reduction in coffee.....2 d per pound
In addition extra dried fruit tax has
been abolished.
Sweetened mineral water tax is
abolished.
Entertainment taxes on admission
prices up to 1-3 either abolished or re-
duced.
These reductions every worker will
appreciate. But the trouble arises
when another part of the policy Of the
Labor party comes automatically into
operation. A reduction of points in
the index figure of the cost of living
brings reductions of wages at, the
month end. So the railway workers,
transport workers, building workers,
cotton operatives, ETC., will automat.
ically come due for reductions in
wages within few weeks. So what is
given with the right hand will be
taken away with the left, and the in
creased purchasing capacity which
Mr. Snowden has doomed so much as
trade reviver will be very much
curtailed. In practice it will work out
on the lines of the old Liberal slogan
cheap labor as stimulant to trade.
Then, of course, we must not for
get the activity of the price manipu-
lators, who have a knack of making
the best of new situations. When the
public has shown that it can pay the
high prices, these manipulators set to
work to bring about an artificial
shortage of the goods on which taxes
have been reduced. This permits them
to take the tax reduction for them
selves as the most deserving of the
community.
The people who will actually gain
are the middle classes. Their sala-
ries do not fluctuate so violently as
the workers wages, and so the sliding
scale won't operate downwards so far
as they are concerned. Then the Ia
Dor commodity will be cheaper for the
small employer as well as the big en-
ployers, and they will, be able to join
In the chorus of the industriaIists who
are particularly anxious for low
wages cheaper labor will help them
to compete more effectively on the
foreign market. But they have re-
ceived other gifts from the budget
Gifts to Others Than the Workers.
The corporation profits tax, against
which the Federation of British Indus
tries has fought so long, has been
abolished.
The inhibited house duty, which has
especially annoyed the lower middle
classes, has been abolished.
Motor license charges have been re-
duced (And of course the workers
have two or three each of these
things)
Then comes a reduction in tele-
phone charges.
These are all gifts to the middle
classes and the capitalists. And it
will be observed that these are addi-
tional gifts, for all the other reduc-
tions apply to them also with further
advantage over the workers. Where
as these classes can fitch by the nor
NAL operation of the capitalist and
constitutional labor machinery the
gains which the workers secure from
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