Welfare Reforms – Benefits

The British welfare state as we know it today came into existence after World War 2 with the reforms of 1945 to 1951. After two devastating wars, the world had to begin the long and arduous process of rebuilding itself and Britain was no exception. British people had seen many years of conflict and soldiers were coming home after seeing the devastation of both colonialism and fascism. The spectre of communism was haunting the European capitalist nations and state propaganda wasn’t as pervasive or as effective as it is now, so these war-weary workers understood that countries like the Soviet Union, a genuine workers’ state, offered a better way of life for workers instead of living under the yoke of British capitalism.

This spelt danger for the ruling class and, with a country to rebuild, they put forward a raft of welfare reforms to placate the workers. Ruined homes were rebuilt, and a social housing programme was created. The NHS was created to treat the many sick or injured workers without seeking payment and the welfare system that was said to be created to alleviate poverty amongst the workers struggling for work after returning home from war.

It was Sir William Beveridge’s infamous report “Social Insurance and Allied Services” that prompted these changes to be taken up by Attlee’s Labour government. Beveridge identified five ‘great evils’ that befell workers and plagued society:

• Disease
• Want
• Ignorance
• Squalor
• Idleness

The NHS was founded to prevent and treat disease, while idleness and squalor were averted by the huge home building and rebuilding programme to create social housing. Ignorance was tackled with a readily-available education system and a ‘national minimum’ was there to act as a safety net for those without work.

Many leftists believe these reforms were a form of socialism, or at least a nod in the direction of socialism, rather than the capitalist reforms that they actually were. The only reason the British capitalist class were willing and able to make these reforms is because of the subjugation and pillage of the colonies under British rule. The working-class population of Britain were spared a more fascistic response to revolutionary fervour because of the ruling class’s ability to draw the costs of these reforms from their colonial coffers and the working class themselves.

These reforms were only ever intended to head revolution off at the pass and successive Governments have spent the last almost eighty years undoing them. The era of council-run social housing is at and end, replaced by private housing associations. The NHS is a hollowed-out brand name affixed to private health provision, syphoning funds from the state to corporate bank accounts.

During the decades following the Attlee government, there was an acceleration of deindustrialisation in Britain, leaving the country desperately short of secure jobs. The service sector is now 83% of total employment in the country, leaving many workers in transient or insecure working environments and because of this, the ruling class has never been able to completely remove the social fund system. Wages are pushed down to levels so low that they are unsustainable,, forcing people to rely on tax credits to create a living wage. The fact that tax credits and the national minimum wage were created at the same time should tell you all you need to know about the Establishment’s understanding of the inadequacy of the national minimum wage.

The modern-day version of Beveridge’s ‘safety net’ is Universal Credit, a benefit system designed to incorporate all benefits for alleged ease of use. In reality, it’s a programme of sanctions that forces the recipient to live at the level of borderline poverty, making it impossible to afford the necessaries of life which forces people to at least consider finding work which they are either incapable of doing or they are unsuitable for.

The way Universal Credit works is that it gives the claimant an amount, made up of several elements, which they are means-tested in order to receive. From this point onwards, you have to fight to maintain this amount. Through a combination of sanctions and deductions, they will whittle it down to the lowest possible amount they can give you. In 2018 alone, there were 750 deaths attributed to Universal Credit sanctions.

Social reforms have failed to end poverty in Britain, with millions of families still living below the breadline, because it was never meant to end poverty and does not strive to do so. The benefit system is specifically designed to make life as uncomfortable as possible to live on for any extended period of time.

Beveridge himself said that people must not become comfortable when claiming benefits. This thinking is inhumane. Vulnerable people forced out or work or living in areas of low employment have no choice but to claim benefits.

Comfortable is not something you can accuse these people of being, Mr Beveridge.