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| Thousands of protesters march the streets surrounding the Conservative Party Conference in support of trade unionists, and against austerity, in Manchester, 4 October 2015. |
The basic income took a huge step towards being a reality in the UK last Tuesday night when John McDonnell mentioned that the Labour Party where considering a basic income policy (Sheffield, 2016). During a speech, at the latest stop on his New Economics tour (Sheffield, 2016{2}), in which McDonnell spoke of Labour's commitment to a more decentralised and democratic economy, the Shadow Chancellor acknowledged the interest Labour had taken in the policy - heretofore, only advocated for by the Greens (Wintour, 2015).
The basic income will be one step towards making society more fair, the economy more just, and giving individuals more liberty. Right now, with the European business community readjusting to technology, as well as competition from businesses employing workers for virtually no pay in other parts of the world, a defined shift towards fairness, justice and liberty is needed.
Certain principles, like the value of work in exchange for the means to live, continue to be imposed despite the possibility of a secure job, that pays a fair wage for a fair day's work, threatening to disappear (Foster, 2016). Zero-hours contracts are taking security away from the most vulnerable, eating into their lives in ways that leave them filled with stress and anxiety (Fleming, 2016).
Right now the advances in technology are very much in the favour of business and those in positions of established wealth, enriching some few while most see their livelihoods taken away and their lives made more precarious. There seems to be a coalition, one part fearing for workers and the other an elite fearing a form of socialism that eat into their status, that takes the rather unflattering opinion that this third industrial revolution should be avoided for fear of "mass unemployment and psychological aimlessness" (Mason, 2016).
Discussing the earlier and more famous industrial revolution, which saw the rise of the machines in Europe, Oscar Wilde argued that it was not a matter of the emergence of the technology itself that was the problem, but rather the way it was being controlled (Wilde, 1891).
"Up to the present, man has been, to a certain extent, the slave of machinery, and there is something tragic in the fact that as soon as man had invented a machine to do his work he began to starve. This, however, is, of course, the result of our property system and our system of competition. One man owns a machine which does the work of five hundred men. Five hundred men are, in consequence, thrown out of employment, and, having no work to do, become hungry and take to thieving. The one man secures the produce of the machine and keeps it, and has five hundred times as much as he should have, and probably, which is of much more importance, a great deal more than he really wants. Were that machine the property of all, every one would benefit by it. It would be an immense advantage to the community."
To avoid this kind of dispossession, may mean accepting that it is time to reconsider social values relating to work (Srnicek et al, 2016), and to contemplate the possibility of a post-work society - where all could benefit from the technological automation of our age (Mason, 2016). That shift would begin with reductions in the length of the working day, embracing job sharing and introducing the basic income. In all, loosening the connections between work and the right to life.
British Liberals in the 1920s argued (Yellow Book, 1928), under the strong influence of David Lloyd George and John Maynard Keynes, that the aim of "political and economic action", wasn't to perfect or perpetuate machines and social orders, but so that individuals "may have life, and that they might have it more abundantly". Their methods were popular share-ownership and progressive taxation - in essence, cooperation.
Rising public interest in the Basic Income presents a chance to pursue those aims in earnest. Along with more economic cooperation and a better work-life balance, it is possible to use these ideas to build a more humane economy. An economy that is fair and just, that protects and promotes liberty, within which progress will be wired in to the general benefit.
References
Hazel Sheffield's 'Labour Party considering universal basic income policy, shadow chancellor John McDonnell says: The UK Labour Party is considering universal basic income as part of its new economic policy'; in The Independent; 17 February 2016.
Hazel Sheffield's 'Labour's economic policy will rest on two watchwords: democracy and decentralisation, John McDonnell says - The shadow chancellor set out his vision in what he called a "progress report" on Labour policy'; in The Independent; 17 February 2016{2}.
Patrick Wintour's 'Green party outlines plan for basic citizen’s income for all adults: Natalie Bennett says payment to replace unemployment benefit would ensure no one lived in fear of losing their home'; in The Guardian; 18 January 2015.
Dawn Foster's 'What are zero-hours contracts? You asked Google – here’s the answer'; in The Guardian; 17 February 2016.
Peter Fleming's 'There’s nothing good about the rise in zero-hours contracts – ban them now: Businesses use spurious arguments to support these contracts but they prop up the wealthy while the poor worry about their weekly shopping'; in The Guardian; 7 September 2015.
Paul Mason's 'Automation may mean a post-work society but we shouldn't be afraid: To benefit from the automation revolution we need a universal basic income, the slashing of working hours and a redefinition of ourselves without work'; in The Guardian; 17 February 2016.
Oscar Wilde's 'Soul of Man under Socialism'; 1891.[Buy Now]
Nick Srnicek, Nick Susskind & Francesca Bria's 'New Economics: Technology and the future world of work'; from the Office of John McDonnell MP; on YouTube; 5 February 2016.
'Yellow Book' or 'Britain's Industrial Future: being the Report of the Liberal Industrial Inquiry'; Ernest Benn Ltd, 1928.[Buy Now]
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