“If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on
anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.” This famous quote
attributed to Margaret Thatcher explains why many regarded her as a
conviction politician: a single-minded individual determined to exert
their opinion regardless of what others think or the obstacles that may
put in their way. This attitude to implement a vision in society led her
to be viewed as an iconic figure and her policies to be seen as
uniquely different.
Most of the discussion since her death has centred on the personality
of Margaret Thatcher, with the country starkly divided. However, the
question is not whether she was a good or bad person. If we scrutiny her
policies, commonly termed Thatcherism, then manifestations of
Capitalism are obvious. Looking at three prominent examples:
01. The rise of individualism.
Thatcher promoted individualism,
something to aspire for, over and above values of society. She was
attributed to have famously said there is no such thing as society.
We witness the effects of this in today’s “broken Britain”. From
family breakdowns, rising crime rates and anti-social behaviour, we live
in a society where community values have eroded and individuals
selfishly live for themselves at the cost of the society around them.
Yet these realities exist in almost every Western society –
individuals shooting up school children in America, social breakdown
across Europe are everyday realities and ugly fruits of individualism.
The real issue here isn’t that we are all just “Thatcher’s children”,
but that this is a natural corollary of the capitalist view of society –
the real architect was not Margaret Thatcher, but Jeremy Bentham!
02. Social inequality.
Thatcher is famous for breaking up mining
communities with her attack on the unions while leading an unprecedented
period of wealth creation. However, closer scrutiny demonstrates that
the mining industry was already in decline long before Thatcher was
elected. The harsh realities of market economics, rather than
Thatcherism saw to their death. Furthermore, despite Margaret Thatcher
being credited with boosting Britain’s financial economy, it is this
very sector that has today made the country near bankrupt and massively
indebted.
In reality by her third term in office 28% of children in Britain
were considered to be living below the poverty line. Today we have new
metrics unimaginable during her tenure such as fuel poverty – fruits of
her privatisations of the utilities.
Though she was a believer in the liberal free market, we find equally
dogmatic adherents of the market in the New Labour party with the likes
of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as well as prominent politicians across
the globe. Thus, today Capitalism crosses political colours and
national boundaries.
This is more directly related to the expansion of global capitalism,
rather than Thatcherism alone, and has been hastened by the collapse of
communism.
03. Financial deregulation.
Her tenure led to the re-shaping of the
British economy to a service led function, with particular emphasis on
the financial sector. A key policy directive was to deregulate this
sector to make it easier for big banks to develop and sell dubious
products. The irony of her death occurring at a time when the entire
world is experiencing a depression brought on by the collapse in global
finance is not lost.
Though these policies are attributed to Thatcher, in reality, they
have been implemented not only in much of the Western world but even in
the developing world under the notorious banner of the “Washington
Consensus”. Hence this is an extension of liberal economics, the
economics of the likes of Milton Friedman. These policies are the root
of the economic misery today.
In reality, we can conclude that Thatcherism is just capitalism in a
very poor guise. At the end of every political cycle capitalism is
rebranded to extend its sell-by-date – whether in the guise of New
Labour, or the Neo-Conservative movement in America.
Today, after over twenty years of global capitalism as the sole
ideology in the world we witness a world economy on its knees and an
unprecedented global depression. The fruits of Capitalism not
Thatcherism! (
Ends)
