FORWARD WITH LABOR

FEBRUARY 2014 LABOR PARTY MANIFESTO

FORWARD WITH LABOR.

Total victory over want must mean its elimination.
The Atlasian workingman and the Atlasian workingwoman stand at the precipice of prosperity unknown to any working class in history. Through their democratic labor unions and through the action of free and independent working people at the ballot box, they have transformed a top-down economic system into one with a democratic character unknown to generations past. They have returned humanity to an economic system once wrought with indifference. They have secured a beach-head in the struggle against exploitation with the development of free and independent trade unions and a strong social welfare state. But the battle against want is far from won. The Labor Party has achieved far more than any party in Atlasian history in combating that want, but it still exists, and action must be taken to once and for all eliminate want from the day-to-day lives of all Atlasians. The Labor Party is committed to nothing short of total war on want. We do not have any illusions as to what such a war warrants, and as such, we understand that in making a total war on want, we are condemning the economic order of the day, which allows a few to profit at the expense of the many and denies the vast majority of mankind the right to the sweat of his or her brow. We condemn this system of merciless exploitation and tyranny by the few and call instead for a new system, based upon human need, rather than human greed. We imagine a world in which the producer is rewarded for his or her work, rather than being sucked dry of his or her labor and cast aside when no longer useful. Our opponents have tried and will continue to try to condemn the Labor Party for waging what they term class warfare. They thus condemn us for recognizing the true nature of the order that they support. That order is the war of those with against those without. If to stand with those without we must wage class warfare, then so be it.

FORWARD WITH LABOR. WHAT IS THIS ELECTION ALL ABOUT?

There are those who want you to think that this election is unwinnable. Labor should be satisfied with the incumbent administration, they say. President Duke is basically a Laborite, so why should we even contest this election? they ask. We must precisely present an organized opposition force to President Duke because of this kind of thinking. The gap between rhetoric and reality on the part of the President is starkly apparent when his record on working class issues is held up to further examination. While it is true that the President has signed off on progressive legislation, this was only after he pushed to weaken it significantly. This has been the case throughout President Dukes tenure, with his aggressive use of his ability to present the Senate with presidential redrafts to weaken or eliminate key provisions of legislation passed by the Senate progressives. Labor thus asks the voter: shouldnt you have a commander-in-chief that will always stand by you? One that wont water down legislation aimed at protecting you and yours? This election is fundamentally about giving the working people of this country a choice -- a choice between a fair-weather friend and a staunch ally, a man who wont mince words or talk out of both the sides of his mouth in order to play a balancing act between the working people of this country and the bosses. This program makes the case for that second choice, that is, the case for returning Labor to the White House and giving Labor a Senate majority. This is an election about choices. All across our great land, the people are making important choices, too. They are asking us for a choice, for a real alternative to politics as usual. Only Labor offers that choice for a break with the past and a break with tradition. The people of this great land are calling out for a choice because they are in need -they are in need of housing, they are in need of food, they are in need of work. But they are in need of more than just that. They want healthy food, and they want plenty of it. They want good jobs, with a voice on the job and meaningful work. They want good homes, stocked to the brim with the very best of modern technology, to help save time and effort wherever possible. The men and women of this country want to have it better than their mom or pop had it, and they want their kids to have it better than them. They want to know theyll be taken care of in old age. They want an education system second to none, with plenty of opportunities for every youngster to be all that he or she can be.

FORWARD WITH LABOR.

President Duke can say that he believes in all these things, but the test of whether or not a person believes what he or she says is if theyre willing to practice what it is they preach. Labor wants to see a nation free from want and it will exhaust every possible opportunity to make that a reality. In stating that, Labor is saying loud and clear that it will not tolerate obstruction by those who wish to exploit the people. The Labor Party stands for freedom. We stand for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. Labor will see to it that those liberties are safely guarded and enlarged with the downsizing of the so-called natural security state. Restrictions on the right to organize, wherever they may exist, must be struck down and the freedom to collectively bargain protected and expanded. There are, however, so-called freedoms that Labor will not protect nor tolerate: the freedom to take advantage of other people, the freedom to pay starvation wages and push up prices for selfish profiteering, the freedom to prevent people from having happy and healthy lives. This nation needs a period of renewal not unlike that of the New Deal. We need modernization and expansion of public services. We need to build and refurbish homes. We need to re-industrialize our nation from the bottom up. We need to rebuild our schools and make education a priority. Everyone says they agree with these things but Labor means it. Labor is prepared to do all these things by keeping a firm hand on the till and making sure these policies are implemented to their fullest extent. Labor is the only party committed to putting the nation first and the interests of private business second.

FORWARD WITH LABOR. FULL EMPLOYMENT.

All parties and all candidates say they want to end unemployment. But the record of the opposition parties is clear they have all failed to bring about substantive reductions in unemployment. They talk a lot about creating jobs by the use of economic stimulus, and indeed, they are quite willing to prime the pump to create jobs in certain sectors of the economy; we have learned, however, that this is not enough to confront this most pressing of economic maladies. What will the Labor Party do? First and foremost, we must make sure that our national resources in land, material, and labor are fully employed. Full production, as well as full employment, must be a guiding goal of the economic policy of the nation. Second, we must go to every length to ensure that full consumption is maintained by ensuring high wages, a strong social safety net, and heavily progressive taxation. We also understand that high prices are a glut upon consumption and shall act steadfastly to ensure that prices concerning lifes necessities are controlled in the interest of the working class. Third, economic planning must be utilized to rationalize and streamline economic decision-making. As private industry plans, so should government. Labor proposes the creation of a National Planning Authority to help determine where investment is needed and how investment in certain sectors should go forward. Fourth, the financial sector must be brought under heel. There can be no economic recovery while the financial sector exists wholly apart from the rest of the economy. To that end, Labor favors the establishment of a Bank of Atlasia, with all proper financial powers of government, as the head of a publicly-owned and administered financial sector.

FORWARD WITH LABOR. INDUSTRY.

The Labor Party is a socialist party, and proud of it. Our ultimate purpose is the establishment of a Peoples Republic of Atlasia free, democratic, progressive, publicspirited, and industry organized to serve the needs of the people. Socialism, however, is not an overnight project. It is a project that can and will take some time to achieve. Basic industry is ripe (and in some cases, over-ripe) for public ownership and management in the interest of the nation. In light of this, the Labor Party presents to the people the following industrial program: 1. Public ownership of the fuel and power industries. The production of energy is the bedrock of our economy and makes possible all other production. At present, fuel and power industries are in the hands of those who gouge the consumer with high prices, who collaborate with one another to frustrate efforts at production of alternative forms of energy, and who deny vital energy supplies to those who need it the most. Bringing fuel and power industries into public ownership shall make it possible to modernize and expand production, raise safety standards across industry, lower costs for the consumer, and make room for coordinated research and development. 2. Public ownership of all forms of transportation. Coordinating transportation services by rail, road, air, and canal is impossible without their unification under public ownership. This does not mean that Atlasians would be denied the use of their cars, or that the government would be repossessing cars, and trucks far from it! We mean to take into public ownership the industries responsible for transport production, and to hire Atlasians in the production of long-lasting, economical, and environmentally friendly methods of transport for all. 3. Public ownership of iron and steel. Industry cannot expand without a stable supply of building material. The nationalization of the iron and steel industries are thus an appropriate component of a general expansion of industrial production throughout industry. 4. Federal chartering of corporations. The present system of bestowing corporate charters at the Regional and State levels provides for corruption and inefficiency. The Labor Party thus proposes that the ability to charter corporations be granted solely to the federal government. 5. A plan for exports. The balance of payments deficit in trade has not seen anywhere near the amount of attention given to the budget deficit. Atlasia is bleeding industry left and right. It is producing less and importing more. Labor believes that the only prudent path forward is the expansion of production and a policy for exports that prioritizes trade balance, rather than trade deficits or trade surpluses.

FORWARD WITH LABOR.

6. Production for use. The landscape is littered with boarded up factories and other industrial centers which lay idle. Labor proposes that the federal government, acting through the Department of Internal Affairs, purchases these properties from their owners and puts them to good use, in the service of the people. These abandoned properties should produce products that the Atlasian people need, in mass quantities so they are readily available for those who need them. 7. Modernize collective bargaining. The Atlasian market has changed to be one of national firms competing with international firms, so should our process of collective bargaining, to allow for industry-wide bargaining and national labor contracts. 8. Industrial democracy. The alienation of workers from the places in which they work is one of the biggest reasons today for labor strife and unrest the world over. The only way to bring about true industrial peace is to give the worker more control over the shop floor and more power at work. To this end, the Labor Party strongly supports a policy of co-determination in industry, wherein workers would have a direct say in the management of the places in which they work by use of works councils to help manage the shop-floor and having representatives on corporate boards. 9. Promote co-operative industry. A vital and frequently overlooked sector of the Atlasian economy is that of the third, or co-operative and employee-owned sector of industry. The Labor Party strongly supports any and all efforts to promote the growth of co-operatives, and shall make a priority of dispensing at least 25 percent of all federal contracts to employee-owned and managed firms. 10. Streamline the state. The state is a vital component in the development of a public-spirited and fully developed economy. Labor understands this, and as such, Labor shall root out corruption and eliminate duplicity in government wherever possible. The unification of services and the prudent use of public funds shall be the order of the order of the day with a Labor administration.

AGRICULTURE.
It may seem quaint or even backward for a major party to include agricultural policy as a major part of its platform. But we of the Labor Party understand that rural Atlasia is just as vital to the success of our nation as urban and suburban Atlasia are. We are a party of workers and farmers, after all. The Labor Party recognizes the failure of existing agricultural policy. The Senate has eliminated farm subsidies, but replaced them with nothing, a policy that is sure to fail rural communities and force farmers into abject privation. What is to be done?

FORWARD WITH LABOR.

Farm lands are part of our natural wealth and should be farmed not starved. If farm land is not used, if it is allowed to rot or remain bare at the behest of the owner of that land, it should be brought into public ownership and farmed at the behest of the nation. The nation needs healthy and affordable food. This means that food production must be planned and industrial methods applied to agricultural production wherever possible.

HOUSING.
Housing has long-been a neglected issue in Atlasian politics. A nation ill-housed is a nation in privation; it is a nation in want and in decay. Labor is the only party that will take seriously the issue of housing and will seek to end homelessness, once and for all. We will house Atlasia and making housing a key priority of the next Senate session. Our promise to the voters is firm we will proceed with the maximum possible speed and not rest until every person in this country has a decent place to live. That may mean the centralization of the housing and construction industries under public ownership, together with applicable price controls if that is the case, then so be it. Labor will not back down from this pledge.

EDUCATION AND LEISURE.

The right to an education should be held sacrosanct in our democracy, and the Labor Party will take all steps to make sure that right is preserved and expanded wherever possible. The fact that education funding is handled by the Regional governments is a black mark upon our democracy that perpetuates the differences in education between those with and those without. Labor will correct this injustice, with full federal financing of all school on an equal basis, with equalized funding schemes to make sure that no school receives more funding than any other. The Labor Party also wishes to re-open the discussion on post-secondary education in this country. We propose the provision of free college education for all who seek to utilize it, with the highest possible standards for admission and advancement. We further propose an expansion in industrial and technical education, with every student graduating high school with a marketable skill that they can use to obtain work even if they do go on to college. Labor also recognizes the right of all people to free time and leisure as they see fit. We thus propose the reduction in working hours as increases in worker productivity and the availability of labor-saving devices permit, subject to periodic review by the Department of Labor.

FORWARD WITH LABOR.

In recognizing the right to leisure, Labor reaffirms its commitment to expanding paid leave and establishing new forms of paid time off. Labor fully supports all efforts to expand public space for public leisure, by providing more funding for public spaces such as parks, libraries, theaters, and civic centers. Labor fundamentally believes in the right of all people to participate in the social and civic life of their nation, without regard to socioeconomic status.

HEALTH AND CHILDREN.

Fritzcare has been a progressive first step in the development of a truly universal system of health care, but we of the Labor Party recognize that it is only a first step, and that more work must be done to create a truly humane system of health provision in the Republic of Atlasia. Labor recognizes that the way forward is the way charted by our comrades in the British Labour Party over seventy years ago, with the creation of the National Health Service. Labor proposes the all-out nationalization of the health care sector, and the establishment of an Atlasian National Health Authority to provide the best possible care at no cost. We favor public ownership of all health care establishments and the public ownership of the pharmaceutical sector, as well as the abolition of any and all charges for health care provision, hospital stays, or medicine. Labor wishes to pay special attention to the health of our children. Labor established paid parental leave and only Labor can expand it. We likewise support the establishment of an allowance for families with children to help in the rearing of children, as well as the establishment of a national domestic service to provide live-in aids for families to help with child rearing, in concert with the establishment of a national day-care system. Labor also supports quick action to reverse the trend of falling fertility rates by establishing additional aid payments for families willing to have a third child. Parenthood and stable families should be encouraged rather than penalized if Atlasia is to grow and expand in the future.

SOCIAL INSURANCE.
Labor is the party of social insurance. We are the party of Nixcome and the party of the Paid Leave Act. We shall not cease in our effort to increase the scope of social insurance programs; our opponents may seek to undermine and reduce our efforts at protecting the Atlasian worker, but we will not: we demand nothing short of a revolution in social insurance policy to expand access and eliminate waste and duplicity where possible.

FORWARD WITH LABOR.

At present, the expansion of Nixcome is perhaps the greatest possible demand that can be made by the Labor Party. We favor the expansion of Nixcome to the whole of the population, with the negative income tax inherent in the program replaced with a full and total universal basic income grant for all. On this demand, we shall not budge, nor shall we retreat. The Labor Party also sees a pressing need for the expansion of social insurance into new areas of life. The establishment of a system of single-payer automobile insurance is henceforth a goal of the Labor Party. Single-payer automobile insurance will make our streets safer and will make it possible for more working class Atlasians to be mobile, that is, to find work and enjoy the fruit of their labor.

PEACE.
No domestic policy can be success so long as the threat of international conflict looms large and threatens to imperil the gains made by working class Atlasians in the past. The Labor Party reaffirms its commitment to the reduction in military expenditures and the removal of Atlasian troops from foreign soil. We cannot have peace without working toward it. We cannot have peace so long as war is profitable. It is thus the project of working people everywhere to remove the ability of the exploiters to make a profit on the blood and sweat of the men and women behind the guns, who too often die at the behest of their exploiters. Atlasia should form lasting and sustainable relationships with nations everywhere. Military intervention should not be a tool of policymaking; rather we should instead regard military intervention as a last resort, and should instead adopt a prudent policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other nations unless we are attacked. Labor, the chief architect of the Atlasia-Canada Common Market Agreement, recognizes the importance of international financial and economic agreements as a tool of promoting peace and plenty for working people everywhere. We favor these agreements so long as they put working people first, and do not create a dependent relationship that allows one nation to profit or benefit at the expense of the other. The Labor Party thus proposes the expansion of the Atlasia-Canada Common Market to include Mexico, and the establishment of a North American Common Market Agreement, with high labor standards for all nations and freedom of movement for all nations party to the proposed agreement.

FORWARD WITH LABOR. AN APPEAL TO ALL PROGRESSIVES.

A number of parties will be participating in this election, but by-and-large, Atlasia is a two-party game. The Federalist Party might be running a liberal for President and a liberal for Vice President, but the voters should remember that this party is a thoroughly reactionary opponent of working people, with prominent members having signed on to extremely regressive projects to diminish or repeal gains made by working people over the course of the past few administrations. The choice is thus between Labor and the Federalists. If you honestly believe that the people of this country will be better off and more prosperous under the administration of the party that has given us reactionary legislation at every level of government, vote for the Federalists. But if you believe that government is best trusted to those on the side of workers, farmers, and soldiers then please cast your ballot for the Labor ticket in February. We respect the views of those who prefer to support the candidacy of President Duke, but we wish to remind the voters that doing so emboldens and strengthens the Atlasian right by way of cementing Federalist control of the White House. We strongly suggest that all progressives back the Labor ticket, and ensure that a government of, by, and for the workers, farmers, and soldiers is the order of the day in Nyman.