The Crisis of the Welfare State

The welfare state can be viewed as a large confidence trick perpetrated by the capitalist class, in collaboration with the state, to appease the growing demands of the working class, against the background of the rise in Fascism and Socialism in Europe during the interwar years, and the promises made to labour during the Second World War as part of the settlement with labour designed to produce a successful prosecution of the war. The confidence trick is that the state provides certain basic necessities for the working class that the capitalists either cannot provide, or are unwilling to undertake. These include a minimum payment for those whom the system is not able to employ and, therefore, form the reserve army of labour so essential to the workings of the capitalist system, and those who are no longer required for exploitation due to their age or incapacity. In addition, capital requires a fit and healthy workforce who are also well educated, thereby assisting in the production of social capital by maintaining a productive and malleable workforce. Therefore, rather than the individual capitalist providing these for those employed, the working class are taxed both on their income and their consumption and the state provides unemployment benefit, income support, state pensions, a national health service and state education. Yet, while the capitalist class gains the most from their provision, it is the working class that actually pays for such services.