What’s the modern purpose of the welfare state? | Letters

Was it conceived as a necessary bulwark to a moribund, failing capitalism, or is it an active creator of destitution, or something to be cherished? Guardian readers discuss

Comforting as it may be to think otherwise, the welfare state was not conceived as a gesture of munificent goodwill to the indigent, or even as a system from which we all benefit, but as a necessary bulwark to a moribund, failing capitalism (The ‘welfare state’ should be something to be proud of, 1 November). It was a preventive measure against revolution and rooted in the politics of the day. Well-educated, well-housed and healthy workers were likely to be not only less radical but also more productive. Supported by policies aimed at maintaining full employment, the social security system was mainly intended to bridge the short gaps between periods of employment, its costs met by a system of national insurance.

There was also a measure of synergy in the system. Educated and secure workers were less likely to be unhealthy. They were even likely to be more thoughtful, knowledgeable consumers, wary of the wiles of the marketplace and its purveyors of snake oil. So those great props of the welfare state – education, housing, health and security, to which should be added the now virtually defunct legal aid – were a bargain that worked pretty well until the arrival of neoliberalism and Thatcherism in the late 1970s. Sadly, politics is more likely to succeed in the defence of the welfare state than is humanitarianism. It is those who support the future survival of capitalism who need to get behind the welfare state.
Roy Boffy
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands

Continue reading... November 03, 2017 at 12:29AM