Two unusual visitors turned up at British car factories, last week. One was Ed Miliband, who appeared at Wolverhampton's Jaguar-Land-Rover engine plant. The other was David Cameron who was seen at the main Rolls-Royce factory, at Goodwood, in leafy Sussex, where the aristocratic "Phantom" and "Ghost" models are produced.
That Cameron should choose to pay tribute to these symbols of wealth so much favoured by the filthy rich, was certainly in character. But Miliband's choice of a company whose cars most workers can't afford - except as third-hand bangers - was just as significant politically.
Neither of them went there to address workers' issues. On the contrary, both used their visits to stress how much their parties could and would do for the bosses if they won the coming election.
From the Tories' "tough" austerity...
Self-congratulation is the main theme of Cameron's campaign: thanks to his party, the crisis is supposed to be over (in Britain at least), the economy growing and employment at a record high.
So, he's offering more of the same "tough choices" - more profits for the bosses and more austerity for workers. Because, says Cameron, it is profitable companies that create "good jobs". As if the bosses' rising profits are not due to them squeezing more wealth out of fewer workers and imposing lower wages and worse conditions!
To boost their profits even more, he promises more apprentices... on £2.73/hour! And to force the jobless youth into the first lousy job on offer, they will have to do six months of unpaid community work before they can get any benefits!
Never mind the fact that the ConDems have presided over an increase in inequality and poverty or that our standards of living have gone down the drain. Never mind either that their so-called "record employment" is due to record growth of non-jobs - part-time and other casual jobs, on which no-one can make a decent living. But why would Cameron care? His constituency is not the working class, anyway!
.... To Labour's "soft" austerity
But what has Labour to offer? An austerity which would be less "brutal"? Maybe, but it would still be an austerity policy, with cuts for the working class. And what we need is not smaller cuts - but a reversal of the cuts that have been made!
However, that's not on Miliband's agenda. Like Cameron, his main concern is capitalist profit. So, he will keep corporation tax at its present level - the lowest among the G7 countries! And as a cherry on top, he will cut business rates.
Miliband even manages to present yet another handout to the bosses as if it is a gift to workers. Indeed, his pledge to subsidise any job paid at the Living Wage, is meant to appear as a boost to our incomes. But what will stop bosses from claiming the subsidy for workers already on the Living Wage, without increasing the wages of those earning less? In fact, by saying at the same time that the minimum wage will only reach a miserly £8/hour by 2020, Miliband is telling the bosses that they have nothing to fear from a Labour government.
Likewise for Miliband's pledge to ban zero-hour contracts. What will stop the bosses from giving these workers a "choice" between becoming "self-employed" or joining the dole queue, since Labour has no plan against their abuse of "self-employment"?
Enough of their austerity!
There's nothing for us to choose between these parties, or any others, because they all aim to operate within the system as it is.
The working class will not get out of this crisis, it will not start reversing the cuts in wages, conditions and services of the past years, without forcing the capitalist class to foot the bill.
Helping bosses to boost their profits as they all want, is necessarily helping them to turn the screw on the rest of us. And we've had enough of this!
The capitalist class is immensely rich, more than rich enough to foot its own bills. It has been worked out that company high-fliers received nearly £250bn worth of bonuses since the beginning of the crisis. In 2014 alone, £100bn worth of dividends were paid to shareholders. And the sums hidden by tax evaders in HSBC's Swiss branch speak for themselves. Yes, the money is there, it only needs to be used for the benefit of all.
This won't be achieved by voting in the coming election, because this election won't give us a voice. But the working class has other means to make itself heard - by using its collective strength in the streets and in the factories and offices. Then and only then, will we be able to have a say.