Spinning Neutron Stars Reveal New Insights Into Elusive Continuous Gravitational Waves

Continuous Gravitational Waves

Artist’s impression of continuous gravitational waves generated by a spinning asymmetric neutron star. Credit: Mark Myers, Ozgrav-Swinburne University

Five years on from the first discovery of gravitational waves, an international team of scientists, including from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), are continuing the hunt for new discoveries and insights into the Universe. Using the super-sensitive, kilometer-sized LIGO detectors in the United States, and the Virgo detector in Europe, the team have witnessed the explosive collisions of black holes and neutron stars. Recent studies, however, have been looking for something quite different: the elusive signal from a solitary, rapidly-spinning neutron star.

Take a star similar in size to the Sun, squash it down to a ball about twenty kilometers across — roughly the distance from Melbourne airport to the city center — and you’d get a neutron star: the densest object in the known Universe. Now set your neutron star spinning at hundreds of revolutions per second and listen carefully. If your neutron star isn’t perfectly spherical, it will wobble about a bit, and you’ll hear a faint “humming” sound. Scientists call this a continuous gravitational wave.

So far, these humming neutron stars have proved elusive. As OzGrav postdoctoral researcher Karl Wette from the Australian National University explains: “Imagine you’re out in the Australian bush listening to the wildlife. The gravitational waves from black hole and neutron star collisions we’ve observed so far are like squawking cockatoos — loud and boisterous, they’re pretty easy to spot!

A continuous gravitational wave, however, is like the faint, constant buzz of a faraway bee, which is much more difficult to detect. So we’ve got to use a few different strategies. Sometimes we hone in on a particular direction — for example, a flowering bush where bees are likely to congregate. Other times, we close our eyes and listen keenly to all the sounds we can hear, and try to pick out any buzzing sounds in the background. So far, we haven’t had any luck, but we’ll keep trying! Once we do hear a continuous gravitational wave, we’ll be able to peer deep into the heart of a neutron star and unravel its mysteries, which is an exciting prospect.”

A recent collaborative study with OzGrav has taken a closer look at the remnants of exploded stars, called supernovae. OzGrav PhD student Lucy Strang from the University of Melbourne explains: “Our search targets fifteen young supernova remnants containing young neutron stars. We use three different pipelines: one optimized for sensitivity, one that can handle a rapidly evolving signal, and one optimized for one likely astrophysical scenario. This is the first LIGO study covering all three of these scenarios, maximizing our chance of a continuous wave detection.

“Continuous gravitational waves are proving very difficult to detect, but the same properties that make them elusive make them appealing targets. The exact form of the signal (i.e. its frequency, how rapidly the frequency changes, how loud it is, etc.) is dependent on what neutron stars are made of. So far, the structure of neutron stars is an open question that draws in all kinds of physicists. Even without a detection, a search allows us to peek behind the curtain at the unknown physics of neutron stars. When we do detect continuous waves, we’ll open the curtain and shine a spotlight on new physics. Until then, we can use the information we do have to refine our understanding and improve our search methods.”

OzGrav Associate Investigator Lilli Sun from the Australian National University says: “Young neutron stars in supernova remnants are promising targets to look for those tiny continuous gravitational waves, because they haven’t spent a long enough time to relax and smooth out the asymmetries introduced at their birth. In our endeavor to search for continuous waves from these young neutron stars in our third observing run, we take into consideration, for the first time, the possibilities that the interior configuration and structure of the star can result in signals emitted at two different harmonics. Although no signal has been detected in O3, we set interesting constraints on the neutron star properties. If such a signal can be detected in future observations when the detectors are more sensitive, it will shed light on the fascinating structure of a neutron star.”

OzGrav postdoctoral researcher Carl Blair from the University of Western Australia says: “Gravitational waves are being used to probe the most exotic objects in the Universe. Neutron stars — composed of matter collapsed in on itself like a giant atomic nuclei — have to be one of the most exotic. We don’t know that much about neutron stars because they’re so small and strange. Are they hard or soft? And when they spin fast as they collapse, do they wobble away that energy in the form of gravitational waves? While there is no evidence yet for continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars, limits have been placed on how wobbly a neutron star is from the fact that we haven’t measured gravitational waves from them yet.”

In addition, recent studies announced by the international research team — including the U.S./international LIGO Scientific Collaboration, European Virgo Collaboration and Japanese KAGRA Collaboration — have focussed on pulsars. These are neutron stars that act as cosmic lighthouses, beaming out copious energy in the form of radio waves. Pulsars are like giant spinning magnets, except they’re billions of times stronger than the ones stuck to your fridge. So strong, in fact, that the magnetic field distorts the shape of the neutron star, and may lead to a tell-tale hum of continuous gravitational waves. While the recent studies did not pick up anything, they found tight constraints on how loud the “hum” could be, which, in some cases, are starting to challenge theoretical predictions.

OzGrav PhD student Deeksha Beniwal from the University of Adelaide says: “Gravitational-wave observation from O3 run of LIGO and Virgo detectors has allowed us to set realistic constraints on signals expected from young pulsars. O3 observations also provide an opportunity to test out different pipelines — such as different search methods for continuous wave signals — in realistic environments.”

OzGrav postdoctoral researcher Meg Millhouse from the University of Melbourne says: “Continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars are much smaller than the gravitational waves LIGO and Virgo have seen so far. This means we need different techniques to detect them. And, because these are long-lasting signals, we need to look at lots of data which can be very difficult computationally. The recent LIGO-Virgo papers published showcase a wide range of these clever approaches to detect continuous gravitational waves. Even though there were no detections in the most recent data analyzed, we’re in a good position to keep searching and possibly make a detection when LIGO collects more data.”

Scientists estimate that there are billions of neutron stars in the Milky Way with a faint murmur of continuous gravitational waves. Further studies have therefore taken an “ears wide open” approach, combing through the LIGO and Virgo data for any hint of a signal. The results so far suggest that these murmurings are extremely quiet and out of the detectors’ “ear” range. However, as detector technology becomes more advanced and sensitive, the first-ever detection of continuous gravitational waves could soon become a reality.

8 Comments on "Spinning Neutron Stars Reveal New Insights Into Elusive Continuous Gravitational Waves"

  1. Babu G. Ranganathan | May 27, 2021 at 9:32 am | Reply

    Babu G. Ranganathan*
    (B.A. Bible/Biology)

    JUST BECAUSE SCIENCE CAN EXPLAIN how an airplane works doesn’t mean that no one designed or made the airplane. And just because science can explain how life or the universe works doesn’t mean there was no Designer and Maker behind them.

    Natural laws may explain how the order in the universe works and operates, but mere undirected natural laws cannot explain the origin of that order. Once you have a complete and living cell then the genetic code and biological machinery exist to direct the formation of more cells from raw materials such as amino acids and other chemicals, but how could life or the cell have naturally originated when no directing code and mechanisms existed in nature? Read my Internet article: HOW FORENSIC SCIENCE REFUTES ATHEISM.

    WHAT IS SCIENCE? Science simply is knowledge based on observation. No human observed the universe coming by chance or by design, by creation or by evolution. These are positions of faith. The issue is which faith the scientific evidence best supports.

    SCIENCE SHOWS THAT THE UNIVERSE CANNOT BE ETERNAL because it could not have sustained itself eternally due to the law of entropy (increasing and irreversible net energy decay, even in an open system). Even a hypothetical oscillating universe could not continue to oscillate eternally! Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity shows that space, matter, and time all are physical and all had a beginning. Space even produces particles because it’s actually something, not nothing. What about the Higgs boson (the so-called “God Particle”)? The Higgs boson, even if it existed, would not have created mass from nothing, but rather it would have converted energy into mass. Einstein showed that all matter is some form of energy. Even time had a beginning! Time is not eternal.

    The law of entropy doesn’t allow the universe to be eternal. If the universe were eternal, everything, including time (which modern science has shown is as physical as mass and space), would have become totally entropied by now and the entire universe would have ended in a uniform heat death a long, long time ago. The fact that this hasn’t happened already is powerful evidence for a beginning to the universe.

    Popular atheistic scientist Stephen Hawking admits that the universe had a beginning and came from nothing but he believes that nothing became something by a natural process yet to be discovered. That’s not rational thinking at all, and it also would be making the effect greater than its cause to say that nothing created something. The beginning had to be of supernatural origin because science teaches us from the First Law of Thermodynamics that natural laws and processes do not have the ability to bring something into existence from nothing.

    The disorder in the universe can be explained because of chance and random processes, but the order can be explained only because of intelligence and design.

    Gravity may explain how the order found in the precise and orderly courses of thousands of billions of stars is maintained, but gravity cannot explain the origin of that order.

    Even the father of Chaos theory admitted that the “mechanisms” existing in the non-living world allow for only very rudimentary levels of order to arise spontaneously (by chance), but not the kind or level of order we find in the structures of DNA, RNA, and proteins. Yes, individual amino acids have been shown to come into existence by chance but not protein molecules which require that the various amino acids be in a precise sequence just like the letters found in a sentence.

    It’s interesting that Carl Sagan would have acknowledged sequential radio signals in space as evidence of intelligent life sending them, but he wouldn’t acknowledge the sequential structure of molecules in DNA (the genetic code) as evidence of an intelligent Cause. Read my popular Internet article, HOW DID MY DNA MAKE ME.

    I encourage all to read my popular Internet articles:

  2. BibhutibhusanPatel | May 27, 2021 at 10:08 am | Reply

    The basic ìdeàl shape of a spìnning neutron star is a Sphere.But often in real observation,these have eccentrìçity in axis of spin due to deformed shape in 3-D.Neutron stars are resulted from the supernòvas and sùch defòrmations aŕe seen fròm the beginìng.Now,sùch deformation in shape and wobble in spin geneŕates feeble gravitational wave.A humming-sound is even created due to friction of spinning ñeutron star with the
    surròùnding.Thanks,for such important observations and data ìn the artiçle.

  3. Aleksandr7364 | May 27, 2021 at 12:28 pm | Reply

    In one country, the standard kilogram is calculated by the reactive thrust of electromagnetic waves. This is the right direction. And gravitational waves, which do not exist, must be sought under your feet and above your head.

    • Torbjörn Larsson | May 28, 2021 at 1:24 pm | Reply

      The current International System of Units allo anyone to use a Kibble balance for realisation of a kilogram [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram ].

      If you for no good reason assume that the gravitational waves we see do not exist for you, why would you go looking? And would any of that be science (as this is a science site)?

      • Aleksandr7364 | May 30, 2021 at 11:52 am | Reply

        I’m serious: the waves that people have under their feet and the waves that are above their heads are different. As well as under and over cars or other objects. This is gravity – the reactive thrust of electromagnetic waves.
        If the waves that go up and press objects to the ground, neutralize, such as a halo – objects will become weightless.

  4. Torbjörn Larsson | May 28, 2021 at 1:17 pm | Reply

    It may be the latter:

    “Squishy Neutron Star … results show that neutron stars of different masses may have the same size”.

    [ https://www.quantamagazine.org/squishy-neutron-star-setback-dampens-hopes-of-exotic-matter-20210526/ ]

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The #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #LockDown

This is all about fear. It is all about control. It is all about not missing the opportunity that a crisis provides the Democratic Party.

The Lockdown was supposed to be to flatten the curve. To keep deaths and infections at a manageable level.

The lockdown was never supposed to be until a cure or vaccine was found.

There have been more deaths from pneumonia in 2020 than from coronavirus. This is so each year. Why do we not lockdown every year to save these lives.

3,000,000 Americans die, on average, each year.

Why are the people dying from this Chinese virus so much more important than the 700,000 Americans who have died in 2020 from other causes.

Death is a part of life. If you fear death, you may as well stop living.

Why is the government acting in collusion with, Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media platforms to crush dissent and alternate voices?

Why is the State falsifying COVID death numbers?

Why are they lying to us?

Why are Americans sitting idly by as they are deceived, propagandized and controlled by tyrants?

I’m writing this in Bangkok, Thailand. 11 people in my neighborhood (Thonglor) were diagnosed within the last 24 hours. Here’s the story from the Bangkok post.

Thailand has reported 11 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of cases reported in the country to 70.

The 11 were part of a group of 15 who had been partying together in Thonglor, Bangkok between 27 and 29 Feb.

Health officials said the group became infected after they had been sharing a glass of drink and a cigarette while at the party.

One of the group had been in contact with someone from Hong Kong who has since left Thailand, Public Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr Sukhum Kanchanapimai announced during the daily COVID-19 briefing on Thursday.

Members of the group started to report feeling ill and from 4 March went to hospital complaining of respiratory issues.

Dr Sukhum said those in the group that had not shared the glass and cigarette had not been infected. Dr Sukhum said that news of the 11 infections should act as an important lesson, advising people to refrain from coming into close contact with friends, especially those who are ill or show flu like symptoms.

In the report by Daily News, there were no details as to the exact location in Thonglor where the group had been ‘partying’ for two days.

Note the part where it says that those who DID NOT share the drinks and smokes were not infected.

That speaks volumes.

They were in the same room. Drinking, smoking and partying for hours. Yet, were not infected.

It takes more than just sitting next to someone to get the virus.

If you take precautions, you’re going to be ok. I’ve been all over Southeast Asia since the outbreak of China’s little plague. I’m healthy. I’m 50 years old and I smoke. When COVID19 first broke out, I was partying my ass off in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Afterwards, I was in Luang Prabang, Laos when people in Asia initially freaked out and started buying up all of the hand sanitizer and face masks.

It is pretty much back to normal here in Asia as far as I can tell.

About a month ago, I visited a buddy in Landstuhl, Germany. I have not been sick at all. No symptoms of anything except a hangover last Saturday morning.

Take the recommended precautions and you will be ok.

If I’ve survived jumping around SEAsia, Europe and the Middle East for the past two months, you’re going to be ok.

As of this moment, I have zero symptoms of anything unless one counts disdain for the US Media and their panic inducing, breathlessly fabricated fear mongering as a symptom of some virus.


Communications Manager, Global Fisheries Transparency Coalition - Oceana USA

Communications Manager, Global Fisheries Transparency Coalition

Are you a communications professional with experience running international communication campaigns and an understanding of the challenges facing our world’s oceans? Come join the team helping to build and launch a global coalition of civil society partners seeking to bring transparency and greater accountability to the national and international policies that govern our fisheries and conserve our seas.

Reporting to the coalition director, the communications manager will be responsible for co-developing and implementing the global outreach strategy that will bring urgency and attention to the need for transparency in how we manage our oceans. The manager will work collaboratively with their peers in the coalition members’ communication departments to best leverage their platforms and coordinate messaging.

Ideally, you bring experience in the development of communication strategies for fisheries and/or marine policy-change campaigns. You have international experience, working cross-culturally with multiple partners in delivering on a set of shared objectives. Strong candidates will have real-world experience in.

The coalition communications manager will join Oceana as one of our many dedicated professionals working to protect our oceans, reduce the impacts of climate change, feed a growing global population, and support the livelihoods of fishers, their families, and their communities. Founded in 2001, Oceana is the world’s largest nonprofit organization focused solely on restoring the resilience and abundance of the ocean

Click “Apply Now” to learn more the specific responsibilities associated with this position.

Oceana values a diverse workforce and welcomes people different from each other in many ways, including characteristics such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, and national origin. Oceana considers all qualified candidates and seeks to recruit from a diverse candidate pool.

Note: Oceana requires all those hired to provide proof of full vaccination against Covid. Accommodation for new hires who have disabilities that make the vaccine medically inadvisable or those who have a sincere religious belief that the vaccine is impermissible may contact Accommodation will be provided only as required by applicable law.


Game News

Sony expect Microsoft to keep Call of Duty and other Activision titles on PlayStation

Published: 10:14, 20 January 2022
Updated: 08:01, 21 January 2022
Xbox + Activision Blizzard
Xbox + Activision Blizzard

Sony spokesperson said they expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to release Activision games on PlayStation consoles.

Update: Head of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer has tweeted that Xbox will honour all existing agreements that Sony have with Activision and confirmed Xbox's desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.

So what does this mean? Hard to say really. It's a very clever tweet that could mean Call of Duty Warzone will remain on PlayStation while new games might not come to Sony's platform. Also, it's possible that all Call of Duty games will email multiplatform but the word "desire" seems to indicate that Xbox might want something in return from Sony. Perhaps, Xbox Game Pass on PlayStation?

Original Story: Microsoft's acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision as well as Blizzard and King has shaken the gaming industry in quite a significant way.

As with every big acquisition, the first question that many players have on their mind is whether or not Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard games will be exclusive for platforms where Game Pass exists.

At the moment, the answer is not really clear since Microsoft cannot talk about these things until the deal is closed. However, Sony have released a statement via their spokesperson, saying that they fully expect Microsoft to respect the contracts Sony agreed with Activision to ensure that their games remain multiplatform.

"We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform," a Sony spokesman said in a statement to WSJ.

emadalden_ Call of Duty Modern Warfare II fan art Is Call of Duty Modern Warfare II launching on PS5? We think it is.

Of course, it would be surprising if Sony said anything different in this moment when Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have not revealed any specifics regarding exclusivity moving forward.

The statement from Sony also specifically mentions existing contracts, which means that once these contracts expire, Microsoft can do whatever the so desire with the IP they own, including making Call of Duty, Overwatch 2 and other games exclusive to platforms where Game Pass exists.

It's also entirely possible that Sony have struck a big partnership with Activision to keep the next five or so Call of Duty games on PlayStation platforms. Would Microsoft respect that? Guess we'll find out once the acquisition is finally completed, which should be happening by the end of the fiscal year 2023 (June 2023).

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Instructional Demo    AS500212
HVAC System Selection with Generative Design
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Selecting the best HVAC system for a given building is impossible. Why? Because each design is measured with several contradicting metrics. With computational design, a holistic set of rules can be used to find a range of potential design solutions. The computers then generate and evaluate a vast number of designs. A building's owner can then review these solutions, measuring and visualizing pros and cons. This session will explore this idea, using generative design to evaluate different mechanical systems for a given building. We’ll start exploring methods for gathering Revit software’s geometry and defining parametric rules for other system arrangements. Next, we’ll take things to the next level by building a Generative Design in Revit workflow that evaluates each design option. Architects and engineers will leave inspired, understanding the generative design buzz and ready to use this new way of thinking to disrupt the current design process.

Key Learnings

  • Gain an understanding of what generative design is and where it can be utilized
  • Explore how computational design techniques can be used to solve practical challenges commonly found in MEP system design
  • Discover how to define rules and measure success for generative design analysis
  • Learn how to use Autodesk’s newest generative design through HVAC system selection process


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How To Get Out Of Disordered Eating AND Lose Fat

What comes to your mind when you think of disordered eating?

Psychological issues? Trauma? Something broken? Well, the word "disordered" means disrupting normal functioning.

So many people will associate disordered eating with certain types of conditions or simply judge someone based on their appearance. But what if there is more to that than just their outer appearance?

In today's podcast, I talk about how to get out of disordered eating and still lose fat successfully. If this sounds like something you want to know more about, check out the podcast now!

What exactly is disordered eating?

In general, it means: restricting food, skipping meals, bulimia, anorexia, binging, stress or emotional eating, food addictions, etc.

 The most common eating disorder that we often hear about is Anorexia. If you search about it on the internet, Anorexia is related to a condition when a person has an abnormally low body weight and is afraid of gaining it...

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Hospital Hygiene: A History of Negligence and Problems

Hospitals all across the nation are responsible for the care they provide to their patients. People go to doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals with the hopes that they’ll diagnose a problem and provide a solution.

Never do we consider that the people who are supposed to help our health will put us at risk. Unfortunately, this is something that happens more often than people would consider.

One of the biggest issues that people encounter is the lack of hygiene and proper sterilization techniques in hospitals. This is a problem that can lead to serious issues involving contamination and infection.

This isn’t something that is new and there are plenty of instances where patients are at risk of serious harm due to the lack of proper safety procedures. Unfortunately, it’s something innocent patients have had to deal with for a long term.

Here are some of the potential issues that can arise when a hospital is not taking the necessary precautions to ensure the hospital is sterile and individuals are safe from serious illnesses.

The Common Problems That Can Occur

One of the many issues that individuals encounter is bacteria spread by various machines that are often used in surgical procedures. For instance, there was a blood-cooling machine used during heart surgery that was flawed by design.

As a result, it spread a deadly strain of bacteria from factory contamination, but there was no known way of decontaminating the problem. These contaminated machines brought about 110 cases and half the infected individuals passing away as a result.

Often labeled superbugs, these types of contaminations are extremely dangerous and should not be taken lightly by anyone who may have sustained an infection or come into contact with someone who has.

How Often Are People Impacted?

Unfortunately, situations involving infections at medical facilities are more common than you may think. In fact, there are roughly 648,000 people in the United States each year who develop a serious infection during a hospital stay.

Even worse, about 75,000 of the people infected die as a result of these infections. Typically, most of the cases can be contributed to incorrect use of antibiotics, which is a medication used to fight against infection in the body. Two of the most common types of infections are MRSA and C. diff.

These types of bacteria can live on certain equipment for days at a time. Without proper sterilization, the bacteria can be spread from person to person on surgical equipment, certain medical instruments, and through the air.

Most Common Healthcare-Associated Infections

It’s important to understand which types of infections are possible and how it can cause serious problems for the patient. These are some of the most commonly spread infections due to healthcare hygiene issues.

  • Hepatitis A, B, and C – Hepatitis is a serious illness that can cause the carrier’s body to shut down due to infection in various organs of the body as well as blood-borne. Hepatitis A and B both have vaccines, but Hepatitis C does not.
  • Influenza – This virus is very common, often resulting in serious illnesses. In some cases, individuals may develop the flu, but in other cases, influenza can be fatal.
  • Human Immunodeficiency Virus – More commonly referred to as HIV, this virus damages the cells in the body that are used to fight off diseases. It is commonly transferred through bodily fluids and is a threat when contaminants are left on surgical equipment.

Current Issues Involving Contamination

One hospital in Denver, Colorado—Porter Adventist Hospital—is under scrutiny for their lack of safety procedures and sterilization processes. This has led to a number of patients being subject to infection as a result of contamination of various surgical equipment.

There have been countless individuals from July of 2016 to April of 2018 warned regarding the potential risks if they had orthopedic or spine surgery in Porter Adventist Hospital. One of the patients woke up after four hours under anesthesia only to find out the surgery wasn’t performed due to discovery of a foreign substance on the instruments.

This has led to a number of potential problems for patients and the risk of Hepatitis and HIV / AIDS is a real threat to anyone who may be involved in this situation. At the end of the day, victims may be able to seek compensation for the damages they have sustained.

What We’re Doing to Help

At Denver Trial Lawyers ®, we understand the various situations patients must endure when exposed to the risk of serious illnesses and infections. There are a number of health issues that can arise, some long-term and some life-threatening. As a result, victims of hospital contamination need help.

They are left dealing with the aftermath of the negligence of medical professionals. They deserve the right to hold the responsible party accountable for the damages caused. When victims are stuck with serious illnesses caused by another person.

As such, our Denver medical malpractice attorneys are currently accepting claims against Porter Adventist Hospital to help victims seek justice. We know there are a number of situations in which we can help, so you can feel confident that when you select our firm, you’re getting the representation you deserve.

No hospital should go unpunished when it puts its patients at risk and this situation is no different. If you believe you were infected at Porter Adventist Hospital, we encourage you to get tested to determine the likelihood of infection. Then, our firm can speak with you about your legal rights and options moving forward.

Denver Trial Lawyers ® is ready to help. Call us today at (303) 647-9990 to discuss your potential case with experienced and dedicated attorneys ready to fight for your rights.


3 Strategies to Increase Your Customer Communication Efficiency in 2022

Customer communication is fundamental to any business.

Illustration: Freepik

Efficiently communicating with customers, resolving their issues, and answering their questions earns you their trust. You’ll see this reflected in both your sales figures and the reviews people leave you online.

However, the reverse is also true. Bad communication is one of the most frustrating issues that customers face. Unanswered emails. Hours spent on hold. Incompetent agents on the line. All this can easily result in lost business and bad reviews. In fact, 65% of customers have ditched businesses before due to a bad customer service interaction.

So what can you do to avoid this? How can you step up your communication and provide a stellar experience to customers in 2022? Here are three strategies to achieve that goal.

Move to the Cloud - Consider UCaaS

To start with, it is high time to move your communications to the cloud if you haven’t done so already.

One of the biggest sinks of time and resources in customer communication are disparate communication channels.

For instance, many businesses are still working with PBX business phone systems, a regular old email client, and maybe a Facebook page where people can message them.

That is not enough in 2022. Especially if you’re dealing with large numbers of customer interactions.

Instead, consider moving all your communication workflows to the virtual sphere.

Thanks to voice over internet protocol (VoIP), voice and video calls can now be routed over the cloud. Modern virtual business phone services and contact centers allow you to access your business numbers from anywhere through desktop and mobile apps.

Going further, there are platforms that help you centralize all of your communications. These are called UCaaS - Unified Communications as a Service - platforms. They typically include voice and video calls, conferencing, messaging, live chat, virtual fax, email, and other communication channels.

The major advantage of UCaaS platforms is that they help you eliminate friction losses. Your team no longer has to jump between channels. Instead, they can efficiently take care of customer needs - no matter how they reach out.

Harness AI

Next, you can harness artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to make your customer communication more efficient.

Modern business communication platforms come with a wide array of productivity tools, many of them AI-based. For example, interactive voice response (IVR) uses natural language processing to allow callers to state the purpose of their call in their own words.

Then, the AI can either route them to the best available agent. Or it can take care of routine tasks - like giving account information or scheduling meetings - directly. In either case, the customer won’t have to languish in a call queue, or listen to endless iterations of “press 1 for-”.

Chatbots, too, can efficiently take care of routine requests on your website and on various social media channels. Your agents won’t have to deal with trivial requests such as booking or canceling appointments. Instead, they can focus on handling more complex issues to your customers’ full satisfaction.

Another application of AI in communication is documentation. Algorithms can easily transcribe entire customer conversations. Then, these transcripts can serve as valuable information for future interactions. Or you can use them to review your communication efficiency.

A final way to harness AI to step up your communications is analytics. AI and ML are fantastic at sorting through huge amounts of data and identifying patterns. Analyzing your communication data can help you pinpoint room for improvement.

Automate Workflows Through Integrations

A third way of making sure that your customer communication will be top-notch in the coming year is automation through integration.

One advantage of cloud-based business communication is that you can easily integrate your communication tools with other business platforms your team might use. These include digital marketing suites such as Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign, customer relationship management (CRM) software like Salesforce and HubSpot, or productivity apps like Trello and Todoist.

Consequently, you can automate many workflows that are manual now - and save a lot of time.

For instance, you can automatically push customer communication data from your UCaaS platform to your CRM.

As soon as a call with a customer about resolving an issue is over, the transcript - plus an automatically generated summary - are stored in your CRM.

Then, if a customer calls again about the same issue, your agent can pull the relevant records in a heartbeat, and get an instant overview of the problem. This saves the customer from having to recount the entire history of their interactions with you.

Communication is key in business - key to customer satisfaction and, consequently, business success.

By moving your communications to the cloud, harnessing AI, and automating workflows, you’ll be able to increase your efficiency in 2022, and give your customers a fantastic communication experience.

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Ceasing to be UK Tax Resident – Don’t Get it Wrong!

Routes to UK Residence and Citizenship

It is March 2022 and two people are sitting at the departure gate at Heathrow waiting for their (inevitably) delayed flight to the Bahamas. They start a conversation and talk about why they are flying to this Caribbean island.

Person A, Mrs Sunseeker, explains to Person B, that she had lived in the UK for a long time as a resident “non-dom,” but that changes to the tax rules for longer term residents had meant that she had decided to leave the UK and cease being tax resident; “My friend told me I just had to spend fewer than 90 days each year in the UK.” she declares.

Fortunately for Mrs Sunseeker, Person B, Mrs Tax, is, by nominative determinism, a tax adviser and explains that the old ‘90 day’ rule does not apply anymore and suggests that she takes a look at the UK statutory residence test – link to STR.

Background for Mrs Sunseeker

Mrs Sunseeker moved to the UK in the early 2000s, as a student.  After graduating, she was offered a job in the financial services industry. She has been very successful and accumulated significant personal wealth.

In 2010, she inherited the shares of a large family business, back home in Dubai, which started to generate a regular dividend income of around £5 million a year which she has kept in her bank account in Dubai. As a UK remittance basis of taxation user, the Dubai dividends have not been taxed in the UK, as Mrs Sunseeker never remitted them into the UK.

However, with the UK non-dom rules changing in 2017 (link to relevant article), remaining in the UK was going to be just too expensive.  She has therefore decided to move to a warm country.  Mrs Sunseeker is planning to carry on working for the same employer (taking advantage the fact that her firm realises she can work remotely) and, indeed, is likely to be working very hard on the days that she returns to the UK.

She is married. Her husband is British and does not want to spend as much time outside of the UK as his wife. His only source of income is in the UK and he still enjoys his work.  As he is going to stay, they will keep their home and Mrs Sunseeker will live there when she returns to visit him.

What is Mrs Sunseeker’s Tax Status and Why?

While waiting for the flight, Mrs Sunseeker takes a look at the residence test rules.  She realises that the first two parts of the test, the ‘Automatic Tests’ do not apply to her and reads on to the ‘Sufficient Ties’ section. Mrs Sunseeker has four such ties, or connections:

  • Spent more than 90 days in the UK in both of the previous two tax years;
  • Will have available accommodation in the UK;
  • Has a UK tax resident spouse and will continue to do so;
  • Will work in the UK for more than 40 days under the definition of the test.

What Will the Tax Impact Be?

As she has four ties, Mrs Sunseeker will be tax resident in the UK, for at least the first two years after she leaves, by spending just 16 days per annum in the UK, far lower than the 90 she had anticipated.

The next time she receives her large dividend, she would still be considered UK tax resident and will suffer UK income tax. It may be even worse, if she has not paid this tax on time she would receive a late payment penalty, which is quite likely because she no longer believed she was UK tax resident and she could be liable for penalties under the ‘offshore assets’ rules too.

The problem would become further compounded were Mrs Sunseeker to sell her shares in the family business in Dubai for a large gain, while she believed she was not UK resident.

Other Considerations

Please note for completeness, that the UK ‘split year rules’ are not being considered, nor are the tax implications of Mrs Sunseeker continuing to receive a salary for work she undertakes when in the UK. Dixcart, would of course advise on these, where relevant.  The Bahamas does not have a double tax treaty with the UK, and there is therefore no tie breaker clause to consider in this scenario either.

So, What Could Mrs Sunseeker Do?

Can you believe it, the flight is still delayed!

Mrs Sunseeker picks up her phone and calls Mr Sunseeker. Whilst he loves his job, he now understands that there will be a high tax cost if his wife does not properly exit UK tax residence.  He packs his things and heads to the airport. While on his way, he calls his employer and resigns, and then calls an estate agent to list the home for immediate rental.

The repercussions of the two actions above, would be to reduce the number of UK ties that Mrs Sunseeker has, from four to two:

  • 90 days in both of the previous two tax years; and
  • Work tie (assuming she still works, when back in the UK).

Now she would be able to spend up to 90 days in the UK per annum and lose her UK tax residence status.

Very lucky!

Whilst everyone else on the flight was cursing the delay, Mrs Sunseeker had struck lucky.  However, had Mr and Mrs Sunseeker started to plan earlier than at the airport departure lounge, there would have been more options to consider around their employment situation and their home status, and they might have avoided having to take such extreme steps.

How Can Dixcart Help?

Dixcart’steam of lawyers, accountants, immigration and tax professionals would have assisted Mr and Mrs Sunseeker with:

  • Pre-departure tax planning;
  • Ongoing tax planning, to ensure that UK tax residence is not accidentally acquired again in the future;
  • Employment law advice for both individuals in relation to their ongoing employment contracts, should they wish to continue to work, as well as related UK tax advice regarding the income being earned;
  • Application for Indefinite Leave to Remain before they leave the UK, so they can be sure that they can return in the future.

Additional Information

If you require additional information on this topic, please contact your usual Dixcart adviser or speak to Paul Webb or Peter Robertson in the UK office: advice.uk@dixcart.com.

Dixcart UK, is a combined accounting, legal, tax and immigration firm.  We are well placed to provide these services to international groups and families with members in the UK. The combined expertise that we provide from one building, means that we work efficiently and coordinate a variety of professional advisers, which is key for families and businesses with cross-border activities.

By working as one professional team, the information we obtain from providing a service, can be shared appropriately with other members of the team, so that you do not need to have the same conversation twice!  We are ideally placed to assist in situations as detailed in the case study above. We can provide cost effective professional services for companies and individuals and also offer in-house expertise to provide assistance with more complex legal and tax matters.


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'Waiting for Eden' is a devastating story about loving and letting go

a devil's bookshelf

4/5 Blue Devils

There are some books that beg to be finished in one day: they pull you in with heroic characters and moving stories and transport you to a world that is foreign but familiar. Elliot Ackerman’s “Waiting for Eden,” published in 2018, is exactly one of these novels. The quasi-pocket-sized book presents a cover that speaks volumes: two faces are pressed against each other, with a man’s eye staring intently ahead and a woman’s lips pressed against his left temple. The faces create an abstract image, almost as if one’s features morph into the other. Their individuality is indistinguishable until the novel begins.

In “Waiting for Eden,” the reader is immediately forewarned that the story is one of devastation. An omniscient narrator, whom we learn is much more intimately involved, guides us through Eden’s tragic tale.

Three years prior to the start of the novel, Eden and the narrator have been deployed to Iraq for a second time. After an initial deployment and a child on the way, Eden's time of crisis is behind him and a promising future with his wife, Mary awaits. Although he is in a relatively comfortable position, he sacrifices this stability to fight for his country in Iraq.

There, a military truck unknowingly hits a pressure plate, immediately killing all nearby soldiers. The single soldier who lived was Eden, whose survival is deemed a miracle. The injuries he suffered are almost too numerous to name: “thirty percent reduction in frontal lobe activity, fifty percent reduction in parietal lobe activity, contusions throughout.” The reader suddenly encounters Eden in this extremely dependent state, reliant on life support to connect to the world.

Further specificities of Eden’s pre-war life unravel before the reader, a contrast that amplifies just how tragic this explosion was. Ackerman tells us how Eden first met his wife Mary, their plans to have a child, his time in intense and impressive military training and much more of his vibrant existence before disaster. There are even comical references to Eden’s dynamic and energetic prior self. Throughout the novel, these insights shape an identity suspended in time.

It is almost impossible to imagine Eden as this carefree character. The painfully mundane routine Eden experiences in the San Antonio burn center drags on with only occasional signs of promise, unlike the free spirited life he once lived. As a result, he misses many important moments after the collision, including the birth of his daughter Andy. This is particularly painful given the couple's long term infertility struggles.

The book also underscores a theme that is all too common, no matter our personal tragedies: loneliness. When I reflect on Eden’s loved ones, only Mary fully experiences this drastic, immediate change of the man she loves. The indiscernible image between the two figures on the cover is much more meaningful when we recognize just how difficult it is for Mary and Eden to communicate. She is whispering to Eden, trying to reach someone she once connected with deeply. This suffering is inherently connected to loneliness, both of Eden being alone in his active mind and Mary alone in her attempt at connection. The loneliness felt in this novel springs from a disturbing loss, no matter who experiences it.

In “Waiting for Eden,” the reader observes the difficult complexities of humanity. For example, Mary experiences guilt when she feels that peace for them both would mean Eden’s death. Mary’s hope for Eden’s peace is derived from a place of profound care, but the thought of not seeing him in his hospital bed is too much to bear. She must weigh two tragedies at once: losing Eden in the world as she knows him, or continuously losing herself as she cares for him. Neither is the immediate, appropriate or obvious choice, and her decisions ask us to reconcile with our own values of love and peace.

The reason for my 4/5 rating is partially due to the way in which the omniscient narrator becomes woven into the actual plot and partially due to the abrupt ending. By the end, I became attached to the few characters in the novel. Ackerman selectively introduces them and maintains a focus on how they shape the novel and their relationships with each other. Because of this connection, the ending seemed to arrive too abruptly. In the end, there is a sudden realization that allows for the inconsistencies in the novel to align in an almost unbelievable and impractical way, as much as I wanted to be satisfied with it.

Still, Ackerman skillfully balances unvarnished questions and concepts about human nature for much of the novel that make the read important regardless of your expectations.

Bates Crawford is a Trinity junior. Her book column, “A Devil’s Bookshelf,” runs bimonthly and she rates books on a 0-5 Blue Devil scale. Bates recommends books to her fellow students when (or if) they have spare time in their busy Duke lives.

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Sunday, July 30, 2017

TRUTH AND LIES ABOUT SOCIALISM - The phony dilemma: "Democracy" or Totalitarianism"?

Central Council of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE).
Published by Synchroni Epochi, 2013.

A great part of anti-communist, anti-socialist propaganda focuses on the issue of the so called lack of “freedom and democracy” during the construction of the new society, of socialism-communism. The main focus of that attack is the revolutionary workers’ power, the state of the working class, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the role of the Communist Party. The capitalists cannot abide it; they tremble before the idea that the working class will emerge as the dominant class, and that they will be thrown into the dustbin of history.

When someone reads the word “dictatorship” they imagine many things, as it is usually equated with harsh regimes, the authoritarian imposition of the will of a minority over a majority. However, if we examine the issue more carefully we will realize that the term dictatorship expresses the power of one class over the others. When we refer to the dictatorship of the bourgeois class and respectively to the dictatorship of the proletariat, we talk about the class that has the power. In other words, the meaning of dictatorship is not synonymous with the form of governance of military imposition of the exploiting classes (the slave owners, the feudalists, now the capitalists) over the poor working class- popular masses.

Dictatorship is also the power of one class even when it guarantees formal political equality between the members of different classes. Just as it occurs today in bourgeois parliamentary democracy, which is none other than the dictatorship of bourgeois class, as we have everywhere the domination of the capital, which is concealed and hidden behind formal equality, formal equal political rights, even though there is a whole legal “arsenal” and the mechanisms of the bourgeois state are ready to put aside any right if bourgeois’ power is threatened.

In reality, the bourgeois classes’ power to impose its will, to form its own institutions and mechanisms that serve its interests, originates from its economic power, the capitalist ownership of the means of production. The whole superstructure, the institutions and the mechanisms exist to defend and assist the reproduction of its domination.

Therefore, with the term “dictatorship of proletariat”, Marxism scientifically refers to the political domination of the working class. The conquest of political power by the working class is also a precondition for its economic domination, for the overthrow of capitalist relations and the socialization of the means of production. The liberation of the working class from the dictatorship of the capital, from the yoke of the monopolies and its emergence as a dominant class also liberates the rest of the working people.

What is the state?
The state in capitalism.

The state did not always exist. The state is a product of unresolved class contradictions that are present in the society. The state appears during the evolution of history in places when the class contradictions objectively could not be compromised. And vice-versa, the very existence of the state demonstrates that class contradictions cannot be resolved.

The birth of the Athenian State.
(Click on the picture to read).
In the primitive communal societies there was no need for a state, because classes did not exist. The state was born along with the class society thousands of years ago. This happened when the surplus product was created thanks to the development of the productive forces, meaning one part of the produced product (from working the land, livestock, etc.) which was not used for the satisfaction of immediate needs of the community. The appearance of the surplus product led, over the course of time to its private appropriation ,and furthermore led to the formation of private ownership over the means of production, in other words, class contradictions were born. The complete development of these contradictions created the exploitative distinction of society between the slaves and the slave-owners. The first state, in history, formed was the state of the slave-owners in order to impose their power on the slave class. Thereafter, during the evolution of the society the exploitative relations change according to the evolution of productive forces. The distinction between slaves and slave-owners was replaced by the serfs and the feudalists and today by the workers and the capitalists. In each corresponding period, the state evolved and strengthened to serve the specific exploitative relations.

The state consists of many institutions for the systematic implementation of compulsion against the exploited. It creates permanent, specific mechanisms and it organizes the violence of the dominant class, (army, police etc.). Also, several functions existing (administrative, defensive for the protection of the community etc.) before the appearance of state in the context of the primitive community become detached and are exercised by special institutions.

These transitions during the evolution of humanity were hard but necessary, since the relations of production must correspond to the development of the productive forces that has been achieved at a specific time. However, today, the productive forces –that mark huge progress and development– suffocate in the context of exploitative relations. The abolition of the exploitation of man by man, a great social leap, will contribute to a situation where the productive forces will correspond to the relations of production. The creation of these social relations, along with the institutions that emerged with them, was necessary in the evolution of history, and to that extent today their abolition is equally necessary for the further evolution of the society. Therefore, speaking of the state, we must always have in mind that the main issue is the issue of power of one class over the other.

The working class and the bourgeois state.

The working class, as a direct producer that does not have, however, ownership over the means of production, as the exploited class in capitalism, is placed in various ways under the coercion of the bourgeois class and its state. The bourgeois state, as a mechanism for the domination of the capitalists over the workers, is a mechanism of oppression, repression and manipulation against the workers.

Nevertheless, the bourgeois class does only not organize the brutal repression and the exclusive practice of violence by the state mechanisms (which is, however, a basic function of the state), but it also exercises multifaceted oppression. It organizes state judicial institutions in order to implement the law, which has as its core the defence of private ownership. It creates laws, constitutions; it establishes courts of justice and institutions to enforce this law, which in fact is “unjust” for the working class.

In modern capitalist societies, the state also organizes the state educational system, it builds schools and universities, i.e. it organizes the “consent” of the exploited working class and organizes the health and welfare system, guaranteeing the conditions for the reproduction of the working class. Namely, it guarantees a basic level of education, a basic satisfaction of health etc., as well as the reproduction of dominant ideology and politics in order to obscure class exploitation. Moreover, the bourgeois state intervenes in the economy by passing measures facilitating the reproduction of capital on an extensive scale.

The duty of the proletariat is to overthrow the bourgeois state as a precondition for the construction of the new society. The bourgeois state cannot change its class nature and cannot be used in favour of the working class and the poor popular strata. The working class must take advantage of any gains- democratic rights acquired as a result of the class struggle- but not by restricting its aims to the improvement and the democratization of the bourgeois state, but in the direction of organizing the struggle in order to overthrow bourgeois power. The bourgeois state is a state of the capitalists in order to secure their interests. In its place the working class must build its own state, the dictatorship of the proletariat. And the overthrow of the bourgeois state is not possible without violence, without the proletarian, socialist revolution.

The “withering away” of the state in developed communism.

The communist socioeconomic formation expresses the new leap in the evolution of human society, on the basis of the development of the means of production. Labour in capitalist production acquires an increasingly social character. There no longer exists the need for a class – owner of the means of production, i.e. the class of capitalists, who do not contribute anything to production; they are parasites. At one time, the division of society into classes was a necessary step in human evolution. Today, thanks to the development of the productive forces, this division of society has become an obstacle. The disappearance of classes is inevitable, as inevitable as was their creation during the past.

The socialization of the means of production and central planning as the new social relations eliminate, over a course of hard struggle and contradictions, the root cause of the existence of the class inequalities.

As during mankind’s past primitive societies managed to live without a state, therefore, the new, fully developed communist society will no longer need a state, i.e. it will no longer need a mechanism of coercion, of enforcement. However, this not due to incomplete development, but on the contrary is due to the enormous development of the productive forces, labour productivity and the new social relations.Nevertheless, the state as a state cannot be “abolished” all at once, because it is not possible to eliminate at once the root of class inequalities. Through the social revolution, the bourgeois state is abolished and is replaced by the state of the working class. Bourgeois power, disorganized in conditions of revolutionary situation by the decisive action of the organized workers and their allies, is crushed, destroyed, smashed. From the first moment of its formation, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the socialist state is a “semi-state”, according to Engels; it is not a “state per se”. This occurs because its mission is not the continuation of class exploitation, but the abolishment of any source of class exploitation. It is a state that is expected to abolish itself, to wither away, because it is no longer needed.

The state is withering away over the course of development, during the passage from the lower to the higher phase of the communist society. The economic base for the complete withering away of the state has to do with a high development of communism that eradicates the contradictions between intellectual and manual labour, the submission to the division of labour and transforms labour not only into means of subsistence, but also into a prime necessity of life, i.e. when the sources of the appearance of social inequality disappear.

Advanced communism as a classless society is a society without a state. The state will be able to wither away completely only when people have become so accustomed to observing the basic rules of living and their work is so productive that they are working according to their abilities and the distribution of products is carried out according to their needs.

The state in socialism.

Socialism, as the first, the immature phase of communism, is a society in which initially classes and class contradictions still exist, while afterwards some class contradictions and differences, potential class differences, are still maintained, i.e. differences including the potential of historical regression. Firstly, there are the remnants of the defeated bourgeois class, which will fight until the end in order to take back the power that they lost. In addition, several contradictions or differences remain such as these between the people of the city and the countryside, between manual and intellectual labour, which have their origin in the entire history of exploitative societies. Moreover, there are contradictions originating from the possibility that some sectors of production are not socialized directly, at once. These are differences resulting from the division of labour. The historical experience of the USSR showed that sections of agricultural production etc. maintained commodity relations. Commodity relations are a source of class inequalities. In addition, the conscience corresponding to the new, communist relations, e. the communist conscience, the Assembly of Petrograd’s soviet, 1918. “Proletarian democracy, of which Soviet government is one of the forms, has brought a development and expansion of democracy unprecedented in the world, for the vast majority of the population, for the exploited and working people. (...)Proletarian democracy is a million times more democratic than any bourgeois democracy; Soviet power is a million times more democratic than the most democratic bourgeois republic.” (V.I. Lenin, The Proletarian Revolution And the Renegade Kautsky, Sinchroni Epochi, p. 31-33) communist attitude towards labour, is not shaped in a cohesive and “automatic” way among all the sections of working class and the people. Namely, there are still elements of the past that struggle against the new society that has been born. Historical experience has highlighted that this kind of struggle continues for a very long time.

Thus in socialism, the working class is constituted as the dominant class by its state, the dictatorship of the proletariat. The working class opposes the dictatorship of the bourgeois class (regardless of the form that it takes, e.g. parliamentary system, fascism, military dictatorship etc.) with its own dictatorship, the dictatorship of the proletariat. This is the democracy of workers who are dominant since they overthrew the power of the bourgeois class; they took the means of production in their hands and are leading the construction of the new society expressing also the interests of the other exploited strata by liberating them.

Consequently, the dictatorship of the proletariat constitutes a means of continuing the class struggle with other means and forms under the conditions of the socialist construction.

The necessity of the dictatorship of the proletariat, of the socialist state arsies from the basic revolutionary duty of the workers’ power, namely the formation of the new communist relations. A difficult task, since the passage to communism is not just a passage from one society to another; it is not a replacement of one exploitative class by another, but the definitive and complete abolition of any form of private and group ownership over the means and results of production, of every exploitative class and every social inequality. This necessity also arises from the continuation of the class struggle internationally, since the simultaneous passage socialism at global level, in every country at the same time, is impossible.

Only the vanguard social force, the working class, which is the vehicle of the communist relations, can accomplish this task with the leading role of its Party, the Communist Party.

The phony dilemma: "Democracy" or "Totalitarianism".

“One the opposite side of “democracy” lies “totalitarianism”. In this (socioeconomic) system only one, the ruler, possesses absolute power and has the ability to control the society. Dictatorship is one of the forms of totalitarianism, which constitutes an authoritarian system of governance based on violence. The characteristics of totalitarianism are the following: imposition of a particular ideology, the one – party system, existence of an organized plan of intimidation of the citizens, absolute control of the army, absolute control of mass media, an economy controlled and planned, by the state”

( “Sociology” Coursebook, 3rd grade of High School).

“Democracy” for whom?

For many centuries, beginning from ancient times until the present day, the concept of democracy has been the centre of numerous discussions and written texts. Democracy has existed as an ideal, as a political demand and slogan for millions of militants, as well as a deceptive ideological construct, a fraud.

The bourgeois and opportunists theoreticians and propagandists do not understand political history as a result of interchanges of socioeconomic formations, as scientific communism does (because they would be forced to admit the inevitable overthrow of capitalism), but as succession of regimes. Based on that they distinguish regimes (democracy, oligarchy, monarchy, etc.) concealing class relations, the class essence of socioeconomic formations and their respective state.

In general, they identify democracy with bourgeois parliamentary democracy. They claim that within the framework of the bourgeois state ‘’all of us are equal citizens, we have the right to vote and to be elected, we have universal voting rights and trade union rights, etc guaranteed by the Constitution”. The political system, the administration mechanisms, the Constitution, therefore, are presented as “classless’’. But, behind the term “citizens’’, the class division that exists in capitalism and the division between the exploiters and the exploited are being concealed.

Lenin noted that when someone hears the words democracy and freedom he should ask: “democracy and freedom for which class?”

Since the dawn of capitalism, when the bourgeois class was still a revolutionary force, it became clear that the slogan “equality, freedom, brotherhood” of the bourgeois French Revolution -that overthrew feudalism– had a content that was expressing the interests of the domination of bourgeois class. For example, just two years after the victory of the French Revolution, measures were taken in order to dissolve all trade unions and to ban strikes. These were the so-called Le Chapelier laws (after the French bourgeois judicial and politician Isaac Rene Guy Le Chapelier), which were in effect from June 14, 1791 until 1864, i.e. they were applied for 73 years.

Bourgeois democracy is democracy within the framework of capitalism. It is a form of expression of the dictatorship of the bourgeois class. Of course, bourgeois democracy was progressive compared to feudal autocracy, which was overthrown by the former. But bourgeois democracy defends capitalist exploitation. The democratic rights and freedoms, existing in most of the bourgeois Constitutions, reflect the victory of the bourgeois class against feudalism, they weren’t generously granted by the bourgeois class to the working class but only after a tough class struggle and only when the bourgeois class acquired the ability to assimilate wider workers’ and people’s masses due to these concessions.

(Click on the picture to read).
During the era of bourgeois revolutions, the bourgeois class consisted of a large mass of small and big owners of means of production. In order to overthrow feudalism, they attracted to the political struggle large popular masses of farmers and proletarians, the ancestors of contemporary working class. On this basis, the democratic and political freedoms were established on the terrain of capitalism. The bourgeois class didn’t hesitate to restrict or ban these freedoms when it considered it necessary for the stabilisation of the capitalist system. In conditions of contemporary capitalism, the imperialist stage of its development, where the bourgeois class has the place once held by feudalism, the rise of reactionary influences, the restriction of rights and freedoms and the manipulation of people’s protest, is the general tendency.

In our country we have certain examples proving that the bourgeois class takes action as soon as it becomes aware that its profitability and power can be negatively affected. For example, there were certain moments during the 20th century when the bourgeois class suppressed strikes, even though the strikes were for economic demands only, without disputing bourgeois power and these strikes resulted in harsh conflicts between the working class and the mechanisms of bourgeois state, with many dead militant workers as a result.

Although, even those who claim that “the above mentioned events happened years ago, now democracy is consolidated and t things have changed” conceal the fact that bourgeois class imposes itself using its own power over the popular masses with multifaceted mechanisms that combine manipulation and repression. Let’s remember the tremendous persecution of the monumental students’ demonstrations struggling against the so-called Arsenis – law (High school educational reform 1998), or even the repression against struggles in the following years. At that time the government applied the despicable Legislative Act (implemented by the subsequent governments) which considered that student protests were a “statutory offense” and brought district attorneys to schools in order to terrorize the school students. Hundreds of school students across Greece were tried on charges such as “disruption of domestic peace”, “occupation of public areas”, etc.

The bourgeois governments tried more than 10,000 farmers across the country on the charge of ‘’obstruction of transportation’’, during the period of the monumental agricultural protests. Do not forget the dozens of strikes and workers’ protests declared illegal by civil courts. Based on the data of the First Instance Court of Athens relating to the period 1999-2008, 215 out of the 248 employers’ appeals against strikes were accepted. In other words 9 out of 10 strikes were deemed illegal .The bourgeois governments attacked large demonstrations of seafarers, having the bourgeois courts and their court rulings as their weapon and at the same time using brutal repression in order to impose “civil mobilization” of the workers and use savage means of repression. Recently, the bourgeois governments the magnificent strike of the steelworkers in Aspropyrgos declared illegal and deployed riot police at the factory in order to break the strike. Additionally, the state utilizes against the organized class-oriented movement and the Communist Party, a complex of mechanisms of provocation, thugs, various agencies - operating in cooperation with the ‘’official’’ repressive forces – in order to strike against the struggles. Provocation was always a powerful weapon in the hands of the bourgeois class against the working class and its Party.

"Greek steelworks", Aspropyrgos, July 2012. The Constitution and the laws of bourgeois state exist only to ensure the capitalist ownership over the means of production. The attitude of bourgeois state against the heroic struggle of the steelworkers was characteristic. Complete support for the capitalist Manesis, court rulings and persecution, brutal repression against the strike.

The bourgeois parliament, the multi – party system and the bourgeois elections are the ‘zenith of the Democracy’’.

We face the argument that capitalism has a multi – party system, many different parties can express their views and can participate in elections, that even the enemies of capitalism, even the Communist Parties, have the potential to exist and act. On the other hand they say that in socialism there is no parliament and multiparty system, so there is ‘’totalitarianism’’.

First, the bourgeoisie conceals a fact that applies first of all to themselves, namely that the classes form political parties with the aim of serving their interests. This also applies to their own parties, which serve the interests of the bourgeois class. However, the bourgeois class is expressed by more than one party. These parties are formed on the basis of historical, ideological differences that concern the management of capitalism, express intra-bourgeois contradictions. The differences between bourgeois parties guarantee the alternation in the formation of bourgeois governments; reproduce the support of the workers’- people’s strata through the universal right to vote. This is the essence of the multi-party system. Namely, these are parties that don’t express something different taking into consideration their class essence, because they agree on the perpetuation of capitalist exploitation over the working class and any differences concern the different “formulas” for the workers’ exploitation.
The myth of ‘’Totalitarianism’’.
The identification of the former socialist societies and socialism in general with so called totalitarianism is one of the new-old ideological constructs re-emerging in the political analysis of the bourgeois mass media, public interventions of governmental cadres and cadres of bourgeois political parties, but also in the curricula of higher education institutions. Most often, the concept of totalitarianism, the totalitarian phenomenon, totalitarian ideologies (...) is mentioned in newspaper articles and magazines artfully and uncritically. They never give a definition of this phenomenon, and it is presented as something well-known and obvious. (...) Substantial emphasis is given to the identification of fascism, especially Nazism, with existing socialism and respectively fascist with communist ideology. (...) The concept of totalitarianism first appeared in the "Times» in 1929 and described as totalitarian a type of state that is "cohesive», with a oneparty system either communist or fascist, generally it appears as a reaction against the state of parliamentary democracy. The equation of this two incompatible phenomena, namely the fascist and socialist, state and society ,aims to impose the political forms of the state as the main criterion and characteristic based on which we can compare different types of society without any further analysis (on the contrary, it aims to obscure) over the content of state power and its relations with the structure of society, i.e. the social classes and the struggle waging between them. Bourgeois ideology, since defends the capitalist system and generally chooses to face the world in that way, presents the world as the embodiment and struggle of some ideas and ideals, the most important of which is (bourgeois) "democracy».
The theoreticians that “confront totalitarianism” perceive man and “human nature” as something static and metaphysical, they cannot see the possibility of the change of social relations and they perceive it as destruction of humanity and abolition of freedom. Socialism does not aim to turn people into “servants of the State” and spineless beings, as these theoreticians claim. This duty belongs to the daily tasks of the capitalist system (either fascist or “liberal”), which we are experiencing today intensively. Socialism aims to construct a new civilization, a new type of social relations (that means a “new human’’, not to uproot all human qualities, as these theoreticians claim!), which will release the creative capabilities of people in order to be able handle collectively and to develop further the tremendous forces and potential accumulated in the current stage of mankind’s development.
Kommounistiki Epitheorisi, issue 2/2000 "”Totalitarianism”, the return of Cold War mythology».

The differences developed during the previous years are significant, not only among the Greek bourgeois parties, but at a European and international level, in relation to the variations of crisis management. There are different tendencies and intra-bourgeois contradictions, however what all of them have as common ground is the attempt to exit the capitalist crisis at the expense of the working class and the popular strata, and these are not differences in favour of the people’s interests. The working class has nothing to expect from such ‘’polyphony’’, besides it has important acquired experience. Basically, for decades two parties were alternating in government, the bourgeois social-democratic party and the bourgeois liberal party, however now we have a period of rotation between alliance governments. now of the ‘’centre-right’’, tomorrow of the ‘’centreleft’’, without excluding other forms. History has shown that when the rule of bourgeoisie is questioned then the differences between bourgeois parties “disappear” and united as a fist they struggle for their class. In our country for example during the period of the armed class confrontation, in 1946-1949, all the bourgeois parties were united to face the Communist Party and the Democratic Army of Greece. It is significant the example of the so-called ‘’seven-headed’’ government formed in 1947, named as such because of the participation of all the political leaders from the whole range of the bourgeois political system (C. Tsaldaris, G.Papandreou, S.Venizelos, P.Canellopoulos, N.Zervas, etc). Also, more recently, under the present conditions of the economic capitalist crisis, New Democracy and PASOK (old social democratic party) put aside their differences and formed anti-popular governments under the Prime Minister L.Papademos and A.Samaras later: The former with the support of ‘’extreme-right’’ party LAOS, the later with the support of the ‘’centre-left’’ party DIMAR.

The bourgeois parliament and elections express the ‘’popular will’’ determined by the influence of employers’ intimidation, threat of unemployment, mechanisms that buy the workers’ consciousness off, anticommunism, fear before the revolutionary perspective, bourgeois ideology fostered through education and so many other factors that form attitude of assimilation and submission to the system among the larger part of popular strata and their families. Only when the above factors are secured firmly, then the bourgeois class allows the realization of universal right to vote that operates as an assimilation tool. Besides, the universal right to vote presented as the “cornerstone” of bourgeois democracy, was neither established at once, nor was truly universal. During the period of bourgeois revolutions the right to vote initially was connected to class criteria, such as the possession of land, property, wealth, etc. It didn’t concern everyone. The same happened with the right to vote of women, of black people, etc. In our country the right to vote for women was established in 1952 by the bourgeois laws [while they had voted for the first time in the areas freed by the National Liberation Front (EAM) – Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) in 1944]. In Switzerland, presented as a particularly democratic country, women gained the right to vote in 1971! In the US, the right to vote for black people was acquired in 1965.

As long as the working class and the popular strata believe that through the elections they will serve their own interests, they will remain chained of the bourgeois class, their political emancipation will be blocked. Of course the Communist Parties are “obliged” to work in parliaments in order to uncover exactly their bourgeois exploitative character. But only when the working masses believe in their power, in their ability that they have to get organized and rule themselves, only when they overcome their parliamentary illusions, they will be able to enforce radical changes for their profit. In parliament, decisions that in reality are taken elsewhere, outside of it, that are based on the economic domination of the bourgeois, are simply validated. The bourgeois state has at its disposal institutions and mechanisms of enforcing the domination of the bourgeois class (judges, police officers, army etc.) that their class orientation is not affected from the correlations in parliament.

Besides, historically it has been proved that within the bourgeois parliament, there cannot be formed political correlation that will express the general interests of working class and popular strata. Even in the theoretical occasion that something like that happens, the bourgeois class will not stay with crossed arms). History has shown examples that even reformist majorities got violently overthrown (e.g. Allende in Chile).

Some present the argument that, like in capitalism that the lawful action of the Communist Parties is permitted, in socialism the action of parties that express capitalists or other defenders of “open market” should be permitted.

This comparison cannot be, because the historical role of working class in relation to the bourgeois’ role, concerning the social progress, is different. With the consolidation of capitalism and the domination of bourgeois, this class ceases to be pioneer and emerging. It becomes reactionary, it survives only because it exploits the working class. It has a parasitic role in social production because it does not produce anything, but because it owns the means of production, it usurps the wealth that the workers produce.

The pioneer social force is the working class because it is the conveyor of the new productive relations, the communist ones. It is the class that produces the biggest part of social wealth, that in capitalism it does not own any means of production and that in its struggle for its own domination, it has nothing to lose, but its chains. In Socialism it’s not just one party in power, but the working class organized as the dominating class, led by its party.

Sunday 3rd of December 1944. When the bourgeois power is in danger the bourgeois class does not hesitate to drown the people in blood. “The struggle of KKE during the decade 1940-1949, with the armed fight of EAM-ELAS on December of 1944 and DSE (1946-1949), constitutes the biggest offer of our Party to the working class and the poor popular strata, as well as its biggest contribution to the action of the international communist movement during the 20th century”. (From the introduction of the History Essay of KKE, Volume 2, 1946-1968).

The bourgeois “forget” that when bourgeois class took power it did not leave the feudal lords-aristocrats that it overthrew, safe and sound. Not only did it not permit them to form parties, but it also it also sent them the guillotine.

The defense of the open, public action of the Communist Parties in capitalism by the working class and the people, is in essence the defense of the political expression of the pioneer social force. In contrary, the defense of the existence of capitalist parties in Socialism, in a society that exploitation is abolished, and as a result the class that represents it, can only be realized as a setback and an obstacle of social development. As in capitalism today, not only is it not permitted but it would seem unheard of for parties that support the totalitarian (slavery) or the partial (serfdom) ownership of people by other people, to exist, i.e. the previous productive relations, in socialism it will be unheard of for parties that support and propagandize the exploitation of people by other people, the exploitive relations, to exist. This is how the comparison should be.

The position of the bourgeois democracy against the Communist Parties.

The working class is expressed by its own party, the Communist Party, that its own formation is a result of the maturing of the working class. The CP struggles for the working class to gain conscience of its historical mission, which is to abolish all kinds of exploitation and oppression and to lead the way into a classless society.

It is a lie that the bourgeois class generally lets the Communist Partiess to act undisturbed. It knows that they fight to overthrow it and when its domination is in danger, it takes harder measures against the Communist Parties. The history of the global communist movement and of KKE in Greece is full of persecutions against communists. Lawful, public action of the Communist Party is a conquest.

of the working class. In our country the democratic government of El.Venizelos in 1929 declared communism as a statutory offense and criminalized the communist ideology. KKE remained illegal for 27 years (1947-1974), the 20 of which were not during facist or dictatorship governments, but during “bourgeoisdemocratic” governments, years that were accompanied by terrorism, tortures, exiles, executions.
Bourgeois state against KKE.
Since its primary years of existence, KKE faced persecutions, class hatred of the bourgeois state. State violence does not only show its superiority in the correlation of forces, it mainly shows the fear of the bourgeois against the working class, the people. The bourgeois legislative grid against the workers movement is dated before the founding of KKE, when the socialist ideas started being appealing. It is constantly strengthened after the founding of the party in 1918.The law on the constitution of Committees on Public Security in each Region” ” of the government of Al. Papanastasiou in 1924,that the dictatorship of Pangalos in 1926 modified and used, the concentration camp of communist soldiers in Kalpaki, the “Idionym” of Venizelos in order to “Protect for now, but mainly for the future the social regime“, the forbiddance of the circulation of “Rizospastis” are characteristic examples. Thousands of communists convicted, martyred in prisons and exile of bourgeois government parliamentary or of dictatorship. KKE during the king’s and Metaxas dictatorship of the 4th of August 1936 took a big blow. State security could constitute the squealer “Temporary Leadership ” in the role of the leading body of the party that issued a “Rizospastis”with a content directed thereby. KKE was deprived of the important service of hundreds of cadres that the government of Metaxas gave to the Germans, even its general secretary of the Central Council Nikos Zahariadis.
After the liberation of Greece in 1944, the bourgeois forces resorted to murderous violence, they chose the bloodshed of the struggling people that were united around KKE, EAM and ELAS. During the armed struggle of KKE in 1946-1949, the state repression was shielded even more with the “3rd decree” in June 1946 and the voting of O.L.. 509/1947. The armed struggle highlighted the ethical greatness, the heroism, the contribution and sacrifice of thousands of communists, popular fighters. After the civil war, new heroic pages were written at the jails and exiles, the Military Courts, the firing squads, cladestinity and political refuge. New persecutions and sacrifices for thousands of communists at the purgatories of the soldier dictatorship in 1967-1974, at the dungeons of EAT-ESA, at the places of exile. But even after the junta, in times of democracy and legality, KKE faced employer violence and terrorism by the bourgeois democracy. A martyr of this struggle, Sotiria Vasilakopoulou, member of KNE, was murdered at the gates of the ETMA factory at 28/7/1980. KKE follows that road today, the one of class struggle, with consequences such as layoffs, persecutions and trials of communists and other fighters. Against the violence of the bourgeois class today the answer is: “We never did and we never will sign a declaration of repentance to the national and international bourgeois class”.

Let us not forget though that the defenders of parliamentarism and multiparty system, that until recently hypocritically presented EU as the apogee of democracy, hide that in a number of countries of the EU, Communist Parties and Youths, the communist symbols are forbidden by law. In Czech Republic, the Communist Youth was until recently illegal because, as the bourgeois court judged: “At its program it expresses the necessity to replace the private ownership at the means of production with social ownership” and that is a “crime” for capitalists! In Poland and elsewhere the use of communist symbols is forbidden, in Germany there is a law that forbids hiring communists to work for the bourgeois state, at the Baltics they forbid Communist Parties and praise the Nazi SS. EU has made its formal ideology the historically inaccurate and provocative identification of fascism and communism, the anti-communism.

But even in the occasion that the Communist Parties are legal, bourgeois class puts a lot of obstacles to the spread and promotion of their ideas and of course under no circumstances are they allowed to implement them. It is clear that for the bourgeois political system, the bourgeois state, the Communist Parties are their “Number One” opponent. For example, how many times has the KKE been attacked for its slogans, that compact political ideas, as “law is the right of the workers” but also its actions to defend the popular interests (strikes, organization of disobedience and indiscipline against the bourgeois poltcy etc) are at the verge of legality and ask from KKE to take oaths of submission to the bourgeois state? Besides, these are not just a matter of declarations for the bourgeoisie. How many times have we seen efforts to legally restrict and supress communist action (e.g. dismissal of members of KKE and KNE and pioneer fighters because they were ay the frontline of strikes. persecutions against members of KNE because they lead students’ mobilizations, persecutions of communists and other fighters for various mobilizations.

Besides the above, let us not forget that in the conditions of bourgeois democracy, the massive projection of the positions of the communists is objectively limited by socioeconomic conditions, as large-type complexes, electronic and printed media, publishers, internet etc. are under the control of the monopolies and the bourgeois state. Whatever means the KKE has (“Rizospastis”, “90.2”, etc.) to project its positions, the struggle of the labor movement are struck from every side from the bourgeois in order to be silenced (politically, economically, judicially with lawsuits etc.).

The screams that are occasionally heard on “KKE’s immunity” that it “moves on the limits of legality” and the like, prove that the constant aim of the bourgeois class is to achieve a crushing blow on the party of the working class by putting obstacles in on its relatively legal action, without leaving out the aim to integrate it on the bourgeois political system.

Even the formal rights stop for the workers in the workplaces.

The right of the working class to organize, although it is formally established, practically is blocked, while it is also limited institutionally.

For the bourgeois, even this formal democracy has no power in the workplace, inside the factory gate and company. The worker within the framework of parliamentarianism is “free” to vote for any party they want, to have any opinion they wish, formally they have the right to strike, but as soon as they stands up for themselves in the workplace, the employer is ready to crush them. There are maybe laws that allow the existence and action of trade unions and workers’ organizations, but these are only tolerable to the extent that they are manipulated and part of the network of assimilation of the working masses. In addition, there are laws that ensure labor rights, however, they are not actually applied or they are easily utilized to limit working rights to something “realistic” or “achievable” that is always determined by capitalist profitability. However, the moment that the working class fights for the contemporary workingpeoples’ needs that come into conflict with capitalist profitability, they are confronted by the multipronged attack of the employers and the bourgeois state. Besides, when the class struggle sharpens, when the workers’ struggles acquire tendencies to come into conflict with bourgeois domination, even minimal labor rights are abolished at once.

At the same time, the bourgeoisie also uses other methods in order to undermine the labor movement and to ensure the desired “class peace” in the workplaces. It forms a whole bribed stratum of workers, the labor aristocracy, representatives of which are promoted to the leadership of the labor movement. When needed, the bourgeoisie can also accomplish it by trampling upon the formal, legally protected correlation of forces in the trade union movement (e.g. deposing the elected leaderships etc.). In that way, the workers’ organizations are converted from defenders of the workers’ interests to defenders of the interests of the bourgeoisie, they become enemies of the workers, traitors inside the working class.

The parliamentary group of the Nazi party in the German Parliament in 1930. The bourgeois pretend to “forget” that fascism arose from the bourgeois parliament. Hitler was elected to the Parliament, with the support and tolerance of the bourgeois political world. He was supported financially and politically not only by the German bourgeoisie, but also by American monopolies and British interests that sought profitable transactions and support from Germany against the USSR.

Regimes that suppress bourgeois democracy- the other side of bourgeois power.

However, bourgeois parliamentary democracy may not be in all the phases the “appropriate” form of management of bourgeois power. In times of difficulties, crises, fissures in the bourgeois system, there are many historical examples, as well as contemporary, when the bourgeoisie puts aside its “angelic face” and chooses to exercise its power through non-parliamentary regimes. Military dictatorships, fascism are all in the service of the capital and are just different forms of management. The changes and the differences in the mode of governance do not change neither the class nature of the economic relations or the class essence of the state. Namely, regimes presented as “anti-democratic” or as “democratic” serve the same class, the same system, that of the capitalist exploitative relations. For example, behind the “anti-parliamentary” rhetoric of the Nazi and fascist parties basically lies the need to confront more decisively the workers’ and people’s movement, to ensure order and stability in order to safeguard capitalist domination and the profitability of the monopolies.

These regimes suspend a wide range the formerly established freedoms and rights, which for the workers are rights won through blood, the product of hard class struggles. For the working class and its Party it means a wave of repression, a possible passage to illegality, imprisonments and persecutions, murders of militants, prohibition and restriction of workers’ demands and trade-union action etc. Their class nature cannot be obscured by the fact that within the framework of intra-bourgeois conflicts there is a restriction of rights for sections of the bourgeoisie, e.g. for political opponents, rival bourgeois parties etc. Intra-bourgeois conflicts can be savage when the contradictions of the bourgeois are very sharp. In Greece, and even within the framework of parliamentary governance, there have been times when the intra-bourgeois conflicts were so intense that there was bloodshed. For example, the conflict between the pro-venizelist and the anti-venizelist, in the 1910’s, or the “Trial of the Six” (1922), when the liberal group sent 6 prominent officials of the Popular Party, former prime ministers and ministers, to the firing squad in order to put the blame on them for the defeat in the Asia Minor in 1922. Global history is full of examples of anti-people regimes that were characterized by “emergency” measures to enforce order. Those kinds of regimes are usually temporary, and most of the times the transition to bourgeois parliamentary democracy is smooth and without serious consequences for a large number of their officials, which also proves the continuity of bourgeois power regardless of the form of governance. Those kinds of regimes have even been supported by other capitalist “democratic” states around the world. The example of the USA is characteristic. The country that is presented as the “land of the free”, a state-zenith of democracy, has in its record hundreds of antidemocratic actions, imperialist interventions, imposition and support of dictatorships, attempts to overthrow governments etc., actions that served its interests. This is the democracy of the capitalists.

However, even if the bourgeois liberties existed and were “fully” functioning, they would still be historically outdated. A chasm is separating them from worker’s democracy, the liberties and the rights under the conditions of the abolition of exploitation of man by man.