'Charity -no answer

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Being poorly housed myself and a non protected tenant 1 was keen to buy Rough Justice (subtitled "The Problems and Issues Confronting Homeless Single People"). Since it was a so-called 16-page 'special' issuę I bought it.

But when I read the magazine it turned out to be completely different from what I suspected it to be and I feel 1 have been somewhat conned.

Rough Justice is the magazine of the National Cyrenians. I'd never heard of them before.

The dictionary described them as "hedonistics" (people who believe pleasure is the chief good) of Aristippus of Cyrene.

This meant even less to me; but it confirmed what | suspected-that the Cyrenians are a rather obscure sect.

However the Cyrenians described themselves as being "the group living with the single homeless"

They claim to: "provide various services for some 27 affiliated groups throughout Britain. Between them these groups run over 40 projects for homeless ranging from night shelters and day centres to long-stay houses".

The magazine has three pages of news, most of which is about squatting and hostels for the homeless.

But the main bulk of the issue is devoted to institutions.

Institutions are the modern equivalent to the Victorian workhouse which "from outside and inside appear to be like prisons or mental hospitals"

Institutions which house homeless single people have hardly changed from the Victorian era.

Being out of sight and little known, they seem to have been missed by all but a few of the most thorough social reformers.

The appalling conditions in one particular institutionCamberwell Green Reception Centre-are dealt with in Rough Justice.

Here the staff had been regularly beating up homeless men, stealing their belongings, and generally maltreating the users.

When complaints were made they were dismissed by first the management and then the An official cover-up similar to that employed at Hull prison was used but this time it even involved a Civil Service union, which threatened to strike if investigations against seven staff members being carried out by the charities CHAR and SHELTER were not dropped.

The case of Camberwell highlighted how anachronistic are these institutions, as well as the difficulty of obtaining any information because of their shut-off nature.

The reception centres are, of course, used only as a last resort by the homeless.

The Homeless Persons Act (now due to be abolished by the Tories, who advocate a return to Rachmanite practices) affected their users.

Sections of the Act were from the start more or less impossible to enforce.

Whilst Rough Justice does make an attempt to publicise the maltreatment of the homeless its charitable and middle class individualistic approach to the acute social problem (which is undeniably a product of capitalism) means it is unable to reach the root of the problem.

Other articles talk about how to 'fiddle' the state into getting a grant for various projects which the Cyrenians think are good ideas-such as de-toxification centres (which they think should be run voluntarity.).

The other thing I learnt from Rough Justice is that apart from the two mainstream charities CHAR (the campaign for single homeless people) and SHELTER (the national housing charity) there are various other splinter group charities, such as the Housing Action Campaign and Network.

Such organisations obviously thrive in the middle class milieu in which they exist, along with Oxfam, Health Food Shops, co-ops, student drop-outs and anarchists.

But such middle class protest and charity is hopeless. It can never point to the reality of the problems it seeks to solve or challenge the capitalist system which creates such social evils.

Only a revolutionary party do this.

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