CORONAVIRUS is revealing the real face of capitalism, laying bare the staggering inequity that’s long festered in our society.  

Now there’s nowhere for economic injustice to hide, as millions are made unemployed overnight, forced to rely on meagre government subsidy for their sustenance, while an underfunded health service struggles to cope. 

The illusion of equity we‘ve long been labouring under is now being exposed as the fakery it always was, but the present situation is merely the tip of the iceberg.  

While the ruling Tory elite have reluctantly conceded to pressure from unions and left-wing MPs and have made half-hearted efforts to offer provision, this will not go far enough to mitigate the damage.

The NHS has been drastically underfunded ever since David Cameron took power in 2010 and is now nearing the point of collapse.  

To deal with the Covid-19 crisis, health experts estimate the UK will require 30,000 ventilators and as many as 93,000 critical-care beds.   

Currently NHS hospitals have just 8,175 ventilators and about 4,000 critical-care beds, which pre-crisis already functioned at a 90 per cent capacity.

The government has dragged its feet from the start due to a reluctance to put people before profit, ignoring advice from global experts to go into total lockdown until March 26.  

Tory hesitance, along with their years of NHS decimation, will cost lives, by worsening the amount of infections, as well as the NHS’s ability to cope.

Staff at hospitals such as Southend, where GP Dr Habib Zaidi recently died from Covid-19, are forced to go without the necessary personal protective equipment that makes the difference between dying and surviving. 

Staff there, and in many other locations nationwide, are without adequate masks, visors and other vital kit due to the government’s cost-cutting measures.

On top of this, due to lay-offs as businesses close their doors, the income stream of millions of British workers has been abruptly terminated, leaving them with no access to immediate funds. 

According to investment bank Nomura, the UK unemployment rate will rise to 8 per cent in the April to June quarter and is set to rise to 8.5 per cent in the three months following.  

In January, the UK unemployment rate was 3.9 per cent, though many of those recorded as in work were on part-time or zero-hours contracts. 

Unite estimates as many as 5.5 million UK workers are on zero-hours contracts, which offer no sick pay, job security or staff benefits. 

These workers, along with others who have recently found themselves unemployed, will be entirely dependent on government assistance for their survival.

As for the self-employed, though the government has announced it will provide some financial help, this will not be available until June, and even then, many will not be eligible.  

A significant percentage of self-employed people live week to week on low incomes and will not have the funds available to sustain themselves for nearly three months.

Despite the government’s out-of-character financial mitigation efforts, Britain is facing an unprecedented economic crisis.  

Covid-19 is predicted to wipe 15 per cent off GDP in the next quarter alone. 

The eventual fallout from the coronavirus crisis will be many times worse than the 2008 collapse and will be most severely felt by those in the lowest economic bracket, who were already struggling to cope.

Though the Tories have pledged to temporarily house all rough sleepers, many are still falling through the net, while the foodbanks many homeless and low-income people rely on close due to staff shortages. 

Tenants are not faring much better. While landlords have been granted a three-month mortgage-repayment holiday, many are not passing this on to their tenants in the form of temporary rent relief and are doggedly insisting on collecting coin from the overburdened working poor.

Though it’s illegal for landlords to evict anyone due to non-payment during the pandemic, the government’s minimal provision of £94.24 statutory sick pay will not cover most people’s monthly rent. 

Those claiming universal credit will find their situation not much improved — the current monthly single-person allocation is just £317.82.

With total jobless levels predicted to reach 2.75m due to the crisis, and with businesses like Topshop closing their doors and laying off their staff without pay, Britain’s desperate situation is only likely to worsen.  

The capitalist system was already floundering, now it’s in its death throes.  

Yet the solution, a shift to a socialist economy, is still vigorously resisted by the corporate oligarchs who insist on hoarding the wealth, many of whom are in government.  

These profiteers also wield a disproportionate influence on British politics via their powerful proxy lobbyists.  

Capitalist-backed propaganda has long reinforced the idea that a transition to socialism will see a return to Soviet-era queues for bread.  

Ironically, as Britain rapidly descends into chaos, this vision is becoming an appalling reality, though it is occurring under a capitalist system.  

The 1 per cent, meanwhile, remain unscathed, yet are not embarrassed enough to hang their heads and keep quiet.

Tycoons such as Richard Branson, who has already successfully sued the NHS for millions, are now begging for handouts to stay solvent, expecting to be bailed out as they were in 2008 while ordinary people lost their livelihoods.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel. The proliferation of mutual-aid groups that have sprung up amid the crisis are a testament to the solidarity of the British proletariat, who have stepped in to fill the gaps left by the government’s negligence.  

Now is the time for the left to encourage workers to unionise, mobilise and demand a more equitable system.  

It is not bankers who will propel us through this crisis but essential personnel such as doctors, nurses, delivery drivers, and cleaners.  

Yet in our sickened society, these core workers are being evicted from their homes due to fears of contagion and are not considered important enough to receive life-saving protective equipment.

As this unjust two-tier system becomes more apparent, food shortages become a reality and job losses manifest, anger among the populace will justifiably grow.  

This anger will be revolutionary, but it falls to left-wing socialists to direct it positively to a cause that will liberate the working class and put political power into the hands of the people.