Everywhere one turns, the bad news just seems to be getting
worse. There are times when social and economic problems become so bad that
people are forced to choose between the system that makes their lives difficult
and a new one that will make their lives better. Times like that are called
revolutionary times. They don’t come often, but when they do the question of
HOW to make the change that’s needed becomes as important as WHAT that change
should be. We face that kind of choice today. Capitalism—the social system we
live under—no longer serves the interests of the people. It creates countless
problems that it cannot solve. It uses technology to throw people out of work
and to make those who keep their jobs work harder. It creates hardship and
poverty for millions, while the few who own and control the economy grow rich
off the labor of those allowed to keep their jobs. It destroys the cities that
we built up. It is destroying the natural environment that is the source of the
food we eat and the air we breathe.
Every effort made to prevent these problems, or to keep them from
growing even worse, has failed. Should we keep a social system that is
destroying the lives, the liberties and the chance for happiness that our work
and productivity make possible? Is it really worth the price to keep a small
and despotic class of capitalists living in obscene wealth? Or shall we do the
common sense thing by making the means of production our collective property,
abolishing exploitation of the many by the few, and using our productive genius
to create security and abundance for all? If we are to avoid planetary
catastrophe we have to rethink what and why we produce, where we produce, how
we produce, how we transport things and people. We need a new system that is
based of democratic decision making for these questions. You can’t keep a good
idea down. As much as politicians and academics try to declare socialism dead,
it keeps coming back again. Why? Because it is the only way to understand the
insanity of a world governed by an unrelenting drive to profit.
The Socialist Party recognises the need for fundamental
change in our society and believe that the problems facing the world, such as
environmental destruction, persistent unemployment, and the unequal
distribution of wealth and power are not mere aberrations of the capitalist
system — they are the capitalist system. This is why socialists are not
impressed by political appeals based on the personal qualities or “charisma” of
any individual politician. Socialists believe that it is the system — and the
institutions which make up that system — that must be changed. The Socialist
Party seeks a society in which the production and distribution of goods and
services is based on public need not private profit. Production will be carried
out to satisfy the people’s wants. Those wants are not the number of
commodities we can consume but real needs that will be meaningful in our work,
in our human relationships which will not be based on exploitation and
oppression, but will rest upon cooperation and not competition.
Marx and Engels called this a society of associated
producers where “the free development of each is the condition for the free
development of all” – a socialist society. That is a world fighting for. And
all around the globe, millions of people are mobilising against what the
current system is doing to us. People are saying another world is possible. We
need to be looking for every opportunity to link hands in solidarity – in our
local communities, in our workplaces and across the globe – with a vision of
what that world could look like. If you agree with us that the time for such a
change has come, then there are certain things we must all understand. Workers
can only rely on themselves to build a better world and free themselves through
their own class conscious efforts. Workers makes everything and we make
everything work. Collectively, we possess tremendous potential power. However, we
can apply their collective strength only through organisation. First, they must
form a socialist party to assert their right to make the change that’s needed
and to challenge the stranglehold the ruling class has on the political
government. The working class runs the industries from top to bottom. The
potential economic power rests in our hands but political power for the moment
remains within the grip of the capitalist class. The only alternative is to
take back the immense wealth accumulated by a tiny minority at the expense of
the majority, and use it to democratically serve human need rather than
corporate greed.
While many people have become increasingly cynical about
this social system, their growing dissatisfaction is combined with political
indifference that only exacerbates their alienation. It is the class consciousness
that people acquire from political struggles that is critical for real change.
The present feeling of impotence incapacitates many people’s ability to
participate in political struggles against the system. This sense of powerlessness
will always be able to sap the will to struggle. We must admit it has been the
failure of the socialist movement to provide a genuine alternative to
capitalism which has been perhaps the biggest tragedy of the 20th century. This
failure drove many millions who were willing to fight for socialism to a state
of despair and demoralisation. The decay of the socialist movement resulted in
the rise of reactionary and nationalistic movements throughout the world. The
roots of the failure are not the socialist ideas themselves but the distorted
and betrayed ideas of socialism arising from the establishment of a monstrous state
capitalist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and the rest of the “socialist”
countries and, of course, the reformist degeneration of the social democracy
parties and their integration into the capitalist political and economic
structure. Steered by these two conflicting factions unity against capitalism
proved impossible. Social protest and political action against the common
capitalist enemy often became ideological bickering sessions rather than class
mobilisations. When loyalty is to the party or to political leaders rather than
to class it is not possible to build solidarity. A change in the consciousness can
occur only in a change in the way humans relate to each other and themselves. It
is impossible to change the fundamental economic and social system without a
fundamental change that uproot and transform the entire system from top to
bottom. But without a transformation of those who want to bring about this
social change, it is difficult to fight the system effectively and bring about
this fundamental change. We need change we can believe in. The Socialist Party
strives to establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their
own control, not mere government ownership, welfare state, or a benevolent bureaucracy
but a new social and economic order in which workers and consumers administer
their work-places and communities and their neighborhoods. The production of
society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of
a few. Socialism produces a constantly renewed future by not plundering the
resources of the earth. People across the world need to cast off the systems
which oppress them, and build a new world fit for all humanity. Democratic
revolutions are needed to dissolve the power now exercised by the few who
control great wealth and the government.
By revolution we mean a radical and
fundamental change in the structure and quality of economic, political, and
personal relations. The building of socialism requires widespread understanding
and participation, and will not be achieved by an elite working "on behalf
of" the people. The working class is in a key and central position to
fight back against the ruling capitalist class and its power. The working class
is the major force worldwide that can lead the way to a socialist future – to a
real radical democracy from below. Socialists participate in the electoral
process to present socialist alternatives. The Socialist Party does not divorce
electoral politics from other strategies for basic change. We advocate
electoral action independent of the capitalist-controlled two-party system. By
fielding socialist candidates in elections at all levels of office, socialists
educate the public about socialism and promote the politically independent
organisation of working people in direct opposition to the capitalist parties.
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