One World – One People

One world, one people, is a slogan that can be interpreted as we are all one species - which we are; able to interbreed with any other person and this one world is the only one we've got and we must share it with everybody. The slogan is meant to convey that we stand for a world solution and also that we have rejected nationalism and racism. Politics is deliberately divisive - aimed at control of the masses. But a socialist world - our aim - is striving for a world where all will have equity. One species peacefully cohabiting on its home planet.

 The World Socialist Movement is not about dreaming up a “perfect” or an “ideal” world. What is at issue is establishing a better world, where the many social problems that people face because of the way society is currently organised can be tackled with some hope of success.  It is a question of finding a practical solution to actually existing problems that have arisen at this particular moment in the history of humanity. Over the past hundred or so years the world has developed the capacity to adequately feed, clothe and shelter every single man, woman, and child on the planet. The resources, the technical knowledge, and the skilled personnel exist to do this.   It is this profit system that stands in the way of satisfying human needs. It only allows production to take place in response to needs that can be paid for and then only if a big enough profit can be made from doing so. It diverts resources into maintaining a whole superstructure of finance and commerce – banks, insurance, accounting, advertising, etc – that is only needed because there is production for the market. And it diverts yet more resources into armed forces and their weaponry. When the planet's resources have ceased to be the private property of nation-states, global corporations, and rich individuals, then these resources could be directed to turning out wealth to meet human needs. It may take a time to totally clear up the mess left by capitalism but people dying of hunger or from lack of medicines could be stopped immediately.  This is the practical solution to the practical problems facing humanity. This is our planet. We want it back

  We need to abolish the out-moded and old-fashioned division of the world into nation-states. Instead, we need to cooperate on a world basis to meet our material needs and energy requirements. Only in a socialist society will the community be able to make decisions about energy production which are based on what is safe and in the human interest (including our shared environment) instead of decisions based on, and limited by, economic considerations.  Just as capitalism is a world system of society, so too must socialism be. There never has been, and never can be, socialism in just one country because its material basis is the world-wide and interdependent means of production that capitalism has built up.

Democratic control will involve the whole community in making decisions about the use of the means of production. Instead of government over people, there would be various levels of democratic administration, from the local up to regional and world levels, with responsibility being delegated if necessary to groups and individuals. Production for use will bring production into direct line with human needs. Without money, wages, buying and selling there will be a world of free access. Everyone will be able to contribute to society by working voluntarily, according to ability. Everyone will be able to take freely from whatever is readily available, according to self-defined needs.

The motivation for this new world comes from the common class interest of those who produce but do not possess. An important part of this motivation comes from the global problems thrown up by capitalism. The global warming problem makes a nonsense of the efforts of governments.  The problems of capitalism can only be solved within the framework of a socialist world. Climate change problems require the sort of long-term planning and development of which competitive, international capitalism is incapable.

  But this does not rule out local democracy. In fact, a democratic system of decision-making would require that the basic unit of social organisation would be the local community. However, the nature of some of the problems we face and the many goods and services presently produced, such as raw materials, energy sources, agricultural products, world transport and communications, need production and distribution to be organised at a world level. Corresponding to this, of course, there would be a need for a democratic world administration, controlled by delegates from the regional and local levels of organisation throughout the world.

Because political power in capitalism is organised on a territorial basis each socialist party has the task of seeking democratically to gain political power in the country where it operates. If it is suggested that socialist ideas might develop unevenly across the world and that socialists of only a part of the world were in a position to get political control, then the decision about the action to be taken would be one for the whole of the socialist movement in the light of all the circumstances at the time. It would certainly be a folly, however, to base a programme of political action on the assumption that socialist ideas will develop unevenly and that we must, therefore, be prepared to establish "socialism" in one country or even a bloc like the European Union.

Given the world-wide nature of capitalism and its social relationships, the vast majority of people live under basically similar conditions, and because of the world-wide system of communications and media, there is no reason for socialist ideas to be restricted to one part of the world. Any attempt to establish "socialism" in one country would be bound to fail owing to the pressures exerted by the world market on that country's means of production. Recent experience in Russia, China and elsewhere shows conclusively that even capitalist states cannot detach themselves from the requirements of an integrated system of production operated through the world market. Many would reject our ideas in favour of something more "realistic", including some who call themselves socialist. They seek to solve social problems within the framework of government policies, the state machine, national frontiers. But if our analysis of capitalism as a world system is correct—and we've yet to be shown how it's wrong—the state politics are irrelevant as a way of solving social problems. Viewed globally, state politics only make sense when seen as a means for capturing political power in order to introduce a world of free access.