From Spark to Flame

We live in a democracy and from time to time you are allowed to cast your vote and by universal suffrage the “sovereign will of the people” is expressed. The truth of the matter is that this is a rich man’s State and a rich man’s government. The State is there to act on behalf of the employers and to protect their interests against the people. The government is the executive committee of the capitalists. Compare your own influence with the influence of the big banker. A common  worker doesn’t count at all when it comes to what they call the seats of power. The State is an instrument of power in the hands of the big industrialists, bankers and landlords, who are the ruling class. The State is there to effect the exploitation and oppression of the workers. The Constitution, the government, its agencies and ministries, its laws and courts, its police and  jails, all backed up the military, are there to enforce the exploitation and oppression of us. They are all the strong arm of entrenched wealth. There is war. It is class war. It is waged by the representatives of one class, the oppressors, against the mass of another class, the oppressed. In this war, the State is always and invariably on the side of the oppressors. The State may change its appearance and  may use the parliamentary system, with a limited freedom of speech to opponents — as long as this opposition is not too threatening. It tightens the screws and tries to silence the opposition when the situation becomes disturbing for big capital — as they have done during war. It may do away with parliamentary procedure altogether and institute an open reign of repression when danger to capitalism becomes particularly acute due to the rising tide of the revolutionary labour movement, as was done in fascist countries. The forms change, the phraseology differs, according to time and place but the essence remains. The essence of the capitalist State is service in the employ of capitalism for the preservation of capitalism. It is necessary to understand the real nature of the State as an instrument of exploitation and oppression.  The reformists preach to the workers a reliance on this very State and its laws. The capitalist State is a glaring fact. It is flesh and blood of the capitalist system. To make socialism possible the workers must capture the State machine and abolish it. Capitalist society is a battle ground and the workers are an army who must against its enemies.

Who are our enemies? Our enemies are the capitalist class and all those in league with them. The Conservative Party and the Labour Party unite in trying to fool and confuse the working class and  is determined by the class they serve politically. The Labour Party, by posing as a friend of the working class,  can get the cooperation of the leaders of the trade unions for its capitalist policies of attacking the working class, in a way that the Conservative Party cannot. Thus it success fully binds the workers’ economic organisations, the trade unions, into the capitalist system. The Labour Party is not the lesser evil but the greater danger!Tory and Labour differ on only over their share of the plunder.  Some of its more moderate representatives may try to achieve the ends of capital by cajoling and wheedling. But they always keep the big stick ready. The State — that is the big stick of the owners of wealth, the big stick of the big corporations. Anyone who tries to persuade you that the State is your friend and defender, that the State is impartial and only regulatory honest broker” is your enemy. When you protect “industry” (meaning the capitalists) you give it freedom to exploit its human resources(meaning the workers).  When you fight for higher wages to be gotten from the owners of a plant you always confront the agencies of the State not only as policemen but also lawyers with court injunctions, as well as  “mediators”, “arbitrators” and other kinds of official “peacemakers” who have the interests of the employers at heart. To them, the State is always “fair”. Whoever says  that there is unity of interests between employers and employees is committing treason against the working class. Too often union leaders who represent the workers do not defend their interests because they do not believe there is a fundamental clash between capitalism and the working class. They are submissive. They are servile. Socialists support trade unions because every kind of struggle requires its own organisation. The struggle for higher wages, shorter work hours, better conditions is the fundamental struggle of the working class and  this struggle has to be conducted with unity and strength. Unions must educate their members to understand their class interests. They must teach them the lessons of unity and concerted action. The more the workers fight, the more their strength grows. The stronger they become, the more successful is their fight. The Socialist Party give its full and unqualified cooperation to the unions when they fight on sound lines. The only struggle for us is the struggle of the workers against all exploiters.

We  are exploited by the same band of robbers, the ruling class. We are persecuted and oppressed by the State acting on behalf of the same class. We can liberate ourselves only when we join forces against our oppressors. Unity is our strength. Black and white, foreign-born and native worker — our interests are the same and they are directly opposed to the interests of our rulers.  Each new day brings new struggles for our class. These struggles are not separated from each other. They are intertwined into a united whole. One struggle helps another. One victory makes others more easy. All of them strengthen the working class. All of them weaken the capitalist system. The struggle must have as its goal: the overthrow of the capitalist system , and with it, the State. It grows out of the everyday struggles of the workers.  The belief of the population in the wisdom and all-powerfulness of the “ Great Men" and the need for leaders must be shaken off. Socialists must bolster the confidence of the workers in themselves and in their own strength.

We appeal to all those who have at heart the true interest of the social revolution throughout the world, to join with us.