Challenge Capitalism

The fundamental contradiction of the entire capitalist era is between the capitalist class and the working class. The ownership of the factories and resources are concentrated in the hands of the numerically few capitalists. The workers have no means of production and is forced to sell their labour power to the employers. This is the basis of the extraction of surplus value and the production of commodities for profit. Capitalism is characterised by a constant drive for maximum profits and accumulation. This leads to increasing competition first at home, and then worldwide. The greater the drive for maximum profits, the greater the misery of the people.

There is a war raging and it comes down to the capitalist class and the working class. The capitalist class is fairly easy to identify. They are the handful of millionaires who own or control the-milk, factories, mines, fields and banks of our country. They are the class that owns and sells the products that we make and often can’t even afford to buy. We sell our labour to this class for a wage. The government is run by the capitalists for the purpose of maintaining the flow of profits. This is done in a lot of ways.  A system of courts and police protect the property and the profits of the capitalists from the struggling working class. Injunctions and court writs against strikes and picket lines. The government protects the boss’s right to practically dictate the terms of employment to us. The labour movement includes all of us who are trying organise the whole working class under the banner of “An Injury to One is an Injury to All!” The war between the capitalist class and the working class is due to the system of wage slavery. For the young workers, first looking for a job, the middle-aged workers with families feed, and the older workers who are just holding on until retirement, the capitalists have what we can’t live without. Jobs. We have to eat. To eat we have to work. To work we have to work for the capitalists. To work for the boss we have to accept his terms. We are slaves of the wage system.

The material conditions of work served to unify the working class to fight the capitalists as a class. In many countries there has developed trade unions for self-defence. However, the immediate struggle of the proletariat is to overthrow the  bourgeoisie and establish socialism. Socialism will mark the end of classes and private property and as socialist production is built and the material reality of society changes, so will the mental outlook of individuals. Commodity production, that is, production for sale or exchange on the market, will not exist. The system of wage labor will be abolished and the guiding principle of labor will be “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” The means of production will be held communally and private property will be eliminated. National chauvinism, sexism and religious beliefs in all its forms will melt away. The creative potential of the millions of working people will be unleashed with their direct participation in the direction and decision making in society.  With the abolition of classes and class distinctions, all social and political inequality arising from them will disappear. The conflicts of interest between workers and farmers, town and country, manual and intellectual labor will disappear. As classes will not exist, the state will not be necessary as an instrument of class rule and will wither away. A new man and a new woman will be born in the building of a new, socialist society.  Society will share a communist consciousness, with the social relationships between people above-board and principled. Work will be voluntary and as the way of life rather than only as a means of survival. The forces of production will be unleashed and there will be high standards of social wealth. There will be profound advances made in the fields of education, art, culture and science, as the people are set free to pursue these endeavours.

The working  class is made up of men and women from all regions of the world. We work everywhere, in mines and in mills, in factory plants and sweat-shops, on ships and on trains, in warehouses, in stores and in offices, and many of us are unable to obtain work. But for all these differences, we are members of one class. We face a common situation and have a common destiny. It is the toil of the working class that produces the great wealth of the world, that makes everything run. But doing all this, we are robbed of its fruits by the ruling class of capitalists who run the government and all of society in their own interests. We produce, and the very wealth we produce becomes a weapon in the hands of our enemy, more wealth for the capitalists, more chains on the working class. We produce in common and in common we are exploited. We share the same goal. We want a good life for ourselves and our families and a bright future for our children. Yet we don’t want it at the expense of our brothers and sisters, but for the common benefit of all working people and the advancement of humanity. We can build this good life and bright future, but we must be free to do so, free of the leeches who feast upon the very blood of the workers. We aim to challenge the system of wage slavery itself.