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Monday, March 31, 2014

Of the people, by the people, for the people


The idea of socialism is simple. By socialism, the Socialist Party understands the realisation of a condition of an all-embracing true society. Present day society is that of the capitalist and wage-earner, of rich and poor. Socialism stands for social or community property. Capitalism stands for private property. Socialism is a society without classes. Capitalism is divided into classes—the class owning property and the propertyless working class. The basic principles of socialist society are diametrically opposite to those of capitalist society in which we live. War between the proletariat and the capitalist for their respective shares in the produce; on one side, wages, on the other, profits; each side exerting itself to carry off a maximum.

We can easily understand, therefore, why the great majority of landlords, employers of labour, financiers and the like are opposed to socialism. Their very existence is at stake. They do not merely reject the theory of socialism, but actively and bitterly fight every movement which is in any way associated with the struggle for socialism. From this the socialist draws the conclusion, therefore, that the class primarily interested in the change from private property to social property is the working class.

People do not start their lives with fully developed theories about systems of society. It is impossible to provide more than a basic picture now, the general principles will depend in their particular details on the actual conditions at the time. Under capitalism, labour is a commodity. Workers are used as replaceable parts, extensions of machines

The socialist option is the only alternative. Its aim to replace the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a social order from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will be eliminated.There will be an end to all class distinction and consequently an end to the class-war. All the members of society are at once and with equal title co-proprietors and co-producers. The State, in the oppressive sense of the word, will cease to exist, it being nothing more than a means of maintaining order by force. The government of men gives place to the administration of things.

Freedom and liberty, which so far have been but mere words for the great majority of mankind, will become a  living reality. Liberty provides the means of accomplishing our will and therefore of satisfying our wants.

Commercial production of exchange-values with an end to realising profit will disappear, and be replaced by the co-operative production of use-values for consumption with a view to satisfying social wants. In place of robbing and exploiting one another, we will all help one another.

Our goal is a socialist world based on common ownership of  resources and industry, cooperation, production for use and genuine democracy. Only socialism can turn the boundless potential of all peoples and resources to the creation of a world free from tyranny, greed, poverty and exploitation. The faults and flaws of the capitalist system  are too deep, the power of the corporations too great, the chasm separating the compulsions of profit and the needs of people too wide, for anything less to succeed. The half-measures of reform- minded governments have buckled under pressure from the recession, and passed vicious legislation, slashing social services and trampling the basic rights of workers.  Welfare state policies won by hard struggles, are faltering. In these harsh economic times, corporations hold governments to ransom through their control of desperately needed investment. Capitalism has failed, and so have efforts to reform it. As socialists we believe society’s main problem is the capitalist system itself. While joining together with other progressive people to achieve common goals and we  uphold that the only real solution is socialism. Only in socialism do people have the means to collectively decide the direction their society will take and how they will participate in it.

Multinational corporate business empires, of a size unimaginable to previous generations, treat the entire planet as their domain. They are a law unto themselves, free to roam the globe in search of cheaper labour, more exploitable resources, more pliant governments and greater profits. They have distorted the economic development of the world so fundamentally—that the resources they waste , for instance, could eliminate hunger in the world. If harnessed to popular administration and planning, new technology could help us achieve an era of abundance for all, release us from monotonous toil and enrich our store of accessible knowledge.

The needs of people, not profit, are the driving force of a socialist society. This wholesale reconstruction will be accomplished by democratising all levels of society. Great social changes that are called revolutions cannot, or rather can no longer, be accomplished by a minority. A revolutionary minority, no matter how intelligent and energetic, is not enough, in modern societies at least, to bring about a revolution. The co-operation and adhesion of a majority, and an immense majority, are needed. A society takes on a new form only when the immense majority of the individuals who compose it demand or accept a great change. The socialist revolution will not be accomplished by the action, or the sudden stroke of a bold minority, but by the defiant and harmonious will of the immense majority of the citizens. Whoever depends on physical force to bring about the revolution, and gives up the method of winning over the immense majority of the citizens to our ideas, will give up at the same time any possibility of transforming the social system. The socialist revolution, on the contrary must not rest content after it has abolished capitalism; it must create the new type under which production is to be carried on and the relations of property are to be regulated.

Suppose that to-morrow the whole capitalist system is abolished. Imagine that all capitalistic claims on production cease, all commercial profit, all dividends and industrial profits are abolished; if this destruction of capitalism were not instantly supplemented by Socialist organisation, if society did not know at once how and by whom labour was to be carried on,  if, society was not able to ensure the proper working of a new social system, the Revolution would be lost in one day. This new social system cannot be created and inspired by a minority. It can only function with the approval of an immense majority of the citizens. It is this majority that will  create from capitalistic chaos, the various types of social property, co-operative and communal. In this enormous task of social construction, the immense majority of the citizens must co-operate. We must never forget for the first time since the beginning of human history, a great upheaval will have for its aim, not the substitution of one class for another, but the destruction of classes, the inauguration of a universal humanity. The character and object of the socialist revolution is the common good. In the socialism, the co-ordination of effort will not be maintained by the authority of one class over another, but will come as the result of the free will of associated producers. How, then, can a system based on the free collaboration of all be instituted against the will, or even without the will, of the greater number? It can only succeed by the general and almost unanimous desire of the community. Destined for the benefit of all, it must be prepared and accepted by practically all. The  thing about Socialism is precisely that it is not the regime of a minority. It cannot, therefore, and ought not, to be imposed by a minority

The working class is beginning to awaken from its long slumber and we call on those who aspire to see a socialist sunrise to step forward and help sweep away the long dark night of capitalism.

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