Demolish the Old - Build the New!

The World today is full of stark and bewildering contradictions. The greatest industrial and agricultural capacity in history cannot feed, clothe and provide a decent livelihood for millions. Poverty and economic insecurity exist alongside extravagance. What is the reason for the promises, the potential of this society, and its stark reality? Why is there such a yawning gap between what is and what could be?  The answers to these questions cannot be found in cynical condemnations of “human nature” or apologies about the “way things are.” Capitalism, the social system under which we live, is responsible for the contradictions of to-day’s World.  A system of exploitation, violence, racism and war strangles our lives. Capitalism thrives on the private control of society’s wealth and production – production involving the interconnected efforts of millions of working people. The rich have one basic goal in life: to make more and more profits, and they accomplish this by dominating the economics, politics, and cultural life around the globe. The capitalists will throw workers out into the streets to starve, promote violent nationalism, and build a military arsenal that can destroy the world several times over – anything for profits. This is an irrational system.

Workers are wage slaves who survive only by selling their labour power to the capitalists. Capitalists own the means of production and pay workers for their labor power. But the working class produces far more wealth than it receives in income. The difference is the source of capitalist profits. The capitalist tries to drive down the wages of the worker. The worker is employed only as long as he or she helps create profit for the employers. When the capitalist has problems maximising his profits, he does not hesitate to throw workers out into the street. The class struggle is the ceaseless struggle which goes on from day to day in every country. It may take the form of more wages or shorter hours or the alteration of some workshop practice; but the particular point really does not matter, the opposing forces are always the same – the employers and the working class.The  capitalist system exploits the working class and creates the poverty and economic insecurity of society as a whole. Capitalism is a system of international exploitation. The capitalist class invest  abroad, penetrate foreign markets, and plunder the natural resources of developing countries. They also attempt to dominate other countries politically and militarily. This neo-colonialism bring enormous profits for the big banks and corporations, and wretched lives for the people of the developing world.

The  capitalist system is a system of economic anarchy and crisis. Capitalism is plagued by periodic economic recessions, which are becoming more serious and complex. These crises are built into the economic system. Each business tries to maximise its profits by pushing production and cutting expenses, especially the pay of workers. Economic crises are also worsened by speculation, hoarding and other schemes of the bankers, financiers and industrialists. Each tries to profit in the short run, but because of this individual greed, the people suffer. Capitalism is an obstacle to the further advancement of the material well-being of society. It is unjust, wasteful, irrational and increasingly unproductive. The situation demands a new, more rational system of economic organization that will utilize the productive forces for the benefit of the vast majority of society. This exploitative and oppressive system, where profit is master, has choked our entire society with economic crises, political reaction and social decay. The drive for profits holds millions hostage to hunger and want; it has poisoned the very air we breathe; it spawns cynicism and violence, drugs, crime and other social problems.

But life does not have to be this way. We can change our lives and society, and we can eliminate exploitation and capitalist injustice, by overturning the capitalist system. We can replace capitalism with a rational and humane system – socialism. Socialism is a social system where social wealth is genuinely controlled by society and for the benefit of society; where the common good, not profits, becomes the chief concern; where the everyday working people become the rightful masters of society. The socialist revolution has become a historical necessity and possibility. There is no other choice today but for the working people to organize to struggle and, one day, win socialism.  We must look ahead to the future where socialism, as a more advanced social system, will be built on the powerful productive capacities now stifled by capitalism. Socialism will replace capitalism, just as capitalism replaced feudalism. Socialism does not consist merely in the overthrow of private ownership. Socialism is that social system under which the necessaries of production are owned, controlled, and administered by the people, for the people, and under which, accordingly, the cause of political and economic despotism having been abolished, class rule is at end. That is socialism, nothing short of that. Socialism will qualitatively improve the lives of the working and oppressed peoples of the world. Women and men, young and old, and people of all nationalities are realising we must unite and struggle to survive, to be able to work, eat and live as decent human beings. If the working people, and not the corporations, controlled the great resources of our society, we could improve all our lives. These are the hopes and dreams of socialism and it will be the common woman and man who will bring about this historic transformation.