The Socialist Dogma

Our revolution has not yet been made and we will make it when we will lay down the foundations of the egalitarian society we desire. The Socialist Party is accused of being dogmatist. We are dogmatic in so far as we hold ideas that make us strive to end capitalism. We are dogmatic because we talk about surplus value, another expression for rent, interest and dividend. We are dogmatic because we preach the class war. We are dogmatic because we are asking workers to cut themselves from the capitalist parties and form one for themselves in opposition to them. The Socialist Party case for socialism remains unaltered since 1904, a sign of its truth and not of its dogma. It is also said that the Socialist Party is too purist and that we fight for nothing short of socialism because we believe that nothing short of that will save the workers. To that dastardly crime, we bow our heads with shame and plead guilty. As workers who have joined the Socialist Party, we accept its claim that its political position presents a satisfactory solution to the evils of capitalism.

Capitalism has failed miserably to provide the basic necessities of life for hundreds of millions of workers around the world. Millions of workers are in poverty, hungry and homeless. Many of our younger workers will never find steady, secure work in capitalist society. Our older workers are thrown out like garbage when they no longer have value to some boss. Like all thieves, the capitalists have no honour among themselves. They are constantly plotting against one another for more plunder. To make themselves more money, they will fight to the last drop of OUR blood. The only solution is a socialist revolution. Otherwise, we will suffer capitalism's endless wars and conflicts. Capitalism means the ruination of our class, our families, our friends. Only world socialism offers an alternative to the misery of capitalism.

We want a society whose workers run everything in the interests of the world's people. We want a system that encourages every person to become involved in running society; that educates and trains everyone to act for the common good and does not indoctrinate people to look out for number one; that opposes placing selfish interests above the social needs. We want society to help each individual grow and fully develop their personalty and potential. In capitalist society, only the ruling class are free - free to hire and fire, free to pillage and plunder, free to make our class fight for their profits. Socialism will abolish the wage system and the principle "to each according to need" will be as basic as the principle "every man for himself" is to capitalism. In socialism, the principle of work will be: "from each according to ability". People will work because they want to, because their brothers and sisters around the world need their work. They will share in decision-making, including the distribution of goods and services according to society's needs. To consume the wealth created by society is a right given to citizens at birth and, against that, what is required of them is to contribute to society as best as they can. There must be no economic connection there. In the capitalist system there is an absolute economic relation. If you are put in a certain position in terms of production, your lifestyle and your consumption is already decided. No matter what you do, if you appear in production as an unskilled worker, then it is already decided that your children will not have proper education, that you might die of diseases that don't kill other people and you might live in houses that stink. That is already decided by the way they have made you contribute to social production. If they prevent you from contributing to production, if they make you unemployed, it is even worse. Your place in production decides your place in consumption. In socialism that is not the case. When you are born you have a right to live like everybody else and socialism assumes that you have the common sense to get up and contribute something to society according to your creative ability.There must not be any economic or political connection between people's contributions to production and their enjoyments of its fruits.

 So-called specialist workers will not receive more money for work that is supposedly "more important". The measure of work will have nothing to do with what people receive. People should and will get what they need, within the limits of what everyone can produce. The elimination of wages causes the social basis for privileges and a new class of bosses to disappear. For the first time in history, workers will receive a fair share of society's wealth, regardless of the work they do. We hold a socialist economy must be an economy without wages, in which needs are somehow registered and conscious working units decide on meeting them.  Using many of the currrent techniques of logistics and the great advance in computer and communications systems it will not be very difficult for human society to know in advance what it needs.  It is not difficult to organise given the fact that social needs can be consciously registered by individuals, by collectives and by consuming units and so on.

Socialism will abolish socially useless forms of work that exist now only for capitalist profit. Socialist society will not need millions of lawyers, advertisers, or sales-people. In one stroke, it will do away with layers of needless government bureaucrats, as well as the hordes of petty supervisors and administrators who oversee and manage us for the employers. It will free everyone to perform socially useful work, which is the source of true creativity. Ending the wage system will reduce the problems capitalism causes inside the working class. Racism, one of
capitalism's greatest evils, exploits one worker to a greater degree than another. Marx said over 100 years ago that, "the worker in white skin can never be free as long as the worker in black skin remains in chains." The Socialist Party opposes all nationalism by which the ruling class demand that workers must respect capitalist borders. These borders are artificial; they exist to divide workers and keep different sets of bosses in power. Workers need no borders. Workers in one part of the world are not different from or better than workers in another. Nationalism creates false loyalties. Workers should be loyal only to other workers, never to his or her oppressor. We endorse the revolutionary slogan: "Workers of the world, unite!"

As you can conclude a socialist organisation of the world requires the active commitment of millions of workers. Socialism will not succeed unless people understand it, agree with it, and decide to make it happen. The revolution starts when you begin to make it happen. Nothing dogmatic about that.