Only socialism can solve the major social and economic problems plaguing our society today. But many people have been taught all their lives that "socialism" means the state-controlled system that existed in the Soviet Union, exists today in China or Cuba.
Socialism is the common ownership by all the people of the factories, mills, mines, railroads, land and all other instruments of production. Socialism means production to satisfy human needs, not, as under capitalism, for sale and profit. Socialism means direct control and management of the industries and social services by the workers through a democratic worldwide economic organisation. Such a system would make possible the fullest democracy and freedom. It would be a society based on the most primary freedom, economic freedom. For individuals, socialism means an end to economic insecurity and exploitation. It means workers cease to be commodities bought and sold on the labour market and forced to work as appendages to tools owned by someone else. It means a chance to develop all individual capacities and potentials within a free community of free individuals. Socialism does not mean government or state ownership. It does not mean a state bureaucracy with the working class oppressed by a new management class. Far from being a bureaucratically controlled system, socialism would bring democracy -- the rule of the people -- to the most vital part of our lives, the economy. It does not mean a closed party-run system without democratic rights. It does not mean nationalisation, or state capitalism of any kind. It means a complete end to all capitalist social relations. Socialism gives power not to the state, but to the people themselves, allowing collective control of their own economic future. Far from being a state-controlled society, socialism would be a society WITHOUT A STATE. Marx once said that "the existence of the state is inseparable from the existence of slavery."
Socialism means a classless society. Unlike under capitalism, where a tiny minority owns the vast majority of wealth and the means of producing it, everyone would share equally in the ownership of all the means of production, and everyone able to do so would work. There wouldn't be separate classes of owners and workers. The economy would be administered by the workers themselves through industrially based, democratic "associations of free and equal producers," as Marx described it. The community collectively would decide what they want produced and how they want it produced. The Socialist Party doesn't call on the workers to take over this or that individual plant; it calls on them to take over the entire economy, which is to say, ALL the factories, mills, mines, railroads, retail outlet stores, warehouses, etc.
In a socialist society, we shall produce everything we need and want in abundance under conditions best suited to our welfare, aiming for the highest quality. We shall constantly strive to improve our methods and equipment in order to reduce the hours of work. We shall provide ourselves with the best of everything: the finest educational facilities, the most modern and scientific health facilities and adequate and varied recreational facilities. We shall constantly seek to improve our socialist society. Purposeful research, expansion of the arts and culture, preservation and replacement of our natural resources, all will receive the most serious attention. It will be a society in which everyone will have the fullest opportunity to develop his or her individuality without sacrificing the blessings of cooperation. Freed from the compulsions of competition and the profit motive that presently hurl capitalist nations into war, socialism will also be a society of peace.
This all may sound too good to be true. Yet the world has the productive capacity to provide a high standard of living for all, to provide security and comfort for all, to create safe workplaces and clean industries. The only thing keeping us from reaching these goals is that the workers don't own and control that productive capacity; it is owned and controlled by a few who use it solely to profit themselves. In short, socialist society will be a society of secure human beings, living in peace, in harmony and human brotherhood.
Organising to bring the industries under the ownership of all the people, to build a socialist society of peace, plenty and freedom, is the only real alternative workers have. A capitalist future of profound social dislocation and human misery is an absolute certainty because of the economic laws on which capitalism is based -- laws which compel every capitalist concern to strive for the greatest possible profit at the lowest possible cost. To put it another way: Unless the working class becomes conscious of what a capitalist future holds the time may well come when it will be reduced to the beggar’s condition.
The goal of the Socialist Party is to replace capitalism with the economic and social democracy of socialism, a society in which the means of social production are owned socially and administered democratically by the workers themselves through their own organisations. The chaos and increasing oppression that exists in capitalism today make it clear that socialist revolution is past due. Many of us realise that capitalism has outlived its usefulness, and that it is time for humanity to move on to the next stage in social evolution. We want to create a sane and productive world. The working class is paying a heavy toll in human misery and suffering, which will become more intense unless our class organises its political and economic strength and uses it to establish the socialist alternative. It is the responsibility of all those who grasp the Socialist Party's message to step forward, to join our party and to enhance its ability to reach the working class. When the Socialist Party has enough members and activists to reach large numbers of workers, it will offer candidates for the working class to elect to-- BUT NOT TO RUN THE CAPITALIST GOVERNMENT OF TODAY-- but to dissolve the current government that only serves to preserve the capitalists' hold over the rest of society. If we workers stopped cooperating with the political parties of capitalism and actively took part in controlling our world through our own political organisations, capitalism would soon come to an end. We don't have to turn our backs on politics or passively wait for better days. We don't have to wander around in search of direction. We don't have to suffer in isolation. We can join together and we can change our world in a manner that is peaceful,workable and within the grasp of working people.
The Socialist Party does not advocate violence. However, neither does it advocate pacifism. What the SPGB advocates is socialism. How to achieve it is the problem. That problem is one of tactics, and tactics depend on the social conditions and atmosphere that exist at the appropriate time and place. Our attitude towards Parliament we believe offers the best -- indeed the only realistic -- chance to achieve socialism by non-violent and peaceful means. We believe it is the only way in which the working class can organise itself for socialism while simultaneously nullifying the ruling class's capacity to resist by means of armed force. We fully understand that this policy can only work under certain circumstances. It presupposes a certain measure of democracy that permits the Socialist Party to advocate its goal openly.
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