Socialism Now

Our goal as a political party is not necessarily to win elections but instead to inspire people and to win them over to the socialist cause.  Workers have to learn through their own experiences that capitalism cannot and will not provide them with a tolerable standard of living. Many political parties are supported because they tell lies and because they pander to the illusions of their followers.  Even after failures they still cannot tell the truth but, in order to retain their support, must think up some other excuse like "betrayal" and “treachery”.

It is a hard but undeniable fact that no political party - including The Socialist Party - can legislate to humanise capitalism or make it run in the interest of the working class. That is why it is important that the working class stops giving its support to politicians who support the profit system. None of them can solve unemployment or crime or any of the other social problems we face today, despite their proclaimed recipes for success. None of them will prevent tens of millions starving to death each year. None of them will provide decent housing for everyone. None of them will end the threat of human annihilation as a result of war, because militarism is inevitable within a system based upon the ferocious competition for resources, markets and trade. Why waste your time voting for parties that cannot make any of these urgently needed changes? Why go on in the hope that some miracle will happen and end the insanity of the profit system? We don't want your vote if you think socialism means nationalisation, higher taxation, welfare state, council estates, national liberation, legalising marijuana or anything of that sort. In short, we don't want your vote if you think we need to keep and act within existing capitalism. We make you no false promises nor do we patronise you and neither do we beg for your support. We do not ask for your support unless you are convinced that the case for socialism is a rational one and in your interest. All we're doing is holding the banner aloft. If you want to make socialism happen you've got to prepared to do the work yourself - we're not leaders, and don't want to be. If you need someone to lead you into the promised land, some other person lead you straight back out again. Supporting the Socialist Party says you are ready to act to make real change to the world . A message to other fellow socialists that they do not stand alone. A declaration to fellow workers that the actual idea of socialism is not some bedtime fairy-tale.

Many people are questioning the destructive effects of capitalism and are rejecting the self-appointed  leaders of the traditional left. This is something that is to be encouraged. The most important battle is to continue the destruction of capitalism's legitimacy in the minds of our fellow class members. That is, to drive the development of our class as a class-for-itself, mindful of the fact that capitalism is a thing that can be destroyed and a thing that should be destroyed. The aim of The Socialist Party is to show that there is another view of social change that has often been dismissed by those who get involved with "anti-capitalist" politics. The working class needs to do some serious thinking about society—how it is and how it could be. Millions of politically conscious workers will be a threat to capitalism. We will educate and organise with more and more workers. Once we are a majority there will be no stopping us. The result will be social revolution. The Socialist Party works to bring about the political consciousness and organisation that will make a revolution possible. Our efforts are limited. But our analysis cannot be faulted and our principles are never compromised. We will continue to advocate the sanity of the case for a revolutionary transformation of society.

Work in socialism will not be wage-slavery. People will not have to sell their energies to the minority who own the means of production and distribution - the factories, offices, transport systems, shops, etc. - in return for a wage or salary. In socialism - a society based on common ownership - people will co-operate to produce those things which they need as a community- useful things, which will be freely available to all members of society. With the profit motive removed, men and women will be able to choose their work in accordance with their talents, skills and preferences, contributing as much or as little as they feel able. The criterion for choosing one kind of activity rather than another will no longer be which one pays the most, has the best perks, the best prospects for promotion or the most job security. All these considerations will be obsolete in a moneyless socialist world. Work will no longer be the activity we do to obtain the wage packet or salary which enables us to survive. In capitalism because of the need for the ruling class to protect its own interests against the opposing interests of the workers, the majority have very little say in the decision-making process - in central government, at local level, or at work. In socialism, however, each individual will be able to participate fully in the making of the decisions which affect their lives. Democracy in socialism will not be the sham that it is in capitalism but a meaningful process which recognises the worth of everyone and through which people will be able to contribute fully to society in accordance with their particular skills, knowledge or experience.

Capitalism is organised crime, and we are all its victims.