Socialism, the hope of humanity

Mankind shall turn from Competition's strife, To share the blessings of Communal life.

Consider the definition of socialism/communism - common ownership of the means of production. What does it mean? Common ownership is where everyone owns and has some form of democratic control over something. Socialism is the common and democratic ownership of the means of production, to be used in the interests of people instead of profits. It is thus incompatible with a command economy.

Socialism must be comprised of three main things:

1. Common Ownership.

2. Democratic Control.

3. Production solely for use.

These features of socialist society would be dependent on each other and could only operate together as basic parts of an integrated social system. In combination, these define a way of organizing society that in every important aspect of production, distribution, decision making and social administration, is clearly distinguished from the operation of capitalist society.

The social system under which most of the people of the world live today is known as capitalism and it is based on the private or government ownership of industry and transport for the production of goods for profit. Capitalism produces only when there is a profit for the owner of capital. When there is no profitable market for his product, the capitalist will not produce, no matter how great and urgent the need of the people for work, for food, for clothing and shelter, for a decent living standard, for security. Where wealth is concentrated, power is concentrated. The wealth of our society is made up mainly and primarily of the means of producing and distributing the necessities of life. Whoever has this wealth has the power to rule society and dominate the life of all others. The longer capitalism lives, the more this wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of the few, the giants of industry and finance, as Thomas Piketty has shown in his studies of wealth inequality. 

Every day the lives of millions and hundreds of millions become more and more dependent upon these powerful few, the tiny minority of capitalists. Where such power is in the hands of a ruling, exploiting, oppressing minority, all talk of genuine freedom is nonsense. All talk of genuine equality between those who have the power and those over whom they exercise this power, is likewise nonsense. With the economic and political power they have at their disposal, they control the newspapers, the radio and television, the movie screens, the schools, the churches, the legislatures, the courts, the police, the main political parties, and all other means for shaping the minds and controlling the bodies of the people. What is worse is the more discontented the masses of the people become over the conditions to which capitalism reduces them, the more determined are the capitalists to rule over the people, to keep them docile and silent which can be seen in the nefarious attempts to control the internet and the World Wide Web. The longer capitalism is allowed to exist, the greater becomes the inequality—social, economic and political —and the lesser becomes the freedom of the people. We oppose the commodification of culture and support the free cultural development of all peoples.

Socialism is the common ownership of the means of production and exchange and their democratic organization and management by all the people in a society free of classes, class divisions and class rule. Socialism is the democratic organization of production for use, of production for abundance, of plenty for all, without the exploitation of man by man. Socialism is the union of the whole world into an international federation of free and equal peoples, disposing in common of the natural resources and wealth. Socialism means peace, security, prosperity, freedom and equality—all the things that the working people of society, have always wanted and longed for. Decades ago, socialism could be looked upon as a noble ideal, but nothing more than a noble ideal. Today, in light of an impending environmental catastrophe it need to be more than an ideal, and become an urgent necessity.

Production is organised for use, not for profit. Production is carried on in a planned, decentralized but coordinated, democratically-controlled way, not on the basis of whether or not the private capitalist can make a profit on the market. Everyone has different tastes, different ambitions, different hopes but where production is rationally planned, all the needs and comforts of society can easily be provided for, year in and year out. Every new improvement and advance in the field of production, would mean not only a higher standard of living for all, but a reduction in the working-day and the work-share that every member of society will voluntarily contribute to the community. Where there is abundance for all, the nightmare of insecurity vanishes. Where there is abundance for all, and where no one has the economic power to exploit and oppress others, the basis of classes, class division and class conflict vanishes. Where there is abundance for all, and where all have equal access to the fruits of the soil and the wealth of industry, the wars between nations and peoples vanish.

The Socialist Party advocates a society in which class divisions are abolished and the state that enforces class rule withers away. A society based on common ownership and control of its resources by each and every one of its citizens, democratically determining the development of its economy and society, will eradicate the divisions of class, race, sex and religion. A democratically planned society has the potential to progressively reduce the burden of work allowing greater and greater participation in the running of society by those that create its wealth through their labour. The world of necessity (work) will give way to the world of freedom. This will lead to humanity actually living the ideas of cooperation and solidarity and see the true development of human personality in all its potential. Such a society will not create perfection because perfection itself is not a feature of humanity. It will remove the social causes of inhumanity so that everything that is truly human will be free. Only the working class, as the overwhelming majority and the creators of all wealth can be the agency of this change. 

A socialist revolution simply means the vast majority of society carries out this task. It represents society’s majority becoming truly politically active for the first time. This emancipation of the working class can only be achieved by the working class itself. Because the capitalist state is a creation of the capitalist class and functions as a weapon of its rule it cannot be taken over by the workers and used to further the abolition of classes and itself. In other words it cannot be reformed because society is structured around the ownership of productive resources by a tiny minority and the compulsion of the majority to work, in order to live, to create profit for that minority, society cannot be reformed to abolish exploitation or the periodic economic crises that result from it. Only common ownership and control of the economic and social resources of society can abolish exploitation and the unemployment and attacks on living standards that arise from crises. Again this is only possible through revolution. Socialism cannot be achieved in one country but must embrace every country of the world and therefore socialists are internationalists, irreconcilably opposed to all forms of nationalism, which preaches a false identity of interest between workers and bosses.