We need socialism

The monetary system doesn’t work anymore and is obsolete. Money has outplayed its role on this planet. It turns out that it’s not money we need. We cannot eat money, or build houses with them. Money, private property and the exchange economy is just a hindrance in making the resources available for everyone. The Socialist Party envisages a new worldwide social system where the world’s resources are considered the heritage of all the inhabitants of this planet. It’s not a utopian dream, it’s just a possible direction for society to take. It is the the next step in the evolution and development of society, if we want it to be.

Many believe that socialism means government or state ownership and control. Who can blame them when that is what the schools teach and what the media, politicians and others who oppose socialism say? Worse, some who call themselves socialist say it, too—but not the Socialist Party. Socialism is a concept that neither individuals nor the government, should have ownership of land or the means of production but rather the whole community owns in common and democratically controls the land, goods, and production.  In this system all share equally in the work, to the best of their ability, and have free access to the collective fruits of their labour. Socialism we would produce for use and to satisfy the needs of all the people. In socialism the factories and industries would be used to benefit all of us, not restricted to the creation of profits for the enrichment of a small group of capitalist owners or government bureaucrats. Advanced methods of new technology are not social evils as they are under capitalism leading to either unemployment or intensified toil and drudgery but could be a blessing and put to the benefit of the vast majority. Socialism is based on the idea that we should use the vast resources of society to meet people’s needs. It seems so obvious--if people are hungry, they should be fed; if people are homeless, we should build homes for them; if people are sick, the best health-care should be available to them. We could use our technological knowledge to eliminate boring or dangerous jobs as much as possible--and share out equally the tasks we couldn’t automate. The goal would be to free all people to do the work they enjoy--and to give them the leisure time to take pleasure in the world around them.

It is within the power of the working class to establish such a society as soon as we recognise the need for it and organize to establish it. There’s no blueprint for what a socialist society will look like. That will be determined by the generations to come who are living in one. The means of production--the factories, offices, mines, and so on--would be owned by all of society. Under the current system, important economic decisions are left to the chaos of the free market and to the blind competition of capitalists scrambling for profits. In socialism, the majority of people would plan democratically what to do and how do it.

The kindness and generosity of ordinary people is boundless. Even to-day’s rat race society simply couldn’t function without a basic sense of cooperation and sacrifice among ordinary people--within families, among coworkers, and so on. Capitalist society obscures this basic decency. Working people are forced--whether they like it or not--to pit themselves against one another and to compete just to keep their job or maintain their standard of living--much less get ahead. As a result, the idea of people uniting for social change can seem distant and unrealistic. For most people, the experience of their lives teaches them that they don’t have any power over what happens in the world--and that they don’t know enough to have an opinion about it anyway. Powerlessness produces what appears to be apathy among people, about their own future and the future of society.

Fighting back requires unity. Activists committed to the fight around a particular issue have to grapple with questions about their aims. What kind of change do they want, and how do they achieve it? Their answers evolve with their experiences and convince them that the struggle against one injustice can only be won by linking it to the fight against all other injustices--and for a different kind of society completely. People begin to see the connections between the struggles they’re involved in and other issues--and the nature of the system itself. Ideas can change very quickly. An organisation of socialists can unite people so they can share their experiences and hammer out an understanding of how capitalism works. We need these socialists working nonstop on political discussions. Socialists need to show how the current day-to-day fights are part of a bigger fight for bigger political change, putting forward a vision of a society that is radically different from the status quo. Imagine a society where all its members organise production and distribution on a cooperative, democratic basis according not to profit, but solely on the basis of need. Huge wealth is created under capitalism so are we in a state of poverty. We are living under a system that impoverishes the planet. Far from being a society languishing in poverty, a socialist society would be a society of abundance. Such a society has no exploiting minority or exploited majority. All property other than personal property is held in common, for the benefit of all. Consequently, there is also no money. If you are hungry, you can eat from the collective store of food. If you want to work, work is always available, and each contributes what he or she can. When you are sick or old or too young, society always takes care of you. Society's vast wealth would be collectively used to enhance the welfare of all rather than that of a small group. Such a society is not utopian.

The word socialism can be replaced/overlapped by many other terms. Communism. Cooperative Commonwealth, Resource Based Economy, Sharing Society, Gift Economy. It is all the same thing. It doesn’t really matter what we call it, as long as it has the basic notion of an economic system where no money is used, ownership and trade is abandoned and replaced all resources shared and managed properly. People do not “own” anything, but have access to everything. Anything ever needed, like food, clothing, housing, travel, etc. is provided in abundance through the use of our technology. There’s no “state” that is the owner of the resources, and nothing is privately owned. Imagine a world without money, barter or exchange, where everything is provided for everyone, and everyone can pursue their own interests and dreams and live in the way they want. In a society where we don’t have to think about money and profit, we can truly develop ourselves and the humanity into something wonderful.