Telling it like it is

There are numerous studies by banks, think tanks, universities plus television networks and newspapers that keep giving a picture of how bad things are but it is always invariably partial and incomplete. What they leave out, and what the working class needs to know above all, is that the problem is the capitalist system of wage slavery — and the solution is socialism. People need to know that it is because of the capitalist system, that the powerful ruling class dictate legislation. The struggle against capitalism and for socialism requires knowledge of the system of exploitation. That is essential to the struggle for socialism. Understanding the enemy is a basic necessity for working-class. Class consciousness means understanding the enemy class and all of its treacherous features. Workers own only their ability to work and a few personal possessions they have been able to accumulate in a lifetime of labour. Workers are dependent on the bosses to live. They must sell their ability to do a job of some type to a capitalist, day after day, month after month, year after year. If the bosses won’t hire them or business falls off, then the workers are out of luck. They work at the will of the owners. Workers get paid just enough to live, or nowadays even less than that. The wealth they create above and beyond the value of their wages goes into the pockets and vaults of the bosses. The more they can get from the workers, the more they can produce with fewer workers, the more profits they make. Working people are suffering from the law of the maximization of profit, which drives capitalism. That is why the management introduce new technology. That is why they outsource jobs. That is why they cut benefits. The bosses dominate the political system. No promises of the politicians to create jobs, lessen inequality will influence the bosses for they are guided by their own profit motives.

The real point is that the system does not work. Millions of people see the flaws, cruelties and injustices of capitalism, but they do not view as a system which requires social change. Capitalism is an anarchic, crisis ridden system, as unpredictable as the weather. It affects your standard and quality of life. It affects your education. It affects your physical health. It affects your mental health. It affects your environment. Capitalism holds no future for the human race other than disease and war. A major example of wasteful capitalism is the enormous war machine, which sucks up much of our resources. This makes crazy sense for a capitalist system that must seek to protect markets and trade routes and obtain raw materials with the use of military power i.e. kill people to dominate the rest of the world and accumulate great wealth. It makes no sense to socialist who asks what if these enormous resources devoted to war were put to work instead in meeting social needs – building housing etc.? Unemployment creates insecurity and poverty and pits worker against worker, often along lines of race. Capitalism's race for profits requires enormous expenditures for advertising with its manipulation of our wants and fears. Capitalism’s not natural and it need not prevail. What if the world were a place where everyone had the comfortable essentials of a full life, including satisfying work, housing, food, clothing and health care? Plus the opportunity to learn and develop into all she/he could be? A world where neither the environment nor people were exploited? Socialism is the exciting, life-affirming idea for a world that works for everyone, a vision whose time can come.

Socialism is an economic system in which the means of production are socially owned and used to meet human needs instead of to create profits. The means of production refers to the tools, technology, buildings, and other materials used to make the goods or services in an economy. Society could then be planned to meet the needs of the majority, not just a privileged few, and the basis laid for eliminating poverty, inequality, violence, oppression and environmental destruction. Despite the trappings of democracy, under capitalism real decision-making about most of the main issues which affect our lives resides ultimately with the small minority who have economic and social control. Socialism would enable people to have genuine control over every aspect of their lives. Through democratically-elected committees in the workplaces and communities it would be possible to participate in the running of society at every level. Socialism would be based on collective ownership and democratic control of the economy. Exploitation, inequality and hierarchy would be replaced by cooperation and negotiation. Early human societies were communal: they weren’t divided into rich and poor and they shared property instead of having to buy and sell the things they needed. By common ownership of the means of production we would begin to construct a society not based on profit but based on human need. A utopia? No. It’s a necessity.

Socialists want to extend that democratic control to the way goods and services are produced. We want to change from a form where production is for profit (capitalism) to a form where production is for the use of all, in harmony with the earth (socialism). Are people "good" enough to become socialists? Being a perfect person has nothing to do with it!  People don't have to be intrinsically good. For capitalism to function it must encourage personality/behavior that is aggressive, acquisitive, manipulative and selfish ("bad"). But a system based on real human values will reinforce humane behavior ("good"). You don't have to be a saint to be a socialist, merely act in your own self-interest which just happens to be shared by many others. Socialist society is based on cooperation and respect for others, not competition in the sense of defeating others. The conventional wisdom presented by the mainstream media is what we have is "the way the world is". Socialism challenges that assumption and one result can be for some of us to lapse into denial, to avoid the discomfort of having to accept the implication that we can shape a new world. Socialists will not settle for less than a system where fundamental human needs of all are fully met: food, housing, health care, life-long learning and the opportunity to become the person you can be. People will decide democratically what things and services they really need and want – not wants and wishes created by advertising – and those will be produced in workplaces where workers participate in decisions about production processes and working conditions.

The enormous resources, technology and production capabilities of today can easily generate a comfortable life for all. Production requirements will be smaller than in the wasteful capitalist system we now have, where production must constantly expand. Socialism is about producing in a humane, ecological way for the benefit of each other. Of course, not all work is fulfilling and satisfying so it might decide that some dirty, dangerous, dull work would be evaluated to see if that service or product were really needed or if there is another way to do it. If not they can be shared around and no one condemned to a lifetime of drudgery as they are nowadays.

 People have to know about socialism and the nature of capitalism and socialism needs to get on the immediate agenda and not relegated to some far off time in the future. This is crucial. When people actually know what we are suggesting, are rid of their misconceptions and are not tied into uncritical acceptance of capitalism, then most people will realize that socialism is what they need and want because it gives them assurance of not only all the basics for a good life, but humane and satisfying work and sympathetic relations with others and a symbiotic relationship with nature. With this understanding, change is inevitable. Real socialism has never been tried. We can build a society that is democratic and not capitalist. The historic name for such a society is socialism. Since socialism has other unwelcomed connotations with the past, why not use another term? How about economic democracy? Or cooperative commonwealth? The point to remember is people will say “Hey, that's really socialism. Are you trying to deceive me?”