To change everything, start everywhere

The world is a mess. We’re living in an age of crises – economic, environmental and political – for which our rulers have no solutions. We are all repelled by such horrors as the persistence of modern-day slavery, the relegation of a child to a life of poverty, the outbreak of disease epidemics In the face of these crises, people face a conundrum. On one hand, the right manipulates the political situation to further its own advantage. On the other hand the liberal reformers offers little to distinguish itself from its right counterpart. It's an abomination that while working people are striving every day for a more sustainable, more equal and more democratic economy, politicians are willingly trading off our future for short-term profit. Within the new protest movements an old debate has re-emerged. Are the numerous crises we face simply the product of mismanaged capitalism – the result of greedy, power-hungry people at the helm of business and government? Or is it the inevitable byproduct of the profit system? Our answer is unequivocal. At the root of this suffering is the economic, social, and political system of capitalism. We cannot tame the capitalist monster by regulation and legislation. We cannot humanize capitalism through palliatives and reforms. Despite all their penetrating criticisms of the existing system too many radicals side-step the essence of the problem. It is not the lack of effective laws that have allowed corporations to dominate society, but rather it is corporations’ dominant economic position that has afforded them the power to draft the laws, in the first place, something they still continue to do.

The mainstream political parties are owned by the corporate elite. If history has only one lesson to teach, it is that the capitalist class is unwilling, incapable, or outright hostile to the idea of carrying out measures in the interests of the majority. It’s still time for a freedom party. We just can’t wait any longer. Both justice and survival demand that we make the socialist vision a reality and rejecting the doctrine of futility that characterizes our current approach to political and social change. There is a difference between selfishness and self-interest. There is absolutely no doubt that human beings look out for their self-interests, and the struggle for socialism is completely in line with this. Working people have the most power to improve our lives when we work collectively instead of desperately trying to succeed as individuals in a system rigged against us. Liberal intellectual have long joined the openly pro-capitalist apologists in condemning socialism as a pipedream. At the same time, these reformists rarely bother to explain how their promises can be achieved within the constraints of capitalism, if they address the issue at all. The reality is that radical reform within capitalism is the utopian pipedream.

Most people can see that the government serves the interests of corporations and the rich, but at the same time there is a widespread feeling that nothing can be done to change the system. Many argue that workers are too conservative to fight for socialism. It is true that capitalist ideas still holds a powerful influence over many people, like the idea of the “American Dream” or that each generation will be better off than the previous, that if you work hard, you can raise your standard of living. But these beliefs are beginning to crack. Many workers are not yet fully aware of these underlying trends, but they will learn quickly under the hammer blow of future events. The key task is for workers to become conscious and realize their power and get organized in their workplaces and communities. People need to build up our own organisations, unions, and create a potent socialist party to be able to effectively defend our interests. Socialist ideas are an outcome of working people’s struggle to live a decent, dignified life. There is ample evidence that working people, if sufficiently organised and politically conscious, have the power and potential to carry out the socialist transformation of society. As capitalism makes this increasingly impossible, workers’ readiness to join the struggle for socialism will grow. But this won’t happen automatically. No individual or party can do it on our behalf. It takes us all. That is why we are appealing for you to join us, to help lay the foundations for a powerful new socialist movement in the belly of the beast. Our aim must be to fight for the interests of the working class, to combine parliamentary and extra-parliamentary action to fight to defend workers’ conditions and democratic rights. This will involve using parliament and parliamentary elections as a platform for advocating socialism policies, while all the exposing the hollowness and corruption of the capitalist system and its institutions. A socialist democracy would have nothing in common with the totalitarian bureaucracies that presided over the Soviet Union and other so-called Communist regimes. Genuine social democracy will unleash the deep, untapped wells of human creativity, now suppressed by a repressive hierarchal system. This coordinated collective ingenuity, combined with the elimination of the colossal waste caused by capitalism, will open the doors to a sustainable, peaceful society of plenty.

Worldwide symptoms of economic crisis and the prospect of environmental catastrophe show that capitalism can no longer take society forward. Technology and production develop in a completely distorted way because of the domination of the profit motive and the anarchy of market competition. Nevertheless, the science and technology exist to develop the economy internationally to meet the real needs of the world’s population. But this will only be possible if it is utilised in a planned way, under the democratic control of the working class. 

Eugene Debs put it:

 “People do not shrink from work, but from slavery. The person who works primarily for another does so primarily under compulsion, and work so done is the very essence of slavery.”