Dream More - Work Less

The dream of a just and classless society has a long genealogy. For centuries, it stirred the hopes of women and men, shackled by exploitation, poverty and oppression. The many slave and peasant revolts were motivated by such an idea. The most radical-minded have always been spurred to action because of a vision of an alternative way of living based on solidarity, equality, and community. The early 19th century utopian socialists constructed intricate blueprints for co-operative egalitarian societies. So we can’t claim that Marx and Engels invented the idea of a society defined by common ownership, mutuality, freedom and equality.

Many political activists believe the urgency of resisting economic austerity policies or stopping environmental destruction is a reason for socialists to press the pause switch on the socialist goal. On the contrary, we should bring our vision of socialism into the public arena; we are, after all, the Socialist Party and socialism is at the core of our identity. Pro-capitalist apologists show no reticence in shaping popular misunderstanding of socialism but socialism is slowly finding its way into political discourse. Admittedly, many people don’t yet embrace socialism as we understand it, but they do imagine a society without the hardships, oppressions, worries, pressures, and profiteering that are part of the structure of capitalism. They desire a future that brings material security and a sense of community, they insist on some power over their lives, they yearn for freedom and they hunger for a joyous life. What they want is a little heaven on this earth. In advocating socialism today, we can’t simply repeat what Marx and Engels said. To have the most fruitful discussion, we should create an atmosphere that encourages people to explore without blinkers and in fresh ways. Socialism is acquiring a new necessity.

Since its earliest days, capitalism has inflicted incalculable harm on the inhabitants of the earth. Primitive accumulation, world wars, slavery, various forms of labour servitude, ruthless wage exploitation, territorial annexation and wars, racist, gender, and other forms of oppression – all this and more. And yet as ghastly a history as this is, the future could be even worse for a simple reason: capitalism’s destructive power, driven by its inner logic to pump surplus value out of its primary producers and dominate nature, has grown exponentially compared to a century ago. Unless dismantled, this power is capable of doing irreversible damage to life in all its forms. Over a century ago, Rosa Luxemburg said that humanity had a choice, “socialism or barbarism.” Her warning has even more meaning now.

We face the prospect of unending war and possible nuclear annihilation. The nuclear threat remains and conventional wars scar the landscape and brutally extinguish the lives of millions of people.

Humanity is also gravely endangered by the deep and persistent inequalities that exist across the planet. The evidence of these inequalities is obvious: massive hunger, malnutrition, dire poverty, the worst forms of deprivation creating the breeding grounds for pandemic diseases, with daily and institutionalised brutality, the explosion of slums around mega-cities, massive migrations of workers and peasants in search of a better life and decaying urban and rural communities and whole regions. This is all embedded in the very structures, hierarchies, and dynamics of capitalist development. Unconscionable affluence and wealth at one pole and unspeakable poverty, exploitation, and oppression at the other pole.

Another threat to humanity’s future is ecological degradation. Almost daily we hear of species extinction, global warming, resource depletion, deforestation, desertification, and on and on to the point where we are nearly accustomed to this gathering catastrophe. Our planet cannot indefinitely absorb the impact of profit-driven, growth-without-limits capitalism. Many scientists say that unless we radically change our methods of production and consumption patterns, we will reach the point where damage to the environment will become irreversible. We must move in the direction of sustainability. Capitalism produced a greater variety of goods more cheaply and efficiently, integrated new technologies more quickly and flexibly into the production process, rationalized the production mechanism, and adapted production to new consumer tastes yet the price paid by the working class and the environment was steep, to be sure.

Workers are the producers of surplus value. They are strategically positioned to challenge capitalist rule. Workers keenly appreciate the need for broad unity and are well aware of the need for organisation. It is the working class that will be the main builder of a sustainable, efficient, and equitable socialist economy. The movement for socialism should seek a non-violent, peaceful transition. Some have suggested that talk of a peaceful socialist revolution is nothing but naiveté, a denial of history’s lessons. But is this true? While there are examples of ruling classes using force to block social change, there are also instances where corrupt and discredited regimes have been swept away without mass blood-letting. The brutal South African apartheid regime gave way without the country being thrown into civil war; fascist regimes were replaced with democratic governments in Portugal and Spain; dictatorships in Iran and Philippines yielded to mass movements and when Eastern Europe and the Soviet one-party bureaucratic regimes lost legitimacy they too were dismantled with minimum violence. Thus peaceful change is possible. It may take longer but people will surely feel that delays are well worth it if bloodshed can be avoided. People will move heaven and earth to find a peaceful path to socialism and we should unequivocally express this desire, too. It will be twice as difficult to build a new world if the old one is in ruins.

A dream of a better world drives us and our struggles. Work will be fulfilling and bring personal satisfaction. Leisure time will be expanded. Our skies, oceans, lakes, rivers and streams will be pollution free. Our city neighbourhoods would become places of green spaces and little traffic. Communal institutions, like public cafeterias serving healthy and delicious food, and recreation centers will become routine features of life. The whole panoply of oppressions that damage our people and nation will be on the wane and the diversity of human sexuality and sexual orientation will be enjoyed and celebrated. Culture in all its forms would be the inherited right of every person. The prisons would be emptied and borders no longer recognized. Military barracks will be padlocked and war studied no more. And, finally, the full development of each will become the condition for the full development of all.