Our Socialist Objective Is What Makes Us Socialist

We are socialists. And we are proud of that fact. Socialism is everything we have ever stood for and it continues to define our urgent mission for social and economic change. It is at the core of who we are. It binds us in eternal solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world. Our socialist objective means that we are sensible enough to recognise that “competition” and “free-market” solutions to our problems will not create the better society we all desire. Our objective means we recognise the deficiencies of capitalism. It’s what keeps us from being just another party that stands for very little. It’s what makes us the party of “labour” even if most workers don’t know it. We are the party of the disadvantaged and the dispossessed. The Socialist Party does what it has always done: argue for an economic and social revolution to benefit the many, not the few. Nothing sets the Socialist Party apart from other parties more than its history of demanding world socialism. “The establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole community.” This objective is a statement of our reason for existence.

It's not a stretch to say that during the last one hundred years, the words socialism and communism have been two of the most controversial words and concepts on the planet. It's equally true that those two words/concepts are also widely and tragically misunderstood. You don't have to go very far to see and hear someone talking about how the fall of the Soviet Union and fluctuations in China are proof that "Karl Marx was wrong." So, in order to clear the air, let's start by saying beyond "The Communist Manifesto", Marx wrote very little about socialism/communism (Marx used both terms interchangeably). The bulk of his writings were about the demise of capitalism as the dominant form of political economy. So, if Marx didn't write very much about socialism, and his name - right or wrong - is the name most closely associated with it then what exactly is socialism and how do you understand it and explain it to other people? So much anti-socialist propaganda has been spread and most so-called “socialist” parties have done very little to clarify the confusion, so many people are still unable to clearly understand the socialist concept. For example, if you study the old Soviet Union, that society can only, at best, be classified as a state capitalist system because critical aspects of socialist principles such as democratic input and production meeting the people's needs, are missing.  A socialist system cannot be a dictatorship since the system is organised around what the people want - which is having their needs a priority of the system.

Socialism maintains that, since production is socially derived, the means of production must be socially owned. Capitalism, however, gives custody of the means of production to a minority, who accumulate most of the wealth originating from production; while for the producers, the working class, only a meagre proportion of the fruits of their labour is the remuneration. This great disparity of reward causes an even greater socio-economic inequality. Rampant individualism embitters what once were fraternal communities. The capitalist values of self-interested profit, competition and consumerism have engendered a society devoid of co-operation. Capitalism denies people a just share of production or satisfying work. Capitalist obstacles are numerous, and include class divisions, economic inequalities and, the ever prevailing, inequality of opportunity. Most, if not all, of the solutions to these problems converge into a single focal point: Socialism.

Our socialism is the vision of an economy in which all elements significant to the production, distribution and delivery of socially indispensable goods are socially owned and controlled in the interest of the community. Common ownership implies that there exists no particular class of owners of the means of production, either individual or collective. Everyone is equally an owner, which means that no one in particular is an owner. Property would no longer offer privileges, as the means of production would be accessible to everyone. Exploitation, or the capitalist command over the labour of other and its appropriation would end. The socialist conception of equality envisions a society free from class and hierarchy and instead comprise of individuals equal in worth and potential. the implementation of the idea first articulated by Louis Blanc and then adopted by Karl Marx  - "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" - requires a classless society where everyone is a participating member of the community, sharing in the means of production and in pursuit of providing for every public need.

Socialism is the only guarantee of true liberty because of its three components, equality in production, in consumption, and in the political sphere. It is impossible to address over a hundred years of constant anti-socialist propaganda in one short article, but hopefully this piece can give you something to think about, discuss, and use as a gauge.  Especially the next time you hear someone attempt to talk about socialism. People have to be convinced that socialism is a good idea and then the rest starts to follow on.