Capitalist Despotism or Socialist Freedom

We are the political party of the working class. This is so, despite our meagre membership because the Socialist Party is the sole protagonist of the principles that the working class must adopt if it is ever to achieve its complete emancipation from wage slavery and, at the same time, save society from catastrophe. The Socialist Party is the only organisation demanding the abolition of capitalism and advocating the socialist reconstruction of society. It has been doing so for over 100 years. It is, in short, the organisation through which the workers can establish their right to reorganise society. In the battle between capital and labour, one must take sides. The utopias of old, for all their limitations, fundamentally challenged the existing society. Across the centuries, utopian writers sought a different world rather than simply some institutional changes. Long before Marx, they insisted that a utopia that accepted private property—and therefore the existence of classes—as a given wasn’t worthy of the name. To-day’s radicals advocate alternatives that down-play the scale of economic transformation in the name of “getting real”, abandoning any project for system-change and futilely seek to cope with actual existing capitalism and the capitalist state. They underestimate the social power of capital every time they advance “pragmatic” demands which fail to see that the whole point is to liberate ourselves. Their so-called alternatives can only take us backwards.

The present system of industry is directly the cause of the many evils which now prey upon society. Under capitalism, the proceeds of labour go to the profits of the wealthy few. Socialism is workers' democracy. A truly democratic society should also be cooperative and democratically managed so that citizens can be active in the running of their workplaces as well as planning the direction of economic development. The product of labour power and natural resources of a society should be used in an ecologically compatible and sustainable manner for the benefit of all, including future generations. The capitalist system, which has profit as its only consideration, promotes and relies on unsustainable growth in population, expansion and consumption and does not take the needs of people or the planet into account. Capitalism denies the masses a just share of production or satisfying work. Capitalism invites competition, individualism and disparity; fraternity cannot prevail. With socialism, production is planned to meet human needs. Either the working class takes control of affairs out of the hands of the capitalist class, ends the system of capitalist private ownership, and rebuilds our society on the basis  of social ownership of the means of production, democratic management and  production for use; Or, as surely as night follows day, the capitalist system will lead us to barbarism.

The present system cannot be patched up. The Socialist Party calls upon the people to organise the co-operative commonwealth. We aim for a socialist society of solidarity where people respect mutually each other and cooperate for the common welfare. They do not exploit each other, they do not take advantage of society in pursuit of egoist aspirations. The struggle for the right to live in freedom and dignity is conducted all over the world. Across the world hundreds of millions live in submission; hundreds of millions know hunger. Despair must be turned into hope. The economy must serve the entire society and the welfare of all the members of the society. Common interest must always prevail. Freedom, equality, solidarity and peace belong to all, everywhere in the world. Socialism is based in natural human needs, wants, and human development. Socialist society will be fundamentally different in that the ownership and control of resources rests in the hands of the community. Control will devolve to the local community or workplace as expediently as is practical. Through planning and co-operation, private ownership of wealth and materialist accumulation would cease to be an economic stimulus. Everyone would be a worker and society would be the employer. Exploitation, or the capitalist command over the labour of others and the appropriation of non-labour income, would end with socialisation.

We seek to realise the implementation of an idea first articulated by Louis Blanc - "from each according ability, to each according needs" - requires a classless society where everyone is an employee of the community, enjoying custody over the means of production, and in pursuit of providing for every public need. Capitalism can neither be reformed nor legislated out of existence. Capitalism degrades the dignity of all people. Our vision of a free society includes the opportunity of each individual to reach their full potential in harmony with one another. Capitalism cannot exist without the exploitation of workers. The Socialist Party is the champion of equality, liberty and fraternity. The socialist conception of equality envisions a society free from class and hierarchy, bonded by an overriding fraternal spirit, and comprised of individuals equal in worth and potential. Equality cannot be exact, but any differences in power, wealth, status or acquired abilities would be marginal and socially acceptable.

The Socialist Party was founded to pursue a radical objective; to transfer political power from the privileged to the people.  The pursuit of this radical cause has always meant that we face opposition from the entrenched forces of the status quo. But that does not mean we shirk from the challenge of pursuing the great cause of our movement. We are socialists. And we are proud of that fact. It’s what keeps us from being just another political party peddling a panacea of palliatives. Socialism is everything we have ever stood for and it continues to define our mission for social and economic change. It’s what makes us truly the party of labour.