The Socialist Party is an organisation committed to the
overthrow of capitalism and the construction of a socialist society. Certainly
capitalism was preferable to the earlier feudal and mercantile economic systems
in which nobles and kings owned most economic resources. Socialism was being
created inside capitalism by the socialisation of production that
is a natural part of capitalism. The Communist Manifesto is full of praise for
the bourgeoisie because capitalism had developed the means of production. However,
capitalism emphasised individual acquisitiveness and greed (the profit motive),
relied on rankings (the class structure), continued traditions of violence
(colonial conquests and wars). Socialism is the necessary outgrowth of
advanced, developed capitalism. Throughout history ruling classes have been
necessary, because human beings have lived in a world of scarcity. That is the
root of the class struggle. Capitalism had created, or was in the process of
creating, a situation where there was no need for the struggle of classes, no
longer a need for some people to rise to the top and create some sort of
civilisation on the basis of exploitation. Socialism came out of capitalism.
Capitalism, by its method of production, has brought
isolated workers together and constituted them as a class in society.
Capitalism has made the workers a class in themselves. That is, the workers are
a distinct class in society, whether they recognize this fact or not. Unfortunately,
the working class still follows the capitalist parties, still pursues
capitalist politics. The workers must become a class for themselves. They must
acquire a clear understanding of their real position under capitalism, of the
nature of capitalist society as a whole. They must act consciously for their
class interests. They must become conscious of the fact that these class
interests lead to a socialist society. When this takes place, the workers are a
class for themselves, a class with socialist consciousness.
Our world is comprehensively corrupt. It must depend on lies
because it cannot deliver its promises. The slogan, "Workers of the world,
unite" is still a meaningful one in the face of a capitalism which, if
anything, has grown more rapacious and which tends more and more to place all
workers in the same boat. Everyone sooner or later runs up against capitalism.
Socialists stress that in every direction we see dazzling material
achievements, with new ones springing up by the day. In anti-capitalist
struggles, we emphasise how much thwarted human possibility is contained in the
labour that created them. But we are certainly not the only ones to know that
we stand on the shoulders of previous generations. Or to believe fervently that
our goal is "a society in which the free development of each is the
condition for the free development of all."
Revolution? "That
means violence, bloodshed, killing, destruction! No, anything but revolution!" The
capitalist class came to power in society and destroyed feudalism in a number
of modern countries by means of a revolution, and not a very peaceful one. Nor
could the capitalist class exist without the violence that it exercises. Its
exploitation is based on the forcible maintenance of its property by the armed
state machinery. Its exploitation of millions of people is maintained by the
most gruesome violence. And periodically, it plunges innocent millions all over
the world into the most violent wars.
What is a social revolution? It is the replacement of one
ruling class by another. History is filled with such revolutions and in almost
every case they made possible the progress of society. The socialist revolution
is simply the overthrow of capitalist despotism and the establishment of
workers’ rule. Will this revolution be accomplished by violence or can it be
achieved peaceably? Socialists say that socialism can be established by the
workers gaining a majority of the votes for their candidates to public office.
Once they have been elected in sufficient number they will legislate capitalism
out of existence. Socialists are not bloodthirsty maniacs, as the capitalist
slanderers would have workers believe. When the time comes for the people to
take power, it will be done with a minimum of violence, a minimum of bloodshed
of disorder and destruction. A socialist would indeed be insane to want
bloodshed and destruction when his aim is an orderly society. It does not
follow that socialists are indifferent to democracy under capitalism. Nothing
of the sort is true.
The struggle for socialism can best be conducted under
conditions that are most favorable to the working class. The most favourable
conditions are those in which the working class has the widest possible
democratic rights. Hence, it is to the interests of socialism and of the
working class to fight for the unrestricted right to organise, the right of
free speech, free press and free assembly, the right to strike and the right to
vote, the right of representative government, and against every attempt to curb
or abolish these rights. The social position of the workers, and their class
interests, make them the most democratic class in society. Socialists are the
most consistent champions of democracy. The more extensive and less restricted
the democratic rights, the greater the opportunities for socialists to speak,
to write, to meet, to organize. The same applies, of course, to the working
class as a whole. It is the capitalist class which is, by the very nature of
its position in society, anti-democratic. Its monopoly of wealth and power
denies the common people real equality in the exercise of the democratic rights.
It rightly fears the consequences of the workers being able to meet freely,
speak and write freely, organize, vote and demonstrate freely. To keep itself
safely in power, it is compelled to reveal its fundamentally dictatorial rule
more openly by cutting down political democracy and resorting to naked force.
The road to freedom is marked out by the principles of socialism,
and no other road exists.
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