Nobody owns the future

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE 

Becoming a socialist is an educational experience. It is about discovery and knowledge; and the experience changes people. Once people know and understand the essence of the socialist case—that various historical "epochs" are characterised by different kinds of class relationships (landowners and serfs in feudal societies, capitalists and workers in capitalist societies, etc.); that history is a record of class struggle; and that the economic system is prime, so that nowadays the interests of the capitalist class determine the dominant ideas and values in society—they will use this body of knowledge in analysing and responding to the world around them. Knowledge of the socialist case is like other knowledge, internalised. It affects the way that people think and behave; it changes the very essence of their thoughts and feelings. In a very real way, once people have been persuaded of the essence of the socialist case, they will never be the same again.

The capitalist world does its best, callously and indifferently to break us because we see the world as it is, but we are not content to accept it as it is and instead we see it as it could be. The questions we ask about the destructive conditions of our time has not lost their urgency. We live under the domination of a capitalist economy which functions by feeding off the common wealth of the people and by imposing restrictive and stunting conditions upon them. It will come as no surprise that the only “solution” capitalism knows to its problems will be at the detriment to the interest of the working class. In its relentless pursuit of profits capitalist enterprises have left a trail of human and environmental devastation of staggering proportions. Capitalism has turned us into an alienated and unskilled population forced into a lifestyle of abject poverty, prostitution, alcohol abuse and crime. In other words, they are forced into a life of wage-slavery at its bottom-most level. The Socialist Party holds a vision that global solidarity is the only way to bring about an end to this exploitative global system. We hear the voices of people who are aware that the capitalist system has only one driving force behind it, the profit motive, who bring to the class struggle a sense of communal responsibility to each other and the world around them. The many struggles of our fellow workers serve as a reminder that socialism is about knowing that an alternative to capitalist society is possible and that we can bring it about by understanding the source of our oppression and acting in a spirit of comradeship and solidarity with our fellow workers throughout the world. Is emotion to be rejected as futile and irrational? Not in the least. Emotion is an essential part of human experience: it is thanks to our emotions that we can empathise with others and support one another when we unite to achieve a common goal. It would be foolish, however, to imagine that a simple venting of our emotions will achieve any more than does a more impersonal approach.

One of the most frightening things about the recent recession and pending new one to large numbers of people was the destruction of their belief that “bad times” would never come back. As always, the working class are blamed for everything.

Capitalists do not invest in wealth production to give jobs to workers or to produce goods and services for needy people or to do any favours for anyone but themselves. To urge them to do so, as does the reformist Left, is like asking the Mafia to operate their criminal activities for the welfare of the public. In fact, a capitalist who ignored the aim of accumulating surplus value would soon go broke; this is true whether the role of the capitalist is played by an individual millionaire, a board of directors or the state. It is not part of the socialist ease against capitalism that it is objectionable because it is corrupt. Capitalism without corruption would be just as oppressive. The profit motive is not a liberating factor in production but one that stultifies production. The profit motive sets the limitations on what is possible in production and distribution. Against this end, the real material needs of the community take second place. Man under capitalism provides food, housing, clothing, health services, education, etc., within a tight economic framework conditioned by the prior requirements of profit. It is against this background that the enduring problems of society such as housing shortages, ugly urban environments and the fact that two-thirds of the world’s population do not get enough to eat must be understood.

Capitalism's politics seethes with organisations who trade on working class dissatisfaction with the system. Politics has plenty of people who attract brief attention with their baseless theories, write a book or two, pour out their anguished consciences in compelling speeches. Then reality strikes and the workers who were misled by them are left to still endure capitalism. What we want to change is immense. It’s getting rid of the whole structure. If we don’t use imagination nothing will change. Without change we will destroy the planet. The way things are organised is neither natural nor inevitable, but created by people. People have a wealth of skill, intelligence. creativity and wisdom. We could be devising ways of using and distributing the earth’s vast resources so that no one starves or lives in abject poverty, making socially useful things that people need — a society which is life-affirming in all its aspects.