Many believe socialism to be unattainable yet the world
about us is falling to pieces. The need for revolution is being realised more
and more. Who are the one class that no society can do without? Those who work.
Capitalist society cannot exist without the working-class. It is the
working-class which sets in motion its formidable technical and mechanical
apparatus. The working-class, by seeing after the functioning of large-scale
production, by work in huge factories and stores, brings into existence
organised work on a collective basis. And this collective work ought to show
more clearly the exploitation of the individual. Modern production is mass
production. But without doubt, profit therefrom is individual; that is to say,
the riches collectively produced are appropriated by individual capitalists. As
soon as workers becomes conscious of this fact, of this permanent scandal of
capitalist society, they will begin to revolt against a state of things which
ensures for the capitalist class the lion’s share and will demand its rightful
due. Capitalism is maintained by class power and will only be displaced by
other class power. Society in order to live must produce. In order to produce,
use is made of the means of production which everyone knows; the land, the
mines and machines. These means of production turn into means of domination
when they are not at the disposal of society as a whole but are the private
property of one class. In this manner, the great landowners through possession
of the first instrument of labour – which is the land – were in a position to
exploit first the slaves and later on the serfs, The landlord said: “The land
belongs to me and you will be my slave and work for me on my land,” The peasant
thus comes under the sway of the landowner. Each class which owns the means of
production seeks to obtain political power, control of the State and the armed
forces in order to safeguard its exclusive property, and maintain its monopoly
of ownership.
Socialism is rule by the working people. They will decide
how socialism is to work and the task of socialists therefore is to help guide
the transfer of political power from capitalists to working people. Socialism
means for the first time people taking charge of their own destiny. Humanity
has so far been incapable of taking charge because of the class divisions that
make it impossible to take decisions for the development of mankind as a whole.
The result has been what we see today. Present-day society, based on a mistaken
and blind individualism, reaches the very highest pinnacle of absurdity. At the
top, we have a small class of owners who have in their possession all the means
of happiness but who are incapable of making use of it because they are
condemned to live apart from the working people which hates them. They pass
their lives fearful of their privileges, fighting all forward-looking
progressive movements which threaten their reign. They are more and more obliged
to live as it were in a fortress, or gated communities as the real estate
agents describe them. Being condemned on account of their riches to a life of
idleness which is repugnant to human nature, the majority of them enjoy neither
physical nor moral health. On the other hand we have the immense majority of
the producing class, the workers condemned to routine work which undermines
their health – work without any distraction and with the concomitant of
numerous accidents and illness. Enforced idleness is the lot of the
working-class on the onset of each periodic economic crisis. Disease and
illness, products of poverty, decimates the toilers. Alcoholism and drug
addiction through which they seek forgetfulness of their miserable lives,
poisons them and helps to bring about their physical and moral degeneration.
The life of the worker is twice as short as that of the rich. On the one hand,
badly spent and unhappy lives among the upper classes, and on the other, no
possibility of leading a normal life among the oppressed toilers. Here indeed
is the true picture of society based on an internecine conflict between
different classes. It is not the producing class, the creators of life, who
rule but the parasites who dominate and oppress it.
Modern technology has created all the conditions for
well-being and even luxury. If applied rationally our society would become a
heaven on earth but through the absurd profit system in which we live, we find
ourselves in a veritable hell. Mankind, instead of co-operating in the building
harmonious planet, finds itself occupied in a war of each against all. The
result is a useless social waste.
The victory of socialism is desirable because only socialism
can put an end to the exploitation of man by man and of women by men. Because
only socialism can put an end to the struggle for the re-division of the world,
for national possessions, which takes place between the different continents,
nations and races. Only socialism can put an end to war and poverty and the
innumerable injustices which are an everyday feature of our lives. Socialism by
suppressing the cause of these rivalries and antagonism – the monopoly of the
means of production – forms a new society based on the principles of human
solidarity and reciprocity, and economic soundness. It will put an end to all
waste and all unproductive work. It will abolish antagonism of interests and
reduce authority to a minimum, making it function not in the interests of a
class but in the interests of society as a whole. Socialism consists of a
rationalisation of production, of all our activities and our very lives
themselves. And that, not in the interests of some, but for the benefit of all.
Socialism is possible now. It is possible because it corresponds to the
interests of all; because it satisfies the goodwill, the well-being and the
common interest of the immense majority. Socialism is possible because the
forces of production, thanks to machinery and robotics, have reached an unheard
of scale of development. They only need to be put in action for the benefit of
everyone in order that all members of society may be assured of complete
well-being. Socialism is possible because men and women are more and more
brought into close co-operation in pooling their efforts. All sorts of
associations and organisations, political and intellectual are accustoming mankind
to regulate work and life. Socialism everyday becomes more possible through the
social education of the working-class, organised as it is in political parties,
trade unions, and co-operatives. Rational organisation of production becomes
more urgent as a consciousness of solidarity develops among the producers. The
immense army of organised producers can take over control of mass production;
everything stands ready by their own very nature to be placed in the hands of
the workers who produce them.
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