Critiques of capitalism have been around since the beginning
of capitalism yet mainstream society continues to operate as if “there is no
alternative” to capitalism, but at the same time, the failures of capitalism
are more evident than ever. Capitalism inevitably divides humanity through
wars, racism, sexism, and class antagonism. Socialism not as an idealistic
panacea but as a sensible process of overcoming humanity’s divisions and
building economic and social democracy, where the resources and productive
capacity of the world belong to its people, who use them to meet human needs
rather than to generate private profits for a few owners. Reforms can never
achieve this goal; the system must be overthrown, and that requires revolution.
What’s crazier is to believe that capitalism can be saved by the capitalists
themselves, like lions agreeing to hunt without claws. Since the poor are
getting poorer and endless war is so good for business, war is destined to continue
until the day the 99% rise up and crush the entire system of the 1% and create
from the bottom up a new form of society. There is a pressing need to eliminate
capitalism and replace it with a society of associated free producers oriented
to the full development of human potential. It is needed because of capital’s
drive to expand without limit threatens the destruction of the natural world.
This means that the need to act is immediate. Certainly with the crisis of
capitalism and ecological disaster in the not too distant future, the time is
coming when to act may be too late.
History has amply demonstrated that the seizure of power by
a tiny cabal, whether a political party or a clique of oligarchs, leads to
despotism. Governments blindly serving their masters, acquiesce to the looting
of state treasuries to bail out corrupt financial houses and banks while
ignoring chronic unemployment and underemployment, along with stagnant or
declining wages, crippling debt peonage, a collapsing infrastructure, and the
millions left destitute and often homeless by deceptive mortgages and
foreclosures. If we do not dismantle global capitalism we will descend into the
chaos of failed states, mass migrations—which we are already witnessing—and
endless war. Populations, especially in the global South, will endure misery
and high mortality rates caused by collapsing ecosystems and infrastructures on
a scale not seen since perhaps the black plague. There can be no accommodation
with global capitalism. We will overthrow this system or be crushed by it. Socialists
are unequivocal anti-militarists. They understand that there is no genuine
social, political, economic or cultural reform as long as the militarists and
their corporatist allies in the war industry continue to loot and pillage the
state budget, leaving the poor to go hungry, workingmen and -women in distress,
the infrastructure to collapse and social services to be slashed in the name of
austerity.
Socialism is, above all, the movement of the working class
for their own freedom and power in a full democracy. Karl Marx told exiled
German revolutionaries in London in 1850 that the workers needed to form their
own party to look out for their own interests:
“Even where there is no prospect whatsoever of them being elected,
the workers must put up their own candidates in order to preserve their
independence, to count their forces and to bring before the public their own
revolutionary attitude and party standpoint. In this connection, they must not
allow themselves to be seduced by such arguments as, for example, that by so
doing they are splitting the Democratic Party and making it possible for the
reactionaries to win. The ultimate intention of all such phrases is to dupe the
proletariat. The advance which the proletarian party is bound to make by such
independent action is infinitely more important than the disadvantages that
might be incurred by the presence of a few reactionaries in the representative
body.”
Too many self-styled socialists have abandoned the socialist
principle of independent political action. They argue instead that whether or
not to support a Democrat or an independent candidate is a question of tactics,
not principle. The political independence of the Socialist Party is a major
reason why it was viable. Bernie Sanders has now gone into coalition with the
billionaire class he professes to oppose and that finances the Democratic Party.
Sanders won’t see the billionaire’s money. But he has made it crystal clear
that he will support their candidate by promising to support the winner of the
Democratic presidential nomination. Eugene Debs said:
“The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more
exact, the Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the
class struggle. They are the political wings of the capitalist system and such
differences as arise between them relate to spoils and not to principles. With
either of those parties in power, one thing is always certain, and that is that
the capitalist class is in the saddle and the working class under the saddle.”
As Debs also
explained:
“Where but to the Socialist Party can these progressive
people turn? They are now without a party and the only genuine Democratic Party
in the field is the Socialist Party, and every true Democrat should thank Wall
Street for driving him out of a party that is democratic in name only, and into
one that is democratic in fact.”
As a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination,
Sanders does a disservice to Debs’ legacy and his commitment to working-class
political independence. By entering the Democratic primaries with the promise
of supporting Clinton as the lesser evil to the Republicans, Sanders is not
helping the working class to organize, speak and act for itself. By trying to
get Democratic politicians to say and do what the left wants them to say and
do, the left has been engaged in a pathetic and hopeless attempt at political
ventriloquism. It is dependent politics, powerless politics.
Frederick Engels told socialists in the U.S. when the labor
movement in New York City nominated the non-socialist but progressive reformer
Henry George for mayor in 1886:
“The first great step of importance for every country newly
entering into the movement is always the organisation of the workers as an independent
political party, no matter how, so long as it is a distinct workers’ party. And
this step has been taken, far more rapidly than we had a right to hope, and
that is the main thing. That the first program of this party is still confused
and highly deficient, that it has set up the banner of Henry George, these are
inevitable evils but also only transitory ones. The masses must have time and
opportunity to develop, and they can only have the opportunity when they have
their own movement–no matter in what form, so long as it is only their own
movement–in which they are driven further by their own mistakes and learn
wisdom by hurting themselves.”
We are ruled by so many “industrial complexes”—military,
financial, energy, food, pharmaceutical, prison, and so on—that it is almost
impossible to stay on top of every way we are getting screwed. The good news is
that—either through independent media or our basic common sense—polls show that
the majority of people know enough about the Afghanistan and Iraq and Syrian wars,
Wall Street bailouts, and other corporate welfare to oppose these corporate
policies. The elite’s money—and the influence it buys—is an extremely powerful
weapon. So it is understandable that so many people who are defeated and
demoralized focus on their lack of money rather than on their lack of morale.
However, we must keep in mind that in war, especially in a class war when one’s
side lacks financial resources, morale becomes even more crucial. Activists
routinely become frustrated when truths about lies, victimization and
oppression don’t set people free to take action. We as individuals or a society
eat crap for too long, we become psychologically too weak to take action. Other
observers of subjugated societies have recognized this phenomenon of
subjugation resulting in demoralisation and fatalism, what Bob Marley called
“mental slavery.” One should not be ashamed of having previously believed in capitalism
lies; and it also helps to forgive and have compassion for those who continue
to believe them. The liars we face are often quite good at lying. It helps to
have a sense of humor about one’s predicament, to nurture respectful
relationships, and to take advantage of a lucky opportunity—often created by
the abuser’s arrogance— when it presents itself. Without individual
self-respect, people do not believe that they are worthy of power or capable of
utilizing power wisely, and they accept as their role being a subject of power.
Without collective self-confidence, people do not believe they can succeed in
wresting power away from their rulers. There are “democracy battlefields” —in
our schools, workplace and elsewhere—where such respect and confidence can be
regained every day. No democratic movement succeeds without determination,
courage, and solidarity, but modern social scientists routinely ignore such non-quantifiable
important variables, and so those trained only in universities and not on the
streets can become blind to the most important meanings of human existence. A
sign hanging in Albert Einstein’s office stated: “not everything that can be
counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” Antonio Gramsci
talked about “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” This means
that we should have the courage to look our social problems fully in the face
and understand just how huge are the problems that we are up against. And yet,
the second part of that means that we need to look for the places where a
difference can be made, and put our hearts into those cracks and fissures.
We
need to hold in our hearts the possibility of a better world, not because we
have candy-coated the problems or lied about what we can accomplish, but
because we know that we do often win and make a difference, and that all the
good things we have in the world are the results of those who have had the
courage and commitment to have done this work before us. We never really know until it happens whether
or not we are living in that time when historical variables are creating
opportunities for seemingly impossible change. Thus, we must prepare ourselves
by battling each day in all our activities to regain individual self-respect,
collective self-confidence, determination, courage, and solidarity. The way we
get past capitalism is by building on the healthy non-capitalist aspects of our
world while we also do pitched battle with the capitalist ones that we have a
fair chance of winning against. Yes it is true that pro-capitalist forces have
a lot of power. But so did slave-holding racists. We give ourselves hope.
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