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| “all things are held in common” |
The Socialist Party seeks a change in the basis of society -
a change which would destroy the distinctions of classes and nationalities. Workers,
although they produce all the wealth of society, have no control over its
production or distribution: the people, are treated as a mere appendage to
capital - as a part of the machine. We want a real revolution, a real change in
society. The Socialist Party aims at the realisation of complete socialism, and
well knows that this can never happen in any one country without the help of
the workers of all lands. For us neither geographical boundaries, political
history nor race makes rivals or enemies; for us there are no nations, but only
fellow workers and friends, whose mutual sympathies are perverted by the master
class whose interest it is to stir up rivalries and hatreds between peoples. We
shall live a society not of enemies in a state a kind of armed truce but
instead we shall live among friends and neighbours. People will regard work not
as a means of living, but something to enjoy doing for society, not for
themselves; individuals have developed with all-round capabilities, instead of
narrow specialists; production will be abundant enough for everyone to have
whatever he or she needs without any restriction as Marx says, “for society to
inscribe on its banner from each according to his ability: to each according to
his needs.”
Many on the Left are loud to claim that state-owned
industries is socialism. But nationalisation of industries in a capitalist
state does not lead to establishment of socialism. This is a hoax. The left
especially those who pride themselves in having read Marx ought to understand
that the character of the ownership, whether individual or state, does not by
itself conclusively determine whether the system is capitalist or socialist.
Marx characterised capitalism by its motive of production and the production
relation: in capitalism the motive of production is to earn maximum profit and
the production relation is the owner-worker relationship. Consider, for
instance, the state-owned industries. In these the workers have no say in the
employment policy or in the production planning. The workers do not decide how
the industry would be managed or what would be the wage policy of the government.
This means, the motive of production remains earning maximum profit as before,
and the owner-worker relationship, too, remains unchanged. The workers would
just continue to raise their demands and fight for them, as they used to do
against individual owners. Nationalisation does not mean social ownership. When
an injustice is perpetrated by the state-owned industries it is given a sugar
coating by projecting these industries as national property, national wealth.
People are exhorted to tighten their belts and accept hardship in the interest
of national wealth -- because this wealth belongs to the nation. Engels said that state-owned industry in the capitalist society is the most
inhuman, most ruthless exploiter. It is self-deception as well as deceiving
others to hold that this state-capitalist social system and state structure should
be something we should strive for.
The Socialist Party, founded in 1904, is up against the fact
of life that a new generation has to be convinced afresh that socialism does in
fact represent a better system for the people than capitalism, that Marx’s idea
of the withering away of the state is not a pipe-dream, but a realistic (if very
rough) sketch of the future state of human society. The establishment of a
socialist, planned economy, based on the needs of the people, will mean the end
to the chaos of capitalist production with its lack of planning, repeated
crises, unemployment, and environmental destruction and waste. Socialism will
unleash a level of productive forces unknown before in the history of mankind.
Exploitation, oppression, and repression will not exist in socialism. Commodity
production, that is, production for sale or exchange on the market, will not
exist. The system of wage labour will be abolished and the guiding principle of
labour will be “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” The
means of production will be held communally and private property will be
eliminated. With the abolition of classes and class distinctions, all social
and political inequality arising from them will disappear. The conflicts of
interest between workers and farmers, town and country, manual and intellectual
labour will disappear. As classes will not exist, the state will not be
necessary as an instrument of class rule and will wither away.
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