Socialism is no pipe-dream

“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.