We have a Dream

“Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That's the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr.

Socialism is not some Utopian scheme. Capitalism has created the economic conditions for socialism in the world. Today there is social production but no social ownership. Socialism will bring social ownership of social production. With socialism, the working people will take over the economic forces developed by capitalism and operate them in the interests of society. Because the working people will control the great wealth they produce, they will be fundamentally able to determine their own futures. The end of exploitation of one person by another will be an unprecedented liberating and transforming force. Socialism will not mean government control. Today we often hear of government control of the railroads or post office as socialism. But under capitalism the state serves the interests of the ruling capitalist class. Government involvement in the economy is a form of state capitalism. When the government intervenes in the economy, it does so to help, not hurt, capitalism.

What, then, will socialism look like? The specific exact features of socialism will emerge as the struggle against capitalism develops and evolves but our vision of socialism can be generalised. There will be no basis for billionaires or paupers.

The means of production – the factories, mines, mills, workshops, offices, agricultural fields, transportation system, media and mass communications, medical facilities, retailers, etc., will be transformed into social property – common ownership. Private ownership of the main means of production will end. The economy will be geared not to the interest of profit, but to serving human needs. This will release the productive capacity of the economy from the limitations of profit maximisation. A great expansion of useful production and the wealth of society will become possible. Rational economic planning will replace the present anarchistic system. Coordination and planning of the broad outlines of production by administrative agencies will aim at building an economy that will be stable, benefit the people, and steadily advance. Because capitalism already has a developed and centralised economy, socialism’s main task will be to reorient this structure towards social needs. Redirecting the productive capacity to human needs will require a variety of economic methods and some experiment. There could be a combination of central planning and local coordination. Working people will assume administration of the economy, manage democratically through workers’ and community councils. The people will elect officials and delegates at all levels. There will be the right of recall and referendum. Various policies might be used, depending on what will be appropriate to changing conditions. But no matter what means are chosen, a socialist economy must uphold the basic principles of common ownership, production for the people’s needs, and the elimination of exploitation. The protection of the environment would be ensured.

Standing in the way of social progress and socialism is the capitalist class, composed of the owners and administrators of the huge multinational banks and corporations that control the economic life and whose power extends far beyond the boundaries of nation-states to control the destinies of millions of others around the globe. These capitalists are very wealthy and live off the exploited labor of others.

The working class is the class that is most systematically and brutally exploited by capitalism, and is the most revolutionary class. The working class is composed of all wage earners – mental and manual, urban and rural – whether in basic industry, manufacturing, service, farm, sales, domestic, clerical, public, or other jobs. The working class is composed of skilled and unskilled, employed and unemployed. Some workers may make more money than some in the petty bourgeoisie, but they are still members of the working class because they do not exploit the labor of others and must sell their labor power to survive. The vast majority of people belong to the working class. The working class produces the wealth appropriated by the capitalists and its basic interest lies in the abolition of the private ownership of the means of production. It will be the leading class in the socialist revolution. The working class is worldwide, composed of workers of many different nationalities. Their common identity is that they are all exploited by the capitalist class.

Although the promise of capitalism is that it is colour-blind and a system that provides equal opportunities for all to attain upward social mobility, the empirical reality across the globe has been anything but the promise. The market system has always taken advantage of race, gender, and ethnicity to divide the working class. What a better way to co-opt a segment of the disgruntled masses and keep them divided than to have such right-wing populists who point to working people of a different race, ethnicity and religion? Divisive tactics based on race, religion and ethnicity were commonly used by European colonialists to co-opt the native population and to keep it divided, whether in Africa, India or the rest of Asia, especially in the 19th and early 20th century. In short, the tactics of European imperialists remain alive and well in 21st century. Class solidarity is the only hope for blacks, Hispanics and all working people. Solidarity exists among the black and white capitalists but not necessarily among the black and white working class.