" The emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves. We cannot, therefore, co-operate with people who openly state that the workers are too uneducated to emancipate themselves and must be freed from above by philanthropic big bourgeois and petty bourgeois.’ (1879, Marx and Engels)
We are not left wing. Left-wing, right-wing are all capitalism. They retain the waged slavery system and amount to, "meet the new boss, same as the old one". The Socialist Party is Britain's oldest socialist party. Socialism is the post-capitalist society and not some tinkering about with an irreformable capitalism.
The purpose of any capitalist government is to manage the affairs of the capitalist class. Its moral root is fertilised by the search for profit. By enabling the continued extracting of as much surplus value from those in work and reducing the maintenance costs of those, not in work they full fill their civic duty, moral compasses fully set, for the service of Mammon. Capitalism is well past its sell by date. Time for a world, commonly owned, a society of free access. State control is state capitalism. It is a left-capitalism and not a communist or socialist proposition. Socialism/Communism/Marxism is a post-capitalist society, where the means of production and distribution are owned in common, by us all and not the state. There is NO means of exchange, as it is a free access society and the absence of a leading economic elite, renders the state also, obsolete.
Abolish the wages system and take everything into common ownership. With common ownership, production for use and free access, there will be no commodity production of goods for sale for the profit of a minority. Therefore no need for prices, wages are but the price of the workers, commodity "labour power". Some trade union banners have the slogan, "the abolition of the wages system" written on them. With real common ownership, (not state or government ownership) democratic control by us all and crucially, production for use, we enter the post-capitalist society or socialism/communism as correctly understood.
The wage is basically a ration which provides subsistence for the wage slave. It consists of so much food, clothing, shelter and an amount for bringing up the next generation of wage slaves to toil or even die in war for, the parasite owning capitalist class. So the workers commodity, (labour power) not only produces all wealth but reproduces itself, exceptional for a commodity, as a source for further future exploitation. As there is no such thing as a "Fair day's pay for a fair day's work", in a market system, where wages as a price conform to market principles for the purpose of profitable exploitation, seemingly advantageous situations for workers, as in the example of across the board £ increases rather than percentage ones, are just a reflection of workers bargaining strength at the time. We should focus our attention on getting rid of capitalism. There are no “fair do's” in a capitalist market system. It is time long past for a brand new post-capitalist social system. One which is owned by us all, in which production is for use and not for sale.
We have been accused of using jargon. Sorry if it appears so. Some also get the idea that we are happy to decry people who call, themselves socialists. But we are delighted if they identify with socialism as the way forward for humanity. However, socialism has been misrepresented sufficiently, not only by the ruling capitalist class, but by some who would consider themselves its adherents.
For instance the Labour Party which was never a socialist party but existed a a combination of Liberals and trade union reformers, with the purpose of gaining reforms for working people, rather than the overthrow of existing social relations of production, some with the view that capitalism could gradually be reformed into something it was not, known as “gradualists”, provides a convenient stick for unabashed supporters of capitalism to show that socialism doesn't work when the inevitable crisis of capitalism emerges from the trade cycle of capitalism. Effectively a failure of capitalism and its unreformable nature becomes a propaganda tool to beat socialists with, yet socialists of my kind have pointed out since 1904 the inevitability of gradualism becoming absorbed into the capitalist political mainstream. It is incumbent upon socialists to point this out, as it would be a gross dereliction of our educational responsibility not to do so.
Similarly, when the Russian revolution occurred, it was also incumbent upon us to show how this could NOT be a socialist revolution. But an attempt to kick start capitalist development upon a largely rural, peasant and feudal system. We welcomed initially, the ending of Russia's involvement in the slaughter of WW1. Yet, by August 1918 we had cut through the crap,"....Unless a mental revolution such as the world has never seen before has taken place, or an economic change has occurred immensely more rapidly than history has recorded, the answer is “No!”
The explanation for this conclusion is here.
http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1910s/1918/no-168-august-1918/revolution-russia-where-it-fails
Socialism isn't 57 varieties despite politically manipulated appearances. It has a definition. i.e. the common ownership and democratic control of all the means and instruments for creating and distributing wealth. (NB, no means of exchange as it is a free access society.) As it requires the support and active participation of the immense majority who are politically aware of its implementation being indeed, a revolutionary break with the capitalist mode of production for sale and introduction of the socialist/communist/post capitalist mode of production for use.
Socialism/Communism/Marxism is a post-capitalist society, where the means of production and distribution are owned in common, by us all and not the state. There is NO means of exchange ,as it is a free access society and the absence of a leading economic elite, renders the state also, obsolete. In a socialist society, a real one, not a capitalist reformist pretend one, we won't need any classes or political leadership, as we will have local, regional and global control over all the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth, in a commonly owned world, of production for use and free access, "From each according to their abilities to each according to their needs", with recallable delegates where we need to delegate administrative tasks.
Why settle for crumbs from the tables of the rich. We have a world to win.
Dissolve governments with their weasel words and their political management of us. Any reforms brought in will be dismantled in an 'inevitable' economic downturn, as capitalism cannot be managed, except in the interests of the economic parasite class. All government is over you. Elect yourself to own the world in common with your fellow workers worldwide. In a socialist society, a real one, not a capitalist reformist pretend one, we won't need any classes or political leadership, as we will have local, regional and global control over all the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth, in a commonly owned world, of production for use and free access, "From each according to their abilities to each according to their needs", with recallable delegates where we need to delegate administrative tasks.
A cartoon version of Robert Tressell's classic, "The Great Money Trick".
Wee Matt
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