Putting the "NOW" Into Socialism

“The economists have changed Marx, in various ways; the point is to interpret him — correctly.” Andrew Kliman

Socialism is not a too complicated doctrine to understand. Socialism is a theory of a system of human society, based on the common ownership of the means of production and the carrying on of the work of production by all for the benefit of all. In other words, socialism means that the land, the transport networks, the mines and mills, the factories and offices, and all such things as are necessary for the production of the necessaries and comforts of life should be public property, just as our public roads, our public parks and our public libraries are public property today, so that all these things should be used by the whole people to produce the goods that the whole of the people require.

The most obvious obstacle to the socialist transformation of society is the simple fact that most workers are not socialists. Indeed most workers accept capitalism, believe it can’t be changed, and view socialists who want to change it as idealists.  Capitalist society is founded on the principles of private property and the profit motive – and therefore is thought of as ‘natural’. Capitalist ideas seem to make sense because they reflect the world as we experience it. Businesses are run for profit and society is divided into owners and the property-less classes – so to believe these things are ‘natural’ seems simple commonsense. As Marx put it: ‘the ruling ideas of any age will be the ideas of the ruling class’.

Socialism cannot be created on behalf of workers, but must be the act of the working class itself, how can this happen when the working class is dominated by capitalist ideas? Workers’ ideas clearly cannot simply be changed on a mass scale by socialist propaganda. A socialist journal such as Socialist Standard even if it became a daily newspaper can’t match the operations of the millionaire-owned press. This doesn’t mean attempts by socialists to spread their ideas through newspapers, pamphlets and books is irrelevant or unnecessary. They are vital elements of the battle of ideas.

The basic premise of socialists is that the operation of capitalism itself drives workers into revolt against the system. The spread of socialist ideas must also have a material base; just as capitalist ideas dominate workers’ thinking because they reflect their daily experience, so the spread of socialist ideas will reflect changes in that daily experience. It is often supposed that the more people suffer, the more revolutionary they become. But if this were so, then the revolution would have happened long ago. In fact it is not suffering, but the experience of resistance against suffering that forms the material basis for the growth of socialist ideas. If the intensity of class struggle is high, then socialist ideas can spread like wildfire as workers’ confidence in their ability to change their own lives rises, and they become more able to see that alternatives to capitalism are possible. The transformation of working class consciousness is astonishing. All the mental energy that workers previously frittered away on a hundred and one diversions is suddenly directed towards trying to deal with the problem of how to change society. Millions of people working on such problems produce solutions of amazing ingenuity.

But socialist ideas have to be there, ready to inform those class struggles, to articulate and generalise and ready to prove their practical relevance by pointing to the way forward. The trade unions fight for shorter working hours, higher wages and better working conditions for their members but socialist parties fight for the liberty, equality, fraternity of all human beings. The world will only be guaranteed security, democracy and peace only when it is run on an entirely different basis than it is now; only when a socialist system replaces the present capitalist one. The capitalist ownership of the means of production and distribution means the exploitation of the great majority by a small minority; that brings recurring wars and constantly undermines democracy. Therefore the aim of the Socialist Party is the ending of capitalism and the building of a new socialist society. Its features are unique, not shared by any other section of the labour movement. They enable it to make an essential contribution to the growth of socialist understanding.

Contrary to the ideas spread by some on the Left, it is not the aim of the Socialist Party to undermine, weaken or split the labour movement. As Marxian socialists we sincerely desire the strengthening of the working class. We believe that to consistently explain socialist ideas will help its development. Without clear socialist aims the class struggle will lose significance. The dominant ideas continue to be the ideas of the ruling class. One way to oppose this is by education in socialist ideas. Fellow workers who are new to socialism require to be taught the rudiments of the its analysis of how society has developed and can be changed, to learn the lessons of past working class struggles, how we can understand the modern world, and the basics of the capitalist economy. While workers who are already socialists need continually to deepen their understanding of these matters, so that they can cope with all the arguments thrown against them.

 There are two roads open to the people of the world today. We can continue along the route of capitalism or we can take the socialist path.