There are just two classes in this world. One owns tools it cannot use, and the other uses tools it does not own. The capitalists have the tools, which they cannot use. Working people have not the tools, without which they cannot live. Socialism comes because nothing else can come. The competitive system has become disastrous; it was useful, for it paved the way to the socialist commonwealth. The Socialist Party’s goal is to organise the large working mass in the whole world for the overthrow of capitalism, the emancipation of the toilers from oppression and exploitation and the establishment of the socialist commonwealth. It shall carry out a wide agitation and propaganda of the principles of social revolution for the purpose of overthrowing the capitalist system.
The Socialist Party stands for the socialist cooperative commonwealth. The only issue for the working class is the abolition of the wage system and to rescue themselves from their commodity status in modern society. Knowledge and experience have demonstrated that no reform under capitalism can be of any benefit to the working class as a whole. The revolutionary spirit seeks to make changes as great as can effectively be made, the reforming spirit seeks to make changes as little as can effectively be made. History is a chronicle of the slavery of the working class in many forms -chattel slavery, serfdom, wage-slavery. At various periods one group of exploiters has wrested the power from another—kings from priests, barons from kings, merchants from barons, plutocrats from them all; but always the workers have toiled, and always the product of their labour has been taken from them. Capitalism can no longer satisfy even their most elementary daily needs. Many attempts have been made by the workers to overthrow their exploiters, and to enjoy the fruits of their labour, in the words of John Ball, “without money and without price.” Today the workers are becoming conscious of their power and ability to win the world. When the working class heaves its giant shoulders like Atlas , the entire superstructure of Capitalism cracks and falls in ruins. Socialism is the hope of the whole working class. A classless socialist commonwealth cannot be attained without the overthrow of the rule of capitalism. To accomplish this aim is the mission of the working class.
Under state-capitalism the important industrial plants, the means of transport, and trading belong to the State. In the hands of the government, they are run on a profit basis. Thus enormous power is concentrated in the hands of the government. A powerful bureaucratic machine springs up ready to crush the individual citizen. The State is everybody’s employer, everybody’s landlord, everybody’s tradesman. The individual citizen finds himself completely at the mercy of the State. State capitalism, therefore, always develops strong tendencies towards dictatorship. Workers need to stand together against the worldwide system of oppression and exploitation that is capitalism.
Socialists often hear the comment that "Socialism is a good idea but it’s not practical." But today it’s becoming more apparent than ever that it is the present system — capitalism — that is impractical and unworkable. The quality of life is deteriorating. Reforms will not change the condition of working people. Working people are moving into action in defense of their rights and everywhere there is a searching for a solution to the problems confronting working people. We, in the Socialist Party, stands for a socialist society: where ownership and control of the means of production are taken out of the hands of the tiny minority of capitalists and placed in the hands of the majority — the workers. The capitalist system is run for the profits of the few, not the needs of the majority.
Working people can be educated to socialism, but they cannot be driven, lured, or bulldozed into it. The socialist conception of the world process is not cataclysmic. Socialists have come to build, not to destroy. For in this way alone shall the world be freed forever from war and oppression, from hunger and ignorance. Capitalism — the rule of business — must be abolished. The needs of working people can only be met by creating a planned economy, where ownership and control of production and distribution are taken from the tiny minority of capitalists and placed in the hands of the working people, to be run democratically. When the vast resources available to us are used to serve the needs of all instead of the profits of the few then the way will be opened for unparalleled growth in culture, freedom and the development of every individual. Such a society is worth fighting for. Capitalism has had its day and is doomed. Socialism is dawning.
The ruling class has no use for us because we know them, and they know we know them. We did not begin this class struggle, as others charge, but we are going to end it for others.
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