A World To Re-Build

The Socialist Party do not contest elections with a campaign that vote for us and we promise to do something for you. We are seeking support only on the basis of agreement with the need for the common ownership and democratic control of the wealth of the world in place of the capitalist system of minority ownership and production for profit. You can’t abolish something that is endemic to the capitalist system. The most you can do is run fast to try to stand still, or even to stop falling back. A problem which is endemic to capitalism can only be solved once and for all in a new socialist society where every man, woman and child would be able to freely satisfy their needs as a matter of right. The Socialist Party seeks to get rid of capitalism and its economic law of “can’t pay, can’t have”. Capitalism is an anti-human system which doesn’t and can’t satisfy human needs, for some not even their basic needs. For instance, in regards to homelessness and the lack of decent housing, capitalism, as a production-for-profit society, produces homes as commodities for sale with a view to profit. Which is why the housing problem will exist as long as capitalism lasts. If we had a society based on common ownership and democratic control there would be no problem in providing decent homes, rent-free, for everyone as the resources and the skills exist to do this. Why should anyone have to pay for a basic need like shelter?

We stand in elections at this moment in time to raise the issue of the need for socialism and only that. We hold that global socialism, where the Earth's resources both natural and industrial have become the common heritage of all humanity, is the only framework within which the problem, for instance, of climate changes (but many other social problems too) can be effectively and lastingly tackled. We are only seeking votes and support on that basis and that it why we do not have a list of specific policies to be applied within capitalism. Also, because we hold that under capitalism profit-making will always take priority over anything else so that most such policies are never likely to be adopted anyway.

We, in the Socialist Party, hold that the market system cannot be regulated or reformed in the interests of the majority of the population - it will always work in the interests of the wealthy: if regulation worked, why is it that major corporations don't pay tax but you and I have to? Greens have no monopoly of environmental concern. The Socialist Party believes that the only way of controlling the degradation of our environment is to completely change our political system: it is about power and the Green Party lacks an adequate opposition towards real power. Capitalism will always act with contempt towards the environment, and big money will always find ways around regulation. Moreover the current trajectory is to make it harder to control big capital: look at GATT, WTO, TTIP, etc and the policies of the IMF or World Bank. Some timid and wholly inadequate measures may be agreed at international level but that’s the most that will happen under capitalism but too little, too late.

The Socialist Party accepts that global warming is taking place and that the past and present release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels is largely responsible. So, yes, there is a need to cut-back on this by employing alternative methods of generating energy. We don't think that anything effective can or will be done to achieve this as long as the capitalist economic system dominates the world.  As this is a global problem, to deal with it requires co-ordinated action on a world scale but this is proving impossible under capitalism because of vested commercial interests and the security of energy supply considerations of the various competing states into which the world is divided. It is the capitalist system of production for profit by competing enterprises that is responsible both for the existence of the problem and for impeding effective action to deal with it. The only framework within which the problem can be rationally and lastingly dealt with is where the Earth’s natural and industrial resources have become the common heritage of all humanity. We know that the scientific knowledge and the technological ability to deal effectively with the problem exist and are confident that they would be rapidly applied once world capitalism has been replaced by a world of common ownership, democratic control and production directly for use not profit. At the moment it is not possible to draw up, for implementation in a socialist world, a plan with detailed figures and objectives; all that can be done now is to outline possible scenarios, ways, and options of tackling the problem. In fact, climate scientists and others have already come up with these, but they are unlikely to be implemented as long as capitalism exists. We are sure that in a profit-free, one-world socialist society scientists will be able to come up with effective ways to do this.

We do not believe that peoples’ living standards need to be reduced to meet environmental demands. We consider that the resources exist for everyone to live well, if they were properly distributed. As things stand, the effective demand of a wealthy minority distorts economics priorities, which also leads to the creation of "status goods" which are valuable because they are valuable (sports cars, gold watches, luxury yachts, and the means of warfare). Resources and effort can be drawn away from status goods, with no loss to real living standards to the vast majority. Common ownership and democratic co-operation could means the needs of the whole of humanity, without buying and selling.

Let us bring the revolutionary ideas of the socialist movement to the fore, so as to uproot capitalism and establish a new social order. Let us sweep away the system of profit making. The workers of the world must organise to make the means of life the common property of all mankind. To provide for the needs of all and the profit of none.