Beyond empty promises

Having experienced the detrimental effects of the 2007/8 Great Recession already economists are the harbingers of more economic black clouds on the horizon. The future financial and commercial conditions they are forecasting will bring another depression, unemployment for millions, with the all consequent suffering and misery. This is the reality of the capitalist world, economic crashes and widespread misery and suffering. Capitalism has played its part in the history of mankind. It is no longer workable. It must be uprooted and destroyed, and a new system of production built in its place. We are socialists who believe that capitalism — as a system centered on capital accumulation and profit — is inherently a system of inequality, injustice, and war. We seek a social system where wealth is not in the hands of the few but is owned and controlled by the people.

Our enemy is capitalism. In order to fight the enemy and win, we have to understand the enemy. Capitalism dominates our economic system. Under capitalism, a handful who own the factories, the mines, the land farms, and control the wealth that the majority of the people produce. It is this system that we are fighting. Capitalism organizes globally. Rival capitalists compete intensely for growth and profits. Under capitalism, you either destroy the competition or are destroyed yourself. This drive sends business around the world, seeking cheaper raw materials. Capitalism continuously seeks cheaper labor costs. This is why we see so many plants closing down, out-sourcing and moving off-shore.  The state – the government and the legal system – were set up and developed to serve the interests of capitalism, to uphold the rights of property over of the people. Capitalism is a system of coercion and violence. Poverty is built into its operation. The capitalist class needs to maintain its grip on the levers of power. History has shown again and again that the capitalists will stop at nothing to maintain their wealth and power. Capitalist ‘democracy’ is protected by the threat of force.

Many people are beginning to think it already too late for mankind to survive. We believe that humankind is not doomed despite all the frightful threats: nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare, the destruction of the environment the global warming from greenhouse effect destruction of the tropical forests, desertification of large parts of Africa and Asia and the epidemic-scale disease catastrophes, , not to mention nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare. That’s why we need socialism, and that’s why are socialists. Apocalyptic doom can be avoided. The problems are social ones. The solution is a society in which greed, the desire to accumulate wealth regardless of the cost do not determine economic behaviour. We need power in the hands of social forces which can prevent the ruling class and their corporations from imposing their will on society. Power needs to be in the hands of the people willing to let solidarity, cooperation and generosity prevail by democratic means over short-sighted pecuniary gain. It is not a question of awareness. The vested interests are not ignorant of the ecological dangers they risk. They even try to take them into consideration, include them in their economic planning and projection, but under the pressure of competition and profit , they are forced to act in such a way that the threat remains.

What socialism is all about is for the greatest possible number of people to decide their own fate in all key parts of their lives. It is the employing and owning class who plead for minority rule over and above that freedom – the freedom of people to decide in a democratic way which priorities to apply to production and how to produce and distribute. It is the capitalist class who argue that this freedom should be subordinated to the rule of market laws, rule by the oligarchs and plutocrats rich, rule by the technocrats, rule by the government and by The Party. Only the democratically organised self-activity of the people can achieve socialism, a social order in which the majority decide their own fate in a free way.

The task of The Socialist Party is basic socialist education and propaganda. Humanity cannot be saved without substituting for this present society a fundamentally different society. You can call it anything you want to, the label makes little difference, but its contents have to be specified, the substance of which being accepted only if it is considered radically emancipatory on a world scale without exception. There is no better way for a person in this world than to dedicate one’s life to this great cause. We urge fellow-workers who wish to fight for a better world, for socialism, to become members of the Socialist Party.