Misleading Mis-leaders

FOR WORLD SOCIALISM

As to the necessity for working-class progress, its organisation has to exist. Of that, there can be no question. The point to be decided is: how shall the workers organise? Some advocate armed insurrection; and some industrial unionism or revolutionary syndicalism. But most support the ballot and palliative reforms sought through parliamentary action.  If our fellow-workers allow themselves to be misled and tricked into following those roads they will fail to free themselves from wage-slavery or even to better their condition, but will be put further into the power of our masters, and much valuable time and energy will be lost and discouragement and despair will be the result. Far better no organisation at all than a fake form which divides the workers against themselves and misleads between their interests and those of the ruling class. Capitalism gives to the worker the right to choose his or her master but insists that the fact of the master/slave relationship shall remain unquestioned.

Trade unions are organised by workers so they can successfully fight their industrial battles and advance their economic interests in their every-day struggles with capitalists. Trade unionism is an action of the workers which does not go beyond the limits of capitalism. Its aim is not to replace capitalism by another form of production, but to secure good living conditions within capitalism. Certainly, trade union activity is class struggle. There is a class antagonism in capitalism capitalists and workers have opposing interests. Not only in the question of the conservation of capitalism, but also within capitalism itself, with regard to the division of the total product. The capitalists attempt to increase their profits, the surplus value, as much as possible, by cutting down wages and increasing the hours or the intensity of labour. On the other hand, the workers attempt to increase their wages and to shorten their hours of work. Thus the antagonism becomes the object of a contest, the real class struggle. It is the task, the function of the trade unions to carry on this fight.

Capitalism is world-wide. It pays little attention to national boundary lines. The modern wage worker has neither property nor country. Ties of birth and sentiment which connect him or her with any particular country are slight and unimportant. It makes little difference what country he or she exists in, but they must have a job. Capital seeks the most profitable investment. If an American capitalist can invest more profitably in a Chinese business than an American he invests in China though he knows full well his money will finance the rival manufacturers to send American workers to the unemployment line. Capitalists often try to cover up their crimes with a cloak of patriotism, but the only patriotism they know is that of the dollar. The trade unions must not confine themselves to geographical divisions or national boundary lines but must follow the world-embracing lines of industry. The workers of all countries co-operate to carry on industry regardless of national boundary lines, and they must organise in the same way to control industry. To promote the unity of thought and action among the world’s workers, international cooperation and collaboration must be the order of the day.

A socialist party is organised to overthrow capitalism. All intelligent workers realise the capitalist system fails to supply the needs of the vast majority of the human race, and that it must be overthrown before the workers can have freedom.  When the workers are educated to the real nature of the profit system they lose all respect for the masters and their property. They see the capitalists in their true colours as thieves and parasites, and their "sacred" property rights as plunder and pillage. They see the State and the media as tools of the exploiters and they look on these institutions with contempt. They begin to understand the identity of interests of all wage workers. Organised politically, the workers are in a position to strike at the very heart of capitalism. At the polling booth, we are many and they are few.

In the socialist society, the means of production will be free to provide for the needs of the people. The capitalist profit-makers will have passed into history. Working people will be in control of industry and society. They will make poverty amid plenty impossible. The taking-over of the means of production of wealth, the factories, land, owned by a tiny handful, would banish the spectre of war, unemployment and poverty. It would mean a high standard of living for all.