The vision of socialism

We, socialists, believe that revolution will come from a politically educated working class, and from them alone. Not by a vanguard revolutionary party nor an enlightened leader. There can be no genuine revolution from above. Only we ourselves can liberate ourselves. We, thus, reject any kind of deformed socialism implying a transitional or “workers’ states. Socialism will only happen with the voluntary cooperation of each and every individual in society, and revolution will only be real if it is the mass of worker who supports it. Revolution can be achieved through an electoral process from within the bourgeois democracy itself, through a spontaneous and massive uprising of the people who overthrow government. Reformism, understood as the appliance of small changes to the capitalist system in order to better it and relieve injustice, does not approach the real solution of the problem (which is the ultimate removal of capitalism) and can even be counter-reactionary (in the classical stance of ’bread and circus' that keeps the masses calm while injustice unfolds).

Many folk have a fundamental misunderstanding of how socialism works. Their idea is that there will be a massive bureaucratic state (a mix between Scandinavian welfare capitalism and a 1984 totalitarian dictatorship) to impose constant wealth redistribution, essentially acting as a liberal philanthropist who will toss larger scraps down to the masses. This just goes to show how difficult it is for the overwhelming majority of us to think outside a capitalist bubble; this economic system has become as natural to us as the air we breathe and the water we drink. People rarely if ever imagine socialism as a system that involves the active democratization of social institutions and resources. Genuine socialism puts the creation of society’s wealth into democratic hands (as opposed to an oligarch’s or plutocrat’s hands), with the working class managing decisions and the capitalist class becoming obsolete. Co-operative production methods necessitate co-operative control. This cuts off inequality at its source and creates a freer population of people with greater power over their own destinies. It isn’t just some kind of idealistic pipe-dream. Capitalists are demonstrably obsolete already, and this fact is crystal clear even today within a wider capitalist economy. The Big Brother bureaucracy is actually a product of capitalism – more specifically, a result of its attempts to curb the contradictions and tensions innate to the system as a whole. Welfare reforms and “forced” safety standards in the workplace, for example, are attempts by the state to keep the wheels of capital ever-turning (though this doesn’t mean we should oppose them, as they usually help make life more bearable within the system). A more “human-faced” capitalism, dubbed “socialism” by conservatives and liberals alike, helps to dissolve revolutionary zeal and reposition focus towards reforms and contented feelings – “this is what they/we were fighting for all along!”

It’s also especially damning to capitalism-apologists who claim to be “anti-authoritarian” or “anti-state” – both because economic decisions are imposed on the majority in an authoritarian manner by capitalists and because the entire system requires a state to keep the gears turning, respectively. The “freedom” from government is found in capitalism narrative runs deep, and it’s one of the largest hurdles we socialists will need to traverse to get people on our side. Reforms granted from above work well within a system that already functions from above. But socialism is fundamentally a system that roots itself “from below”, all so that “above” and “below” can cease to exist. Democracy is the surest road to classlessness; we seem to understand this to a degree in the political realm, and it keeps us convinced of our supposed freedoms.

Anarchists/Socialists/Communists all seek the same goal: a class-free, state-free society, with an economy based in the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need", where the workers organise themselves and run their workplaces, where property and wages are abolished, armies and repressive forces are dissolved, and representative democracies give way to direct, participative, democracies where the words "ègalite, libertè, fraternitè" and “government of the people by the people and for the people” fulfill their meaning. This goal is called socialism and communism and 'anarchy', all terms refer to the same. All over the world, wherever the idea of democracy has taken root, the vision of socialism has taken root as well.

We don't agree with the capitalist assumption that deprivation or greed are the only reasons people work. People enjoy their work if it is meaningful and enhances their lives. They work out of a sense of responsibility to their community and society. Although a long-term goal of socialism is to eliminate all but the most enjoyable kinds of labour, we recognize that unappealing jobs will long remain. These tasks would be spread among as many people as possible rather than distributed on the basis of class, race, ethnicity, or gender, as they are under capitalism. And this undesirable work should be among the best, not the least, rewarded work within the economy. For now, the burden should be placed on the employer to make work desirable by raising wages, offering benefits and improving the work environment. In short, we believe that a combination of social, economic, and moral incentives will motivate people to work. As long as workplace organisation is understood to be one where workers report to bosses, bosses who appropriate surplus value generated by those workers, then the state will always be necessary to curb inequality. Inequality is made by a system that puts management into autocratic hands, all held in place by a state that imposes private property law that turns us into lords and serfs, owners and non-owners, propertarians and the propertyess.

Shouldn’t our society be responsive to the needs of the people? Shouldn’t we settle for nothing less than a system that sets human freedom and equality ahead of destructive greed and hierarchy?