The majority of the people, too, face an oppressive system even more powerful. They confront the domination of a small capitalist class of the wealth, and which thrives on the labour of the working majority. Under the domination of this small ruling class, political freedoms are being eroded; the power of monopolies and government bureaucracy grows; militarisation, economic exploitation and inevitable and rapidly approaching environmental suicide. If democracy means control of society by the majority of the people, then democracy does not exist. The tyranny of the aristocracy which ruled through the king has been replaced by the tyranny of a capitalist class which rules through its political servants. Every revolution means getting rid of the old order and building the new. To accomplish this will require the most organized and conscious revolutionary movement in history.
It means organising all working people into the One Big Party and the On Big Union, a movement that takes the shape of working class itself. The Socialist movement speaks to the needs and problems of the people in a way no other political party can. It ties all the many and varied problems confronting workers today, from economic crises to racism, from eroding democratic rights to environmental destruction, back to their common origins in the system of capitalism. It bears the basic reason why people increasingly dissatisfied with the oppression and deteriorating quality of life have not been able to gain the freedom and security they've sought for decades. The obvious reality is that the great majority of people have no control over their lives and no way to ensure even the basic necessities of life for themselves and their families. In every sphere of society, they confront the rule of an economic elite whose ideas and interests predominate.
The Socialist Party cuts through superficial excuses for this inequality and gets to its root. It shows that tinkering with the system as it is, or waiting for "better times," or relying on politicians, are ways that the class that owns and controls keeps the majority from challenging its domination. Anything short of a revolutionary change is a formula for leaving control of society right where it is, in the status quo ruling-class hands, no matter how that control may be modified. Capitalist political power will be used, as it is today, to exploit workers on the job, to rape the environment for profit, and to amass mountains of wealth for the few. It will keep pitting worker against worker, race against race, and sex against sex, fighting over scraps while the capitalist class reaps the harvest. The owning class will continue to use its monopoly on the means of life to shape the entire course of nations. If control of the State remains where it is now, governments will remain an instrument for advancing the interests of a ruling minority against the rest. It will continue to serve business interests at home and abroad. The repression and deceit which have become daily practice will grow more drastic and dangerous. The system will head toward ever-worsening crises and more conflicts.
To change this course the political and economic power of society must be transferred from the ruling class to the working majority. In essence, this is what socialism is all about. Socialism does not mean control by the state, or domination by one party, or the regulation and legislation of capitalist rule with more reforms and palliatives. It means the transfer of power over all social institutions and operations to the people themselves and their communities.
Have you ever had to go on strike? Most of us have and for pretty familiar reasons. Sometimes it's the only way we can win a decent wage, especially when the cost of living is rising fast. Sometimes it's the only way to fight back against working conditions that are going from bad to worse. Other times it's necessary to defend a co-worker who's been treated unfairly... and to stop the practice before it happens to someone else. There are plenty of problems workers face that can force us out on strike. And while none of us want to risk our jobs or incomes, a strike is often the only weapon we have to fight for our rights.
The one weapon workers have -- the right to strike -- is constantly under attack. Public opinion is immediately whipped up against the strikers. The courts pass injunctions and the police harass pickets. The press writes indignant editorials and loud demands are raised for tougher anti-strike laws. The whole campaign to curb the right to strike is a step toward disarming workers in their struggle for economic survival. The overwhelming majority of people have only their labour power to sell and they survive by selling it to the employing class. If they give up the elementary right to withhold that labor or bargain for a better price or better conditions, they become little more than slaves. No one "enjoys" strikes, least of all workers and their families who lose their incomes while bosses live off past profits. Strikes, at best, are defensive actions. To really get to the heart of our economic problems, we have to change the whole economic system that repeatedly forces us to fight for a decent living.
Such revolutionary changes can only come through the direct activity of the people themselves. They must break with the illusion that they have to endure capitalism forever, or are powerless to change society. Through their conscious political and economic organisation, they can not only overturn class-ruled society but, in the same process, build a better one in its place. Politically workers must draw together in a party that stands for their own collective interests. For too long workers have relied on capitalist politicians to speak for them. They must build their own political organisation, to challenge the domination of the capitalist class and help all workers realise how socialism serves their needs, and how it can be won. But a political party by itself is not enough. Socialism means more than a change in ideas, or a different set of political figures in government. It means that the masses of working people must build the new forms of socialist organisation and administration. Building a movement for this kind of economy requires a long struggle. It also requires the defence of the few rights we have now -- like the right to strike. If we lose those rights, the fight for a democratic socialist economy will be even harder to win.
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