Industrial feudalism?

"While theologians are disputing the existence of a hell elsewhere, we are on the way to realising it here: and if capitalism is to endure, whatever may become of men when they die, they will come into hell when they are born." - William Morris

The goal of the Socialist Party is to replace capitalism with the economic and social democracy of socialism. The fact the goal is a lofty and ambitious one should not discourage people from seeking a better life. Socialism was born in response to the grave social problems generated by capitalism's uses of technology. Socialism grew out of the profound disruption of society capitalism caused. It was the pitiless and inhumane uses to which capitalism put the technology at its disposal to exploit human labor that made the socialist movement necessary. Socialism is not an idea that fell from the skies, but a natural response to the material conditions and social relations that took shape as the capitalist system of production developed. While technological advances have brought and will continue to bring profound changes to the manufacturing process, they are being used to increase the quantity of manufactured goods, but doing it by intensifying the exploitation of a dwindling number of workers. It is absolutely certain that capitalism will continue to introduce new and increasingly sophisticated technology into industry. It is a certainty that millions more workers will be forcibly evicted from the economy -- and not only workers in the manufacturing and extractive industries but millions who now hold service and so-called "white-collar" jobs. Indeed, that process is already well underway. Promises that "post- industrial" capitalism would create new and "high-paying" jobs to replace those that have been eliminated have proven hollow. A capitalist future of profound social dislocation and human misery is an absolute certainty because of the economic laws on which capitalism is based -- laws which compel every capitalist concern to strive for the greatest possible profit at the lowest possible cost. That can only mean one thing. It can only mean that permanent joblessness is the only future that millions -- perhaps the majority -- of workers can look forward to as long as capitalism survives.

However, the socialist movement has always recognised the tremendous material possibilities technological advances offer for eliminating the poverty, misery and suffering it has engendered -- not of its own accord, but as a direct result of the capitalist system of private ownership of the productive forces created by human labor and ingenuity. The whole purpose of the socialist movement, therefore, is to solve the grave social problems resulting from the march of technology monopolized by a numerically insignificant capitalist class so that the magnificent possibilities modern advances in new technologies hold out may benefit all of humanity. Accordingly, the socialist movement also sees in robotics and automation the productive instruments for the attainment of its goal.

At some stage in the mass displacement of workers by modern technology the fear that already touches millions of workers will mature into the awareness that they must act in their own defense. The understanding will grow that there is no solution to the problem within the capitalist system. Thought, discussion, enlightenment will produce action. The real question, therefore, is: At what stage will this occur? It is, of course, possible that the workers may remain apathetic even while the ranks of chronically unemployed grow to massive proportions. We do not think that they will, and we shall do all in our power to ensure that they won't. Nevertheless, it is possible. In this case, society would move into an era of what could be described as industrial feudalism which, while it would not last forever, might keep the workers in a state of industrial servitude for decades and decades to come. It is to avert such social regression that the Socialist Party works so hard to urge the organisation of the workers in accord with their class interests, and the consolidation of their power as society's producers.