The word “socialism” has been so misused for so long that it is well worth re-stating its basic principles. Socialist revolution is the most radical break with oppression and exploitation in history. Socialism is not some Utopian scheme. Capitalism has created the economic conditions for socialism. Today there is social production but no social ownership. Socialism will bring social ownership of social production. The Socialist Party comes before you as a body advocating the principles of socialism. We seek a change in the basis of society - a change which would end the distinctions of classes and nationalities. Socialism will mean real freedom.
The Socialist Party of Great Britain, not to be confused with the Socialist Party of England and Wales (ex-Militant Tendency), can be dated back to the Social Democratic Federation from which it split in 1904. The SPGB has an inherently hostile attitude to "leadership" which predates the rise of Bolshevism and relates to their originating in a split with the Social Democratic Federation led by a certain H. M. Hyndman who was quite an authoritarian character by all accounts. An avowedly Marxist party, it eschews Leninism, nationalism and war. Its basic objective is:
“The establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole community.”
This is to be achieved through democratic elections and presently prevailing institutions, an outcome which the SPGB admits is beyond its present capabilities at this point but which we seek to hasten through political activity and consciousness raising. The road to the new society had lengthened and become rather overgrown with weeds. Socialism, communism and capitalism are among the most misused words in the world. A clarification of terms is necessary for us if we are to obtain clear visions of the future.
Socialism would entail the free association of the world's people, with every associate a co-owner of the entire world's vast array of resources, natural and human made. The global community would collectively make decisions on matching their needs with available resources. This would mean the end of wage labour, i.e. the selling of one's ability to work in order to gain access to social wealth, an end to separate nations and enterprises, an end to money and all forms of exchange. Once such social relations were to mature, becoming an unconscious element of daily activity, earth would become a big commune, and its way of living would be known as communism.
Capital is a social relation, a relation between people expressed through things. Goods were exchanged in previous social systems although the scope of exchange was much more limited and its occurrence much less frequent. But in capitalism, labour power becomes a commodity, something to be bought and sold. Workers sell their available time in return for the money needed to reproduce themselves as workers. In return, those few who own or control the means of production and/or investment funds, be they corporate owners or state bureaucrats, obtain control over the workers' time and energy, and thus can require them to produce beyond their needs. The capitalists' control of the products means that by selling them, they can potentially draw a profit from the surplus (beyond expenses) which is thereby produced. Some of this profit is used for their own consumption and vital but unproductive expenses, such as running the government and keeping track of money. But profits are primarily for reinvestment in profit-making activity. This is how investments grow. And growth is capital's reason for living, its ultimate priority, even if growth requires war. Capitalism’s survival, as well as its potential overthrow, depend on the working class.
Our socialist theory of society is that:
1. The capitalist class owns and controls the means of production.
2. The working class neither owns nor controls the means of production.
3. As a result, the working class lives by producing wealth for the capitalist class.
The working class accepts the necessity of its dependence upon the capitalist class for permission to work for it, to get wages from it, and to buy means of consumption from it in order to live. The working class rationally resigns itself to continuous exploitation under capitalism as a tamed dog rationally continues serving its master to survive off its master’s scraps.
Socialism means that the means of production are owned and controlled by society so that what is produced can be shared out according to people’s needs. Socialism is founded on the idea of equality. Production is for need, not profit. One central point is that state ownership is not socialism. Socialism will not mean government control. Nationalisation aims to reach compromises with and to make concessions to the working class while leaving the present system of capital and wages still intact and in operation: no number of merely administrative changes, until the workers are in possession of all political power, would make any real approach to socialism. Socialism means that the wealth of society is spent on everyone.
The whole wealth of the capitalist system comes from the labour of workers. Without that labour nothing would function and no profits would accrue to the capitalists. Although we produce all the wealth of society, we have no control over its production or distribution. The people are treated as a mere appendage to capital - as a part of its machinery. To get those profits capitalists have always controlled workers in their workplaces and kept wages as low as they could. This creates degrees of bitterness and resentment. This often turns into feelings of solidarity. The Socialist Party aims for the realisation of socialism and well knows that this can never happen in any one country without the help of the workers of all nations. For us neither geographical boundaries, political history, race, nor creed makes rivals or enemies; for us,there are no borders, but only fellow-workers whose mutual sympathies are perverted by groups of our masters whose interest it is to stir up rivalries and hatreds between those in different lands.
Whether or not socialism is destined to arise, the purpose of socialists consists of educating our fellow-workers, in making them aware of their class condition. To win for socialism the greatest possible number of supporters, that is the task to which socialist parties must concentrate their efforts, using all peaceful means.
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