“Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do” - John Lennon
By common ownership, we are not proposing the Big Brother nightmare of all the planet's resources being owned and controlled by a single World Government. By common ownership we mean there should be no private property or territorial rights over any part of the globe. The Earth and its natural and industrial resources should not belong to anybody – not to individuals, not to corporations, not to nation-states. They should simply be there to be used by human beings to satisfy their needs. What we are proposing is that private property rights and territorial rights over any part of the planet should be abolished. This is the only basis on which we as the human species can set about arranging our relationship with the rest of Nature in a rational and ecological way so that the planet becomes a habitable place for all of us.
Socialism cannot be established in one country. Socialism can only be a world-wide system and socialists do not defend capitalist national independence. On the contrary, one of our criticisms of capitalism is precisely that it has divided the world into competing and armed sovereign nations whose conflicts mean that war is always going on in some part of the world. What we want is not national independence but a socialist world without frontiers.
A united humanity, sharing a world of common interests, would also share world administration. This is the socialist alternative to the way that capitalism divides the planet into rival states and sets people against each other. Driven by class interests and profit and spurred by the attitudes of nationalism, racism, and religion, war and civil strife continue to cause death and misery.
The World Socialist Movement has always understood the change-over from capitalist government to socialist administration to involve the capture by a socialist-minded working class of the various national governments of the world to be followed by the dismantling of the coercive features of the old government machines but the retention, in adapted form, of some of the non-coercive technical functions now exercised by governments. Socialism will begin with its delegates being in control of national and local governments and from this point, the role of these bodies as part of a state machine will be replaced by the democratic organisation operating solely for the needs of communities. It follows that all the socially-useful parts of the previous state machine will be continued. At the local level these include planning, education, health and transport departments, etc.
At the national level there are useful ministries such as housing and agriculture and those which administer health and education on the broader scale. Equally, this could be done on the international scene. There is not as yet a world government but there is the United Nations. Just as on the national scale some of the institutions of the capitalist government machine could be adapted and used as part of the new socialist administration, so on the world scale could some of the institutions of the UN. There are bodies concerned with postal services, communications, air transport, ocean shipping, the weather, labour, education, agriculture and health which could form the basis of institutions for controlling these matters on a world scale in socialist society. The same principle will apply to decision-making bodies and administration such as we find with those professional and scientific associations, who regularly meet for discussion and debate to come to a consensus of opinion and also to set agreed standards.
Just as capitalism has developed powers of production that could provide every person with a comfortable and secure life so it has also developed means of organising a world of co-operation. In a socialist society, for the first time ever, the communications network which capitalism has built up and which socialism will develop even further will be used to ensure that everyone can have an input into the decisions which affect their lives on a global, regional and local basis. A world administration does not mean centralised control and power over local democracy. A system of global democratic administration in socialism need not be based in either world, regional or local spheres. We can envisage an integrated system that would be adaptable and could be used for decision-making and action on any scale between the local and the world. Practical necessity would require such adaptability. This is not to suggest that such a single agency based in New York or Geneva or wherever would be making policy decisions for everyone on the planet. Its function could be to provide information and propose various development strategies so that alternatives could be decided democratically. From where we stand now a lot of people would say that priority should be given to ecologically benign methods such as wind, wave, solar power, etc. With the freedom to make such a decision without the economic constraints of capitalism, socialism could do it. The sole motive would be the needs of people and this would be in sharp contrast to the way in which governments decide matters now from the point of view of national economic and military interests.
The importance of local democracy has to be seen in the context of modern production which is world-wide. There will be some local production for neighbourhood needs but even simple products are global. For example, a ball-point pen needs world mining, the oil industry, chemicals and world transport However, with abolition of capitalist corporations many of which duplicate their operations on a world scale it is likely that socialism would want to rationalise structure of production. This could operate from world scale extractive industries like mining to regional centres of industrial processing and manufacture and final distribution to local populations. This could correspond to a similar network of administrative levels on world, regional and local scales. An obvious example of production that has to begin from a world perspective is energy. The use of the earth's finite resources such as fossil fuels, the prediction of world energy needs, concern for the pollutants and hothouse gases in the environment, the risk of accidents, the development of benign technologies, etc., all combine to make energy policy a world issue. This is a case where in socialism a single world energy authority would have the advantage of a complete overview of the problems and would be able to draw on information from every community. The example of energy policy means that people in socialism won't only just be concerned about whether a piece of local land should be used for housing, growing food, a football pitch or left as it is. People will also be engaged with issues affecting them which extend far beyond their local horizons. So, as well as being people of their parish they would also be citizens of the world with all the opportunities for, and responsibilities of decision making and action in every sphere of life.
The importance of the mass communications from the smart mobile telephone to the laptop is not only for their potential for enjoyment and amusement, they are just as important as means of organising administration and production. Already social media brings home to us with force and immediacy the tragic results of disasters such as earthquakes and floods. Even in the cynical, alienated world of capitalism people do what they can to help and with the resources available in socialism world organisation would move swiftly to minimise the damage and the suffering. So, as well as the face-to-face contacts of our daily lives at work, home, at the shops, in the library, at the football pitch or leisure centre with friends, neighbours and relatives, and as well as our part in local affairs, at the same time we would be involved with all other people in world issues and events of every kind.
Federalists aim at world administration but they are talking about world government—a world capitalist state. People would still be class divided and subject to all the tyrannies and insecurities of the profit system. In any case, governments are not going to give up the economic interests of the class they represent in favour of world administration. Only the workers of all countries share a real interest in working to establish a world based on common ownership where all means of production and all resources will be held in common by all people. Production would organised through voluntary co-operation and part of that co-operation will be the work of deciding what should be done in the interest of the whole community and then acting on those decisions. This is the basis on which the world communications and administrative bodies which have been developed for the objectives of capitalism can be used for the whole population.
The solution is indeed one world without frontiers and without states, but not a world government presiding over a world capitalist economy. World socialism is a world community without frontiers where all the resources of the Earth have become the common heritage of all humanity, to be used for the benefit of all people. That we have no country but still have a world to win is still our best slogan and the best hope for all people.
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