Unity, unity, unity

WORLD SOCIALISM
ONE WORLD ONE PEOPLE

Much political abuse has been levelled against The Socialist Party because of the fact that from its inception it has steadfastly set itself against the advocacy of palliatives or improvements that strengthen the existing system of Society. No other party in this country occupies a similar position. The Socialist Party must pursue the straight and uncompromising course and steer clear of the vote-chasing, office-seeking, and careerist methods of capitalist politics. There is no mystery about the principles, policy or internal organisation of our party; there are no cliques or job-hunters. The party’s methods are too democratic to allow of that. We are a group of working men and women who have laid down a set of principles and a policy that are clear and definite and are carried out by methods that leave no room for the crafty to achieve either privilege or self-importance. All our meetings are open to the public, because we have nothing to hide. We are not “intellectuals”; we just know what we want and are determined to get it. We are neither intolerant nor bitter towards our fellow workers. We know that the mass of those who support the Labour Party, the Left and others, are honest, sincere, and self-sacrificing in their efforts. It is the foundation and policy of the other parties that is wrong, and that allows groups of self-seekers to climb on the backs of their fellows and to twist the enthusiasm of the workers to their own private ends. There are "labour Leaders” who are sincere though misguided, but, in the main, it is the trickster who flourishes in the “labour movement ” and forms close corporations for the sharing of offices and emoluments. We are only intolerant and bitterly opposed to the existing order of society and the shams in which it cloaks its fierce oppression.

The Socialist Party view of life is essentially historical. That is to say, we take the widest possible view of human experience. Old facts and new facts alike provide food for his mind, and having inwardly digested them, he reviews ideas, both new and old, in the light of the knowledge so obtained. In all this, we follow the scientific method. The stage of social life is our laboratory. By abstract analysis we discover the inner forces of that life and, having traced their laws, we comprehend the play; but we are not an inactive spectator merely. We are also one of the players, and understanding is necessary to the effective performance of our part. For the drama of human development has reached a crisis.

There is no fundamental distinction between the workers by “hand" and those by "brain." In fact, all workers have to use both, and because all of them have to sell their working ability, whatever its character, to an employer for a livelihood, all of them belong to that economic category, the working-class. The office staff, technician, and specialists, and many other of the “superior" sections of the workers face the same problems, generally speaking, as the shop-floor workers. All those problems can be traced to one root cause—the private ownership of the means of living. In many cases, the position of the professional workers and clerks is worse than that of their “manual" brethren. When in work, it is a constant struggle to keep up appearances; when out of work, some do not even get the dole. And automation and rationalisation have wrought havoc in their ranks, too. Therefore, the Socialist Party does not select particular sections of the working-class for special mention.

Misunderstanding of the Socialist case is prevalent amongst all grades of workers to-day. Professional workers do not possess some mental kink which will make it impossible for us to convert them. Even in snobbish suburbia cannot withstand for ever the bitter lessons which capitalism is teaching. Socialism stands primarily for the recognition of the fact that the working-class, nine-tenths of the population here, cannot live without getting permission to use the land, the factories, railways, etc., from the capitalists who own them. This means nothing but slavery and exploitation for all working-men and women, no matter what their jobs are. And therefore, we of the Socialist Party ask you, whether you are “suits” or “overalls” to join us? Because the task we have set ourselves is the most vital of all, the task of taking the means of life out of the hands of the minority and securing them for common ownership.

The condition of the working class, despite its traditional persuasion to the contrary, is that of a slave class. Its dependence under existing conditions upon the permission of the capitalist class for its livelihood is a fact. Class economic dependence means class subjection, no matter how much freedom may be apparent on the surface of the lives of those enslaved. It is a law of history that a class subjected must, if it is to win its emancipation, gain power, political power, from those who hold it in subjection, so as to build up a set of social conditions in harmony with its own interest. In other words, a dominant class simply does not run human society to suit the interests of those whom it dominates; to attempt to do so would result in its social suicide. But a ruling class does, because of its desire to retain its supremacy, placate its subject class with measures of “social amelioration." And this is one of the most potent forces for obscuring the basic cause of the class division. What is ambiguously styled as "the inertia of the human mind," when taken to mean the slowness of the human mind to move along lines of social change, is also one of the contributory causes of the persistence of class society. The Socialist Party urges the workers to think below the surface of things and they will find that many of the ideas they have are but based upon the mere appearance of conditions instead of upon their underlying causes.