On the Battlefield of Ideas

We in the World Socialist Movement stand for the co-operation of all people worldwide on the basis of free decision-making and democratic control. We maintain--and anyone can check this claim--that the technical means have long since reached the stage at which we can use the world's raw materials in the most economical manner so as to guarantee everyone a sufficient supply of the necessities of life, in every sense of the term. A minimum of effort--which is an obligation for all members of a community--will create a maximum of contentment, of joie de vivre, a society based on solidarity. We are convinced that neither praying to gods nor placing one's trust in enlightened leaders is of any benefit to humanity. Nor are we nationalists. Our philosophy can be summed up by the slogan: one world, one people.  Socialism is the simplest thing in the world. It is based on the voluntary co-operation of all members of society and guarantees free access to the fruits of their labour. 

 Many of our fellow-workers regard us as utopians. This is not because our ideas are unsound but because the defenders of the inhumane profit system have at their disposal a massive propaganda machine which day and night clouds people's clear vision of things. Hear us out. Talk with us. By all means question what we and others are saying, but remember one thing: the decision lies with you and with you alone. There is one world and we exist as one people in need of each other and with the same basic needs. There is far more that unites us than can ever divide us along cultural, nationalistic or religious lines.

Together we can create a civilisation worth living in, but before that happens we need the conscious cooperation of ordinary people across the world, united in one common cause-to create a world in which each person has free access to the benefits of civilization, a world without frontiers or borders, social classes or leaders and a world in which production is at last freed from the shackles of artificial constraints of profit and used for the good of humanity. The war we should advocate is that which has to be waged on the battlefield of ideas - for the hearts and minds of the world's people. And once we unite there will be no force that will stop us taking the earth into our common possession. Once we live in a world of common ownership and democratic control of resources, there will simply be no reason to kill one another in wars. No empires to build or markets to expand or profits to increase. A world without borders brings freedom of movement to a world society. With no rich elites fighting each other over land or resources, the armed workers of the world who presently kill each other in the interests of the rich will also happily find themselves unemployed and able to follow some other more constructive and less dangerous occupation.

We live in a world which has the potential to adequately feed, house and provide clean water and decent medical care for every single man, woman and child on Earth. The resources exist to banish material want as a problem for members of the human race. Yet millions throughout the world are malnourished, live in squalor or are actually dying of starvation or hunger-related diseases. World socialism could stop the dying from hunger immediately, and provide the conditions for good health and material security for all people across the Earth within a short time. It would do this by producing goods and services directly for need. World socialism will operate with one simple and ordinary human ability which is universal — the ability of every individual to cooperate with others in a world-wide community of interests. Socialism will be a world without borders where we will all be at home anywhere. The only way to gain a world of potential plenty is to join with workers in the rest of the world to get rid of capitalism, its class rule and its production for profit. This means making the resources of the Earth the common heritage of humanity. It means establishing a world without borders where the resources which already exist can be used to provide plenty for all. We are not demanding the impossible. Our world would be a much better place to live in if we had a real democratic say in the decisions that effect us and real control over the means and instruments for producing and distributing the things we need to live in comfort. Together we can create a civilisation worth living in, but before that happens we need the conscious consent and participation of ordinary people across the world, united in one common cause – to create a world in which each person has free access to the benefits of technology, a world without borders or frontiers, social classes or leaders and a world in which production is at last freed from the artificial constraints of profit and used for the good of humanity – socialism. Our best weapon against our masters, is to understand that we, the workers of the world, have a common interest, and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, sharing information between ourselves, deliberately and consciously working for our liberation without borders.deas