Karl
Marx wrote Capital essentially as an explanation of how the
capitalist system will destroy itself.
Marx
had already set out his ideas on class struggle - how the workers of
the world would seize power from the ruling elites - in the Communist
Manifesto and other writings. Capital is an attempt to give these
ideas a grounding in verifiable fact and scientific analysis. It was
the product of 30 years of Marx's study into the condition of workers
in English factories at the height of the industrial revolution and
it is part history, part economics and part sociology. One of Marx's
biographers, Francis
Wheen, has pointed out,
it reads at times like a Gothic novel "whose heroes are enslaved
and consumed by the monster they created".
In
simple terms, Marx argues that an economic system based on private
profit is inherently unstable because it relies on the exploitation
of workers. Workers are not paid fairly for their efforts and they
don't own the products of their labour, making them little better
than machines. The factory owners and other capitalists hold all the
power because they control the means of production, allowing them to
amass vast fortunes while the workers fall deeper into poverty. This
is an unsustainable way to organise society and it will eventually
collapse under the weight of its own contradictions, Marx argues.
Marx was radicalised by the enclosure of commons, when peasants in
Germany who had been collecting fallen wood from forest commons were
treated as thieves for under taking customary rights they had enjoyed
for hundreds of years. Chapter 27 of Das Kapital examines the
enclosure of the English commons by the rich and the powerful. Marx
believed in commons as democratic common ownership, where associated
producers would co-operate. Central to the meaning of common
ownership of resources, is the free access to services/goods
This would end the need for buying, selling and even money.
The
concept of free access to socially produced goods is summed up in the
famous socialist phrase, "From each according to abilities, to
each accordingly to needs."
The
Socialist Party argues that the Soviet Union, for many the ultimate
example of a Marxist state, was really just a form of state
capitalism, where the factory owners had been replaced by government
bureaucrats. Socialism is the common and democratic ownership of the
means of production, to be used in the interests of people instead of
profits. It is thus incompatible with a state- owned or controlled
command economy. The centre point of socialism is common ownership.
Instead of society being run for the benefit of a minority and
production being based on profit, property is owned collectively and
short-term greed is rejected. Common ownership goes beyond
national borders; it means that all resources are owned by the entire
global population. This means that nobody can take personal control
over resources. Every decision about how to use resources should
ideally be made with the participation of all people, or the
representatives of every group of people. The socialist value of
democratic control means that all people have a right to participate
in any decision that impacts them. This is not limited to political
decisions; it also extends to decisions about the production of goods
and services. Individuals would not need to pay for access to goods
and services under socialism. Work is done on a voluntary basis and
produces products for the immediate needs of people. This means that
all work aims at the ideal of direct usefulness.
At
present, industry is ruled by the owners of the machines of
production and distribution, who have literally the power of life and
death over the subjects. Socialism is a political movement that can
make it so no one who wants to do productive labour can be deprived
of the opportunity of doing it, at any time. Socialism can make it
possible to banish want from the face of the earth and make it
possible for every family to have a home and to be immune from the
fear of want for themselves and their children. These are part of
the ideals that the Socialist Party holds and are not mere visions
but are things that can be brought to life whenever men and women
shall have free access to the means with which things are produced
and distributed. It
should be stated here that work under socialism will be completely
voluntary, and should have no need to be enforced as under
capitalism. Goods must be free to all in addition to the required
services, and since people will be able to work jobs in which they
have a personal aptitude, work will be a pleasure under socialism,
and not the unmitigated burden that people try to avoid under
capitalism. Hence, virtually all individuals will be happy to do
their share of the useful work required in society, and much leisure
in which to enjoy it will be available (there is a saying that goes
"those who love their occupation never work a day in their
life", a saying very applicable to what our life will be like
under socialism concerning our jobs). voluntary
labour would be implemented and power would be given to local and
production councils, which would be democratically elected and
ultimately be the foundation of socialism.
Socialism
will be totally emancipatory in all areas of life and will be
self-managing, ecologically-friendly and pluralistic, qualitatively
extending democracy. The producers must hold the real decision
making power over what they produce. This power must be exercised in
a completely democratic manner. It is impossible without a radical
reduction in the daily and weekly work load. Socialism is a society
where the individual no longer needs an elaborate system of
government to force him to give way to the will of the majority of
his equals. There is no longer criminal nor civil law, but
obligations arrived at by mutual consent and based upon commitment to
a communal ideal. It is a society without a market as it is
understood today, and without money. It is a world of free access
where cut-throat competition has been replaced by voluntary
co-operation and people give to the common pool according to their
abilities and take from it according to their needs. 
No comments:
Post a Comment