Once more we are faced with a bunch of politicians who can only be distinguished from one another by the colour of their rosettes, but there are many thousands of people not prepared to support any of them. This is no ordinary election manifesto. We make no promises; we do not ask for your support. Indeed, the Socialist Party does not want your support unless you are convinced that the case for socialism is a sensible one and is in your interest. Most of you will not know much about the Socialist Party. Many people have heard the word “socialist" and imagine that it was something to do with the dictatorship that used to exist in Russia. It is understandable that many people regard “socialism" as nationalised industries or as just another political cliché, used to win votes for Labour politicians, but has very little meaning. The Socialist Party stands solely for socialism because we do not think that capitalism can ever be made to work in the interests of the people. Capitalism always puts the needs of the minority who own and control the factories, farms, offices, the transport, the media, the means of wealth production and distribution, before those of the vast majority — we, the working class — who produce the wealth, but own little more than our ability to work, which we have to sell for wages.
No political party — not even ourselves — can humanise capitalism to make it run in the interests of the wage slaves. That's why it’s time for you to stop giving your votes to politicians who stand for the profit system. None of them possess recipes for economic success. None of them will provide decent housing for everyone. None of them will prevent people from starving to death. None of them will end the threat of wars. None of them will effectively halt climate change. Why waste your vote on parties that cannot solve those pressing problems? Why keep hoping that a miracle will happen and the insanity of capitalism will be put right?
The Socialist Party says that the resources of society must be taken into the hands of the whole community — and by that, we don't mean the state, but all of us, organised together, consciously and democratically. In a socialist society, we will produce for use, not profit. Producing for use means ending the colossal waste of resources on armies, armaments, trade, banking and insurance, and all the other social features which are only necessary within capitalism; it means devoting human energies and natural resources to producing the best of what people really need and want. By running society on the basis of common ownership, democratic control and production for use we can all have free access to all goods and services.
Socialism can only be established when a majority of workers understand and want it, so there is no point in seeking support on any other basis. Secondly, you will have noticed that what we are advocating is different — it has never been tried. That gang of political has-beens, the Lib-Dems have nothing to offer. The Labour Party, if elected, will continue its futile exercise of trying to reform capitalism. The Tories will pursue their vicious policy of dancing to the tune of austerity. This is the only election appeal which is making a proposal to transform world society from the chaos and waste into the co-operative democratic commonwealth.
Capitalism puts the profits of the few before the needs of the many. Proposals to reform the profit system cannot bring socialism. When a majority of workers, disillusioned with the old parties understand and want socialism, the new system can be established almost immediately. Have the millions of workers who were fooled by the bogus promises in previous elections learned not to trust their destinies to the professional politicians? Capitalism is the cause of poverty, unemployment and environmental destruction. As open defenders of the capitalist system, the Tories undoubtedly belong in the political museum of bankrupt ideologies. They stand before the working class with a bag of vague, stale and unworkable policies which we are supposed to believe will make capitalism decent and pleasant. So, is Labour the only alternative? Desperate Labour canvassers plead for working class votes on the basis that anything would be better than the Tories. Socialists do not want something better than the Conservative Party but something better than capitalism! Workers must make clear to the Labour mis-leaders that never again will a Labour government receive the support of those over whose exploitation it presides. Socialists have clear memories of when Labour ministers used all the power they could muster to attack the striking public service workers. The workers must put the reformists of the Labour Party where they belong: on the political scrap-heap.
If you are a convinced socialist you should vote for your principles whether there is a socialist candidate in your constituency or not. The Socialist Party is contesting three seats:
Islington North (Bill Martin)
Battersea (Danny Lambert)
Swansea West (Brian Johnson)
Where there is no socialist candidate, write “World Socialism” across your ballot paper.
In this election, the choice, as always, is simple: capitalism or socialism; chaos or sanity. We know which side we are on. Do you?
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