Vote None of Them

We, in the Socialist Party, hold that society needs to be changed fundamentally and we advocate the abolition of social classes through production based solely on meeting people's needs, democratically administered. This goes much deeper than a mere change in government and it also assumes a widespread understanding of what needs to be done. We are members of the working class, which includes everyone around the world who must sell his or her capacity to work to some employer to stay alive. We understand capitalism has gone as far as it can go and now the time has come to put it behind us and build a world that really works for everyone.

It is time to draw some lessons from the past and apply them now. One of the most important lessons concerns class and how many workers fail to act in their own interest. People increasingly appreciate that capitalism is the key problem of our time, but they see no solution that can overcome the limits of the present political discourse. The Left, Centre, and Right haven't solved anything that counts - and they can't. Real solutions require rational thought, not spin or hype.

If our goal is the eradication of capitalism, then supporting the SNP or the Labour Party is just delusional. The object of socialists is to assist in the emancipation of the workers from its enslavement to the capitalist class. To those who support the SNP or the Labour Party we would appeal to reconsider their position. What does their boasted achievements amount to after all? Join the Socialist Party in a refusal to vote for evil, either of the lesser or the greater sort. 

The Socialist Party’s case is that socialism will be established by the conscious democratic political action of a majority of workers using the electoral machinery, which in this country means parliament. The Socialist Party is in fundamental opposition to all other parties. It proclaims that the building of socialism, the re-organisation of the economic life of the whole world, is impossible unless the working class overthrows the capitalist class and asserts its control. The Socialist Party, therefore, is the enemy of capitalists and capitalist parties. The class war is our war and our only war. 

For socialists, the rule of government can never be democratic. Though it may include some incidental functions arising from the needs of people the main work of the State is the running of class-divided society; a system of economic exploitation. In the main governments work for a privileged section of society. They make the laws which protect the property rights of a minority who own and control natural resources and industry. In fact, though, there is a sense in which the government does not run the system at all - rather, the capitalist system runs the government, by limiting the actions that can be taken. The capitalists and their governments can propose what they like, but it is the capitalist economy that disposes. Raising of interest rates, increased unemployment, devaluation - these may not be what governments want to do, but may well be what they are forced to do because capitalism leaves them no choice.

Socialists point out to our fellow-workers that they possess, as a class, all what is needed to build a new social system based upon the common ownership of the means of life where we will no longer sell themselves as merchandise. We will be free to enjoy the fruits of our collective labour. Having arrived at this understanding, our fellow- workers will recognise that their political power must be put to an infinitely better use than that of providing fat plum jobs for nimble-tongued tricksters and instead seek our own emancipation. The vote is not useless if backed by a class-conscious understanding.

Society is run in the interests of those who own the wealth. They argue among each other over Brexit, GDP rates, profits, and exports, because where the borders lie matters to them. Every border is an opportunity to wring cash out of other property owners. They’ll try to sway us one way or another with crumbs (or the promises of crumbs) but we’ll only get what they feel they can spare to protect their privilege and wealth. We will remain dependent upon their investments making a profit for them before we can get our needs and interests seen to

The only way to stop this dependency would be for us to take ownership and control of the wealth of the world into our own hands. We could, together, use the wealth of the world to meet our mutual needs and grant the true independence of being able to control our work and our lives in a free and voluntary association of equals.

Though the outcome of this election is irrelevant, it is an opportunity for us to tell our fellow workers that this is what we want. We don’t have to suffer in silence, we can go to the polling booth and write“WORLD SOCIALISM” across the voting paper. A vote is always worth using - even when there is nothing worthy of voting for.