Together for Revolution

FOR WORLD SOCIALISM

The Socialist Party, basing its principles on the fact that workers the world over have a common interest, is opposed to all racialism and to all nationalism. We are opposed to all legislation to prevent the free movement of workers, whether in search of jobs or fleeing from oppression. Many blame working class problems on the presence of migrant workers. In fact, there was a shortage of housing, hospitals and so on before the immigrants came; these social problems have their roots in capitalist society and exist all over the world, whether a country loses people as emigrants or accepts them as immigrants. Xenophobia is an insidious trap for the working class; the problems of capitalism are international and can be solved only by all workers, whatever their origins, co-operating to abolish capitalism and to replace it with socialism. Let those on the Left who talk of immigration controls never dare speak of the brotherhood of man again! In the mid-nineteenth century, it was taken for granted by those who thought themselves progressive that the ending of slavery and serfdom would be followed by the eventual removal of all restrictions on movement. Instead, the comparative ease of movement that then existed and which permitted Marx and Johan Most, the anarchist, for example to leave the continent and settle in England, has been followed by our own era in which registrations, passports and other obstacles to migration have reached a new perfection, more pernicious because the machinery of coercion is got much more efficient. Nothing is more certain to slow up the spread of socialist thought than to sow dissension between the workers by emphasising national differences that are purely capitalist in character. Those who argue that Socialism is a long way off make it farther off by muddling the workers’ heads.  For some on the Left, the old slogans of internationalism have long been discarded in favour of the cult of nationalism. Too many on the Left share a firmly held opinion of the uninformed majority in the working class that the foreigner is responsible for our economic troubles.

 As long as the exploited donkey class continues to be misled by the bunch of carrots with one carrot being this anti- migrant complex dangling before its nose, so long will the capitalist class ride comfortably on its back. When the donkey realises that it is never allowed to get near enough to the carrots to test their desirability, the time will be appreciably nearer when the rider is hacked off. Until then the ruling class will do all in its power to foster the idea that people act according to the dictates of some mysterious characteristic inherent in their nationality and not, as is the real fact, according to their class function. The function of the capitalist regardless of nationality is to use the worker for his own ends. The task of the worker is to understand this and achieve his or her freedom, which necessarily carries with it the freedom of all mankind.

Ever since the evolution of the first humans, members of our species have wandered into virtually every comer of the globe. The first way of life — hunting - gathering — involved moving around to find new sources of meat, vegetables, and fruits. This inevitably meant encountering other bands and reproducing with them. Even after the rise of agriculture and the growth of more settled lifestyles, people continued to travel (forcibly or otherwise) to various parts of the earth, and to mix with people of a variety of origins. The slave traders of the ancient world and of more recent times caused enormous population upheavals, just as did wars and crusades. The expansion of capitalism into a world-wide system has likewise caused people to interact and reproduce on a global basis. The upshot of all this is that everyone has a mixed background, with genes from various parts of the world.  All human beings are hybrids. Humanity is a single species, divided by the artificial barriers of class and nation.

 Socialism involves revolutionary changes in every aspect of the working-class way of life. The wages system must be supplanted by a democratic administration of production and distribution, based on individual needs and equality. This means the building of a working-class organisation now, where every worker understands and accepts the democratic principles of administration; and is ready to take his place in the scheme of things, both on the productive and administrative side. Until the workers do this, society cannot move forward.

The Socialist Party extends the hand of fellowship to the working class of all lands, for only through international action by a socialist working class will socialism be achieved.