Socialism is nothing to be frightened by

Capitalism has been the world’s dominant economic system for a few hundred years now and as it brings the planet to yet more new crises it’s important to imagine what might replace it. The concept of capitalism as something to name and define and study.

Capitalism is the commodification of human labour and nature. In other words, you can buy and sell a local ecosystem, and because of private property rights, you can destroy it if you want to. And you can buy and sell labor, which means that as productivity increases you need fewer people and their worth as a commodity goes down. That’s why we have a lot of unemployed people and low wages.

Basically, capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production. The capitalist - the boss, the entrepreneur, the investor, the owner of capital - purchases labour-power from workers (paid in the form of wages or salary) in order to work these means of production, and then collects surplus value as profit. Capitalism seeks to maximise profi because profit can be utilized as additional capital. To maximise profit, expenses, such as labour, must be cut as much as possible. So under capitalism, wages and benefits will be driven down as much as possible, and society must maintain a labour surplus - the large numbers of unemployed people. Capitalism values cheapness above all else by devaluing nature and human resources so that capitalism can continue to concentrate wealth in the hands of the already-wealthy. In that sense, “cheap nature” refers to the way in which land and its resources are systematically given away to businesses for exploitation, “cheap work” refers to wage-slavery, sweated labour  and other anti-worker tactics that keep wages levels down.

Time and time again, politico-economic realities have confirmed that the main role of the state is to protect the capitalist system, or, to use Marxist language , the state is the “executive committee of the bourgeoisie.” Yet left reformers cling to the illusion that the  state can become a benevolent entity an point to  national healthcare  programmes, public education,  council housing, minimum wages, and more. But the  welfare state has always remained vulnerable to cuts or elimination during economic crises, as the recent turn toward austerity  and redced benefits has shown. The welfare state shrinks or disappears as the priority of the  state kicks in—protecting the capitalist economic system and addressing the system’s recurring crises.

 But more importantly the social services of the welfare state contribute to a false belief about the state’s beneficent potentials. By providing helpful and even vital services, the  welfare state legitimates the continuing inequality and exploitation inherent in the capitalist  system. Many respond to the misery we encounter everyday by advocating for the expansion or, at least, the maintenance of the capitalist state’s 'safety-net' protections. They do so even though they understand that we remain perpetually vulnerable by a profits- system that inherently causes exploitation, inequality, hunger, ill health, and early death. Yet we persist in legitimising and advocating for the welfare state that sustains the system.

The word “socialism” has scared many away from even talking about it being an option to capitalism. When we propose socialism as an alternative economic system, some people think of Soviet-style state-ownership and its command economy, where the government controls enterprises as opposed to private individuals. One of the greatest obstacles to socialism in the twentieth century was Bolshevism.

 But that’s not what we are talking about. Socialism calls for human freedom and creativity. It calls upon humanity as a whole to rebuild its world on ecological foundations. It is a revolutionary struggle that must commence with a worldwide movement toward socialism. The time for revolution has arrived, and it is time to act. We have to move in a direction that allows for a better society and a better world to emerge. 

As socialists, we are not pessimistic about the future. We believe that the class that produces all the wealth of the world will wake from this capitalist nightmare and bring about a society based on production solely for use.

“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number-
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many - they are few.”
Shelley