Let the working class give up its sheep-like acceptance of leaders and themselves set about solving the social problem. The problem and the solution are comparatively simple, but they cannot be wafted away by phrases or slogans. The budding leader can always be recognised by his predilection for such things. Phrases and slogans have always been the stock-in-trade of the men who have striven to rise on the crest of waves of popularity to positions either of economic security or positions that flatter the vanity of the lover of power for its own sake. The society we aim at building in the future is one wherein all will have a free and equal hand in the ordering of affairs. How can such a society be built on foundations such as the blind worship of the leaders? We often hear said that “Some are born to lead, others are born to be led”. Socialists have contempt for such ideas. We are told by the defenders of capitalism that the ordinary person is not be intelligent enough to take over the running of society from top to bottom. In fact, it is the workers who run society now — from managers to doctors to dockers — but far from using their abilities for their own benefit, they use them for the benefit of the privileged few. When it is said there have always been leaders, it must be realised that their existence has been and is bound up with the institution of private property.
The Socialist Party keeps on repeating, monotonously, that no leader, no matter how honest, clever or well-intentioned he may be can lead the workers out of slavery. No man or group of men, however intellectual, can create a new society which depends for its success upon the knowledge and understanding of the bulk of the population. Socialism will be a society of voluntary co-operation. This means that in order to run socialism, the workers have to be aware of what is necessary to make the new society function. And it follows from this, that it will not be possible to establish a voluntary society unless those seeking to do so are in fact the majority of people in society, and those people know what is involved and can work conscientiously for socialism. Socialism can only be attained by working men and women who know what socialism means and how it is to be obtained. Therefore, it is necessary for working men and women to do the comparatively small amount of thinking that is necessary to understand socialism. When they have done so they will know the steps to be taken, and will no longer need to rely on leaders. In that day the orator of cheap, hackneyed false phrases will find his eloquence wasted and depart.
Leaders spend a lot of time, money and effort, trying to persuade us that someone, someone at least, is in control and that we have some real control in our own lives, through, of course, them. The truth is that no elected politician can control the market—which operates for the private gain of a tiny number of owners. As long as the market exists we cannot have control of our own lives, run things in our own, and our own communities' interests, because that would threaten the profits of the tiny few. Leaders can't change that. Only we can, by acting together, without leaders, to end the whole profit-driven, market system. Capitalism cannot exist without its inevitable problems; it traps its leaders just as surely as it does those who are led. Even if a leader may wish to be different, to stand out for some apparently novel policy, they are similarly ensnared and quickly exposed for their inability also to climb out of the trap.
The working class must recognise that they have the knowledge and the ability to administer and operate a modern society — its machinery of production, distribution, communication. They will then realise that in fact, they do all of this already, but in the interests of a minority ruling class when they could do it in their own interests, to the benefit of the majority. From this basic knowledge, it is but a short step for the working class to see that they must act for themselves in the overthrow of capitalist society and its replacement with socialism. For this, because it will be the act of a conscious majority, no leaders are necessary — indeed, socialism cannot be imposed on the majority of society by a minority of allegedly better-equipped leaders.
Workers who despair of the apparently endless procession of cynical, futile leaders and candidates for leadership should consider the proposition that the alternative is not to switch their support from one leader to another but to join the Socialist Party which is the only political party in this country which insists that its membership understands and supports the principles of socialism. The Socialist Party is without leaders; it is a democratic party whose members cooperate and participate in the work of socialist propaganda in equal standing. It is not new leaders that are needed, but a new system. Socialism will not be brought about by workers following some self-appointed vanguard on a mystery tour. The choice is yours: leaders or socialism — choose wisely, for your life depends on it.
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