Campaign for Socialism -- Capitalism is the Issue

The capitalist economic system lies at the root of all of modern society's major social and economic problems. The Socialist Party has long contended that only socialism can solve the problems plaguing our society today. Many of us understand that capitalism has outlived its usefulness, and that it is time for humanity to move on to the next logical stage. We want to create a sane and productive world. But how can we do so? We need a road map, a plan. No leader is going to come along and set things right. It is useless for us to wait for deliverance by a saviour from the pains caused by capitalism. We will have to deliver ourselves. If we workers stopped cooperating with the political parties of capitalism and actively took part in controlling our world through our own organisations, capitalism would soon wither and die. 

Socialism is the common ownership by all the people of the factories, transportation, and farms. Socialism is production to satisfy human needs, not, as under capitalism, for sale and profit. Socialism means direct control and self-management of the industries and services by the workers through a democratic administration. Socialism means an end to economic insecurity and exploitation. It means workers cease to be commodities bought and sold on the labour market and forced to work as appendages to tools owned by someone else. It means a chance to develop all individual capacities and potential. Socialism isn't the state-controlled system that existed in the former Soviet Union, exists today in China or Cuba, or bureaucratic state control of society in general. It has nothing to do with nationalization, a welfare state or any kind of state ownership or control of industry whatsoever. On the contrary, it would give power not to the state, but to the people themselves, allowing collective control of their own economic future, a free community of free individuals. Socialism means a class-free society, unlike under capitalism, where a tiny minority owns the wealth and the means of producing it. Everyone will share in the ownership of all the means of production. There wouldn't be separate classes of owners and workers. The economy would be administered by the workers themselves through democratic "associations of free and equal producers," as Marx described it. Communities, locally regionally will collectively decide what they want to be produced and how they want it produced. "In every plant, every office and every workplace in socialist society, the workers themselves will meet in a democratic assembly to determine their own workplace policies and elect committees to administer and supervise production. To administer production at higher levels, delegates will be elected to regional and world councils. Instead of economic despotism, socialism means economic democracy. Instead of production for sale and the profit of a few, socialism means production to satisfy the human needs and wants of all. We shall produce everything we need and want in abundance under conditions best suited to our welfare an in harmony with the requirements of our environment. Freed from the compulsions of competition and the profit motive that presently hurl capitalist nations into war, socialism will also be a society of peace.

This all may sound too good to be true. Yet our planet has the productive capacity to provide a high standard of living for all, to provide security and comfort for all, to create safe workplaces and clean industries, and to help other nations reach these same goals. The only thing keeping us from reaching these goals is that the workers don't own and control that productive capacity; it is owned and controlled by a few who use it solely to profit themselves. Only if the people as a whole take control of the economy can we maintain that control and use the forces of production to fill their needs.

You are needed to build a better world and make the promise of socialism a reality. Organising to bring the industries under the ownership of all the people, to build a socialist society of peace, plenty and freedom, is the only real alternative workers have. The purpose of the Socialist Party is to promote class-consciousness among workers while advocating a complete revolutionary change from capitalism to socialism and to challenge the legitimacy and power of the ruling class, to capture the state machinery and to turn the reins of social administration over to people-powered assemblies. We seek class solidarity and a general revolutionary. Workers would be united into a single movement. However, just as class consciousness will not grow of its own accord, neither will the Socialist Party. That responsibility ultimately rests with the audience the Socialist Party reaches. Just as it is the responsibility of a revolutionary movement to promote class-consciousness, it is the responsibility of all those who grasp our message to step forward, to join the party and to enhance its ability to reach the working class. Don't turn your backs on politics or passively wait for a better day that will never come. Join together and change our world. When the Socialist Party has enough members and active supporters to reach large numbers of workers, it will offer candidates for us (the working class majority of the population) to elect our own delegates BUT NOT TO RUN GOVERNMENT OF TODAY BUT TO DISSOLVE IT.