Are we sectarian?

The Socialist Party is criticised for its hostility to other organisations which profess to be socialist. We are attacking capitalism, and all who defend it are to that extent our political foes. Our appeal must be primarily to the workers in order to interest and enlighten the workers as a preliminary to getting them to become active and understanding socialists. We are not surprised, therefore, when the avowedly capitalist parties stand firmly for capitalism, and grudgingly yield small concessions only in order to lessen discontent which may appear to threaten their hold on the machinery of government. Likewise, we expect the capitalist-controlled media, the and the various hangers-on of capitalism to defend capitalism. We expect this, but we must constantly expose it and explain it. That is part of our work of winning over the working class for socialism. The Left is not identical, but are separated by a very real difference? The people who control and finance the Tory Party are consciously defending capitalism and their own class privilege—even if they are fortified by the erroneous belief that in so doing they are defending the best interests of humanity as well. The Left approach the issue from a very different angle. They are essentially movements of discontent, representing the workers’ more or less blind retaliation to the downward pressure of capitalism. Where the Tories offer reforms deliberately with the idea of buying off discontent or directing it into harmless courses, the Left is trying to encroach on capitalism by means of reforms. They hope to use discontent as the road to power, then use that power for a more or less drastic reconstitution of society. Apart from a certain amount of political dishonesty and the desire for personal advantage associated with those parties, we have no objection to the motives behind their activities. We criticise because whatever the motive may be behind the activities of the Left the activities are harmful. We do not charge these men with consciously wanting to uphold capitalism, nor do we suppose for one moment that their activities do, in fact, constitute the main defence of capitalism and main obstacle to socialism. 

The chief defence of capitalism is the State, with its armed forces, controlled by the capitalist class, their hold on it being backed up by the concentrated activities of capitalist politicians, parties, press, and propaganda instruments. So long as they retain the confidence of the mass of workers, capitalism is impregnable.  It is harmful to the interests of the working class that they should organise and strive for reforms of capitalism instead of for the abolition of capitalism. It is politically dishonest and harmful to delude the workers with the notion that their problems can be remedied piecemeal while capitalism remains in being. It is harmful when workers are waking up to the nature and consequences of capitalism to turn their energies to the reform of capitalism for, with a little knowledge, honesty and patience, those energies might be turned almost as quickly to the task of abolishing capitalism. In brief, we do not charge these parties with being capitalism’s principal support, but with being obstacles in the way of working-class enlightenment. Were there no such reformist parties capitalism would still stand as long as the majority of workers remained capitalistically-minded, but the work of making socialists would be vastly easier. Socialists would not, having exposed capitalism, then have to take on the additional task of exposing reformism masquerading as socialism. We may sum up by saying that it is a mistake for workers to express their discontent by organising to secure reforms of capitalism, and the Socialist Party must constantly point out that mistake. Further, when the party of reform takes on the administration of capitalism it becomes at once a party committed to the suppression of discontent. 

The Left proclaims that its aim is socialism. They want to claim that they are socialists, but they do not intend to introduce socialism. Exploitation gives the key to an understanding of capital. Today the workers as a class are born, and remain, propertyless; they, therefore, do not own capital which is a form of wealth. Capital is the accumulated wealth of the capitalist class. It is useful for further production, but with only one object — that it may absorb the further unpaid labour of the workers, and thus produce . . . surplus value, the source of rent, interest and profit. Not the means of wealth production in themselves, but the class relations under which they are used to obtain surplus value, realised through sale in the world market — make them capital. The Left does not stand as we do for common ownership, which would mean the abolition of such class relations. It is impossible to exaggerate the harm done to the socialist movement by those who, calling themselves socialists, have taught the workers to believe that state capitalism and social reform are socialism. Workers all over the world have, through this misdirection, been led to support some form of capitalism, trusting that it would solve their problems. 

Our object is socialism, defined as a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interests of the whole community. Our definition is not a mere insistence on a formula. We work for socialism and oppose capitalism—including nationalisation or state capitalism—because only socialism will solve the problem facing the working class. We do not want state capitalism and therefore have no interest in associating with those who do. The fact that they call it “socialism” only makes their activities more dangerous to the workers. It is an essential part of socialist propaganda to convince the workers that the advocates of “something less than socialism” is and must be advocates of capitalism. It is our job to demonstrate that their activities are against the interests of the workers; that they are enemies of socialism and of the working class.  Effective unity for socialism can only be on the basis of real agreement about the aim and the methods. 

The Socialist Party is obviously not in a position to ameliorate the conditions of the working class,’ but it can and does support useful action by the workers in their trade unions to resist encroachments on their standard of living.