The Choice Before Us

Socialism is the road to future prosperity, peace and plenty. All other ways lead to perpetuated poverty. The future of the planet rests on its accepting the path of struggle. So far the working class has been fundamentally reformist, concentrating on getting as much as possible out of the present system.   Gradualism meaning the gradual attaining of the control of the means of production. This we believe to be impossible. Its impossibility has been demonstrated in every country where the workers have been strong enough to try it out seriously as a policy. Socialism cannot be presented as a gift from the Labour Party. It cannot be built down from above, with only the passive consent of the citizens as expressed from time to time by their votes. Nationalisation leaves the worker with no more control or interest in the job than have the employees of any enlightened capitalist employer.  It must come from the active participation and understanding of the people. Many models of socialist society have been constructed on paper. The task is to get the job building socialism into the hands of the working men and women. 

The socialist movement is not weak because we are divided, but divided because it is weak.  “Unity” is justified by the argument that revolutionaries must not separate themselves and become a sectarian minority. Such logic stifles any discussion and prevents any debate or conflict of opinions giving political groups a false feeling of being part of something.

We live in difficult times of pending environmental catastrophe, constant threats of war, intensified repression and suppression by the State. The class struggle between capital and labour is basic to modern society. It is a struggle that goes on all the time The class interests between capitalists and the workers cannot be reconciled. One or the other must triumph. They cannot be harmonised by compromise. The greed for profits knows no limit. The lower the wages paid, the higher the profits made. Capitalists always seek to reduce wages. The lower the wages paid, the higher the profits made. The capitalists always seek to speed up the worker, to intensify his production, to have one worker operate more and more machines and do the work of more and more workers. The more intensely the worker toils, the more value is created, therefore, the more surplus-value; therefore, the more profit.

 Against the ideas of capitalism and reformism, the Socialist Party works for the ideas of socialism. The workers must acquire a clear understanding the nature of capitalist society They must act consciously for their class interests. They must become conscious of the fact that these class interests lead to a socialist society and the need to replace this society with socialism When this takes place, the workers possess socialist consciousness. The Socialist Party makes clear to the workers the full meaning of their fight. It shows how the workers must organise as a class to capture political power, and use it to inaugurate socialism. Socialist Party represents a long and rich tradition, proud of the fact that its principles are founded on Marx and Engels,  principles to achieve socialism that has passed the most rigourous tests a hundred times over. Their analysis of capitalist society has never been successfully refuted. The Socialist Party calls itself Marxist merely to signify that it stands firmly on the basic principles of the greatest teachers in the history of the working class.

The Socialist Party champions the idea of social revolution. What is a social revolution? It is the replacement of one ruling class by another. The socialist revolution is simply the overthrow of capitalist despotism and the establishment of workers’ rule. This revolution can be accomplished peaceably. Socialists are not bloodthirsty maniacs. A socialist would indeed be insane to want bloodshed and destruction when the aim is an orderly society.

Socialism is based upon the planned organisation of production for use by means of the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production, is the abolition of all classes and class differences. Socialism is not a utopian ideal, a blueprint for society that exists in the minds of some people. It is a social necessity; it is a practical necessity. It is the direction that the people must take in order to save society from disintegration, in order to satisfy their social needs. To be a socialist merely means to be conscious of this necessity, to make others conscious of it, and to work in an organised manner for the realisation of the goal. The workers cannot rid themselves of their sufferings without abolishing the domination over them. They must destroy capitalism and proceed with the complete reorganisation of society. No other class is capable of doing this. The working class is the bearer of socialism. The abolition of private ownership would remove the last barrier to the development of production. Production would be organised and aimed at satisfying the needs of society.

 Abundance for all. Freedom for all. A society without a state. Upon socialism, depends the happy future of humanity and of civilisation. The working class is called upon to save society from barbarism, the only alternative to socialism. That is the task of the working class. That is the road to human freedom.