Few can deny that the world today is in a constant state of chaos and upheaval, full of turmoil and conflict throughout the world. The fact that such conditions prevail generally throughout the world, and have prevailed for a long time, logically suggests the presence of a dominant common social factor. That common social factor, the Socialist Party has repeatedly demonstrated, is the capitalist system that does not and cannot work in the interests of the majority. It is a social system in which society is divided into two classes—a capitalist class and a working class. The capitalist class consists of a tiny minority—the wealthy few who own and control the instruments of production and distribution. The working class consists of the vast majority who own no productive property and must, therefore, seek to work for the class that owns and controls the means of life in order to survive. The relationship between the two classes forms the basis for an economic tyranny under which the workers as a class are exploited of the major portion of the social wealth that they produce.
The defenders of this economic dictatorship never tire of declaring it the "best of all possible systems." Yet, today, after decades of new deals, fair deals, third ways, wars on poverty and drugs, civil rights legislation, environmental regulations and a host of other reform efforts, capitalist society presents an obscene social picture. Millions who need and want jobs are out of work despite the official claims that unemployment is at historically "low" rates. Millions more are underemployed, working only part-time or temporary jobs though they need and want full-time work. Millions aren't earning enough to maintain a decent standard of living for themselves and their families despite the fact that they are working.
The malignant evils of racism an nationalism are on the upsurge with its contemptible discrimination against minorities. The educational system is a mess and getting worse. The health care system fails to meet the needs of the people across the globe. Widespread pollution of our environment continues. Crime and corruption are pervasive at every level of capitalist society. Slums abound and millions of homeless men, women and even children live on our streets. Thanks to falling real wages, poverty continues to grow. Even the foregoing fails to give a full picture of the wide-ranging plague of social and economic problems modern-day capitalism is imposing on society.
When the Socialist Party was founded, there was no space travel, no jet planes, no computers, no internet. But there was widespread poverty, racial prejudice and discrimination, spreading urban blight, brazen violations of democratic rights, the material and economic conflicts that contain the seeds of war, and a host of other economic and social problems. All of those problems still plague the working class—but have grown to even more monumental proportions. These long-standing problems and the failure of seemingly unending reform efforts to solve or even alleviate them to any meaningful degree have imposed decades of misery and suffering on millions of workers and their families. The working class stands perilously poised on the brink of yet another nightmare of INCREASED joblessness and poverty.
Against this insane capitalist system, the Socialist Party raises its voice in emphatic protest and unqualified condemnation. It declares that if our society is to be rid of the host of economic, political and social ills that for so long have plagued it, the outmoded capitalist system of private ownership of the socially operated means of life and production for the profit of a few must be replaced by a new social order. That new social order must be organised on the sane basis of common ownership and democratic administration of all the instruments of production, all means of distribution and all of the social services. It must be one in which production is carried on to satisfy human needs and wants. In short, it must be genuine socialism.
That is precisely the mission embodied in the Socialist Party's Declaration of Principles—a call for both political organisation and action. Thes principles are based upon the recognition and unqualified acceptance of the fact that the revolutionary change to socialism must be the class-conscious act of the workers themselves.
Accordingly, the Socialist Party calls upon the workers to muster under its banner for the purpose of advocating revolutionary change and building class consciousness among workers. Despite the many threats to workers' lives, liberty and happiness today, despite the growing poverty and misery that workers are subjected to, a world of peace, liberty, security, health and abundance for all stands within our grasp. The potential to create such a society exists, but that potential can be realized only if workers act to gain control of their own lives by organising, politically and industrially, for socialism. The Socialist Party calls upon all who realise the critical nature of our times, and who may be increasingly aware that a basic change in our society is needed, to place themselves squarely on working-class principles. Join us in this effort to put an end to the existing class conflict and all its malevolent results by placing the land and the instruments of production in the hands of the people as a collective body in a cooperative socialist society. Help us build a world commonwealth in which everyone will enjoy the free exercise and full benefit of their individual faculties.
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