Changing The World

A socialist party must admit only conscious socialists to its membership for the simple reason that to do otherwise would attract people of all sorts of political opinions; people interested in anything but socialism. To do this would destroy our character as a socialist party. Our sole criteria for existing as a party is to propagate the idea of socialism.  A working-class party must have as its object the only political object in the workers’ interest — the overthrow of capitalism and its replacement by socialism. We have always kept our object clear. This is not sectarian—it is consistent and principled.

At election time voters are asked to pay the price for their political gullibility. “Vote for us" cry the defenders of the profit system: “Send us to Parliament r and we will make the country a pleasant place to live in". Many workers don't bother to vote in elections. Campaign leaflets are thrown away by the pestered electorate as casually as the promises within them will be cast aside by the winning party. Workers are right to be cynical about the parties of capitalism: what have they ever done for us? The real issue in elections is not which leader to choose or which policies to enact. The workings of capitalism are not susceptible to the manipulation of l government. Whoever gets in, profits still come before human needs. The real issue is which social system we want to live under capitalism or socialism? None of the manifestos will say anything about the system. The politicians will not make speeches saying “Vote for us so that we can run capitalism—we stand firmly for a system of class division and legalised exploitation a vote for us is a vote to continue the same old problems". Well, they wouldn’t say that, would they? But in effect, that is precisely what they mean. Elections are never about the real issue. Petty, reformist trivialities are presented as if they're what it's all about. Nobody mentions The System—but that is what the whole performance is about.

When the Socialist Party arrives on the election scene and talk about the real issue, the defenders of capitalism become terribly embarrassed: Labourites go red in the face, Tories go blue in the face and Nationalist return to the economic status quo. But there is no escaping it—the real electoral issue is whether we are to live in a competitive, class-divided society or whether we are commonly to own and democratically control the resources of the world. The choice is yours.  Making a social revolution takes a bit more than “breaking the mould". How, then, are we to enact this great change? The first step is to want it. There can be no socialism unless people want it. Do you want a society where food is produced solely to be eaten, houses solely to live in, clothes solely to wear? Do you want to get rid of the buying and selling system where we can only obtain what we want if there is a profit in it for the capitalists?

We want socialism: but wishful thinking will not make a revolution. Capitalism survives because of mass consent. So what would happen if there was mass dissent—if a majority of the working class (which is itself a majority of humanity) withdrew its support from capitalism? The system cannot continue without our acquiescence. Mass dissent or majority socialist consciousness—call it what you like—does not appear by magic. Most people accept the capitalist system because they are used to it. Workers believe that capitalism has always existed and always will. The job of socialists is to show that capitalism is just a temporary stage in human evolution. There is an alternative. Once a majority understand and want socialism, what must they do? They must do the opposite of what they do to support capitalism. Instead of electing leaders to run capitalism they must elect socialist delegates who will carry out their political will. Once socialists get into the parliaments of the world they will have one act to perform: the expropriation of the capitalist class and the transfer of the means of wealth production and distribution to the whole community. That is the sole aim of socialists; that is the real electoral issue. Any political promise or demand less than socialist revolution is worthy of the hostility of the working class.

Socialism will be the result of social forces within capitalism driving workers to the conclusion that the present system does not operate in their interests and that only a society of common ownership of the means of production. democratically organised by themselves, can. The Socialist Party is one among many of these forces. We do not think that our efforts alone will bring socialism, but that the whole range of workers’ experiences (including contact with our party) will prepare them for it. If to some people this preparation seems a tedious process and our progress seems slow, we must say that we too would like to see the socialist idea spreading more quickly. However, important ideas in human history have always taken quite some time to become popular and have only seemed credible to the majority after once being accepted by a sizeable minority. Then they have spread very quickly. Historically speaking the socialist idea has only been around a brief moment. Capitalism has not been around long either. We hope it won’t be with us much longer, but we may have to live under it for some time yet. This we must be realistic about and accept.

But if you agree with us, it’s not your admiration we want. That won’t bring socialism any nearer. We want your active support. Join us and help add weight of numbers to our logic and rationality. The bigger we are, the less likely it is that the people you argue with will say they’ll never be convinced that the society we want will ever work.