Political Parties in (In-)Action

We have no quarrel with any individual whatsoever: our quarrel is with the capitalist system.

A class is a body of people united by a common economic interest: the existence of one class presupposed the existence of at least one other and consequently a conflict of interests or a class struggle. When Marx spoke of the increasing poverty of the workers he was relating their position to that of their masters, poverty and riches being relative. Many believe the people with real power to-day were not the capitalists, but the rising managerial class, who were neither capitalists nor workers. Managers are not capitalists, and capitalists do not need any special capabilities of knowledge to attain their superior social position. It was very strange that despite the privileged position to be the lot of the managers, no capitalist wanted to suffer the social fall to a manager, but many managers wanted to rise to capitalists. There is a necessity for the working-class first understanding and desiring socialism before that system of society could be established.

The Tory Party began as the defender of landed property, that was its conscious purpose. In the course of time, it has become the conscious defender of capitalist property as a whole. The Tories only became interested in the working class, in the first place to the extent that working-class discontent threatened to upset the system, and later on to the extent that the workers had votes and were therefore potential supporters of Tory candidates. In its essence, as the defender of property against the propertyless the Tory Party has never changed. Every move, every reform measure sponsored by them has been designed with the object of strengthening property interests and helping them to power. Socialists certainly want to see the Tory Party die, but for a purpose, the purpose of achieving socialism. Capitalism is the removable evil from which the working class has to rid themselves, Therefore all who defend capitalism are the enemies of the working class. This includes the Labour Party even though their defence of capitalism arises not from a conscious aim, but is forced on them by the fact that they have taken on the administration of capitalism and can do no other than defend it.

The Socialist Party insists that nothing less than the conversion of the means of production and distribution into the common property of society could achieve emancipation. The Labour Party, however, promise by means of social reforms, taxation, and whatnot to make gradual but increasing inroads into capitalism until, imperceptibly, socialism would be here. We have had the reforms, and Labour governments. And socialism has not been introduced nor is it in process of being introduced. We still confront the same ruthless, exploiting, war-producing capitalist system. The task of achieving socialism still remains to be done and the method set out by the Socialist Party is still the way to go. Labour Party supporters will contest the Socialist Party charge that capitalism has not been essentially changed yet the concentration of wealth remains still in the hands of the small minority. Capitalism, which the Labour Party has never understood. has made nonsense of their well-intentioned but misconceived programmes. The class struggle still goes on, as it will forever under capitalism. The only cure for capitalism is its abolition. The only road to emancipation is that proclaimed by the Socialist Party.

Every now and again in the radical movement there crop up attempts to think out afresh the foundations of socialism and its implications in the modern world. The alleged “fresh” thinking always turns out to be a rehash of earlier attempts to bypass the obstacle of universal working class understanding; each attempt also overlooks or is ignorant of, the fact the old ground is covered again in much the same way as it was covered in the past. Always the world of production and distribution is supposed to have thrown up some aspects that merit a change in outlook—but the outlook does not change; it is just the same reformist outlook attempting to iron out some of the wrinkles that mar the smooth running of the capitalist social system. The fruit of their work has always boiled down to the oiling of the machinery of capitalism to reduce some of the squeaks. There has been a plethora of this refurbishment of stale ideas. But the basis of their discussions, like the “new" thinking of the past, will get them nowhere because, like their forbears, they accept commodity production. Their concept of revolution in America must be accomplished as the Grand Central Station was built tearing down the old, building up the new, and keeping the train service on schedule, all at the same time, the little by little bit attitude of all reformists. It has no effect worth talking about on the fundamental basis of capitalism—on the class cleavage between workers and capitalists. They are windy purveyors of stale ideas and tools of the ruling class —even if unconsciously.

First, let the Socialist Party point out that the problems faced by people are inseparable from the system of society in which we live. This system produces poverty, insecurity, disease, and all the vicious things that stem from those, and it gives rise to the wars for which governments are constantly preparing. The Socialist Party doesn’t raise these points just to be awkward, or to be academically correct. We fully comprehend that the stakes are very high: in fact the possible extermination of many of us.

But expressions and resolutions of disapproval of capitalism have all been passed before. They have all had no effect. Time and time again the Socialist Party has demonstrated that war stems from capitalist struggles for markets, trade routes, sources of raw materials, and places of strategic importance. All these springs from the production for sale, with a profit motive for a small section of society, the capitalists. This in itself works against the interest of the overwhelming majority of society, the working class. This working class is in every nation and faced with exactly the same problems as the working class of the UK or US. So it is at this level that international conferences must take place, and it must be international conferences for socialism. We have a job to do, in this century, the establishment of socialism. To do that we must explain the basis of capitalist society, its commercial rivalries, its anomalies, its inhumanities. That is the task of workers throughout the world. So long as they blame their leaders' mistakes for the problems of capitalism, they will be content to try to put things right merely by changing the headers, or by something else equally futile. Which means that they will not consider socialism as the only way out of their nightmare. And that is the biggest mistake of all.