Looking for socialist answers

Capitalism is full of problems, and of slick, smooth-talking politicians who say they can solve them. The tragedy is that so many people believe their promises, and fail to see the nonsense for what it is. Words are cheap. Any organisation can label itself socialist. Generations of reformers have voiced complaints about capitalism and have dignified their futile efforts to humanise it by dubbing them ‘socialism’.  What is more difficult is to develop a body of socialist theory and to stick to it. The old cliché about the ‘unity of theory and practice’ holds true. A party is only as good as its theoretical platform. The Socialist Party often reveals the impotence of the those who say they can control capitalism and can tame it. Capitalism continually produces unrest and insecurity. It is a society which cannot be at peace nor bring prosperity for all. Capitalism is a mass of conflicting interests, treachery, and coercion. 

It is possible to create a world of peace and prosperity where people actually care about the future of the world and the welfare of humanity. What is required is a change in the basis of society. The people of the world cannot use the resources of the world to satisfy their needs unless they own and control them. It is only on the basis of the common ownership and democratic control of the means of wealth production that a world of peace and prosperity can be created. For this, men and women need only apply their existing capacity to reason to the problem and then act to change society. As long as people are content that it should be so,  capitalism will continue to map out their future.  They acquiesce because they are misled into believing that capitalism, with its property rights, its economic rivalries, its wars, is the best of all possible human societies. No capitalist party—certainly not the Labour Party—ever does anything to end this massive and fundamental deception. The political ignorance and apathy which supports the system are still there, encouraged by the Labour Party, by its members honest and dishonest, its leaders and its “rebels.” No one will ever know the extent of the confusion and the cynicism the left-wing has caused. 

Socialism cannot be established by general strikes or insurrections. It can only be established when the working class, not only of Britain but throughout the world, understanding what socialism is, are willing to co-operate to establish it. It is much easier to vote and work for socialism than to die uselessly on some stricken barricade or street battle. Such ideas are not only foolish but dangerous as it would leave the powers of State, the armed forces in the hands of the ruling class which has still control of the machinery of government could crush any attempt to seize the factories and the means of production and distribution. That is why we claim, as laid down in our Declaration of Principles, in Section 6, that the working class must organise consciously and politically to obtain control of this machinery of government, to dispossess the ruling class of their ownership of the land and means of wealth production and distribution. Socialism cannot be established by a minority group trying to impose it upon the working class against their will and understanding. 

The Socialist Party was founded with one purpose, that of achieving socialism. Socialism is not something akin to reformists' efforts to improve capitalism, but an alternative social system. One in which class ownership of the means of production and distribution would be replaced by common ownership, buying and selling, profit-making and the wages system would disappear, and with them the wars that are caused by capitalism's commercial rivalries. The Socialist Party has campaigned all these years to increase the understanding and acceptance of the socialist message, and from time to time have contested elections. The Socialist Party seeks to shorten the day when we, the workers, will recognise that our shared interests, and demand the abolition of capitalism and establishment of socialism through the intelligent use of the vote by a world working class. 

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