Red Salute

The decisions on production are made, not by consumers, what the people need and want; not by the workers, what the workers would like to make; not by scientists and technicians who know best of all, perhaps. The main decisions on production under capitalism—what shall be produced, how, where, and when—are made by financial magnates remote from the factories, remote from the people, whose sole motive is profit in each case.  Marxists call it the anarchy of capitalist production and the result is wasteful competition. Consider the waste represented by the conspicuous consumption of those seeking to emulate capitalist social parasites and the huge share of the product of labour that goes to those non-producers. That is an absolute waste. There is the waste of advertising, trying to get us to favour one identical product over another, or to buy something we don’t need and that won’t do us any good, and then buy something else to overcome the effects. That is pure waste. Then there’s the waste of human material, which really shouldn’t be squandered. Just think of all the people prostituting their talents and skills under capitalism. There are millions of such people, engaged in all kinds of useless, non-productive occupations in this present society. That’s not all. Consider the waste of militarism and all the wars. All that is an economic waste, inseparable from the present system. Finally, the costliest of all the results of the anarchy of capitalist production is the waste of economic crises—the periodic shutting down of production because the market has entered a recession—an unavoidable cyclical occurrence under capitalism.  Workers in factories, eager to produce what people require, aren't allowed to work and produce them, are put out into the street unemployed and now needing the work so that they could live.

What will the people of the future think of a society where the workers lived in constant fear of unemployment, in a world of abundance but with poverty and deprivation all around because of this monstrous squandering of the people’s energies and resources, which is the direct result of the anarchy of capitalist production. Just ending all this colossal waste—to say nothing of a stepped-up rate of productivity which would soon follow—the socialist reorganisation of the economy will bring about a startling improvement of the people’s living standards. The first condition will to stop production for sale and profit and organise planned production for use, eliminating all those conflicting interests of private owners of competing businesses. When people regard themselves as citizens of the world, concerned with all the affairs of the world and all its peoples, and seek fraternal association with them on the basis of equality, they will ask themselves If we’re all doing well and living good, producing more than we really need in an eight-hour day—then why the hell should we work so long?” This question will arise in the councils of the workers in the shops at the bottom and will be carried up through their delegates all the way to the top of the government. And the logical answer will go along with the question: “Let’s shorten the working day. Why should we work eight hours when we can produce all we need in four?” And there will still be abundance and superabundance. That may appear to be a simple answer to a complicated question, but many things will be simplified when the anarchy of capitalist production for profit is replaced by planned production for use.

 By a simple act of human solidarity, decided freely and voluntarily, we will put the world on a firmer foundation with a system of socialist cooperation. That will be a very simple and natural and easy thing to do because socialism will have the means, the abundance, the productivity for the benefit of all. When there is plenty for all, there is no material basis for a privileged bureaucracy and the danger disappears. From the very beginning,  we will have real workers’ democracy because democracy is not only better for ourselves, for our minds but is also better for production - economic democracy when all the workers participate in the decision-making,  bringing together their experience and proposals. Flaws in work-plans will be corrected right away by the hands-on knowledge of the workers, bad administrators will be recalled by the democratic process. An educated and conscious working class will insist on democracy in all spheres of communal life from A to Z,  in all cultural activities. Every day you can have something to say about what you’re doing and how it should be done. That’s what really counts so not to tolerate bureaucratic tyrants of any kind. All the repressive features of the State will wither away and die out for lack of function. There will be no class to repress. All will be free and equal. The government over men and women will be replaced by the administration of things.

That is an indication of social revolution. We, in the Socialist Party, strive to help it along, feel victory is on our side, for we are the future. The goal is worthy of anything we can do for it.