Capitalism increasingly demonstrates itself incapable of
providing a decent life for the vast majority of the world’s people. Capitalist
society can neither guarantee a secure future nor even promise there will be a
future. The threat of climate change casts
a shadow over the lives of all of us where once nuclear holocaust loomed. The
hallmark of the capitalism we live under is that the vast majority of people
work out their lives for the enrichment of the small minority of profiteers who
own the bulk of the economy and through their wealth control the entire
society. Profit is the be-all and end-all of economic life; human needs come
second—if at all. It is only by understanding how capitalism runs against the
interests of working people that we can advance on the road to revolution. Let
working people manage industry, eliminate the profit motive, plan production to
suit the needs of the people for prosperity and plenty for all. Workers can set
up their own administrative committees which alone can plan for use and not for
profit. Capitalism cannot reform itself;
it cannot be reformed. Humanity can be saved only by the socialist revolution.
But what is the alternative? Socialism will reduce work to an
insignificant part of daily life and offer the individual the fullest
possibilities to pursue his own abilities and interests. Capitalism cannot make
use of automation for the benefit of society but socialism will. A socialist
system will produce for use according to a reasonable plan and without a
thought for the odious notion of profit. And with no insatiable parasitic class
to maintain, a future socialist society will produce abundance for all. Only by
completely getting rid of this system of wage-slavery and its law of profits
and the system in which the capitalists own and control everything, including
us and our labour can we advance to socialism. There’s no way through piecemeal
step by step can we win. It’s only by getting rid of the root cause of these
problems, the system of capitalism, that we can build a new society run by and
for the working class. If we stick to principles we will be able to stand up
and go forward to socialism.
That wealth exists on this planet in abundance is well known
and was known long before we said so. But the distribution of this wealth
proceeds according to the social relations of society. These are capitalist
relations, resting upon the capitalist ownership and control of the means of
production. In the plans put promoted by
progressives these relations would remain, only the wealth would be
redistributed by cutting down on the big fortunes and adding to the small ones
or giving to those that have none. But this is impossible under capitalism
since the ownership and control of the means of production determines the form
of distribution of all wealth. So far this has meant and can only mean ever
greater riches for the parasites and ever greater impoverishment for those who
toil, who have nothing but their labor power to sell – and to sell only when
the bosses see fit to buy. What is the cause of this unequal distribution of
wealth? The cause is to be found in the ownership and control of the means of
production. This system secures the right to exploit workers by leaving in the
hands of the capitalist class also the ownership of the surplus value produced
by the workers over and above what they receive as wages, sufficient only for
their bare upkeep when they have jobs. This is how profits are acquired. Of
course, the abundance of wealth available could easily be guarantee to each
family. But this is equally impossible under the profit system and it can be
obtained only when the profit system is abolished. Progressives advocate the
redistribution of wealth; but accept the continuance of the present social
relationship. Progressive programs assume the employers continued right to
exploitation workers so that returns to shareholders in the form of unearned
incomes may continue; so that dividends on stocks may be paid and the now of
profits taken out of the exploitation of labour may proceed uninterrupted.
There are no other sources for profits to come from.
Why does racism exist? Partly, it is a relic of the ideology
which the British ruling class used to defend their imperial activities in the
past; partly it is a reflection of outdated nationalism which teaches
inhabitants of one country to believe that they are superior to others. The
ruling class will use racism to divide workers when it is opportune to do so,
and they will use immigrants as scapegoats when capitalist crises require
workers to be thrown out of employment.
The Socialist Party is hostile to racism in all of its
forms. Our Declaration of Principles make clear that socialism will involve the
emancipation of all human beings, without distinction of race or sex. For us,
the division in society is between exploiters and exploited; all workers are
our brothers and sisters, whatever may be stamped on their passports, whatever
colour their skin happens to be. Socialism holds out the prospect of one world
inhabited by one people, emancipated consciously and politically from the
ignorance of racist thinking. Statements about “serving” “our” country for the
“national interest” is an assumption that there is such a thing as something to
which we belong and which protects us. It is a notion cultivated by the ruling
class for the purpose of hiding the fact of class cleavage, of exploitation for
the purpose of making the worker think that when he makes sacrifices it is for
“his” country, instead for the capitalists.
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