Social Democracy

Socialist ideas are assailed on all sides by our class foes, the story of the alternative, socialism, is not told so it necessary to keep explaining it. Capitalism is the mortal enemy of the people

Capitalism is a system of commodity production (that is, the production of goods for sale and not for direct use by the producer) which is distinguished by the fact that labour power itself becomes a commodity. The major means of production and exchange which make up the capital of society are owned privately by a small minority, the capitalist class, while the great majority of the population consists of the working class. Because of their economic position this majority can only exist by selling their labour power to the capitalists and thus creating through their work the incomes of the upper classes. Thus, fundamentally, capitalism is a system of exploitation of the working class by the capitalist class. Under capitalism social production replaces the individual production of the feudal era. It is based on an ever-greater socialisation of labour. However, although production is social, ownership is private. The working class produces the commodities which constitute the wealth of capitalist society, but it does not own them. They are appropriated by those who own the means of production – the capitalist class.

The contradiction between the social character of production and the private character of appropriation is the basic contradiction of the capitalist system, impelling its development and giving rise to the motive force of capitalist society, the class struggle. It also manifests itself as an antagonism between the high level of organisation in the individual factory or enterprise on the one hand, and on the other, the anarchy of production prevailing in the social economy as a whole. Production is socialised to an ever-greater degree while the ownership of the means of production are concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Anarchy of production is

the tendency of capitalist producers in general to produce to the maximum without regard to their competitors or to the capacity of the market to absorb their production. Competition for the market in which profit is realised has always been the hallmark of capitalism, and the greatest stimulus to capitalist production. The lust for profits stands in the way of economic progress.

 It is both possible and necessary for the working class, the main and decisive productive force in capitalist society, to carry out a social revolution which it is the historic mission of the working class to accomplish. By replacing private ownership of the means of production by common ownership, by transforming the anarchy of production which is a feature of capitalism into planned production organised for the well-being of all of society, the socialist revolution will end the division of society into classes and emancipate all of humanity from all forms of exploitation. Exploited by the relations of production under capitalism, the working class has a direct material interest in the overthrow of capitalism and its replacement by socialism, the system in which the working class owns and controls the means of production and collectively shares in the products of its labour. The working class, created by capitalism, is also the destroyer of capitalism. This need for a socialist party is not something that is merely thought up in the heads of revolutionaries. More and more production becomes socialised, that is to say, great masses of workers are concentrated into huge industrial plants in the great cities. The highly complicated machinery of modern capitalism converts workers into a semi-skilled and unskilled mass which merely serves or tends machines. The huge masses of capital become centralised into fewer and fewer hands. The constantly diminishing number of capitalists faces the constantly growing mass of workers. The class struggle becomes sharper and sharper. The workers concentrated in the offices and factories are not divided to the same degree that they once were. They are compelled to think in terms of solidarity. For sure, there is still room for reform and betterment in the present social system, but this is of minor consequence compared to the world’s crying need for economic and social reorganisation. Private property and private ownership of production for individual profit are no longer compatible with social progress and have ceased to operate for humane and civilised ends.

The Socialist Party sets its task to assist fellow-workers to understand the irreconcilable antagonism between the exploiters and the exploited, and explains to it the significance of the social revolution and the necessary conditions for it. It highlights to all how hopeless their position is under capitalist society and explains the necessity of a social revolution if we are to free ourselves from the yoke of capital. Accordingly, the Socialist Party calls upon all members of the working class to join it. The inauguration of socialism is the aim of the Socialist Party. That is the task of the working class. That is the road to human freedom. Upon socialism, depends the future of humanity and of civilisation. The working class is called upon to save society from barbarism. We can be sure, however, that recent setbacks are temporary and that the socialist revolution remains on the agenda.