The Socialist Party opposes capitalism, period. The
Socialist Party proceeds upon the assumption that society is at present divided
into two classes, whose economic interests are antagonistic. Workers cannot
look to the benevolent action of left-wing political parties, for help in
attaining labour’s objective, the emancipation of the workers from wage
slavery. Neither can they look to them for the knowledge and ideas which are
the necessary aids to a clear understanding of the present position, and of the
means of ending it. The Socialist Party aims at supplying this need for workers
to organise independently in the political and industrial spheres. No social movement
can afford to neglect its education and that the mischievous results of the
false ideas spread by the class enemies of the workers can only be remedied by
the spread of socialist knowledge. The Socialist Party takes the stand of the
working class worldwide with only one object - the complete overthrow of the capitalist
class, the triumph of socialism over capitalism. The aim of the Socialist Party
will be the realisation of a communist, cooperative commonwealth - a class-free
society.
However, it is a fact
widely recognised that no mass socialist party exists. There is no party
capable of forming the proletariat into a class politically independent of the
bourgeoisie. There is no party capable of organising the working class in the
overthrow of capitalist political power. But the history of modern society
shows that such a party is an absolute necessity for the overthrow of the ruling
class. The organisational problem presents itself as the need to expand the
membership until it has grown to the point at which it is an effective and
influential party. The Socialist Party views as a major reason for this failure
to build a mass socialist party has been the inability of our fellow-workers to
make a complete break with capitalist ideology; their failure to break away
from the outlook of the capitalist class. Under normal, that is to say,
non-revolutionary conditions, the ruling class maintains its power by its
control over men and women’s thinking. If a socialist party is to be able to
represent the class interests of the working class then the party must have
absolute unity and clarity of purpose.
Marxism is of importance to all working people because, if
the policies advocated and practiced by those entrusted with its application are
incorrect, it follows that the economic and political interests of the working
people will not be defended. On the contrary, the pursuit of incorrect policies
can only lead inevitably to the subordination of the economic and political
interests of the working people to the interests of the dominant ruling class. Marxism
holds that the agency in transforming society from capitalism to socialism is
that class which is itself a product of capitalism, the working class i.e.,
wage workers who earn their livelihood through the sale of their labour power
and have no other means of existence. Marxism offers a “guide to action” for
the working class to follow in the struggle to achieve political power and to
build socialism. Marxism maintains that the interests of the working class (the
proletariat) and the interests of the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) are
irreconcilable and that therefore, the interests of the working class cannot be
served through collaboration or alliance with the capitalists but in opposition
to them. From these conflicting interests of the two basic classes, bourgeoisie
and proletariat, capitalists and workers, arises an antagonism, a struggle,
between the two classes: the class struggle. Marxism recognises that the class
struggle is the motive force of history, as the means by which society moves
forward and achieves higher forms of civilisation. To give direction and
guidance to this struggle, which is essentially a political struggle, the
working class must of necessity develop its own Marxist political party, apart
from and independent of all other political parties. Socialism will be won and
built by the proletariat.
The establishment of a socialist, planned economy, based on
the needs of the people, will mean the end to the chaos of capitalist
production with its lack of planning, repeated crises, unemployment, inflation
and criminal waste of resources and material. The vast creative potential of
the millions of working people will be unleashed with their direct
participation in the control and direction of production and distribution. Commodity
production, that is, production for sale or exchange on the market, will not
exist. The system of wage labour will be abolished and the guiding principle of
labour will be “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” The
means of production will be held communally and private property will be
eliminated. With the abolition of classes and class distinctions, all social
and political inequality arising from them will disappear. The conflicts of
interest between workers and farmers, town and country, manual and intellectual
labour will disappear. As classes will not exist, the state will not be
necessary as an instrument of class rule and will gradually have withered away.
The aim of the Socialist Party is the liberation of mankind through the
establishment of a class-free, state-free society, embracing the whole globe. Socialism
is not an “improved”, “more just” version of the system of wage labour, but a
wholly new mode of production What has to be broken through are the social
relations intrinsic to capital, for it is the immanent laws of capital as a
social relation that makes capitalism a self-sustaining mode of production.
The road is long and tortuous, but the future is bright for
the people of the world.
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