The socialist aim is revolution

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.