Championing the Working Class

What is capitalism? Capitalism is an economic term, applied to the economic system of our civilisation, by means of which a small minority of people achieve economic independence and have the privilege of living idly upon the toil of others, who produce a surplus value above that which they receive for their own sustenance. Capitalism refers to the system. A capitalist is one who profits by the system. If he works himself, it does not alter the fact that he has an income apart from his work sufficient to sustain him for life without toil, and therefore his is economically independent. Capitalism therefore consists of two classes of society: the capitalist class, which has achieved economic independence and the working class, which includes those who are not able to do more than sustain life by means of selling their labour power to the capitalist class. Capitalism is based upon two sets of conflicting economic interests. One class believes that it is justly entitled to the economic power and security which it has, but which it manifestly did not create; the other class believes that it is being unjustly deprived of that which it has created yet will never possesses. This is the class struggle. The source of all profit is the exploitation of the working class; where it goes is irrelevant. The logic of the class struggle is simple, A handful of capitalists and financiers who are in control manufacturing, the banks, the natural resources and the government, are steadily whittling away at the living standards and democratic rights of all the working class. The reason why a handful are able to dominate is that the millions of workers are scattered, powerless, without unity and direction. Labour must be organised to challenge the capitalist foe. In addition to obvious splitting tactics to divide our class with racism, sexism or nationalism, the capitalists also divide our class with reformism.

Reformism thinks only of how to solve problems within the framework allowed by capital. Reformism regards socialism as a remote goal and nothing more, and actually repudiates the socialist revolution. Reformism advocates not class struggle, but class collaboration. Reformism is a programme of relying on gradual change and making things a little bit better, slowly. It develops out of faith in the fair mindedness of the wealthy. Reformists feel that they can serve the people by forming an alliance with the enemy. Reformists slyly serve the interests of the ruling class. The Socialist Party says reformism is not a moderate or too slow form of socialism, but its mortal enemy. Reformism is trickery used to keep the working class under wage slavery. Reformism keeps the working class indefinitely under the yoke of capitalism.  Reformists maintain that we can arrive at a certain type of “socialism” by winning reforms one after the other. What they don’t say is that whatever the rich has to give up with one hand after a hard struggle, it will just take back with the other. It’s the same story with regard to all those who hold reformist ideas. The Socialist Party makes no compromises. In our education work we show how reformism upholds capitalism and sabotages the fight for socialism. Marxists link themselves with their fellow-workers as socialists. They don’t hide their positions out of fear of cutting themselves off from the masses but rather carry out their educational work in order to demonstrate revolutionary positions. To fight against reformism means stopping the creation illusions about capitalism. Skilful politicians endeavour to reform, in other words patch up the old system of antiquated and shaky domination, or erect a new system of domination. This is what is called good politics. Others try to help the exploited acquire the strength to deliver themselves from oppression and domination. It is this which in parliamentary terms is called bad politics.

 The Socialist Party champions the working class, declaring its intention to be advocate the abolition of wage slavery by the establishment of a world system based upon common ownership of the means of production and distribution, to be administered by society in the common interest of all its members and the complete emancipation of the socially useful classes from the domination of capitalism. With socialism, private ownership and barter in capital being at an end, money would lose the functions which it possessed under capitalism and would be disappear. Our object is to establish social justice for the people of the world. Let it be understood by everybody that the purpose of the Socialist Party is to secure the conquest of the world for the workers of the world. We aim at a new society – the socialist commonwealth. The meaning of this should be clear to all workers. It is a fight against the Labour Government and the so-called “Left Wing”, as the enemies of the working class, and we must bring our sharpest weapons of attack to bear on them. There is not and cannot be any political party which genuinely fights for the people other than one which is clearly and unambiguously a socialist party. If socialists dilute their own principles and party, hoping to catch the popularity of the common people, it thereby dilutes its fight against the capitalists. Let socialists organise and oppose resolutely, uncompromisingly against the 1%.

The aim of the Socialist Party is to replace world capitalist economy by world socialism for it alone can abolish the contradictions of the capitalist system which threaten to degrade and destroy the humanity. It is mankind’s only way out by creating a united commonwealth of labour, abolishing private ownership of the means of production and converting these means into social property, and replacing those competitive and blind processes of the world market by planned production for the purpose of satisfying social needs. With the abolition of competition and anarchy in production, devastating crises and still more devastating wars will disappear. Instead of colossal waste of productive forces and spasmodic development of society, there will be a planned production for use of all material resources. The abolition of private property and the disappearance of classes will do away with the exploitation of man by man. Work will cease to be toiling for the benefit of a class enemy. Deprivation, want and inequality will disappear and the wretched misery of we, the wage-slaves, will end.