Everything is possible

The Socialist Party stands for the self-emancipation of the working class. Thus as revolutionary workers, we want to be open with our fellow workers. The Socialist Party is still very small, and we have no illusions that we will get big votes. We know that there is much work to be done to transform the present situation where the majority of workers feel powerless to change things. The Socialist Party has before it a long, uphill battle to become a relevant force in working class politics. Nevertheless there are growing numbers of people who are not prepared to quietly accept the present system. The Socialist Party is very different from that of other parties. We are not vote catching, but delivering the message that what the capitalist system offers is simply not good enough, and it´s time to stand up and fight for change. There is no reason we can’t carry socialist ideas to all. Socialists must be out there in the streets and on the door-steps The message they convey must be clear unambiguous and consistent.

Socialists have long been alive to the profound and inherent injustices of capitalist society. Capitalism has proven to be an extremely tenacious and resourceful system, making the switch to socialism far more prolonged than had originally been envisioned. As it turns out, capitalism has substantially more resilience than could have been foreseen by Marx, Engels The central reality facing advocates of socialism is that capitalism has remained on the scene as a viable and vigorous socio-economic system for far longer than most Marxists would have predicted. At the same time, the gnawing contradictions of capitalism have not at all disappeared. Capitalism remains an inherently exploitative system and, while broad sectors of the population manage to do more than just get by, it is also true that the polarisation between the extremes of wealth and poverty has sharpened over the years. The contrast between those whose lives are organised around obscene levels of accumulation and consumption and those who live in utter poverty and desperation has never been more glaring. Racial minorities still bear the main brunt of the irrationalities of capitalism. Renewed anti-migrant discrimination is the order of the day. Immigrants and refugees have been greeted by “native-born” and “white only” sentiment and legislation that effectively locks them into functioning as cheap labour in industries and services with no benefits or job security. Largely politically unenfranchised and unrepresented, they also face incursions on their civil liberties by the repressive apparatus such as ICE. Divisions within the working class impede its ability to effectively struggle against exploitation and oppression and have retarded the development of class consciousness. 

Capitalism is a system in which producing and appropriating classes are dependent on the market for the conditions of their self-reproduction. It is a system in which class exploitation is mediated by the market. The only way of supplanting production for profit by production for need. The basis of capitalism is exploitation. The capitalists have an interest in promoting the highest rate of exploitation possible. It is through exploitation that they maximise their profits and maximisation of profits is the basis of capitalist production. Thus, businessmen have an interest in paying the lowest wages consistent with capitalist reproduction (they cannot kill off their working class). They have an interest in a longer working day, poorer working conditions (safety, ventilation, etc. are all costs of production). In other words, they have an objective interest in promoting a situation that makes the life of the worker increasingly intolerable. Workers, on the other hand, have the opposite point of view. They seek higher wages, to reduce the working day Hence the two classes have conflicting interests. There is only one possible resolution: the end of capitalist society and the creation of socialism, where the working class controls the means of production, operates the factories, land, etc., in its own interest.

Why is this the only possible solution? There are two basic reasons. Initially exploitation is an injustice–the basic injustice. As long as there is this injustice with its attendant effects (racism, sexism, etc.) there will be a movement to eliminate it. Thus, only with the elimination of the injustice can the movement be put to an end. As workers are (eventually) the majority of the population, they are in a position to end exploitation; they have sufficient power (if understood) to accomplish this end.

Second, capitalists cannot exist without workers, but workers can exist without capitalists. As it is workers who actually do the producing, they are quite capable of undertaking this activity in their own interests. Hence, the logical conclusion to the struggle under capitalism is the elimination of capitalism and the transition to socialism. But this cannot be accomplished unless workers are aware of their objective interests and are organised to achieve this. A working class which does not have the necessary knowledge to effect its own emancipation will not spontaneously evolve into a transformatory force. For this to occur, workers in large enough numbers must develop sufficient knowledge concerning the nature of capitalist society, the nature of socialism and the necessity for revolution to change the world. The purpose of the Socialist Party is to assist the establishment of a society in which it is no longer needed–it must seek to eliminate itself. When most are socialist, then no special socialist organisation is necessary.

We spend our whole lives ruled by fear. In socialism fear will disappear when everyone lives in security. It would be a far, far better world. We are now at the beginning of the journey towards socialism. Before us is a long hard road, with many ups and downs.

THE ENEMY IS CAPITALISM; THE GOAL IS SOCIALISM!