Wednesday, April 03, 2019

Futile hopes, empty dreams!


Few can deny that the world today is suffering upheaval, chaos, turmoil and conflict. Against this insane capitalist system, the Socialist Party raises its voice in protest and condemnation, declaring that if our society is to be rid of the economic, political and social ills that plagues it, capitalism must be replaced by a new social system, organised on the basis of common ownership and democratic management of all the means production and distribution and all of the social services. It must be one in which production is carried on to satisfy human needs and wants. In short, it must be genuine socialism. Across a world full of human gore, we, the Socialist Party, reach out the hand of solidarity to our fellow-workers.

Capitalism is the last expression of class rule. The economic foundation of class rule is the private ownership of the necessaries for production. The social structure, or garb, of class rule is the political State with no vital function other than the maintenance of the supremacy of the ruling class.

Goals determine methods. The goal of social evolution being the final overthrow of class rule, its methods must fit the goal. Capitalism laid the economic groundwork for socialism, and provided the class that can bring socialism about. The workers cannot rid themselves of their sufferings without abolishing the domination that the state machine has over them. They can do this only if they gain control of the state machine itself. By doing so, they can end capitalism and reorganise of society. For the first time in history, the state would be in the hands of the majority to be used against the anti-social minority. The important thing is that there will be no need of a public coercive force to maintain the power of one class over another, to protect the property of one from the assaults of the other, to assure the continuation of oppression and exploitation.

Socialism is based upon the planned organisation of production for use by means of the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production and it is the abolition of all classes and class differences. The purpose of planning, is to assure the harmonious integration of industry with the environment while still raising the standard of living of all. It is the maintenance of capitalist domination of society that demands, more and more, the abandonment of ecological balance and democracy. The raw materials, machinery and labour power of the nation would be brought together into an integrated whole. The waste of capitalist competition and the stagnation of monopoly capitalism would be overcome. Production would not be organised on the basis of the blind push and pull of the capitalist market, but in accordance with the needs of the people. Production for profit would give way to production for use. Capitalist motives for production was, is, and always will be profit. It is not the needs of the people that dictate its production.

 Democratic process and institutions are not merely desirable ideals, but indispensable to the planning of production for use. Who is to determine what is useful and what would satisfy these needs? Will that be decided exclusively by a small board of government planners? No matter how high-minded and wise they might be, they could not plan production for the needs of the people. Production for use, by its very nature, demands constant consultation of the people, constant control and direction by the people. The democratically-adopted decision of the people would have to guide the course of production and distribution. Democratic control of the means of production and distribution would have to be exercised by the people to see to it that their decision is being carried out. Otherwise, at best, it would be the benevolent regimentation of the people “for their own good.” A government which declares itself to be for the people, but is not a government of and by the people. Production would be run by the autocratic will of a bureaucracy. Economic distortions, social conflict, exploitation and oppression would inevitably result. Production for use, aimed at satisfying the needs of society and of freeing all the people from class rule, would be impossible. Democratic control, the continual extension of democracy, is therefore an indispensable necessity.

With socialism, there is abundance for all. A rationally planned organised society, sustainably using resources and renewable energy and with better technology to come, could easily assure abundance to all.

Socialism is not a blueprint for society that exists in the minds of the members of the Socialist Party. It is the direction that the people must take in order to save society from disintegration, in order to satisfy their social needs. To be a socialist, merely means to be conscious of this necessity, to make others conscious of it, and to work for the realisation of the goal. In the socialist society we will show that abundance, freedom and equality are not only possible but the natural condition for the new history of the human race.

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