Towards Socialism

Socialism abolishes the chaos and anarchy of capitalist production and social organisation; it does away with the dog-eat-dog competition of capitalist industry, breeder of industrial crises and war. It sets up instead a planned system of economy in harmony. Socialism ends the production of social necessities for profit—out of which originates all the miseries and chaos of capitalism. Socialism thus revolutionises the aim of production from production for profitable sale to production for social use. In so doing it frees humanity from the narrow limits of capitalist economy and embarks upon a totally new era of social development. Capitalism robs the toilers of a large share of what they produce. With socialism there is no exploitation. The working class exploits no subject class. Under capitalism science is a slave to the class interests of the bourgeoisie. But socialism strikes all these fetters from science. The aim of the Socialist Party is to overthrow capitalism and replace it by world socialism, abolishing all forces of exploitation and oppression of man by man. Society will no longer consist of antagonistic classes in conflict with each other, but will represent a united commonwealth of labour. For the first time in its history mankind will take its fate into its own hands. Instead of destroying innumerable human lives and incalculable wealth in struggles between classes and nations, humanity will devote all its energies to the development and strengthening of social evolution. The future society will be State-free. With private property in industry and land abolished (not articles of personal use), with exploitation of the toilers ended, and with the capitalist class finally defeated and all classes liquidated, there will then be no further need for the State, which “withers away” and be replaced by the “administration of things”. When the capitalist class is decisively beaten the workers’ need for a State die out. Under the class-free, State-free regime of socialism there will exist a broad and genuine freedom such as the world heretofore has not even remotely approached. The guiding principle will be: “From each according to ability, to each according to needs.” That is, the distribution of life necessities—food, clothing, shelter, education, etc.—will be free, without let or hindrance. Communist production, carried out upon the most efficient basis and freed from the drains of capitalist exploiters, will provide such an abundance of necessary commodities that there will be plenty for all with a minimum of effort. There will then be no need for penny-pinching. Industry, freed from capitalist anarchy and exploitation, will develop a high efficiency and lay the basis for genuine mass prosperity.

The first condition of success for socialism is that its essential characteristics should be explained clearly, so that everyone can understand them. There are many misunderstandings created by our adversaries. We must do away with these. Capitalists are not interested in production to benefit the peoples of the world or even their own people. They are interested only in profits. If the productive forces in the world were to be used for the purposes of construction, the entire planet could be transformed and the standards of living and level of culture raised to undreamed of heights. This is not possible under capitalism. Abundance under this system can only produce crises of over-production, slumps and unemployment, because of the basic necessity of the capitalist class to make profits. Only the unity of the workers, leading to a socialist world can produce that “One World” which can abolish want and oppression and war.

Automation offers tremendous possibilities to humanity. It can free man from slavery to the machine. It can free us from the double degradation of giving one class all the work – uncreative, boring and stultifying – and another class all the leisure – just as uncreative, just as boring and just as stultifying. It can end the artificial dichotomy between neurotic city life and idiotic country life; between workers by hand and workers by brain.

But capitalism cannot give us full automation. It can only use the new techniques to bring new terrors to this world – the terrors of unemployment or war. Automation can only benefit humanity if it is controlled. There is only one guarantee of its human use – workers control of automation, workers control of production, the only meaning of socialism.

People born into wage-slavery, trained to wage-slavery and fed wage-slavery through the mainstream media day in, day out do not question their masters easily. Today with a looming environmental crisis, capitalism’s alternative is needed as it never has before.