Socialism, sooner or later

As more people involve themselves in political questions and look for real causes and solutions, much more will be expected and needed from the Socialist Party. Socialism places its hope in the ability of people to reach high levels of political consciousness and to substitute its rule for the authority of a propertied class. Few topics are being more widely discussed these days than the rebuilding of the socialist movement. All sorts of people are talking to each other who previously would have found themselves in the same room. Left-wing scholars of widely divergent views have shared platforms with a whole new library of books, each author working to achieve a fresh understanding of contemporary capitalism which are turning into debates periodicals which call themselves socialist. Many thousands of radicals are trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. The Socialist Party holds to the conviction of the soundness of principles and trust in our fellow-workers class. Pessimism is not permissible in the Socialist Party, although we do admit to impatience. The Socialist Party knows that social evolution will make the working class revolutionary. Our arguments are too powerful to be withstood; our reasoning is too strong to be denied. Socialism can only be brought in by active men and women. It is not passive agreement that is wanted, but organised workers. It is possible to carry on our propaganda without funds, but without workers never. The working class must proceed to its emancipation as a class. Individual acts and individual effort can never throw off the capitalist oppressor. . Every step must be taken as a class; every battle must be fought on class lines; every activity, no matter whether on the industrial field or in the political arena, must be carried through as part of the class plan of action. What does this mean? What can it mean but organisation —organisation on the industrial field and organisation in the political arena. The unity of aim which is essential. Without principles there can be no sound organisation.

Ideas do not stand still. For example, we have seen important changes in attitude towards sexuality, marriage, gender and the family. These changes—which have happened worldwide—are the process of the working class feeling their way towards the conclusion that a fundamental social change is the only way to harmonise relationships within society.

In other words, there is every reason to think that the socialist revolution will be, to all intents and purposes, simultaneous throughout the world. For a time it may gather greater momentum in one country than in another, but this will quickly adjust itself. As socialism becomes a more possible reality is there will be a rush toward it.

We are asked to believe that the working class intelligence is not capable of solving the simple problem of distributing that wealth among the people who produce it. We say it is a lie; the solution is ridiculously easy. We have simply to sweep away those who stand between us and all that is good under the sun. We have to take away from them all the sources of wealth and all the means of producing wealth, and to use them for the satisfaction of our own needs.

The Socialist Party has no illusions. We recognise that the fight will be long and hard. The industrial barons and the lords of capital and their political pawns have made it clear they will use every form of force in their desperation to hold onto their stolen billions. Socialism has been attacked and incriminated at all times, with every kind of wickedness. But with socialism, solidarity will be the basis of society. The reformists say that capitalism isn’t what it used to be. Marx was no doubt right in his time, they say... but that was well over a century ago. But can these people tell us what exactly has changed in terms of the exploitation of the working class? Has capitalism changed its spots? There is still the exploitative capitalist system.

Socialists seek a better world founded on common ownership, equality and democracy, where the means to meet all mankind’s material needs is raised to the greatest possible height. Capitalism has resulted in a worldwide rise in social inequality, poverty, disease and threats to the environment. What socialism is all about is the conquest of human freedom for the greatest possible number to decide their own fate.

To fight against capitalism in which human beings are despised, alienated, exploited, oppressed or denied basic human dignity, to dedicated your life to defend the exploited, the oppressed, the downtrodden, the despised.

There is no better way to be a good human being in this world than to dedicate your life to this cause.

Socialism can prove itself a superior system as it brings about a far better livelihood for the masses of people than capitalism. Capitalism makes true democracy unachievable for the majority. Behind the facade of formal democratic institutions, the real power is exercised by and for the capitalist class. The capitalists, through their powerful lobbies and campaign funding, dominate the political process, insuring that candidates favourable to their interests are elected. An elaborate powerful civil and military bureaucracy, which is materially and ideologically tied to the capitalist class, forms the core of the state. This bureaucracy remains wedded to the capitalist class. In its infancy, the capitalist class championed democracy in its fight to displace feudalism. But now, it is democracy’s implacable enemy. While capitalism engenders democratic illusions, it makes their realisation impossible. While the working class recognises that no amount of democracy can abolish class oppression, it also recognises that the greater the democracy, the more direct, the more open and the broader the class struggle. And the more the working class has the freedom to organise and struggle, the more it will see that its oppression stems from capitalism.