3 Systems - You Choose

WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

CAPITALISM
TWO CLASSES
WEALTH PRODUCED SOCIALLY
... BUT PRIVATELY OWNED
... AND CONTROLLED BY POLITICAL STATE
WORKERS PRODUCE ALL RECEIVE FRACTION

STATE DESPOTISM
TWO CLASSES
WEALTH PRODUCED SOCIALLY
... BUT STATE OWNED
... AND DESPOTICALLY RULED
WORKERS PRODUCE ALL RECEIVE FRACTION

OR REAL SOCIALISM
NO CLASSES
WEALTH PRODUCED SOCIALLY AND OWNED SOCIALLY
PLAN - DESIGN - MANUFACTURE - DISTRIBUTION - SERVICES - ETC.
WITH DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION
THROUGH SOCIALIST INDUSTRIAL UNION GOVERNMENT
YOU WILL VOTE WHERE YOU WORK FOR
PLANT COUNCIL
LOCAL INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL
NATIONAL IND'L COUNCIL
ALL-INDUSTRY CONGRESS
WORKERS PRODUCE ALL, RECEIVE ALL

From the SLP website

Class unity is an imperative

A major problem besetting society, and one that is justifiably receiving an enormous amount of attention, is the problem of racism - a sickness that infects all of our society. Racism is an evil that has subjected millions to degrading and humiliating discrimination. On more than one occasion seething unrest, resentment and frustrations of the exploited and oppressed Negroes exploded into violence. While a great deal of effort has been made to minimise and alleviate the effects of racism, nothing -- absolutely nothing -- has been done to eliminate its cause. The basic cause of racism is not the false ideas or racial myths conceived and spread by the white supremacists. Rather, the cause of racism is the competitive, strife-ridden, class-divided capitalist system of society under which we live, and under which we desperately attempt to survive. 

Race hatred is not an ancient and inherent thing. On the contrary, all this prejudice, and the very concept of race, is the product of the modern era, of the era we call capitalism. There were other fears, other hatreds, other prejudices, but before the capitalist era men and women never discriminated against their fellows because of the colour of skin. People are wrong to say "race prejudice always has been and always will be." The capitalist system as a breeding ground for race prejudice. The Socialist Party, dedicated to bringing to birth a world of freedom, peace and brotherhood, feels a deep sympathy for all who resist the degradation and oppose racial discrimination. We applaud their militant spirit. We fully share with them their yearnings for a better life. Nevertheless, candour compels us to point out that their struggle is essentially a struggle against an effect; it does not get at the cause of the race problem. And as long as the cause remains, the evil also remains and adds its poison to the body politic. Prejudice is peculiarly a product of the capitalist era.

Consider carefully the following facts. Under capitalism the means of social production -- land, factories, mines, media, transport, etc. -- are owned by a relatively small class of capitalists. The great majority of the people own no tools of their own, nor have access to them, and in order to live they have to go to the capitalists to sell their ability to work as a commodity. The capitalists buy this labour, (or more precisely, labour power), at the market price. But the workers produce a good deal more than is represented by their market price – many times more. In the science of political economy Marxists call the difference between what the workers get paid in wages and what they produce "surplus value." The capitalist takes this. Of course, he doesn't put it all in his own pocket. He has to share with the landlord, the banker, the tax collector, and a lot of other parasitical hangers-on of capitalism. This is the way the exploitation of working people takes place. 

Today, we think it is self-evident that the less the capitalist has to pay for this labour, that is, less wages, the more he can take for himself. This brings us very close to one of the reasons why racial minorities are segregated and humiliated and held down to a status of second-class citizenship. To put it bluntly, by forcing racial minorities into submissive patterns of behaviour the ruling class supplies itself with a cheap, unresisting workforce. This is one way the capitalists benefit from race prejudice and race discrimination. But there is another, more subtle way. We have shown that labour's product is divided between the wages paid to the workers and the surplus value taken by the capitalists. The capitalists, either because they are forced by competitive compulsions, or out of sheer profit hunger, constantly try in one way or another to increase their share. Contrarily, the workers resist and strive to maintain their living standards, and even improve them. Here we can see the focal point of the class struggle that rages in modern society. Socialists hold that this struggle is irrepressible and irreconcilable. It can be ended only when the workers, male and female, black, brown and white, skilled and unskilled unite as a class to put an end to capitalist exploitation. The point is this -- race prejudice is one of the most insidious, and effective devices ever invented to keep the workers divided and fighting each other. it is in the capitalists' interests to prevent the working class from uniting, instead of forming a solid front against their exploiters. 

Another factor to be noted is the competitive nature of capitalism. And it isn't just the capitalists who are competing against each other; the workers also are cast in the role of competitors. They must compete for jobs. Now, then, the fewer the number of workers competing for the jobs, the better chance each person has. And one way to keep the competition down is just to keep minorities who are easily identified by the colour of their skins, out of the labour market. Of course, there has got to be some justification for such discrimination. So we find it in the myths that circulate about races. These myths and libels are not looked at too carefully. They are believed when it serves one's material interests to believe them. And so the working class is kept divided, the capitalist class remains in the saddle -- and the outmoded capitalist system keeps all of society in turmoil and conflict, postponing the day of international peace and social harmony. 

What is the answer? How are men and women to win fulfillment of their dream of a cooperative commonwealth? How can we purge our minds of prejudice, to understand that the colour has no more real significance than whether someone is tall or short, fat or thin, or blonde or brunette? There is but one way. That is to remove the capitalist cause of race prejudice, and to lay a sound economic foundation for fraternity. The Socialist Party says that we must outlaw private ownership of the land and industries. We must make the means of social production the property of all the people socially. Then, instead of producing things for sale and profit, we will carry on production to satisfy human needs. In short, we replace the competition and strife of capitalism with the cooperation and collective interests of socialism which shall cause the factories and fields to yield an abundance without arduous toil. With socialism, drudgery, poverty and social misery will be banished forever. 

To establish socialism, the workers of the world must organise non-violently and politically to demand at the ballot box that all the means of life become the collective property of society. 

How to Build A Sane World

Many people think that socialism means government ownership. They have been taught this through the schools, the media and other agencies of capitalism. This lie about socialism has been spread because it keeps people from finding out what socialism really is. Furthermore, socialism has never existed anywhere, in any country, at any time. There has never been socialism in Sweden, in the former Soviet Union, in Cuba, in China, Venezuela or in any other country that claims to be socialist.

Socialism is a new social system in which the people own in common and democratically control the industries and social services of society. With socialism, the workers would operate and manage the industries themselves. In each factory and plant, they would elect their own administrative committees. In addition, the present political government run by politicians would be replaced by and community assemblies and neighbourhood councils. Today, we have formal constitutional democracy only. People do not have genuine economic democracy. The employer has almost absolute power over his employees. He can fire whomever he wishes, whenever he wishes. He can close his plant down and move to another state. In fact, he can manufacture something worthless or even harmful. In short, he has all the power of a dictator. Inside socialism we would have industrial democracy, which is truly meaningful.

When we use the word "worker," we mean anyone who sells his or her labour power, or ability to work, at so much per hour, or so much per week, per month or an annual salary to a capitalist employer. Under capitalism workers receive only a small fraction of the wealth that they alone produce, while the lion's share goes to the capitalist owners and to the bankers, landlords, insurance companies, lawyers, politicians and all the other parasites who live off the back of labour and perform no useful work. In a socialist society, there will be no wage system. And since the people will collectively own the industries, anyone will be free to select any occupation in which he has an interest and aptitude. No longer will workers live under the fear of being laid off, or be compelled to spend their lives at some job they hate or are unsuited for. Also since the people will collectively own the colleges and universities, no longer will workers be denied education or training because they lack the money to buy it.

Socialism we will produce for use and to satisfy the needs of all the people. Under capitalism, the industries operate for one purpose-to earn a profit for their owners. Under this system, food is not grown primarily to be eaten. It is grown to be sold. Cars are not manufactured primarily to be driven. They are made to be sold. If there are enough buyers here and abroad, then the capitalists will have their factories turn out cars and everything else for which buyers can be found. But if people lack money, if the domestic and foreign markets cannot absorb them, then these factories shut down, and the country stagnates, no matter how much people need these commodities. At the present time, farmers know that they can produce more than market conditions and price-protecting government restrictions, compensated for by cash subsidies, permit them to. Meanwhile, millions suffer from malnutrition and hunger. In socialism, the factories and industries would be used to benefit all of us, not restricted to the creation of profits for the enrichment of a small group of capitalist owners. Inside socialism, farmland would yield an abundance without great toil; the factories, mines and mills would be the safest, the most modern, the most efficient possible, and productive beyond our wildest dreams - and without labourious work. Our natural resources would be intelligently conserved, our schools would have the finest facilities, and they would be devoted to developing complete human beings, not wage-slaves who are trained to hire themselves out for someone else's profit. Our hospitals and social services will create and maintain the finest health and recreational facilities.

In all previous ages of human history, poverty for most of the people was inescapable. There was simply not enough to go around. But not so today. Automated technology and our scientific knowledge have so vastly increased man's ability to produce what he needs and wants, that there is no longer any excuse whatsoever for the poverty of a single member of society. Today, we have the material possibility of abundance for everyone, and the promise of the leisure in which to enjoy it. But under capitalism, automation and computers are used to replace workers and increase profits. Instead of creating a society of abundance, capitalism uses new technology to create unemployment and poverty. Our cities are being converted largely into festering slums in which impoverished people, not understanding the cause of their miseries, engage in crime and violence to release their frustrations, hopelessness and anger. But it is not automation that threatens us at all. Improved machinery is not an evil. It is a blessing. It is under capitalism that automation is used for anti-social purposes. When manufacturing and distribution belong to all of society, then everyone in that society will benefit. New technology would no longer pot workers out of jobs. Instead, socialism, it would reduce hours and working days. Automation would be used to produce an abundance for all. 

The Socialist Party does not advocate violence. It seeks changes through lawful and constitutional means. When the time comes that the majority of the people want to change from capitalism to socialism, they can make this move through peaceful and lawful means. That is why the Socialist Party has candidates in general and local elections. But if socialist candidates should be elected to office, they would have only one task – to teach workers how to abolish capitalism and the State. Workers all over the world would take possession of the factories and industries where they work. The bus drivers and truckers would take possession of the transportation systems. The mechanics and auto workers would take possession of the auto plants. The printers, reporters, and all other would take possession of their newspapers. The nurses and doctors would take control of the administration of hospitals. The teachers would take over the schools and universities. Then these industries and services would be declared the common property of society and would be operated democratically in the interest of all. 

Socialism will mean Peace, Prosperity and Plenty

SOCIALISM MEANS common ownership by all the people of the factories, mills, mines, railroads, land and all the other instruments of wealth-production. Socialism means production of things to satisfy human needs, and not, as under capitalism, for sale and profit. Socialism means free access to and democratic management of the industries by the workers. 

FOR YOU, as an individual, socialism means a full, happy and useful life. It means the opportunity to develop all your faculties and latent talents. It means that, instead of being a mere wage-slave bought and sold in the labour market, an appendage to a machine, an automaton, a producer of wealth for the ruling class, you will take your place as a human being in a free society of human beings. As a wage worker, under capitalism your price is determined by what your labour power, as a commodity, will bring in the market. By and large, taking into account the ebb and flow of the labour market, you receive a living wage -- the minimum amount necessary to feed, clothe and house you and your family. What you produce over and above your wages is appropriated by your employer who divides it with the banker, landlord, politician and sundry capitalist hangers-on.

YOUR JOB under socialism will not be dependent on the caprices either of a private employer or the capitalist market. When things are produced to satisfy human needs, instead of primarily for sale and profit, involuntary idleness will be an impossibility. The "demand," instead of being limited to what people can buy, will be limited only to what people can use. Nor will technological unemployment be possible under socialism. Improved technology, especially automation, has greatly increased the productivity of workers. And while, under capitalism, the workers are denied the fruits of technology, under socialism it will insure material well-being for all beyond the dreams of avarice. Taking all the factors into consideration, the elimination of waste, of capitalist parasitism, and the removal of all restrictions to improved techniques, it is safe to say that, under socialism.

YOUR HOURS of work under socialism will be the minimum necessary to fulfil society's needs. Work is not the end and aim of man's existence; it is the means to an end. We do not live to work; we work to live. Socialism will, therefore, strive in every way to lighten the labour of man and give him the leisure to develop his faculties and live a happy, healthful, useful life. It is estimated that, with the facilities we now have, by the elimination of capitalist waste and duplication, and by opening jobs at useful work to all who are now deprived of them, we could produce an abundance for all by working four hours a day, four days a week, and forty weeks a year. These are a few of the direct and elementary benefits that you will derive from Socialism. To them may be added a multitude of benefits. Patchwork palliative measures generally are schemes to keep you mentally imprisoned in the vicious circle of capitalist thought. Break this thralldom of the mind! Instead of illusory "welfare and social security" under capitalism, proclaim as your goal the goal of the working class: Socialism

YOU ARE NEEDED to help bring to fulfilment the promise of abundance and human happiness that this age offers. You are needed to help avert capitalist tragedy -- of mass wars and an even more catastrophic climate change.

The Socialist Party Plan

Many of us realise that capitalism has outlived its usefulness, and that it is time for humanity to move on to the next logical stage. We want to create a sane and productive world. But how can we do so? We need a road map. 

The Socialist Party's plan is based on workers acting with workers for workers. No condescending saviours, no philanthropic Santa Clauses is going to come along and set things right. It is useless for us to wait for deliverance from the pains caused by capitalism. We will have to deliver ourselves. Our is based on control by the entire working class instead of by an elite vanguard of political leaders (a dictatorship by any name.) Only if the people as a whole take control of the economy can they maintain that control and use the forces of production to fill their needs. The answer is that workers must form a political party of their own that specifically organises workers as a class. If working people stopped cooperating with the political parties of capitalism and actively took part in controlling our world through our own political and industrial organisations, capitalism would soon wither and die. We would then be able to both construct and maintain a system that is directly based on our own input. We cannot turn our backs on politics and passively wait for a better day that will never come. We don't have to go in search of direction-signs. A plan already exists that is simple, flexible and designed to meet the needs and desires of workers. It is peaceful, workable and within the grasp of working people. We don't have to suffer in isolation. We can join together and we can change our world. 

Years ago, the Socialist Party tried to warn the working class that unless they organised themselves into a political party to express their own interests they would soon be faced with a situation in which their ability to make a living and support themselves would be destroyed. Workers had better wake up to the implications of automation -- computerised robotic work-places -- and wake up soon, or they will find themselves ousted permanently from their jobs, and reduced to beggars living on handouts of the state. This is no exaggeration. It is a cold-sober appraisal of the prospects confronting our fellow-workers under capitalist society as a result of the technological Artificial Intelligence revolution. Virtually every sector of the economy is in the grip of commercial rivalries around the world. The result is a huge wave of downsizings outsourcing, off-shoring and unremitting job insecurity with a growing gig economy with more and more uber workers creating what some describe as a precariat.

Common sense should tell workers that the cause of declining wages, spreading economic insecurity and unemployment has nothing to do with who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or in 10 Downing St. Common sense should tell workers that politicians don't decide when factories will close down or how many workers to lay off. Common sense should tell workers that in a capitalist economy those decisions are made by those who own the factories, and sit in the board-rooms or invest on the stock-exchange. Common sense should tell workers that capitalists make those decisions in their own interests, not in the interests of the working class.

The Socialist Party recognises that the increased productivity, declining wages, massive elimination of jobs, spreading economic insecurity and the concentration of wealth proves that the capitalist system of private ownership and profit production is based on the exploitation of the working class. As long as this foundation of society remains this trend will continue regardless of the claims and promises of politicians. That the only solution to such fundamental problems stemming from the very nature of the system under which we live must also be a fundamental one. As long as the working class of the country tolerates the private ownership and control of the economy, workers will be used and disposed of to suit the profit whims of the tiny capitalist class.

How bad must conditions become before workers take action? Capitalism long ago developed the material conditions prerequisite for socialism. It has created production on a scale sufficient to banish forever want and the fear of want. Moreover, necessary production is carried out by socialised labour - by a working class organised at the point of production by the very nature of capitalist production itself. 

At the same time, capitalism no longer works. It is no longer a progressive social system. Instead, it stands in the way of further progress. Yet there has been no revolution. Rather the passive working class, while discontent, has been mired by confusion, uncertainty and despair. Socialism is no predestined inevitable development. A socialist revolution depends, not upon material conditions alone; it depends on clarity of vision to assist the social evolutionary process. Because socialism is not an automatic affair, workers as a class must play an active role in the socialist revolution. Capitalism will not disappear by itself. It will remain until it is overthrown. And capitalism can be overthrown only as the result of conscious mass action.

 Promoting class consciousness, however, is no easy task. Workers are indoctrinated daily by the capitalist media. Politicians and economists obscure the capitalist roots of the many crises and always falsely predict a better future after a painful period of sacrifice. Even worse, many so-called socialists confuse workers by talking about myths such as reforms, by raising false hopes that workers can force the State to solve the problems of unemployment and poverty. Such notions can only help convince workers that they have a future under capitalism and that capitalism is, at this late date, somehow capable of being reformed. In truth, ending the effects of capitalism requires ending their cause -- the capitalist system. It is important that workers come to recognise that there is an alternative to capitalism. For the sooner the working class realises that the misery imposed by capitalism need not be endured, the sooner will workers turn to socialism.

Organisation is required. Workers already hold in their collective hands the potential power capable of restructuring society. As capitalism is weakened by the maturing of its own contradictions, workers need to transform that potential power into a revolutionary organisation that is needed to establish socialism.

On the political field, workers need to form a mass revolutionary socialist party to challenge and defeat the political state for the purpose of dismantling it. That will clear the way for the ousting of the capitalist class from the seat of its economic power and by taking, holding and operating the economy in workers' interests. It is up to us, the working class. Capitalism won't vanish. It must be overthrown. 

"Their airses are oot the windae"

We are not a part of the "Left". We are opposed to measures which tinker with and attempt to reform capitalism. The "Left" on the other hand have kept their agenda well hidden, if it has a discernable revolutionary current, it isn't obvious, indeed, even their active supporters appear afraid to engage with any discussion about what socialism is.

However, it has been a "Left" tactic in the past where they are hypocritically asking workers to vote for a parliamentary party to get reforms which you know you can't get, on a road which they dont support, to socialism, which is not defined except, that it is recognisable as another state capitalism. The Socialist Party is opposed to such trickery of workers. This left-wingers call socialism. Such cynicism and hypocrisy allied to political opportunism is breathtaking. It started quite early this, Tommy Sheridan, at a radical book fair held in Edinburgh outlined his view of socialism which was nationalisation - with the maximum and minimum permitted wages of worker being in the ratio of 4-5:1, he added, that this lessening disparity of income was realistic as a society where equality of income existed wasn't realistic. Besides making him a “socialist” who doesn't believe in socialism, the society he mentions retains every feature of capitalism and therefore could only ever be a bastardised capitalist society.

Simply, the "Left" are not socialists. Lesson number one for would-be Leftists.

Even limited equality can not be achieved, while retaining the profit motive - It is economically impossible .

We on the other hand are quite explicit that socialism is, the common ownership and democratic control of all the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and on behalf of the whole population. In other word a free access society. We stand for the original idea of socialism.

Untrammelled by statist failures, indeed we predicted all of these failures. The "Left" appear to want to administer capitalism with minimum levels of wage slavery permitted in this.
Far from splitting the "Left", we, in the Socialist Party despise the "Left" for its political cowardice (being unable or unwilling to describe socialism to workers and nail their true colours to the socialist mast), of opportunism (interference in workers struggles and grass roots movements to subvert them to their cause), and for its pretensions (of presuming to know what socialism is, and presenting itself as the leadership to-wards it).
As the only Socialist Party we urge workers to "Abolish the wages system." We insist that socialism is an immediate and practical possibility, requiring only a majority of workers who know what it is, who desire it and are willing to organise as equals, without a vanguard of political leaders forming an elite and a cadre of misinformed workers, as their expendable cannon fodder and irrelevant pawns. Unlike the Leninist-Trotskyite, and former CP-er Stalinist Left, we dont, as Lenin said, regard workers, "left to their own devices as being only capable of achieving trade union consciousness"
What exactly is the purpose of the Socialist Party standing in elections? To put the case for socialism, as no others do this, made by workers seizing control of their own destiny and working for socialism , without the leadership of vanguardist organisations or any other leadership. The Socialist Party does not look for support or supporters, rather we insist, on the contrary, that workers learn what socialism is, and join us as equals to bring it about. We dont wish to lead them. They will not need leadership if they make themselves socialists. Far from having no link to working class people, we are the working class who are organised for socialism, admittedly pitifully small, though we are, but we dont lie to workers by pretending that by voting for reforms, or any other measure, they are supporting socialism. We do not intervene in workers struggles, except as workers in struggle.

Isn't standing against the Left is simply splitting the Left and helping the forces of capitalism? We are standing against all the capitalist parties, this inevitably includes the "Left" as they support a reformed capitalism with them as the new bosses, retaining wage labour capital, government control, and their platform reflects this. The "Leftists" ARE the forces of capitalism. 

Simply put, we are the only revolutionary alternative to capitalism. It is by insisting that left-wing style reforms can ameliorate the conditions of workers, and that this equates to a "socialist" response, the "Left" and any and all others who so mistrust the workers, that they can't describe the socialist alternative to them, are the reactionary element, leaving workers confusedly equating socialism with these tired and out-moded tried and failed remedies of the last century (the Labour Party, the Communist Party, social democrat parties of all stripes.)

The Socialist Party has an honourable record since 1904 of never selling socialism short and insisting it is an immediate and practical goal, requiring no other minimum demand, now that the vote has been won, that it can only be brought into existence by the workers themselves, comprising a majority, who know and understand what socialism is, a free access global society, without nation states. We don't pander to nationalist sentiments, following slavishly Lenin's silly "Imperialism as the highest form of capitalism" dogma.

Our demand is the world for the workers and not for some new state-capitalist entity, or a permissible level of wage slavery. In fact, the "Left's" platform is even less radical than the Old Labour one, where mistakenly, they thought they were ushering in a new era, and piously mouthed phrases such as "we are the masters now" and "socialism will come like a thief in the night " .

Matt Culbert

(slightly adapted)

Socialism for planetary salvation

Many lies are circulated about socialism, but space does not permit us to explore them here.

YOU'VE READ THE LIE that socialism would result in the loss of individual liberty; that all power would be surrendered to the state or the government, and a harsh bureaucracy would regulate our lives and enforce blind obedience.

THE FACT IS that socialism rejects the state! Socialists hold with Karl Marx that "The existence of the state is inseparable from the existence of slavery." How then, in the name of common sense, could socialists wish to glorify the state and surrender to it? Socialism rejects nationalisation or government ownership of industry!

On the contrary - where there is socialism, there can be no State, and where there is a State, there can be no socialism!

Socialist management will rest on social democracy. All power will reside in the hands of the people. Their delegates elected democratically will have the privilege of serving, but not the power of ruling over, their constituents.

YOU'VE READ THE LIE that socialism means nationalisation, or government ownership and control of industry.

THE FACT IS that socialism rejects nationalisation or government ownership of industry!

Government ownership, government control, are long-standing feature of capitalism - viz., post offices, sanitation, transportation systems, etc. Government ownership is bureaucratic management of industries that have outgrown management by individual capitalists or combinations of capitalists.

For the workers, government ownership is merely a change of masters - it brings no solution to their problems. Socialism is not a mere change of masters. Socialism means complete control of their tools and products by the workers. It guarantees this by placing the factories, the mines, the railroads, the land - all social wealth - under social ownership and control. Not a state, not the capitalists, not a bureaucracy, but the people collectively own, control, and democratically manage the means to produce and distribute all social wealth under socialism.

Socialism has never been established in any country on Earth. Socialism would broaden and stimulate incentive, offer an equality of opportunity with abundance for all, and work with less friction than any social system ever conceived by man. Socialism would offer incentive to all. Instead of fearing the loss of their jobs as a result of improved methods of production, workers would know that every such improvement would mean more leisure and more of the good things of life. Thus, socialism would give an unprecedented impetus to incentive on the part of all the members of a free society. Socialism would offer an equality of opportunity under which each worker would become the architect of his own future. Socialism would function smoothly because socialist production would be carried on for use, and not for sale and private profit. 

Capitalism keeps the workers on the ragged edge of pauperdom, by forcing them to keep their noses to the grindstone in order to eke out a bare existence. Capitalism functions so badly that increased production spells war or depression. When capitalists cannot profitably dispose of the wealth of which they despoil the workers, factories close and unemployment mounts. In order to avoid such depressions at home, capitalists seek foreign markets. The competition for such markets leads inevitably to war. The anarchy of capitalist production would be replaced by socialist cooperation, based on the principle that each worker should receive the equivalent of the full social value of his product. 

Who invents and circulates these lies? The answer is: the capitalist class, its spokesmen and representatives. They have a stake, a vested interest, in the capitalist system. They could not, if they would, give a disinterested appraisal of socialism, or tell the truth about it. To learn the facts about relativity one goes to an Einstein, not to a crystal-gazer. Socialists alone are competent to give the facts and the truth about socialism.

The Socialist Party, organised in 1904, is now, and has been since its inception, the only genuine socialist organisation in the United Kingdom. Whether ones agrees or not that socialism offers the only workable solution to the grave social problems of our age, one must acknowledge that the only way to find out what socialism really is is to consult authorities on the subject, not quacks or hostile elements.

Are you one of the millions who entertain false and distorted concepts about socialism? If you are, then surely, if only in fairness to yourself, not to mention the momentous issues at stake, you will want to get the facts straight. Do this by studying the literature and program of the Socialist Party. Contact us for full information, and learn what socialism really means. 

WHAT IS SOCIALISM? THE SOCIALIST GOAL

Socialism was born in response to the grave social problems generated by capitalism's uses of technology. Socialism grew out of the profound disruption of society capitalism caused. It was the pitiless and inhumane uses to which capitalism put the technology at its disposal to exploit human labour that made the socialist movement necessary. Socialism is not an idea that fell from the skies, but a natural response to the material conditions and social relations that took shape as the capitalist system of production developed. 

At the same time, however, the socialist movement has always recognised the tremendous material possibilities technological advances offer for eliminating the poverty, misery and suffering it has engendered -- not of its own accord, but as a direct result of the capitalist system of private ownership of the productive forces created by human labour and ingenuity. The whole purpose of the socialist movement, therefore, is to solve the grave social problems resulting from the march of technology monopolised by a numerically insignificant capitalist class so that the magnificent possibilities modern advances in technology hold out may benefit all of humanity. Accordingly, the socialist movement also sees in so-called post-industrial technology the productive instrument for the attainment of its goal. 

Whatever good there is in modern methods of production, whatever their potential for making the world a better place, for eliminating arduous toil, hunger and poverty, that potential is wiped out by a single, dominating fact. The one fact that overwhelms and nullifies the promise of all progress is private ownership of the means of production and distribution. Socialists don't deny that the world is changing. They were the first to point out that capitalism 'cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society.' But the nature, pace and purpose of such changes are not determined by society: they are governed by the whims and needs of that tiny minority that owns and controls the means of producing and distributing wealth. That is one of the two constants in capitalist society, no matter how many changes come along. The other is that the majority -- the working class -- has no say in the process. Capitalists hire and fire to suit their needs. As long as that division exists class divisions will continue. As long as class divisions continue the class struggle will exist.

The working class is the only progressive force in modern society, if by progressive force we mean a force capable of transforming society into one in which economic freedom and material security will be the birthright of every human being. And by the working class we understand all those who must sell their abilities to perform useful mental or physical labour to live. We also mean all those who, because the capitalist owners of the economy have no further use for them, have been forcibly removed from the economy and have become dependent on welfare and other stingy crumbs doled out by the capitalist class and its political state. Unless the working class becomes conscious of what a capitalist future holds the time may well come when it will be reduced to the beggar state of the proletariat of ancient Rome. The labour of the Roman proletariat was rendered useless by captive slaves; that of today's proletariat is being displaced by automated technology. A capitalist future of profound social dislocation and human misery is an absolute certainty because of the economic laws on which capitalism is based -- laws which compel every capitalist concern to strive for the greatest possible profit at the lowest possible cost. That can only mean one thing. It can only mean that permanent joblessness is the only future that millions -- perhaps the majority -- of workers can look forward to as long as capitalism survives. 

Socialism is the common ownership by all the people of the factories, communications, mines, transport, land and all other instruments of production. Socialism means production to satisfy human needs, not, as under capitalism, for sale and profit. Socialism means direct control and management of the industries and social services by the workers through democratic worldwide organisation. Such a system would make possible the fullest democracy and freedom. It would be a society based on the most primary freedom, economic freedom.

For individuals, socialism means an end to economic insecurity and exploitation. It means workers cease to be commodities bought and sold on the labour market and forced to work as appendages to tools owned by someone else. It means a chance to develop all individual capacities and potentials within a free community of free individuals.

Socialism does not mean government or state ownership. It does not mean a state bureaucracy as in the former Soviet Union or China, with the working class oppressed by a new bureaucratic class. It does not mean a closed party-run system without democratic rights. It does not mean nationalisation, or labour-management boards, or state capitalism of any kind. It means a complete end to all capitalist social relations.

The goal of the Socialist Party is to replace capitalism with the economic and social democracy of socialism.To win the struggle for socialist freedom requires enormous efforts of organisational and educational work. It requires building a political party of socialism to contest the power of the capitalist class on the political field and to educate the majority of workers about the need for socialism. Indeed, it is the only means of achieving the socialist goal because it is the only way that will enable the working class to organise the latent power of its vast numbers along the political and economic lines that are needed to accomplish a socialist reconstruction of society. You are needed for a better world. Find out more about the principles and work of the Socialist Party and join us to help make the promise of socialism a reality.

NO POWER IN THE WORLD CAN STOP US!

The Socialist Party has long contended that only socialism can solve the major social and economic problems plaguing our society today. But many people have been taught all their lives that "socialism" means the state-controlled system that existed in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states, exists today in China or Cuba. the Bolshevik and Chinese revolutions weren't socialist in character. They occurred in pre-industrial societies. Without a majority working class and the ability to eliminate scarcity of needed goods and services, creation of a classless society was impossible. Material conditions there bred conflict and made the continuation of the class struggle inevitable in such countries. Socialism can only be built in a developed, industrialised society with a working-class majority. In the Bolshevik and Chinese revolutions, an elite "vanguard" party seized control of the state and used the state to control the means of production. Instead of establishing a classless society, the party-state bureaucracy became a new ruling class. 

The socialism upheld by the Socialist Party, however, is completely different from any existing system. It has nothing to do with nationalisation, a welfare state or any kind of state ownership or control of industry whatsoever. On the contrary, it would give power not to the state, but to the people themselves, allowing collective control of their own economic future. A socialist political party is needed to educate the working class and to recruit workers to the socialist cause. Socialism would bring social democracy -- the rule of the people -- to the most vital part of our lives, the economy. 

Socialism means a class-free society. Unlike under capitalism, where a tiny minority owns the vast majority of wealth and the means of producing it, everyone would share equally in the ownership of all the means of production, and everyone able to do so would work. There wouldn't be separate classes of owners and workers. The economy would be administered by the workers themselves through democratic "associations of free and equal producers," as Marx described it. The workers collectively would decide what they want produced and how they want it produced. They would control their own workplaces and make the decisions governing their particular industry. Engels once described socialism as a system in "which every member of society will be enabled to participate not only in the production but also in the distribution of social wealth." Far from being a state-controlled society, socialism would be a society WITHOUT A STATE. Marx said that "the existence of the state is inseparable from the existence of slavery. The people themselves, through the democratic associations of workers, would administer the various levels of society.

Socialism will allow for us to carry on production for use in the most modern production conditions we can possibly create, utilising the safest and most manufacturing methods. The more we collectively produce, the more we shall collectively enjoy. All of us will be useful producers, working but a fraction of the time we are forced to work today. But we shall not only be useful producers, we shall all share equitably in the wealth we produce, and our compensation will literally dwarf anything we can imagine today. 

In socialist society there will be neither involuntary unemployment nor poverty. The young will be educated not only to prepare them to participate in social production but also to enable them to expand their interests and develop their individual interests and talents. 

The aged will be cared for, and not by any such demeaning methods as are used today. We shall provide all their material needs and create a social atmosphere in which they can live lives that are culturally and intellectually satisfying. It will not be charity, but their rightful share as former contributors to production.

Under capitalism, improved methods and machinery of production kick workers out of jobs. With socialism, such improvements will be blessings for the simple reason that they will increase the amount of wealth producible and make possible ever higher standards of living, while providing us with greater and greater leisure in which to enjoy them.

Inside socialism, we shall produce everything we need and want in abundance under conditions best suited to our welfare, aiming for the highest quality. We shall constantly strive to improve our methods and equipment in order to reduce the hours of work. We shall provide ourselves with the best of everything: the finest educational facilities, the most modern and scientific health facilities and adequate and varied recreational facilities. We shall constantly seek to improve our socialist society. Purposeful research, expansion of the arts and culture, preservation and replacement of our natural resources, all will receive the most serious attention. It will be a society in which everyone will have the fullest opportunity to develop his or her individuality without sacrificing the blessings of cooperation.

Freed from the compulsions of competition and the profit motive that presently hurl capitalist nations into war, socialism will also be a society of peace.

In short, socialist society will be a society of secure human beings, living in peace, in harmony and human brotherhood.

This all may sound too good to be true. Yet the world has the productive capacity to provide a high standard of living for all, to provide security and comfort for all, to create safe workplaces and clean industries, and to help other nations reach these same goals. The only thing keeping us from reaching these goals is that the workers don't own and control that productive capacity; it is owned and controlled by a few who use it solely to profit themselves.

Organising to bring the industries under the ownership of all the people, to build a socialist society of peace, plenty and freedom, is the only real alternative workers have. For, as William Morris once wrote, "While theologians are disputing the existence of a hell elsewhere, we are on the way to realising it here: and if capitalism is to endure, whatever may become of men when they die, they will come into hell when they are born." 

Revolutionary Times

There are times when social and economic problems become so 

bad that people are forced to choose between the social system that makes their lives difficult and a new one that will make their lives better. Times like that are called revolutionary times. They don’t come often, but when they do the question of HOW to make the change that’s needed becomes as important as WHAT that change should be. We face that kind of choice today. Capitalism—the social system we live under—no longer serves the interests of the people. It creates countless problems that it cannot solve. It uses technology to throw people out of work and to make those who keep their jobs work harder. It creates hardship and poverty for millions, while the few who own and control the economy grow rich off the labour of those allowed to keep their jobs. It destroys the cities that we built up. It is destroying the natural environment that is the source of the food we eat and the air we breathe. Every attempt made to prevent these problems, or to keep them from growing even worse, has failed. 

The reason is that society is controlled by a small capitalist class that owns the industries and services that everyone depends on. The workers built and they operate all of those essential industries and services. However, they do not own and control them. They are the majority, but they have no voice in deciding what to produce or how much to produce. Their needs and desires count for nothing when those decisions are made. When a small group owns and controls what everyone needs to feed, house and clothe themselves and their families, when that small group makes every important decision that affects the lives of the vast majority, it is called a dictatorship. Capitalism is economic despotism and it spoils and corrupts everything that is good and decent. Technology that could and should be used to lessen the need for arduous toil and to enhance our lives is used instead to eliminate jobs and increase exploitation. Poverty is as widespread as it has ever been. Joblessness, homelessness, helplessness and hopelessness are spreading. Economic insecurity places an unbearable strain on our families, our children and ourselves.

The Socialist Party seeks to build a serious socialist movement that will be bound together enough to act as a united body. Socialism is not a “dogma”. Historical materialism teaches us that nothing is static. 

The Socialist Party's goal is a class-free society based on common ownership and control of the industries and social services, these to be administered in the interests of all society by society. 

The Socialist Party is the political party of the working class. This is so because it is the sole protagonist of the policies and principles that the working class must adopt if it is ever to achieve its complete emancipation from wage slavery and, at the same time, save society from catastrophe. 

The Socialist Party is the only organisation demanding the abolition of capitalism and advocating the socialist reconstruction of society. It has been doing so for well over 100 years. It is the political party through which the workers can establish their majority right to reorganise society. To establish socialism, political unity under the banner of a mass political party of labour is needed.The role of the party is to educate workers to the need to abolish capitalism, to agitate and to express the revolutionary mandate of the working class at the ballot box. 

The Socialist Party aims to capture and dismantle the political state and pave the way for a new form of administration, a participatory democracy. To establish socialism,workers must unite as a class, based on the principle that the working class is involved in a class struggle with the employing, capitalist class, a struggle that cannot be ended under the capitalist system and until capitalist ownership of the industries and services is replaced with social ownership and democratic community control. After the revolution, the administration of all production and distribution will be the function of the various democratically elected or delegated bodies and organs at all levels and where easily and immediately exercisable power to recall exists to remove any administrator who, in their judgement, fails to serve their interests in office. Thus production will at long last be for use and the benefit of all.

Should we keep a social system that is destroying the lives? Or shall we do the common sense thing by making the means of production our collective property, abolishing exploitation of the many by the few, and create security and abundance for all? The workers can expect no help from the beneficiaries of capitalism. The capitalists, just like the slave-owning and feudal classes before them, will try to keep their strife-ridden and poverty-breeding system. The workers can only rely on themselves to build a better world and free themselves through their own class-conscious efforts. By workers we mean the working class. We mean all whose intellectual and physical labour contributes to the development, manufacture and distribution of the goods, services and information that our complex society needs. We mean all those who must sell their physical and mental talents and skills on the job market, and who depend on the wages and salaries they receive in exchange. We mean white-collar and blue-collar, production and office workers, those who research and develop as well as those who build, distribute and serve. We mean the whole working class, including the unemployed and those forced to settle for part-time or temporary work. The working class makes everything and it makes everything work. Collectively, it has tremendous potential power. The working class runs the industries from top to bottom. The potential economic power that rests in its hands is enormous.