Socialism,
the revolt against the ruling class, is never so much alive as today.
The ruthless march of the capitalists is daily recruiting new
workers and making rebels out of both young and old by grinding down
wages to the point of bare subsistence. As a consequence our
fellow-workers are becoming revolutionary. All over the world the
ruling classes are devising measures to stem the rising tide. Our
chief task to spread the propaganda of revolution so apathy will
disappear, and the Socialist Party will for the first time become a
vital force in the struggle between capitalists and wage-workers.
Capitalism
is a social system based on the class ownership of the means of
production and maintained by the coercive power of the State. The
Socialist Party of Great Britain is the political expression of the
interests of the workers in this country. The economic basis of
present day society is the private ownership and control of socially
necessary means of production, and the exploitation of the workers,
who operate these means of production for the profit of those who
own them. The interests of these two classes are diametrically
opposed. It is the interest of the capitalist class to maintain the
present system and to obtain for themselves the largest possible
share of the product of labour. It is the interest of the working
class to improve their conditions of life and get the largest
possible share of their own product so long as the present system
prevails, and to end this system as quickly as they can. In so far as
the members of the opposing classes become conscious of these facts,
each strives to advance its own interests as against the other. It is
this active conflict of interest which we describe as the class
struggle. The capitalist state, by controlling the old political
parties, control the powers of the state and uses them to secure and
entrench its position. Without such control of the state its position
of economic power would be untenable. The workers must wrest the
control of the government from the hands of the masters and use its
powers in the building of the new social system, the cooperative
commonwealth. The Socialist Party seeks to organise the working class
for independent action on the political field with the aim of
putting an end to exploitation and class rule with the purpose of
the emancipation of the working class, and the establishment of
genuine liberty for all. To accomplish this aim of the Socialist
Party is to bring about the common ownership and democratic control
of all the necessary means of production — to eliminate profit,
rent, and interest — to change our class society into a society of
equals, in which the interest of one will be the interest of all.
Socialism
is not some Utopian scheme. Capitalism has created the economic
conditions for socialism. Socialism will open the way for great
changes in society. Socialism will bring social ownership of social
production. Socialism will be won through the revolutionary overthrow
of capitalism and the seizure of political power by the working
class. In socialism, the working people will take over the economic
forces developed by capitalism and operate them in the interests of
society. This can bring a qualitative improvement in the lives of the
working people. Because working people will control the great wealth
they produce, they will be fundamentally able to determine their own
futures. The end of exploitation of one person by another will be an
unprecedented liberating and transforming force. Socialism does not
mean government control. The state serves the interests of the
capitalist class. Government involvement in the economy is state
capitalism.
Our
vision of socialism is that the means of
production – the factories, mines, mills, big workshops, offices,
agricultural fields, banks, transportation system, media,
communications, medical facilities, big retailers, etc., will be
transformed into social common property. Private ownership of the
main means of production will end. The economy will be geared not to
the interest of profit, but to serving human needs. This will release
the productive capacity of the economy from the limitations of profit
maximisation. A great expansion of useful production and the wealth
of society will become possible. Rational economic planning will
replace the present anarchistic system. Coordination and planning of
the broad outlines of production will aim at building an economy that
will be stable, benefit the people, and steadily advance. Because
capitalism already has a developed and centralized economy,
socialism’s main task will be to reorient this structure towards
social needs.
Redirecting
the productive capacity to human needs will require a variety of
economic methods and some experiment. There could be a combination of
central planning and local coordination. Various policies might be
used, depending on what will be appropriate to changing conditions.
But no matter what means are chosen, a socialist economy must uphold
the basic principles of common ownership, production for the people’s
needs, and the elimination of exploitation. Socialism will realize
the ideal “from each according to one’s ability, to each
according to one’s need.” Classes will have disappeared, the
state will “wither” away, and an exciting new era of human
freedom and prosperity will arise.
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