Men and women heed this: Mankind is literally in a race towards catastrophe. Recessions, mass misery, mental breakdown, corruption, the terrible threat of climate change and possible annihilation in nuclear war -- are signs of the instability of capitalist society. Such are the irreconcilable contradictions of the obsolete system of capitalism. But as obsolete and inhumane as it is, the capitalists want to preserve it.
Each
new advance in labour-displacing technology (automation, Artificial
Intelligence and robotics) further widens the gap between what the
workers produce and what their wages will buy, thus hastening the
onset of economic crisis and deepening its intensity. Defenders of
capitalism say "new technology makes jobs." But as
production is concentrated in highly automated plants, the cruel and
devastating effects of automation on workers' jobs become apparent.
These are the grim realities of capitalism. And all that the
capitalists and their politicians can do about them is (a) increase
and extend unemployment benefits such as the Universal Basic Income
proposals (b) give some of the unemployed jobs on public works, (c)
let the main body of the unemployed vegetate on welfare or relief.
Capitalist handouts, whatever
their form, are degrading. Jobless workers demean themselves before
some bureaucrat in order to qualify benefits. Working families family
are regimented that erodes their self-respect. Reforms cannot
solve the problem. The
capitalist system is the cause of mass unemployment. The interests of
the overwhelming majority dictate therefore that capitalism be
consigned to the garbage-bin of history, and that it be replaced by
socialism, a social system capable of guaranteeing security for all.
What stands in the way is (a) the outmoded system of private
ownership of industry and (b) the workers' failure to see themselves
for what they are under this system -- namely, wage-slaves, in
bondage as a class to the capitalists as a class. Socialism means
abolition of the wage system.
To
end the curse of unemployment we must eliminate the cause of
unemployment. We must replace private ownership of the industries
with common ownership (the industries must be owned by all the people
collectively). And we must replace production for sale and profit
with a system of production for use. Instead of putting workers out
of jobs, automation will shorten the work-day, work-week and
work-year. Technological progress will no longer be something for us
workers to fear, but an unqualified blessing that will ensure
abundance and increased leisure for all. Socialism means democratic
control and management of the industries and social services by the
useful producers. In socialism, all authority is exercised by the
useful producers.
If
we are ready to accept the lessons of history, we shall fight the
reaction by uprooting the cause -- the economic despotism, the
capitalist system. Join with us in the great cause of human
liberation - and to save civilisation from catastrophe. The Socialist
Party alone shows the way out of the prevailing chaos and social
anarchy. The Socialist Party calls upon the workers of brain and
brawn to unite under its banner and vote the capitalist system out
and socialism in. This is the peaceful method of effecting social
change. And the Socialist Party stands four-square for peaceful
settlement of the great social problem of our age. We seek to abolish
poverty, insecurity, unemployment and war; we do not want
totalitarianism in any shape or form.
Socialism
is the direct opposite of capitalism. It means a completely new
social order, with new administrative institutions through which to
direct democratically the social production of our industrial age in
the interests of all society. Socialism does not now exist, and it
never has existed anywhere in the world. There will be no economic
classes in Socialist Society. With the elimination of private (and
State) ownership, the division of society into exploiting and
exploited classes will end. Everyone will have the same basic
material interests. In the class-divided world of today the primary
consideration is: Does it pay? In the Socialist World of tomorrow the
chief question will be: Is it needed, desirable and socially
beneficial? In short, Socialism means production of things to satisfy
human needs and wants and not, as under capitalism or bureaucratic
statism, for sale and profit.
Private
(and State) property and profit having been eliminated entirely,
there will be no way for social parasites, capitalistic or
bureaucratic, to exist. In short, it will no longer be possible for
any individual or group to secure the economic power that would make
possible the exploitation of another human being.With socialism
we shall all be useful producers, collectively concerned with
producing the most with the least expenditure of human labour. We
shall collectively produce the things we need and want. New
techniques and inventions, and the elimination of anarchy and waste
in production, will greatly increase the wealth available. And such
technological improvements will not result in unwanted surpluses and
unemployment -- they will enable us to reduce drastically the hours
of work. Socialism will, therefore, give us the leisure time to
develop our facuities and live healthy, happy, useful lives. Even
with the facilities we now have, merely by eliminating capitalist
waste and duplication and providing useful work for all, we could
probably produce an abundance for everyone by working four hours a
day, four days a week, and twenty-four weeks a year.
In
the organisation of the working class along the lines indicated lies
the hope of humanity for a free and decent world, a world freed of
the war-breeding struggle for capitalist markets, a world in which
goods are produced for the use of the producers and not for sale with
a view to profit. We want a world in which machines and scientific
achievements will become a blessing to multiply our productivity and
give us all leisure in which to study, travel and generally enjoy the
fruits of our labor in peace and harmony in the universal Brotherhood
of Man. Every person who loves liberty and hates despotism should
study the principles of the Socialist Party. Socialism provides the
foundation and shelter for the lofty aspiration of the cooperative
commonwealth. There is no need for a so-called transition period. We
can move into socialism immediately. There will be no class to hold
down, hence no need of a political State. Socialism is the next
logical and higher order of society. All historic forces, economic
and social, point in that direction. And when socialism is achieved,
the cause of mankind's most pressing problems -- war, depressions,
crime, prejudice, global warming, etc. will have been eliminated.
Socialism will be a society wherein we will make the fields yield an
abundance without arduous toil; wherein the factories, mines, and
fields, will be the safest, the most modern, the most efficient, the
most sanitary possible, and productive beyond our wildest dreams
without laborious toil; wherein our educational institutions will
have the finest facilities and be devoted to developing complete
human beings; wherein our medical and social services will
concentrate on creating and maintaining the finest health and
recreational facilities conceivable; wherein, in short, drudgery,
poverty and social misery will be banished forever.
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