It's up to us.

Socialism will not come as a “gift,” from humanitarian saviours nor “automatically” from the bitter class struggles. The ideas and outlook of the capitalists have become deeply entrenched and is promote the so-called “theory of human nature,” which says that people are basically selfish and greedy and aggressive and those traits are inborn and will never change, so socialism is bound to fail and is a hopeless Utopia. This “theory” is garbage. There is no such thing as “human nature.” People ask, can there be such a thing as a secure and happy future for all, or must the rat race continue? Is it inevitable that a small number of rich people should cream off most of the benefits of modern industry and technology, while the rest spend their days at heavy and often boring work, whether in mines, factory, offices or in the home? Are things arranged like this for always because of faults of “human nature”, “man’s natural greed”, and the like? It is not “human nature” that is the cause of the problems people face today. It is the way society is organised, with a minority of people owning and controlling the wealth, the industry of our country, and excluding the vast majority of the people from any real say in the running of society. This is what lies at the root of the problems that working people face. It is this system of capitalism,

In the slave system, it was considered “natural” for one group of people, the slaveowners, to own other people, the slaves. In capitalist society, this idea is regarded as absurd, because there is no longer the need for slaves as private property. But today's system has every need for wage-slaves. So it presents as “natural” the kind of society where a small group, the capitalists, own the means of production and on that basis force the great majority of society to toil to enrich them. The slaveowners and the capitalists have one fundamental thing in common–they are both exploiters, and they both regard it as the correct and perfect order of things for a small group of parasites to live off the majority of labouring people. They differ only in the form in which they exploit and therefore in their view of how society should be organised to ensure this exploitation. When humanity has achieved socialism, society as a whole will consciously reject the idea that any one group should privately own the means of production. Then wage-slavery, based on the ownership of capital as private property, will be seen as just absurd as chattel slavery, based on the ownership of other people as private property. The working class, has no interest in promoting private gain at the expense of others and every interest in promoting cooperation. For only in this way can it emancipate itself and all humanity.

Many people know that life can be improved to make it better for all. The Socialist Party believes that within the way our society is ordered today, there are already forces growing that can change it for a better one. This conviction comes from our study of life as it really is, and from the lessons learnt from the experience of fighting for a better future. It comes from the study of what life was like in the past, how it has changed and what made it change.

Starting from the understanding that socialism is not won by propaganda speeches, some have come to elevate the day-to-day struggles to the exclusion of the fight to win the battle of ideas for the minds of our fellow-workers. Certainly, socialism will not come by converting people to by educational lectures and party-paper propaganda. But we do suggest that it is urgent that we break with the outlook which sees these struggles as ends in themselves. It is necessary to resist in every way the suffering brought upon the workers by the introduction of automation: but it is also necessary to explain the new perspectives opened to a socialist society by automation.

The Socialist Party hope to participate in achieving socialism, that is, the ownership of the means of production by the working people, the extension of the socialised process of production into socialised ownership. Capitalism suppresses new means of production to protect vested interests or where profits are threatened. Working people who have produced all the wealth around us must come into ownership and control of what is their own by right, so that they can then build the society and produce the things they want. The vast majority of the people gain nothing from capitalism and would lose nothing with its passing. Even today, although they do not own or control the industry, they in fact are turning the wheels that keep all industry going.

 The Socialist Party is concerned more with people and change than with anything else. Our daily experience still confirms the truth of our way of looking at human society. Everything created and valued by men and women, all wealth, has been produced as a result of human labour being applied to the materials supplied by nature. Under capitalism, a minority still controls the wealth of the nation (the raw materials, the factories and the land) and the majority work with machines in the factories that they do not own. As in previous societies that are divided into classes, under capitalism, the interests of the opposing classes cannot be reconciled. There is class struggle between the employers on the one hand, and the workers on the other. Class struggle, or “strife”, as some would call it, is built into capitalist society, because it is not possible to satisfy the capitalists’ aspirations and those of the workers at the same time. 

The workers fight for better wages and conditions, and the capitalist lives to make the maximum profit out of the labour of the workers. Profits can only come from the value created by the workers. Hence the conflict. The capitalist is interested in organising the production of those goods alone which will make him a profit, while the worker is interested not in profit, but in being able to buy what he wants and needs. The higher the wages paid to the worker, the greater the threat to the capitalist’s profits. Socialism will enable us to overcome the brakes on progress of capitalism. It will release the creative energies of the people. Different conflicting classes will cease to exist, as all people make their contribution to the productive life of society. The oppressive functions of the state as we know them will become redundant, and will wither away as they fall out of use. What will remain will be only a democratic administration of production in the hands of the people.

Mankind will be able to develop its talents to the full. With the harnessing of science and technology to industry, boring and repetitive work will be eliminated. Work for all will become as it is today for only a very small minority—interesting and satisfying. The essential difference between town and country will be ended, as housing, travel and cultural facilities become available to all people. The boundaries between mental and physical labour will be removed as all people receive the freedom and means by which to exercise their potential, their talents and abilities. 

But things do not stop there. There will never be a time when mankind has solved all problems and then sits down to live like a cabbage. What happens is that the problems change. They become more worthy of our time and attention. Life for all will be plentiful, secure, happy and interesting.

The building of this new society is the aim of the Socialist Party.