Organisation and Consciousness

Capitalism, by its method of production, has brought isolated workers together and constituted them as a class in society. Capitalism has made the workers a class in themselves. That is, the workers are a distinct class in society, whether they recognise this fact or not. Historical development calls upon this class to reorganise society completely and establish socialism. To do this, the workers must become a class for themselves. They must acquire a clear understanding of their real position under capitalism, of the nature of capitalist society as a whole, and of their mission in history. They must act consciously for their class interests. They must become conscious of the fact that these class interests lead to a socialist society. When this takes place, the workers are a class for themselves, a class with socialist consciousness. How are the workers to acquire this consciousness – this clear, thoroughgoing understanding of capitalist society, their position in it, and the need to replace this society with socialism? In the factory, the worker tries to get better wages and working conditions from the employer. If he cannot get them by a simple request, he soon learns the need of union organisation with which to enforce his requests and to defend himself from attacks by the employer. He learns, too, that the workers must resort to political action in order to influence the government in their interests. He and all other workers are forced by capitalism to engage in the class struggle. The thinking of the workers, which guides their fight, is based upon the ideas of the capitalist class, acquired directly from the capitalist media. What the workers still lack is a fundamental and thorough understanding of their real position in society and of their historic mission to establish socialism. This lack of a socialist consciousness reduces the effectiveness of their organisation, of their struggle, and prevents them from accomplishing their mission in society.

To imbue the workers with this rounded-out class consciousness, or socialist consciousness; to organise and lead the struggle for socialism – that is the specific function of the Socialist Party. It is composed of those workers who already understand the nature of capitalism and the historical task of the working class. Their aim is to develop the same understanding among all the workers, so that they no longer fight blindly, or with only one eye open but with a clear and scientific knowledge of what their class enemy is, of what the working class itself really is and of what it can and must do in society. They and their party therefore have no interests separate from the interests of the working class as a whole. It makes clear to the workers the full meaning of their fight. It shows how even the local struggles, against one capitalist, are really class struggles against capitalism; how the local struggles must be extended on a national and international scale if the workers are to win a lasting victory. It points out the political meaning of the economic struggle. It shows how the workers must organise as a class to take political power, and use it to inaugurate socialism. It combats the open and the insidious ideas of capitalism so that the working class as a whole may be better equipped to fight its enemy. To put it briefly, the Socialist Party is needed to win the working class to the principles of socialism. Socialism will never come by itself. It must be fought for. 

Without an organised, conscious, active mass socialist party, the triumph of socialism is impossible. To judge the different parties, it is necessary to check on their words and their deeds. Socialism cannot be achieved, and the workers cannot effectively promote their interests, without class consciousness. Class consciousness means an understanding working class, a self-confident and self-reliant working class.The socialist who has no conscious understanding, cannot work to make non-socialist workers conscious of their task.

The Socialist Party represents a long and rich tradition. The Socialist Party knows the nature of the capitalist class and its long, brutal history, some of which is known to every worker. It is proud of the fact that its principles are founded on the teachings of the greatest scientific thinkers of the international working class, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Socialist Party describes itself as Marxist which merely signify it stands firmly on the basic principles of the greatest teachers in the history of the working class. The Socialist Party champions the idea of social revolution. What is a social revolution? It is the replacement of one ruling class by another. History is filled with such revolutions and in almost every case they made possible the progress of society. The socialist revolution is simply the overthrow of capitalist despotism and the establishment of the cooperative commonwealth. Socialism can be established by the workers gaining a majority of the votes for their candidates to public office. Once they have been elected in sufficient number they can introduce socialism relatively painlessly.

Capitalism is a world system, and it can be thoroughly destroyed only on a world scale. The Socialist Party is internationalist because it considers nationalism reactionary and the brotherhood and equality of all peoples of the human race the highest social aim. It is internationalist because it understands that the class-free socialist society cannot be established within the framework of one country alone. It is internationalist because it considers that national frontiers have become an obstacle to social progress and a direct contributing source to conflicts and wars. Socialism cannot conceivably be restricted to one country, no matter how big it is. Socialism is world socialism, or it is not socialism at all. Socialism means peace and freedom for the entire world. That is why the Socialist Party endeavours to promote an international organisation, to build unity and solidarity of the working class. The Socialist Party itself is only the link of a world chain of similar parties and organisations that aim to establish a world socialist movement. The Socialist Party therefore gives no support to war and opposes them at all times. It is the party of peace, not war; of the brotherhood of the peoples, not the slaughter of the peoples. Socialists are opposed to all exploitation and oppression