Tomorrow, Spoil your ballot paper

This General Election will be remembered as one of the most dishonest of modern times. The political parties have been competing with one another with seemingly endless pledges, promises, scare stories and counter claims. And the longer this circus goes on, the less interest many of us show in it. For those of us who struggle to make ends meet from week to week while the people with real money in society get even more money and the politicians play their games to distract our attention from it – it’s one long yawn. A nagging irrelevance that won’t go away. As socialists, we seek to help change the world in a positive direction, not get our bums on the benches of the House of Commons.

At the moment the Socialist Party is incapable of contesting electoral constituencies in Scotland. Where we do not put up candidates we urge those who agree with our principles to write ‘Socialism’ across their ballot papers. This is an indication that at least some workers wish to use their votes to support ideas which none of the candidates is offering. Don’t give a blank cheque to the parties of the profit system by voting for the lesser evil. Don’t play “follow-the-leader” and do as they are told. This election is about ensuring that the many follow the few.

Despite all the dishonesty and cynicism attached to this general election, the Socialist Party does not discourage the use of the ballot . On the contrary, used by conscious men and women ballot boxes can be revolutionary. They can reflect the growing will, and ultimately the will of the overwhelming majority for world socialism. When the workers of the world use their brain boxes and the ballot boxes, it will be the time of reckoning for the capitalist class.

In the absence of Socialist Party candidates you will be able to register your vote for ocialism by writing ‘Socialism’ across the ballot paper. This will serve to publicise the number of those who have realised that the use of the vote to support any other candidate no matter how described , is a vote for capitalism. To cast  votes for candidates other than the Sovcialist Party can only assist the enemies of the working class. We advise our fellow-workers to vote for no one but Socialist Party candidates and not for charlatans.

In voting to continue with capitalism, those who bother to vote will be voting for the problems in fields such as housing, health care, education and the environment to continue, because the root cause of these problems is capitalism and its economic imperative to put making profits before satisfying people’s needs.

We, in the Socialist Party, will still be going to the polling stations to show that we consider the vote a potential weapon that the working class can use to dislodge the capitalist class. We shan’t be voting for any of the candidates on offer but instead casting a write-in vote for world socialism by writing 'world socialism' across our ballot paper.