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Wednesday, January 01, 2020

2020 Vision

On behalf of all members of the Edinburgh and Glasgow branches of the Socialist Party, we send greetings to the world’s working peoples for the New Year, wishing them success in their struggles against capitalism. We do not wish fellow-workers a "Happy New Year”— we point them to a new world, the world socialist cooperative commonwealth.

 We face 2020 where the socialist cause is beginning to revive after receiving great setbacks. It is the job of the Socialist Party to face the facts. It is no service to the socialist movement to paint rosy pictures or make "optimistic” predictions except they rest on the surest of foundations. In the face of the present activities of the world's workers the surest prophecy that could be made is that the socialist is faced with years of plodding propaganda and educational work for which no measurable result can yet be seen.

Socialism will yet gain recruits, conscious of all the difficulties and despite them. They will work for socialism with the will of those who know that the world is ready for the socialist solution for its problems and its achievement is possible the moment a sufficient number of workers want it. Now, if events could produce that moment out of a hat now. They will work for socialism now because there can be no other alternative to the world we know, and in order to enjoy its benefits with their fellow-workers. If in the years to come the worker is lured again from socialism by  promises of reform, so that those whose active life is behind them would cease to hope to see the dawn of socialism, this would not affect their work for socialism.

 It is in the nature of mankind as a social being that we work not only for ourselves but for society and posterity. The worker who understands what socialism offers to the world will work for it that his or her children escape the misery we had to endure.

New movements will most likely arise which promise an easy road to the "New World.” There will be disappointments and set-backs. But out of the struggles and their lessons there will be some who will learn, and they will add to the strength of the World Socialist Movement, preparing the way for the inevitable time when people will be receptive to the Socialist Party’s message.

Historically, the stage has not yet been reached when workers in sufficient numbers grasp our case for socialism . But it can be hastened the more our message is spread. It is the business of all socialists to work for this end. We are confident in the soundness of our case and tenacious in our purpose. The terrible damage which the present wars and environmental destruction inflict will harden us in our purpose: our hatred of capitalism and what it stands for, undiminished and increased.

 Socialism is an historical necessity thrown up by the economic and social development of centuries. The alternative to it is chaos and conflict. As socialists we are conscious agents of the process of history. Our task is to carry on the work of campaigning for socialism at all times without fear or compromise. It is your job, if you are a socialist, to offer a helping hand in every possible way and so help the socialist and workers’ movement to make most of all the opportunities that the future may hold.

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