Socialism - The revolt of the dispossessed

We are socialists who want the Socialist Party to participate in a fight for the principles of socialism. There are misconceptions about socialism. These do not surprise the socialist, because they are to be expected. Socialism does not say what it will do or what you shall do, but only that the people, the workers and producers, shall be master of themselves and do with industry and the proceeds of their toil what they may think best. 

Socialism is merely an extension of the ideal of democracy into the economic field. At present, industry is ruled by the owners of the means of production and distribution, who have literally the power of life and death over working people who are made helpless before the system. 

Socialism proposes to put industry in control of the people so that they may no longer be dependants on others for a job, so that they may be freed from the tribute of profit, and so that they may manage industry in their own way, as seems best to them and their communities.

 We do not exactly know not what the people will do when they control the means by which they make their living, but we believe they will use them in their own interest and with a reasonable degree of planning and thought. We can speculate that they can make it possible to banish want from the face of the Earth. They can make it possible for every family to have a home and will be free from insecurity for themselves and their children. They can make it possible for every child to have a good education, to be able to see the world. They can make it possible for every woman to be free economically, so that she may get along whether she marries or not. 

These are part of the ideals that the socialist cherishes. They are not mere visions, but are things that may be wrought into concrete form, whenever men and women shall have free access to goods and services. They have been impossible of attainment in the past, only because the earth and its fullness was held from the people by either political or industrial masters. 

 We have been so busy seeking to make a living that we have not been able to make a life. If socialism meant the solution of the bread-and-butter problem alone then it would be the most wonderful idea ever given to earth. If it meant the solution of the bread-and-butter problem only, it would surpass all other movements the world has seen, because it would mean an end of the slums and the sweatshops, of child labour.

But it will mean very much more than this. When the bread-and-butter problem is resolved and all men and women and children, the world around, are made secure from dread of war and fear of want, then the mind and heart will be free to develop as they never were before. We shall have a literature and an art such as never before conceived. We shall have beautiful homes. We shall have wonderful thoughts and sentiments never before imagined. Think the best of capitalism and it will be the worse of socialism which can only be possible when men and women are really free from the masters class.