Can the world and its social system be changed? Socialists insists it can. Socialists reject the idea of permanence of any kind. We seek to do something that would bring about a radical revolution and build a better world without exploitation, oppression, injustice and hatred. And whether we are successful or not depends upon the methods we choose to be a catalyst for that change. The tactics we opt to use to change the world must be beneficial and not make matters worse than they already were. History is replete with many examples of movements that started out with the intention of delivering a land of milk and honey yet end in flowing blood and famine. Too often, the purpose of reforms is to pour scent over the stench of the dung-heap. Changing the world for the better requires a far more nuanced approach than politicians promise. Once we understand ‘what is to be done’ the question of ‘how it should be done’ is equally important.
Never were the people of the world so badly off as at present. We are living in extremely frightening times. Life is becoming more difficult for most and many of the causes we have fought for are being pushed back. Global catastrophe is a real and growing possibility. The Socialist Party see little hope for our fellow-workers other than the pathway mapped out by ourselves, the advocates of the cooperative commonwealth. There are those that say socialism is incompatible to liberty and independence of the individual. Socialism has deprived a person of no right. The wage-slave profit system is the one thing which socialists propose to remove and that is why socialism is not popular with the ruling class. Industrial cooperation and economic democracy is our principal object. We shall unite all our energies to end the present capitalist system which has been brought our planet to the verge of ruin, and degraded humanity and establish the cooperative commonwealth. The time has come for regeneration through a new and worldwide change of system. The people are ripe for a great change. All they lack is knowledge of the direction to go.
We must organise. We cannot hope to succeed by violence. The powers against us are entrenched and it will take time and education to dislodge them. Some do not wish to wait. They want a revolution now. We want to say that there is no person living that can bring on a revolution. Revolutions come in the fullness of time, when the conditions are ripe. If working people have not learned to make use of the ballot to remedy their evils they are on dangerous ground when it comes to making revolutions. Violence is not only wrong, it is disruptive. It would destroy this entire movement. The Socialist Party makes no demands until we have the political power to impose them. If revolution comes, blood will flow, but let the capitalists make it, not us. The Socialist Party will campaign and agitate day by day and month by month and year by year, until we have the majority on our side. The mission of the Socialist Party is to awaken our fellow-workers to a consciousness to be socialists and to give courage.
The socialist transformation of society will not come about of itself. It will come about through the actions of men and women. The Socialist Party champions complete rupture from the ideas of the old society. Without a vision vision of a better world and the organisation that goes with it, even the mass protests of working people in response to injustices will likely go nowhere. The society we want to create is one that serves the well-being of humanity and nature alike. The top-down model of organisation cannot be transplanted into a system of socially owned property but that working people must participate democratically in decision-making in the community and at the work-place.
Above all, we are socialists, and in due course of time we shall find common ground and come together in one great party. We stand for the complete overthrow of capitalism, the abolition of the wage system, and the common ownership of all the means of production and distribution. The profit system will thus cease to exist, and all industry will be owned and controlled by the people. Wage slavery will cease. We fight without a shadow of compromise as to principles until victory is achieved and the Cooperative Commonwealth is established. There are no guarantees, however, that humanity will ever get there.
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