The capitalist class does not change its greed for profits any more than the leopard changes its spots. When a corporation closes down its factories and stops production, it is no proof of the indispensability of capitalists in the production processes. It only points up the folly of the workers in allowing capitalism to stand between them and the plants of which labour is the heart. The working class should be controlling production in the interest of all the people. There can be plenty for all – but only by socializing the means of production and placing production under control of community committees. The working class today stands at a crossroads of history. The workers cannot afford to be lulled into a false sense of security. The empty gesture of capitalism to save itself must be repudiated. The admission of top capitalists that their system cannot provide security for the workers is an admission of abysmal failure and defeat, from the workers’ point of view. At the same time it is a challenge to the workers to take over production themselves for the benefit of the whole people.
The material and technical resources for a socialist society unquestionably exist in the world today. It is capable of satisfying the needs of all its people. A handful of capitalists control our planet and make vast profits off the labour of the working people. All the major means of production - the factories, forests, farms, fisheries and mines are in the hands of a few hundred capitalists. Capitalism is a system of exploitation. A handful of parasites live off the backs of the workers and care little about their conditions. For workers, the future is less and less certain. The exploitation and oppression gets worse every year. All our misery is created so a small clique of very wealthy individuals can continue to line their pockets. The capitalists get rich by appropriating the fruits of our labour. At the end of a work week the worker collects his pay. The capitalists claim this is a fair exchange. But it is highway robbery. In reality, a worker gets paid for only a small part of the value he produced. The rest, the surplus value, goes straight into the boss’s pocket. The idea that everyone can get rich under this system is a lie invented by the rich themselves. Under capitalism, the only way to get rich is to trample on someone else. This is why workers have only one choice: either submit to this wage slavery or fight it!
The only solution for humanity is the socialist revolution. Apathy will not bring such a revolution, but empathy may well do. Our drive to cooperate is greater than the desire for us to compete. Socialism is coming. The last phase of human slavery, called the “wages system,” is nearing its end. The conflict between worker and capitalist can never be permanently settled except by socialism.
The unparalleled development of industry, science and technique, particularly in the course of the last few decades, means that for the first time the material conditions for socialism now exist on a world scale. The sustainable and harmonious application of the new technology—robots, automation, artificial intelligence—the resources of the whole planet could be utilised to the full to provide a better life for all. Contrary to the pessimistic assertions of some environmentalists, there are ample resources potentially to guarantee a full and happy life for every human being on the planet. We have to-day ample resources for producing all the things we need. On a world scale, there is no shortage of resources. The only thing which stands in the way of the attainment of these things is the outmoded ownership of the means of production and distribution based on the exchange economy by a privileged handful, and the narrow limitations of the national state which has now become transformed into an absolute fetter on the development of the productive forces.
A world socialist movement would usher in a new and qualitatively higher level of civilisation. Mankind would be freed from the horrors of war, hunger and disease.
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