Socialism means plenty and abundance

 

The workers are beginning to ask: ‘What is the world coming to?’ For years and years a small band of parasites have robbed the people and trampled upon  fundamental democratic principles. Year after year they have been increasing their wealth and power at the expense of the workers, enlarging and prolonging the army of the unemployed, the hungry, homeless, and the friendless portion of humanity. For years men and women have been  sacrificed in wars but also on the battlefield of class wars.

Under capitalism there are private owners of the factories,  and other means of production, and the workers must sell their labour power to the capitalists for wages. The price of labour power takes the form of wages. These wages are supposed to be enough to allow the labourer to purchase the necessities of life which can reproduce the labour power lost at work. However, when the workers in the factories and other places of production work for the capitalists, they produce much more value than they receive in the form of wages. This surplus value included in the whole product of the factory is the property of the capitalist and becomes his profit.

The capitalist is in business for the profit and does his best to increase the mass of profit and the rate of profit. He can do this either by winning more markets or by reducing the cost of production or by speeding up the circulation of his capital, or all these. In short, in order to increase his profit the capitalist must expand his business and produce more stuff at lower cost. To do this he must accumulate capital and reinvest part of his profits back into the business. This accumulation of capital is the basic law of capitalism. Because of it, the factories grow larger, the industries become greater, little business turns into big business in this in turn develops into huge corporations. The chief method by which the capitalist can lower the cost of his production is through cheapening the value of labour power. This is done by introducing new technology which can enable the worker to produce an ever-increasing quantity of goods in less and less time and with the same effort. As it is now the lion’s share goes to the capitalist for which he does nothing, while you get a small fraction to feed, clothe and shelter yourself, and reproduce yourself in the form of labour power. That is all you get out of it and all you ever will get in the capitalist system.

The Socialist Party says a free society which will supplant the wage system with a new social arrangement, based on solidarity and economic well-being for all. can exist only through voluntary association. We all admit that in the struggle of the working class for the overthrow of capitalism we must have a mass socialist political party. But we are well aware that the architects and builders of the socialist society of the future will be the socialist generations themselves. Our thought about the future must be fitted into the frame of the future. Socialism will undoubtedly bring about a revolutionary transformation of human activity.  People will have no further use for money. Even the kind of accounting by labour certificates, which would take up useless labour and be absolutely purposeless, will be eliminated. There will be no money, and there will not even be any bookkeeping transactions or coupons to regulate how much one works and how much he gets. When labour has ceased to be a mere means of life and becomes life’s prime necessity, people will work without any compulsion and take what they need. That might sound visionary but one must take oneself out of the mindset of the present society, and not consider this conception absurd or impractical. The contrary would be absurd. For in the socialist society, when there is plenty and abundance for all, what will be the point in keeping account of each one’s share. As we envisage a world where there is plenty for all, what purpose would be served in keeping accounts of what each one gets. Wages will become a term of obsolete significance.  Capitalism is all about “Whatever each can grab.” The socialist society of universal abundance will be regulated by a different standard. It will be “From each according to ability—to each according to  needs.”