This what we mean by socialism

 

All the Socialist Party’s hope rest in working people. Their woes are its woes, their  foes, its foes. The Socialist Party believes that the reorganisation of society upon the basis of common ownership and democratic control of the economic forces will put an end to social  evils which now menace workers’ life. The Socialist Party’s goal is wealth for all and the plenty of the good things of life for everybody. By means of the vast new technology of this modern world, we can produce wealth enough for all without any trouble whatever. There is no doubt at all about this. Modern inventions have so increased the productive capacity of mankind that all men and women could have abundance of wealth by working only three or four hours a day.

 The Socialist Party proposes abundance for all. In order to get this abundance it advocates society the vast new inventions and use them for producing new wealth for all instead of producing it for a few. The only reason we are not all well off now is that a few people own these great modern tools and refuse to let us work at them except when they can make a profit for themselves. The fact is, not more than half of us are allowed by these capitalists, or great machine owners, to work even half the time. If we owned these factories and mines, transport and communications ourselves and all of us worked at them to produce wealth for our own use and happiness, all the troubles of poverty would disappear at once. The only thing that lies between us and the promised land is this private ownership of the means of producing wealth. Therefore, what the Socialist Party seeks to do, in order to get wealth for all, is to take possession of the means of production and run them for the use of all.

We indulge in no dreams or false hopes. We say to our fellow-workers, “Come, join our party, vote yourselves into power, use that political state power to capture back those means of wealth production which the capitalists have stolen from you, and then you will get all that abundance which modern inventions entitle you to.” The Socialist Party is to gather together all those workers whose real interests lie in abolishing the private ownership, establishing the principles of common ownership and workers’ control of industry, abolishing the wages system and distributing the good things of life, each according to needs. Only by taking and holding the means of production and distribution can the workers be free. As socialists, we take as our starting point that present society produces sufficient wealth to provide enough for all, but because of the ownership and organisation of production, that wealth is wasted or even destroyed. Capitalism is incapable of providing decent homes, social services and living standards for all.

The Socialist Party is part of a conscious movement that has as its aim the common ownership of social wealth. Changing the economic system is not an end in itself. It is a means of creating conditions in which human beings will be able to realise their full potentialities and work together for the common good, instead of being divided by class, sex, race or creed. Socialists want a society in which people’s needs are provided for by an abundance of goods and better social services. Capitalism distorts human individuality, subordinates men and women to the needs of the profit system, sets them against each other. Socialism aims to develop their individuality by creating a society in which exploitation and poverty are ended, and the resources of science and technology used to reduce the time spent in monotonous and mechanical jobs to a minimum, and vastly increase the amount devoted to leisure and creative work. Socialism is not a society in which the state and the government, as institutions separate from the people, either regiment them or do everything for them. It is the people themselves who have to build socialism, become involved in government, and be responsible for the development of society. In the process new attitudes to society, to work and to culture will develop. New relations, based on co-operation instead of domination and exploitation, will come into being between the sexes, between generations, between races and between nations. Socialism is based on co-operation instead of domination and exploitation, will come into being between the sexes, between generations, between races and between nations. 

Because under socialism the main industries and means of production would be commonly owned, all the wealth they produced would be available for the use of the people as a whole, including that part of it which the capitalists now take as their private profit. Moreover, the removal of the fetters on production imposed by capitalist crisis would be removed, and the production of wealth greatly increased.