For years, the Socialist Party has encouraged workers to take control of the economy and use the means of production to meet the needs of the people rather than to make profits. Socialists maintain that the capitalists' profits are a theft from the working class because the working class produces all social wealth. A class of parasites is not needed for production to be organised in an efficient manner. Production will operate far more efficiently, in the social interest, when the workers themselves are in full control of production and distribution.
A state-run economic system is not socialism! Karl Marx and Frederick Engels clearly distinguished between state ownership of the means of production and social ownership. They opposed the very existence of the state. State ownership means the continued existence of governmental power over and above the people themselves; it signifies continued class rule. Social ownership means that the people themselves, collectively and democratically, control the use of the means of production. Marx and Engels described socialism as a society run by "associations of free and equal producers."
The former Soviet Union never was a socialist country. At no time did the USSR ever have place a system in which the people owned all the means of production and in which the decisions governing production and distribution were made by democratic associations encompassing all the workers. At no time did the workers dismantle the state, or abolish exploitation and the wages system. Furthermore, the Socialist Party pointed out in 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution was not, and could not have been, a socialist revolution. Russia in 1917 had none of the material prerequisites for socialism. It was a backward, semi-feudal country, incapable of eliminating scarcity. It had very little industry and only a small minority of people belonged to the working class.
Socialism can only be established by a class conscious, organised majority of the working class. It can only be built by workers who understand the need to prevent any individual or group from gaining the power to control production or distribution. The structure of a socialist society would preclude a bureaucratic takeover. Control of society's economic resources would be in the collective hands of the working class. All persons elected to serve in the committees, councils and congresses running industry, and administering the economy as a whole, would be responsible only for performing designated administrative tasks. They would have no bureaucratic power to dictate production or distribution goals toward their own individual enrichment.
We live in a social system and culture that teaches us that the way to survive, and "get ahead" materially, is to compete for positions of power, gain dominance over others, and, ultimately, become an owner of productive property and exploit others. Not surprisingly, many people come to greedily and competitively crave power and wealth above all else.
But such behaviour is not a fixture of human nature. People clearly have the capability of being cooperative as well as competitive, supportive and helpful as well as antagonistic, egalitarian as well as selfish. All of these qualities are part of "human nature." We can and do choose to employ one quality or the other, depending on how our material circumstances and interests affect us, and how we perceive our own self-interest. It is also part of our human nature to think, evaluate our circumstances and change our behaviour when we conclude that doing so is in our self-interest.
Accordingly, socialism is not contrary to human nature. For the vast majority of the people who belong to the working class today, it does no good to be greedy, competitive or power-hungry; capitalism rewards them with hardship. Sooner or later, a majority of workers can and will come to the realization that their own self-interest demands the creation of a new social system based on social ownership of the industries and cooperative production for the common good. Once a socialist society is established, the material and other rewards of that system will continue to reinforce cooperative behaviour and nullify selfishness, greed and the desire for power over others.
The idea that there would be no incentive for workers to be productive in a socialist society is a myth. In a genuinely socialist society, workers would have strong incentives to work conscientiously and improve the means and methods of production-incentives far stronger than those that exist under capitalism. The ethical and social incentive to be a productive and responsible member of society would be reinforced by the knowledge that one's efforts would truly be benefiting all society, and not merely an idle class of social parasites.
Socialism is grounded in material realities. It is grounded in the reality that it is now objectively and physically possible for society to meet the basic human needs and wants of all the people -- and more. It is grounded in the reality that capitalism stands as an obstacle to society realizing this potential to meet the needs and wants of all. It is grounded in the reality that society's sole useful producers -- the working class, which includes all who do productive work, mental or physical -- are increasingly being denied their material needs and wants under the present system.
All that's missing is for workers to recognise their true interests as a class, understand the socialist goal, and begin organising as a class to establish it. Thus, socialism is realistic. The workers already collectively occupy the industries every day and operate them from top to bottom. The only thing they don't do is own them, control them, and control their product.
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