Our Aim is Revolution

 

The aim of trade unionists is not socialism and, therefore, the principles and policy of The Socialist Party is quite distinct from those of trade unions which are organised within capitalism to “collectively bargain” with employers terms of wage slavery. The Socialist Party’s aim is to abolish wage slavery and establish socialism.

 

We fully acknowledge and accept the necessity of trade unions under capitalism, and, therefore, endeavour to make them more effective by urging the workers to recognise the class struggle and its implications. The spread of socialist knowledge is the best antidote to the poison of union bureaucrats and is the only policy to hasten the abolition of wage slavery which trade unions are powerless to accomplish. 

 

The workers are today expressing dissatisfaction with their standard of living. This discontent is manifested in the trade unions in which each member aims at promoting his own individual interest, or rather, we should say, apparent interest. To do this more effectively, one is obliged, often against his or her immediate desire, to unite with fellow workers and employ the machinery of the trade union to fulfil the common collective demands of the whole body of workers. In order to benefit individually, the workers must act collectively; it is a condition forced upon them by the very magnitude of the modern economic system.

 

Under the present economic system the worker receives only a small fraction of the wealth he or she produces. The scale of wages is determined, on average, by the cost of one's subsistence and reproduction. An increased wage scale is, therefore, only of temporary benefit to the workers. The solution of the Socialist Party, briefly stated, is to secure, not a larger fraction of the wealth produced, but actually the whole value of the productions. It is the one indispensable condition by which capitalist exploitation will definitely cease to exist and for which the class war, as the collective endeavour of individuals, must be waged.

 

The secret of the capitalists’ power is the fact that they own the means of production, giving them illimitable authority over the whole social system. The worker’s aim, therefore, must be to capture the means of production. This is a task in which the solemn worship of divinity in any form will avail nothing. It will be accomplished only when a workers’ class-conscious majority has achieved political power and wields it in the communal interest. This being established, social progress enters upon a new lease of life which is the only socialism.

 

Socialism, therefore, far from advocating escape from self really teaches the doctrine of self-interest as the essential feature of a contented community. It is the ideal by the attainment of which the emancipation of the working class and, with it, of society at large will be established. The workers must learn to cease being satisfied with the crumbs which fall from the richly spread table of capitalism, Nor is it enough that when the crumbs cease to fall, they beg like Oliver Twist for more. They must stimulate their individual interests to the fullest limit and vote for socialism, i.e., the collective ownership of the means of life It is a simple doctrine, but an all-engaging one. 

 

After the socialist has demolished in argument the case for capitalism opponents fall back on one stock defence. We are asked for a description of socialistic society, and when informed that all that can be said about it with certainty is that it will be a society in which the means of production and distribution will be communally owned, and democratically controlled, in which production will be for use and not for profit, critics cry, “There you are. You’ve got nothing constructive to offer. Your policy is wholly destructive, and your remedies vague and nebulous.” And that allegation comforts  and provides our opponents with a justification for supporting capitalism which in argument they have had to admit cannot itself be justified. It is an old cry, but because it is being raised continuously it is worth while dealing with it.

 

The main charge made by socialists against capitalism is that it fails to deliver the goods. The contradictions inherent in the system which is based on individual ownership and social productions prevent goods being produced in the quantities they might be. The system acts as a “fetter on production,” and it is because of that that we condemn it.

 

The question of distribution is only of secondary importance as compared with that of removing those fetters on production. Capitalism maintains an army of unemployed at both ends of society, under it many workers are employed unproductively, it presents the spectacle of equipment standing idle while those who could use it starve, it reveals putting checks on the bounty of nature and restricting the production of rubber, tea, etc. It should be apparent then, even to a radical, that anything that removes these evils will increase the wealth of the community. As they are inherent in capitalism they can only be ended by abolishing the system. To tinker about with reforms will do nothing. It can only be the product of the class conscious desire of the workers themselves.