Towards Socialist Clarity

 All around us are the signs of a world in crisis. Resources that should be used to feed the hungry are squandered on ever more costly and destructive weapons. But all is not lost. There is the socialist tradition founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the tradition in which the Socialist Party stands. It is solely concerned with the revolution to abolish capitalism, which can only be the work of a working-class politically aware, participating and united. This is why socialists are concerned with working-class unity. Socialists have had enough division, of human beings opposing each other without reason, when the world is desperate for them to unite to change the basis of society. We struggle to persuade the working class that all of them—in the words of our Declaration of Principles “without distinction of race or sex”—have the same interests to work together to rid the world of capitalism with its artificial and destructive divisions and replace it with socialism,  a society of abundant production and free access to the fruits of our labour.

Socialism is not a reform, it is a revolution. This is the position held by the Socialist Party. Usually, when the word “revolution” is mentioned it is certain to be misunderstood. Bloody violent insurrection is often associated with the word so we should be clear about what we mean by revolutionary socialism. The Socialist Party does not seek violence or bloodshed and would regard it a calamity to the socialist cause, as well as to humanity, to have a violent upheaval in society. Socialism offers a possible, peaceful solution. We mean by“revolutionary socialism” the capture of the political powers of the nation by the working class as opposed to the capitalist class. Whoever holds firmly the necessity of the organisation of the working class and those in sympathy with them into an independent political party, distinct from and opposed to all capitalistic parties to capture the state machine in order to carry out the principles of socialism is a revolutionary socialist. On the other hand, the one who thinks we are to get socialism through any of the old political parties, or without organising a new, Socialist Party, that person is not a revolutionary socialist and, indeed, probably not even a socialist at all.

There are many powerful influences that run against the idea that working-class interests lie in unity. A potent force for dividing the working class is that of nationality. All over the world workers are taught that the artificial boundary which separates “their” country also confines special qualities like courage, verity and intelligence which are denied to those across the frontier. And there is the propaganda about “race”, which divides human beings on grounds of prejudice, malice and pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo.

There is no alternative for the working class other than socialism. The fundamental issue is socialism versus capitalism, that the working class must learn that the problems confronting them will not be solved in a fundamental manner except through the end of the capitalist system; that fighting for palliative reforms was like struggling to cure the symptoms and not the disease.

Private property society has divorced its workers from the means of wealthy production and has reduced many of our tasks to simple manipulation. It has also brought about a uniformity of taste, ideas and general behaviour that social reformers may wail about but which none of them can alter. We hope we have said enough by now to show that only a class-free, property-less society will make any radical change in this state of affairs. It will be then that we can express ourselves fully and encourage variety in the truest sense of the word.