A Society Without Masters or Slaves

 As much as people are opposed to war, history teaches us that mere opposition is not enough. Socialists are more than just opposed to war. We are opposed to a system that is the direct cause of war situations and finally of war itself. What is this system? It means private ownership, working for wages, the buying and selling of goods, and the acceptance of trade, both national and international, as the only way people can get the things they need. Armies and police forces exist and function for the sole purpose of maintaining and protecting property institutions. This is the main reason for the division of the world into national competitive groups. Socialists want a world based upon voluntary co-operation, in order that the products of men’s efforts can be of free access—a world where money will not be necessary. We want people to break out of this vicious circle that perpetuates the ideas of property society. We want their thinking to be socialist thinking.

Let’s examine the conditions in which we live our lives. What do we find? We work long and hard. We produce endless wealth. From the depths of the earth we extract minerals and ores. We build machines, and we construct roads and railways. All the wealth of the world is the product of our hands, of our sweat and blood. Yet what kind of wages do we get for this forced labour?

If things were as they should be, we would be in decent housing, we would possess good healthcare, and would never have to suffer any need. But we know well enough that our wages never suffice for our living. Our bosses push down wages, force us to work overtime – in a word oppress us in every way. And then when we give voice to our dissatisfaction, we are thrown out of work without further ado.

All those to whom we turn for help are the servants and allies of the bosses. They keep us in darkness, they keep us ignorant so that we shall not dare to fight for an improvement of our conditions. They keep us in slavery, they arrest and imprison everyone who shows any signs of resistance against the oppressors. We are forbidden to struggle. Ignorance and slavery – these are the means through which the capitalists and the government that serves them oppress us. We can expect nothing from them, we can rely only upon ourselves.  Our strength lies in our unity and our stubborn resistance against the bosses. Our masters understand where our strength lies and they try in every way to divide us and hide the identity of interests of all workers.

If we unite together, then the time is not far off when we will be in a position  to join the common struggle of the workers of all lands, without distinction of race or creed, against the capitalists of the whole world. Our strong arm will rise and the chains of slavery will fall. The toilers of the world will arise and strike fear in the hearts of the capitalists and of all other enemies of the working class.