Capitalism V Socialism

 

We live in a society of misconceived priorities. How do we attach values to the alternative demands of the environment? The profit system puts all at risk because the treatment of one issue must be made at the priority cost of profit. Even if we deal with carbon emissions dioxide it is probable that methane will be a greater danger and. in any event the faster-growing problem. This will be the next debate for the vacillators. In the meantime the waste remains and kills.

We are socialists, disbelievers in private property and advocates of the equal claims of each man and woman to work for the community as seen fitting to him or her - calling no man master. We look for the socialisation of wealth.

The ruling classes know pretty well what they will do. Their policy is agreed which is to maintain by every possible means their possession of power and the instruments of production. Therefore, they will try first to halt and hinder the spread of socialist views. They try to take control of the workers; movement, and to steer it a direction less threatening to their privileges. 

Socialism becomes a loose word.  Every reformer body calls him or herself  a socialist. A revolution is not a mere change of government, because a government cannot overthrow institutions by mere decreeing some new regulations. The many social ills inflicting working peoiple cannot be solved by laws.  What is asked for is  for a complete reorganization of production, denying the capitalist the right of pocketing the benefits of production solely because the State recognizes him as proprietor of the soil, the field, the house, the colliery, or the machinery, without the use of which the millions can do no useful work at all. What is required is a more equitable organization of distribution. The reorganisation of production according to the new principles, cannot be solved by any kind of government. It must be a natural growth resulting from the combined efforts of all and it cannot be something schemed by a few men and ordered from above. The abolition of private ownership of land, mines, machinery will be the distinctive feature of any movement worthy of the name of socialist; and moreover, that no parliament, no government can do this. The expropriation can be carried out only by popular initiative, bymass action, by being not only written on paper, but accomplished de facto. It is not enough to proclaim, "These factories are ours.” There is only one effective remedy for the suffering, to substitute for the wage-system free and self-organised cooperation among the workers, for the direct supply of the needs of all.

 We charge  the prevailing social system that the workers are robbed of the wealth which they produce. Socialists agree  that the wants of all must be the first guiding consideration of any new society. To leave nobody without food, shelter and good health, is the first and imperative duty of a popular movement inspired by socialist ideas. The only rule to guide us must be the wants of each family.

The myth that war is instinctive and that mankind is evil by nature makes it easier for states to pursue a militaristic policy, because it can be suggested to their peoples that militarism is a natural phenomenon. However, the Socialist Party points to the real, the economic and political causes of war. The present Ukrainain war is not fought for principles but politico-economic advantag e to increase or protect spheres of influence and markets.

Capitalism is easily summed up. There are rich and poor, and that the rich are rich because they rob the poor. Even in the unlikely event of capitalism being so reformed the fact that this economic system is founded on the successive accumulation of capital still the system would fail to meet the needs of the majority. The rich would still rob the poor. The only solution is to replace this wage labour/capital relationship with social co-operation to meet needs. And the flexibility of human behaviour makes that prospect as workable as it is compelling.

Our view was that we can not expect people who were, for the most part, hearing a completely new and different idea for the first time to immediately take it in, fully agree with it and go out and vote for it. To expect them to do all this in one fell swoop would have been quite unrealistic. What is not perhaps unrealistic, however, is for us to think that socialist ideas can begin to filter through. Society will one day change from production for profit to production for need and we are not going to waste a moment's time or withhold any energy to hasten that revolution.