We war against capitalism

 

Most people nowadays have some grievance with this or that aspect of society. 

We of the Socialist Party are men and women who belong to the working class; we share the same experiences of exploitation and fear of economic insecurity; we know what all this means because we live the part. But we claim to have studied the problems of the workers' lives at their foundation. As a result, we are able to declare unhesitatingly that the solution has been found. We know, and can prove our case, that the wealth of the world is produced by the workers. We know, and can prove it, that what the workers can do so efficiently for the capitalist class they can do even more effectively for themselves.

It is time to fight against robbery. The battle need not be wasted on those poor wretches who rob in order to feed their kids. Nor need we waste time on those workers whose robbery of other workers is anti-social and foolish, but only a reflection of their poverty and lack of hope. The war against robbery must begin and end with the system which allows the rich to prosper in privilege and affluence by robbing the vast majority of us.

The workers of all lands are wage slaves. They have the same miserable lot, of whatever nationality they may be. They have one common foe—the capitalist class the world over. 

We are out for the abolition of the wage system—the result of the private ownership of the means of life. We want the workers to grip the fact that it is just this— the way in which these means are used against our class by our exploiters—that causes all the misery.

We desire the overthrow of the capitalist system and in its place the establishment of socialism. Then production for the use of all will take the place of the pernicious production for the profit of a few, and a new and splendid era will open up for humankind.

We stand for the working-class capture of political power by the only method available to-day, namely, through democratic election to parliament to abolish capitalism and establish socialism. This is the first and foremost plank in our programme; anything short of this will not do. We neither advocate nor ask capitalist governments for social reforms. The Socialist Party rejects nationalisation as a solution to workers’ problems. We insist on the abolition of wages.

We picture a world free from exploitation and want, free from wars and the power of dictators—in short, a world of our own making in which the guiding principle would be the common interest of “ associated humanity." This is no wild Utopian dream. The material conditions of its realisation are here now, awaiting the understanding and action of the international working class.

We want the abolition of the system causing class division. We desire the speedy overthrow of the bloody system that is built up out working-class slavery and exploitation. A socialist society will do away with commodity production and will produce solely for use. This means that buying and selling will no longer take place and money will be obsolete. In a system based on free access to goods and services, members of the community will not need to purchase from themselves the wealth which they already possess. Along with all other commodities, human labour power will be abolished as an item of sale: the abolition of the wages system will give way to a society of cooperative labour where each will give according to ability and take according to need.

What do we say? Don’t follow anyone, and don’t believe anyone who offers you paradise—plus a wage. Don’t expect us to lead you. Instead, cultivate your self-reliance and organise yourselves democratically (and that means equal participation in decision- and policy-making, with all tasks not assumed by leaders but delegates) for the conquest of political power. When you have political power as a class, you will be the last class in history to be emancipated. There are none below you, none you will need to dominate to maintain your position as free men and women at last.

Voluntary cooperation on a world scale will replace compulsory economic competition between individuals. Social antagonisms will fade into history. With the abolition of the wage system, the interests of the individual will coincide with those of society. Genuine freedom will have dawned.