The Problem is Capitalism

 

The current industrial disputes will eventually come to an end . . . but the class struggle will go on. The Socialist Party believes in the urgent need for workers to join together, not simply for the defensive right of union recognition, but for the purpose of organising for social revolution—NOW. The need for class unity for socialism is the pressing task of the age. That, above all else, is our message to fellow workers. To abandon it would be to abandon our claim to be socialists. 

Under capitalism, everything is loaded against those who are forced to sell their labour-power. Marx argued the case for a future society without buying and selling, wage-labour or capital. That alone is the goal of the Socialist Party. We urge all fellow workers to involve themselves in the struggle for a world in which trade unions will be unnecessary because the buying and selling of useful things, including human energy, will be a thing of the past.

The problem is not the gig economy and zero-hours contracts ... it's wage slavery. Unions should fight for the best deal they can get. But let's not fool ourselves that the system of employment can ever be geared to our needs.

The problem is not austerity cuts... that’s just a turn of the screw. We have always been rationed by the size of our pay cheque and the poor have always been poor. It used to be Soup Kitchens; now it's Food Banks. Meanwhile the rich go on getting richer. We can't hope to end poverty and inequality until we get rid of the production of wealth for the exclusive profit of a few.

Capitalism is based on production being controlled by profit-seeking enterprises which, supported by governments, compete on the market to buy resources and sell products. This competitive pursuit of profits is the essence of capitalism. It’s what capitalism is all about and what prevents any effective action to deal with climate change.

Nobody can deny that global warming is taking place. Nor that, if it continues unchecked, it would have disastrous consequences – such as rising sea-levels and increased desertification – through its effects on the climates of the different parts of the world. There can only be an argument over what is causing it. Most scientists in the field take the view that it has mainly been caused by the increase in the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas.

If this is the case, then one part of any solution has to be to cut back on burning these fuels. But this is not happening. In fact, on a world scale, their use is increasing. This is because this is currently the cheapest way of generating the energy to drive industry – and the logic of capitalism compels the profit-seeking enterprises that control production to use the cheapest methods. If they don’t, their competitors will.

What is the solution? 

First, the competitive struggle for profits as the basis for production must be ended. This requires that the Earth’s natural and industrial resources become the common heritage of all humanity. On this basis, and on this basis alone, can an effective programme to deal with the problem be drawn up and implemented, because production would then be geared to serving human interests and no longer to make a profit for competing enterprises.

There will be those who say that we haven’t the time to wait for the coming into being of this, in their view, unlikely or long-distant solution, and that we must therefore do something now. In this age of apathy and cynicism when any large-scale change is dismissed, this may seem a plausible argument but it begs the question. It assumes that a solution can be implemented within capitalism. But if it can’t (as socialists maintain), then concentrating on something now rather than on changing the basis of society and production will be a waste of valuable time while the situation gets worse.

The Socialist Party want to abolish capitalism and replace private ownership by common ownership.

The Socialist Party want a world in which the privilege of a few to monopolise wealth can be replaced by the production of goods and services solely to satisfy human needs.

The Socialist Party wants a world in which “Community,” “Co-operation” and ”Peace” can become realities not hollow slogans.

Opposition to war demands opposition to capitalism.

Opposition to capitalism demands working for the re-organisation of human society—for socialism.

 We can make a democratic revolution – but only based on a real understanding of how capitalism works against our interests, and how reforms of capitalism will always be offered in order to distract us. You just cannot challenge capitalism and reform it at the same time.

Protest rallies may make us feel like we are 'doing something', but it’s an illusion. The real battle is over ideas: the ideas in the heads of those who do all the work but get little reward. That's why the rich and powerful spend so much time trying to suppress and ridicule any idea of an alternative

The world is rich enough. We can have a world where free access to wealth replaces the market where useful work is to be enjoyed rather than endured, and where no individual can monopolise access to wealth. Armed with knowledge, humanity can finally start to demand the possible.