What we need is socialism

The Socialist Party has stated ^{numerous times if we are to prevent the 21st century from becoming a more violent re-run of the 20th, which witnessed two world wars, the first use of nuclear weapons and many hundreds of smaller conflicts—all in the name of profit—it is essential we, the victims, the cannon fodder, the people that have the biggest price to pay to satisfy the whims of the mighty, begin to organise now; not tomorrow, nor when the sirens are screaming.  We have previously documented the murderous and hypocritical policies of the capitalist politicians with the resulting mass slaughter of the working class and we condemn it once again. We, as a class, have suffered too much and have too much to lose to leave decisions regarding the future of our planet in the hands of a group of arrogant, conceited and profit-crazed individuals. Let’s organise to take their power away before it is too late.}

We live in a world where the domination of the great powers, national rivalries, war and the threat of war characterise the relations between countries. Hunger, poverty, unemployment, racial and sexual discrimination, and many forms of repression, including the most barbaric, such as torture and genocide, are the lot of the majority of the earth’s inhabitants. Searching to guarantee new sources of profits, the capitalists come into contradiction with each other and inevitably end up resorting to war where the working people bear the burden.

The goal of the Socialist Party is not to replace the rule of one class with that of another, as has happened already in the feudal and bourgeois revolutions, but to liberate all of humanity from the chains of exploitation and oppression by the abolition of classes themselves. In this way, the divisions between the city and countryside, and between mental and manual labour will also be abolished, and a society without a State will be created since the State is nothing other than the instrument of the dictatorship of one class over the others.  So long as capitalism exists, the government is endowed with the powers of the state as the executive committee of Big Business. To preserve capitalism today, to organise society in the form essential for the support of the conditions underlying the capitalist mode of production the state is forced to intervene more and more directly and on a greater and greater scale.

The emancipation of the workers will be accomplished by the workers themselves. They will achieve it through a socialist revolution, which will suppress the private ownership of the means of production in order to establish socialist and collective property, and replace capitalist commodity production with the socialist organisation of production designed to ensure the complete well-being and full development of each person. It is the struggle to capture political power.

Jobs are disappearing, wiped out by plant off-shoring and automation. unions have lost members and submitted to humiliating retreats. The social programmes which propped up living standards and gave some protection against unchecked capitalist exploitation are being gutted. No worker has escaped hard times.  The worst off have been hit hardest. This is nothing new. For generations,  workers have borne the brunt of every economic downturn.  Capitalist mouthpieces have been blaming migrant and refugee workers who are accused of “stealing” jobs and jumping the line for social services amid cries for new restrictive immigration laws. Wherever we look, we see the divide-and-conquer capitalists inciting the most chauvinist sentiments in the working class to sow the seeds of disunity. It’s difficult to imagine anything more at odds with what we need today. We’re up against a different class interest than our own. The basis for the increased profits of the capitalists is the increased exploitation of labour week by week, month by month and year by year. The capitalists will undertake reforms in order to strengthen the capitalist system. They do pick up reformist demands and put them into practice. There are many demands put forward by reformists which are good for the capitalist system, and it is for this reason that they pick them up. But the real demands of the working people will never be taken up by the capitalists. The capitalists will never agree with ending the selling and buying of labour power. As far as socialists are concerned, it does not matter how much actual capital any one capitalist has hoarded and how much these leeches must be paying taxes.

Reformists believe they can get better laws passed by petitioning governments and back-room lobbying. To divert workers away from class struggle and revolutionary politics, some union leaders say that unions should have nothing to do with politics at all. They pretend to be neutral and above party matters. In reality, the leaders who preach political neutrality are far from being neutral themselves. In practice, they support the various capitalist parties, either openly or covertly. Historically, union leaders have supported the Labour Party. They oppose revolutionary struggle and the overthrow of the capitalist system.

Aside from their immediate work of reacting to the pestering manoeuvres of capital, they must become the organising centres of the working class fighting towards that great goal, total emancipation. They must help any political and social movement in favour of this aim.