You do have choices

 

Anxious about the state of the planet and worried what capitalism is doing to it? Want to do something about it? But don’t know what?

Capitalism has taken us as far as it can go, but there's a lot further we can go without it. It doesn't really matter whether you call it post-capitalism, world socialism, or post-scarcity anarchism, it is feasible and desirable. And given that some scientists are talking about a point of no-return for environmental destruction being reached, the word 'urgent' springs to mind.

You can't overthrow capitalism by street barricades. At best you can temporarily annoy it. Don't kid yourself that rioting is a real threat to capitalism. Modern states have massive coercive power, and they can withstand more resistance  than you can deliver. To be dangerous to capitalism,we have to win the war of ideas, across all the media, amongst our friends and co-workers, in our groups, in our own head. And we have to be united about what we want after capitalism, and united about how to get it. Otherwise, the grim truth is that we really won't succeed.

 

For a revolution to be any good, you have to be for something, besides being against capitalism. Some people are just against big capitalism (WTO, IMF, World Bank, multinationals, etc) as if somehow 'small' national capitalism is a completely different thing, and perfectly nice. It's not. They're the same. Let's have a definition: capitalism is production for sale on a market with a view to profit. Instead of that we could have: cooperative production for use and free distribution on the basis of need. This would involve: no markets, no money, no commodities, no private property, no rich class and poor class, no Third World and First World, no profit-led profligacy of any description, no ecological destruction, no famine, and no war.

Everywhere people are waking up and fighting against the oppression and exploitation which is a daily fact of their lives. The lies of the ruling class about “prosperity” are being further exposed every-day. There is prosperity alright – but it is for a handful of rich capitalists – the conditions of the working people are getting worse and worse. This system of capitalism is set up with one thing in mind – to make the most profits possible for the handful of people who own the big banks and corporations. It is the system under which we, and our parents and grandparents before us, have done all the work. We mine the mines, build the buildings, manufacture all the products: and then get just enough to live on – if we fight hard enough for it! On the other hand the small capitalist class builds up huge fortunes off of our labour.

The Socialist Party stands for the complete overthrow of the world capitalist system. There is only one class capable of conducting the struggle for a successful socialist revolution. That class is the working class. The workers have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win!

All the resources for a world of abundance, without pollution, disease and squalor, exist at the present time in skill, technique and science. They are the same resources used to produce pollution and destruction.

Humanity is at a crossroads. Capitalism’s continued rule offers humanity nothing but more wars, more mass acts of terror and grinding exploitation and poverty.

The world’s working class, the one class with no essential interest in oppression or exploitation, has the potential to put an end to capitalist barbarism. If it rises up to overthrow the capitalists in revolutions the planet over, it can take hold of the productive power of the world economy to put an end to poverty and build a world of abundance for all. It can end the racism, chauvinism and sex and gender oppression that thrives on capitalism’s world of want and competition.

Only by building a global movement can the working class prepare itself for the titanic task of undoing the disasters the capitalists keep making - and building a new world in their place.

A new society is not created by steps toward socialism. There are no shortcuts. There are several parties and groups around today such as Counterfire or Left Unity to name but two from a long list (Heinz baked beans and 57 other varieties) that call themselves “communist” or “socialist”.  The Socialist Party has important disagreements with them. These parties and groupings all have one thing in common – they all dress themselves up with high-sounding revolutionary phrases, but underneath they are defenders of capitalism.