Child poverty to rise

One in three children will be living in absolute poverty by 2030/31, according to new analysis published by the Scottish government.

The analysis, which takes into account tax and benefit changes announced by the UK and Scottish governments, suggested that the percentage of children living in relative poverty - which measures the gap between low and middle-income households - will increase from 23% in 2018/19 to 38% in 2030/31.

It found that absolute poverty - a measure of whether poorest households' incomes are keeping pace with inflation - will rise from 20% to 32%.

Meanwhile, 16% of children will be in "persistent" poverty, up from 10%.

The key reason for the increases was cited as UK government cuts, including the benefit freeze and the two-child limit on tax credits.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-43539258

Capitalism: Betraying our future

The present and future outlook of the working class is extremely gloomy. There is a hell on earth reserved for those with no money. These are the “socially excluded”. These dwell in the darkness of inescapable poverty, ever wrestling with the torment of survival in a world dominated by the fast buck. If you have no money to feed to the profit-hunger of the owning élite you must starve or eat rotten food; you must sleep on the pavement or in slums designed to accommodate the economically imprisoned; you must freeze when it gets cold and sweat in the urban heat; you must watch the ceaseless propaganda serenades of the ad-men who are not talking to those without money to buy, but merely teasing your expectations; you must eat the crap which is poisoned by its cheapness; you must learn to go without and watch your children go without. The deprivations of extreme poverty are still here. They are built into the very fabric of the profit system.

Capitalism we know only too well and have long endured. Socialism we could have and will have when a majority understands the need for it. But is there a half-way house, something that has ceased to be capitalism but is not socialism? The Socialist Party know that there can be no such thing, but many people have thought that possible and desirable and have sought various ways to keep capitalism but rid it of its chaotic features and subject it to planning and regulatory controls.  Contrary to the claims of politicians, governments cannot control the levels of production, employment, and consumption, These are the result of the blind workings of the profit-driven market system and go up and down according to whether the rate of profit is rising or falling. Governments can't make the economy work in accordance with their desires but have to adapt their policies to what the economy requires, and the profit system requires that priority is given to making profits over everything else and in particular overspending to meet the needs of the majority of the population. Which is why all governments end in tears. In short, the government does not control the economy, the economy controls the government. What is required is not a change of government but a change of economic system. A change of bums on the ministerial benches in the House of Commons is an utter irrelevancy for almost everybody.

The profit system can be abolished and replaced by one geared directly to meeting people’s needs instead of to making profits for a privileged few. But this will only come about if we make it come about. This is why those of us who want this change have organised ourselves into a Socialist Party, not with the purpose of rivalling the other parties in their bid to form the government—a government formed by us would also end in failure—but with the aim of publicising the fact that there is an alternative to the profit system: a socialist system of society based on common ownership, democratic control and production for use, not profit. Such a system can only come about when a majority of people want it and organise themselves to get it. So the sort of politics we are talking about is not that of trusting in professional politicians to do things for you but is a do-it-yourself politics, with people themselves organising at work and where they live to take control of their own lives by working to change the economic basis of society. Voting has a part to play in bringing about this change. Although governments don't control the economy they do control the forces of political repression so it would be stupid to leave the machinery of government in the hands of supporters of the privileged few who benefit from the profit system. At some stage, those who want socialism will have to mount an electoral challenge to the parties of the profit system and defeat them at the polls. This means that voting isn’t in itself useless. It doesn’t serve much use today when there’s no real choice but it can in the future. When there is a socialist majority it can be used to remove from power those who support class privilege and the profit motive, so opening the way for ordinary people to carry out by their own efforts the socialist transformation of society. The number of us who want socialism is relatively small at the moment but we are still strong enough to put up socialist candidates in a number of constituencies. These socialist candidates are not offered as leaders. They will make no promises to do things for people. They are merely names on the ballot paper to allow those who reject the profit system and want socialism to register the fact. In the extremely unlikely event of them being elected, they would just be the messengers of those who voted for them, delegates mandated to go to the House of Commons to use it as a megaphone to broadcast the case for socialism more widely.

 The word "democracy” is as hollow and meaningless to the exploited as the word “commonwealth". The Socialist Party held a vision of a real "commonwealth”. It means a global system of society where all wealth is held in common and is democratically controlled by all people. It is a society from which borders and frontiers, social classes and leaders, states and governments have disappeared, in which production is geared to meeting needs, not profit, and in which people give of their abilities and have free access to the benefits of civilisation. This is the real "commonwealth" socialists look forward to.

Raise your consciousness with LSD

Lothian Socialist Discussion

Wednesday, 28 March
7:30pm - 9:00pm

The Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh,
17 West Montgomery Place,
Edinburgh EH7 5HA



The Socialist Party's case is based upon the secure grounding of political logic and material interest. Our message is that capitalism is a system of wage slavery for the majority of people. Political parties of all types have tried to reform the capitalist system in the interest of the working class, but this is a futile struggle to treat the symptoms and not the disease.  When it was founded the Socialist Party rejected reformist tactics, for no matter how sincere those trying to alleviate and mitigate the effects of capitalism, they are bound to end up running society in the material interest of the ruling class. The Socialist Party is different simply because we stand at all time for the social interest of the working class and consistently refuse to come to the aid of the class enemy.


Ours is the politics of revolution. We do not mean bloodshed and barricades when we speak of revolution, but a fundamental change in social relationships.  The Socialist Party urges fellow-workers to reject all leaders and do your own thinking for yourselves.  Our arguments do not consist of slogans with more echo than substance. We have no leaders, as a party of conscious members needs no chiefs to tell us what to do. All of our affairs are open to the scrutiny of the public.


When the workers of the world understand and want socialism they shall use their political power (and in many countries, this means the ballot box) to take control away from the capitalists and their representatives and to place the means of life in the hands of the whole community. It can and will happen when millions of workers all over the world recognise their class interests, form socialist parties and use the political strength which they have. Once a majority of workers are resolved to establish socialism there is nothing that can effectively stand in their way. That is why the Socialist Party is solely concerned with the propagation of working-class consciousness.



We are a political party, concerned with socialist education and promotion; we publish literature, dealing both with general and specific matters to state the case for social sanity; we put up candidates at election time in as many constituencies as is practical; we organise lectures and meetings to spread the understanding of socialist ideas. In short, we do whatever is possible to further what we believe to be the only worthwhile cause which is open to the working class. To join, you must be a committed socialist; applicants for membership are only admitted if they are considered to understand the case that we stand for. 

Human liberation is our destiny

The Socialist Party refuses to be taken in by the assertions that capitalism is not only the most viable economic system possible but that it also represents continuous progress. After all, the evidence to the contrary is everywhere — inner-city nightmarish conditions, beggars in the streets, homelessness, increasing violence and drug abuse.  The social system we live under is capitalism, the profit system. It is a world-wide system. Having undertaken the running of the capitalist system, Labour Party Governments find that it has got to do it in the only way it can be done. Capitalism will only work if the capitalists can see the prospect of making a profit, so, in disregard of years of vaguely anti-capitalist propaganda, the Labour Party has had to come out in support of the "profit motive". Production under capitalism is primarily undertaken with a view to making a profit for the capitalist class, which means that items are produced and goods provided only when someone decides more money can be clawed back than was originally invested. The capitalist class, though, do not keep all of the profits they make. Much is reinvested in order that more profits can accumulate.

More often than not, too much is produced. When this happens the profits of the capitalist class are threatened. The result is that millions of tons of food are destroyed every year on purpose, to keep prices high in the shops. In addition, when no profits are to be made, workers are sacked or made redundant. Unemployment engulfs a vast mass of the working class, whilst the movement for increased production (which in effect means both a lowering of wages and a lowering in the number of wage receivers) promises to further increase the workless army.

Looking at the matter casually, today it would appear that the main objective of the capitalist is increased production. A closer examination of the matter will easily dispose of this false idea. What are the elements required to produce wealth today? Raw materials, machinery, and labour-power of various degrees of skill. Is there any shortage of raw material? The earth is teeming with raw material, and the untapped resources are as relatively unlimited as the development of human ingenuity. Is there a shortage of machinery? There are numerous first-class manufactures of all classes of machinery working short-time for want of orders to execute. Is there a shortage of labour-power? The hundreds of thousands of unemployed of all degrees of skill searching anxiously, and so often, unavailingly for work can provide a complete answer to this question. Finally, the slowing down of production owing to overstocked markets is the overwhelming contradiction to the claims of the increased productionists.

The mere increase of production is not the objective of the capitalist; his main objective is the lowering of the cost of production. The capitalist in competing for markets endeavours to undersell competitors by reducing the labour-time spent upon articles to a minimum (reducing the value of an article) and at the same time to obtain the maximum of surplus value by increasing the difference between what the worker receives and what he produces—increasing the amount of wealth a worker can produce and reduce the amount he receives, in other words, increasing the exploitation of the worker.

 Marx and Engels developed what is usually termed their Materialist Conception of History, an analytical tool which has since been used by socialists to explain historical events and social changes. 'The basis of Marx and Engels’ contention—derived from an investigation of past social changes and the forces that motivated them—was that society is not basically a static entity, changing only superficially, but is periodically subject to dynamic change and development. These changes are characterised chiefly by alterations in the way in which humans organise themselves to get what they need to live—food, clothing, housing, entertainment and so on. Using Marx’s analysis, socialists contend that the motive force for such changes in society is the material forces of production. These chiefly consist of the instruments of production themselves (tools, machines, etc.) and the productive skills and knowledge at society’s disposal. In the last analysis, it is the technological change which periodically revolutionises the productive skills and tools of society as humankind attempts to increase its power over production. But it is important to stress that this theory is not mere technological determinism—while technological change does tend to ultimately lead to major social change, it does not do so automatically since humans make history. Any wider social change made necessary by technological development will only come about when struggled for by a group of humans—usually a new social class with a unique relationship to the means of living. Indeed, it is precisely the social grouping which comes to play the key organising role for the new production methods as these methods are transformed by technological development, that will tend to emerge as the new dominant class in society. This grouping will not achieve dominance automatically and will have to struggle for this position by becoming conscious of its own interests and by then capturing political power from the old dominant class. We argue that it is this scenario which broadly explains historical change through various social epochs. It explains, for instance, the demise of feudalism and the rise of the capitalist class and capitalist relations of production, and similarly, it can be used to chart the decline of capitalism and the rise of the forces in society that have a class interest in its abolition and in the establishment of socialism.

Socialism does not exist and has never existed. It can not be established in a single country but only on a world-wide basis. In socialism, the earth’s resources, along with the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth, will be commonly owned and democratically controlled by the world’s peoples. There will be no minority élite and no owners because society will be classless. With the disappearance of money and the wages system, society's productive potential will be released from the artificial constraints of profit. Goods and services will be provided because society needs them, not because they generate profit. With the barriers of the money system removed, the only questions needed to be asked is what is required and where—questions that will be answered according to the availability of resources. Technology and communications will be freed from the constraints of profit and used to their utmost to serve the world’s peoples. Again, alternative sources of fuel and energy will be sought, both to best serve humans and show the environment the respect it deserves. People will give according to their ability and take from the stockpile of communal wealth according to their own self-defined needs, with work being based on voluntary co-operation. For the first time ever, people will have control over their own lives, with all monetary worries and fears of crime and war ended. For the first time ever, the people of planet Earth will have an equal share in planet Earth.

Capitalism is solely responsible for world hunger, just as it is the root cause of war, diseases that are returning to haunt humanity, homelessness, unemployment and a thousand other social ills. And we call them "social ills" because all of these problems are rooted in the way society is at present organised for production—production for profit, not social need.

Marx saw the socialist revolution as a great act of human liberation, one that would precisely free humanity from the sway of economic and historical forces which had a social origin in the way they were organised to meet their needs but which they could not control and had to submit to. In freeing humans from the sway of these forces, socialism would allow them to control their own collective destiny, to act as rational beings consciously creating the life they freely chose.

The Pain of a Scottish Education

 Belts, the tawse, the lochgelly made by saddler John J Dick , came in two or three weights and shapes – two-tail, three-tail – and teachers either kept them in handy drawers or looped them over their shoulders and under their gowns as a crafty gunslinger might. 

A new book by the always-interesting Scottish writer Carol Craig argues that Scotland’s poor health, the worst in western Europe, has its roots in the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, an American term signifying an upbringing affected by the stresses caused typically by a proximity to drugs, alcohol and violence.

“As a country, we need to admit that nurturing children has never been one of Scotland’s strengths,” she writes in the introduction to Hiding in Plain Sight. In a piece in this week’s Scottish Review, she contends that teachers were encouraged to belt a pupil in front of the class because the Scottish educational system “was designed to instil fear”. She says that in the course of her research she encountered hardly anyone of our generation (hers and mine) who hadn’t been belted, “many of them multiple times”, for offences as trivial as giggling.

Craig reminds us that the belt was wielded in primary as well as secondary schools, and that girls got belted as well as boys.  In 1973, Edinburgh’s education committee voted to phase out the belt by 1977, but abandoned the decision after loud opposition from schoolteachers who were zealous of their right to beat children as young as five.

England was no stranger to corporal punishment in schools either, but Scotland was far more addicted to it – the contrast between the two educational systems grew after English local authorities began to limit the use of the cane in the 1960s. The truth is that the belt was popular in Scotland among parents and teachers, and its banning from state schools in 1987 stemmed from a judgment by the European court of human rights rather than local lobbying. Private schools had to wait until 1998 in England and 2000 in Scotland. Poland had banned it as long ago as 1783, the Netherlands in 1920 and Italy in 1928, but Scotland preserved a reverence for it

In 1972, according to logs kept by teachers, the belt was used about 30,000 times on an Edinburgh school population of 80,000, and 494 girls aged between five and 11 were among the 4,201 schoolchildren belted in the spring term of 1973.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/24/belted-school-education-corporal-punishment

When we talk, we talk about socialism

In a post-capitalist society, who should control production? How should decisions about working life be made? Who should decide what is produced, where it is produced and how it is distributed. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote that the task of creating socialism must be accomplished by the working class themselves. 

Does “workers’ control” employee self-management suggests that the labour force at each factory should seize it, do with it whatever they want, including selling the product and dividing the proceeds amongst themselves? Did it mean that each group of workers would decide not only how to organise production but also what products to manufacture and sell in the market? Does it mean leaving decision-making regarding the organization of production to each group of workers?

Karl Marx’ critique of capitalist “anarchy of production” was a central part of their analysis. Goods were produced, not due to social need, but because they are commodities which could be sold in the capitalist market. For Marx, economic justice required a plan for production to meet peoples' needs. Marx believed that a series of worker-owned enterprises would leave the market intact and force the workers to compete with each other and exploit themselves.

Marx assumed that those who would plan production would be society itself. Workers in each enterprise should understand that the enterprise does not belong to them, sectional ownership, but owned in common by all, for all. Acquiring more property with larger mortgages, buying pricier cars and choosing to send your children to private school could mean that, despite having a greater salary, you still don't have much left over at the end of the day.

Progress under capitalism means prosperity for the few, poverty for the many. In spite of all the reforms, the gulf between worker and employer widens. It widens with the very rise in the workers’ efficiency. Not only are the workers robbed of the wealth produced, but they are robbed of good health through the conditions of their life and labour. There is no remedy under private or State ownership. The progress of the working people will begin with the establishment of common ownership.

Engaging with our fellow-workers is the starting point for socialist change. If there is no engagement there is no discussion and without discussion there is no movement. Talking with others is one of the core practices in the Socialist Party. We hold a vision that people have the capacity to understand and change the world.  To produce change people must be organized to work together to achieve political power. Today, the most basic task ahead is to create a mass socialist movement and the question always facing members of the Socialist Party is how to build this movement of people. It seems simple enough: movements grow when they attract people who are currently not involved or disagree. But that first means convincing people we do not agree with. Even if millions have a rough agreement with our general socialist values, why are there so few committed to our goal? Even if people agree in theory, we disagree with their passivity and apathy.  Socialists should be wary of exclusivity accusing people that they have been duped and turned into fools. Our words are important.  Workers, listen! Realise your own strength and power. There is no reason why your slavery should last a day longer. But remember that the emancipation of the working class must necessarily be the work of the working class itself. The capitalist class welcomes the introduction of any reform that does not interfere with profit.

Is the world getting any better?

Our case is a simple one. The only remedy to the many social problems created by capitalism is socialism! Private ownership must give place to social ownership, and the working class must ever be confronted with the fact that the power is theirs and no other power can say them nay when they will it. The Socialist Party is often accused by political activists both radical and reformist and others of that ilk of being content with "talk, talk, ever more talk." They say we are continually make all sorts of dire threats against the capitalist class, but that we stop at that. When it comes to action, according to them, we are non-starters.

Now, what action can our fellow-workers take? They can with advantage take no action other than talking—with tongue and print and the internet—and organising, and using the vote, until such time as they have obtained control of the political machinery, for without that control they are helpless. Our critics must remember that until the working class gets that political control they, like us, are helpless, and we can do nothing but agitate, educate, and organise.

We do not seek violence and if we can accomplish our aims in a peaceful manner well and good. But if the enemy—the capitalist class —resist, then we must use all the forces of the State to impose our will. We shall use force in the knowledge that we will be backed by a conscious socialist working class. The issues to be addressed then will not be merely squabbles between sections of the capitalist class but it will be a question of the complete abolition of that class itself.

 With socialism, the immense powers of production existing to-day would if socially owned, provide plenty for all.  When socialism is established those powers will have reached a much higher degree of proficiency, and the best method of distribution will be to allow each as much as he or she desires of the social products. Each would contribute to, the social production according to his or her capacity, and it would be a waste of time and energy to measure out what each has. Today, for illustration, many municipalities supply water to their citizens on a “rate” and find it more economical to let them take what they require for domestic purposes than to charge according to the quantity used. Our sympathies go out to the millions destined to suffer because of the madness of capitalism, the millions who will in fact lend their support to the same system that has impoverished them, and who will always suffer until it dawns on them there is an alternative and that it is they alone who can bring it about.

Anomalous as it may sound, charity and cruelty are very closely akin, and although we may perhaps give our short-sighted humanitarians credit for a real desire to alleviate the sufferings of the vulnerable. We cannot but recognise that charity in its present form tends only to prolong the sufferings of the wage-workers all the world over. The root cause of the problem of this hungry world is the ownership of the means of wealth production by one small section of society. There is no shortage of food actually. Nature has not failed us. But the promoters of the Save the Children and Oxfam movements do not understand this. Their notions are capitalist notions. To them, all is well with the world except that millions are in danger of a terrible death of starvation. Under capitalism, the children of the workers are but potential wage-slaves. Their happiness does not count. It is nothing new to us to learn those same children somewhere are being starved to death. In New York, London, Paris, Rome, in fact, everywhere where capitalism exists children are starved and will continue to starve.

Capitalism has failed to solve the problem of hunger and malnutrition. There is, therefore, only one method left. That is the socialist method—the abolition of capitalism. Send all the aid you may and you but abrogate the misery of but an infinitesimal number of those who suffer. And what is more, the position must worsen. The sooner you realise that the sooner will you desire to end it. Does it need those heart-rending photographs we have been seeing of children, emaciated and twisted beyond recognition to bring home to you the rottenness and vile inhumanity of the system you tolerate? Do you plead ignorance of the misery and squalor that must confront you every day of your lives? We cannot believe that. Thus we tell you that we are the only socialists can save the starving children, and we cannot do that without your support. If, therefore, it hurts you to see babies die a terrible death; if it even hurts you to see them live terrible lives, your duty is plain. That is to wipe out the system which is responsible and to establish in its place a system that will mean security of life for the individual from the cradle to the grave.

It is true that we in the Socialist Party do not appeal to morality, that we deny that Socialism has any ethical basis. Socialism is a system of society and systems of society are not based on ideals, “good" or “bad.” A superficial look at history might suggest, for instance, that feudalism was based on Honour and capitalism on Selfishness. In fact, systems of society are based on the relations men enter into in producing wealth. In properly societies, that is societies in which access to the means of production is not free, these relations are class relations. The section of the community having control over access to the means of production are enabled to live off the surplus labour of the producing class.

Such systems of exploitation would be unable to survive if the various means of social control did not back up the dominance of the privileged class. The state, as the centre of social control, is the most important of these means. The other means of influencing men’s behaviour and attitudes such as religion, morality, literature, art and so on, similarly operate to preserve the system. When the mode of production changes enough to shift the centre of industrial control, a process is set is motion which sooner or later brings about a change in the entire social superstructure. A new class brought to prominence by the economic change, organises itself politically to win control of the state. At the same time, new ideas appear in religion, morality and the like, reflecting the interests of the rising class. Eventually, the institutions and ideas of the previous dominant class are swept away. This is how social change comes about and there is no reason to suppose that the change from capitalism to socialism will be any different. 

 In all our experience almost all the opposition which socialists meet with arises not really from any particular objection which people have to the socialists' goal; but from their extraordinary ignorance of the existing state of things in which they themselves live, which they often firmly believe does realise the aim of the Socialist Party as far as it is humanly possible for it to be realised.

A few decades back workers in their millions sprang forth at the first call of the capitalist class to go and fight the workers of another nation. Yet in his heart of hearts scarcely a man of them, if he dared to ask himself, would have said he had a home worth fighting for or a possession to defend. But because of something which he knows by the name of “Patriotism," but which he cannot truthfully define, he donned khaki or field-grey and learned to slaughter his fellows without thinking or troubling to understand the why and the wherefore.

 The Socialist Party does not appeal to individual self-interest but to the class interest of the working class. We say that socialism is in the interests of the working class and that it is up to them to establish it. Leaders come and go, but capitalism outlives them all, bringing the usual trail of misery and destruction in its wake. Only a socialist working class can do anything about that.  Socialism will create the conditions for all-around individual development, both practically and intellectually. The task of the Socialist Party is to help such understanding come about by appealing, not to morality or conscience, but to the interests of the working class as a class. Socialism is thus a class issue, not a moral issue. The emancipation of the working class involves also the emancipation of all mankind. The working class can free itself only by ushering in socialism, a world community in which production will be carried on purely and simply to satisfy the needs of the community. Socialism cannot be instituted by a series of measures based on the dictates of conscience. It demands a change in the real basis of society, a social revolution. 

Scots in Poverty

Poverty rates in Scotland are continuing to rise, official figures have suggested.

Between 2014 and 2017, 19% of people in Scotland were living in poverty which was up slightly on previous years.

The latest statistics also show that 8% of people in Scotland are in "persistent poverty".

How to Save the Planet

It is often suggested that a change of leader and/or party might make a real difference in our everyday life. Members of the Socialist Party know that it would not. We live under capitalism which operates according to its own economic laws, irrespective of changes of government, whether it be Conservative, Labour or Nationalist. The economic law of capitalism is that all enterprises, whether private or nationalized, are operated for profit. If their products cannot be sold at a profit, production is curtailed or brought to a stop. All governments administering capitalism, no matter what principles the individuals profess, have as a clause of their economic policy one which enables profits to flow. For instance, people often talk of there being a housing problem, but there is no such problem. There is no reason why enough good houses for all should not be built. The materials exist, so do the building workers and architects. What then stands in the way? The simple fact is that there is not a market for good houses since most people cannot afford to pay for them, and never will be because of the restrictions of the wages system. The economic system under which we live is man-made and can be altered by man’s action. You can go on frittering away the years in the sterile dispute whether the Conservatives, the Labour Party or whoever makes a better job of running capitalism or you can consider the alternative of ending capitalism and putting socialism in its place. The economic system under which we live is man-made and can be altered by mankinds’s action  but it demands self-reliance and bold thinking on the part of everyone.   Rely on your own experience and recognise that capitalism has never been and cannot be made to work in the interest of the working class. Either you take action to get socialism or you have to put up with the consequences of capitalism. There is no third choice! Socialism demands understanding, organisation and democratic action by a conscious working class. It calls for international co-operation of the world’s workers.

Your masters are not concerned with increasing the total quantity of wealth; their desire is for more surplus value i.e., the difference between the wealth you produce and the wages you receive. What they ask from you is more work from the individual worker, in order that the total wages bill can be reduced, the very conditions that have always made for increased unemployment.

It is in the nature of governments to promise to eradicate evils and make things better for the voters who elected them. It is also in the nature of capitalism to go on being an exploiting system and to be subject to periodical crises and depressions.  If you rely on the government’s schemes of reforms and in your simplicity believe their promises, they will strengthen the position of their own class, and correspondingly weaken the position of our class. If you support the Labour Party, they will sell your support for fat jobs. If you dream that nationalisation will save you, you will, when you awaken, find yourselves under the rule of the bureaucrat and technocrat—still wage slaves, exploited in the interest of all capitalists instead of that of a firm or corporation. The politicians who masterminded failed policies and the economists who advised them all look round for an excuse—the workers who didn’t work hard enough, the strikers who didn’t work at all, (even occasionally the workers who worked too hard and produced unsaleable surpluses), the speculators, the greedy bankers who pushed up interest rates, or the capitalists who didn’t invest enough. The non-Marxist economists have learned nothing and forgotten everything. 

As the Socialist Party keeps pointing out governments, of whatever political persuasion, exist to protect the interests of the capitalist class (i.e. the owners of the means of life). This they do in a number of ways—tariff barriers and subsidies to producers for example — always bearing in mind that by such measures they expect a healthier national capitalism to be the outcome.

The concern of many people about the effects of globalisation is justified. Globalisation enables international companies to manipulate their worldwide use of the cheapest and most defenceless labour to plunder natural resources, to buy off local power groups and by-pass or corrupt governments. The clear object is to maximise exploitation and profits. But this is globalisation in its corporate form, operating within a world capitalist system. It does not mean that, in itself, globalisation is a bad thing. It does bring its good things. For example, instant world communications means we can be aware of events in every country and this heightens the way we think globally.

In any case, global society is here to stay. There is no going back on a production system that is linked across the world. But the exploitative nature of this system in the hands of multinational corporations means that workers share a common interest which also goes beyond national boundaries. The problems of the great majority can only be solved by united world action.

The Socialist Party believes in the common humanity of all people. To the average person a Socialist Party member appears full of discontent who keeps complaining, is always grumbling yet she or he is working for the only thing worthwhile; i.e., the overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of socialism. The Socialist Party member claims that socialism is the only hope of the workers and that all else is an illusion. The Socialist Party sets out in its Declaration of Principles that the emancipation of the working class must be the work of the working class itself. Special stress is laid on this because one of the greatest obstacles with which the workers are confronted is the idea, fostered by parties claiming to champion the cause of the working class, that leaders are necessary. So deep-rooted is this notion that we are called upon at our public meetings when stating our claim to be the only socialist party, to name our leaders. Our reply that we have no leaders is met with the incredulous retort: “But you must have leaders!" The word “leaders" implies not only those who lead but those, who are led. Now only those require, or suffer themselves to be, led who cannot see the way for themselves, and naturally, those who cannot see the way for themselves will not be able to see whether they are being led in the right direction or the wrong. Labour leaders, therefore, are able to render to the capitalists the very valuable service of misleading the workers. This is why the ruling class bestow praises and titles upon union leaders, and entreat the workers to follow their 'wise' leadership. The first work of the Socialist Party, therefore, is to spread abroad among the workers that political knowledge which alone can put them beyond the lure and treachery of leaders by showing them clearly the object they have to attain and the road they have to travel to attain it.

We have reached a critical moment in human history. Many of the most prominent scientists throughout the world are warning us that if we continue to think the way we think and live the way we live, there is a high probability we will be facing extinction.  Today dysfunction societally within and between nations makes it obvious to the observer. On the horizon is an even more ominous sign as the result of the ecological dysfunctionality of our world-wide economic system. This capitalist system is destroying our planet and is a threat to many forms of life on it, including our own.

The Price of Patriotism

Scotland's national football team's new yellow away kit has £103 price tag.

The adult shirt will set punters back £60, with another £28 for shorts and £15 for socks.

Youngsters wanting decked out like their heroes will see parents balking at the £80 cost. The junior shirt is £45, with £23 for shorts and £12 for socks.

The new home kit, unveiled in November, also costs £103. 

Drink and the poor

People in Scotland said to buy 20% more alcohol on average than those in England and Wales.

Scotland's poorest people suffer most from having easy access to alcohol in their area, researchers at Glasgow and Edinburgh universities found. Those on the lowest incomes were more likely to drink too much if availability was high. They have suggested the Scottish government should look at cutting the number of shops selling alcohol - particularly in areas of low income.

The study found the amount of alcohol consumed by people on the highest incomes was far less affected by the number of outlets near their homes.

The findings comes ahead of the introduction of minimum pricing for alcohol on 1 May. The move will raise the cost of the strongest, cheapest alcohol by setting a minimum price per unit - which the Scottish governments want to be 50p.

The team has shown  that there are more premises selling alcohol in the poorest parts of Scotland than in the wealthiest areas. They also highlighted that the poorest areas have the highest levels of consumption and alcohol-related harm.

Dr Niamh Shortt, of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, said: "Low-income groups suffer most from alcohol-related harm, and our research shows that they are also at the greatest risk from its ubiquitous availability in our neighbourhoods. Alongside price, we need to address the easy availability of alcohol."

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-43471097

Can Humanity Survive?

There is nothing to do with capitalism except to abolish it. The stupid callousness of capitalism and the futility of trying to reform it are brought home over an over again at every turn. That is capitalism, and while it endures all reform measures will be wrecked against the hard rocks of the capitalist basis of society. The chief defence of capitalism is the State, with its armed forces, controlled by the capitalist class, their hold on it being backed up by the concentrated activities of capitalist politicians, parties, Press, and propaganda instruments. So long as they retain the confidence of the mass of workers, capitalism is impregnable. What is the remedy? It will come through changing the face of the struggle. When the Socialist Party can force forward the issue socialism versus capitalism so that it becomes the issue at elections and between elections, the workers will be on the high road to greater unity than has ever been known before.  The Socialist Party perceives that the task before them is a huge one, but time and circumstances are on our side. Socialism cannot be brought into being by piecemeal methods any more than capitalism can be reformed out of its existence. Until Socialism is accomplished, all the half-loaves are capitalist bread, given by capitalists for capitalist purposes, to permit their dominance to persist. To the workers, the supreme task of their liberation from capitalist control will exist despite all the half-loaves of the social reformers.

It is an old story, told and re-told by Socialists, that rent, interest, and profit are but different names given to express the various modes of capital’s operations. To the working class, it is mainly a matter of academic interest only as to what becomes of the spoils of their exploitation; the important thing is the fact of exploitation.

For the benefit of those who have neither the time nor the inclination to refer to his larger and more technical analysis in “Capital," we shall draw their attention to his smaller work entitled “Value, Price and Profit.” Here we find the following statements set out to indicate to the workers that the holy trinity of capital may divide and sub-divide the swag stolen from the workers as they will, but the position is their business, not ours.

Says Marx: 

“Rent, Interest and Industrial profit are only different names for different parts of the surplus value of the commodity. . . For the labourer himself it is a matter of subordinate importance whether that surplus value, the result of his surplus labour, or unpaid labour, is altogether pocketed by the employing capitalist or whether the latter is obliged to pay portions of it under the name of rent and interest to third parties. Suppose the employing capitalist to use only his own capital and to be his own landlord, then the whole surplus value would go into his pocket."

So much, therefore, about our finance capitalists. Socialists want to remove these as part of the entire capitalist system, and nothing is to be gained by our merely concentrating our attention on one aspect of capitalism alone. Capitalism will continue whichever of the political parties comes to power. What we see today is a wholesale embrace of the reformist proposals, along with attempts to create whole new reformist institutions to replace the discredited ones yet this system is once again proving itself to be unreformable. Reformism is a proven failure and the Left’s rehashed reformism has even less viability. Its programmes are worse than illusory: it is dangerously misleading. They are cheerleading the few left-leaning reformist politicians who still remain, Corbyn and Sanders, who openly advocate class collaboration. Working class power is the essential condition for far-reaching social change. The Socialist Party is laying the base for a future mass socialist organisation capable of challenging and defeating capitalism.

The class struggle disappears with socialism. There being no class struggles, there is now no need for a State, and the State withers away. The army and navy are not necessary. Police disappear. The basis for crime is gone since labour is so productive that all the wants of life can easily be obtained. Such criminals as may remain are treated as sick individuals to be pitied, hospitalised and rehabilitated until they again can return to society. socialism there is laid the basis for a new type of family life, the ending of the misery and despotism that mark familial relations. A complete emancipation of women and children occurs with an entirely new upbringing for the younger generation. As in politics, in the home, government over persons is transformed into administration of things. In socialism, the policy will be “from each according to ability and to each according to needs.” Thus the weak and the vulnerable will be given more. The gap between theory and practice, between the unskilled labourer and the professional scientist, becomes entirely closed. Education will have enabled all to be scientists, at the same time encouraging scientists to use their hands in manual worker.  Elimination of all toil in work will enable the worker to become an artist, to fuse into one both work and recreation, and to combine the relationship with nature.

Capitalism has failed miserably to provide the basic necessities of life for hundreds of millions of workers around the world. We want a society whose workers run everything in the interests of the world's workers. We want a system that encourages every worker to become involved in running society; that trains everyone to act for the common good and does not indoctrinate people to "look out for number one."

Despite capitalist denials, socialism thrives today in the Socialist Party. 

There is a vision

 Is it possible for capitalism, a society organised in the interests of profits for a handful of people who live off the exploitation of the overwhelming majority of the people of the world to use new technology for constructive purposes in the interests of mankind? The answer is, of course, no. A class society which lives by exploitation can only subordinate scientific invention to the interest of private profit. The destruction of the world is a grim reality unless the social order of capitalism is abolished and replaced by socialism, the society of all the people. Socialism is not some Utopian scheme. Capitalism has created the economic conditions for socialism. Today there is social production but no social ownership. Socialism will bring social ownership of social production. It is the next step in the further development social evolution. Socialism will be won through the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the capture of political power by the working class. In socialism, the working people will take over the economic forces developed by capitalism and operate them in the interests of society.

Socialism will not mean government control.  It means the end of exploitation of one person by another.  The main means of production – the factories, mines, mills, big workshops, offices, agricultural farms, transportation system, media, communications, medical facilities, big retailers, etc., will be transformed into socialist commonly owned property. Private ownership of the main means of production will end. Socialism will open the way for great changes in society. The economy will be geared not to the interest of profit, but to serving human needs. This will release the productive capacity of the economy from the limitations of profit maximisation. A great expansion of useful production and the wealth of society will become possible. Rational economic planning will replace the present anarchistic system. Coordination and planning of the broad outlines of production by civic agencies will aim at building an economy that will be stable, benefit the people, and steadily advance.

To administer socialism, the people will establish a social democracy, a genuine democracy for the masses of people.  The people will elect officials and representatives at all levels of government and the economy. There will be the right of recall and referendum. Workers will be able to manage democratically their own workplaces through workers’ councils and elected delegates. In this way, workers will be able to make their workplaces efficient places that can serve their own interests as well as society’s. Social democracy would be far broader than what is presently possible since the people’s actual voices will be heard, not simply those of the rich. The working class, through its own political party, the Socialist Party, will play an important role in society through education, persuasion and by the example of its own organisational structure in the construction of socialism. There will be no overnight miracles under socialism, but the way will be cleared to achieve a decent, meaningful and productive life for all working people. There will still be problems inside socialism since human progress always advances through overcoming obstacles and contradictions. Social democracy will be the form of the political rule of the working class.  Socialism will be a truly classless society. The people will have unprecedented possibilities for the improvement of their lives. Socialism is indeed a society where labour power is no longer a commodity.  under capitalism, this medium of exchange has taken off with a life of its own. For the capitalist, the aim of production is not to produce goods to use, but instead, it is a drive to accumulate capital through exploitation–simply put, to make more money. Once money becomes the aim of production, labour power has to become a commodity. In other words, a worker’s labour power can be bought and sold. Labour power as a commodity is the necessary complement of the private ownership of the means of production by the capitalists. Only by buying the worker’s labour power can the capitalist make profits. Workers produce more than what the capitalist pays them in wages and benefits. This is the basis of exploitation of the workers. What the workers produce over and beyond the socially necessary labour for keeping themselves and their families alive and working is surplus value. Surplus value is the only source of profits and is ripped off by the capitalists.

With socialism, labour power is no longer a commodity. And in a socialist society not only do you no longer sell your labour power to the capitalists. You are no longer the exploited class, but the ones who run society. It will be the first time the vast majority become the rulers rather than the ruled. That’s why the socialist revolution has to be so thoroughgoing, so far-reaching and is so difficult.

United Voices

The world about us is falling to pieces. The need for change is widely realised.  Technically there is no major problem. The difficulty is a social one. Capitalism is maintained by class power and will only be displaced by the one class that no society can do without? Those who work. If the working people want power they will have to take it. It will not be given to them. The basic strategy for the working class is to obtain political power and capture the State machine. In the UK the most effective way is to contest and win elections. What is socialism? What are we actually striving for? How will this new society to be achieved? These questions is receiving even more attention today because of the pending catastrophes the planet faces. Without a socialist revolution, an apocalypse threatens the whole of mankind. Humanity can be saved from barbarism that menaces it only by a revolutionary working class.

Socialism is rule by the working people and they will decide how socialism is to work.  The task of the Socialist Party, therefore, is to help and guide the transfer of power from capitalists to working people by revolution. Marx and Engels made no attempt to proclaim in advance how a socialist society is to be developed. To use the word “socialism” for anything but working people’s power is to misuse the term. Nationalisation is not socialism. Nationalisation is simply state capitalism, with no connection to socialism. Nor is the “Welfare State” socialist. A socialist state (the working people in power) will certainly give high priority to health, education, art, science, and the social well-being of all its members. That is why it exists, that is the purpose of its economy. But “welfare” in a capitalist state, to improve the efficiency of that state as a profit-maker, is not socialism but a form of state capitalism.  It can be an improvement on capitalism with no welfare, just as a 40-hour week is an improvement on a 60-hour week. But it is not socialism. 

Socialism will eventually replace capitalism worldwide because it is economically superior and would provide a better quality of life for its people. socialism should be far more democratic than the most democratic capitalist state. Socialism provides freedoms for working people that capitalism cannot offer. Socialism provides the well-being capitalism promised but did not deliver. 

The “practical” political parties sneer at the Socialist Party as idealistic utopians campaigning for the unattainable without any immediate social value, judging ourselves from the limited horizon. It is our conviction that the socialist revolution will triumph based on an examination of evidence, upon our Marxist analysis of the social forces at work. Socialism is that form of society in which there is no such thing as a propertyless class, but in which the whole community collectively own the means of production—the land, factories, offices, mines, transport and all the means whereby wealth is created and distributed to the community. The basic principles of socialist society are diametrically opposite to those of capitalist society in which we live. Socialism stands for social or community property. Capitalism stands for private property. Socialism is a society without classes. Capitalism is divided into classes—the class owning property and the propertyless working class.

The capitalist class understands the need for political action. It is prepared in order to crush the attempts of Labour seeking to organise its forces. The workers are confronted by the whole economic force of capital in alliance with its political force—the State. Can the Socialist Party, therefore, neglect the political field, which is at present one of capital’s strongest bastion? The Socialist Party says no. We dare not leave the class enemy entrenched in any position from which it can threaten the working class. Revolutionary political action has not failed for the simple reason that it has never been tried or used. There has been plenty of Labour Party electioneering and parliamentary reformism, but that is not revolutionary political action. The time has now arrived for the workers' movement in this country to define clearly its attitude towards political action. Many are opposed to political action for no other reason than that they have not realised all that it means. The Socialist Party believes in the political weapon as the instrument by means of which the workers can capture the State in order to uproot it. We are convinced that socialism is the only hope of the workers. Neither reforms nor palliatives can in any way remove the great economic contradictions inherent in capitalism. The time has now arrived when all revolutionary socialists must either join hands with the Socialist Party or strengthen the hands of the reformists.  The Socialist Party appeals for members. In these days of pending global disaster, it is the obligation of every socialist to best assist the movement. No false sense of duty to some party which is not revolutionary should prevent anyone from throwing in his or her lot with the principles Socialist Party. Everything must be subordinated to the class war against capitalism. We, therefore, appeal to those comrades who complain of the shortcomings of their present organisations to come help us to convince our fellow-workers. With an increased membership our work can be extended and intensified. The growth of that work can only go on if new members come in. By taking your place inside our organisation you will become identified with the most fearless and virulent party of socialism in the country. Outside the Socialist Party your efforts are probably being exercised in a wrong direction; inside the Socialist Party, your efforts will be directed to the emancipation of the working class and the liberation of humanity.