A society of abundance

A PLANET OF PLENTY

 We know enough about the great productive capacity of this planet to believe that there is an abundance of food and natural resources. All the material resources for a socialist economy are present, in our world in abundance–raw materials, industrial plants, power-producing enterprises, transportation, highly developed agricultural resources. All the productive social forces are present for a socialist economy to administer. Socialist society  will have to take the control of industry and of all branches of production out of the hands of mutually competing individuals, and instead institute a system in which all these branches of production are operated by society as a whole – that is, for the common account, according to a common plan, and with the participation of all members of society. It will abolish competition and replace it with association. Private property will be abolished and in its place must come the collective utilisation of all instruments of production and the distribution of all products according to communal agreement – in a word, what is called the common ownership of goods. Society will take all forces of production and means of commerce, as well as the exchange and distribution of products, out of the hands of private capitalists and will manage them in accordance with a plan based on the availability of resources and the needs of the whole society. In this way, most important of all, the evil consequences which are now associated with the conduct of big corporations will be abolished. Existing improvements and scientific procedures will be put into practice, with a resulting leap forward which will assure to society all the products it needs. In this way, such an abundance of goods will be able to satisfy the needs of all its members. The division of society into different, mutually hostile classes will then become unnecessary. Indeed, it will be not only unnecessary but intolerable.

Only in a society which can ensure to humanity an abundance of goods can a new social consciousness be born and offer to the world  free access, not only to certain health or educational services, but to all basic needs. Such abundance of goods is in no way utopia. Freed from the constraints of competition, emancipated from private enrichment, and liberated from the manipulation by advertising intended to create a state of permanent dissatisfaction we could proceed to where products could be freely distributed, without the intervention of money. The logic of free access is the  elimination of monetary relations and the rationalisation of human needs.

The capitalists have reaped a lucrative harvest with record dividends have flowed into its coffers. These fabulous profits have not been gained in an era of well-being and prosperity for all but when the rest of us were suffering the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.  Now the promises of of the politicians to  the stricken are prolific. But the pledges lack real substance. Employed workers have fared little better than those laid off.

Our goal is to reorganise the world socially on the orderly foundations of fraternity, abundance, security, prosperity and peace for the people. The opponents of the Socialist Party call for capitalism to be reformed. They expect to reform such a system. We ask you: How? You cannot reform rottenness. The only reform of the capitalist system which is possible is its overthrow. The Socialist Party do not propose to mend it; we plan to put an end to it. The system under which the working-person is simply a bit of labour-power will be abolished. We call upon fellow- workers to take  to take into their own hands the direction and administration of production and distribution and thus to realise the association of free and equal producers, for a world of abundance where everybody has only to take according to ones needs. 

Today ecological catastrophists project a dystopian future we must avoid, rather than an emancipatory future worth fighting for. Socialism is  about convincing  people that a far better future is possible. The Socialist Party does not seek a puritanical egalitarian austerity but what is called fully automated luxury communism. Our vision of freedom through social control over technological abundance. Take over the machine, not turn it off. If technology were under social control and not for private profit)  all of society could enjoy a realm of freedom—that is, free time not shaped by the urgency to meet society’s basic needs. Automation and robotics could massively reduce the labour needed in manufacturing and distribution with the least expenditure of energy, less waste and so safeguarding the environment from pillage and plunder.

Abolish Capitalism

 

The capitalist mode of production itself creates the basis of socialism. It formed the social nature  of production  and the  modern industrial complex capable of producing an abundance. It also built the working class, propertyless but the producing class.  The magic of the machine which sprang from the inventive genius of mankind has created fabulous abundance. But, alas, this wealth, instead of being a blessing, has been the means of enslaving working people. The few have come in possession of all, and the many have been reduced to the extremity of living by permission. Humanity has the potential to produce real abundance and put an end to endemic misery, starvation, wars and pestilence – all the inescapable consequences of the exchange economy. Socialism means nothing unless it means control of society by the associations of the producers.

Because of automation and Artificial Intelligence, society no longer needs to impose repetitive and meaningless (because unnecessary) toil upon the individual. Society can now set the citizen free to make their own choice of occupation and vocation from a wide range of activities. Gaining control of our future requires the conscious formation of the society we wish to have, applying technology rationally and humanely. The potential abundance of goods and services will be achieved only when it is understood that the major economic problem is not how to increase production but how to distribute the abundance to improve the conditions of the billions of impoverished people  in the world.

Socialism implies the common ownership of all natural resources and the application of all social forces in co-operation for the satisfaction of all material social needs. It, therefore, involves not merely co-operation between individuals and groups of individuals, but also global co-operation. In a system of universal co-operation for production for use, all destruction of wealth, all waste, would be sheer loss. Under the present system of capitalism – with its class ownership and control of all natural resources and all means of production – with universal competition and production for profit, waste means gain, and is not only inevitable but necessary.  War is wasteful but nevertheless indispensable to production for profit, inevitable and necessary. Under capitalism the horrors of peace would far transcend those of war because the competing capitalists come into conflict with each other for the mastery of markets and trade routes. No matter how sincere and well-intentioned humanitarian advocates of peace may be, their plans are foredoomed to failure, for  international peace cannot be established while capitalism exists. Peace-makers talk of universal disarmament but any  who has taken the trouble to understand the operations of the capitalist system must recognise that such proposals under capitalism is impossible. Although it is no idle and utopian to dream of the Socialist Party to establish the co-operative commonwealth by abolishing capitalism itself. 

 With this world we have vast regions of the richest and most fertile soil, mineral resources in  abundance, the most technological advance productive machinery , and millions of eager and educated workers ready to apply their labor to that machinery to produce in abundance for every man, woman, and child. Yet we still have vast numbers of our people who are the victims of poverty and whose lives are an unceasing struggle all the way from cradle to old age. It cannot be blamed on  nature, but it is due entirely to the outgrown social system in which we live that ought to be abolished in the interest of all humanity. The Socialist Party understands that society as a whole ought to own and control its own industries, instead of being the private property of a few and instead of being operated for the enrichment of the privileged few, ought to be the common property of all, democratically administered in the interest of all. We are opposed to a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence. We must reorganise society upon a mutual and cooperative basis. We in the Socialist Party have learned how to be patient and to bide our time. We feel that the time is coming, in spite of all opposition, all persecution, when this emancipating idea will spread among all the peoples, and  become a triumphant majority to inaugurate the greatest social and economic change in history where we shall have the universal commonwealth—the harmonious cooperation of every people in every land on earth.

A Green Scotland

 

The interim report from Scotland’s Climate Assembly, which has brought together people from all walks of life, age groups and regions across the country urges changes to the way we live, what we eat and grow, and how we travel and work in the future are necessary to help Scotland tackle climate change and achieve a greener society.

Measures include ending use of fossil fuels, reducing the amount of meat in our diets, switching to low-carbon transport, rolling out high-speed broadband, investing in innovative technologies and cutting the amount of new goods we buy.

The report states: “The climate emergency is a real and urgent issue that cannot be ignored. It requires immediate action at all levels of society. If we fail to act now we will fail our current and future generations, in Scotland and across the world.”

Citizens' assembly sets out vision for green and pleasant Scotland (msn.com)

How Long Will You Suffer Capitalism?

 

Under capitalism working people are haunted by insecurity, by fear for their future and the future of their children. We are never free from fear, it seems. In socialism with shared abundance, this nightmare will disappear and we will be from free. Humanity will get an opportunity to show what it is really made of. The class society, which divides people into separate and antagonistic groups of the privileged and the deprived will end. With the end of classes and their conflicting interests there will be no more “politics”, because political parties are essentially  expressions of the class struggle. That is not to say there won’t be discussions and debates. Differences of opinion  will arise but they will not be based on separate class interests.

  People will not fear their neighbour lest they be taken advantage of, nor be ashamed of altruism, free from all self-interest. With socialism and without money everybody will be able to  live comfortably. There will be no more private property (other than personal possessions for personal use). Consequently there can be no more crimes against private property. which are 90% or more of all the crimes committed today—and no need of all this huge apparatus for the prevention, detection, prosecution, and punishment of crimes against property. No need of jails and prisons, policemen, judges, probation officers, lawyers,  bureaucrats; no need for security guards, bailiffs, and prison wardens. In the class-free society of the future there will be no State.  The Socialist Party advocates a society in which there will be no classes and no state. The State as the instrument of class rule and is not a neutral, impartial representative of all the people, as it is represented to be and as, unfortunately, many people think it is. The State, in its essential features, is the instrument of one class for the suppression of another. That’s the character of the State. In socialism there will be no class to repress. All will be free and equal. The state itself will wither away. The government of men will be replaced by the administration of things.

 Socialism presupposes the abundant availability of material goods to ensure full satisfaction of human needs. A planned socialist economy on a world scale will end to the destruction and waste of capitalist production. It will mean the scientific, technological, economic and human resources  devoted to the profit system will be redirected to socially useful purposes. It is this economic advance which will lay the material basis for the transition to a completely class-free society. Society now has the capability of satisfying the needs of all.  What the Socialist Party proposes is wealth for all where everybody shares in the access to the good things of life. No poverty anymore. By means of the vast new technology of this modern world, we can produce wealth enough for all without any trouble. There is no doubt at all about this. Socialism proposes to get this abundance for all. In order to get this abundance for all, we must do something. We are not getting it now. What shall we do to get it? Socialism proposes something very definite to do. It is this: Take to ourselves the vast new inventions and use them for producing the needs of all instead of producing for the benefit of a few. If we collectively owned these ourselves to produce for our own use and happiness, all the troubles of poverty would disappear. The only thing that lies between us and a bountiful life is the private ownership of the means of producing wealth.

This is the practical first step. It is of no use to talk about what we propose to get nor even what we propose to do to get it, unless we know just how to do it. And we know just how. And this is how: We propose that all those people who are deprived of their right to use the machinery they have made and to get the riches they make, shall come together in a political party. We indulge in no dreams or false hopes. We say to the worker, now destitute: “Come with us, join our party, vote yourselves into power, use that power to capture back those means of wealth production which the capitalists have stolen from you, and then you will get all that abundance which modern inventions entitle you to.”

The great present mission of the Socialist Party is to gather together all those workers whose real interests lie in abolishing the private ownership of the means of production.

Socialism means plenty and abundance

 

The workers are beginning to ask: ‘What is the world coming to?’ For years and years a small band of parasites have robbed the people and trampled upon  fundamental democratic principles. Year after year they have been increasing their wealth and power at the expense of the workers, enlarging and prolonging the army of the unemployed, the hungry, homeless, and the friendless portion of humanity. For years men and women have been  sacrificed in wars but also on the battlefield of class wars.

Under capitalism there are private owners of the factories,  and other means of production, and the workers must sell their labour power to the capitalists for wages. The price of labour power takes the form of wages. These wages are supposed to be enough to allow the labourer to purchase the necessities of life which can reproduce the labour power lost at work. However, when the workers in the factories and other places of production work for the capitalists, they produce much more value than they receive in the form of wages. This surplus value included in the whole product of the factory is the property of the capitalist and becomes his profit.

The capitalist is in business for the profit and does his best to increase the mass of profit and the rate of profit. He can do this either by winning more markets or by reducing the cost of production or by speeding up the circulation of his capital, or all these. In short, in order to increase his profit the capitalist must expand his business and produce more stuff at lower cost. To do this he must accumulate capital and reinvest part of his profits back into the business. This accumulation of capital is the basic law of capitalism. Because of it, the factories grow larger, the industries become greater, little business turns into big business in this in turn develops into huge corporations. The chief method by which the capitalist can lower the cost of his production is through cheapening the value of labour power. This is done by introducing new technology which can enable the worker to produce an ever-increasing quantity of goods in less and less time and with the same effort. As it is now the lion’s share goes to the capitalist for which he does nothing, while you get a small fraction to feed, clothe and shelter yourself, and reproduce yourself in the form of labour power. That is all you get out of it and all you ever will get in the capitalist system.

The Socialist Party says a free society which will supplant the wage system with a new social arrangement, based on solidarity and economic well-being for all. can exist only through voluntary association. We all admit that in the struggle of the working class for the overthrow of capitalism we must have a mass socialist political party. But we are well aware that the architects and builders of the socialist society of the future will be the socialist generations themselves. Our thought about the future must be fitted into the frame of the future. Socialism will undoubtedly bring about a revolutionary transformation of human activity.  People will have no further use for money. Even the kind of accounting by labour certificates, which would take up useless labour and be absolutely purposeless, will be eliminated. There will be no money, and there will not even be any bookkeeping transactions or coupons to regulate how much one works and how much he gets. When labour has ceased to be a mere means of life and becomes life’s prime necessity, people will work without any compulsion and take what they need. That might sound visionary but one must take oneself out of the mindset of the present society, and not consider this conception absurd or impractical. The contrary would be absurd. For in the socialist society, when there is plenty and abundance for all, what will be the point in keeping account of each one’s share. As we envisage a world where there is plenty for all, what purpose would be served in keeping accounts of what each one gets. Wages will become a term of obsolete significance.  Capitalism is all about “Whatever each can grab.” The socialist society of universal abundance will be regulated by a different standard. It will be “From each according to ability—to each according to  needs.”

Who Owns the North Pole Once More

 This blog regularly carried reports on the sovereignty claims over the Arctic region and we have been amiss in not keeping up with those.

 NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told DW melting ice could increase geopolitical tensions and show the "security impacts of climate change."

"The melting of the ice in the Arctic could lead to the heating up of geopolitical tensions between different powers in the world," Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told DW’s Alexandra von Nahmen in an exclusive interview ahead of an in-person meeting of NATO foreign ministers.   "We have seen the increased military presence of Russia," Stoltenberg said when asked about concerns over a new cold war in the Arctic. "They’re opening up Soviet military facilities in the Arctic," he added. 

"We also see an increased Chinese presence," Stoltenberg said. In 2018, China declared itself a "near-Arctic" nation. He added that melting Arctic ice was already "changing the security landscape."

"For me, this demonstrates the security impacts of climate change," Stoltenberg said. "We need to engage with China on many issues, including climate change," he added. "At the same time, the rise of China also poses some serious challenges."

Abundance for all

 

There is no peace for the peoples of the world. The world remains armed to the teeth, each great power struggling, now quietly, now more openly, for advantage over the other. There is no security for the people of any country. All the peoples of the world face hunger, poverty, unemployment and overall misery. Capitalism outlived its usefulness long ago. It is no longer capable of progress, of raising the standards of living of the people. Capitalism is only capable of guaranteeing new wars, mass unemployment and misery.

But the people of the world want an end to this system. They want jobs, peace, freedom, security. They want a new life; they want a change from the chaos of the profit system. Millions will not stand for long years of poverty and unemployment. This COVID-19 pandemic has taught them many lessons of what is possible, of the many improvements and discoveries that can be accomplished by political will. When they fight for peace, freedom, security and plenty for all, they are fighting for socialism, which alone can guarantee these blessings. A new life, a new social, system, that is, socialism, is the only hope for humanity.

What we want are simple things:

We want peace, instead of bloodshed and violence and destruction.

We want security, instead of insecurity, the terrible business of not knowing today whether or not we will have a job tomorrow.

We want to be sure that we will be able to raise our families in decent homes and schools and possess good healthcare.

We want comfort and prosperity, instead of low living standards, slums, child labour, unemployment, hunger and starvation.

We want democracy and freedom, instead of regimentation, bureaucracy, racial and religious and national conflict.

These are the simple things which you and I and all  people everywhere long for, the simple things we have always wanted for ourselves and our children.

But we don’t have them. We live in a modern civilisation with huge industries all over the land. We have undreamed-of natural resources. We have millions of trained and skilled workers. We can produce in one day. what it took our ancestors years to produce. Yet we do not have prosperity.

It is the social system that stands in the way, the system of capitalism. A handful of capitalists control all the wealth and power. They own our jobs and  control our lives. That is what capitalism offers you. We want to take over the industries built by us – by us and nobody else. We want to take over the wealth produced by us – by us and nobody else. We want to, and we can, run industry to produce for peace, not for war. To produce for us, for the needs and comforts of the people, and not for the swollen profits of the corporations. The Socialist Party says that progress consists not in dismantling these multinational giants of industry but taking them away from the CEOs and share-holders and making them the property of the whole people, those who produce all the wealth of the world. Owned by the toiling people, by the workers, the poor agricultural labourers, the dispossessed and all the poor, these conglomerates could produce plenty for all. That is the road to socialism, to a world system, of peace, security and freedom. What we need to do is get rid of the selfish, profit-bloated capitalists. The goal of the Socialist Party is to create the socialist society of peace, freedom and plenty for all mankind.

Without capitalism and capitalist profit, we can put an end to poverty hunger and war. Our marvellous machinery can be made to  to provide plenty for all, homes fit to live in, comforts and prosperity, self-respect and human dignity. Those are the things we all want. They are the things socialists want.

What Socialism Can Do?

 The fact that socialism is now possible does not yet establish that the workers will fight for it. History is not made that way. People do not discard that which they are satisfied with to adopt something that is still untried, no matter how alluring the latter appears. They only discard the old way of life when it no longer assures them stability and security to the degree to which they were accustomed. What has happened to all the noble promises of peace and freedom made by the capitalists. They callously deceived the people for their greater right to pillage, to oppress, to exploit, to disfranchise and subjugate. While all the capitalist nations are incapable and unwilling to produce in the interests of the common good of the people, while production is organised solely in the interests of profit, invention in the interests of society as a whole remains stagnant. Invention, which could lighten the lives of the people and produce enough to have plenty for all, is impossible in an economy where the main aim of those who own the industries, mines, transportation and utilities is production for profit.

Regardless of the nay-sayers in the green movement nature has spread a bountiful banquet table for all to share in. There is room for all, and there is a plate and a place and food for all, and any system of society that denies a single person the right and the opportunity to freely help oneself to nature’s fruits is an unjust and iniquitous system that ought to be abolished.

 In the midst of unparalleled opportunities to achieve plenty for all, millions are compelled to struggle to maintain a decent standard of living. Capitalist society is rushing headlong into a form of barbarism. So long as the mad struggle for profit in this private property economy exists, and it must exist as long as capitalism exists, poverty, war and plague is forever the prospect of life. Chaos and destruction are forever the reward of the overwhelming majority of the peoples of all countries. The most important question is this: 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 the discovery of new technologies for constructive purposes in the interests of mankind? The answer is, of course, no. Science, which can be of such benefit to society, is, under capitalism, the servant of the financial and industrial robber barons who rule society. Only a socialist society, a society without classes, without war, without competition, without unemployment, and poverty can properly utilise the harnessing of scientific invention. A class society which lives by exploitation can only subordinate such innovation to the interest of private profit.

The Socialist Party’s task is not to traffic on the ignorance and backwardness of others, not to attempt to win them unawares and by stealth, but on the contrary, to enlighten them and to educate them in the necessary steps to take along the road to power. The workers’ right of management, is acquired, not through providence of inheritance nor through the unholy exploitation of the people, but that it should belong to those who do the work of society. Let the organised working people manage industry, eliminate private profit, plan production to suit the needs of the people – for peace, prosperity and plenty for all! 

The destruction of the world may happen to be a grim reality unless the social order of capitalism is abolished and replaced by socialism, the society of all the people. The Socialist Party’s struggle is the struggle of the peoples for a new life, for a new social system, for a socialist world of peace, freedom and plenty for all.  The struggle for a new life, for a socialist society of plenty for all, will go on until victory is won. Society will have a new birth, and humanity a new destiny. There will be work for all, leisure for all, plenty for all and the joys of life for all. These are the ideals of the Socialist Party and to these ideals it is committed. It is the hope of all.