The Capitalist Disorder

The world capitalist economy with its unceasing drive for capital accumulation is the most immediate cause of the current ecological crisis. The solution requires replacing the world capitalist system with a socialist society where humanity’s alienation from nature, hence from itself, is overcome with reconciliation and harmony. For any emancipatory movement it is essential to understand the genesis and laws of motion of the world capitalist economy and the existing capitalist culture. Without a radical understanding of what exists it is highly unlikely to transcend it. We live in a far different world than a few decades ago yet the fundamentals have not changed that much. The basic conflicts between the classes, between the oppressed and the oppressors, have not ceased.  The threat of what Marx and Engels saw as 'the common ruin of the contending classes' is already on in the world, a perspective that Rosa Luxemburg summed up in the dictum 'Socialism or barbarism' and modified by Istvan Meszaros to ‘socialism or barbarism, if we are lucky’, in the sense, that the extinction of humankind is now a real possibility which is implicit in the uncontrollable accumulative logic of capitalism. Noam Chomsky has explained it 'At this stage of history, either one of two things is possible.  Either the general population will take control of its own destiny and will concern itself with community interests, guided by values of solidarity, sympathy, and concern for others, or, alternatively, there will be no destiny for anyone to control.'  

We need to change the world so that there can still be a world. Socialism is precisely the change we need. Socialism has now become a question of survival. Human species needs socialism not only to realise its potentials but to continue its existence.

Socialism is a method of common ownership, shared wealth, and collective control that fosters cultural freedom and human emancipation. Socialism provides the material basis for people’s freedom. We should remember that the slogan ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’ has always been a part of the socialist tradition. Revolution remains the unfinished story of our times. Socialism today stands poised, as never before, to be 'the movement of immense majority in the interest of immense majority' as Marx proclaimed in the Communist Manifesto. Socialism may not have succeeded for the time being, but it remains the alternative if humankind would survive and hope for a safe world and life worthy of human beings. Socialism is individualist in that our vision is a society where every individual can be a fully human being, as Marx himself put it, 'the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all'. Engels expressed it as ' humanity's leap from the realm of necessity into the realm of freedom', the end of its 'pre-history' and beginning of 'truly human history'.

Socialism remains on the agenda for as long as capitalism exists. There are no inevitabilities in socialism and no guarantees of victory either; only alternatives for people to choose to aspire to achieve. Capitalism remains, but this, by itself, cannot be seen as an argument for the desirability, or a sign of the progressiveness of the capitalist order, much less as any sort of 'triumph' of capitalism. The system is in the grip of crises which they cannot resolve, which manifest themselves variously in different places as racism, sexism, xenophobia, ethnic or national hatreds, religious fundamentalism and intolerance.  Poverty, unemployment and insecurity-related crimes and associated phenomena -- ill health and suicides, alcoholism and drug addiction, criminal violence, violence against women and child abuse, etc. are on the rise everywhere.  Capitalism is an irrationally organised society that has proved incapable of generating the satisfaction of basic human needs -- decent livelihood, knowledge, solidarity, cooperation with fellow human beings, gratification in work and freedom from toil. The writer, Arundhati Roy, uses an expression, “the ghosts of capitalism," to describe the invisible, discarded people who are deemed surplus to requirements of capital accumulation?

The severe and widespread economic and social problems facing working people today demand a revolutionary solution. For those problems are rooted in the very nature of capitalist society and cannot be solved without uprooting capitalism. Toward that end, the Socialist Party was founded. The capitalist class rules and controls our society today by virtue of its control of the political state. A socialist party is needed for the purpose of challenging, capturing and dismantling the capitalist political state. Such a party is also needed to convince the working-class majority of the need for socialism and to recruit the forces for carrying out the revolution. Socialism is not free education, it is not taxing the rich more, it is not better pay. Free education, high pay, appropriation from the rich are things that would happen in a socialist society. Socialism is democratic control of the entire economy. Every workplace a democratically run cooperative of associated producers. The economy co-ordinated by various federations of these democratically run workplaces. Socialism is not the current state, with more localism. Socialism is an emancipated and free society, full democracy in the economy and the abolition of the ruling class. This is the true idea of socialism, which we must seek to build. Our purpose is not to manage capitalism in order to make it nicer or more ethical. Our goal is to move beyond the capitalism system of economics. If we give up and throw our lot in with the reformist we have lost a historic battle of ideas and any chance of an emancipatory socialism emerging. If we don’t manage to create the attraction on the basis of socialism as a revolutionary and emancipatory it will set back for yet another generation to undergo an environmental crisis that humanity may not survive. The principal task of socialists is to try to restore the credibility of socialism in the consciousness of millions of men and women. We can formulate these in near biblical terms: eliminate hunger, clothe the naked, give a dignified life to everyone, save the lives of those who die for lack of proper medical attention, the elimination of illiteracy, generalise free access and universalise democratic freedoms, human rights, and eliminate repressive violence in all its forms. None of this is dogmatic or utopian. Although people are not ready to fight for socialist revolution, it can raise pertinent questions. What type of food production is possible? With what agrarian techniques? In which places? Which materials can be produced? In which localities on the largest scale? We do not condemn reforms but reject reformism. We should be convinced that people who are struggling for these objectives will not abandon the struggle when reality demonstrates the implications of their answers.

The struggle for socialism is not the dogmatic and sectarian imposition of some pre-established objective on the real movement. The building of socialism is a huge laboratory of new experiences which are still undefined. We must learn from practice. We must take into account the fact that the stakes in the world today are dramatic: it is literally a question of the physical survival of humanity. Hunger, epidemics, the deterioration of the natural environment: all of this is the fundamental reality of capitalist New World Disorder. Socialism can regain its credibility and validity if it is ready to totally identify with the struggle against these threats. We carry out our education for the socialist model that takes into account the experiences in all areas of life. The producers must hold the real decision making power over what they produce and receive of the social product. This power must be exercised in a completely democratic manner. If our practice is consistent with this imperative, socialism will once again become a political force that will be invincible.

A Familiar Tale

When the Honeywell plant closed in Scarborough, 250 people, many of whom had worked there for decades, were unemployed. That was through the early months of last year. Only 18 have found work. Most are chasing jobs that pay about half the $20 an hour, plus benefits, that they earned on the assembly line. An all too familiar tale for far too long – time to act. John Ayers.

The Way Of Capitalism

The way of capitalism – Resilient Technologies of Wassau, Wisconsin, have produced, after five years work, an automobile tire that won't go flat. Great, does that mean savings for all, less social labour expended? Not likely, it was developed for army humvees to transport troops and their necessities for war! John Ayers.

It is Not Enough to Be Anti-Capitalist

 The Socialist Party’s aim is to establish a socialist society worldwide — the self-emancipation of working class of the world. At this period is a time there exists a certain amount of uncertainty about the future of humanity. For a number of people, the present time is one of pessimism and retreat. No longer looking forward, reformist organisations look backwards or sideways. The innumerable groups calling themselves socialists are no longer parties of hope but representatives of “realism”. It is ever more blatantly obvious that this economic system is not working for most of us. And if growing inequality and worsening standards of living were not enough, environmental destruction is taking us to the verge of irreversible and cataclysmic climate change. Time is of the essence yet many describing themselves as eco-socialists place reforms of capitalism at the top of their manifestoes and relegate socialism itself to a point in the far flung future. Let’s not be under any illusions the failure of capitalism as a system of production and distribution to meet human needs in an equitable, democratic and sustainable way. It is vital in this hour to put forward the alternative to capitalism in order to mobilise the majority of ordinary people behind it. The case must be made more than ever that socialism is the most viable alternative and make it our prime objective to bring production under democratic control so that basic human needs for food and accommodation, meaningful work, health and education become the determinants of the economy – not the profits of an elite.

Class politics and class war are not anachronisms, quite the opposite. Increasing numbers of people have “got nothing to lose except their chains”. The function of the Socialist Party right now is to encourage the majority of people to work together; to think and act independently of the ruling class; to be confident in the conviction that real democracy is achievable; that human needs can be met; and that there can be a true spirit of peaceful internationalism free from capitalist rivalry and war. Socialism is the way for this to be achieved, not just because it is morally right, but because it is a superior form of society and economy. The world can’t afford capitalism any longer?

The environmental costs of capitalist expansion are evident in the global warming, holes in the ozone, vanishing tropical forests and coral reefs, overfishing, extinction of species and loss of  diversity, the increasing toxicity of our environment and our food, desertification, shrinking water supplies, lack of clean water, and radioactive contamination, to name but a few problems. It is thought that the mere fact that capitalism has resulted in global warming and climate change there is no reason to assume that we must make a clean break with the system in order to address and overcome this problem but capitalism is incapable of fixing its inherent flaws. First and foremost in this regard is capital’s inherent drive towards accumulation, the incessant pursuit by global investors of ever greater and faster profits such as the high returns from fossil fuels portfolios.

Socialism stands, in contrast, for the suppression of capital and the expansion and deepening of democracy. Socialism implies a break with the greedy, exploitative, dehumanising and destructive short-term logic of capitalism; it envisages a society in which the social, cultural, political and economic life of the community is conducted in the interest of all its members. In this sense it is the very antithesis of a social order geared towards the ceaseless pursuit of profit and expansion. It is an immense task we are faced with today: the need to effect a break with the destructive logic of capitalism and inaugurate a new local and global democracy that can be summed up by an expression of James Connolly that our demand is most moderate, we only wish to want the Earth. The Socialist Party does not believe that a small vanguard can bring about the emancipatory socialism we seek. Only a revolution based on the active involvement of large sections of the population can bring about the change we seek.

The choice still remains socialism or barbarism. For the moment the barbarians of profit are winning. Some may not know what socialism is anymore, but they know what barbarism is for all they need to do is look around. It is difficult to find today any part of the world in which there are no serious social protests. They seem to focus on many different issues, creating the impression that there is no connection between them. But that is a self-deception. Often in the past many of these protests used to be dismissed as “single issue movements” but all together they point to the much deeper problems and contradictions. Socialist ideas are more relevant today than ever before. Many express profound distrust against all political parties. Huge majorities harbour profound disgust of the corporate and political elite. The logic of capitalism is to make profits and reinvest those profits and if it has to, destroy the planet in the process. Profit is king and it is in the interests of the overwhelming majority of people on the planet to overthrow this monarchy of money. Far from the market being our salvation it is an abject failure.

It will be obvious at once that 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.  We can easily understand, therefore, why the great majority of landlords, employers of labour, financiers and the like are opposed to socialism. Their very existence as the receivers of rent, interest and profit is at stake. They do not merely reject the theory of socialism, but actively and bitterly fight every movement which is in any way associated with the struggle for socialism.

Today we confront the dangers of a mounting and inevitable ecological crisis; the ruthlessness and heartlessness of austerity measures; the spread of poverty and exploitation; the atrocity of wars; the systematic undermining of democracy and erosion of human rights around the world; a justice system that criminalises poverty and whitewashes greed. In the face of such injustice, the Socialist Party does not believe that this system can be reformed. The history of political promises have not been able to modify this trajectory. Only a profound change can do that. That is why we believe it is necessary to overthrow the entire capitalist edifice. It is not enough to be anti-capitalist. For us, socialism is not simply a humane version of capitalism but social transformation. We are not talking about the artificial freedom that allows us to choose between bosses, but a real freedom. Our exploitation based on the accumulation of capital in the hands of a class of exploiters at the expense of the vast majority - the workers - who do not own or control the means of production and forced to sell their capacity to work on the market. It is also capitalism that is responsible for environmental problems, and any solution to these will require an economic transformation that is oriented instead around human well-being and sustainability for the fragile ecological balance for our planet.

System D'?

The Toronto star reports that 297 000 UK firms folded in 2010 – 813 everyday. On the same page it is remarked that Ekaterina Ribolovlev, 22 year-old daughter of Russian billionaire. Dymitri, bought a New York apartment for $88 million – 10 rooms, 6 744 square feet. The differences in human fortunes are truly staggering. Surely there will be a call for the end of this nonsense.
Well, it seems there is one alternative – 'System D', the black market, the lemonade stands, flea market vendors, etc. About 1.8 billion people are counted in this class with an economy as large as that of the US. It's all cash and no taxes. Apparently, System D outperformed the regular economy as the recession hit. John Ayers.

The Social Good We Could Do.

The National Post, the mouthpiece of laissez faire (unfair) capitalism Reported that the capsizing of the Costa Concordia would cost the owners $90 million US not counting the impact on bookings. Shares in the cruise company are down 16% reducing the company's value by $1.09 billion. Wow, the social good we could do with that kind of value! John Ayers.

Marxism explained via a Super-Mario video

The Day is Coming

"Without a vision, the people perish" - Book of Proverbs

“Socialism” has been a word which has been something of an empty container into which a wide variety of conflicting ideas can be poured. So we shall be clear upon our meaning - socialism is based on voluntary co-operation rather than state ownership. Many say socialism is dead. As proof, they point to the failure of the Soviet Union. But in Marx's view undeveloped countries like czarist Russia with a minority working class were in no position to lead what has to be a global change from an interdependent world market to socialism "as the act of the dominant peoples 'all at once' and simultaneously" as he put it in the German Ideology. If anything the Bolshevik failure proved Marx right! Marx envisioned not government control of the means of production but control by the working class and democratic planning not by bureaucrats but "by the associated producers." So Marx's own vision of socialism was not proved a failure by the demise of the USSR because it was not tested. Nevertheless, contrary to Marx’s expectations capitalism is still fully alive. The rich get richer and the poor poorer, we are all pitted against each other, millions are killed each year by poverty, war and environmental degradation. Thus, since capitalism isn't dead, neither is socialism yet. To declare socialism finished before capitalism is over is to surrender without struggle an essential means for opposing capitalism. Working people are positioned by capitalism to see more and can grasp the actions of the rich and their needs creates a strong claim on ownership of the wealth that their labour alone creates. Workers can conceive an alternative to the current status quo. Capitalism is an evil that calls for immediate destruction. It has no purpose beyond the infinite accumulation of capital. We can concede that individual capitalists are not necessarily persons of ill-will. The meanness is in the system to whose reproduction we lend ourselves, capitalists from self-interest, workers from dire necessity. The system is a vicious circle.

Labour and capital though antagonistic, are intimately related. Unless joined to labour, capital produces no value; and labour, lacking control of the means of production, cannot make what it needs to live. The imbalance, then, is: control of the means of production by non-producers. Lacking such control workers must sell their labour power as a commodity to those who have such control, subjecting themselves to the latters' will during the workday. Those controlling the means of production, seeing that they can make more from workers' labour than it costs them, grant workers the temporary access to the means of production they need to reproduce their labour and themselves.

It looks like a fair exchange if we overlook the imbalance. Yet this imbalance is signaled by workers' advance of their labour to capitalists before receiving compensation on payday, rather than the reverse. Once put to work, labour power soon fully compensates the capitalist for its cost to him; but it then keeps on adding value to commodities, unpaid, for the remainder of the workday. Workers may have access to the means of production to make what they need, but on condition that, having done so, they continue working, yielding up without compensation the greatest part of the value their labour produces. Marx's name for this unpaid labour done after workers cover their own labor costs is "surplus labour." Its product, "surplus value," is controlled by capitalists. It is from surplus value that profit and capital itself derives. Workers' own savings will never match the accumulation of capital, which they create, but which the system awards to capitalists, along with huge social power. Individual workers may conceivably become capitalists, but the system's imbalance keeps the working class in subservience.

At the heart of the so-called "free" labour contract is a theft effected under a life-threatening extortion. Coerced into this contract by their need, itself due to their separation from the means of production, workers get paid a mere portion of the value they produce in order to reproduce their labour power, hence their lives. They are paid this portion only if they work unpaid for a larger part of the workday. Should they decline surplus labour they will not be allowed enough access to the means of production to do even the labour needed to live. Trade unions may negotiate compensation only for this latter amount of labour. Surplus value is off limits. Marxists call the ratio of what labour costs capitalists to what it produces for them as surplus value, the rate of exploitation. It is often euphemistically called the rate of productivity. Surplus labour is extracted involuntarily since workers would not willingly hand over control of their earnings to others were they not compelled to do so by their separation from the means of production. This imbalance in capital's reproduction thus allows control of the lion's share of the extorted value to be controlled by the representatives of capital. Under cover of equal exchange, this is an exploitation of humans by other humans that is not made more just by being pervasive and normal in the process of capital accumulation. Chattel slavery was once normal.

It will not do to say capitalists are entitled to profit because of their entrepreneurial insight, managerial skill, innovation, risk-taking, etc. These are not unique to capitalists. Persons with these abilities may extract profit from others' labour only if they also own or control the means of production. Many so endowed who lack such control are excluded from profits. Ownership (or control) not skill or talent is the key. Under capitalism all one needs for full entitlement to luxury is enough ownership of the means of production. Nor is providing capital itself a contribution that merits profits. Phoning one's stock-broker is not a productive activity or contribution. "Providing capital" is indeed widely accepted as a productive contribution, but this assumes such entitlement is just, and provides no proof. In the end it matters little if capital's personifications lack justification for exercising power in its name. They control it (and it them); they give orders in its behalf; the police and courts back them up in a power structure with capital at the top. That is the way it is.

Some advocate the solution to exploitation is the creation of workers’ co-operatives and they are heralded as political radicals although such enterprises have been in existence for centuries. Selling one's labour power always means subjecting oneself to domination. Co-operatives can be labeled "masterless slavery" to adapt a term from Max Weber. The fundamental basis of socialism is at the end of the long chain of exploitation the workers have no alternative but to fight back. It is the working class that acts, not the revolutionary political party independently of the class. It may prepare the ground for that action by education and agitation, try to support and strengthen that action when it arrives, unite the diverse sections of the class. From each according to ability to contribute; to each according to needs. That is the best principle that can guide the life of our society today.

The Socialist Party promotes universal cooperation for the common good. We aim to replace the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a social system from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will be eliminated, in which economic planning will supersede chaotic competition, and in which genuine democratic self-government, based upon economic equality will be possible. We do not aim for a society where individuality will be crushed out by a system of regimentation. What we seek is a proper collective organisation of our economic resources such as will make possible a much greater degree of leisure and a much richer individual life for every citizen. Socialism is not freedom for labour, but the freedom from labour and the use of machinery and technology to make it increasingly possible to bring to mankind freedom of life, freedom for artistic and intellectual activity, freedom for leisure and enjoyment. We do not believe in change by violence. The Socialist Party does not rest until it has eradicated capitalism and put fully into operation the establishment of the cooperative commonwealth.

Alienation (video)

Toward the Co-operative Commonwealth

"If you and I must fight each other to exist, we will not love each other very hard," Eugene Debs

Would you help to abolish delinquency, disease and despair from the world? Then abolish poverty which is the cause. Would you abolish poverty? Then assist us in abolishing the wages system, the cause of poverty. Capitalism is to blame. It is the sordid, cankerous ulcer of privation and dissolution; it is the hideous nightmare of despair and gloom that waxes fat on the misery of helpless. To the socialist "the wages system" is a system of slavery, the wage worker being forced by it to sell himself from period to period, for life, in a market glutted with wage workers.  So long as society maintains the present system of wage slavery, there can be no relief. This one escape is through the concerted action of the whole working class. Encourage and assist others in abolishing the wages system by joining the Socialist Party which is distinguished by only having one policy - Abolish Capitalism, NOW! We stand on a platform of no reforms. We denounce this outgrown system as incompetent and corrupt and the source of unspeakable misery and suffering to the whole working class. Why we should put the effort into building something we don't particularly want? We want a free society and not reduce the world to some uniform sameness in the name of equality; or any kind of command soviet style economy. Indeed, we should alter the old motto: “From Each according to their self-defined abilities, to each according to their self-defined Needs.”

The worker, amidst the riches which he or she has created, cannot satisfy his or her smallest necessity. Toil and drudgery in unhealthful work-places saps the vitality of life itself. "Down with the wage system!" That is the fundamental demand of the socialist movement. Cooperative association shall take the place of the wage system with its class rule. There shall be no more exploiter or exploited. Production and distribution of the produce must be regulated in the interest of the whole. We strive for the abolition of the class state, class legislation and class rule.

Although many speak of Britain as "our" country, and millions have died or have been mutilated in defence of what they called "their" country, as a matter of fact Britain does not belong to the whole of the British people, but to a comparative few. How many can point to a particular part of the map of the UK and say "this is mine"? Only a lucky few who have paid off their mortgages while the greatest portion of the country is divided among a few great landlords and landowners. In comparison with Third World nations Britain is spoken of as a wealthy country. Does that mean that its people as a whole are well off? By no means. Some are immensely rich, most get a bare living, a large number are degradingly poor. The land and the factories and the transportation - all the means of producing the nation's wealth - are owned by the capitalist class. Production is carried on not for the purpose of supplying the needs of the people but for the purpose of sale in order to realise a profit. Only those who have something to sell can get a living. Only those who can afford to buy acquire things. This is the capitalist system.  If things were produced for use, nobody would spend time in the manufacture of shoddy goods, jerry-built houses, or adulterated food.

The worker has nothing to sell but his or her labour power that is sold to an employer for so many hours a day for a certain price, that is, wages. Since one cannot separate labour power from one's body it comes to this, that workers actually sells themselves like a slave. We socialists, call it "wage slavery". Wages are determined by what it costs to keep a family. How many do you know who can regularly save out of their wages and be able to put something by for a rainy day. It is now a fact that the average person is not more than two weeks removed from penury.

Workers by their own nature are anti-capitalist due to the capital's nature to extort profits from the labour of the workers. A capitalist will only buy labour if he can make profit out of it. Just compare the value of the goods you turned out in a day when you were in the factory, and what you received for your work. The difference between the two is the employer's profit. Profit is the result of the unpaid labour of the worker. In capitalist England, the workers are continually robbed of the results of their labour. The employing class will compel the worker to work as hard and as long as he or she can, for as little money as possible. In spite of Health and Safety regulations, inhuman sweating still flourishes, whole industries in which absolutely inhuman conditions of work and pay still exist. Even through the efforts of the best organised trade unions wages never rise much higher than the cost of living. And even this is not secure. In the endeavour to produce as cheaply as possible, management continually introduces labour-saving technology, which enables them to produce more goods in less time and reduces the standard of skill required. As a result unemployment is continually on the increase and many a previously skilled worker has lost his or her trade.

The Socialist Party recognises first and foremost that labour and capital are always at odds. Whoever controls the basic means of survival controls society. There is no such thing as democracy or equality without the people having collective control of these means, both on a large scale and on a small scale, in the neighbourhood and the workshop. The way of competition offers only increasing bondage, while the way of cooperation offers real freedom. What does capitalism offer? A life-time of toil at a bare subsistence, a drab, colourless existence with always the dread fear of the sack.

The task now before us is to abolish wage slavery by the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of a socialist society. Only then will humankind become really free. Together we can form a worldwide Co-operative Commonwealth. Help us to secure for all a free, full and happy life; secure in possession of a rational, human existence, neither brutalised by toil nor debilitated by hunger, and then all the noble characteristics of humanity will have full opportunity to expand and develop. Your proper place is in the ranks of the Socialist Party, fighting for the abolition of this accursed social system which grinds us down in such a manner; which debases the character and lowers the ideals of people to such a fearful degree. Rather than promoting a policy of self-abasement, the Socialist Party advocates principles of defiant self-reliance and trust in the people's own power of self-emancipation.

Be realistic, do the impossible

We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane social system based on rational planning, meaningful work, a healthy and sustainable environment, with gender and racial equality. Under capitalism, markets manufacture scarcity. Anything that is in abundance cannot be sold on the market. As capitalism must constantly grow without limit, so too must it also relentlessly create scarcity.  Capitalism is driven to destroy abundance. We live in an interconnected world. Nobody can escape climate change, which will be a problem so long as the world capitalist market persist. Local economies are perpetually undermined by world markets. Ideas about reverting to family farming and small business economy, breaking up monopoly capital don’t recognise the real forces driving capitalism. Concentrated capital can’t be opposed by weak capital. Alternative economic forms can’t escape the net of capitalism without first overturning it. Thus, even worker-owned cooperatives must exist and make a profit within the capitalist framework, or they go under. This isn’t to say these are not worthwhile efforts, but their limits under capitalism should be recognised. Our goal is a social and economic system based on direct democracy in politics and economy and on democratically planned production. We want a system of production and distribution that is in accordance with the needs of each individual and of society as a whole, and which takes into account the regenerative capacities of the natural environment. For us in the Socialist Party socialism is not a utopian vision of a distant future.

Many ecologists are rooted in the idea that “civilisation” threatens the rest of the planet, passing over any mention of the role of capitalist production entirely. If the problem lies in the individual amoral actions of humans, divorced from economics and politics, this opens the door to blaming certain humans for the ecological crisis. Focusing on overpopulation rather than resource misdistribution and capitalist growth boils down to blaming the poor. It ignores the facts that that the average American has an enormous carbon footprint compared to those in the Global South. The military machine produces massive emissions and pollution, and much of the industrial pollution in the developing world is from production for First World consumption. Also ignored is that birth rates rise with poverty and fall with adequate social development and the empowerment of women.

“Tragedy of the Commons” is an invented fable by Garrett Hardin, a University of California professor who argued for sterilisation of “genetically defective” people and against foreign food aid because it would enable starving children in poor countries to survive, increasing overpopulation. It has been used as justification to disenfranchise indigenous people of their land and delegitimise non-capitalist social systems. It argues for enclosure and privatisation of public property on the claim that users of the commons are inherently selfish and will overuse the resource by trying to outcompete their neighbour. It has no basis or evidence in reality whatsoever. In reality, communities with common ownership of property have existed stably for thousands of years by self-regulating through common decision-making. This was true democratic, social management of resources, and it resulted in balance. It is private property in the capitalist era which has driven over-exploitation, the exact opposite of Hardin’s thesis.

The goals of The Socialist Party is a life free of exploitation, insecurity, poverty; an end to unemployment, hunger and homelessness; an end to all forms of discrimination, prejudice and bigotry; the extension of democracy and the creation of a truly humane and rationally planned society that will stimulate the fullest flowering of the human personality, creativity and talent. The advocates of capitalism hold that such goals are unrealistic because that human beings are inherently selfish and evil. We are confident, however, that such goals can be realised, but only through a socialist society. Since its inception capitalism has been fatally flawed. Its inherent laws - to maximise profit on the backs of the working class - give rise to the class struggle. History is a continuous story of people rising up against those who exploit and oppress them, to demand what's theirs. Socialists say that capitalism won't be around forever. Just like previous societies weren't around forever either. Slavery gave rise to feudalism and feudalism to capitalism. So, too, capitalism gives rise to socialism.

Poverty will be ended quickly with the end of unemployment and the redeployment of the vast resources now wasted in war production. There are plenty of jobs that need doing and plenty of people who can do them. Automation at the service of the working people will lead to both reduced hours of work and higher living standards, with no layoffs. Under capitalism, improvements in skill, organisation and technology are rightly feared by the worker, since they threaten jobs. Under socialism, they offer the chance to make the job more interesting and rewarding, as well as to improve living standards. Socialism provides moral incentives because the fruits of labor benefit all. No person robs others of the profits from their labour; when social goals are adopted by the majority, people will want to work for these goals. Work will seem less a burden, more and more a creative activity, where everyone is his/her neighbour's helper instead of rival. With capitalism gone, crime will also begin to disappear, for it is the vicious profit system that corrupts people and breeds crime.

There are broadly two ways in which the socialist movement strives for change. Some like ourselves are organised as parties to gain political power. Others are organised as protest movements fighting for change but with no desire to seize political power. We believe that the struggle for socialism must necessarily make use of both types of strategies in parallel for the abolition of the existing social relations. To carry through the socialist economic and social transformation requires political rule by the working class - a government of, by and for the people. Capitalists like to claim that socialism means dictatorship and capitalism means democracy. The opposite is true. Capitalism is the dictatorship of the market, a system of the rich, for the rich, by the rich. Socialism completes the democratic project by extending popular decision making to the economic sphere. Socialism is democracy. Capitalism is a system of wage slavery which turns individuals into commodities who are purchased and owned through market exchange which creates a sense of being owned and a loss of dignity.  

The Socialist Party say that it is possible to bring socialism through peaceful means, through the ballot box. One thing is clear, there won't be socialism until the majority of the people want it. Socialism is our vision for the future. It is a vision winning more and more people to because it is the logical replacement for capitalism and the next inevitable step up the ladder of human civilisation.

A very brief intro to the SPGB

Share the World, Spare the Planet

The fundamental basis of socialism is that being at the end of the long chain of exploitation workers have no alternative but to fight back. It is the working class that acts, not the revolutionary political party independently of the class. It may prepare the ground for that action by education and agitation, try to support and strengthen that action when it arrives, unite the diverse sections of the class but the emancipation must be the work of the people themselves.

The Socialist Party stands for the abolition of every form of domination and exploitation, whether based on social class, gender, race, age, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic. It is committed to the transformation of capitalism through the creation of a democratic socialist society based on compassion, empathy, and respect.  Socialism will establish a new social and economic system in which workers and community members will take responsibility for and control of their neighbourhoods, their local administrations, and the production and distribution of all goods and services. We call for common ownership and democratic control of productive resources, for a guarantee to all of the right to participate in production, and to a fair share of society's product, in accordance with individual needs. The Socialist Party stands for a fundamental transformation of the economy, focusing on production for need not profit. The Socialist Party believes that art is an integral part of daily life, and should not be treated as a commodity produced by the activity of an elite group.  All members of society should have ample opportunities for participation in art and cultural activities. From each according to ability to contribute; to each according to needs. That is the best principle that can guide the life of our society today.

Working people have no country, but rather a bond based on class. Workers throughout the world have far more in common with each other across national boundaries than with their bosses in their own countries. A socialist revolution must be a world-wide revolution that cannot survive if confined to individual countries amidst global capitalism. It is evident that the workers urgently need to burst the bounds of the nation state and organise on a world scale. The Socialist Party works to build a world in which everyone will be able to freely move across borders, to visit and to live wherever they choose. We advocate the common ownership (non-ownership) and democratic control of all our natural resources in order to conserve resources, preserve our wilderness areas, and restore environmental quality. Socialism means the protection of the earth, and the celebration of community. Sharing the means of production and distribution makes for a classless society. When people who collectively own the means of production work toward a common goal and share their products in common, when they contribute labour without wages and enjoy the fruits free of any charge, that is socialism.

The Socialist Party recognises that it has no hope in the capitalist economic system. Capitalism subordinates people’s welfare, such as the present pressing urgency to address climate change, to private, short-term and pecuniary interests. Capitalism generates large-scale unemployment, especially as technology erodes the need for labour, as is the case today. For anyone who has a rational, organisational mentality capitalism is actually an embarrassment. Socialism is now the only means of healing the rift between humanity and the environment that seeks harmony amongst people and between people and nature. Socialists intends to emancipate on a world scale and socialist ideas are weapons in the hands and brains of the exploited.

The capitalist system continues to plunder the riches of the planet at the expense of the majority merely to enrich a small wealthy elite. Our passion to destroy capitalism to free ourselves from this exploitative and to advance to a society that is democratic, co-operative and communal remains unwavering. Socialism is the only viable solution to the capitalism, replacing greed with human need. Socialism is the future and we must build towards it NOW, to join together to create a world solidarity movement, organised and structured, assertive and militant. We commit ourselves to promote popular participatory democracy, an alternative to the barbarism of capitalism and based on cooperation and not competition.

Socialism: All Power to the Imagination

Socialism Is For Tycoons?

Republican presidential hopeful, Newt Gingrich, got it right. He said,
"If we identify capitalism with rich guys looting companies, we're going to have a very hard time protecting it." (Toronto Star, Jan 21, 2012). If he just changed 'companies' to 'workers', he would be there.
The same article, though, shows just how dazed and confused the press is.Gingrich was defending himself against 'anti-capitalism charges'. That's because he attacked opponent, Mitt Romney for his leadership of a private equity firm known for plundering floundering companies and tossing workers into the streets and walking away with $250 million. Later on the article says, " Was Karl Marx correct? Is the boom and bust cycle about to go bust forever?" Something he never supported, of course. And this, "socialism is for tycoons and capitalism is for the rest of us." Go figure where that one came from. Dazed and confused! John Ayers.

Herman Gorter and Socialism (Part 3)

Part 3 and the final instalment introducing the ideas of Herman Gorter, the Dutch revolutionary and socialist. 

War

It is true that in the countries in need of capital, a great deal of national capital is imported; but much of this national capital is still national capital at war with other national capitals. And this international or foreign capital is a vanishingly small minority compared to national capital. And how is capital set in motion in all these countries? By means of the nation, which exercises power, by means of the nation as a unity, as a whole, as a power. The capital created by the wage workers is born and is mushrooming in all the powerful capitalist countries of Europe and America; and, impelled by the force of the nation, this capital flows to new territories. In the countries of Asia and Africa, the weakest from the capitalist point of view, those countries which are exploited by foreign capital, capital formed in them escapes to enrich the distant nations which rule them. But every country, with the exception of those which are too weak, are either trying to become powerful or more powerful capitalist countries or are trying to conquer the leading power position. And all nations have their own, mutually opposed interests. he powerful capitalist and industrial nations, every last one of them, want to export as much capital as possible. All of them want to seize the raw-material and food-producing countries. This is why they come into conflict; all of them want to seize the wealthiest countries. The capital-importing nations want to free themselves from the capital-exporting nations; they want to become capital exporters themselves. Therefore they come into conflict with those nations. Countries want the same thing. Therefore they come into conflict with one another. Nations still lacking a secure foundation want to become free nations, they want to be independent of the powerful capitalist nations. Therefore they come into conflict with those nations. And the subject ex-colonies want to become free and powerful countries from capitalist point of view. Therefore their interests conflict with those of their exploiters. Every nation wants supreme power, or to become powerful and independent, by means of capitalist development and the subjection of the workers to capital. Therefore the interests of each nation are opposed to the interests of every other nation. Such is the spectacle offered by the world: strong capitalist nations, weak capitalist nations, dependent nations, subject nations, nations which have yet to be founded. All, however, aspire to capitalist power. There are also impotent nations, such as Africa, which cannot do anything yet and are only the playthings and victims of looting by the powerful nations. The problems which society, that is, mankind, poses for itself, can only be resolved by mankind itself. The mind is the most powerful economic factor, even though it is not free, and that in the final accounting, in continuously changing conditions, it is the mind which forms and creates society. Capital’s expansion is proceeding at an ever more rapid pace and is assuming ever greater importance; it is caused by the ceaseless, massive growth of the productive forces. Therefore, the interests involved are always greater, more powerful and more violent; conflicts grow more numerous and become more serious. But how has capital managed to develop until today? How has it spread throughout the earth? How has it attained power on the national level? The answer is the one we have already provided: by means of conflicts, torrents of blood, and murder. Capitalism, which brings the earth science, technology, social consciousness, improved methods of labor, greater wealth and can only attain its goals by these methods: murder and war. To reach its goals, to realize its mission, to spread itself over the earth and to become international, capital splits into adverse parts which fight against each other, against the weak peoples, and against the proletariat.

Capitalism murders, oppresses and enslaves the weak peoples, it makes war against itself, it makes war break out among its members—individuals as well as nations—it continuously frees itself of its weakest members by means of destruction, war and murder, and, at the same time, it murders the proletarians and uses them as murderers. It prospers in an extraordinary. It wades through a sea of blood to reach its goals, and perpetual war is proof of this. Never before have conflict and war formed the means of capitalism’s development to such a degree as they do today. For the development of capitalism, no other way and no other road besides those which have been employed for centuries will be discovered today. Now that the accumulation of capital has become so engorged in all countries, and is growing at a rapid and even unprecedented rate; now that the will to expansion has grown enormously; now that the internationalization of capital has begun to break through all national borders, even though it is only in its nascent state; now that the nations, the national governments, the armed nations are the principle supports and driving forces possessed by the capitalists, or which they are trying to possess, throughout the world, to serve as the basis of and for the increase of their capital or to preserve their exclusive rule over the entire earth now there can be no other way. Today, like yesterday, development takes place by way of war. Wherever the struggle between interests has become most intense and wherever expansion has become most necessary, war will never end. Capitalism grows and spreads throughout the world by means of the force employed by nations. Each nation and each national capital all have different interests. The only way to settle this conflict of interests is an arms race and then war.  For the opposed capitalist interests of the nations impels them towards war. Every nation buries itself under a mountain of weaponry. The whole earth bristles with armaments. And this stockpiling of weapons is accompanied by an extraordinary pacifist hypocrisy. Every country’s parliament is besieged with demands for expenditures on weapons more powerful than any previously produced. And all the members of the bourgeois parties, whether friends or enemies of peace, will grant their approval.

The reformists are all for world peace, for disarmament and for arms control agreements. Those who aspire to peace, to disarmament and to arms control, and who propagandize for these goals, must prove that these objectives can be realized. Anyone who preaches peace and disarmament will have to show proof that peace and disarmament are possible and that the interests of nations and national capitals are all identical. If they cannot prove this, then it will be certain that disarmament and peace are still impossible. And they cannot prove it. They have not been able to prove it even once, not even approximately. This is our conclusion. What we have just said should be enough. And this proof must be undertaken not with vain phrases, with desires and hopes or vague slogans, but with precision, with examples and facts; these people must show us what means of development other than conflict exists under capitalism and what principle besides power. The peoples of the earth are very diverse, all of them live in different conditions and have very different powers as well; all of them ardently desire power and all of them have divergent interests, they are in a permanent state of disequilibrium both within their own borders and in respect to other peoples. The supporters of peace, disarmament and arms control must show us how these peoples can coexist harmoniously and without conflict. They must tell us precisely and with documentation derived from political and economic practice, how they imagine the organization of the world and the distribution of wealth. Which parts of the world should Britain, Germany, Russia, France, America and China have? Which parts to exploit, how much power and which sphere of influence? According to what principles should the world be divided? And who will be the judge, and who will be the referee? How can trust be established between the two great powers and all the others, in such a way that it will not be necessary to resort to ever more powerful weaponry? All of this is revealed to be impossible as soon as one concretely faces the issues. Until today no one has been able to even point towards the road which could lead to disarmament, to conflict-free development, to the division of the world which could please every State and to harmonious equilibrium. Until today, under capitalist rule, power is the sole principle allowing the division of the earth and the development of capitalism. Under capitalism, in its contemporary form, there is no means other than brute force for the purpose of expansion, growth and globalization. Might makes right. It is violence and force which decide. They speak of free trade. But how is trade born in primitive countries like those of Africa? By means of violence, murder and war. Only murder compels the weak populations to produce rubber and other similar commodities. But trade is far from being the most important goal. One of the most important goals is the export of capital in order to create new capital. Another is the construction of ports and factories. How are the foundations created for capitalist production, the rule of capital and the enslavement of indigenous populations? By means of violence and expropriation.

Whoever thinks that capitalism can change proves how little they know about the soul and psyche of capitalism. It is the nature of capitalism to form surplus value in such a way that it constantly increases. Surplus value which, in a constantly increasing fashion, forms more surplus value again. Therefore: expansion, extension. This is the nature of our society. All that is capitalist must therefore obey this tendency. Capital only exists thanks to private ownership of the means of production. And since they are possessed by only a few, capital bears within itself, necessarily, conflict. Conflict between individuals and between the groups in which individuals are united: nations. Therefore, he who obeys the nature of capital, must also obey the principle of private property, and must implement it. The direction of capital’s economy and politics is in the hands of magnates of industry and high finance. They are not afraid of war but use it for their own ends: the exploitation of the world and the enslavement of the earth’s inhabitants in order to turn them into proletarians. War allows them, over the long term, to carry out this exploitation. It is their best and most forceful instrument, which never fails. It puts the earth and the workers in their power. And that is why these magnates of high finance and industry represent the power which allows capitalism to attain its goals and which makes capital always fertile and everywhere in conformance with its nature. They are the managers and producers of capital’s power of expansion, and all the other capitalists, as well as all the other classes which live off of this capitalism and its surplus value, can do nothing but follow and obey them. These oligarchs and plutocrats of high finance and the big corporations, do not govern the world by virtue of their political and economic power, but because they fully and perfectly represent the nature of capitalism. Capital’s power of expansion, concentrated and organised, resides in the gigantic masses of capital of these invisible forces. They themselves obey this power of expansion and the nature of their capital. And all the men who live off of surplus value obey them.

War once again proves that all individuals, those of the capitalist classes and those who obey them, pushed forward by the instinct for self-preservation and by the social instincts which tend to preserve the society in which they live and with which they form a single whole, will not refuse to sacrifice their blood and their money if what is at stake is the further extension of capitalism, the sole basis of their existence, through conflict. Even if the capitalists wanted disarmament, peace and arms control, they would not be able to realize their desire. Capitalism has its own laws which are consequences of its very nature. Its principle laws are conflict and expansion. If capital could, without war, share out among its various units the colonies, spheres of influence and States like China, it would not need any expenditures on armies and navies and would be able to devote all its forces to the looting and exploitation of these countries. Only then would capital be able to grow on a stupendous scale. The impossible goal of the pacifist movement is, behind all their fine words, the enslavement of the working class, and the subjection and exploitation of the weak peoples. Just as social legislation and a growing interest in the plight of the workers are the other side of the coin of an ever more violent exploitation, of ever more intensive labor and an ever more embittered class struggle, the pacifist movement and the movement for disarmament are the other side of the coin of war-mongering.

The three-part adaptation was an adaptation from here

Fact of the Day Parochial Scots (2)

 Two-thirds of Scottish voters want to see immigration reduced. Scottish public opinion on immigration is less negative or hostile than in Britain as a whole. But not by much.

Herman Gorter and Socialism (Part 2)

Part 2 of a 3-part adaptation of the writings of Herman Gorter, a Dutch socialist and activist revolutionary of the early 20^th century 

Against nationalism and for socialism.

The worker is nationalist in a passive way, just as he passively receives his wages. But the workers, in their overwhelming majority, nevertheless make their living from national capital. National capital is indeed their enemy, but it is an enemy which feeds them. Thus, even though the worker is only passively nationalist, as long as he is not really a socialist, he is and must necessarily be . . . nationalist. Because the nation, national capital, is the foundation of his existence. And therefore, as long as he or she is not a socialist, he or she must believe that the interest of national capital is in his or her interest and that he or she must defend it against its enemies, since capital’s well-being is his or her own well-being as well. The worker’s nationalism consists of a tangle of numerous feelings and instincts, for the most part of the lower sort, which are related to and structured around the instinct of self-preservation. It is composed, above all, of the instinct of preserving life by means of work and wages. And the feelings of homeland, of the hearth and home, of family, of tradition, of customs, of comradeship, of relationships, of people, of class, and of party are joined to this sense of self-preservation and are fused with it. In addition, these feelings refer directly to the ego and are strictly connected, therefore, to the instinct of self-preservation. In everyday life these instincts exist in a latent state and are more or less dormant, but manifest themselves with great force when danger threatens or seems to threaten—precisely as a result of this intimate connection with the instinct of self-preservation. These instincts explode in a firestorm of passion and hatred for the enemy, of fanatical love for one’s own country, when the drive for self-preservation is joined with the social instincts of community with one’s compatriots, the class comrades of the same nationality. A high level of consciousness is required so that, at any given moment, and in fact at every moment, this instinct and these feelings can be continuously overcome and so that the class struggle is not set aside in favor of war on behalf of the nation. The worker must become aware of the fact that nationalism, under the rule of capitalism, is doing him much more harm than good. He must become aware of the harmful phenomena and the benefits involved, and he must place them on the scale. And this awareness and this knowledge must be of such a nature, and must have penetrated into his consciousness so completely, that he is capable of not merely overcoming, but also replacing nationalist instincts. This is an extraordinarily difficult task and requires much effort. For the achievement of such a goal, it is indispensable for the working class and for each worker to have a high degree of understanding and knowledge of globalisation. Capitalism confronts the worker in his factory, in the office and in the State. It is, therefore, a national phenomenon. Globalisation confronts the worker in the State’s foreign policy, in high finance, in the transnational corporations, in the global arms race and world politics.

Revolution has become only theory, but reform has become practice. Despite the finest and most sincere propaganda, despite the fine words, the workers movement now aspire only to improve living conditions and only want to do so on a national scale. Governments and capitalists made a certain number of concessions. Improvement in the standard of living became the goal. The revolutionary dimension forgotten. Instead the call was workers of the nation, unite for reforms! The reform, the movement, is everything. And unite with the bourgeoisie, too, or with part of it, and you will attain even more reforms. This doctrine took root. A class which has been hearing for years that the bourgeoisie must be trusted, can no longer fight the bourgeoisie. Revolutionary ideas quickly faded away in the minds of these workers and they no longer thought about anything but reforms. Along with the reforms arrived the middle-men to achieve them.  Philanthropists, moral philosophers, ambitious bourgeoisie, men unburdened by any conscience, con-men rising out of the masses. Many of them were weak and well-intentioned at the same time, and knew nothing of socialism or its theory. People who deceived themselves, career politicians who turned socialism into a business, a profitable industry and a way to make a living. For all of them, the revolution is evil or impossible, or too distant. For them, reform is possible, within reach, good and advantageous. The socialist old guard are on the verge of disappearing. The struggle for reforms was made the norm and daily routine, revolution transformed into a purely sentimental question referring to a very distant future. The pragmatic reformists no longer paid any attention to the counsels of the socialists, who were unable to bring about the revolution. The people, completely enthralled by the desire for immediate improvements and not by a desire for revolution, were encouraged to persist in this condition by their leaders. The masses abandoned everything into the hands of their leaders and became complacent and indolent. And as the masses became less active and less conscious of their goals, their leaders saw themselves as the real bearers of the movement. And these leaders began to believe that the proletarian action of the workers consisted primarily of tactics and compromises skillfully conducted by leaders, and that the workers must be satisfied with voting correctly, paying their dues to the trade union local, and now and then participating in a trade union struggle or a demonstration. These leaders became more and more convinced that the masses comprised a passive mass which had to be led and that they were themselves the active force. As always, the slaves have not noticed the increasing power of their masters. As always, they have not developed their own power to oppose the power of their masters.

But now with the recessions with all available money required for capital expansion, minor reforms themselves become impossible.  The more reforms were promised by the reformists, the more demoralized the masses become by the failure to deliver them. For nothing is more demoralizing and destructive than making false promises to the masses while nothing is achieved and the masses continue to credulously expect results. The working class are being tamed by a few ambitious, ignorant or weak-minded leaders with noble words telling them to form alliances with their rulers, fooling them into doing the bidding of their rulers. Reformism that is responsible for the fact that the workers, who are already undoubtedly too concerned with minor issues, are becoming even more focused on trivial pursuit of minor reforms, that caused the workers, already so nationalistic, to become even more nationalistic. They went for reforms alone, and it was precisely because they no longer sought revolution that they brought weakness, downfall and division upon themselves. They concerned themselves only with national issues, and it was precisely because of this that they became nationalists. They concerned themselves only with reform within the nation. The workers turned their gaze towards their leaders, towards parliament, and remained totally passive themselves. Salvation would now only come from leaders and legislation. Workers of every country were kept busy with the beautiful projects which the reformists had set so alluringly before their eyes. They were busy with workers welfare benefit schemes, with the proposals for tax reform and electoral laws.

Despite all the promises and all the pacts made with the bourgeoisie, despite all the tricks played on the workers and all the efforts of the permanent trade union officials and party deputies to monopolize all activity from the top down, as the effects of the Great Recession bites deeper the people are realizing they can indeed fight back. Now the people are beginning to act for themselves, their time has come. The masses are finally awakening. This means that they are beginning to act without leaders, or at least without their leaders playing a significant role as in the Occupy Movement. Action has come from the people themselves. This means that we are taking a step forward to our goal. Since the victory of socialism is a process composed of a long series of battles, no single struggle can completely and instantly defeat capitalism. No single struggle can instantly destroy it. Every struggle is nothing but an attempt to destroy capitalism and a contribution to bringing about the victory of socialism. Every victory won over capitalism  will be a victory of socialism. And in these struggles the working class will rise to the highest form of organization, the highest degree of class consciousness and the greatest self confidence. The struggle does not have to overthrow capitalism all at once, that is not possible. But it must weaken capitalism in such a way that it will one day it can be defeated. If one does not want to defeat capitalism then one absolutely renounces victory and lacks the will to win. What our time calls for, for the working class, is that they become conscious of their own power. It is a matter of becoming socialist, it is time to really act in a socialist manner. The people must cease to be ignorant, cowardly, indifferent or passive. They must no longer be craven. Now is the time for the people to display a more powerful character than ever before.

The capitalists of every country have hurled themselves upon the world’s peoples. The left nationalists counsels the working class not to unite across national borders for collective action, and counsels each national proletariat to allow itself to be separately emasculated for the benefit of their nations’ capitalists. Against the international capital which is fighting to spread itself over the face of the earth, we want to oppose the united international working class. We want the international unity for an International of action and struggle. This is the only way the proletariat can win. Capital is assuming forms which were to some extent foreseen but not actually experienced by Marx. This is the era of the corporation and of globalisation, and high finance rules the world economy. The abundance and concentration of capital lead every State, in one single act of world conquest, to fight against the world proletariat. Workers must take the stage, both nationally and internationally; only the masses can stand in the way of the enormous new powers of the trusts and world capital. We must advance from the passive struggle to the active struggle, from the undemanding struggle through representatives to the leaderless struggle, or a struggle whose leaders are in the background. Working people must be in the front ranks as they represented the future of the movement. It must take a large step towards decisive action against the most powerful capitalism, against the most powerful social force which has ever existed: world capital. From the struggle on a national scale waged by its representatives, the proletariat must advance, alone and trusting only in its own powers, to the great international struggle.

Within capitalism, there are two movements which are fused into one. One is the movement of expansion of ever more powerful forms of production throughout the world. This movement is highly advanced and is constantly growing at an ever faster pace. The other movement is the spread of national capital and the fusion of national capitals in international capital. The tendency of these two combined movements led capitalism to become world capitalism. National capital is merging into a single capital and the entire earth subjected to international world capital. It is true that international trusts have been formed by national corporations, but these national capitals frequently continue to act like enemies and competitors towards each other, each desiring the lion’s share for itself. It is true that gigantic trusts composed of national capitals have also gone on to form international bodies; they are fighting, however, against the gigantic trusts of the other countries. It is true that, even in the weakest and smallest States, a great deal of foreign capital has penetrated; but in all these States there is a strong aspiration to found their own industries, and foreign capital represents a small minority interest.

Inviting The P.M. To Show Support?

Our local country paper out in the sticks here reported on hospital CEO's Salaries. The CEO of Toronto Sunnybrook receives $750 000 per year including bonuses like, health club membership, parking, transit passes, and car allowances up to $1 500 per month. Meanwhile the average Joe, earning some $40 000 has to pay his own way for everything. Makes sense?
Of course, as we all know, don't expect capitalism to be fair or just. That's the big mistake of the Left Wing. The locking out of the workers at the Caterpillar plant in London, Ont. shows that. The workers held a rally on January 22nd. Prime Minister Harper was invited to show his support for the workers but was a no show. London mayor, Tom Fontana said, "We need you down here to support the workers. Get your ass down here!" (Toronto Star, Jan 22, 2012) Nice sentiment but it's going to take more than that. Caterpillar just reported record profits. John Ayers.

Herman Gorter and Socialism (Part 1)

The following and subsequent Parts 2 and 3 is an abridged re-working of some of the writings of Herman Gorter, an early 20^th Century Dutch revolutionary socialist. 

Part 1

The Socialist Task

The brutal power of capital steam-rollers over the weak. The capitalists seek money and power. All the peoples of the world, all the individuals, all people are forced to submit to it. Humanity’s happiness and independence are disappearing. Mankind is being transformed into things. No longer individuals, but things which are subjects of capital. They are pulled and dragged by the furious omnipotence of capital and are transformed into the appendices of machines. In the world of the capitalists the frantic greed for money, for power and for hedonistic pleasure increases. Corruption and boundless luxury are on the rise. Madness and mental illnesses become more common.

Among the working class the intensity and exploitation of labour increases. The intensity of the class struggle increases. And so does the power of the employers, the governments, the multinationals and corporations. Against all these powers, the power of the workers is diminished, the burdens which weigh them down get heavier and their lives become more fraught with hardship. The trade union struggle is more difficult, the parliamentary struggle becomes more problematic. Social welfare legislation has come to an end. Rather than the beauty of local customs there are no longer any differences between Russian, German, French and English culture. The differences that once existed have been leveled by capital.

The rich are themselves poor slaves: in effect, they are not the masters of their destiny. They must do what they do not want to do and are afraid to do. The crushing power of capital, master of destiny, pushes them forward. Capital launches them, insane with rage, one against the other. Like beasts that do not know what they are doing they try to tear each other and the world apart.  But they must act this way because capital, in its latest phase of its expansion, wants them to. The workers futilely attempt to resist. They join together and fight for their emancipation, in vain. They are dragged along with everyone else. They are, for the most part, weak, without understanding, without clarity. When the trade unions and the workers’ political parties seek improvements, they are nothing but associations of slaves who want improvements in their servitude. How many workers are really fighting for their general emancipation? Few enough. Very few. The trade union movement, which fights only for small gains, and which obtains no satisfaction except thanks to small concessions on the part of the employers and by means of contracts signed with the latter, considerably reinforce this process. The capitalists and the workers are the puppets of material forces which are infinitely greater than themselves. The process of production, more powerful and more terrible than ever, dominates them entirely.

Great art is dead. Great painting is dead. The great poetry of all countries is dead. Great prose is dead. Great architecture is dead. Music is nothing but the shadow of its former self. What survives is without heart, without love. Art now ranges from the hard, cruel capitalist sensations to the soft and maudlin petit bourgeois sensations, and to a cowardly mysticism. It no longer contains a single elevated or universal thought. In its desperation, in its individualism, it has gone to the extreme and has often deviated into madness.  Any higher culture, ardor of the soul and the spirit, moral beauty, is suppressed to a very low level by consumerism. Culture among the workers, culture in the sense of the fight for freedom is a very rare, almost non-existent phenomenon. Science remains aloof from society and is like a plant that can live without soil and water. Workers do not participate in scientific culture.

There are moments in the class struggle when only the antagonism between capital and labour can be taken into consideration; then, whoever treats this antagonism as of secondary importance and, considering all the chances and difficulties, ends up abstaining from action and from the struggle, would betray the cause of the proletariat. There are moments when defeat is preferable to avoiding danger. There are moments when retreating from an imminent threat guarantees a future defeat, and there are moments when everything must be sacrificed to guarantee the future. There are moments when one has to fight in spite of all difficulties. And we are currently living through just such a moment. Capitalism is for the first time coming forward with all its forces, with its supreme force, to conquer the world by destroying the environment, threaten the continued survival of the human species by unrestrained global warming and climate change. This is the moment when the people must show that it has recognized this necessity. This is the moment to declare and to begin the struggle because once one has started to bow one’s head, the struggle becomes infinitely more difficult. Yet the masses do not understand this. They bows their head for lack of sense, for lowly desires of small advantages which it will not be able to obtain, and for cowardice. The workers kow-tow like the slaves they are. We make no effort to fight for freedom and the consequences for the world may well be irreversible. How can the world’s population renounce their own interest in such a fashion and put itself at the service of the 1%? The international working class acts in such a way from ignorance. The working class as a whole and the individual worker need a higher level of consciousness if they want to take action.

Demand the Impossible

“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. But then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” Ursula Le Guin, novelist

When the Socialist Party declares that it stands for abolition of capitalism and that we advocate ending wages, prices and money, people think we are being unrealistic. Even people engaged in protest movements, people who concede that the current economic system is flawed, voice their critiques of it but always seem to add, “But it’s all we have.”  For all of its ability to analyse, the Left has become rooted in “what is” and have forgotten to envision “what could be”. People no longer remember the past that show us how we can live in other ways in the future.

Socialist ideas allows us to imagine possibilities outside of what exists today. The only way we know we can challenge the divine right of kings is by being able to imagine a world where rulers do not even exist. Socialism offers social justice movements a process to explore creating a new world. When we free our imaginations, we question everything. The Socialist Party talk about a world without crime and prisons; a world without violence; a world where everyone has food, clothing, shelter, education; a world free of racism and sexism.  We are talking about a world that doesn’t currently exist but that doesn’t mean we cannot bring its existence about.

We are not fighting for single-issues —we are fighting against a world system of oppression and so our response must be all-encompassing. We should not assume and try to replicate the trappings of the current social system which will never protect those who are exploited. We cannot simply continue the present mind-set. The Socialist Party seeks to reshape the world, to create a just place for all to live in. That is the reason why the Socialist Party carry the title “socialist” proudly; it binds us to the visionary liberators who want to abolish wage slavery and connects us to building new futures. 

The trouble with the economic system we've lived with for the past three centuries - capitalism - is that the better it works, the more it destroys the world - it has consistently delivered on creating a more unequal society.  All the technology developed by capitalism has not provided clean water for 1.2 billion people or food for the 841 million who are seriously malnourished. Under capitalism it is the blind forces of profiteering that are in the driving seat. Governments bow down before the rule of capital. Nowhere is this clearer than on the issue of the environment.  In the 300 years or so of its existence capitalism has transformed the planet over and over again and capitalism is threatening the very existence of the planet. Capitalism has enormously developed the productive forces but it is controlled by the unplanned and blind play of those very productive forces. It is a system where the only driving force is the need to maximise profits. Capitalism is incapable of fully harnessing the science and technology it has brought into being. It is incapable of providing for the needs of humanity or of protecting our fragile planet.

The world is rightfully ours, but like the word “socialism” it’s been stolen from us. “Socialism” is used as a catch-all term meaning any form of government intervention in the market whatsoever. Socialism does NOT mean a state-run economy, let alone Soviet-style tyranny. Socialists aren’t striving to simply tinker around with capitalism and inflate the power of the government to regulate it. What we socialists really dream of is … socialism. Socialism, is not capitalism under control of the state (like the late USSR’s command economy of central planning), or government intervening in the market with nationalisation. On the contrary, it consists of a completely different system of ownership – common ownership.

If you want to imagine socialism, imagine every company, factory, office, and level of government functioning as cooperatives. The administration of production and would be delegated evenly among everyone, in the form of committees, councils or cooperatives. That’s it. There’s no other blueprint. We’re not advocating equal pay for everyone, or everyone living in the same kinds of houses or driving the same kinds of cars, or everyone wearing the same drab clothes, or everyone giving up their possessions and sharing each other’s toothbrushes, etc. (These are all misconceptions of socialism that we’ve heard over the years.) Socialism means economic democracy.

One of the biggest intellectual blunders of our time is the insistence that the resounding historical example of socialism is Russia (or Cuba and China, or more recently, Chavez’s Venezuela). Indeed, the sole reason for the popularisation of this idea was that it acted as mutual propaganda for both sides in the Cold War. The US rulers were able to brand the USSR as Marxist and radical (i.e. un-American) and ruling elites was able to brand themselves as being the populist “leaders of the people.” Both perceptions were patently false. The popular perspective about collective ownership and direct democracy is still clouded by these Cold War absurdities but they still affects the average person’s world-view. Declaring that one is a Marxist, or even that one has read Marx, is still considered political suicide almost everywhere in America. “Socialist” remains a dirty word; it’s used as an insult as we witness when Fox TV accuses Obama of being such.

The workers who first built the trade unions in the 19th century, and emblazoned on their banners words like “Peace, Education, Solidarity” and so on, just like the many workplace activists of today, did so out dedication to the workers’ cause, solidarity and vision of something better, not  just to get themselves a wage rise. Is it possible to understand why masses struggle just on the basis of urgent material need? Could any long strike be sustained solely on the calculation that the prospective wage-rise would more than compensate for the sacrifices made? Is it not essential that those who struggle believe that they are on the side of right, or at the very least that their opponent deserves defeat? Isn’t it undeniable that every truly significant social struggle is sustained by a "spiritual" component which is every bit as essential as cold calculation of what is to be gained and what can be lost? Human life is in fact impossible without ideals. There is no such thing as a direct relation between person and person or of a person to Nature, that isn’t mediated by ideals. Ideals take the form of words and signs, objects and actions vested with meaning by social and historical experiences, and internalised in our social practice with them. Knowing and using these ideals is essential not only for political practice, but even for day-to-day existence.

“We will need writers who can remember freedom.” – Ursula Le Guin

Fact of the Day - Parochial Scots

About a third of Scots never move away from the area where they grew up. In the west of Scotland, 34% of people have lived in the same area all their life, more than any other region.