Demagogues or Democrats

The Socialist Party goal is the realisation of socialism; a new system of society without classes or exploitation. Unless we in the Socialist Party carry on mass propaganda and education among fellow-workers, principles based upon clear, keen, socialist analysis of social, economic and political conditions and events, the demagogues will prevail. Demagogy means the adaptation of proposals and propaganda to the prejudices of the audience to which it is hoped to appeal, without regard to the truth or correctness or feasibility of the given policy. Demagogy is the exploitation of ignorance, in direct contrast to principled politics, which, always tells the truth both about what is at present, what will probably be, and about what it proposes as solution. Principled politics instead of exploiting ignorance, combats it; instead of pandering to prejudice, roots it out.

The revolutionary politics of the Socialist Party is utterly different in type from all other politics. Its aim is not to improve conditions by gaining reforms or stop corruption and careerism nor does it aim to win a parliamentary majority to hold office and be the government.

Our aim, the expression of the interests of the working class, is to overthrow existing social relations, to abolish the existing state, establish a new society. In contrast, non-revolutionary political parties, contest one another for votes and office, represent different sections of the ruling class struggling for the major share of profits and privilege, with different groups seeking the lucrative control of the governmental bureaucracy, different theories of how best to maintain the existing order, seeking support with attempts to secure this or that reform or concession for this or that section of the population. All varieties of non-revolutionary political parties presuppose the continuance of the existing order in its fundamental structure of capitalist society. Non-revolutionary politics presupposes capitalist property relations, the exploitation of the masses by the propertied minority, the class domination of the bourgeoisie, the maintenance of the state. Reformers advocate an “enlightened” capitalism, ameliorating exploitation with fine phrases about human rights and public service. In this way, they aim to drug the people with heavy-scented promises, to oil the wheels of capitalism.

Capitalism offers the masses the prospect only and necessarily of continued and increasing poverty, hunger, unemployment, war, insecurity, political tyranny and environmental harm. This prospect can be altered only by revolutionary change, only by the overthrow of capitalism and of the power of the ruling class. The central political issue of our time for workers is socialism. Every other question is of altogether minor importance, since its answer can be found only in the solution of the central issue. In a very real sense, this is the case. It must be remembered that the class struggle of the workers is not confined to the UK. It is an international struggle. The struggle in the UK cannot be separated from the international struggle.

The chief function of the capitalist media is to deceive the masses as to the real and central issue which confronts them. So long as the masses believe that their significant political choices lies WITHIN the capitalist order, capitalism itself, no matter what internal shifts take place, is not threatened. Every device serves: two or more avowed capitalist parties staging “life-and-death contests” for “the fate of the nation”; when their rivalry is all but a sham to be seen through, a lesser evil to divert dissatisfaction into safe channels within the limitations of the capitalist state. The Socialist Party must, however, break through the deceptions of capitalist politics and must push aside all secondary and reformist distinctions, and instead pose directly the central issue: the class struggle for workers’ power and for socialism. This campaign is not to be measured in votes or offices won, but in the extent and the depth to which they have succeeded in bringing the central issue before the consciousness of working people. The main issue for the working class, the only issue that is for it of profound and genuine moment, is the CLASS issue: what class holds power? Now, more clearly than ever before, it must be the Socialist Party against the field, – for power and for socialism.

 From the day of its foundation the Socialist Party has struggled consistently to use every opportunity provided by the parliamentary system in Britain to voice the demand for a socialist society.

Abolishing Capitalism Would Be A Good Start.

There has been a positive reaction to global warming from the Indigenous people in British Columbia who have had enough of flash floods killing the fish which they need to survive. In 2018 floods wiped out the nets in rivers which were there to catch the spawning salmon and they lost about 10,000 fish. 

Art Antoine is a guardian watchman with Bonaparte First Nation and was quite vocal, ''Damn right the fish are our lives and after the Moose population we in the wildfires, we're at the front line of climate change''. 

One of the largest guardian teams is that of the Coastal First Nations of B.C. that has combined their training and resources with the aim of protecting the environment and improving community well being.

 It would be excellent if the rest of humanity were to be inspired by the B.C. tribes and do something about the environment and the best way to start would be by abolishing capitalism.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC

We Are Trained, Not Educated.

 

The Ontario government is planning to cut 3,475 teaching jobs over the next for years which they claim will save $851 million. 1,558 teaching jobs will be gone by the fall, so they ain't exactly dragging their feet on this. Reaction was fast and furious on the part of the students. 

On April 4 100,000 students from about 700 elementary and secondary schools in Toronto, London, Hamilton and Ottawa walked out of class and participated in the student led action dubbed #StudentsSayNo. 

Premier Doug Ford said the unions were behind it which is nonsense. He wants more students in classes which they claim won’t be so effective in learning and online courses. 

It’s just another fine mess capitalism has caused. Students will suffer, teachers will be unemployed and a cash strapped government may save a few bucks, big deal. 

What has not been said is that, however one may sympathise with the students, they are not being educated regardless of what Ford and his cronies may or may not do because education does not exist under capitalism, but training for a job, which isn't the same thing, does. 

Let’s have done with all the above nonsense and have a society where education will exist.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC

Green Socialism

Our planet is faced with an unprecedented environmental crisis. If the crisis continues to develop at its current rate, the result will be the end of human civilisation. The environmental crisis affects everybody. The blame for the environmental crisis must be laid at the feet of capitalism. Capitalism is a wasteful system of production, which is geared towards competition in the market, and to making profits. Businesses engage in practices which destroy the environment as they need to make the maximum profit possible. Businesses must grow or die. The nature of capital makes companies powerless to stop climate change, even if they wanted to.

Under capitalism, the needs of working people are not met. We reject the idea that the environment can be saved by means electing the environmental activists and making them the government which will then seek to modify existing capitalism, not to overthrow it. It requires working in alliance with the pro-capitalist political parties using the current nation- state as the instrument of change. They see the state as a benign neutral institution, which will intervene in the economy to solve the global warming problem. The state serves to uphold the status quo and all its evils

A new society based on co-operation rather than profit are ultimately the only real way to stop the environmental crisis. A socialist society will aid the environment in three ways. First, the capitalist system that was the main cause of environmental problems, a system oriented to profit and power, will be replaced by a society based on need-satisfaction. Secondly, the excessive levels of consumerism will fade the idea that happiness can only be gained by buying more and more useless commodities. Finally, sustainable technologies that currently not used will be applied to production and distribution.

The capitalists’ wealth and power should expropriated by the self-organized working class. Capitalism should be replaced by a cooperative commonwealth producing for use rather than profit, democratically self-managed in the workplace and the community, and federated together from the local level to regional and worldwide levels. There needs to be overall economic coordination on up to global level, by federations of self-governing industries and communities. Our critics protest that socialist goal is a nonstarter for the brief time there is left to save the world. Socialism is far more feasible if there exists a movement telling the truth about capitalism even if it is, so far, unpopular to do so.

Glasgow Branch Meeting

Wednesday, 7 pm, 17th March
Maryhill Community Central Halls, 
304 Maryhill Road, 
Glasgow G20 7YE

There is one political party that takes the issue of leadership seriously ever since its formation over a hundred years ago - it has no leader.

The Socialist Party is a leader-free political party where its executive committee is solely for housekeeping administrative duties that cannot determine policy or even submit resolutions to conference. All conference decisions have to be ratified by a referendum of the whole membership. The General Secretary has no position of power or authority over any other member. Despite some very charismatic writers and speakers in the past, no personality has held undue influence over the Socialist Party.

Disappointingly, the Socialist Party is not the socialist "party" that Marx (or even our own Declaration of Principles) envisaged, i.e. the working class as a whole organised politically for socialism. That will have to come later.

 At the moment, we can be described as only a socialist propaganda or socialist education group. 

Possibly, we might be the embryo of the future mass "socialist party" but there's no guarantee that we will be (it is just as likely we'll be a contributing element). But who cares?

 As long as such a party does eventually emerges and at some stage, for whatever reason, socialist consciousness will reach a "critical mass", at which point it will just snowball and carry people along with it or arrive in a dramatic sudden avalanche of fresh new ideas. It may even come about without actually being labeled socialism. 

There are many common misrepresentations and parodies of the Socialist Party's positions which are typically dismissive and misinformed. So please come along to our branch meeting and discover for yourselves the case we present for socialism.

The function of the Socialist Party is to make socialists, to propagate socialism, and to convince fellow-workers what they must achieve their own emancipation. It does not say: “Follow us! Trust us! We shall free you.” 

We welcome any upsurge in the militancy and resistance and organisation of our class. But we also know, from bitter experience, that work of an altogether quieter, patient, more political kind is also needed. The skirmishes in the class war must be fought if we are not to be reduced to beasts of burden. But as a species capable of rational thought and long-term planning, we must also seek to stop the skirmishes by winning the class war, and thereby ending it. This is only possible if the capitalist class is dispossessed of its wealth and power. That means that the working class as a whole must understand the issues, and organise and fight for these ends themselves

Socialism must be achieved by the workers acting for themselves. We are unique among political parties in calling upon people NOT to vote for us unless they understand and agree with what we stand for. 

Capitalism is malignant.

The history of mankind is usually presented in the form of a record of wars between nations and the exploits of kings and queens, president and prime ministers, generals or admirals. Sometimes the motives of these individuals are described in a purely personal way – their ambitions led them to conquer territory, or their moral or immoral outlook caused them to adopt certain policies. Sometimes they are described as acting for the sake of the country’s honour or prestige, or from some motive of religion. Socialists are not satisfied with such an approach to history. In the first place, it considers that the real science of history must deal with the peoples, and only with individuals in so far as they represent something much wider than themselves – some movement of the people. Socialists approach the study of history in order to trace the evolutionary laws which run through all human history, and for this purpose we look not at individuals but at peoples. And when we looks at people we find that there are different sections of the people, some pulling one way and some another, not as individuals, but as classes. What are classes? In simple terms, they are sections of the people who get their living in the same way. In feudal society the monarch and the feudal lords got their living from some form of tribute (whether personal service or payments in kind) provided by their “serfs,” who actually produced things, mainly on the land. The feudal lords were a class, with interests as a class – they all wanted to get as much as possible out of the labour of their serfs; they all wanted to extend their land and the number of serfs working for them. On the other hand, the serfs were a class, with their own class interests. They wanted to keep more of what they produced for themselves and their families, instead of handing it over to their lords; they wanted freedom to work for themselves; they wanted to do away with the harsh treatment they received at the hands of their lords, who were also their law-makers and their judges. Hence in every feudal country there was a constant struggle going on between the lords and the serfs.

The Marxist conception of historical materialism is therefore not the theory that man’s actions are absolutely determined by the material world round him. On the contrary, mankind’s actions, and the material changes which these actions bring about, are the product partly of the material world outside it, and partly of humanity's own knowledge of how to control the material world. But it only gets its knowledge through experience of the material world, which, so to speak, comes first. Humanity gets the experience of the material world not in an abstract, arm-chair way, but in the course of producing the things needed for life. And as our knowledge increases, as we invent new methods of production and operates them, the old forms of social organisation become a barrier, preventing the full use of the new methods. Mankind becomes aware of this from the actual practice of life; it fights first against particular evils, particular barriers created by the old form of social organisation. But inevitably we are drawn into a general fight against the whole former system.

If you are worker, if you comprehend that your hours at work represent exploitation and understand that neither you nor society will ever receive the earnings of your toil, if you comprehend that despite all the strikes you will always be exploited, become a revolutionary. Changing political conditions forecast the opening of a new and higher stage in the class struggle. Across the globe peoples long subjected to imperialist exploitation are rising up against their oppressors. Social ferment is increasing. Many are becoming rebellious against conditions under the capitalist system. They are determined to free themselves and decide for themselves what, economic and social order will best serve their needs. Their search for the right answer impels them, erratic though the course may be, in the direction of socialism. They are searching for a new political course and, though they have not yet become socialist-minded, they are willing to listen to socialist ideas. At the present stage of developments the task for socialists remains primarily one of advancing the class-struggle. Rising social tensions are beginning to counteract reformist pressures. People in many walks of life are asking searching political questions; they are thinking for themselves; and they begin to recognise the need to fight boldly to maintain freedom of thought, expression, association and action.

Events are pushing working people into militancy which can’t block indefinitely. The bosses are cutting production costs through automation, speedup and other devices intended both to squeeze more out of the workers on the job and to whittle down employment so far as they can. Although labour is by far the stronger in potential class force, victory is never automatically assured. In the long run class political consciousness will be decisive in determining the outcome of the battle. Today the capitalists have a big class advantage, stemming from policies consciously designed to serve their own interests at the expense of society as a whole. Labour remains crippled by illusions that progress can be made through collaboration with the enemy class. Despite growing necessity, the working class have failed to develop an independent policy in industry and politics; and they have still to arrive at the anti-capitalist, pro-socialist outlook fundamental to a solution of society’s basic problems. Now, favourable conditions are developing for a revolutionary socialist programme. To reach people it will be helpful to start from the big concerns in their minds today and present the socialist answer to these problems in clear language and comprehensible terms; then go on from there to deal with even more basic political questions. By weaving in the class lessons to be drawn from world labour history, a sense of class power and a deeper knowledge of sound class principles can be developed. Groundwork can be done in this way to get across a basic class-struggle analysis.

A Who Done It?

Nearly a year after Darren McKim was critically burned in a tent fire in Rosedale Valley Toronto an Ontario coroner, not exactly the city morgues equivalent of Speedy Gonzales, has determined that his death should be listed as undetermined.

 Rosedale is one of the wealthiest ''hoods'' in Canada; a place where you don't expect the homeless to hang out, but capitalism being a system full of contradictions always has a nasty surprise up its proverbial sleeve, because some do.

 The Mount Pleasant Bridge runs through Rosedale and some homeless sleep under it only a minutes walk from billionaires’ mansions.

 McKim, it would seem was badly beaten and burned to death, at least that's how the newspapers put it, but those two things were not the cause of his death - poverty was.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John &
 contributing members of the SPC.

Where Is It Written, As Time Goes By Life Under Capitalism Gets Easier.

In the past getting a mortgage in Canada required going to the lender and meeting their qualifying rate. Then if someone was approved by the lender at that rate they could get a mortgage, but not anymore, chum. 

Now anyone applying will have to pass a stress test which requires that the applicants meet the Bank of Canada's 5 year mortgage rate, or their contractual rate plus an extra 2 per cent, whichever is greater.

 For those renewing their mortgage who fail the stress test, will be forced to accept a higher interest rate with their current lender and will not have the freedom to shop around for a better rate. Those seeking to refinance to pay for home renovations will also face the stress test. 

This means prospective buyers will have less money available to them than in the past, but where is it written, As time goes by life under capitalism gets easier.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John &
contributing members of the SPC .

Towards Socialism

Socialism abolishes the chaos and anarchy of capitalist production and social organisation; it does away with the dog-eat-dog competition of capitalist industry, breeder of industrial crises and war. It sets up instead a planned system of economy in harmony. Socialism ends the production of social necessities for profit—out of which originates all the miseries and chaos of capitalism. Socialism thus revolutionises the aim of production from production for profitable sale to production for social use. In so doing it frees humanity from the narrow limits of capitalist economy and embarks upon a totally new era of social development. Capitalism robs the toilers of a large share of what they produce. With socialism there is no exploitation. The working class exploits no subject class. Under capitalism science is a slave to the class interests of the bourgeoisie. But socialism strikes all these fetters from science. The aim of the Socialist Party is to overthrow capitalism and replace it by world socialism, abolishing all forces of exploitation and oppression of man by man. Society will no longer consist of antagonistic classes in conflict with each other, but will represent a united commonwealth of labour. For the first time in its history mankind will take its fate into its own hands. Instead of destroying innumerable human lives and incalculable wealth in struggles between classes and nations, humanity will devote all its energies to the development and strengthening of social evolution. The future society will be State-free. With private property in industry and land abolished (not articles of personal use), with exploitation of the toilers ended, and with the capitalist class finally defeated and all classes liquidated, there will then be no further need for the State, which “withers away” and be replaced by the “administration of things”. When the capitalist class is decisively beaten the workers’ need for a State die out. Under the class-free, State-free regime of socialism there will exist a broad and genuine freedom such as the world heretofore has not even remotely approached. The guiding principle will be: “From each according to ability, to each according to needs.” That is, the distribution of life necessities—food, clothing, shelter, education, etc.—will be free, without let or hindrance. Communist production, carried out upon the most efficient basis and freed from the drains of capitalist exploiters, will provide such an abundance of necessary commodities that there will be plenty for all with a minimum of effort. There will then be no need for penny-pinching. Industry, freed from capitalist anarchy and exploitation, will develop a high efficiency and lay the basis for genuine mass prosperity.

The first condition of success for socialism is that its essential characteristics should be explained clearly, so that everyone can understand them. There are many misunderstandings created by our adversaries. We must do away with these. Capitalists are not interested in production to benefit the peoples of the world or even their own people. They are interested only in profits. If the productive forces in the world were to be used for the purposes of construction, the entire planet could be transformed and the standards of living and level of culture raised to undreamed of heights. This is not possible under capitalism. Abundance under this system can only produce crises of over-production, slumps and unemployment, because of the basic necessity of the capitalist class to make profits. Only the unity of the workers, leading to a socialist world can produce that “One World” which can abolish want and oppression and war.

Automation offers tremendous possibilities to humanity. It can free man from slavery to the machine. It can free us from the double degradation of giving one class all the work – uncreative, boring and stultifying – and another class all the leisure – just as uncreative, just as boring and just as stultifying. It can end the artificial dichotomy between neurotic city life and idiotic country life; between workers by hand and workers by brain.

But capitalism cannot give us full automation. It can only use the new techniques to bring new terrors to this world – the terrors of unemployment or war. Automation can only benefit humanity if it is controlled. There is only one guarantee of its human use – workers control of automation, workers control of production, the only meaning of socialism.

People born into wage-slavery, trained to wage-slavery and fed wage-slavery through the mainstream media day in, day out do not question their masters easily. Today with a looming environmental crisis, capitalism’s alternative is needed as it never has before.
 

Free Food...And More...Much More

The human right to food should be put into Scots Law to protect people from rising insecurity, the Scottish Human Rights Commission believes.

The commission said this right - which involves food being accessible, adequate and available for everyone - is not being realised across Scotland. It says: "Health inequalities are persistent with many people, including children, unable to afford or access a healthy and nutritious diet."

Food insecurity is "unacceptably high", the report said, with more than 480,500 food parcels being handed out by food banks between April 2017 and September 2018.

Commission chairwoman Judith Robertson said: "The Scottish Human Rights Commission is calling on the government to take action to incorporate the right to food into Scotland's laws as part of its work to make Scotland a good food nation." The option of exploring a right to food which is directly enforceable under Scots law "has not been ruled out".

For members of the Socialist Party in Scotland the immediate question is, why just food?

To be properly clothed and shod, is a human right, too.

Isn't a secure comfortable home a human right? 

What about free travel for all as a right?

The Socialist Party insist we do not limit or ration our access to the necessities of  decent life. We have been advocating a world of free access since our foundation. 

1. money, wages, buying and selling will serve no function; they will no longer exist,
2. each one of us will be able to take quite freely from whatever is readily available, according to our own self-determined needs,
3. each one of us will be free to participate in providing society's needs by working quite voluntarily, according to our own willingness and ability,
4. each one of us will have unrestricted freedom of the earth; there will be no 'national' boundaries separating various regions of the earth,
5. the organisation and administration of society will be carried out entirely democratically by and in the interests of all the world's population, ensuring that the needs of  eople everywhere are met; there will be no need for leaders or governments.

We have always aimed to show that a world of free access is the only way to permanently ensure:

1. the harmonious survival of the human race,
2. an end to all poverty, hunger, hardship, discomfort and all depression, violence and tension due to economic insecurity,
3. the rapid disappearance of racism, since nearly all racism is brought about through using others as scapegoats for the frustrations, anxieties and hardship actually caused by the money, wages, buying and selling form of society itself,
4. an end to all forms of war, since all wars are basically economic, fought to protect or expand profitable commercial markets, land, raw materials, trade routes and strategic political positions which offer access to these.

We aim to show that a world of free access is not a far-off dream but an immediate, practical and realistic possibility, and that it can be achieved when the majority of people are aware of it, want it and consciously and peacefully bring it about through whatever democratic means are available.

There is no other way. 

A Message to Extinction Rebellion

WAGE SLAVERY

The Socialist Party contends that it is capitalism and capitalism alone which creates or exacerbates all of the major problems in the world today. Poverty, unemployment, homelessness, war, and, to a large extent, disease, but, foremost, let's not forget the current crisis of climate change and the accompanying destruction of natural resources. These are all fundamental to capitalism and cannot be solved on any long-term basis while this system continues.

Those who support the continuation of present-day society would disagree with the Socialist Party analysis and claim that capitalism can be changed to, if not solve most social problems by means of legislation, at least alleviate their worst effects.

A reform is not a fundamental change; it is an attempt to alter the way in which capitalism is run. The fundamentals of capitalism are minority ownership of the means of production, the production of wealth for sale on the market, a money economy, a wages system, and the realisation of profit from the difference between the wages the producers are paid and the sale of what they have produced. The forms of government and the methods employed to actually run the system are not fundamental. The fundamentals of capitalism must remain the same. There must always be a drive for profit and a drive to expand markets which come before any other consideration. Capitalism cannot escape the iron laws of its own economics. Even given the desire to do so from those in power they must follow the laws of the market—or go under, to be succeeded by those capitalists who have a more realistic appreciation of the necessities. The system hangs together as a whole; no one part of it can be taken away.

For reforms to "succeed”, capitalism would need to work smoothly and rationally. But capitalism is a totally chaotic and uncoordinated system which cannot function in such a way because it only follows one law—the drive for profit. This blows apart the best-laid schemes of government or reformers, especially in regards to the regulatory measures proposed to mitigate global warming.

It is quite impossible to achieve a long-term plan for any carbon-zero objective because capitalism is always in some crisis and demands immediate responses to pressures. World events occur with such rapidity that for any country just to try to maintain stability is about as much as they can do. They are so busy swimming against the tide of change that they are using all their strength just to keep their heads above water. They are so busy reacting there is no time to act. So, even if a long-term plan could ever work—and there is no evidence to show that it would and overwhelming evidence to show—that it could not—capitalism is such a dynamic system that it will not stand still long enough to allow such a plan to happen.

All countries face desperate dilemmas in their relationships with other countries. Many strategies have been placed into operation to reduce carbon emission and all have failed. Even if it were possible to iron out the conflicts of interest, the co-operation of all the major countries would have to be secured. This is impossible because every capitalist country is always following a policy to suit its own interests. Since a major objective is to export more than is imported at any given time, it is obvious that not all can succeed. Add to this the commercial interests of the multinational corporations and the difficulties encountered in handling lesser developed capitalist countries and it can be seen why reforms of international capitalist relations cannot succeed in harmonising capitalism with nature on a world basis.

Why do the environmental activists advocate reforms and put them forward when the evidence is that these well-meaning schemes will not work?

It is a mistake to accept that the capitalists understand their own system. They have never studied it in the way that socialists have. Capitalist economists make their reputations, and get their bread and butter, from supplying "solutions" to capitalist problems. What kind of future would he or she have by pointing out that there is really no way of ensuring a stable economy and that the system always staggers on from crisis to crisis?

Capitalists are struggling to survive in business and maintain their competitive edge. To do this they must make sufficient profit to re-invest in capital equipment and keep it up-to-date. This has to be their priority. Anything else comes afterwards. It is not the “wicked” capitalist who brings this about; it is not a moral decision, it is an economic necessity.

Reforms are basically of two kinds; those that are meant to make the capitalist system run a little more smoothly for the capitalist class and those that are meant to bring about improvements in the conditions of people and the planet. Neither kind can work because only a fundamental change of social system can make any difference. Reforms are not meant to change the fundamental set-up of capitalism; they are expressly the opposite of that. The most that can be achieved is to ease the conditions of a section of the working class for a time. But as fast as a reform is applied fresh problems are thrown up on account of the changing pressures of capitalism. So our question to those engaged in the environmental movement, remains, is it worth the effort? Why chase after elusive reforms when it is a futile effort and a waste of energy. What is really required is that effort should be put into something that is lasting — working for socialism. The Socialist Party cautions those who want little more than bandage over capitalism's worse weeping sores that reforming the system will not halt climate change

Socialism and the Future

We are as firm as ever in our belief that the only hope for humanity lies in a revolutionary reconstruction of society, and that the working class is the only one historically fitted for that great achievement. We invite the cooperation of all who will work with us toward that end. Some socialists accuse us of being dogmatic and sectarian. We are not. We welcome the criticisms of our friends and our enemies. It is about time to look upon the problem of social transformation in all its broad complexity, and try to examine more closely the practical side of the issue. The revolution could happen tomorrow, and we must enable ourselves to act within it in the most effective possible way. Let us use our time to examine more closely and clarify our ideas about what is to be done, while we try to hasten the time.

Our journal, the Socialist Standard does not muzzle its readers. We reject political jugglery and ingenious tactical tricks because we do not believe them to be efficacious in the long run. There can be no socialism without the active participation of the masses. We must strive to imbue our fellow-workers with a confidence in their own class strength; with a distrust of class collaboration and cynical opportunism. We must help them to rediscover the road of revolutionary struggle. This is the only guarantee of victory. The basic condition for victory is that the masses consciously realise that their emancipation cannot be brought about from above, but only by their own independent movement. Socialism cannot be imposed by force. Socialism, applied in its full breadth and with all its beneficial effects, is only possible when it is understood and wanted by the masses that embrace all the elements necessary to creating a society superior to the present one. Capitalism will have to face a whole series of new crises. The workers will again become the decisive political force. Even if such a method of struggle results in a temporary defeat of the workers, the defeat is nevertheless of greater benefit to the class struggle than any transitory gains obtained by class collaboration. The day has passed for patching up the capitalist system; it must go. Socialism is not possible as long as the present social and economic conditions last. Since such conditions, which keep workers slave for the benefit of those privileged, are preserved and perpetuated by brutal force, it is necessary to change them through revolutionary action. Our task is to speed it up as much as possible and encourage our fellow-workers to take possession of the production means and organize the work and the distribution of products, to occupy housing, to perform public services without waiting for commands from higher-ranking authorities. We must uncompromisingly oppose everything that hinders the will of the people and we must take care not to destroy those useful services that we cannot replace in a better way.

Capitalism is turning the worker into a mere cog in a machine. Capitalism is production for profit. No production, no profit. Mankind is being robbed not merely of the products of its labour, but of the power of free initiative, of originality, and the interest in, or desire for, the things being produced. We, in the Socialist Party realise that as we suffer together, we must work together, that we may enjoy together. Socialism or barbarism! With the whole world hard-pressed by advancing barbarism to make the choice of socialism that it must make for civilization to survive, if not to flower, the reformists find it fitting to promote the postponement of socialism. Socialism, you see, is not advocated because it “would not unite people” behind a policy of legislation and regulation to alleviate the current climate crisis. Capitalism is objectively ripe for replacement by socialism. Capitalism is an obstacle in the path of social progress and it stands in the way of the welfare of the people and the well-being of the planet. The conditions are objectively ripe for socialism precisely because capitalism can no longer work effectively, regardless of what is done. Socialism must not be understood as, an abstraction, a blueprint for reorganizing society at some future very remote date. The realisation of socialism, however is an immediacy. No green revolution can ever triumph unless it is transformed into a social revolution. Without socialists, without socialist activity instead of marking a progress of freedom and justice and the start of a complete liberation of mankind, at best, it would only bring about a shallow improvement, largely delusive and by no means adequate to the effort, the sacrifices, the pain of rebellion, and would bear new forms of oppression and exploitation perhaps even stringent than the present.

Potential production has become almost unlimited, thanks to the means nowadays provided by new technology and improved working methods, etc. However, it’s one thing to be able to produce and another to have produced. Capitalists, either through incompetence or indifference, but largely because of a system that makes profits from shortages and rationing, do not sufficiently exploit the means of production they own, and prevent others from using them.

As long as the working class exists, the future is not hopeless.