No Future in Separatism

5000 Scottish independence supporters, organised by the pro-independence group All Under One Banner, marched through Galashiels in the latest in a series of similar rallies

Socialists defend the rights of the human being not just in the legal and political dimensions but in the most fundamental economic dimension which was once called industrial democracy. Nationalism, presents itself as a version of the ideals of justice and equality, yet look what message nationalists have. The whole essence of nationalism is support for one’s own ruling class – in its exploitation, in its war, in its spreading of superstitions. Nationalism is setting for the in- fighting of the various sections of this class over the share of each in the process of capital accumulation. Nationalist present themselves as anti-imperialism. The fact that the nationalism of the bourgeoisie in the less-developed country or among oppressed nationalities has, during a short period in history, found itself in confrontation with certain features of imperialism, has led the left, to embrace and whitewash nationalism. But the Socialist Party see in nationalism the image of the capitalist class and nothing else. In its opinion, nationalism is among the superstitions from which humans should free themselves. Nationalism separates human beings from their common human and universal character. Workers who, instead of describing themselves as a part of the human family, view themselves as British, Scottish or Irish have already bowed to nationalist prejudice incompatible with socialism but also contradictory to the social evolution and advancement of humanity. The era of workers’ strength on the political stage is once again arriving. The power of the working class does not lie only in its size. This power essentially rests on this class’s position in capitalist production. The working class will triumph by virtue of being the backbone of production in the existing society, the leader of the new society and the social class having a real solution to human suffering as a whole. 

Just as capitalism is a world system of society, so too must socialism be. There never has been, and never can be, socialism in just one country because its material basis is the world-wide and interdependent means of production that capitalism has built up. The bulk of the wealth produced in the world today is produced by the co-operative labour of the millions employed to operate these means of production. What is needed now, to establish socialism, is a conscious political decision on the part of these billions across the world to run society in their own interests. This will be done by taking the means of production throughout the world into common ownership, with their democratic control by the whole community, and with production solely for use. 

No longer will there be classes, governments and their state machinery, or national frontiers.

Democratic control will involve the whole community in making decisions about the use of the means of production. Instead of government over people there would be various levels of democratic administration, from the local up to regional and world levels, with responsibility being delegated if necessary to groups and individuals.

The ‘national interest’ is an all time favourite for jingoists, indeed a much bandied about term in any crisis. But what is it supposed to mean?

Well, for one thing, the term is so designed, and used, as to distort our perception of reality. From the cradle to the grave we are discouraged from asking significant and searching questions - the type that might embarrass our betters and superiors. We are nurtured to mistrust our own ideas, to respect the views of our “betters.” Little wonder, then, that so many injustices prevail and that so many can speak in defence of the government line, unwittingly acquiescing in their own exploitation - albeit in the national interest. But this is how it is - so many are prepared to accept that the government embodies the people's “interests”.

The national interest conjures up an image that we are all one big happy family, all pulling and working together for the good of all; that we all have something to be proud of, to defend and to benefit from. It suggests an absence of strife and antagonism and that the real enemy is 'out there'. We're meant to feel good about the national interest, secure in the knowledge that the well-informed are thinking on our behalf. It harks back to the 'bulldog spirit' of the blitz years, when even the king and queen seemed half decent because they had been bombed ('Gawd bless 'em all, Guv.') – even though most Londoners didn’t realise the royal family were shooting off to Windsor Castle, 50 miles away, every night and feasting on swan. In reality, the national interest is anything the master class and their executive deem it to be at any given time, or rather anything that helps perpetuate their ideology and keeps them in power; anything that can undermine the potential for political action geared towards real change.

The national interest is the paternalistic jargon of a profit-hungry elite, trying to rationalise in our eyes the lengths they will go to accrue more profits at our expense. It is used by politicians largely to secure support for a course of action they are finding difficult to promote. It is designed to block serious discussion of an issue - who'll argue against the national interest and risk being denounced as unpatriotic? – and to marginalise opponents, thus stifling deeper understanding of issues.

Thus, the national interest is a government contemplating the selling of arms to Saudi Arabia or where ever. It is police wading into a picket line, truncheons swinging. The national interest is the Russia army intervening in the Ukraine, Israeli troops occupying the West Bank and Gaza and UK war-planes involved in bombing runs over Syria.

One thing is clear. While all the above can be pushed as national interests, none are in the interests of the working class. The interests of the majority - or the working class - are diametrically opposed to the interests of the master, or capitalist, class. True, we all have basic needs and desires, whichever class we belong to, but talk about shared interests in a two class society is nonsense. The capitalist class have one real interest - and let them deny it - to maximise their investment and to accrue more profit at our expense. How many people get trampled over or slaughtered in the process is of no consequence. Anything is legitimate in the pursuit of profit. Neither is much consideration given to environmental concerns. We, the working class on the other hand, own little more than our ability to labour by brain or by hand - an ability we sell to the master class. Our interest under capitalism becomes getting the best price for our labour. Indeed such is the onus on us to sell our labour power at as a high a price as possible that its consequences dominates every aspect of our lives. It has to be remembered that the master class depend on our complacency for their continued survival. Our silence, our willingness to accept everything they say without question, is the victory they celebrate every day.

Our job should therefore be to doubt and question everything they say - if we stand for nothing we fall for anything. For we do have interests. As a globally exploited class, denied so many of the benefits of civilisation in a world of abundance, it is in our interests, our real class interests, to help put a stop to their insane system, not just for the future of humanity, but for the future of our planet. Our real class interests lie in establishing a worldwide system of society, devoid of borders or frontiers, social classes or leaders, states governments, force or coercion, money, wages or salaries, a world in which production is freed from the artificial constraints of profit and used to its fullest potential and for the benefit of all. These interests are far removed from the national interest we are supposed to identify and moreover, they benefit all of today's classes.

Our fellow-workers continue to butcher one another in a senseless round of tit-for-tat atrocities. Many on the political ‘left’ will argue that nationalism is somehow progressive and different to imperialism and should therefore be supported. As socialists, we say that this is a dangerous poison that is being spread by the left and that no side engaged in such conflict can either speak for the working class as a whole or be an example to it.

History is replete with minorities in existing states using terrorist methods so that a new state may be formed or territory transferred from the “ownership” of one state to another. The working class of wage and salary earners is never in a position to benefit from this process; it is only in a position to suffer. The working class – by definition the class that does not possess any significant titles to land or private property, including capital – has quite literally nothing to gain from a situation where one group of rulers and owners is replaced by another group.

In the 19th century, when the modern capitalist system was expanding across the globe, “national liberation” struggles, typically led by a local growing capitalist class against the old autocratic empires, were part of the process which swept away the old political arrangements and opened the way forward for liberal democracy and the development of capitalist methods of production. It was often argued that it was in the interests of the working class during this time to take the side of the capitalists against the old autocracies like the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, etc. It was said that this process would open the way up for working class organisation and for the development of an advanced industrial system which is a prerequisite for a socialist society of abundance and free access to available wealth.

Since then, the capitalist system has become a world system. The alleged justification for the working class taking sides in 'national liberation' struggles has now gone if ever it existed and today all such struggles are just deadly battles between sections of the capitalist class, even though it is the workers – imbued with nationalist poison – that naturally enough end up doing the fighting and dying.

The goal of the socialist movement is not to assist in the creation of even more states and more nationalities, but to establish a real world community without frontiers where all states as they currently exist will be destroyed. In a socialist society, communities, towns and cities will have the opportunity to thrive – and people will no doubt feel an attachment to places that are real and tangible – but the 'imagined communities' that are nation states will be consigned to the history books where they belong.

The Capitalist Contradiction

The victory of socialism means the political supremacy of the working class and the abolition of every form of exploitation. To fight for socialism is consciously to struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and the institutions of the State designed and created to maintain the economic and political dominance of the few who own capital over the many who have only their own labour power. From where we are, the capitalist system seem stable and solid; but with a bird’s-eye view, we can see the widening cracks within its structure. Change, change and change – that is the main lesson of Marxism. This world is not fixed and stable; boundaries, laws, lifetime habits, opinions, rights, governments, methods – everything tends to approach a fluid state. The capitalists like to pretend that capitalism is eternal. The fact is, however, that for the greater part of human history mankind lived in tribal society under a system of primitive communism, a system without classes, in which acceptance of the authority of the elders did not require a special coercive force but was freely given, and questions of paramount importance were decided by the tribal assembly. In those times there was no state. With the appearance of classes comes the division of society into rulers and ruled. Because of antagonistic class interests a special apparatus of coercion grows up, apparently standing outside of and above society, but utilised by the ruling class to maintain its privileges, economic and political. This apparatus, the state, consists of special bodies of armed men, prisons, courts, etc. It is used by the ruling class against other classes that might endanger its position. Thus the essence of the state consists precisely in this, that it is an instrument for the oppression of one class by another.

When men and women sought employment and were willing to work, capitalism declared that it could not open the factories and start the wheels of industry moving. There was use for goods, but capitalism is not production for use. All the scientists, all the statesmen, all the industrialists, the bankers, all the politicians and economists of capitalism, were unable to make capitalism operate to serve the needs of the people. There were consumers at hand, but not profits. Therefore there were millions of unemployed, but no production for them.

Yet for war, capitalism functions splendidly. Every factory works, some of them around the clock. New factories are set up. Money flows like water. There are consumers aplenty and undreamed-of profits. Capitalism found an almost inexhaustible market for its wares. It now works like a clock, ticking of blood and ruin with every second. We have a social system that stands self-condemned. Its usefulness of the past is now long outlived. If it is allowed to continue, the world will only plunge deeper into slavery, suffering, degradation, exhaustion and death. Capitalism is a cold ruthless devourer of human life. Always and everywhere, the inexorable drive for profit and accumulation, expansion and profit, occurs at the expense of the worker.

The tempo of thought and action becomes immeasurably accelerated in mental attitudes and psychologies – that is, a profound shake-up of human nature. One of the lessons of history is that it is so hard for us, even for socialists, to realise the tremendous impact of each of these forces, and the terrific potential which is being built up in the world working people. The struggle for socialism is the struggle for socialist consciousness.

This system of capitalism is driving humanity into the ground. If you like that idea and vision of a new economy, democratically structured to answer to people’s needs instead of the profit imperative welcome to the movement for socialism.

Socialist Standard No. 1378 June 2019

June 2019 PDF

• Editorial: A World of Abundance
• Eurospeech: Brexit Statement
• Pathfinders: Fully automated luxury… capitalism
• Dear Theresa
• Cooking the Books I: The Libertarian Myth
• Wood For The Trees: Can you be a socialist and anti-Marxist?
• Material World: Out of Africa
• Prosecuting Capitalism: The Case For and Against
• Seeing Visions
• The Strange World of FALC: Consumer Fantasy?
• More FALC: The Wallmark hypothesis
• When Profit Is All
• 50 Years Ago: Opt for Socialism
• Mogg/Corbyn: Duelling Dinosaurs
• Cooking the Books II: Cash mountains
• Proper Gander
• Reviews
• Meetings
• Rear View
• Free Lunch

Revolutionary Inspiration

“Dare to be a Daniel,

Dare to stand alone.

Dare to have a purpose firm,

Dare to make it known.”

Bleeding the poor is a normal operation for capitalism. Poverty stalks the land. The standard of living of the people has been reduced drastically. There are people fearful of the world, all along the political spectrum. In the view of the Socialist Party capitalism is beyond salvation by any means. The alternative is to ally oneself with the future; with the socialist movement, to put an end to capitalism and open the way for the socialist society of the free and equal. That is the way to secure peace and progress and a good life for all. Today, when capitalism, “the free market,” and “private enterprise” are being hailed as triumphant in the world, it is a good time to rekindle the idea of socialism. The Socialist Party offers something worth fighting for, a victory for all humanity in which you and your generation will share. The Socialist Party reaffirms its adherence to the principles of socialism. We declare the Socialist Party to be the party of the working class with intentions of socialising the means of production. The present system of industry is directly the cause of the many evils which now prey upon society. It fully realises the crying need for an immediate change in the social system; it realises that the time for compromise has passed; and that now it is only the question whether all power remains in the hands of the capitalist or is taken by the working class. The Socialist Party proposes the organisation of the workers as a class, the overthrow of capitalist rule, and the conquest of political power by the workers. The purpose of the Socialist Party is to create a unified revolutionary working class movement. The working class, in order to gain control of the means of life, have by force of economic necessity been compelled to organise into their industrial and political organisations, and wage battle against the capitalist class directly on the industrial field through their industrial organisations (Direct Action) and indirectly on the political field through their political organisations (Political Action). The struggle by the working class to achieve its revolutionary purposes — the ownership and control of the means of life — cannot be obtained without a struggle against the state, and all struggles for the conquest of the capitalist state are political struggles.

A juicy carrot is dangled just in front of the donkey but out of reach, only in order to keep it going with the heavy load on its back. Reformists are always ready to PROMISE the good things of life some time in the future. The only fight for a better tomorrow that has any serious meaning is the fight for socialism that begins right now. Workers must act as a class, with a class movement and a class programme and a class struggle of its own. The employer uses his economic and political power to get the highest profits in history. The wages of the workers are forcibly kept at the lowest point. If they attempt to improve their economic position by the use of their organised strength, the whole machinery of the government is brought to bear against them.

The capitalist system of production, under which we live, is the production of commodities for profit instead of for use and for the private gain of those who own and control the tools and means of production and distribution. Out of this system of production and sale for profit spring the entire problem of misery, want, and poverty that, as a deadly menace, now confronts civilisation. Socialism will usher in a new civilisation based upon the welfare of all. Socialism is the application of human association. The Socialist Party teaches that the only way to attain the just distribution of wealth to those who produce it is through the common ownership, democratic control, and planned operation of the means of production and distribution, such as land, mines, factories, transport and communications, etc., etc. It asserts that this production should be for use and not for sale or profit, thus doing away with all private ownership of the means of subsistence with its accompanying unproductive labour and an immense number of useless and harmful occupations. Socialism would not abolish the private possession as distinct from social capital. Thus homes and all personal belongings would still be individually and not collectively owned. The cooperative commonwealth is the Socialist Party goal.

This involves a complete change in the structure of government. The present government is based upon private property and is essentially coercive, the vital function being to protect the interests of the owning and ruling class, and to keep their victims in subjugation. When productive capital becomes common property, government will be purely administrative, and will cease to be unjust and oppressive. The owning class in the present, as in all past ages, is necessarily the ruling class, and all legislation is enacted and interpreted in the interest of said class. Political equality under the present system is simply a myth. The wage-workers whose employment is controlled by their master, and who in that relation is at the mercy of their master since they depend upon his arbitrary will for the opportunity to labour and support their families, is not on terms of political equality with the master. Political equality is rooted in economic freedom, and only when the means of production shall have become the common property of all, as they have been produced by all, are used by all, and are necessary to all, only then will political equality prevail and all men and women enjoy equal rights and equal opportunities. The Socialist Party proposes to establish industrial democracy, based upon cooperative industry, thus converting the present bogus into a genuine social democracy. 

Resources in its various forms are to be owned in common, and we

will not have countless capitalists at war with each other in an insane strife for profit. Rent, interest, and profit, three forms of exploitation, will be totally eliminated. Production will be carried forward for use and not for profit. The working day will be reduced in proportion to the progress of invention. This is the goal of the Socialist Party and of the international socialist movement of the world.

Socialism, the future of humanity

The Socialist Party stands irreconcilably opposed to capitalism and works for the establishment of world socialism. Capitalism means anarchy of production; capitalism means profits come first. Capitalism means the control of our lives by a handful of powerful, giant corporations whose power must be broken! It can be done; it must be done. Is private property more sacred than human life? The people want a change from the misery and uncertainty of the old system, the system of capitalist exploitation and profit, and all the capitalist parties can only offer is the preservation of the old, discredited and bankrupt system. Ruling society and ruling you, is the capitalist class and they drive society to a new barbarism. The working class still follows the capitalist parties, still pursues capitalist politics. Big Business are eternally seeking ways and means to undermine and destroy the workers’ own organisations, the trade unions. They want to convert the workers into helpless serfs, unable to defend their hard-won rights and living standards.

 There are no “friends of labour” in the capitalist parties. The workers' only true friend is its own strong right arm. Capitalism offers charities, food-banks, and the gig economy. The bosses know this. That is why they are so intent on crushing the organised labour movement. They want no resistance from their victims. Fewer and fewer people are satisfied with the status quo but the powerful ideology of “There Is No Alternative” (TINA) has constrained many people’s political imagination and consigned them to political apathy. Our task as socialists is to convince them that there is, indeed, an alternative to capitalism.

Upon socialism, depends the future of humanity and of civilisation. The inauguration of socialism is the aim of the Socialist Party. That is the task of the working class. That is the road to human freedom. Capitalism, by its method of production, has brought isolated workers together and constituted them as a class in society. Capitalism has made the workers a class in themselves. That is, the workers are a distinct class in society, whether they recognise this fact or not. Historical development calls upon this class to reorganise society completely and establish socialism. To do this, the workers must become a class for themselves. They must acquire a clear understanding of their real position under capitalism, of the nature of capitalist society as a whole, and of their mission in history. They must act consciously for their class interests. They must become conscious of the fact that these class interests lead to a socialist society. When this takes place, the workers are a class for themselves, a class with socialist consciousness. Workers acquire this consciousness by a clear, thoroughgoing understanding of capitalist society, their position in it, and the need to replace this society with socialism. To imbue the workers with this rounded-out class consciousness, or socialist consciousness; to organise the struggle for socialism – that is the function of the Socialist Party, the only political organisation which advocates socialism. The Socialist Party challenges the capitalist system and proposes to remove it, (as if it were a cancerous growth on human society.) Socialism means a society of peace and plenty, instead of a society of war and hunger. Only the working class, which has nothing to gain and everything to lose under capitalism, can create a socialist world.

A Scottish Ecological Apocalypse

Outlining a apocalyptic scenario that the country could face within the next decade, Francesca Osowska, head of Scottish Natural Heritage, described numerous catastrophic impacts from the climate crisis which could leave the country with polluted waters, abandoned villages, dying forests and few remaining birds. Some of the biggest impacts include enormous wildfires which burned across swathes of the country in April and May, with one in Moray described as one of the largest wildfires seen in the UK in recent years. The country also faces the twin perils of both lack of water, and heightened risks of flooding, due to less rainfall, but rising sea levels which threaten low-lying coastal regions. Warming temperatures have already changed the timings of spring events such as leaf unfolding, bird migration and egg-laying, as well as fish abundance and spawning locations, according to the Scottish government. The country is failing to meet its own target to plant more trees with more land being given over to agriculture, while the salmon industry is already dealing with the impact of algal blooms due to climate change and pesticide use, and a surge in oil and gas exploration in the North Sea is expected to soon be under way which will further compound the problem.

“Let me paint you a picture of what we could have in Scotland in 2030,” Ms Osowska will say in her address at the Royal Society of Edinburghthis evening. “Imagine an apocalypse – polluted waters; drained and eroding peatlands; coastal towns and villages deserted in the wake of rising sea level and coastal erosion; massive areas of forestry afflicted by disease; a dearth of people in rural areas and no birdsong. All of this is possible, and there are parts of the world we can point to where inaction has given rise to one or more of these nightmare landscapes.”

Unlike the green economists, the Socialist Party has concluded that in a class-divided society where the means of living are used to serve the interests of the owners of private property any talk of finding a ‘common interest’, so that there is a change of course of market forces and consequently a greening of capitalism, is a fool’s errand. We have, therefore, consistently argued that, where classes exist, there are class divisions in the production and distribution of wealth with the subsequent inequality manifesting itself in a class struggle between two classes with diametrically opposed interests.

Built-in rivalry between the sections of the capitalist class always results in casualties in some form or another. At one end we have the everyday casualties of lay-offs and redundancies. Whilst at the other end from time to time inter-capitalist rivalry erupts into a full scale war – with extensive human casualties, refugees, communities being destroyed – and extensive damage to the environment and the destruction of wealth on a tremendous scale. It is these conditions of competition which make it extremely difficult to reach any regulatory agreement which can have a global application. When any such proposals come into conflict with the competitive self-interest of the various national sections of the capitalist class, the problems of winners and losers appears. This is usually announced in the media as, “There was a failure to reach an agreement over who is to pay the bill”. If market forces essentially cause and create environmental damage by literally encouraging an irrational human impact, how can you realistically expect those self-same forces to solve it? This conundrum will almost certainly intensify if globalisation picks up pace and the competition gets even tougher for the possession of scarce resources, especially energy and water.

But the conundrum does not end there since the system of capitalism is also dependent on economic growth and the accumulation of capital on a larger and larger global scale. And in order to achieve an accumulation of capital, market forces must not only create and produce commodities on a mass scale but also destroy them in a systematic fashion never known in human history. When confronted by barriers of environmental legislation which are designed to diminish the rate of expected profits and the accumulation of capital, the capitalists will do what they have always done in their search for short-term profits: finding or creating loopholes, moving the goalposts, corrupting officials, trying to bribe the local population with empty promises, or shifting the whole concern to an area or region where a more favourable reception is expected and profits maintained. 

Only when we are living in a society based on a system of common ownership, a society of free access where wage slavery has been abolished, money is obsolete, hierarchical structures pointless, class laws transformed into social rules, and production is geared to satisfying human needs, will we be in a position to minimise any environmental damage caused by human activity. Once we have reach this stage in human development and social evolution — where our interaction with the natural environment not only enhances our understanding of ourselves but also converges with a social recognition that we are as much dependent on nature as is nature dependent on us — so we will be able to start to tackle a rational clean up of the environmental damage which capitalism will have left in its wake. The lesson is that those concerned about global warming should direct their efforts to getting rid of capitalism and replacing it with a system where the Earth’s natural and industrial resources will have become the common heritage of all humanity. This will put a stop to the operation of the current economic imperative to seek and accumulate profits and will provide the framework for co-ordinated global action to deal not only with global warming but other current problems such as world poverty and constant war somewhere in the world. 

Working towards a socialist future

The Socialist Party is the party of the working class, in fundamental opposition to all other parties. It declares that the increasing wealth in the hands of the rich, side by side with the increasing misery and poverty of the proletariat, cannot be eliminated within the framework of capitalism unless the working class overthrows the capitalist class. It has as its aims the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a society in which the means of production will not be the private property of the few, will not be based upon profit and not be based on class division, The Socialist Party therefore is the deadly foe of capitalism and capitalist parties. It advocates the mobilisation of the entire working class in a direct fight against the capitalist system. It is part of a worldwide movement aiming to rally the workers of all lands for the common struggle for socialism. Socialism is possible but not inevitable. It is more urgently necessary in 2019. We begin our work with modest means and forces but with an unshakable faith in the future. Our tasks are of international significance.

In this period of recession, a fall in the rate of profit forces the capitalists to make up the loss by the most drastic steps. If they intend to continue to exploit the workers, they must change the ratio of necessary labour (wages) and surplus wages (surplus value) to their interest. The lengthening of the workday has given way to the speed-up and flexibility of the uber gig economy and the reduction of wages in order to reduce the necessary labour and increase the surplus labour to keep up the falling rate of profit. In crises, and in sections of the industrial structure the capitalists are still able to lengthen the workday, but the general trend is in the opposite direction, due to the developed productive forces which forces them to resort to speed-up and general wage cuts. The developed productive forces since the war have forced into the structure for the first time an absolute decrease of the number of workers employed in production, which opened the door for a permanent army of millions of unemployed workers.

Cancer must be cut out early or the body perishes. The time to act against the canker of capitalism is NOW when there is still time to cut it out with the least injury. That is the only way to reduce its anti-working-class politics.

In thinking about what socialism will be like people should realise what will be the outlook of those who establish socialism and what socialism itself will involve. Conditions determine the behaviour of people. When the mass of people have decided to abolish the conditions that cramp their minds and bodies they will already have recognised the evil of unsocial behaviour and the value to themselves of social behaviour. When the new society has got upon its feet the conditions that breed unsocial behaviour will have disappeared. Some inkling of this can be gained by the behaviour of people in tribal societies although tribal society is far short of the conditions that will obtain under socialism.

Under capitalism the aim is to make a profit out of what is produced and to reduce costs accordingly. With socialism no effort would be spared that would make work as comfortable and as enjoyable as possible.

All wars have sprung from economic motives. Speaking accurately there have been no religious wars; they have only been “so-called religious wars.” The economic motives have been cloaked by religion just as the last war was cloaked by such things as a fight for democracy. The motives are there even though the participants may not be conscious of them.

Many workers pass such remarks as “The case put by the Socialist Party is sound, BUT...” or “I would support you IF...” Such statements imply a recognition that socialism, offers the only remedy to present-day social evils together with a vague doubt as to how or when it can be established. The IFs and BUTs show that the full significance of the socialist alternative, the means by which it will be achieved and its place in the process of social evolution has not been completely grasped. The Socialist Party wants to clear away all doubts, its wants to prove our case to the hilt. Workers who attend will receive a warm welcome and will have all their questions answered in a comradely atmosphere. Don’t wait until the next election to get the “low down” on the many political sharks who will then be seeking their prey and cadging your vote. Get them in line and learn how you can take your place in the struggle to end wars, the wages system, class society and all the consequences that you abhor.

The Socialist Party recognises that a person's relations to another are dependent on very material conditions. In other words, our behaviour, our morals, even the way in which we amuse ourselves, can be related to the method which society employs at the present time to produce and distribute the things we need.

Mankind is not born with an inherent instinct to perform all the most insidious and diabolical cruelties to his or her fellow creatures. The capitalist does not oppose workers’ demands for higher wages and better conditions because of a desire to see millions of people squirm in poverty, filth and degradation. His economic position dictates his policy and if he ignored the rules he would soon find himself ousted from the markets by more astute members of his class, and possibly flung into the exploited class himself.

It is the capitalist system with all its ridiculous contradictions and anomalies that puts class against class, race against race and nation against nation. It is the capitalist system that twists and perverts people’s sense of values so that they are shocked and disgusted by sexual promiscuity but accept and condone the mass murder and butchering of millions of helpless people.

You do not need to delve into the mysterious labyrinth of the human mind to discover the reason for mankind’s inhumanity. The fault lies not in mankind but in mankind’s inability at the moment to understand and grapple with the economic machine which dominates his or her whole outlook and relationship with fellow beings. Once humanity has discovered the real cause of its problems, there is no power on earth that can stop us sweeping away capitalism and introducing a new form of society based upon different economic laws.

This will not only abolish persecution of one another but also the economic problems of war, insecurity and want. These things are the root of all the mental phenomena and disarrangement which our psychologists and moralists would have us believe can be cured and finally abolished if only we could learn to control ourselves a little better.

When the socialist asserted that the condition of the working class in capitalist society grows steadily worse, his work-mates just can't make it out. They compare certain aspects of their way of living with those of their fathers or to their earlier days and disagree. The socialist explains that the difference between the conditions and ways of living in the past and those at present make it very difficult to draw any comparison. The Socialist Party viewpoint is that the only way to estimate the progress made by the working class in society is in relation to the wealth they produce, or in relation to the wealth they could produce with the existing productive forces. From this aspect, what they receive in relation to what they produce, the standard of life they have compared with what they could have, the working class are worse off than they ever were. When colleagues hear this they say, “Well, I suppose, looking at it that way, you’re right, but things are a bit better.”

Capital is wealth used to extract profit. Profit arises from the difference between what the workers produce and what they receive, in other words from the exploitation, the robbery, of the working class. So more capital formation means more working-class exploitation.

Do the parties of capitalism offer any change to this continuing deterioration of the position of the working class in society? In their election manifesto both Tory and Labour pledged themselves to increase production and lower costs. Labour maintains this can be done better by state intervention and government and controls. The Tories claim that free enterprise and a minimum of State interference is the better method. For the working class, increased production means working harder, and lower costs means less wages, at least less wages in relation to what they produce. While capitalism lasts these conditions will remain. The only alternative is to study socialist propaganda and equip yourselves with the knowledge necessary to abolish capitalism and establish socialism.

Revolution is possible and it is necessary

The Socialist Party fully supports the just struggles of the working class. Our cause today is a vision of humanity free of exploitation, ignorance and strife, a cause of human freedom, peace and brotherhood. The Socialist Party vision is one of peace and social harmony, free forever from want, from race and national hatred and from sexual oppression and human exploitation. That vision is a vision of a world where the ever-expanding material and cultural needs of the people are satisfied by an ever-expanding technology that has freed humanity from toil. Today, the level of the means of production makes realising this cause possible. A movement is taking shape. The movement consists of the social activity of millions of people to reorganise society in harmony.

With little hope of a decent future, the millions of working people represent a political threat to the capitalists. Labour-replacing technology is producing a global glut of labour, both skilled and unskilled. Computers are replacing labour. Feeding us, housing us, taking care of our children, conceding our demands for a better life – no longer are these things necessary elements of making a profit for the capitalists. As production is modernised to compete on the world market, a huge and permanent increase in unemployment results, with all the social, political and economic consequences. Human labour is becoming worthless. As a result, wage rates are falling and working conditions deteriorating. Africa has been virtually written off, consigning its peoples to absolute poverty, political anarchy and destruction. The capitalists have reaped unprecedented profits from these changes. Increasingly, the ruling class is making its intentions clear. It is unable to solve the problem of growing poverty. Therefore, it is moving to tightly control the millions who will not starve in silence.

Revolution must win the war for the hearts and minds of the people. The ruling class’ tactics aim to disarm and divide the working class. When workers unite as a class, no force on Earth can stop them from taking what rightfully belongs to them. Our agitation and propaganda has to arm them with the understanding that the only thing standing between them and the wealth being generated is a tiny, vampire-like class of billionaires. The movement has to be merged consciously with its cause and its vision. This will not happen spontaneously. This task falls on the shoulders of the socialists. No movement can succeed without a cause. A cause arises as a vision of what’s possible, based on the objective economic and social forces that are in motion. The task of the Socialist Party is always agitation and propaganda to reflect the history-making transformation that society is going through.

What will be our future if we don't stop capitalism

The Socialist Party is not afraid of isolation. There are times when socialists, if they are to remain true to their principles, have no other alternative. For years we endured slander and lies in the struggle for our ideals. We survived. We are proud. We retract nothing and repent nothing. We are not afraid of isolation when circumstances impose it. Join the Socialist Party with its ideas and traditions. We urge all revolutionary workers to add their energies to the efforts in a common struggle to build a powerful party of revolutionary world socialism. Everyone who is a socialist ought to join the Socialist Party. If it is not exactly what you think it ought to be, get in and help make it right; for, through the referendum, the membership can make it what they will. It is the only party in which each and every member directly control by means of the party poll. To vote for the Socialist Party does not make you a party member. It is necessary to join the party organisation and pay dues. You may inquire why it is necessary for you to join the Socialist Party and pay dues. The reason is this. The Socialist Party is conducted in the interest of but one class. It is impossible to expect any other class to be interested in the welfare of your class, therefore, if you desire to better your condition in life you will have to unite with other members of your class in bringing about the desired results. When you formally join the party you have the same rights as any other member. In the Socialist Party the membership elect all officers by referendum vote, and all matters debated at conference are submitted to the membership by referendum vote to approve or disapprove.

Capitalist production results in dividing society into two classes, the capitalist class and the working class. These two forces of society, whose interests are diametrically opposed to each other, are naturally forced into a continuous class struggle, which can only end with the abolition of the wage and profit system. Under this system the wage workers own nothing but their labour-power, which they must sell to the capitalist in the open market in order to live, while the lion’s share of labour’s product flows into the pockets of the capitalists who buy and sell labour power for the sake of profit. The Socialist Party declares for the abolition of the wage and profit system, and for the introduction of the cooperative system of production and distribution. Capitalism has been tried and found guilty of untold crimes. It has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Capitalism exploits working people; capitalism breeds war, environmental destruction, poverty, slums, child-labour, unemployment; it regularly and inevitably calls forth crises of recession and factory shutdowns; it breeds racial hatred and religious bigotry, and makes a mockery of the words peace and security

You workers who find it impossible to make both ends meet, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to continue to support a system that will continue these deplorable conditions or will you be real men and women. Millions of men and women are determined that the children of tomorrow, shall be safe from the ravages of poverty disease and war. This is a beautiful, bountiful planet, abounding in natural resources. But they do not belong to the people. They belong to the corporations and the banks in a network of interlocking businesses, small and large – rail and air, mines and mills, public utilities, oil and chemicals, department stores, fast food, media, finance companies. There is also the highest degree of technical development and of industrial efficiency as well as productivity. But they do not belong to the people. The safety and health of the workers and their communities is not a consideration for the capitalist owners of industry. Labour saving and labour displacing technology such as automation and robotics that could be blessings to humanity to eliminate drudgery and heavy work, deprive workers of their jobs. Plenty can be produced for all, an abundance of food, clothing, shelter and means of education, amusement, travel, recreation, for all the people. "Heaven on Earth" is not a Utopian dream. The material basis is the utilisation of labour, machinery and materials to full capacity in planned socialist production and in socialised distribution. Produce for use and not for profit! Today, no matter how much is produced, none of it belongs to the people. If the products of farm and factory cannot be sold for a substantial profit they are stacked in warehouses and granaries and allowed to rot. We have "shortages" while “plenty” is hoarded and stored away. A small group of owners condemn millions of workers to a mere existence wage and throw millions out to starve. We can work, to live and support our families, only when they say so. When they nod their heads factories and mines close or open up. This is free enterprise; this is the profit system; this is private ownership; this is capitalism. It has produced war and more war, hunger and want, unemployment and misery, in the midst of untold wealth. It solves no problems for the welfare of the people. That a worker who is able, willing and anxious to work can be jobless, that the stench of the slums can arise in all our great cities, that a child can go hungry, should forfeit capitalism's right to continued existence. It's one world with the same hopes and dreams, heartaches, headaches, everywhere.

Is this the best of all possible worlds? Have you not wondered what you can do to help change these conditions? We are sure you have. Let us tell you what you can do.

The Socialist Party has no interests apart from the people, no narrow selfish "axe to grind." To be in the Socialist Party is not a career. We join through enlightened self-interest to work unselfishly so that by freeing the workers from wage slavery all humanity including ourselves is freed from greed and tyranny. "The greatest good for the greatest number" is the concept members of the Socialist Party practices. We strive unremittingly for all the interests of the people, to fight for our goal of socialism which will come more quickly through the solidarity, class consciousness and understanding. Our perspective of socialism becomes clearer and the need for it more imperative with each passing day, as history exposes the criminal inadequacies of capitalism.

A Socialist Party cannot properly or fully function without a wide, deep and firm base of a working class membership. We don't think we will build a mass revolutionary party by one-to-one recruitment of those convinced by our regular educational work. We explain to workers that it is yet not an adequate instrument to achieve a socialist world, and that it is an initial step to build a global revolutionary party. The Socialist Party holds the deepest conviction and confidence in the workers, their militancy, honesty and courage and their burning hatred of exploitation as well as their their power to free themselves and all mankind from all forms of oppression.

"Rise like lions after slumber,
In unvanquished number,
Shake your chains to earth, like dew,
That in sleep have fallen on you,Ye are many--they are few."

So sang the poet Shelley long ago.

We are proud of our Party. It is a tough world. But men and women like yourselves can understand comradeship and great ideals. Are you ready to join the Socialist Party.

Change the World

The Socialist Party hold many ideas about how to change society for the betterment of all of humanity. It had a vision of a world where all people work without compulsion, of order without government or authority and of peace without violence and coercion. The Socialist Party realised that there is a wealth of materials, technology and human power, enough to make possible a high living standard coupled with considerably less labour time per person than the current full-time job. The chaos of capitalist production and distribution of wealth can only be stopped by creating a new economic and social system based on human needs. It is apparent that the survival of life on Earth itself is also dependent on the overthrow of capitalism, for as long as it exists, profits for the few will come before human needs and environmental survival.

The Socialist Party agreed that the majority of working people must be the primary forces in stopping the capitalist class and its governments. When this vast majority of humanity realises that the inherent inequality and futility of capitalism are wrong and no longer acceptable, and when these people realise the power they have to shape society, they will shut down the system and take back the wealth sucked out of them by the rich minority.

The understanding of the need for an alternative to capitalism will come when leading voices show the validity of a free society, and because of mass disillusionment with the status quo and its violence, wars, prisons and poverty. Already this disillusionment appears to be affecting a majority of Americans, but positive alternatives to the current world situation are not yet being sought out, perceived or thought possible. Most people probably desire a socialist future, and if shown the options towards this possibility they could create such a conscious society, after an initial struggle with the leaders of the world capitalist minority. We all need to continue to insist that a free, positive culture is up to the people to create. When the majority does overturn the capitalists, the direction society takes will of course be up to those same people who have made the revolution. Capitalism, even in its profitable periods, is inherently weak, directly dependent upon the very people it oppresses and exploits.

The Socialist Party believe that the creation of a new state will perpetuate centralised power beyond the control of individuals. They contend that if the vast majority agree with the goals of a free and equal society, they could defend themselves in a coordinated way but control their own lives and communities at an individual and community level. That way, delegated decision-makers would not be beyond the reach of the people. Working people are entitled to full information about, and control over, the environmental conditions that affect their health and survival where they work and live. The poisoning and destruction of the environment is a crime that threatens human survival, and should be treated as such. 

Environmental and health standards must be established by working people and communities with full access to technical information and based on consultation with experts of their own choice. Community committees must be empowered to decide directly on projects to establish factories or use industrial processes that may adversely affect the local environment. Such committees must be empowered to gather full and accurate information about the relevant ecological and health issues, and to make their decisions on the basis of this information, not out of concern for corporate profits. Just as they must reject the false dilemma of having to choose between employment or cuts in wages, working people must reject arguments by the capitalists that they cannot afford to take the measures necessary to clean up and protect the environment, or that workers’ jobs will be threatened by environmental protection measures. Working people cannot afford bosses who put profits before the health of their employees and the community.