Socialism – or perish!

The working class must get rid of the whole brood of masters and exploiters, and put themselves in possession and control of the means of production. It is therefore a question not of “reform,’ the mask of fraud, but of revolution. The capitalist system must be overthrown, class-rule abolished and wage-slavery supplanted by the socialist cooperative commonwealth. The enslaving and degrading wage-system in which we toil for a pittance at the pleasure of our masters must end. 

We hear it frequently urged that the Labour Party or the Democrats are the “poor man’s party", and “the friend of the worker” There is but one way to relieve poverty and to free labour, and that is by making common property of the means of production, the tools and machinery. Is the Labour or Democratic Parties, which we are assured possess “socialistic” tendencies, in favour of common ownership of the means of production? Are they opposed to the wage-system, from which flows a ceaseless stream the poverty, misery and wretchedness? If they are the “friends of labour" any more than the Republican or Conservative party, why is its platform silent about the shocking outrages—and crimes upon working people. Why do they not speak out? Between these parties socialists have no choice, no preference. They are one in their opposition to the emancipation of the working class from wage-slavery, and every worker who has intelligence enough to understand the interest of his or her class and the nature of the struggle in which it is involved, will once and for all time sever relations with them and recognising the class-struggle which is being waged between the producing workers and non-producing capitalists, cast their lot with the class-conscious, revolutionary Socialist Party, which is pledged to abolish the capitalist system, class-rule and wage-slavery—a party which does not compromise or violate its principles in a dauntless determination to the goal of economic freedom. No sane person can be satisfied with the present system. We bring our message of hope to toiling humanity. We point out the road of salvation.

To conceal the true source of war, capitalist propagandists divide the nations into “aggressors” and “peace-lovers.” This is a lie. The people of every nation hate war, for they are its victims. They are plunged into war by the capitalist rulers, who alone profit from it. It contributes exactly nothing to an understanding of the profound social causes of war to say that Germany or Japan started it. The germs of war are STILL lodged in the heart of capitalist society. No trust whatsoever can be placed in the “peace-loving” declarations of the statesmen of capitalism in this or any other country. The Socialist Party warn that war was inevitable if capitalism is allowed to live. We have never ceased to proclaim this truth.

Today we also caution that because of the consequences of climate change, the fight for socialism is now more than a fight to end poverty and inequality, to abolish the exploitation of man by man. Today the fight for socialism is a fight to prevent the possibility of the annihilation of the human race. Mankind must now exterminate the capitalist system – or be exterminated. Time is of the essence. At an ever faster pace capitalism is rushing mankind toward the last abyss of environmental destruction. 

  Only the working class, which suffers the cruelties of capitalism in peace and war, can deal the death-blow to this foul system. The workers can rally together and can change the world. Having abolished capitalism, they can harness the productive forces and the wondrous discoveries of science to the service of human needs. New technological developments of automation and robotics holds the promise of eliminating all poverty and raising the living standards of all peoples to undreamed-of heights. Hazardous and unhealthy occupations can become things of the past. The drudgery and servitude of ugly and unnecessary toil can be ended. There can be leisure and comfort and cultural advancement for every man, woman and child on earth.

All on one condition – that capitalism, the strangler of human progress, is ended! Join with us in the great battle for a new world in which permanent peace and well-being will be assured for all.

TIMES ARE A-CHANGING

Capitalist society appears to be lurching towards catastrophe. There seems to be no longer any rationality. It becomes more unstable. The crises of capitalism on a world scale has given rise to a growing radicalisation among many of the population. We are confident that only the policy of Marxism can bring the workers to socialism. There is no other road, no middle road. Is socialism now on the agenda? In historical terms, yes. In terms of immediate, practical politics, it obviously is not. It is, nevertheless, the necessity to avoid a barbarian future and for the survival of civilisation. We must stand united, fighting together for the future. We will not turn our backs on the struggles of the past. Nor is it our future to sell. This planet belongs to the people. We must safeguard the future.

The Socialist Party conceives of socialism, not as an arbitrary scheme of society to be constructed from a preconceived plan, but as the next stage of social evolution which develops in succeeding stages foreseen, understood, and consciously organised by the revolutionary party, a forecast of the future already indicated in the present. The architects and builders of the socialist society of the future will be the socialist generations themselves. Marxists are quite sure of this and refrain from offering these future generations any instructions or blueprints. In the words of Auguste Blanqui, the great French revolutionist, “Tomorrow does not belong to us.” We can’t successfully deal with the problems posed by the present period unless we clearly understand the main features of our goal and why it represents the only real answer. Essentially, our task is to replace the bourgeoisie with the proletariat. Underneath its guise of neutrality and impartiality the State (which consists of all branches of government, the military, police, prisons and courts), exists because of the irreconcilable contradictions between the capitalist and the working class. Through repression, mediation, spreading of its ideology and economic intervention the State defends the interests of the ruling class.

 The eventual aim of the Socialist Party is to create a system where classes no longer exist, and the state withers away. In this era, each will receive according to their needs and give according to their abilities, there will be no need for a state or violence. Economic production will be developed to a point where each can give and take freely. The last vestiges of racism and sexism will be destroyed. The contradictions between manual and mental labour and between urban and rural life will be resolved.

Only through the struggle for democracy can socialism be won and only under socialism can the working class achieve real democracy and peace. A vote for another political party, even if it goes by the name of “labour,” is opportunistic, is a disavowal of revolutionary principle, is sometimes downright betrayal of socialism and at all times in conflict with the best interests of the working class. The revolutionary socialist then frankly prefers not to vote at all, indifferent to the epithet of “Abstentionist!” because he or she is merely abstaining from playing CAPITALIST POLITICS, confining to utilising whatever interest there is in the elections to stimulate the interest and support of workers in the socialist programme for which our party stands. The rotten structure of capitalist society stands completely exposed before the eyes of the world working class.

People are taught not to vote FOR what they believe but AGAINST an individual. An unpopular policy once identified with an individual can be continued by replacing the individual, keeping the policy with modifications.

These corporate lobbyist funds are not really contributions. They are investments or bribes with an expected return of access and policy.

Poverty, homelessness, unemployment, alcohol and drug dependency, inadequate education and poor health care, and alienation have become facts of life for many people. Increasingly, people are looking for an alternative way of living. The Socialist Party rejects the idea that fundamental change can or should come about through a seizure of power by a vanguard party claiming to act in the interests of the working class and the majority of society. We do not believe that a single party can or should determine the direction, strategy and tactics of the working class. We reject the goal of the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” We are opposed to dictatorship in any and all forms, and we recognise that the application of this principle has in every case meant that a minority acts for and defines the interests of the majority of society. We do not pretend to have a blueprint for a new and better society nor the road-map on how to get there. We do have a vision of a better society and general agreement on the principles of strategy. We believe that fundamental change will take the support of the majority of people who will demonstrate in some verifiable way (such as through voting) that they want such a change. The revolution, then, is the necessity of the times, and it is essential to get prepared now.

 Many things need to be done. Our only weapons are our words and deeds.

Scotland and crime and socialism

Falling levels of violent crime in the west of Scotland has driven an 89% reduction across the country over the past decade, a study has concluded. There were 1,872 violent crimes in Glasgow in 2008-09 compared to 914 in 2017-18. The study also found that serious assaults were now far less likely to involve a weapon compared to those recorded in 2008-09. But the study showed alcohol continued to be a factor in violence, with almost two-thirds of serious assaults in 2017-18 having involved drink. 

Findings included:

• the proportion of crimes occurring in a public or private setting has remained steady, with most (70%) taking place in public
• while most serious assaults (80%) are still against a male victim, the total number of these cases fell 41%, while there was little change in the number of female victims
• most male victims are seriously assaulted by an acquaintance (55%) or stranger (23%), while female victims are more likely to be assaulted by a partner, ex-partner or relative (52%)

A separate study over the same period highlighted the reduction in the proportion of younger offenders convicted of certain violent crimes, as well as the overall fall in convictions.

Marx on Crime

In Part 3 of his Economic Manuscripts of 1861-63, Marx noted just how productive the criminal is, just how many jobs his career creates:

“A philosopher produces ideas, a poet poems, a clergyman sermons, a professor compendia and so on. A criminal produces crimes. If we take a closer look at the connection between this latter branch of production and society as a whole, we shall rid ourselves of many prejudices. The criminal produces not only crimes but also criminal law, and with this also the professor who gives lectures on criminal law and in addition to this the inevitable compendium in which this same professor throws his lectures onto the general market as “commodities”… 

...The criminal moreover produces the whole of the police and of criminal justice, constables, judges, hangmen, juries, etc. ; and all these different lines of business, which form just as many categories of the social division of labour, develop different capacities of the human mind, create new needs and new ways of satisfying them. Torture alone has given rise to the most ingenious mechanical inventions, and employed many honourable craftsmen in the production of its instruments…”

“…Thus he [the criminal] gives a stimulus to the productive forces. While crime takes a part of the redundant population off the labour market and thus reduces competition among the labourers — up to a certain point preventing wages from falling below the minimum — the struggle against crime absorbs another part of this population. Thus the criminal comes in as one of those natural “counterweights” which bring about a correct balance and open up a whole perspective of “useful” occupations. The effects of the criminal on the development of productive power can be shown in detail. Would locks ever have reached their present degree of excellence had there been no thieves? Would the making of bank-notes have reached its present perfection had there been no forgers? Would the microscope have found its way into the sphere of ordinary commerce (see Babbage) but for trading frauds? Does not practical chemistry owe just as much to the adulteration of commodities and the efforts to show it up as to the honest zeal for production? Crime, through its ever new methods of attack on property, constantly calls into being new methods of defence, and so is as productive as strikes for the invention of machines.”

“The earliest, crudest, and least fruitful form of this rebellion was that of crime. The working-man lived in poverty and want, and saw that others were better off than he. It was not clear to his mind why he, who did more for society than the rich idler, should be the one to suffer under these conditions. Want conquered his inherited respect for the sacredness of property, and he stole.”

We can add to Marx’s list the many advances in policing and criminal detection since 1863 and which Marx could never have envisaged: forensic science, the training of police dogs, the 3 million plus security cameras in Britain today, biometric ID cards, security marking pens, burglar alarms, tasers, tagging and spy-chips.

 The list is endless. Moreover, the criminal justice system – from prison personnel and police officers to security guards and lawyers, judges and magistrates involves many times the numbers than when Marx was writing. 

2008 figures for the number of police officers and sergeants, special constables, traffic police and PCSOs is 184,119 

Add to this every person employed in the law enforcement game, all the workers in factories producing security equipment, whether it be uniforms and handcuffs for the police or security cameras and locks and keys, and all the workers employed to maintain the same and you’re looking at an enormous workforce centred on the crime industry. 

 Imagine the mountain of unemployed if, by some miracle, crime within capitalist society were to vanish overnight. Seems capitalism very much needs criminality. If anything it provides the master class with a perfect pretext to hone their surveillance techniques on the rest us and thus maintain their hegemony.

John Bisset

Marxism is what?

What Marx meant and what Marxism means has been debated by literally thousands of writers on the subject, supporters as well as opponents. The validity of Marxism is far more widely rejected than accepted. The “failure” of Marxism has been the prevailing message. And even proponents of Marxist ideas squabble about the correct “party-line.”

Marx saw the theft of the peasants’ lands as the birthmark of capitalism. Marx opposed slavery, and chose as his favourite hero Spartacus, leader of the slaves’ revolt. Marx thought that, with socialism, the state would wither away. Marx explained the whole social world rests on the labour of working people. Marx argued that humanity needs to take back, collectively and democratically, its own power to shape the world. To do that, it must destroy the power of the ruling classes. Marx described a divided social system across the globe, driven by competition between rival capitalists and rival states, as a system out of all control where misery and poverty continues. It is subject to immense convulsions and crises, which alternately promote expansions of exploitation slumps, when workers are cast on the scrapheap. Marx insisted that capitalists have ‘despotic’ power over workers at work, and called the workers ‘wage slaves’. Marx once wrote that the choice for humanity was between socialism and barbarism: the truth of that observation is more obvious and chilling today.

Marx said that it’s no good just wishing for a different world, or drawing up schemes for social regeneration. Socialism only becomes really possible on two conditions.

The first condition is that human productivity should have developed sufficiently to make communism practicable. A poverty-stricken world, where men and women can barely produce enough for their own needs, could not sustain a genuinely democratic society: everyone would be at each others throats. This is why Marx praised capitalism for its achievement in creating the material conditions for socialism where everyone could have enough to eat, adequate clothing and decent housing, with ample leisure time. Today everyone knows that not a child needs to starve, that not a single sick person needs to lack medical care.

The second condition is for socialism to be more than an Utopian dream, there needs to be a social force to bring it into being and according to Marx, that agency is the working class. Workers are unlike previous exploited and oppressed classes in history. Capitalism itself shoves them together, in cities and workplaces, endowing them with collective power; capitalism forces them to cooperate with each other; capitalism, precisely in order to exploit workers better, must educate them and raise their cultural level – far above, indeed, the level of previous ruling classes. And capitalism compels them into a life of permanent struggle, whether they like it or not. What distinguishes the working class, therefore, from all previous exploited classes is not its misery as they live on average better and longer lives than chattel slaves or feudal serfs. But crucially, the working class has immense power and capacities. It is the first class in history which is capable of overthrowing class society entirely. The very heart of Marxist ideas is the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves, their aim was the abolition of all class rule and the end of all servitude, misery, degradation and political dependence across the world. Always and everywhere he opposed those who preached ‘socialism from above’. For Marxists, the working class alone has the capacity to free the new society that lies, waiting to be built, within the present chaotic and divided world of capitalism. No one need starve in a world where food surpluses are produced every year. No one need be homeless, or tortured, or bossed about by bureaucrats and leaders.

The job of socialists to spread these ideas and to organise themselves, showing the way forward to working class solidarity and power. It is not surprising that at this moment the capitalist intellectuals reject Marxism. But the authentic tradition of Marxism and the real Karl Marx can again be discovered. The genuine socialists have some very marvellous ideas that need spreading far and wide.

Right and Wrong

What is the nature of our civilisation? What is the controlling force which is guiding our destinies, and regulating our actions towards our fellow-workers? What is the nature of the system; could it be replaced by a better, or a worse, one. The present system cannot hold for ever. That the present social system has failed must be apparent to all who have studied it. It has rendered the many subservient to the few; it has checked the best human endeavours, and facilitated every method of exploitation; it disinherits the great mass, and foreordains their lifelong misery before they are even born; it makes one dependent upon another’s caprice, instead of making someone dependent on his or her own energies; it is incentive to plunder. It is labour alone which supplies all human wants. It is the labourer alone who carries on civilisation, satisfied all human wants, and keeps the race alive.

The misery of the people is growing and attempts to cover this up, to mesmerise people with via the media haven’t worked. In their vision of the future there are radical reformers who claim capitalism has been able to brainwash people into compulsive consumption, thereby holding down revolt by a glut of goods and high standard of living. Environmentalists argue that people instead of fighting state power and set up working-class urge counter-institutions and counter-communities under capitalism, with communities of cooperatives as their prime example. Some radicals aim at taking power in the city on the basis of radical politics and at radical restructuring of the regional economy. How, exactly, does one take and hold power in one city. Power is not just invested in the local, regional, or state government. There is no such thing as regional economy, a closed system doing without the rest of the world.

Automation and cybernetics has led to an intensification of the class struggle, not its lessening. Under capitalism they are used against the interests of the people. Progressives would have us struggle to break the “work-income connection” (i.e., people should be paid whether they work or not). They call it the “universal basic income”, giving the workers a larger slice of the economic pie will reinforce their support of capitalism. With socialism, automation and cybernation will be advanced and developed. They can serve the people, make life easier for them.

Socialism is the system of society that will carry on production FIRST, LAST AND ALWAYS to supply the needs of babies, their mothers and their fathers – and to hell with foreign trade for profits and international wars for foreign trade. Capitalism is based on the robbery of the workers. Those who own industries but do not work in them, pay wages to the workers and keep profits to themselves. But both, profit and wages, are only the product of labour. Wages are part of the total product paid to labour. Profit, generally the biggest part, capitalists appropriate to themselves and call it their “legal share.” Socialists know nothing of “legal share” nor of “reasonable profits,” as all wealth, however little, acquired without labour is robbery. All our political institutions are destructive and reactionary.

The wage system implies the existence of two economic classes. “Fair day's work and fair day's wages” imply a question of right and wrong. How-ever, this is a class society composed and divided in robbers and robbed and each class has its own notion of right and wrong, fair and unfair. At any rate, if labour produces all wealth—what else is a fair day's work except the one the workers will legislate in their union hall stating how many hours to work and that fair payment will be the en-tire products to the producers? Under it the workers suffer, it means no end of strife, therefore from the standpoint of the workers it is Wrong and it is Right to get together as a class and abolish the wage system, and in its place erect the co-operative common-wealth.

The employers well realise that once the workers begin to seriously organise as a class, with class hopes and ideals, and look out for themselves as a class, with interests distinct and opposed to all other classes, that once the spirit of solidarity takes firm hold in the hearts and minds of the workers. We would lose our chains, our miseries, but gain the world for all the workers, a world fit for men and women to live their lives in freedom of love and labour.

The slavery of the workers by the politically-created and politically-fostered monopoly of property, and the robbery of the labourers by rent, interest, profit, and taxation, must be abolished – abolished peacefully, expeditiously, and permanently. We must start from where we now stand, and despite all the disadvantages which surround us, and with all the ignorance, all the bigotry, all the intolerance, and all the debasement and cowardice which characterise the down-trodden millions, we must side by side make our way along the path which so many have found slippery, until we reach the long-cherished goal of labour’s emancipation. We, slaves as we are, have to emancipate ourselves. It can be done. It must be done. It shall be done. 

Edinburgh Branch Meeting (6/6)

June 6, 7:00 pm

The Quaker Hall,

Victoria Terrace (above Victoria Street),

Edinburgh EH1 2JL

To win workers to organise for socialism is a massive task and it is easy to be demoralised and deceive yourself that there is an easier way to initiate the new system. But there is no alternative to the hard work being carried out by The Socialist Party — and the sooner those who want us to succeed join us, the sooner it will be done. It is not easy to join the Socialist Party. It is not just a matter of filling in an application form and receiving a little red membership card. No other political organisation requires potential new members to understand their aims and be capable of arguing for them. Our message to those who can see no future so long as the market economy remains is join us— and help make history.

History is littered with abortive attempts to reform capitalism. You cannot reform this system out of existence. What we need is a complete and utter change of society. We are not saying that workers shouldn’t try to get the best they can out of capitalism, but that’s the job of trade unions and other similar organisations, not of a socialist political party. History shows that a party that advocates reforms inevitably becomes the prisoner of its reform-minded supporters and eventually ends up giving only lip-service to the socialist transformation of society. The only place for socialists is inside a socialist organisation, completely independent 'of all other political parties. This, we say, is the only way of carrying on socialist promotion and campaigns free from compromise and from distracting side issues. We are socialists because we believe literally that socialism is the sole hope of the working class. We are independent because that is the only safeguard against confusion and compromise and the growth of non-socialist tendencies in our own ranks.

It is common for our critics to characterise the Socialist Party as some sort of exclusive Marxist club and a moribund sect, that is, when they haven’t chosen to ignore us completely. The Socialist Party is no sterile, unthinking organisation full of dogmatists. Is the Socialist Party some sort of dogmatic sect which refuses to admit the impure into its hallowed temple? This question is put by those who sneer at our principles because they themselves have none and find political principle an embarrassment. No, we are not out to maintain a small, select party. On the contrary, we are anxious to recruit members, and recruit them fast into the ranks of our movement. We do not expect every new member to have read the complete works of Marx or deliver lectures on subjects of theoretical complexity. All that we require is basic socialist knowledge: What is capitalism? What is socialism? What do we mean by socialist revolution? How can it be brought about? What is our position on religion, reforms, Russia — the three Rs. In short, we will only accept socialists into the Socialist Party, in much the same way as a golf club will only accept members who want to use the greens to play golf on, not bowls. The movement must prefigure its aim; the end must determine the means.

Adopting a socialist view means looking at the world from a class perspective instead of a national one. It is understanding how and in whose interest today's world is organised, envisaging how a socialist society can be established, and appreciating how socialism will improve people's lives. Socialism has nothing to do with organising capitalism. So isn't it time to break free of the deceptions, to acknowledge the reality and to join the struggle for socialism? The choice is simple. You can either watch helplessly as the world's problems intensify and threaten the very existence of humanity or join the movement to end capitalism and build socialism. If you're a socialist your place is in the Socialist Party. There is no middle course. Whilst the capitalist system continues, so will the socialist analysis continue to have a timeless relevance. A democratic system organised solely for needs would bring not just a sane way to live but a world-wide celebration of all that is best in being human. This could be so easily within our grasp. There is nothing in the human make-up that prevents this from becoming a reality. We are all capable of co-operating in each other's interests. We are still working to make socialists. Still lacking, unfortunately, is a conscious, political majority of socialists eager to move society on to the next phase of social evolution.

We advocate the only policy which we believe to be consistent with our principles: that is the adoption of an uncompromising attitude which admits of no arrangements with any section of the capitalist party or of those supporting any section of the capitalist party nor permits any compromise with any individual or party not recognising the class war as a basic principle and not prepared to work for the overthrow of the present capitalist system. In advocating this policy, we recognise that, in the political field, there are only two parties: one, for the retention of the present system; and the other, the social democratic, organised for its overthrow. Therefore, all entering into political action must join either one side or the other.

Freedom or Slavery?

Sick and weary of the conflicting tactics and vacillating policy of the left-wing the members of this party, some of them veterans in the workers' movement, raise the red flag from the mire through which it was being dragged, and are proud of being members of The Socialist Party. To combat the confusing effects of the compromise and opportunism of the Left, we fully realise that all our time and energies are required for the work of educating our fellow-workers to a clear conception of the causes of their misery, and of organising them so that they will concentrate all their efforts upon the capture of the political machine which is held and used by the master class as an instrument of oppression and exploitation. We have no time, therefore, to waste in appeals to the capitalist class for measures of reform, because we know that nothing short of complete economic freedom, and nothing short of the overthrow of capitalism, will put an end to the despotic system under which the robbery and oppression of the worker goes on. The Socialist Party wants what the oppressor will never give. The workers themselves must achieve their emancipation. “Who would be free must strike the blow." It is our part to show the worker how the blow must be struck.

Alleged labour leaders, who so far as discernible, do everything to confuse the minds of the working class as to their correct position, and as a consequence the working class are apathetic and indifferent regarding their social welfare. The work of this Party is to give a clear exposition of the conflict of interests between the working class and the master class, which in this district is made most intensely manifest, to arouse that enthusiasm which arises from class consciousness, and to organise the workers into The Socialist Party determined to wage war against capitalism and all its supporters, with the ultimate object of securing its complete overthrow. We realise that for some time to come considerable clearing away of misconceptions will be necessary before the socialist party shall reap the full reward of its campaigns. If all sincere socialists would but appreciate the importance of being associated with an organisation such as ours, based as it is upon sound principles, and pursuing as it does a straight and clearly defined policy, how much more effectively would we be able to accomplish the work we are called upon to do. Our case for socialism is presently the only solution for the many evils and problems that exist around us. As well as may be, we are doing the work the Socialist Party is called upon to do—the preliminary spade work necessary to the organisation of a class conscious working class party—and doing it in face of the added difficulties of reform parties—born of the ill-informed and misdirected exuberance of a few local reformers—inevitably create. The number of these parties do much to distract and divert our fellow-workers attention from the consideration of the real problem underlying their condition, so that workers do not readily appreciate their class standing and the necessity for organisation upon the basis of the class struggle as the indispensable condition of successful conflict with capitalism. Every one of the reformist left-wing parties is simply a further factor making for working class confusion—simply one more division of the available working class awareness that might otherwise be focused upon the root causes of, and real remedies for, working class ills; one more obstacle that will have to be overcome.

What the workers want is a straight lead upon a clear issue, and it is precisely because they have never had the one given them, and the other kept plainly before them ; it is precisely because they have been led to follow the fantasy of reform, and have found themselves at the end of their journey in very much the position they formerly occupied, that they to-day are sullen, disconsolate, and recalcitrant. And so the reformer must go into the category of working class enemies, and must be fought as strenuously as the hard-grained proletarian ignorance and apathy, the more so because he or she is the apathy producer, the ignorance perpetuator

The Scottish Drought

Scottish distilleries have revealed that during last year’s heatwave, they had to halt production because they ran out of water. In a summer marked by high temperatures and little rainfall, water levels in springs and rivers fell so low that in the Scottish Highlands some whisky makers missed up to a month’s production.

“We lost the whole of September,” said Callum Fraser of the family-run Glenfarclas distillery on the River Spey. While some whisky makers take their water from the river, Glenfarclas – which means “valley of the green grass” – has its own private water supply. “It’s a natural spring, and it was dry,” said Fraser.

The month’s pause saw Glenfarclas production down by up to 300,000 litres, he added. Rumours abound of other distilleries seeing similar problems. “We weren’t the only one, just the most vocal,” he added.

Further south near Pitlochry, the Edradour distillery lost a few days’ production last year for lack of water. Its owner, Andrew Symington, said the neighbouring river runs visibly lower each year. Edradour now plans to install costly cooling towers to mitigate the effect of lack of water in the future.

The prolonged heat and longer dry spell meant even Scotland – known for soggy and temperate summers – had to cope with drought. Grasses stopped growing, which meant the Highland Games had to be cancelled, and wildfires spread in places they’d never previously been seen.

At some points last summer the Spey was running 97% lower than its normal minimum, and this winter has not brought enough rain to replenish it. “The water table hasn’t recovered yet, so it’ll be this year we see the full effect,” said Fraser. “We’ve still not had real rain yet.”

Experts fear that last year’s conditions may not be unusual in future. This week the environment agency is hosting a “drought summit” in London with water company bosses, as fears grow over similar temperatures this summer. Research has shown that last summer’s heatwave was made about 30 times more likely by the human-caused climate emergency. Some estimate that such heatwaves could be happening every other year by 2050 if emissions continue to increase.

Helen Gavin, who researches climate breakdown and drought at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, said such extreme events place stress on the environment and the economy. “There’s an impact already,” she said. “It’s not just hot and dry summers, but strange weather like we’ve just had – 18C in February, that’s just weird. And that messes up biological and agricultural cycles.” Gavin added, which first affects crop yields, then the cost of production and thus the price paid by consumers. “And it means if we take more water from the environment to try and save whisky, a farmer’s crop, or so we can still turn on the taps, it comes at a huge cost.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/02/scotland-whisky-climate-crisis-heatwave-distilleries-halt-production

Socialism is the way, the only way

Socialism, the revolt against the ruling class, is never so much alive as today. The ruthless march of the capitalists is daily recruiting new workers and making rebels out of both young and old by grinding down wages to the point of bare subsistence. As a consequence our fellow-workers are becoming revolutionary. All over the world the ruling classes are devising measures to stem the rising tide. Our chief task to spread the propaganda of revolution so apathy will disappear, and the Socialist Party will for the first time become a vital force in the struggle between capitalists and wage-workers.

Capitalism is a social system based on the class ownership of the means of production and maintained by the coercive power of the State. The Socialist Party of Great Britain is the political expression of the interests of the workers in this country. The economic basis of present day society is the private ownership and control of socially necessary means of production, and the exploitation of the workers, who operate these means of production for the profit of those who own them. The interests of these two classes are diametrically opposed. It is the interest of the capitalist class to maintain the present system and to obtain for themselves the largest possible share of the product of labour. It is the interest of the working class to improve their conditions of life and get the largest possible share of their own product so long as the present system prevails, and to end this system as quickly as they can. In so far as the members of the opposing classes become conscious of these facts, each strives to advance its own interests as against the other. It is this active conflict of interest which we describe as the class struggle. The capitalist state, by controlling the old political parties, control the powers of the state and uses them to secure and entrench its position. Without such control of the state its position of economic power would be untenable. The workers must wrest the control of the government from the hands of the masters and use its powers in the building of the new social system, the cooperative commonwealth. The Socialist Party seeks to organise the working class for independent action on the political field with the aim of putting an end to exploitation and class rule with the purpose of the emancipation of the working class, and the establishment of genuine liberty for all. To accomplish this aim of the Socialist Party is to bring about the common ownership and democratic control of all the necessary means of production — to eliminate profit, rent, and interest — to change our class society into a society of equals, in which the interest of one will be the interest of all.

Socialism is not some Utopian scheme. Capitalism has created the economic conditions for socialism. Socialism will open the way for great changes in society. Socialism will bring social ownership of social production. Socialism will be won through the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the seizure of political power by the working class. In socialism, the working people will take over the economic forces developed by capitalism and operate them in the interests of society. This can bring a qualitative improvement in the lives of the working people. Because working people will control the great wealth they produce, they will be fundamentally able to determine their own futures. The end of exploitation of one person by another will be an unprecedented liberating and transforming force. Socialism does not mean government control. The state serves the interests of the capitalist class. Government involvement in the economy is state capitalism.

Our vision of socialism is that the means of production – the factories, mines, mills, big workshops, offices, agricultural fields, banks, transportation system, media, communications, medical facilities, big retailers, etc., will be transformed into social common property. Private ownership of the main means of production will end. The economy will be geared not to the interest of profit, but to serving human needs. This will release the productive capacity of the economy from the limitations of profit maximisation. A great expansion of useful production and the wealth of society will become possible. Rational economic planning will replace the present anarchistic system. Coordination and planning of the broad outlines of production will aim at building an economy that will be stable, benefit the people, and steadily advance. Because capitalism already has a developed and centralized economy, socialism’s main task will be to reorient this structure towards social needs. 

Redirecting the productive capacity to human needs will require a variety of economic methods and some experiment. There could be a combination of central planning and local coordination. Various policies might be used, depending on what will be appropriate to changing conditions. But no matter what means are chosen, a socialist economy must uphold the basic principles of common ownership, production for the people’s needs, and the elimination of exploitation. Socialism will realize the ideal “from each according to one’s ability, to each according to one’s need.” Classes will have disappeared, the state will “wither” away, and an exciting new era of human freedom and prosperity will arise.

The heart of capitalism is in its bank-balance

So-called capitalist intellectuals draw their huge salaries just so they can lie to the people in order to prove the system's permanency. The Socialist Party has written much about the anarchy of production that it would require volumes. Our speakers understood, and still understand the capitalists’ squandering of resources. The production of murderous technology used in wars we classify as useless and harmful. We point out that millions are hired to produce such armaments are not doing any useful or lasting work for society. If instead of spending such energy and efforts in destroying things it would change the picture of our society a great deal. The Socialist Party also point out how, purely for the sake of profit, products are manufactured from shoddy materials. How the interests of the capitalists is to make sure that these products wear out and become obsolete quickly, so that they will then need to be replaced, as this will insure the most profit for them. And we point out how much unnecessary work and wasted energy this means. In certain branches of industry, production has increased so much that the capitalists don’t dare apply new discoveries, because their practical use would have a destructive effect on the current system.

The Socialist Party differs from every other political party in that it has set up the abolition of the wage system as its standard. The Socialist Party formed with the goal of fighting an effective class war against the property-owners. The Socialist Party is working on changing the basic foundation of the current social system. We accepted Marx's analysis regarding surplus value as well as historical materialism. The State is just a servant of commerce, a form of management, forced upon us, that is inadequate for conducting a modern social system. The exploitation of the wage system continues. And it will continue, until the workers take control of the land, the mines, the factories and the means of production, and abolish the wage system (or as some call it, the price system.) We are wage workers, wage slaves, and we bear the suffering of this system. The abolition of the wage system is our organization’s expressed goal, to which we hold to with firm commitment and conviction. capitalism can only be affected by money and gold. It is a cruel system which it rules unmercifully. Its convulsive grip and its terrible use are expressed in profit, poverty and want.

The future does not belong to those who are subservient. Let us organize, read, and learn, because we have no time to lose. The Socialist Party promises nothing, but if we become its members , the reward for our struggle will be a new, free, and happy system. A system in which there are no more classes, no more wage workers and no more parasites. A system, which will not be led by the privileged but carefully guarded by society’s producers.