Capitalism's day of reckoning approaches

It gives members of the Socialist Party no pleasure in conceding that presently there is no organisation of the working class in this country that can bring revolutionary change. It is becoming increasingly evident that we are living in a world of conflict inseparable from the existing social order. The opponents of Socialism must shut out the thought that revolutionary change is necessary. The supporters of capitalism have nothing to offer mankind beyond the continuous existence of a system of society which totters from crisis to crisis inherent in that very system. Socialism will be possible only when the workers, those who meet the needs of society, decide that they are determined to lay the conditions of mankind on a new foundation. The whole future of humanity rests on the emergence of the working people as the creative force in society. Socialism meets the desire for freedom innate in every human being. With the end of class oppression the state disappears. Parliament has lost much of its prestige but its control over the forces of law and order, the armed forces, education and a, number of other services means that it cannot be ignored. It is possible to forget the fact that the full picture of what is happening is concealed from the public, and even Members of Parliament.

Socialism is the first social system in the history of mankind to be introduced by the conscious action of its collective creators and not, so to speak, behind the backs of the actors in history’s drama. It is no accident that socialist thinkers failed to sketch out in any detail the new socialist society, as distinct from the many seekers of utopia down through the ages. Instead of blueprinting the new society, they study the society in which we now live — capitalist society — the society out of which the new is destined to come — seeking the laws governing its motion. They learned that the class struggle was the lever of social change. They recognised that the workers, out of painful experience, overcoming their divisions and out of necessity, need to take the power from the hands of the capitalist class who now possess it, abolishing the whole state structure that they have developed to serve their interests and forming organs of workers’ power. The many prejudices which are deeply rooted in the past have been fostered and whipped up by the ruling class to divide the workers and pit them against one another and away from their common enemy.

With the release of the capitalist fetters on the productive forces, the planned obsolescence, socialists see the availability of plenty for all. Not only will the revolution itself be profoundly democratic, but with its victory will come almost instantaneous benefits for all. Thanks to the tremendous productive capacity we have created across this land, we will be quickly able to satisfy all the basic needs of everyone. There will be no real shortages that would require some kind of policing to supervise who gets what, and no bureaucrats acquiring special favours that would allow them to become a privileged elite. We would see our wealth as part of mankind’s common heritage, binging its unparalleled natural resources and productivity, to the well-being of humanity. Solidarity in the working class as a whole, coming from below, is an urgent necessity if we are to further the cause of socialism.

Subscribe to the Socialist Standard. Courage and determination is required, but it is also necessary that everything possible be done towards spreading education among as many workers as possible. The greater the knowledge and understanding we possess, the greater will be our confidence in victory over the class enemy.

Fake Solutions and False Signs

The Socialist Party differs from most anarchists with its insistence that the working class can only abolish the State by first capturing control of it. Therefore, the working class requires organisation on the political field and the Socialist Party engages in electoral activity and contests elections. The ballot box permits the possibility for the peaceful reconstruction of society. A socialist political party has but one thing to do upon winning control of the political machine, and that is to abolish all political forms of power, including abolition of the socialist political party itself, without delay. Our aim is truly a class-free society that must also be state-free with no coercive power that is distinct from and ruling over the population. What the alternative system self-management will vary in form and depend upon circumstances but will mainly consist of delegates elected by the people in their communities and their work-places. Socialism is possible only if the working class creates a structure through which it can wield the economy democratically.

Workers today face a host of challenges undreamed of by previous generations. Outsourcing, downsizing, buyouts, mass layoffs, job cuts. The list goes on and on. Workers have nowhere to turn when the chips are down. An organisation based on working-class principles, and organised, and administered by the workers themselves, is needed, will bring together all workers, men and women, young and old, across artificial racial and national boundaries, into one powerful and irresistible force. But organising is not be an end in itself but the beginning of a bigger plan which will one day bring forth a system that will benefit everyone, a system that will see the end of forced unemployment, an end to poverty and war, and all the other miseries that follow in the wake of the so-called "best of all possible systems." Capitalism today may pretend otherwise, but it, too, relies on terror, or the threat of it, to uphold the economic order. Workers cannot look to the capitalist class or its state to protect them from the social forces unleashed by capitalism.

An increase in exploitation on the job, whether in the form of lower real wages and in greater workloads, hurts workers immediately and directly. But the workers themselves aren't the only ones who feel the increased pressure. Their families are also affected. If we as workers controlled production and distribution of goods, the wealth we created with our labour could be used to meet all of our needs. We could allocate our resources to the areas we considered most important. We could surround our children with the love and attention of entire families, without fear of want. The profit motive, which defines capitalist values, are incompatible with human values. Creating the social environment for humans to live and behave as human beings is a task reserved for socialism.

The capitalist system is inherently nationalistic. Society has reached a point where capitalism is increasingly incompatible with freedom and democracy. To save capitalism, freedom and democracy must eventually be destroyed. To save freedom and democracy, capitalism must be destroyed. To reverse the trend toward repression, to defend our rights from attack and to make democracy a reality in every sphere of life, the working class must organise to end capitalist control over the means of life and with it the political supremacy of the capitalist class. The only cure for the authoritarian threat inherent in capitalist-class rule is the forging of a class conscious workers' movement for socialism that successfully establishes a socialist economic democracy -- a rational social system that can provide fulfilling economic opportunity for all and production for human needs and wants rather than for the profit of the minority capitalist class. Capitalism, with a pathological focus on profit before people, is fertile soil for human miseries. The brutal and reactionary response of the ruling class and their servants who shape social policy is to put people in cages.

Every class-conscious worker who can see what is at stake had best heed the alarm, rouse themselves and join the struggle to educate and organise our class for socialism -- while there is still time to do so. Only the Socialist Party can bring a society characterised by compassion. Socialism will free human beings from prisons, class rule, the profit motive, despair, alienation and addiction.

Socialism will change our way of life

Standing in the way of social progress and socialism is the capitalist class. The ruling class is composed of the owners and CEOs of the huge multinational corporations that control the economic life of the planet. They control the destinies of billions around the globe. The capitalist class is a powerful enemy and it will require protracted efforts to overthrow it. But there is a potentially much more powerful force opposing them: the unity of the vast majority of working people. 

The working class is the class that is most systematically and brutally exploited by capitalism, and is the most revolutionary class. The working class is composed of all wage earners – mental and manual, urban and rural – whether in basic industry, manufacturing, service, farm, sales, domestic, clerical, public, or other jobs. The working class is composed of skilled and unskilled, employed and unemployed. The vast majority of people belong to the working class. The working class produces the wealth appropriated by the capitalists and its basic interest lies in the abolition of the private ownership of the means of production. There is a lot of confusion about class. Politicians, academics, media pundits and even trade union leaders, have obscured the issue. As a result many think the main classes are the rich, poor and middle class. This view has problems. It pits the employed section of the working class against the unemployed sections of the working class, by suggesting that the working class is the middle class and has different interests from the unemployed sections of the working class. Another variant is to think that everyone who lives in the suburbs is "rich." The effect of this kind of analysis is to pit the working class against itself, confounding friends and enemies and deadening class consciousness.

 Marxists approach the matter differently. When socialists look at the issue of class we see that every kind of society, from ancient times until now, is organised around its tools - it means of producing things that satisfy people's needs and wants. Ownership of the means of production is basic. Classes are large groups of people, who have a defined relationship to the means of production, such as ownership. They also have a defined place in the social division of labour, for example some people are supervisors or managers. The result of the these differences in who owns what and where one fits into the social division of labour, means a difference in who gets how much wealth. For revolutionary change to take place our fellow-workers workers who are held down by the capitalists - need to arrive at the conclusion that they are unable to live in the old way, and need to be willing to fight to bring the old order to an end.

The government today serves the interests of the ruling monopoly capitalist class. The state suppresses and controls opposition to capitalism. It maintains social order to provide a stable environment for big business. It does this through the massive state apparatus, including the courts, police and army. In times of crisis the repressive functions of the state become more visible. The teeming millions face two choices – either accept misery and murder or set out to overturn this system. Our principles are based on the revolutionary potential of those who have to fight this system in order to live. The decisive step today is to broaden and intensify the activities and influence of our party educate and organise fellow-workers to wage class war on the capitalist system.

Our aim is to reorganise society and to put an end to poverty and injustice once and for all. To change society and end oppression, we need a plan to get from where we are now to liberation - a strategy that will work. We need to turn things upside down. This means revolution. Identifying our real friends and our real enemies is a first step.

The only way that the majority of people can survive is if the marvellous means of production belong to society, the resources of society are distributed by need, and the individual contributes to society whatever he or she is capable of. Reality demands that we take over the economy and run it in the interests of the people. It can no longer be done on the level of private property.

Glasgow Doldrums

Its annual “happiness index” asks thousands of Scots how happy or unhappy they are in their local communities, before assigning them a score between -100 and +100, with zero being neutral.

People living in Glasgow have the lowest levels of happiness in Scotland. The average happiness level in Glasgow was just 38.5, leaving the nation’s biggest city lagging a long way behind the Highlands and Islands, which topped the table on 55.6.

Scots with a household income of more than £60,000 were by far the most happy, with an average score over eight points higher than those on between £40,000 and £60,000.

Defend Civilisation from Capitalism

Keep capitalism and we'll face the certain prospect of further environmental destruction, new wars, mass hunger - the graveyard of civilisation. Our world is a world of economic exploitation, inequalities, lack of political freedoms, material emptiness, a world of misery, hunger, hatred, war and fear. Old problems are joined by new ones. 

Capitalism poisons our lives everyday. 

Capitalism is running riot throughout the land. The private ownership of the means of production is doing its deadly work. The millions of wage-earners do not own themselves, they are wage-slaves, and their masters control their lives and subject them to conditions as degrading as those which existed in times of chattel slavery. 

Capitalism, the rule of the rich minority, is the enemy. This alone should suffice to condemn this system in the eyes of every one concerned with the salvation of the human race.

Capitalism is destroying itself and from its ruins will rise the cooperative commonwealth. 

Socialism is the only way out from the difficulties in which mankind has entangled itself. The antidote to capitalism is socialism, a democratic system of society where the wealth is owned and controlled by the people who produce it. In a cooperative society we can pool our abilities and resources to create more for everyone, and to share it out fairly.

There is no principles involved in the politics of the other political parties. For them it is simply a question of capturing political office and dividing the the spoils. The same old speeches are made and the same old promises are pledged. Whatever politician, it is all the same. They will exhort in favour of anything, or declare their wrath upon anything, if it gains them extra votes. The Tories and Labour are at one in their allegiance to the City of London and capitalist supremacy. A vote for either of these parties is a vote for misrule and wage slavery.

Why should workers become a member of the Socialist Party? 

The Socialist Party is the only party dedicated to the emancipation of the working class from wage-slavery. 

The Socialist Party is the only party that stands for social democracy. 

The Socialist Party is the party of the working class, the only class without which society could not exist. Its emancipation will follow the abolition of the wage system, will mean the freedom of humanity, based upon a cooperative commonwealth which will mean the beginning of the first real civilisation the world has ever known. 

The Socialist Party proposes to transfer the sources, means, and machinery of production and distribution from the private hands to the all people, so that wealth may be produced in abundance, not to enrich a small class, but for the comfort and enjoyment of all. 

The Socialist Party wants working people to want everything. 

Our patience is equal to their persistence.

The goal of the Socialist Party is the liberation of humanity from all forms of oppression. 

To achieve that, it is essential to carry out a socialist revolution throughout the world to overthrow the capitalist system. 

Members never forget that the cause for which the Socialist Party fights for is the most worthwhile of all to which human beings can dedicate themselves.

Glasgow Branch Meeting (17/7)

July 17, 7:00 pm

Maryhill Community Central Halls,

304 Maryhill Road,

Glasgow G20 7YE

We, the working class, run the world for the benefit of our capitalist masters. Why not run it for ourselves?

The political and labour leaders who are constantly exhorting or cajoling you, do not possess superior brains. In fact, the opposite. It's obvious, that they are merely parroting the things that reflect the interests of their capitalist bosses.

We, the working class, run a complicated, world-wide economic system, from top to bottom. But then we give the bulk of the wealth we create and distribute to the small minority who own the means of wealth production—the land, factories, transport, etc.

There exists a constant struggle between you and your employer over your wages and working conditions. Never would you dare to think that as wealth is produced from the resources of nature, by the application of human labour-power, it should wholly belong to those who, as a social class, produce it. In other words, you accept the class ownership of society; you are prepared to let a minority class own and control the means whereby you live. As a consequence of their favoured position the capitalists can live in any part of the world they choose; they can sell, barter, or gamble away, the very means whereby yo live and survive.

Fellow-workers, let us study of the social system under which we live. Let us all learn what a bountiful world this could be, if we start producing wealth for the benefit of all mankind, instead of the profit of a few.

To us of the working-class, capitalism means the continuation of all the rotten, miserable conditions under which the mass of the people suffer. No amount of reforming can change the basic nature of the system, and its effects are not mollified by a change of flag. It matters not which party administers capitalism. Each may apply the screw of policy; bless it, curse it, nationalise or de-centralise; the effects, as far as the working-class are concerned, are the same—poverty, insecurity, slums, ignorance, depressions, and wars.

We, in the Socialist Party, affirm that there is but one solution to the problems confronting the working-class; that solution is SOCIALISM. No wages system, no exchange, no buying and selling, but instead, the application of the principle; from each according to ability; to each according to needs. That is socialism, and the way out for the workers of the world.

Contact the Socialist Party's Glasgow branch, and join them in discussions. The socialist case is not heard in Labour Party or its left-wing hangers-on and if there was a person to put it, he or she would not be taken seriously. Far from being influenced by socialist persuasion those within the ranks of the Labour Party have now forgotten what little they once knew. They no longer know what socialism is. It is now a political machine for handling the affairs of British capitalism in between Tory administrations. Knowledge is the answer— understanding our present economic system. Then, and then only, can we change it, for the benefit of all. Capitalism, with its wages-system, and its class structure, is the common enemy; our common weapon is socialist consciousness.

'Something now'

The Socialist Party is concerned with the future of the whole of humanity. To save humanity, a different system is needed, one based on cooperation where there will be production for use not profit, and democratic self-management of all aspects of society. Only a few of all fellow-workers are for this now and in fact there is an actual growth of authoritarian, nationalist, populism world-wide and but they vote for right-wing political parties but it is for the World Socialist Movement to fight for this goal. The only way out is struggle and we, the working class, must organise. We must build solidarity across borders to defeat the power of global capitalism. We have to build a movement that has the power to create a better world. We can make a socialist revolution to overthrow capitalism worldwide. We must rebuild the imagination of the working class and combat the capitalist narrative that has made it easier for us to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Emancipation from wage slavery, and the indignities it heaps upon working people, will free the entire human race and put an end to classes and class divisions.

If the working class is ever to succeed in establishing a free and democratic society in which all will enjoy peace, abundance and security, it must first have a proper understanding of its class status in capitalist society, a correct class perception of the opposing forces it must contend with on the road to its goal, and a precise knowledge of the meaning of the social, economic and political terms of the age. It is correct to say that the capitalist system will destroy itself. It does not follow from that with equal logic that socialism will be the successor. One could go on at length citing examples of liberals who pose as champions of the downtrodden by attacking the evils of the system, yet who remain adamant that the system is to be preserved - reformed if possible, but reformed or not, retained. The differences among them are limited to questions of how best to preserve the filthy and contradiction-ridden capitalist system and protect the basic profit interests of the plutocracy at home and abroad. In their shedding of crocodile tears over the inequities of the present system, in their pious advocacy of relief for the most deprived and oppressed victims of capitalism's ruthless exploitation, in their selective and pretentious condemnation of the intensified onslaught against constitutionally guaranteed rights and liberties, and in their unctuous lip service to the nation's traditional concepts of democracy, the reformists have often been guilty of the highest degree of hypocrisy. Whether the reforms proposed are direct aids to capitalists in exploiting the workers, or in perpetuating the capitalist system, or in deceiving the workers into believing that their fate can be improved under the capitalist system, the fact remains that their reforms are generally contrary to the interests of workers. They invariably are props for the use of the plutocracy in consolidating its power and stranglehold on society. It does not require any profound insight to realise that the hope for a sane and decent society do not lie with the ruling class. Nor do they rest with men and women "of good will", no matter how sincere or commendable such sentiments may be. Our hope lie with the working class. There is but one plank in the Socialist Party's platform to -- the abolition of wage slavery and unconditional surrender of the capitalist class.

Reforms are a danger in that they operate as bait. The theory that socialism can with safety depart from the hard and fast line of its ultimate goal and follow the lure of "something now" batters itself against the hard fact that "something now" is not obtainable by it, and the logical consequence of such departure would be the degeneration of the movement into a "something now," or reform, movement. If the aim of socialism were to be made the getting of "something now" and socialism later, socialism would have to be sacrificed to immediate progress. The only something worth striving for now by Socialists, because it is the only thing obtainable now, is the laying of as solid a foundation as possible on which to move forward to the conquest of capitalism. Then, too, the more attention that Socialists pay to the ultimate goal, the more will the capitalist class endeavour to stem the tide and check its progress by offering "something now" schemes galore; so that, granting that "something now" is desirable, the way to get it is not by bothering about it but by working steadily for the goal. The Socialist Party clearly recognises the dangers that lurk in the swamp of reform. It keeps uppermost in mind the need to promote among the workers it reaches a clear class-conscious understanding of the nature of capitalist society. Nor does it hesitate to point to the inevitable limitations of any movement that fails to address the capitalist cause. The Socialist Party seeks to tie all the immediate struggles and problems of our class to the essential task of creating an organisation capable of accomplishing a fundamental social change to socialism. 

The Socialist Party's interpretation of socialism is very different from the one put forth by Leninists, Stalinist and Trotskyists as well as all those who describe themselves as social democrats or democratic socialists in various countries. There is no advocacy of state ownership. There is no belief that a government should rule under the leadership of a supposed working class party. The goal, rather, is direct democratic control of all of society by the people. The Socialist Party seeks to abolish all political forms of power, including the abolition of the socialist political party itself, without delay. The Socialist Party's case for socialism differs from most anarchists and syndicalists in its insistence that the working class can only abolish the State by first capturing control of it. The working class must control the offices and the machinery of political government in order to dismantle it. Therefore, the working class requires to organise on the political field. Without use of the present constitutional method, it argues, the social transformation would have to be violent. Marx had written that "socialism casts off the political cloak", and Engels had written that, with socialism, "the government of persons is replaced by the administration of things." Such comments reflect the state-free character of socialism.

Socialism triumphs at the ballot box.

Men and women heed this: Mankind is literally in a race towards catastrophe. Recessions, mass misery, mental breakdown, corruption, the terrible threat of climate change and possible annihilation in nuclear war -- are signs of the instability of capitalist society. Such are the irreconcilable contradictions of the obsolete system of capitalism. But as obsolete and inhumane as it is, the capitalists want to preserve it. 

Each new advance in labour-displacing technology (automation, Artificial Intelligence and robotics) further widens the gap between what the workers produce and what their wages will buy, thus hastening the onset of economic crisis and deepening its intensity. Defenders of capitalism say "new technology makes jobs." But as production is concentrated in highly automated plants, the cruel and devastating effects of automation on workers' jobs become apparent. These are the grim realities of capitalism. And all that the capitalists and their politicians can do about them is (a) increase and extend unemployment benefits such as the Universal Basic Income proposals (b) give some of the unemployed jobs on public works, (c) let the main body of the unemployed vegetate on welfare or relief. Capitalist handouts, whatever their form, are degrading. Jobless workers demean themselves before some bureaucrat in order to qualify benefits. Working families family are regimented that erodes their self-respect. Reforms cannot solve the problem. The capitalist system is the cause of mass unemployment. The interests of the overwhelming majority dictate therefore that capitalism be consigned to the garbage-bin of history, and that it be replaced by socialism, a social system capable of guaranteeing security for all. What stands in the way is (a) the outmoded system of private ownership of industry and (b) the workers' failure to see themselves for what they are under this system -- namely, wage-slaves, in bondage as a class to the capitalists as a class. Socialism means abolition of the wage system.

To end the curse of unemployment we must eliminate the cause of unemployment. We must replace private ownership of the industries with common ownership (the industries must be owned by all the people collectively). And we must replace production for sale and profit with a system of production for use. Instead of putting workers out of jobs, automation will shorten the work-day, work-week and work-year. Technological progress will no longer be something for us workers to fear, but an unqualified blessing that will ensure abundance and increased leisure for all. Socialism means democratic control and management of the industries and social services by the useful producers. In socialism, all authority is exercised by the useful producers. 

If we are ready to accept the lessons of history, we shall fight the reaction by uprooting the cause -- the economic despotism, the capitalist system. Join with us in the great cause of human liberation - and to save civilisation from catastrophe. The Socialist Party alone shows the way out of the prevailing chaos and social anarchy. The Socialist Party calls upon the workers of brain and brawn to unite under its banner and vote the capitalist system out and socialism in. This is the peaceful method of effecting social change. And the Socialist Party stands four-square for peaceful settlement of the great social problem of our age. We seek to abolish poverty, insecurity, unemployment and war; we do not want totalitarianism in any shape or form.

Socialism is the direct opposite of capitalism. It means a completely new social order, with new administrative institutions through which to direct democratically the social production of our industrial age in the interests of all society. Socialism does not now exist, and it never has existed anywhere in the world. There will be no economic classes in Socialist Society. With the elimination of private (and State) ownership, the division of society into exploiting and exploited classes will end. Everyone will have the same basic material interests. In the class-divided world of today the primary consideration is: Does it pay? In the Socialist World of tomorrow the chief question will be: Is it needed, desirable and socially beneficial? In short, Socialism means production of things to satisfy human needs and wants and not, as under capitalism or bureaucratic statism, for sale and profit. 

Private (and State) property and profit having been eliminated entirely, there will be no way for social parasites, capitalistic or bureaucratic, to exist. In short, it will no longer be possible for any individual or group to secure the economic power that would make possible the exploitation of another human being.With socialism we shall all be useful producers, collectively concerned with producing the most with the least expenditure of human labour. We shall collectively produce the things we need and want. New techniques and inventions, and the elimination of anarchy and waste in production, will greatly increase the wealth available. And such technological improvements will not result in unwanted surpluses and unemployment -- they will enable us to reduce drastically the hours of work. Socialism will, therefore, give us the leisure time to develop our facuities and live healthy, happy, useful lives. Even with the facilities we now have, merely by eliminating capitalist waste and duplication and providing useful work for all, we could probably produce an abundance for everyone by working four hours a day, four days a week, and twenty-four weeks a year. 

In the organisation of the working class along the lines indicated lies the hope of humanity for a free and decent world, a world freed of the war-breeding struggle for capitalist markets, a world in which goods are produced for the use of the producers and not for sale with a view to profit. We want a world in which machines and scientific achievements will become a blessing to multiply our productivity and give us all leisure in which to study, travel and generally enjoy the fruits of our labor in peace and harmony in the universal Brotherhood of Man. Every person who loves liberty and hates despotism should study the principles of the Socialist Party. Socialism provides the foundation and shelter for the lofty aspiration of the cooperative commonwealth. There is no need for a so-called transition period. We can move into socialism immediately. There will be no class to hold down, hence no need of a political State. Socialism is the next logical and higher order of society. All historic forces, economic and social, point in that direction. And when socialism is achieved, the cause of mankind's most pressing problems -- war, depressions, crime, prejudice, global warming, etc. will have been eliminated. Socialism will be a society wherein we will make the fields yield an abundance without arduous toil; wherein the factories, mines, and fields, will be the safest, the most modern, the most efficient, the most sanitary possible, and productive beyond our wildest dreams without laborious toil; wherein our educational institutions will have the finest facilities and be devoted to developing complete human beings; wherein our medical and social services will concentrate on creating and maintaining the finest health and recreational facilities conceivable; wherein, in short, drudgery, poverty and social misery will be banished forever.

The Declaration of Arbroath.

The Declaration of Arbroath is to go on display next year. It will go on show at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh from 27 March 27 to 26 April 2020 to commemorate the 700 years of its signing.

Stirring patriotic stuff yet after 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath was quickly forgotten and only resurfaced in 1680 when it becomes influential, not as an expression of nationalism, but to support those who sought to curtail royal power. It was only later that the Declaration of Arbroath came to be seen in more nationalistic terms.

Scotland in 1320 was a very different country to the Scotland we know today and therefore we should not give to a medieval mind-set the interpretations of a modern age.

So what did the signatories of the document actually mean by "we" and "freedom"? The "we" who attached their seals to the document were all noblemen. And it was their freedom that the authors of the Arbroath declaration were solely concerned about. Certainly not the liberties of their serfs and servants. The common-folk of Scotland had no say in the matter. The idea that the peasant in the fields or guildsman in the burghs had any sort of say is laughable. The “people” of Scotland meant the nobles, the majority of whom were still culturally Anglo-Norman, despite inter-marriage. The Declaration signatories certainly had no concept of popular sovereignty of any Scottish citizens.

Those medieval signatories to the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath were merely feudal barons asserting their claim to rule and lord it over their own vassals, and most definitely not leading any "liberation struggle" as some left-nationalists would like to represent it as.

The oft-quoted section of the Declaration reading:

 “..if this prince [Bruce] shall leave these principles he hath so nobly pursued, and consent that we or our kingdom be subjected to the king or people of England, we will immediately endeavour to expel him, as our enemy and as the subverter both of his own and our rights, and we will make another king, who will defend our liberties”

This should be read as a cautionary warning and a veiled threat to Robert the Bruce himself for he had switched his allegiance numerous times in the past.

The lesser-known earlier 1310 Declaration of the Clergy (the clergy being usually the younger sons of the nobles) proclaimed the Kingship of Robert. It begins by stating that John Balliol was made King of Scots by Edward Longshanks of England, but goes on to criticise Balliol’s status, because an English King does not have any authority to determine who will be the King of Scots. Such authority rests with the Scots themselves and alone, ignoring the fact that the Scottish nobles had given up that right in negotiations with Edward over twenty years beforehand.

The Declaration stated:

 “The people, therefore, and commons of the foresaid Kingdom of Scotland...agreed upon the said Lord Robert, the King who now is, in whom the rights of his father and grandfather to the foresaid kingdom, in the judgement of the people, still exist and flourish entire; and with the concurrence and consent of the said people he was chosen to be King, that he might reform the deformities of the kingdom, correct what required correction, and direct what needed direction; and having been by their authority set over the kingdom, he was solemnly made King of Scots...And if any one on the contrary claim right to the foresaid kingdom in virtue of letters of time past, sealed and containing the consent of the people and the commons, know ye that all this took place in fact by force and violence which could not at the time be resisted.”

Like a lot of such grandiose statements we've seen down through the ages, the Clergy's declaration was nothing more than misleading propaganda, which sought to disguise the facts of history.

In 1305, William Wallace was captured in Robroyston near Glasgow by John de Menteith, a Scottish knight and handed Wallace over to the English to be executed. Menteith put his seal to the Declaration of Arbroath. 

Why does Scotland need this affirmation of independence? The answer is Scottish nationalism is based on a myth: the myth that Scottish people are different from Englishmen, Irishmen, Welshmen, or Cornishmen. But differences in speech, dress, pastimes or traditions are too superficial to form the basis for any real distinction. Workers in Scotland and the rest of Britain share a common tongue, common values, common aspirations and common interests: they have shared and forged a common history, and should now be looking to a common future – the world socialist cooperative commonwealth of common ownership.

Socialism - "Associations of free and equal producers."

The Socialist Party declares class-war upon the wages system which cheats and enslaves working people, which makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer. We are the working class. Without us, nothing could happen, be produced, nothing grown or harvested, nothing fixed or invented. We must work for our living or suffer the consequences. As a class, as a community and as a people, we share the same basic needs and basic desires: to live in & be part of a healthy, peaceful and humane society. We must recognise capitalism as the fundamental cause of our social ills, and that the institutions it rests on must be replaced by social democracy where we work and where we live. 

For the first time in decades, dire economic and environmental conditions call into question the old assumptions about capitalism's ability to redeem or 'reform itself' . workers are robbed by the capitalists who buy their labour power for wages and who appropriate the product of their labour. Wages are determined by the price that labour power fetches as a commodity in the market, and this price fluctuates according to supply and demand. In the long run, however, the price of labour power (wages) coincides with its value -- and its value is equal to the amount of labour (measured in labour hours) that is embodied in what workers consume to keep themselves in working condition. In everyday language the worker normally gets a LIVING WAGE. This is the key to the robbery that goes on under capitalism. 

And it is precisely for this reason that the Socialist Party focuses attention on the worker's wage-slave status and the need to alter this status. When, with socialism, the workers cease to be robbed of the major portion of their product they will be enabled to consume in proportion to what they produce, but not until then. If the workers are deluded into thinking they are robbed as consumers they inevitably become victims of reforms and reformers, and the real robbery -- the robbery at the point of production -- goes on unabated. On the other hand, when the workers understand how and where they are robbed, the solution is clearly indicated. It is not reform, but revolution, the complete abolition of capitalism with its wage system and exploitation.

A state-run economic system is not socialism! Karl Marx and Frederick Engels clearly distinguished between state ownership of the means of production and social ownership. They opposed the very existence of the state. State ownership means the continued existence of a governmental power over and above the people themselves; it signifies continued class rule. Social ownership means that the people themselves, collectively and democratically, govern the use of the means of production. Marx and Engels described socialism as a society run by

The Socialist Party declares class-war upon the wages system which cheats and enslaves working people, which makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer. We are the working class. Without us, nothing could happen, be produced, nothing grown or harvested, nothing fixed or invented. We must work for our living or suffer the consequences. As a class, as a community and as a people, we share the same basic needs and basic desires: to live in & be part of a healthy, peaceful and humane society. We must recognize capitalism as the fundamental cause of our social ills, and that the institutions it rests on must be replaced by social democracy where we work and where we live. For the first time in decades, dire economic and environmental conditions call into question the old assumptions about capitalism's ability to redeem or 'reform itself' . workers are robbed by the capitalists who buy their labor power for wages and who appropriate the product of their labor. Wages are determined by the price that labor power fetches as a commodity in the market, and this price fluctuates according to supply and demand. In the long run, however, the price of labour power (wages) coincides with its value -- and its value is equal to the amount of labor (measured in labour hours) that is embodied in what workers consume to keep themselves in working condition. In everyday language the worker normally gets a LIVING WAGE. This is the key to the robbery that goes on under capitalism. And it is precisely for this reason that the Socialist Party focuses attention on the worker's wage-slave status and the need to alter this status. When, with socialism, the workers cease to be robbed of the major portion of their product they will be enabled to consume in proportion to what they produce, but not until then. If the workers are deluded into thinking they are robbed as consumers they inevitably become victims of reforms and reformers, and the real robbery -- the robbery at the point of production -- goes on unabated. On the other hand, when the workers understand how and where they are robbed, the solution is clearly indicated. It is not reform, but revolution, the complete abolition of capitalism with its wage system and exploitation.

A state-run economic system is not socialism! Karl Marx and Frederick Engels clearly distinguished between state ownership of the means of production and social ownership. They opposed the very existence of the state. State ownership means the continued existence of a governmental power over and above the people themselves; it signifies continued class rule. Social ownership means that the people themselves, collectively and democratically, govern the use of the means of production. Marx and Engels described socialism as a society run by "associations of free and equal producers."

Socialism, democratic workers' control of the economy, is an attainable goal. To attain the goal, however, workers must have a greater understanding of society and the social forces with which they must contend, and be better prepared and organised than any other revolutionary class in history. The more thoroughly the working class is already organized around a sound revolutionary program and principles during a revolutionary crisis, the better its chances for success. The crucial question is whether enough workers will organise for the socialist reconstruction of society before capitalism collapses into some more barbaric form of class rule or global warming or a nuclear holocaust destroys us all.

Socialism, democratic workers' control of the economy, is an attainable goal. To attain the goal, however, workers must have a greater understanding of society and the social forces with which they must contend, and be better prepared and organised than any other revolutionary class in history. The more thoroughly the working class is already organised around a sound revolutionary program and principles during a revolutionary crisis, the better its chances for success. The crucial question is whether enough workers will organise for the socialist reconstruction of society before capitalism collapses into some more barbaric form of class rule or global warming or a nuclear holocaust destroys us all.