Our object is socialism.

The Socialist Party contends that there is no solution for the workers’ problems except Socialism. It is not possible for the Labour Party or any other party to administer capitalism in such a way that the workers’ problems can be solved within the framework of the existing system. The failure of past Labour government is not an accident. It is not due to mistakes in tactics, or to the failure of the personal qualities of its leaders.

Before the productive power of modern technology can become a beneficial advantage to the whole of society the instruments of production must become common property. They are socially operated; they have yet to become socially owned and controlled. This of course involves the abolition, through political action, of the “rights” of the capitalists to own and control the land, factories, transport, etc. It implies the conscious assumption by the working-class, organised for the purpose, of complete control of the machinery of government so that they may obtain control of the entire industrial resources of society. This abolition of classes is the equality at which socialists aim; but an equality of access to the means of living. Such an equality would render the term “wages” a meaningless one, as no one would be in the position of having to sell their energies in order to obtain a bare subsistence. Our object is to get socialism.

Under such a system it would be to the interests of all to expand the material resources of society as rapidly as possible in order to increase the common stock of necessities and amenities. For so long as these resources are fettered by capitalist ownership, whether in the form of private capitalism or nationalisation, the workers will be restricted to the consumption of such a quantity of goods as is sufficient to enable them to go on producing a profit. Hence we find everywhere that the capitalists, faced with a quantity of goods which cannot be sold, are compelled to take steps to restrict production. Socialism will abolish the need for such restriction and while, even with the present resources of production, it would immediately increase the wealth available for the workers' enjoyment, it would also render possible a considerable expansion of those resources in order that the free development of every individual should be translated from a dream into a reality.

Wages are paid only in order that employing concerns may squeeze out of the workers that profit which it is the object of their existence to obtain. The enthusiasm of even the staunchest Labour voters has been undermined by instance after instance of successful attacks on their wages and working conditions. Knowing that socialism is the only solution and that it can be brought about only when the electors become socialists, we have consistently opposed the Labour Party and its left-wing hanger-ons. We urge our fellow-workers to abandon their illusions and oppose capitalism, including its Labour Party supporters. 

The Socialist Party is the only party in this country that has never betrayed the workers’ interests by supporting reform programmes or capitalist parties. We are at present necessarily a propaganda organisation, working to make socialist principles better known. Political leaders thrive not on the knowledge of the workers but on their ignorance. Whether they are honest or dishonest these leaders cannot bring about socialism for the working-class—that the workers have to do for themselves. Which means that they, and not merely their leaders, have to acquire knowledge. It is the purpose of working-class education to give the workers the knowledge. Until the workers rid themselves of their trust in leaders they will continue to be misled, defeated, and betrayed, whenever suitable occasion offers. 

The assumption that the Socialist Party attaches no importance to action is grotesque. What we want is sound action, the action of socialists who want socialism. Of course we reject the unsound action of the “something now” parties. Would our critics have us participate in their actions, such as protecting the capitalist system, and—most important of all—preaching the false doctrine that the workers’ problems can be solved by the “something now” policy of reforming capitalism? Our slow progress is merely a reflection of the success of the propaganda efforts of the capitalist parties, including the parties of capitalist reform. But not even their most skilful propaganda will serve permanently to cover up the woefully inadequate results of their “something now” actions. No member of the Socialist Party, proposes to give up our action directed towards the attainment of socialism, in order to perpetuate the endless, useless and dangerous mistakes of the ‘‘something now” parties. In due course the workers, disappointed with that policy, will join us and make socialism a reality. We are optimistic enough to believe that. 

The evidence of capitalism's decay, its redundancy, is persistent and overwhelming. The working class, who now run capitalism in every way, need only to see this evidence for what it is and then to opt for the social system which they can run in the interests of the entire human race.

Capitalism Condemned

In the name of our fellow-workers the Socialist Party condemns the capitalist system.

In the name of economic freedom it condemns wage-slavery.

In the name of new technology it condemns poverty.

In the name of peace it condemns war.

In the name of civilisation it condemns famine. 

In the name of rationality it condemns superstition and religion.

In the name of the future 

In the name of humanity it demands social justice for every man, woman and child.

The Socialist party knows neither colour, sex, nor race. It is first and last the party of the workers, regardless of their nationality. The Socialist party is pledged to educate, encourage and support fellow-workers to the full extent of its ability. 

The Socialist party sprang forth from the class struggle. In the battles of the workers in the war of the classes, in the unceasing struggle of the workers against their exploiters every where and wherever and however it is fought, they are always and everywhere the battles of the Socialist Party. 

The Socialist Party is the only party of the people, the only party opposed to the rule of the plutocracy, the only truly democratic party in the world, the only party that is pledged to strike the fetters of economic and political slavery. The education, organisation and co-operation of the workers is the conscious aim and task of the Socialist Party. The writing is upon the wall for the downfall of the capitalist system. 

The time is now clearly for the cooperative socialist commonwealth, a society based upon the common ownership of the means of life and the production of wealth for the use of all instead of the private profit of the few, for which the Socialist Party stands for and where peace will prevail and plenty for all will avail. The billions of exploited poor will be rescued from the clutches of poverty and hunger. Society will have a new birth, and its people a new destiny. These are the ideals of the Socialist Party.

 The Socialist party is organised and run from the bottom up. There are no leaders and there never can be unless the party deserts its principles and ceases to be a Socialist Party. Each member has not only an equal voice but is urged to take an active part in all the party activities. 

The Socialist Party relies solely upon the persuasive power of education, knowledge, and mutual understanding so workers are enlightenment and aroused everywhere to the necessity of socialist revolution.

Socialism has been the goal of the working class political movement since the time of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. If the modern working class is destined to transform society, as Marx explained, then it must create its own political party within the framework of capitalist society to fulfill its historic mission. Education is essential.

 The goal of the World Socialist Movement has been to educate working people in order to create a new society of the free and equal. Democracy and education must go hand in hand. Whether within the confines of a small organisation that seeks to transform society such ourselves and in the future society we aspire towards.

The voice of the people

The socialist revolution is the process, on a world scale, through which the socialist mode of production is established and supplants the capitalist system. The goal of the socialist revolution is the abolition of capitalist private property, the abolition of all exploitation of man by man, the social ownership of the means of production and their planned use for the benefit of the whole of society, leading to abundance and universal brotherhood and sisterhood. The Socialist Party does not put forward this goal as a utopia, as a mere vision but as a goal the practical attainment. Socialism is a practical objective where the contradictions of capitalism are solved and the great technological forces of production be fully applied. Socialism will only be gained by waging the class struggle by the working class and the conquest of political power by the independent party of the working class. The aim of socialism is in accord with democracy and liberty – indeed, the only way in which socialism can be fulfilled. Socialism means the ending of exploitation of man by man, a society without class antagonisms, in which the people themselves control their means of life and use them for their own happiness. Ideas cannot be produced to order; they must achieve their own growth in the minds and hearts of men. Fostered and allowed to grow, they will truly and adequately express the experiences and aspirations of the people.

Socialism is not inevitable. What we call ‘inevitability’ consists solely of this, that only through socialism can humanity progress and social evolution continue. What course lies open for us to choose. The simple fact is that most workers are not socialists and most accept capitalism, believing it can’t be changed. Capitalist ideas appear to make sense because they reflect the world as we experience it and so to believe these things are ‘natural’ and ‘true’ seems simple common sense. It is this view the Socialist Party seeks to challenge. It presents, articulates and generalise socialist ideas to provide a deeper understanding of the workings of the world, to win those battles of ideas. If workers do not hold that the emancipation of the working class must be the act of the workers themselves, then they will look for salvation from above, or, worse still, come to the conclusion that no emancipation is possible at all. They are destined to disappointment. The party cannot substitute for the working class. It must be part of the class struggle. Socialism can only come about when the working class itself takes control of the means of producing wealth and uses this to transform society. Socialism is a theory of a system of human society, based on the common ownership of the means of production and the carrying on of the work of production by all for the benefit of all. In other words, socialism means that the land, all mass transportation, the mines, the factories, and all such things as are necessary for the production of the necessities of life should be collective property, just as our public roads, our public parks and our public libraries are examples today, so that all these things should be used by the whole people to produce the goods that the whole of the people require to live a decent life.

A revolution is coming that will place the working women and men around the world in full command over its vast resources. From combating individual capitalists or alliances of capitalists over immediate economic issues such as hours, wages, and conditions, the workers have been compelled to move out onto the political arena as an independent class force against the capitalists organised as a class and through their political parties in control of the state apparatus.

In terms of organisation and social influence, the Socialist Party has accomplished relatively little. Yet terms of developing socialist ideas it has been of importance which explains why it has struck a responsive chord and been able to maintain itself a veritable socialist institution. The Socialist Party struggles against economic slavery.

For a better world

Socialism means a world without nations and passports, borders and barriers. By replacing production for profit with a society based on production direct for human needs, socialism will do away with prices and profits, buying and selling, money and markets. In the process, socialism will remove war — not by deterring it with ever more destructive weapons, nor by futile attempts to ban the weapons — but by removing capitalism, the cause of war.

In the world today we have the resources, the technology, the skills and the knowledge to satisfy everyone's needs — in food, housing and everything else — several times over. No informed person can deny it. But we cannot fully apply that capability in a society where the aim of production is achieving a profit. We can only use them in a society where the purpose of production is human needs.

This means establishing a society without money — where we don't needlessly ration ourselves.

This means a society without wages — where we aren't forced to work for an employer just to survive. but where we can choose the work we want to do for our own satisfaction and for the benefit of the community as a whole.

This means a society without frontiers and nations — where the world's resources and knowledge are used rationally and not in the irrational manner determined by "market forces" or governments, condemning millions to hunger while food and other essentials are available in huge quantities.

This means a society without wars or the threat of wars — because wars in the modern world are caused by economic and trade rivalries between nations, and in a world that is united there won't be such rivalries to fight over. Every day inside this society erupt some new battleground opens somewhere in the world. Every day capitalism puts lives on the line to fight over land or minerals or markets. Capitalism produces many conflicts between nations. It produces many strategies, alliances and rivalries which cannot be ignored. But whatever the battles are fought over, it’s not in the interests of the vast majority that are at stake. There's only a few people who stand to win or lose in times of war. Simply read the business pages of the newspapers to learn who. Of course it's not the shareholders or the CEO's who do the fighting, who encourage nationalism, who profit from war-mongering. They stay safe in their board-rooms, sabre-rattling while letting others do the dying.

A lot of people say to the Socialist Party “all that this sounds very nice but people are lazy, greedy and belligerent, and you can't change human nature".

We reply to this that human beings may well be lazy, greedy and aggressive, but that they can be and they usually are in their daily life co-operative, generous and caring. If we organise society — and we can do it easily — so that everything we need to live comfortably is there (in other words we have free access to all goods and services), then we are more likely, in these circumstances, to behave in an altruistic and amicable way. So we're not asking people to be "saints" or “angels". We're simply asking them to see that a fundamental change in the way society is organised — which we call socialism — is in their individual interests, in their children's interests, and in the interest of society as a whole.

The simple fact is that given access to natural resources and new technology, one worker can produce the basic material necessities for one person in a fraction of each day, or week, or year. In a sane system of society this would happen, and the remaining time could be spent in improving the quality of life, safely and happily guaranteeing decent food and housing for every human being.

But the Socialist Party doesn't exist to bring about this state of affairs for you. We exist to spread the ideas we've outlined and to be used, if people want to use us, to vote out the present system of buying and selling and production for profit and vote in a new system of common ownership, production for use and free access to all goods and services. And just as it must be voted in democratically. this new system can only be run democratically — by everyone — with all having equal access to everything it produces.

The Chartists did not struggle for democracy to be turned into a television reality show. The Chartists fought for the right to vote and campaigned for the chance to participate in democracy. They knew that once they had the vote as a weapon, they possessed a means to power in society. Our fellow workers today in dictatorships must recognise that when the electoral process has been appropriated by unelected, unaccountable media chiefs who take it upon themselves to dominate what workers read, hear and view before they vote. This is an erosion of meaningful democracy by the arrogance of the media bosses in full collusion of the major capitalist parties who have decided to abandon real debate and opted for stage-managed sound-bites. Theatricals have replaced politics. What we are saying is that the media has taken it upon themselves to lay out the electoral agenda, excluding all reference to the revolutionary socialist alternative, a threat to the rights which workers have fought for, a threat to socialists. The Socialist Party is interested in ideas, not photogenic personalities.

If you put your faith in the media, place your trust in politicians, and surrender your reason to the the imaginations on Twitter, the next thing you could find yourself giving up is your life.

Socialist Standard No. 1380 August 2019

Britain's oldest Socialist journal (1904)



August-2019.PDF

• Editorial: Syriza: Greek capitalism’s repair crew
  
• Pathfinders
  
• Living on Low Wages
  
• Cooking the Books I: Monopoly money
  
• Wood For the Trees: Same Difference?
  
• Material World: Nobody should own the Earth
  
• ‘king’ Boris: The Wages of Duplicity
  
• Socialism and Planning Part 2: ‘Feedback’
  
• The Police: Bourgeoisie’s Boot boys?
  
• Hong Kong: Extraditing Extradition
  
• Cooking the Books II: Use value and exchange value
  
• The Destruction of Nature: A Ghost in the Forest
  
• Proper Gander: Mistaken Identity
  
• Reviews
  
• Party News : Yealand Conyers Social Weekend
  
• Obituary: Frank Simkins
  
• 50 Years Ago: The Moon and Progress
  
• Meetings
  
• Rear View
  
• Free Lunch
  

Blood Sports

Grouse moors make up roughly 20 per cent of all land in Scotland. The ecological impacts of the techniques for managing them, which include regular burning of heather, draining water-storing soils and peats, and medicating the grouse, are subject to renewed focus. The price of a single day’s grouse shooting for one person can apparently reach as high as £10,000 on some estates. By the end of the season, some half a million grouse will have been shot in the UK.

Hundreds of thousands of animals including foxes, weasels and stoats are being legally killed in the UK to protect grouse moors, naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham has claimed. 

Packham was speaking to The Independent following a spate of illegal killings of protected species on grouse moors in Scotland, including a case last week in which a gamekeeper from the Longformacus Estate in Berwickshire pleaded guilty to killing two goshawks, three buzzards, three badgers and an otter. The case was described by a wildlife official as the “biggest cull of protected species” they had ever seen. Other recent cases include the deaths and mysterious disappearances of golden eagles and hen harriers over grouse moors.

Packham and his group Wild Justice have been instrumental in highlighting the forces driving illegal raptor persecution in the UK, the TV presenter has also drawn attention to the extent of largely undocumented legal animal deaths carried out on private estates to maximise numbers of grouse on moors where expensive driven shoots take place.

“Legally they are allowed to get rid of weasels, stoats, foxes, and they do this relentlessly. And we have no idea how many of these animals are killed, but we know that obviously it runs into the hundreds of thousands. “f you abide by certain rules and if you own the land or have the landowner’s permission, then you can trap those species at any time of the year – there’s no closed season. And that’s what they do 365 days a year. They purge those predators,” he said.

Mountain hares are the UK’s only indigenous lagomorph species – brown hare and rabbits are modern introductions by humans. The distinctive species, which turns white in winter, are now rare where they were previously abundant. 

Mountain hares are being “ruthlessly” targeted, Packham said, due to gamekeepers’ belief they spread a tick carrying a virus called “louping ill”, to the grouse.

“As far as I’m aware, there’s no evidence this actually happens,” Packham said. “But because of a fear of it they ruthlessly cull the mountain hare population. In some estates they’ve exterminated them completely. They’ve gone for a complete hare genocide.”

Robbie Marsland, the director of the League Against Cruel Sports, pointed out,  “We do know from government figures that an average of 26,000 mountain hares are killed each year as the estates worry that they spread ticks to the grouse, and a recent report shows that 130,000 animals are killed under government species licences, though not all on grouse moors. On top of this, snares and traps litter the moors targeting foxes, stoats, weasels, crows and other birds. These devices are indiscriminate and commonly kill non-target species such as badgers and hedgehogs. People’s cats and dogs are also caught in snares.”

Bob Elliot, director of One Kind, a Scottish animal rights organization, detailed the slow and painful deaths these animals often endure.

“Animals such as weasels and stoats are caught in spring traps. Crows are caught in cage traps and then must endure stressful confinement until somebody comes to shoot or beat them to death. Foxes are caught in snares and can spend hours struggling before being found and killed, or succumbing to their injuries.” He added: “One of the most shocking issues for me is that there is very little information for the public to scrutinise how many foxes, stoats, weasels, crows are killed on grouse moors each year. It’s a free-for-all with no requirement to have proven other [control] methods have been tried first, nor any real requirement by gamekeepers or land managers to report anything to the authorities or the interested public – most of these species have no real protection in law at all.”

We will change this world because we must

Future society will be a society without bosses. The ways of the men and women of the co-operative commonwealth of the future will not be our ways, nor their thoughts our thoughts. The fact is that the current social system is evil, and the proof that it is, is that everyone suffers from it. All of humanity lives in a state of anxiety. Those who seek to find a blueprint of the future society in Marx search in vain for a document that Marx did not produce.

Just as the capitalists have a coalition against the workers, so must we have an international solidarity of labour. We think that workers should be united, too. This is an age of revolutionary change. New technology is replacing human labour with automation and robots. Millions face two choices – either accept misery or overturn this system. Technology is powerful enough to end hunger, homelessness and all want – but only if it is seized from the exploiters and organised in the interests of those this system has discarded. We call on you to join us to wage war on the capitalist system. We will educate and organise fellow-workers on how society can be reorganised to put an end to poverty and injustice once and for all. The Socialist Party doesn’t claim to have a crystal ball in which the socialist world of the future can be seen like the map of the Underground in every detail. All we claim is that our study of the past can be used as a guide to the future. Without a clear understanding of basic questions we will hesitate and flounder in confusion and the capitalist class will keep the initiative. We want to make sure that on the day of the class struggle boils over into revolution our fellow workers will know what to do. We are fighting for socialist freedom. There’s a big class struggle going on. And the question is, what side are you on?

By capitalism, we mean the system that exists on the basis of unpaid labour. You as a worker produce commodities to be exchanged on the market. You produce not only enough to pay your own wage, but also an added value, a surplus value, over and above the cost of your maintenance. Surplus labour is your unpaid wage. In polite circles it is called “profit. ” As capitalism develops, the bourgeoisie, owning the means of production, constantly strives to increase its profits, resulting in the development and increased impoverishment of the working class, the class that owns no means of production and must sell its labour power to the bourgeoisie. An irreconcilable contradiction develops between the exploiting bourgeoisie and the exploited working class–the social character of production which the bourgeoisie develops contradicts the private ownership of the means of production and demands the social ownership of the means of production.

And that’s what capitalism is all about. Capitalism is the core of all of our problems. Some people try to escape the system. Some try to ignore it and pretend it doesn’t effect them. Or whitewash it. The system won’t escape you. The system won’t ignore you. All branches of capitalism are so interlocked it cannot be divided into good and bad. Sooner or later you’re going to find yourselves in a battle with the system. And you’ll need help and solidarity. When people realise the system has turned against them, they will go through a rapid deep politicisation. A very quick class consciousness raising.

Socialism is not production for profit. It is production for use. It is not production for private ownership and the private ownership of resources. It is common ownership of the wealth. It is not inequality and misery and persecution and discrimination; it is equality and fairness. It is not poverty and want; it is freedom from want. It is freedom from war. It is freedom from ugliness and squalor. It is just the opposite of what exists today and it expresses what people need and want and would dearly love to see. Socialism is a celebration of life. The bourgeoisie is destined to join all the other previous exploiting classes in the shadows of history.

One answer to the Left

The Socialist Party and our companion parties in the World Socialist Movement claims that socialism will, and must, be a wage-free, money-free, worldwide society of common (not state) ownership and democratic control of the means of wealth production and distribution. It claims that socialism will be a sharp break with capitalism with no "transition period" or gradual implementation of socialism (although socialism will be a dynamic, changing society once it is established). We claim that there can be no state in a socialist society. Another Socialist Party claim is that there can be no classes in a socialist society. The Socialist Party promotes only socialism, and as an immediate goal and that only the vast majority, acting consciously in its own interests, for itself, by itself, can create socialism. 

The Socialist Party opposes any vanguardist approach, minority-led movements, and leadership, as inherently undemocratic and instead promotes a peaceful democratic revolution, achieved through force of numbers and understanding. The Socialist Party neither promotes, nor opposes, reforms to capitalism. It claims that there is one working class, worldwide and lays out the fundamentals of what a socialist society must be, but does not presume to tell the future socialist society how to go about its business. Socialists advances an historical materialist approach—real understanding where it considers that religion is a social, not personal, matter and that religion is incompatible with socialist understanding. We seek election to facilitate the elimination of capitalism by the vast majority of socialists, not to govern capitalism. Leninism is a distortion of Marxian analysis. 

The Socialist Party opposes all war and claims that socialism will inherently end war, including the "war" between classes. It noted, in 1918, that the Bolshevik Revolution was not socialist, having earlier, long noted that Russia was not ready for a socialist revolution. It was the first political party to recognise that the former USSR, China, Cuba and other so-called "socialist countries" were not socialist, but instead, state capitalist. The Socialist Party has held a very accurate, consistent analysis since 1904 when first founded. To summarise our position in contrast to other organisations that claim to be socialist: Socialism will be a wageless, money-free, free-access society. Very few agree with this. Most support a market system. Some suggest that a non-capitalist market is possible. These suggestions show a lack of understanding of market economics. While non-capitalist market systems have existed, they are impractical in a modern world. If a "non-capitalist" market system was established it would eventually become a capitalist market system.Leaders are inherently undemocratic; socialists oppose leadership. All support leadership. Socialists shouldn't work for reforms to capitalism, because only a movement for socialism itself can establish socialism. Those which work for reforms hold either that reforms to capitalism will eventually result in socialism, or that supporting reforms is an appropriate way to convince workers to support socialism. Some put forward a reasonable analysis of capitalism, but then work to give capitalism a "human face". Some claim that they want to end capitalism. Their bottom line is, however, just capitalism with reforms. Democratic Socialists of America is a good example of this.

Socialism will be a cooperative, world wide system, and it has clearly not yet been established. Most, perhaps all, of them support nationalism, which is closely akin to racism (which they explicitly claim to oppose), and in any case hinders worldwide working class solidarity. Nationalism is a concept only useful to separate people, and is therefore anti-working class. A scientific approach and understanding by the working class are necessary to establish socialism. Generally support emotionalistic campaigns, in which logic and rational analysis are ignored. Any group which wants people to follow their leadership is unlikely to promote real understanding. What needs to be understood if one is just following the leader and doing what one is told? Democratically capturing the state through parliamentary elections is the safest, surest method for the working class to enable itself to establish socialism. Most seem to support this, parliamentary, approach at some level. But their commitment varies so that some support both parliamentarism and anti-parliamentarism at the same time.

The SPGB was formed in 1904 from a breakaway from the Socialist Democratic Federation. Its founding members were influenced greatly by the Socialist League which had William Morris and Marx's daughter, Eleanor, as members. The main issue that led to the split was one that you touched upon in your video, raising demands for reforms. The SDF had a programme of immediate reforms, as Trotskyists do these days. The SPGB argue that this places the demand for socialism on to the back-burner because those who wished reforms would dominate the party and make reforms the priority which would mean standing for election and becoming the government on a platform of reforms and relegating the socialist objective to the far-off future while running capitalism in the meantime and growing more and more pro-capitalist because of that. 

A look at history seems to prove our case, doesn't it? It was not a matter of leaders betrayal that Trotsky often blames it upon but a consequence of their principles, similar policies to Trotsky's own. The SPGB ideas spread first to Canada and then on to the USA during World War One and the WSPUS formed before any Trotskyist party or a distinct tendency had emerged , they still being part of the general Bolsheviks. The WSPUS did not support the Socialist Labor Party position on industrial unionism but many of their other ideas now over-lap with our own. The Proletarian Party of America was another organisation that agreed much with the WSPUS but differences over the interpretation of the Russian Revolution led to a parting of ways. The SPGB roots go back to a strand of 19th century Marxism, Trotskyism sprung from the events of the 20th century Russian Revolution. 

Circumstances in post 1917 Russia dictated Lenin's policies and directed his actions which led to the implementation of a form of capitalism. It led to the dictatorship of the party substituting for the dictatorship of the proletariat. But the problems were no unforeseen. As Marx explained, you cannot jump from feudalism to socialism. It is to turn Marx upside down by suggesting that Russia assist the more developed West. Marx  specifically described that the only way Russia could possibly miss out the capitalist stage was through the intervention from the industrialised nations. The post First World War world situation was indeed radical…general strikes in America and in Canada and elsewhere. Lenin made a judgement call that there was a genuine revolutionary surge and he saw evidence in many movements of this revolutionary fervour. He was wrong. Simple as that. There existed a strong re-vitalised class struggle by workers but organisations and actions he considered to be the vanguard could not bring over the majority of workers to its side. That was reality. That failure of Lenin reading what was really happening and fully understanding the workers consciousness outside Russia, determined the shifting and changing compromising rhetoric of Comintern and the abandonment of world revolution as an objective to be replaced by an accommodation with the Western Powers. 1923 Treaty of Rapallo with Germany saw the Red Army training and supplying German government troops that were used against a workers uprising in Germany (Stalin was not yet in power so it cannot be laid at his feet.) However, there were other alternatives to choose from which would have strengthened the working class, not weakened it by removing its independent self-organisation. For all its flaws bourgeois democracy would have been more benefit for the small Russian working class and would have avoided or at least minimised the civil war that you correctly describe as turmoil. The Left Mensheviks, perhaps represented the better option for the urban working class and the Left Social Revolutionaries for the peasantry. We are not going to convince you in a brie exchange of posts as this. It is up to yourself to read the links you have been provided, to Julius Martov and other socialist but anti-Bolshevik critics like Anton Pannekoek and Paul Mattick. 

Don't be misled by those apologists who claim that the Kronsdadt of 1921 was different from 1917 in class make-up. Simply not accurate. Historian, Israel Getzler investigated this issue and demonstrated that of those serving in the Baltic fleet on 1st January 1921 at least 75.5% were drafted before 1918. Veteran politicised Red sailor still predominated in Kronstadt at the end of 1920. Of the 2,028 sailors where years of enlistment are known, 93.9% were recruited into the navy before and during the 1917 revolution (the largest group, 1,195, joined in the years 1914–16). Other research confirms Getzler’s work. 

Documents from the Soviet Archives such as a report by Vasilii Sevei, Plenipotentiary of the Special Section of the Cheka, dated March 7th, 1921,stated  that a “large majority” of the sailors of Baltic Fleet “were and still are professional revolutionaries and could well form the basis for a possible third revolution.” 

“In September and October 1920 Bolshevik party lecturer Ieronymus Yasinksky went to Kronstadt to lecture 400 naval recruits and writes “‘in Kronstadt the red sailor still predominates.’ 

Gramsci says that “to tell the truth is a communist and revolutionary act”. Most Trotskyists argue that the suppression of the rebellion was essential to defend the “gains of the revolution.” What exactly were these gains? Not soviet democracy, freedom of speech, assembly and press, trade union freedom and so on as the Kronstadters were crushed for demanding these.

Marx actually said that Socialism/Communism would only come about, when the material conditions existed to make it possible. In the agrarian, feudalistic society, that existed in Russia, whether pre or post revolution, the material conditions for a revolution for and in the interests of the vast majority did not exist. One also has to factor in, the "fact", posited earlier, that Marx  also understood that the Socialist/Communist revolution would, of necessity, be a world wide revolution. To replace Capitalism worldwide, with Socialism/Communism worldwide. Even though I do not have qualifications in 'geography', the last time I looked, Russia did not, nor does, encompass the whole landmass of the planet. We can take from this, one simple fact, the Russian revolution had nothing to do with the idea that Marx had, for a proletarian revolution, it was 'only' the conceptualisation of revolution as envisaged by Lenin and thereafter by his disciples, Trotsky and uncle Joe. That their idea of "revolution" was to be brought about, by "an intellectual elite", a "cadre of professional revolutionaries" is another and indicative pointer, to the fact that these 'people', did not draw their inspiration from Marx but from their own "twisted" interpretation of Marx.

So let us be quite clear, Lenin and his lickspittle sycophants, were not following, in any way shape or form, the ideas, nor tenets of revolution, as espoused by Marx. You want Socialism/Communism, read Marx. You want "State-Capitalism", read Lenin, Totsky, Stalin et al. But do not, in any way, transpose one set of ideas from one to the others. Intellectual redundancy is simply that, whichever way you slice it.

INSTEAD READ THE SOCIALIST STANDARD