Wage Slaves All

There is fundamentally only one way in which capitalism can be administered—the capitalist way. While social reforms can alleviate particular evils arising from capitalism for a time, it is unquestionably better that the responsibility for running the capitalist system should be left to the avowed supporters of capitalism. The workers should struggle to raise or defend their standard of living, but not attempt the impossible task of administering capitalism, or put their trust in the parties which do this. One harmful notion widely believed at present is that now for the first time the government and public opinion are aware of poverty and undernourishment, and therefore something will be done. In every country it has now become a truth demonstrable to every unprejudiced mind, and only denied by those whose interest it is to hedge other people in a fool's paradise, that no improvement of machinery, no application of science to production, no contrivances of communication, no new colonies, no emigration, no opening of markets, no free trade, nor all of these things put together, will do away with the miseries of the industrious masses; but that on the present false base, every fresh development of the productive powers of labour must tend to deepen social contrasts and point social antagonisms.

The Socialist Party stands on its recognition of the class-struggle and urges the working class to take enlightened political action to get rid of present-day society and bring about common ownership of the means of wealth production. We subscribe to the principle known as Historical Materialism which briefly holds, as Engels put it, that the way in which mankind organises to produce and reproduce the means of living is fundamental in determining the political and religious ideas. This view sees men and women as the motive force in their own social activity and as the instruments for changing society. Socialism arouses the workers' will to struggle, it appeals to their understanding; it demands their knowledge and confidence. We refute religion, because the working class cannot move forward to a better society while their minds are in the chains of religion.

The need of our times is a working class which refuses any longer to trust to capitalist promises, and determines to take action for its own emancipation. Basing itself firmly upon the Marxian analysis of capitalist society, with all its implications, social and political, the Socialist Party formulated its Declaration of Principles. For the first time in the history of the working class, a Party was formed which staked everything on the UNDERSTANDING of its class. We have often been at pains to teach the fairly obvious truth, that the private ownership of the means of production under capitalism divides the community into two antagonistic classes, but unfortunately there are still quite a number of people afflicted with the snobbish obsession that they belong to some superior body of beings graded somewhere above the working class, but not, of course, actually capitalists; it is probable, indeed, that they still call themselves the “middle class.”

We are accustomed to having pettifogging reforms, or irksome regulations of state operated enterprises, condemned as socialism by people who are ignorant of what the term implies. On the other hand, we have individuals equally ignorant, who commend these things as examples of socialist achievement. Exchange would not exist in socialism, because wealth would be owned in common and distribution only would be necessary. 

Let us take a brief survey of the economic conditions of human existence.

In the first place we know that the world is inhabited by several billions of people, with a variety of tastes, habits, and so on. Further, out of this number there is an overwhelming proportion who have something in common. It is that they are compelled to work in order to live.

The capitalist system of wealth production has stretched out its tentacles over the whole world, so that almost everywhere we find these teeming, struggling millions, who not only have to work, but are compelled to work for someone else.

Unless the units of this vast army of workers can find work—someone to employ them—they are cut off from the means of life and must starve, as thousands are doing to-day.

So this vast mass of the world's workers, like the dogs in the picture, have this common character—they are dependent upon someone else. They are dependent upon someone who will employ them, in order to get the common necessaries of life.

These "someones," these employers, who are they ? Clearly they occupy an entirely different position from that of the workers. They are the ruling class, the possessing class, the idle class. They have no useful function in society, but live a life of luxury and ease upon the fruits of the labours of the working class—they are parasites on the body politic.

These are the two classes into which society is divided. Let us now examine a particular section of the working class, that section who usually refer to themselves as "brain workers," but are often referred to as the "white collar workers."

This particular section is made up of types who are dignified and respectable, because they come into close daily contact with their employers. It is their specific function to assist the capitalist class in the direction of keeping their accounts, in order to show exactly how the exploitation of their fellow workers is progressing. The docile humility and faithfulness which distinguishes this particular type of slave seems now to be developing into something like impudence.

One can easily appreciate that it would seriously disturb the atmosphere of dignity in which employers of brain workers have always endeavoured to cloak their slaves, to permit them to organise themselves like common worker—or like common masters for that matter, for they all do it—for the protection and furtherance of their economic interests. 

Economic forces are no respecters of persons. They grind slowly but surely, compelling even the most stiff-necked to forgo their dignity and examine their conditions of daily life. Therefore it only proves the correctness of the Marxian method when the super-respectable find it necessary to organise for the defence of their economic interests

After all the pains which the ruling class have taken to impress a certain section of the working class with the respectability of their collar and ties and the dignity of their calling, and to isolate them from the "lower orders," they have to recognise that their policy of divide and rule is nearly played out.

To salary slaves the lesson should be clear. They must understand that whether they have to work in suits or overalls they belong to the working class. When they grip this fact they will know the worth of the high-sounding phrases about respectability, gentility, dignity, and the rest of the flattering notions with which their masters keep them in subjection.

The working class are compelled to grovel on the floor of the industrial kennel, and if some of their number assume dignity they are but taking on a pose which ill fits the degrading nature of their existence. Their remuneration, whether it is called wages or salary, is determined by what it costs to keep and reproduce their kind. Like carrots, their energies are bought and sold, and the wage or salary is the price. It may sound undignified, but, nevertheless, it is an economic fact which has to be firmly gripped.

Finally, organisation on trade union lines, no matter how well disciplined the rank and file may be, and necessary as it may be to-day, in order to resist the pressure of the employing class, will not emancipate the workers from the wages system. To achieve this end they must organise into a political party conscious of their class interest, and equipped with the necessary knowledge.

That political party already exists—in the Socialist Party of Great Britain. Study its Object and Declaration of Principles, and then—ACT!

Scottish miner’s poem

Listen to their lies, listen! Listen to their tear-filled speeches of suffering and democracy – and scream In your anger and your pain – scream at those who speak of suffering and know nothing but the cause, For their only pain is their conscience – but no, for they have none Scream in your hunger, as they burn the food of life, For if it does not fill their pockets with gold it will not be allowed to satisfy the gnawing pain of starvation – burning in your belly And scream in pain as they pierce your body with the sword of oppression. – But wipe away your tears of blood – for their chains will never hold us or their guns destroy us, As we raise our red flag – of suffering and anger, let us never see our children suffer through our fear, But through our victory living as all should, from poverty and misery – suffering and pain Forever freedom. Joe Owens, NUM Polkemmet Colliery

Overthrow capitalism and replace it with something nicer

There are essentially only ways for organising social production in the modern world. One of these is, capitalist. The champions of capitalist economy have the present on their side. The other, socialist, is still only a potential.

Planning is not equivalent to ‘perfect’ allocation of resources, nor ‘scientific’ allocation, nor even ‘more humane’ allocation. The premise and the promise of abundance is what the idea of socialism is founded upon. This concept plays a crucial role in the Socialist Party’s vision of socialism. 

Abundance removes conflict over resource allocation, since, by definition, there is enough for everyone, and so there are no mutually exclusive choices. There is then no reason for various individuals and groups to compete, to take possession for their own use of what is freely available to all. It is not necessary to regulate use through rationing by price. All private enterprise is out to produce as much as it can, to grab as much of the market as it can, for it is in sales that it realises its profits. So long as society is bound to commodity production, it is only through the market that its needs can be satisfied. Capitalist society necessarily presupposes exchange. Present-day society does not even concern itself with the needs of society. Profit is the motive of capitalist production. What passes for a planned capitalist economy is in reality only the economic dictatorship of the stronger against the weaker, where the poor become poorer and the rich richer. Capitalism has no socially beneficial way of resolving its basic contradictions because it may not overstep the profit interests of the capitalists.

Workers are able to manage production. Social control of industry is essential. Once common ownership and democratic control of industry are established it will be possible to proceed to the introduction of a planned economy. The transformation of work is the task of the socialist revolution by ending the exploitation and the pursuit of profits that make work the way it is at present. Under capitalism advances in technology are used to displace workers. We see the combination of millions of workers on overtime and millions on the dole. With socialist planning, the total work required will be shared equally and every technological advance will reduce the working hours that are needed. It will free working people to take an active part in the running and administration of society. Automation will be used to eliminate the most unpleasant and menial jobs.

Socialism stands for all that is best in life, for replacing fear by hope, narrowness and meanness by generosity and compassion, poverty by plenty, exploitation by co-operation and jingoism by comradeship. Socialism will be absolutely nothing like the former Soviet Union, or present day China and Cuba. Our alternative is not a police state. But nor would it be like the welfare states of Scandinavia. The central thing we want is freedom from fear. Losing your job may happen to you only a few times in your life, but the fear of it is with you every day. In another world we would make sure that those fears were gone, that everyone lives in security. It wouldn’t be a perfect world. There would still be some problems. Men and women would still have broken hearts. But it would be a far, far better world. No one can say that it is certain to come about. But we will win victories we cannot yet imagine. Socialism is rule by the working people. They will decide how socialism is to work. Because the 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 is not some Utopian scheme. Capitalism has created the economic conditions for socialism. Socialism will not mean government control. The state serves the interests of the ruling capitalist class. Government involvement in the economy is state capitalism. When the government intervenes in the present economy, it does so to help, not harm, capitalism.

The means of production – the factories, mines, mills, offices, farms and  fields,  transportation system, communications, medical facilities, retailers, etc., will be transformed into common property. Private ownership of the  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 production will aim to benefit the people. Socialism’s main task will be to satisfy social needs. Socialism will open the way for great changes in society. 

Transforming the productive resources of society into common property will enable the working people to assume administration of the economy, managed democratically through workers’ councils and elected administrators to serve their own interests as well as society’s.

Socialists: Volunteers for humanity

We must use elections to place before the workers the demands of the Socialist Party in sharp contrast to those of the capitalist parties. We must make the most of the greater readiness of our fellow-workers to read political literature, attend political meetings and take part in political discussions to familiarise working people with the World Socialist Movement. We must use elections to teach workers the political nature of the class struggle, the connection between their employer and the state, the connection between their own class status and the capitalist economic system. The  masses vote for the capitalist candidates, because they are not yet ready for socialism. The working class as a class is still capitalist-minded. It must yet take its first steps as an independent political force.

The two main capitalist parties are as like as tweedledum and tweedledee in their support of the powerful financial and industrial interests of Wall Street. The workers who now want to vote for the Democratic ticket voted are to be duped again. Fundamental education on principle questions of socialism, the class struggle, etc. is missing, with the exception here and there of a socialist candidate who spoke for “socialism” in the socialist manner. The majority vote overwhelmingly for the capitalist system. But there are some who, thinking a little more clearly vote for socialism. It is far more important to present clearly in election campaigns that there is no lasting way out for the working class but the Social Revolution. The object of the Socialist Party at all times, is to educate and to organise. We put forward only the demand for the realisation of the Social Revolution. Our party is the party of class war, class against class, working class against capitalist class. We oppose the ideology of reform and placing poultices on the profit system.

We need no national barriers, the interests of the workers can best be promoted by international fraternity. We need no money we aim at producing wealth for all We need no wages; so long as workers are paid for their labour power others, who are non-workers, will receive the results of their labour. The means of production commonly owned and wealth brought into being for the enjoyment and well-being of mankind. That is our goal and eventually we shall make it. You may be under the illusion that peace and prosperity can be obtained in some other way. There is no other way. Socialism or capitalism that is the choice. Socialism rests on a straightforward, elementary fact that that there is in the world sufficient of everything for everyone’s requirements, and where it is not immediately available (as, for instance, cotton does not grow in England), it exists somewhere, or can be produced end transported. In other words, we have the raw materials, the crops, the factories, the transport, the labour, and the machinery (or the means of making new, extra machinery): all we need is a sane, simple method of setting all these to work, move, and be used by means of a co-operative interdependent plan.

In socialism, there won't be any need for a thing to “pay” anymore. If everything everyone requires is provided, that is all there is need to worry about. The worker— worker “by hand or brain”—need only contribute the amount of (physical or mental) effort required of him (or her) and all will be automatically entitled to whatever they require in the way of food, clothing, shelter, travel, etc., etc. We must look at the necessary activity of mankind as one process, not as we are encouraged to do under capitalism, as a host of different actions, most of them for different ends.The whole process can be summed up in the time-honoured phrase, “production solely for use instead of profit.” All needs, will be automatically met by the overwhelmingly plentiful production under a planned socialist economy. But it is a fact that the deliberate miseducation of the masses which is a fundamental part of the capitalist art of government has succeeded in presenting this as a major, practically insoluble.

The World Socialist Movement has stood like a rock for socialism; every other party has wobbled and gone after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. When you find out that there is wrong in human society, check us out.

Lest We Forget

 

Obituary from the April 1996 issue of the Socialist Standard

Ian McDougall, a member of Glasgow Branch for 45 years, passed away in December.

He was a regular at the branch's propaganda activities until ill-health which affected his for most of his life made this impossible. Even so, Ian took up writing letters to the press and generally did what he could to spread the socialist message. Nor was illness allowed to quench his thirst for knowledge and he was a voracious reader up to the end.

Ian was a gentle person, and the only antagonism he ever permitted himself was towards capitalism. We extend our deep condolences to his partner Nan and her family.

It doesn’t have to be like this

Letter to the Editors from the April 1996 issue of the Socialist Standard

Dear Editors,

We have a choice. But who are we? We are the working class, a majority suffering from the manipulation and intimidation of a privileged minority. Why do we let them get away with it? We have a choice!

They keep on telling us with their own devious brainwashing techniques, through schooling, university education methods and other more sophisticated types of propaganda, how to be good little citizens in this ever-changing world of technology.

How nice it would be if all the tales of leisure and pleasure were true; alas, for the majority of us. the reality could not be more harsh, despairing or demoralising.

I relate my own personal experience as a victim of the society which we all inhabit.

I have recently parted company with my employer of some six years, to find myself depending on state handouts to support my wife, two children, mortgage etc. A story familiar, no doubt, to many thousands of families. My income more than halved.

The irony is that with less money now than I have ever had in the last 16 years of selling my mental and physical skills to the highest bidder, not forgetting the necessity to purchase essentials like food to eat. clothes to keep warm, the feet remains that I have never—throughout my working life—experienced such feelings of overwhelming satisfaction, and pleasure which I derive from simple things in life (as we know it), like being able to go to a library, taking a stroll in the park, enjoying the local wildlife, all at no direct expense. The true value of some of the most breathtaking scenery in this otherwise spoiled, war-torn world is awesome.

I have just left behind sixteen miserable years of being stuck in a fume-filled factory churning out poxy pop group fly-posters, laboriously and repetitively standing in front of a manual hand-operated printing table, sometimes for up to fourteen hours a day, in order to achieve a decent wage to be able to "afford” essential commodities and appliances like cookers, washing machines, fridges, etc. or other less necessary items like portable CD players, and that other all-mod-con, the glorious television, on which programmes of interest are few and far between. I used to waste many an hour glued to the likes of Dale Winton, churning out his usual "camp” (or should it be crap) style of innuendo and obscenity. all in the name of entertainment.

The more I think and wonder at the complexity of the world-wide capitalist system which the majority of us have to endure, and the minority have on their side, the more I ask myself, why? Why do we continue to restrict ourselves to its unforgiving grasp?

It doesn’t have to be like this. We have the power, the resources, the technology and the communication skills to free ourselves from its relentless torture, but only we the working class can do it The master class will not volunteer to do it for us. They depend on our skills, our labour. Let us not be denied the true fruits of these labours. Throw down your shackles, fellow workers, rid this world of the ongoing bloodbath that we see. night after night on our TV screens.

P.E. 
Scotland