Socialism - its meaning and promise

 

Why haven't we had a socialist revolution? How much longer can capitalism last? How bad must conditions become before workers take action?  Capitalism long ago developed the material conditions prerequisite for socialism. It has created production on a scale sufficient to banish forever want and the fear of want. Yet there has been no revolution. Rather the working class has been divided by confusion, uncertainty and despair. If capitalism continues to exist, the likely result is an unthinkable end to human civilisation.

The social revolution is no predestined inevitable development depending not upon material conditions alone but also depends a clearness of vision. Because socialism is not an automatic affair, the working people class must play a crucial active role in the socialist revolution. Capitalism will not vanish. It will remain until it is overthrown. And capitalism can be overthrown only as of the result of class conscious mass struggle which is no easy matter.  Workers are bombarded daily with capitalist indoctrination in the media to obscure the capitalist roots of all our miseries. We are told that we need to make concessions to our exploiters, rather than fighting back. Even worse, many so-called “socialists” confuse workers by talking about the myths of "reforms", raising false hopes that workers can petition the political state to solve the problems of unemployment and poverty. Such notions can only help convince workers that they have a future under capitalism and that capitalism is, at this late date, somehow capable of being reformed. In truth, ending the effects of capitalism requires ending their cause -- the capitalist system.

There are fundamental differences between the "so-called socialist and communist parties" that have controlled the states of various countries, and the Socialist Party. It is that we uphold the Marxist conception of socialism, of a class-free society based on "associations of free and equal producers." The elite, "vanguard" party paved the way for bureaucratic state-capitalist regimes. The assortment of labour parties rejected the Marxist analyses in favour of reformism - leaving the capitalist class to firmly retain control of the means of production. Both conceptions of "socialism" place central emphasis on the role of the party and are predicated on maintaining the state; they reject the essence of socialism -- i.e., establishing common ownership, and democratic control of the means of production and distribution. 

We believe that the Socialist Party’s case offers the best -- indeed the only realistic -- chance to achieve socialism by non-violent and peaceful means. We believe it is the only way in which the working class can organise itself for socialism while simultaneously nullifying the ruling class's capacity to resist by means of armed force. Of course, we understand that the Socialist Party’s policy can only work under certain circumstances. It presupposes a certain measure of democracy that permits it to advocate its goal openly. The sad fact is that workers are still duped by the notion that capitalism can somehow solve the problems and miseries it creates and confronts them with. This misunderstanding is no accident. That misconception is nurtured deliberately by capitalism's politicians, and by mis-education and mis-information from the media, the schools, the universities, the churches and more -- all of which are dominated by pro-capitalist interests. Those interests and their political lackeys are primarily concerned with the preservation of their system -- the source of their wealth and their positions of privilege -- at the continued expense of the useful producers of the nation. They will not and do not hesitate to mouth any promise or resort to any action they think will serve their purpose, no matter how hypocritical or ruthless.

The Socialist Party’s task is to help workers come to recognise that there is an alternative to capitalism. For the sooner the working class understands that the misery imposed by capitalism need not be endured, the sooner will workers turn to socialism. Our fellow workers need to form a mass revolutionary party to challenge to defeat the political state for the purpose of dismantling it. Such a party is also needed to convince the working-class majority of the need for socialism and to recruit the forces for carrying out the revolution. It is the task of the World Socialist Movement to arouse the working class to its historic mission to abolish capitalism and replace it with socialism. It is true that the capitalist class appears all-powerful. It is winning the class struggle. That, however, is because the capitalists are united in their battle against the workers, despite differences regarding strategy and tactics. They have their goal clearly in mind -- the pursuit of ever-greater profits through the continued and ever-intensified exploitation of the workers.

The working class is weak because it is unorganised. It is unorganised because it lacks a fundamental understanding of the class nature of capitalism and its own class interest. The workers must at long last realise that the hope of their future rests in their hands. They must focus their concerns and political perspectives on themselves, on their collective interests as a class, on their latent economic and political power and its potential for changing society in a manner that will assure economic security and social welfare for all.

That change can be accomplished once the workers organise their political and economic power.

The Party for a New Society

 

The principle of the class struggle recognises that it is the class interests at the root from which social conflicts arise. The worker who does not understand the principle of the class struggle will fall into the arms of the capitalist politicians who promise to redress all wrongs. Enlightened, however, on the class struggle, the worker is aware that no 'reform' could possibly make things better and knows that the 'reformer' is the upholder of a system under which we are oppressed under capitalism means every individual's hand raised against all others; its motto is: 'One man's misfortune is another man's opportunity'. Under capitalism the life of all is impossible; for some to prosper, many more must suffer.

Capitalism creates so many problems it is hard to know which one to focus on. Occasionally, however, something comes along that seems to put everything else into perspective. We presently observe two events - the Covid Pandemic and the Climate Crisis. The Socialist Party cannot stop world capitalism from creating even more misery on a global scale than it already has. Only the working class can do that. What it can do, however, is hasten the day when workers will come to the knowledge that they must act to end capitalism and build socialism.

 The Socialist Party can do that provided as long as it receives the full support of all those who appreciate the urgency of the times and the need to spread the socialist message. Our purpose is to promote class consciousness among workers while advocating a complete revolutionary change from capitalism to socialism, to challenge the power of the ruling class, to capture the state machinery and to turn the reins of social administration over to the working people to economic democracy embracing all workers.

The chaos that exists in capitalism today makes it clear that the socialist revolution is past due. The working class is paying a heavy toll in human misery and suffering, which will become more intense unless our class organises its political and economic strength and uses it to establish the socialist alternative. As a Marxist organisation, the Socialist Party provides positive revolutionary direction to workers by promoting the growth of class consciousness. However, just as will not grow of its own accord, neither will we in the Socialist Party. That responsibility ultimately rests with those that our message has reached and it is the responsibility of all those who grasp the case for socialism to step forward and to enhance its ability to reach the working class.

Many of us comprehend that capitalism has outlived its usefulness and that it is time for humanity to move on to the next logical stage of social evolution. We want to create a sane and productive world. But how can we do so? We need a road map. The plan is based on workers acting with workers for workers. It is useless for us to wait for deliverance from the pains caused by capitalism. We will have to deliver ourselves via a non-violent combination of political and economic action, based on control by the entire working class instead of by a "vanguard" political leadership, a dictatorship by any name. The answer is that workers must form a political party of their own that specifically organises workers as a class. If we workers stopped cooperating with the political parties of capitalism and actively took part in controlling our world through our own political and industrial organisations, capitalism would soon wither and die. Only if the people as a whole take control of the economy can they maintain that control and use the forces of production to fill their needs. 

We don't have to turn our backs on politics or passively wait for a better day that will never come if we fail to organise to bring it about. We don't have to aimlessly wander around in search of direction. A plan already exists that is simple, flexible and designed to meet the needs and desires of workers. It is peaceful, workable and within the grasp of working people. We don't have to suffer in isolation. We can join together and we can change our world.

Common sense should tell workers that the cause of declining wages, spreading economic insecurity and unemployment has nothing to do with who forms the government of the day

Common sense should tell workers that politicians don't decide when factories will close down or how many workers to lay off.

Common sense should tell workers that in a capitalist economy those decisions are made by those who own the factories, mills, mines and other means of wealth production.

Common sense should tell workers that capitalists make those decisions in their own interests, not in the interests of the working class.

From these and other facts, the Socialist Party draws certain conclusions.

First: Increased productivity, declining wages, massive elimination of jobs, spreading economic insecurity and the congestion of wealth proves that the capitalist system of private ownership and profit production is based on the exploitation of the working class.

Second: As long as this foundation of society remains this trend will continue regardless of the claims and promises of politicians.

Third: That the only solution to such fundamental problems stemming from the very nature of the system under which we live must also be a fundamental one.

As long as the working class tolerates the private ownership and control of the economy, workers will be used and disposed of to suit the profit whims of the tiny capitalist class.

The People Have No Future Under Capitalism

Socialism means economic democracy. 

Instead of production for sale and the profit of a few, socialism means production to satisfy the human needs and wants of all. Socialism will allow for us to carry on production for use in the most modern production laboratories we can possibly create, utilising the safest and most productive methods. The more we collectively produce, the more we shall collectively enjoy. All of us will be useful producers, working but a fraction of the time we are forced to work today. But we shall not only be useful producers, but we shall also all share equitably in the wealth we produce, and our compensation will literally dwarf anything we can imagine today. In socialist society there will be neither involuntary unemployment nor poverty. The young will be educated not only to prepare them to participate in social production but also to enable them to expand their interests and develop their individual interests and talents.

The aged will be cared for, and not by any such demeaning methods as are used today. We shall provide all their material needs and create a social atmosphere in which they can live lives that are culturally and intellectually satisfying. It will not be charity, but their rightful share as former contributors to production. Under capitalism, improved methods and machinery of production kick workers out of jobs. Under socialism, such improvements will be blessings for the simple reason that they will increase the amount of wealth produced and make possible ever higher standards of living, while providing us with greater and greater leisure in which to enjoy them. 

With socialism, we shall produce everything we need and want in abundance under conditions best suited to our welfare, aiming for the highest quality. We shall constantly strive to improve our methods and equipment in order to reduce the hours of work. We shall provide ourselves with the best of everything: the finest educational facilities, the most modern and scientific health facilities and adequate and varied recreational facilities. We shall constantly seek to improve our socialist society. Purposeful research, expansion of the arts and culture, preservation and replacement of our natural resources, all will receive the most serious attention. It will be a society in which everyone will have the fullest opportunity to develop his or her individuality without sacrificing the blessings of cooperation.

Freed from the compulsions of competition and the profit motive that presently hurl capitalist nations into war, socialism will also be a society of peace. In short, socialist society will be a society of secure human beings, living in peace, in harmony and human brotherhood.

This all may sound too good to be true. Yet the world has the productive capacity to provide a high standard of living for all, to provide security and comfort for all, to create safe workplaces and clean industries, and to help other nations reach these same goals. The only thing keeping us from reaching these goals is that the workers don't own and control that productive capacity; it is owned and controlled by a few who use it solely to profit themselves. 

Socialism was born in response to the grave social problems generated by capitalism's uses of technology. Socialism grew out of the profound disruption of society capitalism caused. It was the pitiless and inhumane uses to which capitalism put the technology at its disposal to exploit human labor that made the socialist movement necessary.

 Socialism is not an idea that fell from the skies, but a natural response to the material conditions and social relations that took shape as the capitalist system of production developed.

At the same time, however, the socialist movement has always recognised the tremendous material possibilities technological advances offer for eliminating the poverty, misery and suffering it has engendered -- not of its own accord, but as a direct result of the capitalist system of private ownership of the productive forces created by human labour and ingenuity. The whole purpose of the socialist movement, therefore, is to solve the grave social problems resulting from the march of technology monopolised by a numerically insignificant capitalist class so that the magnificent possibilities modern advances in technology hold out may benefit all of humanity. Accordingly, the socialist movement also sees in so-called post-industrial technology the productive instrument for the attainment of its goal. Whatever good there is in modern methods of production, whatever their potential for making the world a better place, for eliminating arduous toil, hunger and poverty, that potential is wiped out by a single, dominating fact. The one fact that overwhelms and nullifies the promise of all progress is private ownership of the means of production and distribution. The goal of the WSM is to replace capitalism with the economic and social democracy of socialism.

 William Morris once wrote, "While theologians are disputing the existence of a hell elsewhere, we are on the way to realising it here…”

Organising to bring the industries under the ownership of all the people, to build a socialist society of peace, plenty and freedom, is the only real alternative workers have.

We must teach one another

 

Within the World Socialist Movement, there is no advocacy of state ownership of the industries. There is no belief that political government should nationalise the industries, under the leadership of a supposed working-class party. The goal, rather, is direct democratic control of all industries and services by the workers united in an association of a cooperative commonwealth. The socialist political parties that constitute the WSM have but one thing to do upon winning control of the political offices, and that is to transfer all management authority to the workers' administrations and, in so doing, abolish all political forms of power, including the abolition of the socialist political party itself, without delay. The WSM calls for a complete change in the structure of government, creating local, regional and global networks consisting of delegates elected by neighbourhood and workers’ councils in manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, education, health, recreation, etc. Industrial democracy is to replace the political form of parliamentary democracy. The World Socialist Movement agree partially with the anarchists, insofar as to say that a truly class-free society must also be state-free, and have no coercive power that is distinct from and ruling over the populace. As Engels has written that, with socialism, "the government of persons is replaced by the administration of things." 

The WSM differs from anarchists and syndicalists in our insistence that the working class can only abolish the state by first capturing control of it. The working people must come to control the offices of political government (i.e., the coercive and nationalist-based form of government) in order to dismantle it. Therefore, the working class requires organisation in the political field. The ballot raises the workers’ movement above the level of a conspiracy. Without the use of the present constitutional method, the social revolution would have to be violent, either involving the slaughter of participants or the transformation of the mass movement into elite vanguardism of cadres. The WSM continues to insist that modifications to the surface forms of the social system by reforms cannot bring about structural change and fellow workers should not be distracted  with "palliatives." Labour parties and progressive liberals have failed to focus on the need for a revolutionary reconstruction, and possess a diluted political program with calls for gradual reforms which imply the continuation of capitalism. The goal of abolishing "the wage system" is abandoned and the aim of "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work" is adopted.

The members of the World Socialist Movement affirm, as a fundamental principle, that labour is the creator of wealth and is entitled to all it creates. They accept the logical conclusion of such as the overthrow of the whole profit-making system, the extinction of the exchange economy, the abolition of classes and the obliteration of poverty. We declare war upon wage slavery which robs workers and gorges capitalists.

Socialism is the common ownership by all the people of the factories, mines, transport, land and all other instruments of production. Socialism means production to satisfy human needs, not, as under capitalism, for sale and profit. Socialism means democratic control and management of the industries and social services by the workers where all authority will originate from the workers. Such a system would make possible the fullest democracy and freedom. It would be a society based on the most primary freedom, economic freedom. Socialism does not mean government or state ownership. It does not mean a state bureaucracy as in the former Soviet Union or China, with the working class oppressed by a new bureaucratic class. It does not mean a party-run system without democratic rights. It does not mean nationalisation, or even cooperatives, or state capitalism of any kind. It means a complete end to all capitalist social relations. To win the struggle for socialist freedom requires enormous efforts of organisational and educational work. It requires building a political party of socialism to contest the power of the capitalist class on the political field and to educate the majority of workers about the need for socialism. You are needed by the Socialist Party fighting for a better world. Find out more about the work of the Socialist Party and join us to help make the promise of socialism a reality.

The capitalist economic system lies at the root of all of modern society's major social AND economic problems. Abolish strife-breeding capitalism and those problems are either eradicated or left to die, for lack of nourishment, on the ugly vine from which they spring. The Socialist  Party has long contended that only socialism can solve the major social and economic problems plaguing our society today. But many people have been taught all their lives that "socialism" means the state-controlled system that existed in the Soviet Union, exists today in China or Cuba, or bureaucratic state control of society in general. World socialism upheld by the Socialist Party, however, is completely different from the Soviet or Chinese systems, Cuban or any existing system. It has nothing to do with nationalisation, a welfare state or any kind of state ownership or control of industry whatsoever. World socialism would give power not to the state, but to the people themselves, allowing collective control of their own economic future.

Socialism means a class-free society. Unlike under capitalism, where a tiny minority owns the vast majority of wealth and the means of producing it, everyone would share equally in the ownership of all the means of production, and everyone able to do so would work. There wouldn't be separate classes of owners and workers. The economy would be administered by the workers themselves through industrially based, democratic "associations of free and equal producers," as Marx described it.

The workers collectively would decide what they want to be produced and how they want it produced. They would control their own workplaces and make the decisions governing their particular industry. With the abolition of the capitalist expropriation of the lion's share of workers' product, all workers would receive, directly or indirectly, the full value of the products they create, minus only the deductions needed to maintain and improve society's facilities of production and distribution.

As Engels once described it, socialism would be a system in "which every member of society will be enabled to participate not only in the production but also in the distribution of social wealth."

Far from being a state-controlled society, socialism would be a society WITHOUT A STATE. Marx once said that "the existence of the state is inseparable from the existence of slavery." Consonant with this truth, socialism would have management, but not a separate, coercive body standing above society itself -- a state. The people themselves, through the democratic associations of workers, would BE ruling.

Socialism can only be built in a developed, industrialised society with a working-class majority. The Bolshevik and Chinese revolutions weren't socialist in character. They occurred in pre-industrial societies. Without a majority working class and the ability to eliminate scarcity of needed goods and services, the creation of a class-free society was impossible. Material conditions there bred conflict and made the continuation of the class struggle inevitable in such countries.

In a socialist revolution, the industrially organised workers take possession of the means of production, abolish capitalist-class rule and supplant the state with "associations of free and equal producers." 

In the Bolshevik and Chinese revolutions, an elite "vanguard" party seized control of the state and used the state to control the means of production. Instead of establishing a class-free society, the party-state bureaucracy became a new ruling class.

A socialist political party is needed to educate the working class and to recruit workers to the socialist cause. But a political party isn't suited to carry out the primary objective of socialism -- to bring the workers into collective control over all social production and distribution.

Socialist Standard No. 1405 September 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 PDF here

• Editorial

• Pathfinders

• UBI

• Cooking the Books 1

• Key work, key workers and shorter hours

• Material World

• Countdown to COP – Part Two

• Sci-Fi, Utopias and Socialism

• Parasites

• Letters

• Cooking the Books 2

• Proper Gander

• Book Reviews

• 50 Years Ago

• School Report

• Meetings

• Rear View

 

Join the Socialist Party

 

A socialist society must be one without social classes, states, central governments, money, trade, wage-labour, or employment, and must include voluntary labour and free access to all goods and services produced by society for all, based on their own self-determined needs. Capitalism, being based on the production and exchange of commodities, moulds its various social institutions in its own image

The immense productive powers of capitalism have long since reached a stage where the establishment of socialism has been possible but because of the fetters of the financial market and the profit system, it is unable to deliver what socialism can. Socialism has never been tried and it should be noted that what passed for socialism/communism in the former Soviet Union, and what is now taking place in China, Cuba et al, has none of the features of a socialist society. Rather, as we observed in 1918, what took place in Russia and subsequently in other countries called socialist was a form of capitalism run by the state with all the features of the capitalist mode of production – a monetary system, wage-labour, exploitation by the extraction of the surplus-value produced by the workers, state coercion, alienation of the worker from his product, and so on.

 

The Socialist Party does not advocate reformism, i.e. a platform of reforms with the aim of gradually reforming capitalism into a system that works for all. While we are happy to see the workers’ lot improved, reforms can never lead to the establishment of socialism and tend to bleed energy, ideas, and resources from that goal. Reforms fought for can, and frequently are, taken away or watered down. Rather than attempting gradual transformation of the capitalist system, something we hold is impossible and has been proven by a century of reformist platforms of so-called workers’ parties which have led instead to the reform of such parties themselves to accept capitalism, we believe that only socialism can end forever the problems of our present society such as war, poverty, starvation, inadequate health care and housing, insecurity, and environmental degradation.

 The Socialist Party is like no other political party. It is made up of people who have joined together because we want to get rid of the profit system and establish real socialism. Our aim is to persuade others to become socialist and act for themselves, organising democratically and without leaders, to bring about the kind of society that we advocate. We are solely concerned with building a movement of socialists for socialism. We are not a reformist party with a programme of policies to patch up capitalism. We view socialism as common ownership of the means of production and goods produced. Every individual contributing in accordance with ability and receiving in accordance with needs. And work shared out according to the ability of the individual: whoever has the ability to be a doctor does the doctoring. More time devoted to straightforward tasks and less time squandered on complicated or tiresome ones. Every individual need to work only two or three hours a day if all the needs of society are to be met, that will be enough - indeed, more than enough - to meet society's needs.

Our aim is to build a movement working towards a socialist society. We publish literature, we hold meetings and debates throughout the country, we write to the press and state our case wherever possible on the media. We operate on the internet with our website and blogs and are active on social media. We run weekend educational conferences, we sell and pamphlets, we hand out leaflets, we contest elections, and we discuss our ideas with people wherever we can.

We are unique

The Socialist Party has been unique in for:

· Consistently advocating world socialism - a fully democratic society based upon co-operation and production for use.

· Opposing every single war

· Opposing every single government

· Being a democratic and leader-free organisation. The more of you who join the Socialist Party the more we will be able to get our ideas across, the more experiences we will be able to draw on and the greater will be the new ideas for building the movement which you will be able to bring to us.

The Socialist Party is an organisation of equals. There is no leader and there are no followers.

So, if you are going to join we want you to be sure that you agree fully with what we stand for and that we are satisfied that you understand the case for socialism.

If you want to know more about the Socialist Party, its ideas and activities, please contact us,