The case for socialism.

 

The capitalist economy reproduces and often worsens the vast and harmful inequalities between people and countries. Capitalism is unsustainable, and at a time when global temperatures are rising and social divisions are deepening, humanity may be left with the destruction of the world or at least will with large parts of the earth uninhabitable. The economic evils of the working-class are due to their wage-slave position in capitalist society.  Capitalism cannot cure its many social ills without risking its continued existence. There is really only one cure and that cure involves the extinction of capitalism as such, for it strikes at the root of capitalism—the private ownership of the means of production.

Capitalism, administratively and socially, has always been adjusting itself to developments of new production methods, and the rise of new sections of the capitalist class, but this is not a transition to socialism. Capitalism, with ever new adjustments, will go on indefinitely unless and until the working-class decides to terminate it. Waiting for capitalism to come to its natural demise and in the meantime assisting the capitalists to reform capitalism is not work for socialists.

We have never denied that the workers consent to capitalist control and vote for capitalism at each election. The point of importance is that the capitalists are in control, and therefore the reforms they introduce are capitalist remedies for capitalist problems. While the capitalist class are in control they will decide what shall and shall not be done. The pressure of their system, not the pleadings of “labour” representatives, compels them to actions which sometimes work out to our benefit as well as theirs.

The very definite break of continuity after the workers gain control of socialism will be that, for the first time, an attack will be made on the private property basis of capitalism. Was there not a definite break of continuity in the Southern States of the U.S.A. when slavery was made illegal and replaced by wage-labour?

Socialism is international, and the conception of socialism and capitalism existing in “areas” “side by side,” is quite alien to the socialist idea.

Nationalisation is only another form of capitalism. If nationalisation leaves the workers no better and no worse off than now, that is a sufficient reason not to waste efforts on it; efforts which might be devoted to the achievement of socialism. Our alternative to advocating either private or state capitalism is to advocate socialism.

The solution to the unemployment problem is so simple that once grasped it seems extraordinary that one has not seen it before. At the outset, one may ask, “How can people be workless when the earth abounds in fruitfulness and there are hungry mouths to fill”?

 Surely the situation is ridiculous and forces one to see that there must be something fundamentally wrong with the method of production and distribution that is now in use. No amount of deep economic analysis or high-flown philosophical arguments can get over or explain away facts so simple as this.

If the bulk of the people must endure poverty and know little pleasures of life in order that capitalism shall flourish, then surely those suffering must, some time, put the question, “Why not end the whole thing” and create new conditions where this kind is unknown. The essence of carrying on as at present simply signifies the providing of leisure, enjoyment, “progress” and the rest for a privileged few at the expense of the many.

The hungry person looks into the baker’s shop but cannot take one’s fill.—Why? Because somebody else owns the goods.

The unemployed person looks wistfully through the factory window at the whirring machinery, but cannot take a place at a machine.—Why? Because somebody else owns the factory and all that is in it.

This brings us down at once to the root of the problem.

Taking the whole of society broadly, in almost every country the situation is as follows:

The great bulk of the wealth in existence is produced by working people receiving wages in return for the energies they expend. This wealth and the workshops, raw material, and land involved in its production are owned by vast companies representing’ mainly a relatively small group of shareholders who do not obtain their living by working but live on the dividends they get from the companies. These companies naturally aim at providing as many dividends as possible and to this end only keep their factories running as fully and as long as profit (in the long run, of course) comes to them. They, therefore, take advantage of the aid of science in the way of providing machinery and organisation that reduces the staff that needs to be employed for producing a given quantity of goods. The net result is a steady decrease in the relative number of work people employed and a consequent increase in unemployment.

Hundreds of years ago slavery came into existence because man’s power to produce reached a point where one man was able to produce in a day of labour a quantity of goods (or services) greater in value than what was needed to keep him for the day— a slave produced more than his or her keep. At that time this robbery was plain for every eye to see because the oppression was direct and open.  It was clear that the slaves produced, not only all that kept them but also a huge extra quantity that enabled the Patrician slave-holders to live luxuriously. Since those days the means to produce a given quantity of goods with less and less expenditure of human energy have made mighty strides until we have reached a time when millions can be kept well-nourished and live in comfort. Ponder a little more and you will realise how easy it would be to fill every empty stomach, clothe every ragged person and provide a home for everyone, if all the energy employed wastefully were spent on work connected with the production of what is necessary to meet the needs of all. Socialism implies this.

In Praise of Socialism

 

Economic and social disasters continue to increase worldwide. Contradictions are sharpening daily in all spheres on all continents. The top-down assault on living and working standards continues unabated. Worldwide there is no letup in the intensification of the destruction and violence produced by the outdated political and economic system of the rich. Inhumane conditions are flourishing globally under a system which has long benefited the master class rule. Capitalist fiscal and monetary policies have solved nothing; they have not prevented recurring crises. More people are becoming more fed up with politicians and demanding an alternative to the untenable status quo. A socialist direction is needed for the economy and society.

End the silence on economic and social conditions.  This is a good time to jump into the fray, expose the failures of the rich and their outmoded systems, and boldly speak up for human-centred interests. Discuss these worsening conditions with everyone. Share and disseminate information that combats the disinformation and propaganda of the rich. Speak up in your own name and strive to organize each other for pro-social aims. Put these serious matters on the agenda, reject unprincipled divisions and diversions, and work together to develop collective solutions. History and the will-to-be demand it. It is all do-able. The international financial oligarchy is unable and unwilling to solve any of the serious problems that continue to worsen worldwide. Instead, it keeps taking actions that successfully degrade the social and natural environment. Things keep going from bad to worse, causing more people to view the rich and their political and media representatives as irrelevant, irresponsible, and illegitimate. The majority clearly have little to be satisfied with when it comes to the direction of the economy and society. They want to know how and why we are in the abysmal mess we are in today.

Millions have been in dire straits for a long time. They do not care about how capital-centred ideologues technically define a recession. They experience hardship first-hand every day and do not need the privileged wealthy elite to tell them when things are not going well. All the dots need to be connected, analysis needs to be developed, and collective action needs to be taken on the basis of constant analysis and discussion that deepens social consciousness. This is not the time to embrace the self-serving views and schemes promoted by the rich. The rich offer no meaningful answers. Every “solution” the rich put forward has harmful consequences. They continue to dogmatically rely exclusively on outdated economic theories put forward by long-gone capital-centred economists like John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and others. Such ideas and theories never stabilised capitalism. They never brought lasting and sustainable peace, security, stability, and prosperity for the majority. The system continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. Major corporations, however, are having a field day.  

Democratic renewal is the order of the day. People need an electoral and political set-up that is going to empower them to decide all the affairs of society. No one else is going to solve the worsening problems confronting humanity. The polity, not the international financial oligarchy, must have sovereign power over the direction and aim of society. No meaningful lasting solutions will come from the rich and their representatives. While people want an alternative to the misery and anarchy that has been worsening for many years, they do not trust the politicians of the rich )to bring about such an alternative. People have been dissatisfied with the political representatives of the rich for decades.  Capitalists are not interested in sharing power and wealth. They are not interested in the dignity and humanity of all. On the contrary, all their actions and policies further degrade the social and natural environment. It cannot be otherwise.

 

People do not feel represented under “representative democracy” and want a real say in the affairs of society. They want to end their marginalization and become the decision-makers in society so that problems can actually be solved. How is it possible that millions can be held hostage to a few big businesses and a broken economic system? Why can’t hundreds of millions of people stop a handful of big businesses from immiserating more than 90% of the population?  The only way to extricate society from this crisis is by depriving the rich of their ability to deprive everyone of their rights. Working people must organise themselves to affirm the right to decide all the affairs of society. Experience has also taught people that constantly begging politicians to do the most basic simple things has left millions exhausted, disillusioned, and humiliated. People do not want to fight for years just to secure minor changes that favour them. Concrete, sustained, collective action with analysis is needed to move forward.

The only way out of recurring crises and endless tragedies is by ending the rule of capital and establishing the rule of working people. Experience shows daily that an economic system dominated by competing owners of capital striving to maximise profit as fast as possible is a disaster for the social and natural environment. Rule by the financial oligarchy must be replaced by the rule of the working class if human rights are to be guaranteed in practice. An integrated socialized economic system built and operated by working people but divided up amongst competing owners of capital to do with as they wish will only guarantee more crises and tragedies. 

What is needed is an economic system based on the broad aim of using socially-produced wealth to advance the general interests of society. Such a society will empower people to take charge of the affairs of society. Such a society is called socialism

 

Adapted from an article by Shawgi Tell at stell5@naz.edu.

Honest Government Ad (video)

 

Dysfunctional Capitalism

 

The point is not to reduce inequality, poverty, debt, or gas emissions a little or to increase the food supply and wages so that fewer people are hungry. Objectively, these problems should have been solved long ago. There is no reason for millions to go hungry in 2022.

 But the need is for a complete reset, a new direction, that favors the people as a whole and puts them center-stage. This means putting humanity not the narrow pursuit of maximum profit by the rich, at the center of everything and taking a new fresh path. The rich and their representatives are not going to usher in this new direction because it would mean making themselves completely obsolete. It is up to working people to collectively bring in the alternative.

There is no sign that economic turbulence, insecurity, and volatility will diminish in 2023 or 2024. We are in a deep all-sided economic crisis that is adversely affecting the social, cultural, and political spheres. The necessity for change that favors the people is presenting itself very forcefully at this time. The crisis of the capitalist economic system has become unusually severe. There is a rapid breakdown at all levels, which is why life is becoming more chaotic, anarchic and untenable.  Nothing lasts forever, everything is transient. The thesis-antithesis-synthesis cycle has not disappeared under today’s unprecedented conditions. The dialectic lives even in these difficult times. It is up to working people to grasp this dialectic and use action with analysis to move humanity forward in a human-centered direction. It can be done and must be done.

 The economy is working mainly for a handful of people and cannot provide for the needs of all. And experience shows that the inability and unwillingness of the employing class to fix any major problems will increase in the coming years. An economy dominated by an extremely tiny minority is not going to produce solutions that favor the majority of people. Experience and research show that problems steadily go from bad to worse under existing political and economic arrangements. All the capitalist institutions are dysfunctional, outmoded, and incapable of giving expression to the interests of the people.

Democracy should not mean that people beg politicians  to “do the right thing.” Such supplication diverts large amounts of precious attention and energy away from focusing on and building our own collective power, analysis, and actions. It prevents us from relying on ourselves and seeing ourselves as the alternative to the status quo. Getting caught up in the nasty, self-serving, pragmatic, and unprincipled reformist politics, shenanigans, and chicanery of the parties of the rich hinders progress and prolongs misery and insecurity for all. It is a non-starter. It is not politically effective. Even incremental and small “advances” and “wins” are very hard to come by. 

Ceaseless money printing by central banks, price-fixing in major sectors of the economy (“greedflation”), never-ending supply-chain disruptions and delays, endless pay-the-rich schemes (e.g., public-private “partnerships”), constantly-growing debt at all levels, more inequality, intensifying stock market turbulence, out-of-control inflation, widespread poverty, and lower working and living standards for millions are signs of an economy that lost historical and social relevance long ago. It is an economy in dire need of a new aim and direction under the control of the workers who actually produce the wealth in society.

The economic and social fallout from an obsolete economic and political system continues at home and abroad. This is especially significant given the interconnected nature of everything and the fact that the rich and their political and media representatives are incapable of analyzing and theorizing the economy objectively and offer only more confusion and incoherence. While a fragmented chaotic economy devoid of conscious human intervention has been the norm for decades, it can be seen from the economic and social catastrophe unfolding globally that such an anachronistic economy is further disintegrating and wreaking more havoc on the peoples of the world. It is out of control and some have even called it a death spiral. The rich and their political and media representatives are becoming more irresponsible, incompetent, and ineffective with each passing day. Not a single major problem has been solved in decades and every day there is more traumatizing news about economic and social conditions around the world. People everywhere are fed-up, exhausted, and overwhelmed, including many “middle class” people. Only the wealthy few can escape the pain affecting the vast majority.

the rich and their entourage nonchalantly talk and act like lurching from crisis to crisis is somehow inevitable and unpreventable. The notion that the economic collapse confronting humanity is mysterious, incomprehensible, or hard to fix is irrational and self-serving to the extreme. The economy is not a mystery and can be directed quickly and properly to serve a pro-social aim. Everything needed to advance pro-social aims already exists. Workers already run everything and many people with valuable expertise in many fields can be brought together to advance a pro-social direction. Many serious chronic problems can be solved quickly with working people in charge of the wealth they collectively produce. Without political authority and power, however, pro-social changes will remain piece-meal and inadequate. Living and working standards will remain subpar for millions. Working people must have sovereign power over economic and political affairs. The aim and direction of the economy must not be set and controlled by big business because that leads only to more disasters.

Adapted from an article by Shawgi Tell at stell5@naz.edu.

 

The Myth of Scotland's Oil (1973)

 From the August 1973 issue of the Socialist Standard

If the victory of the Dundee by-election was regarded as a triumph by the Labour Party, the Scottish National Party must also have been elated by the large number of votes secured by their candidate who ran a close second. This would suggest that the Nats are making a comeback after a period in the doldrums following the party’s zenith in 1968, after Winifred Ewing’s election at Hamilton, when membership was claimed to be in excess of 90,000 with some 500 branches. At present members total some 60,000, with branches around 440.

Why the revival? Undoubtedly the rejuvenating shot in the arm came in the form of North Sea oil. The recent successes of the oil consortiums couldn’t have happened at a better time for the SNP, for two reasons. First—and this is the kernel of the Nationalist argument — the SNP have always asserted that the problems confronting Scotland resulted from the channelling of Scottish revenue directly into the coffers of the “English government’’ thereby preventing the Scottish worker from deriving any benefit from it (despite the obvious fact that his English counterpart doesn’t do too well either!). The advent of the Nats’ new sacred cow, oil, greatly strengthens this argument and has the added bonus of promising such offshoot titbits as rig-building, construction and service industries.

Second, the Nats had previously conceded (surprisingly) that in the early days of home-rule the standard of living would actually be lowered. The wealth they claim oil would bring to an independent Scotland allows them to discard this vote-loser, and the result is that many workers who were previously sceptical of home-rule are now expressing concern over “Scottish Oil” which goes, according to the SNP poster, “To London with Love”.

Who owns North Sea Oil ?

The territorial control of the world’s continental shelf areas was settled by the United Nations Continental Shelf Convention of 1958 when, by an agreement binding after 1969, countries bordering any particular section of continental shelf were given sovereign rights to explore and exploit the natural resources of the shelf. The North Sea continental shelf has since been divided up between Norway, Germany, Denmark, Holland and Britain. The first British round of licences for oil exploration was granted in 1964, several more having been made since, the latest in March 1972. By the end of 1972 at least six commercial-sized oil fields had been discovered in the Scottish sector together with other recent strikes (whose potential is still being assessed). They are:

• Forties Field which was the first and one of the biggest. Discovered by British Petroleum about a hundred miles east of Aberdeen. Eventual peak production will be in excess of 400,000 barrels per day (20 million tons per year).
• Montrose Field discovered about 30 miles south-east of the Forties Field by Amoco and thought to be capable of producing 100,000 barrels per day.
• Auk Field being brought by Shell into production at a rate of 40,000 barrels/day.
• Argyll Field is reckoned by Hamilton’s to be possibly in the 200,000 barrels/day range.
• Brent Field has Shell/Esso anticipating an eventual rate of over 300,000 barrels/day.
• Beryl Field Mobil are looking for a possible 300,000 barrels/day here.

The Face of Prosperity

Under London rule, argue the Nationalists in a new pamphlet The Reality of Scotland’s Oil by Nicholas Dekker, only 9 per cent of the taxes and royalties from this oil will go to Scotland. Under home-rule, however, the Nats claim that by 1980 (assuming that it will take five years to develop an oilfield in the North Sea) new fields discovered during 1973, 1974 and 1975 could bring production up to 150 million tons per year with an estimated gross value of £2,250 million, of which something like £1,400 million or over per annum could tumble into a Scottish exchequer. Coupled with an assumed 50 per cent of “Scottish participation” (investment of capital) in production and of 40 per cent or 60 per cent in ancillary costs (based on above figures), total potential worth to a Scottish economy would be 85 per cent or 90 per cent of gross value—£1,900 million to £2,000 [million] per annum.

This money can, insist the SNP, “be used to secure for all time, prosperity, security, and a satisfying life style for all the people of Scotland”. Among the many promises (play it again, Sam!) would be vastly improved provision for the old, the sick and needy, and the wiping out of the chronic housing problem. Thus armed, the SNP are preparing to contest every Scottish scat at the next General Election.

. . . and its Reverse

Socialists constantly expose the fallacy of home-rule, pointing as examples to other self-governed countries such as Libya, Venezuela, Russia, and even America, where workers derive little if any benefit from oil produced locally. Indeed the opposite can result as is the case in Aberdeen where the oil boom has resulted in a property price-spiral far surpassing anything in Scotland (in fact reaching parity with English property prices) with such bizarre examples as the two-apartment tenement flat which fetched a price of over £4,000!

Equally unsound is the argument that the oil industry must inevitably produce an increase in the number of jobs available. For it could also mean a drop in the demand for other fuels, notably coal, with redundancies in those industries and their offshoots. Not only that, but many of the “new” jobs will, if the SNP have their way, simply have been taken from workers already doing them in England, so it’s a case of robbing Peter to pay Jock, a situation which in no way benefits the workers as a class.

Who Benefits ?

Perhaps the biggest fallacy of all is the Nats’ vision of the anticipated wealth from oil being used exclusively to provide a heaven on earth for Scottish workers. Of course, as the Nats themselves admit, the oil companies will have to have it made worth their while if they are to put up the “vast sums of risk capital to finance search and exploration” and so will the “private and semi-private Scottish capital” they talk about. Also, the cost of government, including the armies of civil servants which any modern capitalist nation must have to administer its affairs, will have to be paid for, and obviously no government can afford to neglect to defend such a valuable property as its oil fields so it will have to provide for defence either independently or through NATO. So, one way and another, there can be little left with which to fulfil the grandiose promises being made. We can confidently assert that the benefit of oil in Scotland will go, as elsewhere in the world, to the owners and the most that Scottish workers can expect from the oil boom is . . . work and wages!

Finally, it’s worth considering that if the North Sea does produce a supply of oil of any significance in relation to world fuel supplies, and bearing in mind the recent panic measures taken by President Nixon, the scramble for oil could become intensified (rapidly expanding Japan, already using 50,000 million gallons a year, estimates treble consumption by the 1980’s). And as trade war sometimes develops into armed war, the tragic result could be that workers living in Scotland could well find themselves, like those in Iceland, being called upon to take up arms to defend “their” oil.

A. McNeill

Things Are Becoming Clearer

 

No government is able to foretell the prosperity or the failure of its industries. They may guess and perhaps sometimes be right — which will allow them to claim special powers — but it all rests upon the market, which itself is anarchic and uncontrollable. Of course, when a government is able to publish figures which are seen as hopeful — falling unemployment or lower prices for example — Chancellors are quick to claim credit for them. It is only when the statistics tell a different story — when the jobless are increasing or prices spiralling — that governments take refuge in the excuse that they have been hit by the equivalent of a snow blizzard in August.

Capitalism and its unpleasant side-effects ride roughshod over us all (like some giant steamroller crushing and flattening creativity, talent, feelings and our natural inclinations) for example, so-called “education” does little more than pour out a certain quota of information and indoctrination, necessary to turn out more compliant wage slaves. We’re constantly encouraged to work against nature in order to get by under this system. Despite a system that tries to knock it out of them, every hour of every day, people are social animals and work with each other. it’s overwhelmingly clear, that in our lives greed, selfishness and couldn’t-care-less attitude are merely a result of human conditioning, drummed into us all.

 We are so accustomed to dealing with money that we have come to think in its terms and find it difficult to imagine a world without it. It is the money system that restricts choice and freedom. Capitalism is inherently violent. It relies on seizing the means of sustenance from people and forcing them to labour in a hierarchical structure in order to purchase what they need to survive in an established market system. This involves establishing a repressive legal structure which enforces adherence to this system. It is rooted in class domination. Conflict and coercion are at its core. It has people whose lives simply don’t “matter” and they are turned into enemies, minorities, refugees, migrants, the poor and the mentally ill. The capitalist system whose underlying tendency towards the ever-increasing concentration of wealth repeatedly humiliates, de-legitimises, and discredits the vulnerable. They endure collateral damage because capitalism doesn’t care about them and it is indifferent to its cruelty. What if, for example, immigrants were simply seen as fellow humans, and helped? Basic human needs are utterly unfulfilled at every level and most politicians and most of the media view problems as just us-vs.-them. A hungry family? Forget them. The capitalists have long worked to discourage activism on the part of the people,

Everyone can see that living conditions are worsening  Every person has experienced the cost of living rises in food and fuel. Wages and salaries are not keeping up with inflation, and debt, inequality, and insecurity are growing everywhere. No amount of politician's distractions can hide the harsh reality people are undergoing.  No longer can it be concealed by disinformation or propaganda charades. Despite contradictory news headlines every week, the rich and their political, media, and think tank representatives continue to work overtime to foster the illusion that the global economy is strong, booming, and resilient. The future, according to them, looks bright. Nothing could be further from the truth. The rich remain out of touch and are determined to advance an agenda that will bring greater pain for the people to protect their profits if it is not opposed every step of the way.

Despite the disheartening and depressing developments occurring across the world, despair and despondency, while understandable, are not inevitable. Anger and hope can galvanise people into action. It actually makes working for change more critical. There is no need to sit back and watch helplessly as the whole world goes to hell. People are not readily expressing their doubts, worries and fears, but these are just beneath the surface nevertheless. They may as yet not be questioning, but the questions are formulating in their minds. There is no bigger question than how bad will things get before we begin to take action and are we going to do everything possible to make our world a better place for our children and their children? And the answer, surely, must be yes.

There is no doubt, that people are growing more clear-sighted. It was Abraham Lincoln who said –“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”