Depleting Nature Of Capitalism

Recently I happened to journey through parts of Toronto where I haven't been for some years and was dismayed at the changes I saw. 

What were pleasant residential areas have now become a mass of condos.

Also in some of the business areas, what were once buildings with character had been demolished to make way for massive glass and steel monsters. The midtown Yonge-Eglinton part, in which construction is continuing, is similar to the concrete canyons of New York.

It's safe to assume that the above is happening in other big cities. It's all so drab and depressing, but if that is the result of real estate tycoons making money that's how it will stay; at least as long as capitalism lasts.

For socialism,

 Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC.

Sops or Socialism

If the working class is ever to succeed in establishing a free and democratic society in which all will enjoy peace, abundance, and security, it must first have a proper understanding of capitalist society. It is correct to say that the capitalist system will destroy itself. It does not follow from that with equal logic that socialism will be the successor. 

Whether the reforms proposed by the liberals are direct aids to capitalists in exploiting the workers, or in perpetuating the capitalist system, or in deceiving the workers into believing that their fate can be improved under the capitalist system, the fact remains that their reforms and their "resistance" to ever more reactionary restrictions on workers are generally contrary to the interests of workers. They invariably are designed as, or turn out to be, props for the collapsing structure of capitalism, or even as weapons for the use of the plutocracy in consolidating its power and stranglehold on society. It does not require any great insight to see that hope for a sane and decent society does not lie with the oligarchs and plutocrats; nor with any government. Nor do they rest with men and women "of good will," no matter how sincere or commendable they may be. Our hope lies with the World's working class and their latent political and industrial might, the only power that can neutralise and defeat the capitalist class and provide the basis for a new democratic and prosperous society.

Neither the welfare state or the social security safety-net has anything to do with socialism; yet, it may also be said that they are a result of socialism. It can be said that all reforms designed to ease the pain capitalism has on the working class result from capitalism defending itself from the advance of socialist ideas. They are in the nature of capitalist strategic manoeuvers in the face of the socialist challenge. The purpose is not to ease the burden of the victims of the profits system, but to deflect the socialist movement and, if possible, to split it.   Reformism is a skillful piece of political strategy that has worked like a charm, as the difficulty the socialist movement has had in overcoming the seductive lure of such reformists shows all too well.

The reason social reforms has anything to do with socialism, of course, is that socialism implies an end to the poverty and insecurity that come from private ownership and control of the economy. There is but one principle that the Socialist Party holds and that is the unconditional surrender of the capitalist class and the abolition of wage slavery. Bridging the gap between the establishment of socialism and the prevailing consciousness of the working class has always been a challenge for the Socialist Party. Something now reformism and making immediate demands has been at the root of the decades-long debate as to what constitutes proper strategy and tactics between the Socialist Party and those other workers' parties. This question impinges directly on socialists' attitude toward, and involvement in, workers' daily struggles against both their exploiters and the executive committee of their exploiters -- the political state. The Socialist Party holds that any involvement by a socialist organisation in the daily manifestations of the class struggle will inevitably cause that organisation to stray from the revolutionary path.  We contend our case for socialism is undermined by being associated with other organisations that aim at anything less than the overthrow of capitalism. 

The Socialist Party clearly recognises the dangers that lurk in the swamp of reform. It keeps uppermost in mind the need to promote among the workers it reaches a clear class-conscious understanding of the nature of capitalist society and its inherent contradictions. A socialist revolution is needed to abolish the entire system based on private ownership and control of the means of production by a parasitic capitalist class. The potential of cooperatives can be fully realised only by replacing an economic system based on exploitation, competition, the market and the profit motive with one based on social co-operation for the common good.

A state-run economic system is not socialism! Karl Marx and Frederick Engels clearly distinguished between state ownership of the means of production and social ownership. They opposed the very existence of the state. A society divided into classes is not socialism, and a society without classes has no need of the instruments of class oppression. State ownership means the continued existence of a governmental power over and above the people themselves; it signifies continued class rule. Social ownership means that the people themselves, collectively and democratically, govern the use of the means of production. Marx and Engels described socialism as a society run by "associations of free and equal producers."

Socialism means the abolition of classes -- of two groups of people, one of which owns and controls the means of wealth production and distribution, and one of which owns nothing but their ability to perform productive and otherwise socially useful labor -- and with the abolition of classes any need for the state, i.e., the instrument by which class rule is enforced. Socialism, as Engels expressed it, is to be an administration of things. The things to be administered are the products and services that flow out of the industries, and the administrators will be the useful producers democratically organized to carry on production and the delivery of goods and services. Socialism, as Marx said, must be the class-conscious act of the working class itself. The role of the party now, as the Socialist Party sees it, is to stimulate class-consciousness and to urge the working class to organise itself.

The World We Live In

Members of the working class are:

1. own none of the means of social production;
2. they must sell their ability to perform productive labor -- their "labor power" -- which is given the special name of wages, in order to live;
3. they perform all socially useful labor; and
4. they have no voice in the disposition of their product.

This definition includes workers who wear white collars, blue collars, or no collars at all. It includes so-called "professionals," whose wages are usually called "salaries." It includes the self-employed, those who are sub-contractors. Capitalist propaganda to the contrary notwithstanding, owning small holdings of stock do not make a worker a capitalist.

The distinctive features that define the capitalist class are these:

1. Its members own all the means of social production
2. appropriate most of the wealth created by labour; and
3. as owners perform no socially useful function whatsoever.

The Socialist Party is concerned with the future of all humanity. Emancipation from capitalist wage slavery, and the indignities it heaps on the working-class majority will free the entire human race and put an end to classes and class divisions.

There obviously are differences between chattel slavery and wage slavery, but there are also many similarities. One similarity is that the modern system of slavery is one in which people are put to work for the benefit of a small owning class. One difference is that wage slaves are not bought and sold by individual masters at a slave market. Today, human beings are subjected to an even greater indignity -- they are forced to sell themselves piecemeal on the labour market. Ironically, this indignity helps to create an illusion of freedom. What this "freedom" amounts to is that workers may leave the master who employs them whenever they like. However, when they do quit they must immediately seek out a new master. This compulsion to seek a new master exposes their essential servitude. It also shows that wage slavery is really the enslavement of one class by another, of the workers as a class by the capitalists as a class. Another difference is that today's wage slaves often accumulate some personal property, such as a car or a house. This contributes to the illusion that workers have a stake in the capitalist system. What workers do not own, however, are the tools they need access to in order to live. Therefore, they must sell the one real commodity they do own -- their power or ability to labour -- to the capitalist master who owns the tools. This fact exerts a silent, unremitting pressure on the worker to follow a life pattern of economic dependence essential to capitalist production.  Today's wage slave may never be "sold down the river," away from spouse and children. However, by wage cuts, lay-offs, shut-downs and other decisions over which workers have no say, the capitalist master class destroys more families than the slaveholders of the old South ever ripped apart.

"Free labour" is a cornerstone of the capitalist economic system, without which capitalism as we know it could not survive. This follows because "free labour," which is only another way of saying wage labour, is the source of profit, and thereby the source of capital. Without a system of labour under which workers produce an excess of wealth over what they are paid there would be no source from which profits could be drawn, and without profit, there would be no way to increase capital. What this system of wage labour amounts to for workers is that they are "free" to sell their ability to perform productive labour on the labour market to the capitalist who is willing to pay the highest wages. This system of wage labor is a cornerstone of the capitalist social order. That is, the ability of the capitalist class to keep its place as the dominant and ruling class in society depends on its ability to restrain its greed for profit to the extent that the dominated and exploited working class can maintain an acceptable standard of living. Otherwise, workers may come to realise that the capitalist system promises only poverty, insecurity and degradation for themselves and future generations.  There are signs that the increased ferocity of capitalist competition on a world scale is leading to conditions in which the ground is being eaten from under the system of free wage labour. As modern technology continues its relentless sweep through all industries, and as capitalism's requirement for human labour declines, plus the free mobility of labour to cross borders is increasingly policed, the ability of workers to earn a decent living is declining precipitously. The spread of modern industrial technology, the vast displacement of human labor, and the resulting competition for jobs that are driving wages down all over the world is setting the stage for a social catastrophe of enormous dimensions

Chattel slaves feared to speak out openly because their masters might retaliate by selling them or their families away. Wage slaves quietly accept capitalist decisions that affect their livelihoods and threaten the economic security of their families are doing essentially the same thing. The modern slave class of wage workers cannot look to any outside Abolitionists for help. They cannot look to any "superior" class to assist them. They are on their own. Not only is capitalism "unfit" to dominate society, it has become a menace to the future of the human race. It is urgent that workers organize their political and economic power implicit in their vast numbers to abolish that system before it leads the world into a new Dark Age in which the vast majority of humanity is reduced to a hopeless level of enforced poverty and social bondage comparable to chattel slavery. Achieving that goal is indispensable if workers are to become the masters of their own destinies and thereby remove the yoke of economic despotism that is synonymous with the capitalist system.

OUR HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

The Socialist Party works for a society in which the workers will commonly own their collective products, without parasites leeching off their toil.

 The key to understanding how the working class is robbed is to recognize that wages do not reflect the value of the workers' product. Wages are the price of workers' labor power, or ability to work. Under capitalism, workers, in order to make a living, must sell their labour power, as a commodity, on a labour market, in which the capitalists are the buyers. Under capitalism, there are certain economic laws -- principally, the law of value -- that govern the price of commodities. Like other commodities, labour power has a definite exchange value, around which the price (wages) will tend to gravitate, despite the fluctuations of supply and demand.

Basically, the economic laws of capitalism operate such that workers, on average, receive a "living wage." There are variations for different kinds of labor power, of course -- an engineer will tend to command a higher wage than a farmworker. But on the whole, workers, when employed, receive just enough to support themselves and raise a new generation of workers. However, the value of workers' labour power and the value of workers' product are two different things. Under capitalism, workers create much more value than they receive in the form of wages.

Typically, in an 8-hour workday, the value of the products that workers create in about the first 1-1/2 to 2 hours of work will equal their wages. For the other 6 to 6-1/2 hours, workers are creating surplus value -- value, in the form of real wealth, which goes to the capitalist class, not for working, but for "owning." That is what socialists mean when they say that the capitalist class exploits the working class.

It is out of this surplus value that the capitalists make their profits, after they pay off any other capitalists owed rent, interest, advertising fees, etc., and pay the taxes needed to support the government. Remember: The real battle facing the working class has nothing to do with taxes. The real battle is to put an end to the robbery of the working class by the capitalist class so that workers can collectively take possession of the full value of their labour.

Everyone is a consumer, but only the workers are producers, and the workers are robbed by the capitalists who buy their labour power for wages and who appropriate the product of their labour. Wages are determined by the price that labour power fetches as a commodity in the market, and this price fluctuates according to supply and demand. The workers ARE robbed as producers. Apart from a few exceptional instances of cheating, they are NOT robbed as consumers. Workers who take a dollar to the grocery store normally get a dollar's worth of groceries in exchange. They get the same amount of groceries for their dollar that the capitalists, who are also consumers, get for theirs. In long run, however, the price of labour power (wages) coincides with its value -- and its value is equal to the amount of labour (measured in labour hours and minutes) that is embodied in what workers consume to keep themselves in working condition. In everyday language, the worker normally gets a living wage. This is the key to the robbery that goes on under capitalism. And it is precisely for this reason that The Socialist Party focuses attention on the worker's wage-slave status and the need to alter this status. When, under socialism, the workers cease to be robbed of the major portion of their product they will be enabled to consume in proportion to what they produce, but not until then.

On the whole, workers are not cheated as buyers of merchandise. They are cheated as producers of merchandise. Marxian science demonstrates that when the workers sell their labor power to the capitalists they receive a wage that amounts to only a fraction of the value of the new wealth their labor creates. The cheating, the legal robbing of the workers, consists of the capitalists' appropriating the workers' products and paying them only a fraction of the value of these products in wages. The fact is that the workers are robbed at the point of production. The robbery of the working class by the capitalist class is a class act. As a class (exclusive of all other layers in society) the workers are robbed as wealth producers. As a class, they must organise on class lines to abolish the robber system, capitalism. It is important for the workers to understand that they have no interests in common with the capitalist class and its various reformers. Yet, if the workers were robbed as consumers, they would have interests in common with everyone, since everyone is obviously a consumer. If the workers are deluded into thinking they are robbed as consumers they inevitably become victims of reforms and reformers, and the real robbery -- the robbery at the point of production -- goes on unabated. On the other hand, when the workers understand how and where they are robbed, the solution is clearly indicated. It is not reform, but revolution, the complete abolition of capitalism with its wage system and exploitation.

ARM YOURSELF WITH KNOWLEDGE

Socialism was born in response to the social problems generated by capitalism's uses of technology in the Industrial Revolution. Socialism grew out of the disruption of society capitalism caused. It was pitiless and inhumane as it used the factory system to exploit human labour and it 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. Even after nearly two hundred years, the need for socialism has only grown stronger. Socialists don't deny that the world is changing.  No one can deny that computers and other technological advances in the implements of production have swept through and profoundly transformed many industries.They were the first to point out that capitalism cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. But the nature, pace and purpose of such changes are not determined by society: they are governed by the whims and needs of that tiny minority that owns and controls the means of producing and distributing wealth. That is one of the two constants in capitalist society, no matter how many changes come along. The other is that the majority -- the working class -- has no say in the process. Capitalists hire and fire to suit their needs. As long as that division exists class divisions will continue. As long as class divisions continue the class struggle will exist. Today, the whole purpose of the socialist movement, is to apply its solution to the the grave social ills resulting from the march of technology monopolised by a numerically insignificant capitalist class so that the possibilities and advances of modern technology may benefit all of humanity. The goal of the Socialist Party is to replace capitalism with the economic and social democracy of socialism. The working class is the only progressive force capable of transforming society into one in which economic freedom and material security will be the birthright of every human being. And by the working class we understand all those who must sell their abilities to perform useful mental or physical labour to live.

It is absolutely certain that capitalism will continue to introduce new and increasingly sophisticated technology into industry. It is a certainty that millions of workers will be expelled from the economy -- and not only workers in the manufacturing and extractive industries, but millions who now hold service and so-called "white-collar" jobs. Promises that capitalism would create re-training and "high-paying" jobs to replace those that have been eliminated have proven hollow. A capitalist future of human misery is almost certain because of the economic laws on which capitalism is based -- laws which compel every capitalist concern to strive for the greatest possible profit at the lowest possible cost. That can only mean one thing. It can only mean that permanent joblessness is the only future that millions -- perhaps the majority -- of workers can look forward to as long as capitalism survives. Unless the working class becomes conscious of what a capitalist future holds the time may well come when it will be reduced to the beggar state of the proletariat of ancient Rome who was rendered useless by chattel slavery; that of today's proletariat is being displaced by computerized machines. At some stage in the mass displacement of workers by modern technology and automation the fear that already touches millions of workers will mature into the realization that they must act in their own defence. The realisation will grow that there is no solution to the problem within the capitalist system. Thought, discussion, enlightenment will produce action. The real question, therefore, is: At when will this occur? The answer will doubtless involve many other factors, not the least of which will be the bread and circuses. The spectacles used to distract our fellow-workers may well keep workers apathetic. The Socialist Party does not think it will, and we shall do our best to ensure that they won't. Nevertheless, it is possible. In this case, society would move into an era of industrial feudalism which, while it would not last forever, might keep the workers in a state of industrial serfdom for decades to come. To avert such social regression the Socialist Party works hard to spread the ideas of socialism.

The sad fact is that workers still buy into 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 assorted capitalist agencies of mis-education and mis-information -- the media, the intellectuals and academics, and the ever-present reformists, whose interests are primarily concerned with the preservation of their system -- the source of their wealth and their positions of privilege. They will not and do not hesitate to mouth any promise, no matter how hypocritical. A sane and decent society can never be realised within the confines of the capitalist system. Furthermore, the system cannot be reformed, regardless of how well-meaning or how good-intentioned the reformers may be. Capitalism is beyond fixing. The task of the Socialist Party is to arouse the working class to abolish capitalism and replace it with socialism. For sure, the capitalist class appears to be all-powerful and seems to be winning the class struggle. That, however, is because the capitalists are united in their battle against the workers, despite differences regarding strategy and tactics and their own rivalries. They have their goal clearly in mind -- the pursuit of ever-greater profits through the continued and ever-intensified exploitation of the workers. The capitalist system prevails by default. It exists because the working class is weak. 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 realise that the hope of their emancipation is 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.

WORKERS' UNITY FOR SOCIALISM

 "While theologians are disputing the existence of a hell elsewhere, we are on the way to realising it here: and if capitalism is to endure, whatever may become of men when they die, they will come into hell when they are born." - William Morris

Capitalism means every individual's hand raised against all others. 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. Socialist society will be a society of secure human beings, living in peace, in harmony and human brotherhood. 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.  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 future people have.

Everyone knows that there is strength in unity and that disunity brings only weakness and confusion, demoralisation and defeat. Strikes are not simply a struggle between employees and their employers. It is a struggle between the working class and the capitalist class -- a CLASS STRUGGLE that is inherent in and inseparable from the capital-labour relationship. Compelled by the profit motive and competition with their capitalist rivals, employers try to keep wages low and to get ever more production out of their workforce. The workers, on the other hand, driven both by sheer necessity and by normal ambition to rise above a state of constant want, resist and seek to raise pay. Never in our history have workers been asked to do so much for so little. Under capitalism, labour (labour power) is a commodity, a mere "means" of production that capitalists buy in the labour market the same as they buy raw materials in the raw materials market. By accepting the capitalist system, workers accept their commodity status.

The Socialist Party aims to achieve solidarity of labour. However, before workers can achieve genuine solidarity they must r become class-conscious. They must learn that their own interests as individuals are linked together with those of every other worker. Then and not until then can they organize themselves as a class, employed and unemployed, skilled and unskilled, office worker and factory worker. Divided, they are exploited and deprived of their potential collective strength. United, they are more difficult to oppress and repress. The political and economic organisation of the working class provides the best chance for a peaceful change from capitalism to socialism. Through their overwhelming majority, the workers will assert their power to own and operate collectively the means of social production. They next will be able to abolish the political state of class rule. The Socialist Party will be the battering ram with which workers will pound down the walls of capitalism. Every other organization or movement that touches on social questions have one thing in common. That one thing that they all share is that none of them offer any challenge to the misconceptions, illusions, prejudices or fears of the people they campaign to attract. They have no interest in challenging them, for that would only "scare" people away. Instead, they count on and build on those misconceptions, illusions, prejudices and fears. They thrive on them, nurture and exploit them. That is the key to their "success." And as a result they also eventually disappoint those whom they have attracted and recruited. These false movements, have confused the judgement of working people, weakened their hope and squashed their courage until there is apathy and cynicism amidst discontent and despondency. That many of these other organisations claim that they are socialist is a deplorable and they must be confronted and exposed. if you want other workers to know what's going on -- then support The Socialist Party in every way you can, join with the class warriors who comprise the membership of the Socialist Party. We of the Socialist Party know that we are in a race with time. We will either succeed or fail in our mission to penetrate the consciousness of the working class before the capitalists destroy the planet. We live in a world of increasing anarchy and violence Accordingly, we work hard to get our message across now. We aim for a world in which cooperation and peace will be combined with prosperity and freedom for all. The longer it takes to wake up the working class to accomplish the change in a non-violent way, the more difficult it will be to achieve our hopes and aspirations for a new world worth having. Everyone who cherishes peace and understands our world is headed towards the environmental precipice unless we succeed in our mission, ought to support the Socialist Party in every way they can. If not, we and our children are certain to suffer the consequences.

Saints And Sinners Who Can Tell?

Round this time of year, we hear a lot of talk about our old friend jolly St.Nick. I guess I'm way behind the times; I recently heard that a few years back the Eastern Orthodox Church Canonized Czar Nicholas II and his wife and kids who were shot by the Bolsheviks. So that makes 2 of them.

It's as logical as capitalist logic gets that Nick should be made a saint; look what the guy did. He sent millions to a senseless death in WWI many of whom were forcibly conscripted; he had defenceless protesters shot down; he ordered pogroms against the Jews; he refused to initiate reforms to improve the standard of living and maintained a ruthless and brutal police state. In other words, the guy was a poster-boy for capitalism. 

What I don't get is, if we apply the same logic Nicky's church does, why they don't go all the way and make murderers like Hitler and Stalin saints.

For socialism, 

Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC.

Common Ownership is Common Sense

Common sense should tell workers that the cause of declining wages and economic insecurity has nothing to do with which political party is the government. 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.

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. As long as this foundation of society remains this trend will continue regardless of the claims and promises of politicians. As long as the working class of the country 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. 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-the forces that historically have fostered class division. Moreover, necessary production is carried out by socialised labour - by a working class organised at the point of production by the very nature of capitalist production itself. At the same time, capitalism no longer works. It is no longer a progressive social system. Instead, its inherent contradictions stand in the way of further progress and disrupt the workings of the productive forces already developed. Yet there has been no revolution. Rather the working class, while angry, suffer confusion, uncertainty, and despair. Faced with economic crises, environmental dangers, workers cannot afford to wait for capitalism to collapse. Such fatalism spells apathy and inactivity. The Socialist Revolution depends, no longer upon material conditions alone; it depends on the clearness of a socialist vision to assist the evolutionary process. Socialism is not an automatic affair, workers as a class must play an active role in the socialist revolution. Capitalism will not disappear of its own accord. It will remain until it is overthrown. And capitalism can only be overthrown as the result of the class-conscious struggle of the people. If we permit capitalism to continue to exist, the likely result is the end of human civilisation.

Promoting class consciousness, however, is no easy matter. Workers are bombarded daily with capitalist propaganda. Politicians and economists obscure falsely predict a better future after a painful period of "adjustment” if only if we shoulder the burden on our backs for a bit longer. Some so-called socialists confuse workers with talk of reforms such as the Universal Income, raising false hopes that the political state and capitalism itself can 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.

It is important that workers come to recognise that there is a genuine alternative to capitalism. For the sooner the people understand that the misery imposed by capitalism need not be endured, the sooner will people turn to socialism. Yet class-consciousness by itself is not enough for revolution. Organisation is required. On the political field, workers need to form a mass revolutionary party to challenge and defeat the political state for the purpose of ousting the capitalist class from the seat of its power and then dismantling it. That will clear the way for the workers' re-organization on the economic field to administer the class-free socialist society in the peoples' interests. It will not occur overnight nor as the result of a heroic act of will. It is the result of the interaction of class-consciousness and working-class organisation. Capitalism can be counted on to produce economic crises in superabundance. However, an economic crisis is not a sufficient condition of revolution. Although economic crisis produces social discontent and unrest which offers opportunities for effective socialist agitation and education, even if the economy should utterly collapse, the result would not necessarily be socialism. For in the absence of revolutionary working-class organisation, the ruling class would readily impose its own authoritarian alternative. It is up to us, the working class. Capitalism won't vanish. It must be overthrown.

The Socialist Party is the political party of the working class. This is so because the Socialist Party is the sole protagonist of the principles which the working class must adopt if it is ever to achieve emancipation from wage slavery and save society from catastrophe.  The Socialist Party is the only organisation demanding the abolition of capitalism and advocating the socialist reconstruction of society. It has been doing so for 114 years. It is, in short, the political organisation through which the workers can establish their power to reorganise society. Through its political agitation and educational activities, the Socialist Party seeks People Power. 

The Guantanamo Express

An investigation into so-called rendition stopovers was ordered in 2013 by the then Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland. In June 2013 that the flights would be probed by police, he said: “It is very important there should be no dilly-dallying on this matter. I am confident that the police will conduct a thorough inquiry. “The use of torture cannot be condoned. It is against international law and contrary to the common law of Scotland.”

Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, was rendered from Afghanistan to Poland for torture in 2003. Gulfstream jet N379P – dubbed the Guantanamo Express – stopped at Glasgow Airport in March 2003 on the way back from dropping him off at a CIA torture prison in Poland known as Detention Site Blue.

Police began investigating at least six stopovers – four at Prestwick airport and two at Glasgow.

 Police Scotland detectives, who have been investigating ever since have yet to even receive a declassified US report on the flights –years after asking for it.

Dr Sam Raphael, of research group The Rendition Project, said: “They are clearly dragging their heels in some way. We are now approaching five years since the Lord Advocate in Scotland directed that police should investigate this."

Scotland's Game of Shame

On 15 June, 1977, the Scottish national team did, as they stepped on to the grass of Chile’s National Stadium in Santiago. The fixture against Chile had the aim of acclimatising the team ahead of the following year’s World Cup in Argentina.

 What is also indisputable is Chile’s national stadium had been used as a de facto concentration camp during the Pinochet coup a few years earlier. More than 40,000 untried Allende supporters, trade unionists and members of left-wing political parties were detained there, with women often raped, in the changing rooms. “Although not much time passed when we were there, I felt that I went in as a 16-year-old girl and came out as a 70-year-old woman,” survivor Lelia Pérez later recalled. “I think that all of the women who were taken into the side rooms there were subjected to sexual violence,” she added. Around 500 Chilean refugees made their way to Scotland during the dictatorship 

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/the-scotland-v-chile-friendly-labelled-the-match-of-shame-1-4655623

Some 30,000 signed a petition which was sent to the SFA and 29 different organisations expressed concern to the secretary of state for Scotland within five months of the fixture’s announcement. The Scottish Office appealed to the SFA to call it off. There were protests against the match outside Wembley when Scotland took on England. There was Scottish coverage of a press conference featuring the testimonies of some of the survivors of the camp. Three of them unsuccessfully sought a meeting at the SFA’s offices. The magazine Chile Fights dedicated its front page to the matter and depicted a Scottish player trying to tie the laces of his boots in a pool of blood, with the caption “Don’t play ball with fascists”. There were debates in the House of Commons.

There was even a song written about the situation. “On September the 11th of 1973 scores of people perished in a vile machine-gun spree and a Santiago stadium became a place to kill, but now a Scottish football team will grace it with their skill, and there’s blood upon the grass,” was the start of the powerful piece by Adam McNaughtan.

Those in charge of Scottish football ignored the anger and the protests and pressed ahead with the match. The SFA actually had the backing of most players too, as 70 per cent of those who participated in a poll organised by the Scottish Professional Footballers’ Association stated that they thought the fixture should take place. Only 10 per cent explicitly opposed it. Some players simply didn’t know enough about the Chilean political climate to comment, at least not until they arrived. As goalkeeper Alan Rough explained  many years later: “You take it that the SFA, who are taking you there, know what’s happening.” Asked if the players had been consulted on the decision to play there, Rough’s answer was a simple one. “No.” He added: “When I went into that stadium, I remember going into the dressing room and I remember seeing the bullet holes on the wall where they had lined up people and killed them. I think if we had been given more information, that there were actually people still being killed and still being arrested on the street and being taken away and shot and that it was as bad as it was when we got there, most of the players wouldn’t have gone.”

Adapted from here
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/the-scotland-v-chile-friendly-labelled-the-match-of-shame-1-4655623

For further details see this blog
http://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2007/05/blood-upon-grass.html

Campaign for Socialism -- Capitalism is the Issue

The capitalist economic system lies at the root of all of modern society's major social and economic problems. The Socialist Party has long contended that only socialism can solve the problems plaguing our society today. Many of us understand that capitalism has outlived its usefulness, and that it is time for humanity to move on to the next logical stage. We want to create a sane and productive world. But how can we do so? We need a road map, a plan. No leader is going to come along and set things right. It is useless for us to wait for deliverance by a saviour from the pains caused by capitalism. We will have to deliver ourselves. If we workers stopped cooperating with the political parties of capitalism and actively took part in controlling our world through our own organisations, capitalism would soon wither and die. 

Socialism is the common ownership by all the people of the factories, transportation, and farms. Socialism is production to satisfy human needs, not, as under capitalism, for sale and profit. Socialism means direct control and self-management of the industries and services by the workers through a democratic administration. Socialism means an end to economic insecurity and exploitation. It means workers cease to be commodities bought and sold on the labour market and forced to work as appendages to tools owned by someone else. It means a chance to develop all individual capacities and potential. Socialism isn't the state-controlled system that existed in the former Soviet Union, exists today in China or Cuba, or bureaucratic state control of society in general. It has nothing to do with nationalization, a welfare state or any kind of state ownership or control of industry whatsoever. On the contrary, it would give power not to the state, but to the people themselves, allowing collective control of their own economic future, a free community of free individuals. Socialism means a class-free society, unlike under capitalism, where a tiny minority owns the wealth and the means of producing it. Everyone will share in the ownership of all the means of production. There wouldn't be separate classes of owners and workers. The economy would be administered by the workers themselves through democratic "associations of free and equal producers," as Marx described it. Communities, locally regionally will collectively decide what they want to be produced and how they want it produced. "In every plant, every office and every workplace in socialist society, the workers themselves will meet in a democratic assembly to determine their own workplace policies and elect committees to administer and supervise production. To administer production at higher levels, delegates will be elected to regional and world councils. Instead of economic despotism, 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. We shall produce everything we need and want in abundance under conditions best suited to our welfare an in harmony with the requirements of our environment. 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.

This all may sound too good to be true. Yet our planet 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. Only if the people as a whole take control of the economy can we maintain that control and use the forces of production to fill their needs.

You are needed to build a better world and make the promise of socialism a reality. 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. The purpose of the Socialist Party is to promote class-consciousness among workers while advocating a complete revolutionary change from capitalism to socialism and to challenge the legitimacy and power of the ruling class, to capture the state machinery and to turn the reins of social administration over to people-powered assemblies. We seek class solidarity and a general revolutionary. Workers would be united into a single movement. However, just as class consciousness will not grow of its own accord, neither will the Socialist Party. That responsibility ultimately rests with the audience the Socialist Party reaches. Just as it is the responsibility of a revolutionary movement to promote class-consciousness, it is the responsibility of all those who grasp our message to step forward, to join the party and to enhance its ability to reach the working class. Don't turn your backs on politics or passively wait for a better day that will never come. Join together and change our world. When the Socialist Party has enough members and active supporters to reach large numbers of workers, it will offer candidates for us (the working class majority of the population) to elect our own delegates BUT NOT TO RUN GOVERNMENT OF TODAY BUT TO DISSOLVE IT.

Sticking Plasters When A Major Operation Is Needed.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada data show that asylum claimants have increased in Ontario since 2015. Then it was 11,000, which jumped to 15,300 in 2016. As of October of this year, there have been 26.500.

The hardest hit is the youth many of whom cant speak English and have no relatives in Ontario, besides having the abnormal problems of finding accommodation and a job. Therefore great press coverage was given to the purchase of a house by the Christian City Church International, in December, in which 5 unaccompanied youth refugees will live rent-free.

It will be run by Matthew House, a non-profit charity that helps refugees with their settlement needs. To quote Karen Francis, executive director of Matthew House,''These kids don't just need a bed or a room, they need a community, they need a family, they need a place to belong.'' 

Well, she's right about that, but its a case of, ''Hey Lady how about a society where everyone feels like part of the human family, instead of using a band-aid when a major operation is needed?''

For socialism, 

Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC.

Letter from Edinburgh (1962)

From the July 1962 issue of the Socialist Standard

Edinburgh is a city with a population of about half a million. A few of these are very rich but. just like in all other cities in the Capitalist world, most of them are poor.

Edinburgh attracts many visitors from all over the world. They stroll along the mile-long Princes Street, staring at its famous buildings, gardens and floral clock. There, too, stands the Walter Scott monument. Looming over it all is the Castle, from which the visitor can admire the surrounding hills, can look over the Firth of Forth and can see the art galleries on the Mound which have given Edinburgh the name of the Modern Athens.

There is a great tradition of learning and letters in the city. In 1727 Alexander Munro was installed as Edinburgh's first professor of anatomy and laid the foundations for what is now a thriving university. Alan Ramsay the elder (1686-1758). whose monument overlooks the floral clock, was the pioneer of the revival of literature in Scotland. Ramsay was a wigmaker in the High Street; he joined the Jacobite Essay Club and became its Post Laureate about 1717. Desiring to render service to the inside of his customers' heads as well as the outside, he converted his wig-shop into a bookstall. Both Walter Scott and Robert Bums acknowledged the fact that they owed a lot to Ramsay, whom they had taken as their model.

But this is no take-off of a gaudy travel brochure. The Socialist Party of Great Britain is in Edinburgh too, making its voice heard in this centre of learning. Many visitors from abroad listen to our speakers on the Mound and are impressed by the Socialist's scientific case. Here are expounded the theories of historical materialism and scientific Socialism which Karl Marx and Frederich Engels first formulated over a century ago.

Before man can pursue the studies of politics, philosophy, science and art for which Edinburgh is famous, he must first of all eat and drink and have clothing and shelter; he must, therefore, first of all work. It is with this fact and others—that our Socialist speakers are illuminating the minds of their listeners in the Modern Athens north of the Border.

David Lamond

Rugby Union Needs a Union

Former Scotland captain Jason White believes rugby stars can be "viewed as commodities" by clubs. It follows claims that more support is needed to protect mental wellbeing.

"All the clubs I played at, the players are viewed as a commodity," White said. "The coaches have to get them back out on the pitch."

White's former Scotland team-mate, Nick De Luca, told BBC Scotland that mental health is "not really looked after at all" by many clubs.

England's Rugby Players Association (RPA) launched a campaign in early 2017 encouraging players to confront and discuss their mental struggles.

"Looking at what happens in England with the RPA, they're able to provide a lot of support to the players in England," White said. "That's probably the one thing up in Scotland with our two professional teams here - we don't have a players' association with external funding that can come in."

No Scottish players' association exists and the governing body is understood to have no plans to form one.

Former Scotland prop Peter Wright's career straddled rugby's amateur era and the onset of professionalism in 1995. 

"When I was a professional for four years, I found it really boring. You worked and socialised with the same guys. You didn't have that outlet of going to a job and having a different group of friends. Since it's went professional, the way I see it is that your whole life is controlled. You're told when to do weights, when to train, when to eat, what to eat. Your whole life is taken over by conditioning coaches, medics, rugby coaches. How much autonomy do you have as a player?"