Which Path – Revolution or Reformism?

Socialism as represented by the Socialist Party is to serve the needs of society as a whole. The Socialist Party,       has as its purpose, the building of an organised movement to teach a common interest.  What is the meaning of capitalism? Capitalism is an economic term. It is applied by political economists and sociologists to the economic system of our civilisation, by means of which some people achieve economic independence and acquire the privilege of living idly and in luxury upon the labour of others, who produce a surplus value above that which they receive for their own sustenance. Capitalism refers to the system. A capitalist is one who profits by the system. If he works himself, it does not alter the fact that he has an income apart from his work sufficient to sustain him for life without labour and therefore his is economically independent. The working class would also like to achieve economic independence in the same manner as the capitalist class. Capitalism divides society into two antagonistic forces, because it is based upon two sets of conflicting economic interests. They each desire economic independence. The capitalist believes that he is justly entitled to the economic independence which he enjoys has, albeit it manifestly clear, he did not create his wealth; the socialist believes that the worker is being unjustly deprived of that which he or she created and which never possess. The Socialist Party, champions the working class, declares its intention to advocate the abolition of wage slavery by the establishment of a global system of industry, based upon the social or common ownership of the means of production and distribution, to be administered by society in the common interest of all its members and the complete emancipation of the socially useful classes from the domination of capitalism.  Socialism proposes the relief of the people from the exactions of the capitalist class. Private property ownership with its competition upholds the present unplanned nature of production. With socialism, private ownership and barter in capital being at an end, money would lose the functions which it possessed under capitalism and would be abolished. Our task is the abolition of wage slavery and establishment of the cooperative commonwealth. What is the Socialist Party organised for? What is our main bond of unity? What is our avowed object? The welfare of the working class and the abolition of capitalism. Those who hope for that socialist cooperative commonwealth and work for it, who are on the workers' side of the class war are our comrades. Our comrades are all who serve the interests of their fellow-workers, of all who strive for the social revolution. The Socialist Party mission is to sweep the capitalist system into oblivion.

Socialism has been misrepresented and maligned by press, pulpit, and politicians so long that even some so-called socialists who do not study the subject hold rather vague and misleading conceptions about it. The first requisite of a socialist is to have a clear and accurate knowledge of what socialism is. The definition of socialism, as historically accepted is the common ownership of all the means of production and distribution. Socialism, therefore, means virtually the same thing in all countries, and justly so. For in all countries, the action of capitalism and competition is nearly the same, and the position of the wage-workers is exactly the same, in that the latter depend upon the capitalist who owns the means to work and to live. In all countries, and under whatever form of government, the present system of social production by individual ownership has produced two classes: the propertyless class and the possessing class.  Private ownership of the means of production and distribution — an industrial despotism, or common ownership and an industrial democracy? It must be one or the other. What the people need they take. The trouble is that they have been too patient and too modest, but one of these days they are going to realise that this earth is theirs, and then they will take possession of it in the name of the human race. Socialism will wrest the earth from the greedy grasp of its exploiters and its vast and inexhaustible storehouse will yield abundance for all. The growth of socialism is the promise of freedom and fraternity.

Socialist Party calls upon all people who are interested in the emancipation of the working class from the chains of wage slavery to join it and through it and its associated organisations of the World Socialist Movement, to work for the overthrow of the present capitalist system in all its social and economic ramifications, and for the establishment in its stead of a worldwide socialist cooperative commonwealth.

Dying Scotland

The rise in life expectancy in Scotland is grinding to a halt, according to two new reports. Scots' life expectancy had fallen for first time in 35 years.

In the decades after World War Two, there was a steady increase in the length of time men and women were expected to live. But over the last seven years Scotland has seen the slowest growth in life expectancy since at least the 1970s. New research has also revealed that death rates have started rising in deprived areas of the country. 

Charity boss Jim McCormick, associate director (Scotland) of the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has criticised the systems that "sweep people into poverty". He said "A rising tide of in-work poverty and high housing costs, combined with the benefits freeze, are making it harder for people to achieve a decent life.

Dr Gerry McCartney, head of the public health observatory at NHS Health Scotland, said: "What we see here is a worrying trend. Life expectancy not only gives an indication of how long people are likely to live, but also serves as a 'warning light' for the public's health." Dr McCartney said this pattern gave "cause for concern". He also said that cuts to council budgets and pressures on key local services like social care could be behind the divide.

They found that between 1992 and 2011, it took 5.5 years to add a year to a woman's life expectancy and four years for a man. But current trends suggest it will take nearly 21 years for women to start living an extra year, and 11.5 years for men. 

At the current rate, it will be 2058 before girls born in Scotland can expect to live as long as females in England could in 2016. For males, it will be 2045.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-47161342

How Shall We Live?

The issue is socialism vs. capitalism. As Tolstoy said, our masters will do any and everything but get off the backs of their workers.  The Socialist Party is well aware that socialism is a term little understood by most people, and that it is everywhere a target for denunciation by the plutocratic media. What socialism means is an improved and egalitarian distribution of the products of labour and cooperation instead of competition. It is the common ownership of land and all the means of production and distribution. Socialism is the coming of the cooperative commonwealth to take the place of wage slavery. The present economic system – capitalism - is not only a failure, but criminal. It robs and it starves. It is a foul blot upon the face of humanity. It promises only an increase of its horrors. Human power and natural resources are wasted by this system, which makes “profit” the only object in business. Ignorance and misery, with all concomitant evils, are perpetuated by this system, which makes a person’s ability to work a product to be bought in the open market, and placing no real value on an individual’s worth. Science and technology are diverted from their beneficial purposes and made into instruments for the enslavement of men and the starvation of women and children.

There is no hope for our fellow-workers except by the path mapped out by the Socialist Party, the advocates of the cooperative commonwealth. The resources of the world must pass into the possession of working humanity. All other problems, the problems of nationality and of race will be solved once society is freed from exploitation and class divisions. Socialism will bring real democracy. We  call upon all our fellow-workers to muster under the banner of the Socialist Party, so that we use of our political power and taking possession of the State machine, so that we may put an end to capitalism, restore the soil of the land, and turn over all the means of production, transportation, and distribution to the people as a collective body to construct a cooperative commonwealth in place of unplanned production, class war, and social disorder This will be a commonwealth which, will give to every worker the free exercise and the full benefit of his or her faculties, multiplied by all the advantages of modern day. 

The Socialist Party’s platform is an indictment of the capitalist system; it is the call to class consciousness and political action of the exploited working class; and it is a ringing declaration in favor of collective ownership of all the means of production and distribution, as the clarion voice of economic freedom. The Socialist Party is organising for the purpose of securing control of the government. Having conquered the political power upon the platform that declares in favor of common ownership in the name of the people, it will develop cooperation in every department of human industry. The labour of workers will no longer be bought and sold in the markets of the world. We will not make things for sale, but will make things to use. We will fill the world with wealth and every one can have all that he or she can rationally use. Rent, interest, and profit, three forces of exploitation, will disappear forever. The badge of labour will no longer be the badge of servitude. Every man will gladly do his share of the world’s useful work. Every new invention will be a blessing to mankind because it will serve to reduce working hours and increase leisure time. Men and women will be economically free; life will no longer be a struggle to survive. Abolishing of the capitalist system does not merely mean the emancipation of the working class, but of all society. The world will be healthy and fruitful, fit for men and women to bring children and grandchildren into. Nothing is so easily produced as wealth, and no one should suffer for the want of it. No-one should be compelled to depend on the arbitrary will of another person for the right of free access of what society produces. Everyone will work for the society, and society will work in the interests of all who compose it. 

The Socialist Party looks to a future of a world without a master, a world without a slave

All for One, One for All

Much has been in the media about racism, anti-semitism and islamophobia as well as reports of anti-immigration and anti-LGBT. Not only has there been numerous campaigns to discourage such bigotry, but legislation has been passed to outlaw such thought-crimes as illegal. Many well-meaning people, appalled at such expression of views have been prepared to listen sympathetically for even more bans. This is an understandable reaction particularly if you happen to be a victim of prejudice. But a little dispassionate reflection will show it to be wrong.

Would it only led to racialists being more careful about the words and images they use, going underground and creating a backlash again proponents of PC attitudes. Ideas cannot be suppressed by legislation.

Full free speech means exactly what it says: any and every view should be allowed expression so that it can be examined and shown to be wrong.

The Socialist Party is wholeheartedly in favour of the fullest freedom of speech. This is because we hold that out of full and free discussion of today’s social problems only one valid conclusion can emerge: that socialism alone will provide the framework within which they can be solved.

The real problem is why do certain sections of the working class hold discriminatory views and how can they be persuaded to abandon them. It is fairly clear why a certain number of workers scapegoat other sections of the population. Suffering from bad housing, poor hospital services, poor schools, etc., and having seen the arrival of newcomers into their areas they mistakenly link the two together to conclude that it is the cause of their problems. Where arises insecurity there is also comfort in the herd mentality so being different makes a person suspect. So, workers with intolerant beliefs are workers who, in their search for an explanation of and solution to their troubles, have reached a mistaken conclusion. How can they be convinced that they are wrong? If they can’t be convinced by legislation they can be convinced even less by being insulted or ostracised. The only way is to try to convince them that their conclusions are wrong.

This is the approach the Socialist Party has always adopted expose dangerous nonsense before an audience of interested workers. People who deny the validity of our approach of of reasoned open argument are in effect denying that people are incapable of rational argument.

The ultimate basis of all arguments for is an assumption that people are too stupid or irresponsible or immature to make up their own minds and that others, more superior and mostly self-appointed, must therefore decide for them

Mere propaganda on its own, unlinked to propaganda for socialism, will not be effective. It offers no solution to the problems and frustrations which drive some workers to embrace extremist politics. It leaves untreated the capitalist cause of the disease while trying to deal with the symptom.

When you own everything, you fear everyone

We are living – let us frankly admit – in the aftermath of great defeats suffered by the labour movement internationally. The working class remains in many countries atomised, disrupted, disoriented. Everybody knows that this capitalist system we live under is crazy. We have the factories and raw material that can produce a world of plenty. We have the willing hands and brains to do the job. All we have to do is let the one work on the other, and distribute what is produced. Sure, the factories and machines and raw materials are here. Sure, the labor is there to turn them into usable goods. But labour doesn’t own the factories and machines. It has nothing to say about whether they’ll be used and for what. These factories and machines are owned by a small handful of capitalists, and these fat cats won’t let a wheel turn unless they can make a profit. That profit comes out of the wealth which labour produces. It comes out of their purchasing power.

Capitalist (A), seeking profit (B), owns a factory (C), and starts producing. Does he produce anything? He’s not a fool. He hires workers (D) to do the actual producing. They produce a billion pounds worth of goods (E) and get their wages (F). How much do they get – a billion dollars in wages, for producing a billion dollars in goods? Don’t be silly. The capitalist has to get his profit (G). So, they get only – say – a half billion in wages, the rest is profit. Pretty soon, the profit piles up in the coffers, and the unsold goods pile up on the shelves (H). Capitalists stop making more goods, lay off. Hey Presto – unemployment. The National Association of Manufacturers (K) says: What’s needed is more profit to spur production. The best way to raise profits is to cut wages. Wages are cut and more profits made. The capitalists and their government are saying that they must have their profits above all other things, and that in order to get them the wages of workers must be kept low.

Remember this:

The factories and machines and raw materials are there. We are the hands and brains of labor who do the producing. All we have to do is come together with the factories and machines, without any capitalist class holding us apart.

That means WE have to own and control the factories and machines we work on – WE, LABOUR, organized collectively.

Abolish the capitalist profit.  Take over our economic world, organise it democratically through a. Produce to the full. The sky’s the limit as science can provide, produce enough to give plenty for all. And distribute what we produce for the use of the masses of people.

Common ownership of our economic machinery – that’s socialism. The world has a capacity to produce beyond the wildest dreams of most people. This capacity is used primarily to produce the means of death and destruction. The factories are there and if need be more can be built. The raw materials and resources are available. The working force is here. Now what stands in the way of full production, full employment and the fullest enjoyment of the fruits of our labour? Only the insatiable lust for profit of the capitalist class. Only the unplanned anarchyof capitalist production. In the midst of unparalleled opportunities to achieve plenty for all, millions are unemployed, in poverty and suffer hunger.

LABOUR, RELY ON YOUR OWN STRENGTH IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE YOUR OWN AIMS. Wherever the people have had the opportunity or the freedom to act, they have shown their desire for a new world. They want a world free of war, free of inequality, free of want. They want a world free of the rule of the few over the many. To accomplish this task, it is only necessary to understand what our task is and to realize our invincible strength. Then no power on earth can withstand us.  The working class is losing confidence in capitalism and the spokesmen for “free enterprise.” That is a most encouraging sign.

The Socialist Party greets its comrades and brothers and sisters of the working class of this country and throughout the world. We are the party of revolutionary socialism. We have no interests separate from the interests of the whole working class. The working class is on the march. It is taking the first big steps out of capitalist decay, capitalist disorganisation, capitalist bankruptcy, capitalist barbarism. It is rising as the reorganiser of society. It cannot achieve this goal, accomplish this task, without the victory of socialism. They need the knowledge of their own strength to enable them to construct a better world – a world free from hunger, unemployment, war and environmental destruction. It is solely by the independent action of working people, those who produce the wealth of society, that capitalist power and privilege can be eliminated and a world of peace and plenty for all be built.

As a socialist party devoted to the abolition of the capitalist system of profit and exploitation of the people, the Socialist Party defends the interests of oppressed people the world over, showing how these interests were common to all who labour. The Socialist Party will continue its great aim: to seek the abolition of the rotten system of capitalist exploitation, of wealth concentrated in the hands of a few and poverty for the millions, of mansions for a handful of rich and hovels for the people, of fine foods and delicacies for a handful and hunger for the mass of people, of security for the rich and insecurity for those who work in, order to live. It will fight for a socialist society of plenty for all. The struggle between capital and labour must not result in a “socialist” label pasted over the same old capitalist system. We believe that the basic problem of our time resides in society. We believe that humanity can develop a healthy society of plenty and peace. As socialists we continue to affirm the possibility and necessity for men and women to work together to build a new and decent society, and that means primarily the class which has most to gain from and can alone construct socialism: the working class. Capitalism is at a loss to reconstruct the world, it cannot achieve the most simple reorganization of production and distribution. Capitalist society is sick, moribund, overripe for change.

Do you want economic plenty, the utilisation of the means of production for peaceful needs? Then you must fight for socialism. Do you want a future without nuclear weapons, without poison gas, without terrorist bombing? Then you must fight for socialism. here is no other road. Either chaos and destruction – or socialist reconstruction. The socialist perspective is more valid, more essential than ever because it alone meets the problems of our times; it alone proposes a programme that is realisable in the situation of declining capitalism and which is a comprehensive solution to all of our social problems, as well as a concretisation of the greatest ideals of which humanity is capable. We stand with arms interlocked with our comrades throughout the world; we march towards the socialist future. Yet we must ask our fellow-workers this question. How is possible that millions of working people still believe and support an economic system which does not benefit anyone of them?

Who so blind as he who will not see?

 “Give us Imagination enough to conceive; courage enough to will; power enough to compel; and then I say, the thing will be done.” - William Morris

Might we suggest you should spend a little time and thought on the issues that affect you, as a member of the working class. Our purpose is to gain your attention in order to state our case. Regardless of how enthusiastic you are in support of a particular political party’s position and policies, deep down you know that their success will not make any real change in your conditions of life. All the election promises were designed to persuade you that it meant something to you but, experience has taught you not to expect any real change. These ‘changes’ have been applied to capitalism elsewhere throughout the world and yet your problems remain those of the working class internationally. It is true that these problems assume different forms in the local conditions of their origin but all the problems of your class, including those that you may feel are peculiar to your own circumstances, are duplicated throughout the world of capitalism. Capitalism has provided us with ample evidence that it cannot be operated in the interests of society as a whole. All the schemes and plans of its political apologists have been tried and yet the old miseries prevail, sometimes eased a little by the politicians’ schemes and just as often aggravated by them!

Whether you are a factory worker or high-salaried “professional’ you are dependent on a wage or salary in order to obtain the necessities of life. The recent US federal shutdown demonstrated that clearly. On the other side of the social scale we have the capitalist class, the small minority of people who own not only the means and instruments for producing wealth but the very resources of nature which provide the ‘raw materials’, so to speak, of wealth production. The members of this class do not have to work, they can enjoy a life of wealth and privilege on the surplus value created by the working class. This class owns, and by virtue of that ownership, controls all the productive resources of society; whether that ownership is through the medium of private or public companies or corporations or through the medium of bond holding in state or municipal enterprises, the capitalist class are the effective owners and controllers of the means whereby the rest of society lives.

Under capitalism wealth is class owned and produced for sale so that if you want anything you must have the money to buy it. This presents no problem for those who own the means of wealth production since they get a free income as rent, interest and profit merely because they are the owners. It certainly severely restricts the choice of workers in jobs but at least they have their wages. But what about those with no property and no job—workers who are unemployed, sick, disabled or old? The government cannot really let them starve and kill the goose that lays their golden eggs and must make some provision for them if only to avoid bread riots  by providing those who would otherwise be destitute with an income however low.

It is no part of the Socialist Party’s case for socialism to suggest that the members of the capitalist class are simply greedy or evil people: their greed is a vice of capitalism and is not peculiar to any particular class. We do not condemn capitalists, we condemn capitalism as a social system while recognising that it is an inevitable stage in the history of our social evolution. Nor is our condemnation based simply on the facts of its miseries—its poverty amidst organised waste, its degradation of human life, its wars, crises and all its other social failings: our condemnation is based even more on the fact that it has long since outlived its usefulness as a means of developing society’s productive resources and now only blocks the way of a sane alternative that can provide the material basis of a full and happy life for all mankind.

At present all the values of the capitalist society in which we live are being challenged even though despite the failures of capitalism workers still doubt that socialism offers them anything better. They cannot imagine a world that is essentially different from the present one. Luke-warm visions do not raise consciousness. They cannot maintain the high level of commitment needed to keep the movement going. Reformist gradualism is a roadblock to liberation. The argument for radical, utopian visions is thus not just one of principle, but also of effectiveness. Workers unified, in solidarity, working together and voting together, can conquer. Divided and factionalised, our doom is sealed. Building a movement for socialism now requires presenting a picture of such a world, expressing socialist ideals to which future society can be adjusted. The socialist form is not just the conquest of political power, but also the socialisation of productive property and replacement of the anarchy of the capitalist market by a rational plan of production and distribution which will lead to the full democratisation of society.

The starting point of socialism is the elementary truth that men and women working in organised co-operation can produce far more than working in independent competition. The greater the number of co-operating workers, the more complete can be the co-ordination of the labour process. Interposed between that enormously amplified power are all sorts of social obstacle—property rights, economic institutions, legal relations, frontiers, states, traditions and superstitions. A socialist system of production will by its superior efficiency. Capitalism exists today simply and solely because you and your fellow members of the working class, who produce its wealth and endure its miseries, permit it to exist. It is parliament that makes the law and it is the law that says it is legal for capitalists to own Nature's resources and the tools and instruments of production which the working class have produced. The law further enshrines the right of the owners of wealth production to use their property in their own interests— to produce wealth for sale and profit and not for the satisfaction of human needs. When there is no profit in employing workers, in building homes, in clothing or feeding the needy the law does not require the owners of society’s means of production to provide these things nor does the law ensure capitalism when its profit needs create the conditions for crime, bad social relationships, violence and war. In fact the law is made to suit the needs of capitalism and is relevant to the needs of the working class only insofar as such needs are compatible with the requirements of capitalism to disguise its function, keep down social discontent and prevent open rebellion.

It follows that if we are to change things the working class must organise for the purpose of making the means of production the property of society to be used solely for the satisfaction of human needs. Given such a change, all the complex mechanism of the present market economy could be scrapped. Means of exchange, money, would no longer be required, hence wages and social classes would disappear as would the need for banks, stock exchanges, doles, most of the clerks, ticket clippers, insurance and sales agents and all the vast hordes of people whose present function is necessitated only by the existence of capitalism. All could then enter into the co-operative and efficient activity of producing the requirements of the human family and, freed from the obstacles which capitalism’s buying-and-selling imposes on production, enough could be produced to satisfy the needs of all and all would have free and equal access to the fruits of such production.

Conditioned as you have been to the vast complicated economic arrangements required by capitalism, you are as staggered  by what sounds like a staggering proposition. You can accept that members of the working class can run this society from top to bottom, can even formulate the tremendous mathematical data and technical knowhow to build a computer or send a man into space and yet you are staggered by the simple proposition that mankind can own in common the resources of the world and can use those resources to provide for his and her needs without markets, money and all the other useless and wasteful obstacles of capitalism.

Socialism is a feasible proposition NOW! Its introduction is delayed not by the capitalist class but by your reluctance to look beyond the narrow limits of capitalism that keeps that system in operation; your support gives it its legality.

Who in the UK is arming Turkey

We are not reformers — we are revolutionists.

Not until the working class own and control the means of production and distribution will they be able to adjust the hours of labour to the requirements of society and the number able to work. To do this they must first understand and accept the principles of socialism, then set to work to establish it by organising to take control of political power for the purpose of wresting the means of life from the hands of the master class.

Most people are almost totally disinterested in politics. Many people don't bother to vote in elections; many probably couldn't tell you who their MP is. It is little wonder that most people are not interested in politics, since it makes very little difference which party controls Parliament — life will go on pretty much as before. The Tories, the Labour Party and the nationalists are out of touch with the needs of workers; they are dominated by representatives of the business community and operate in their interests. The Socialist Party has no illusions about politics. Unlike the Labour left-wing we do not believe that it is possible to bring about “state” or "municipal socialism”. Nobody should be deceived by the use of the word "reality"; it does not mean that Labour Party leaders, after all those years of dealing in the fallacies that they can control this social system, are suddenly facing up to the fact of their impotence. Neither does it mean they are about to tell the voters about the futility of trying to reform capitalism into amiability.

 For the Labour Party reality is no constant thing; it is nothing to do with any political principles. It changes from one election to another, almost from one month to another. Their reality is fashioned by their need to grab votes; what attracts votes is realistic, what repels them is unrealistic, the produce of minds barred with a "Do Not Disturb" notice. every statement and action is related completely to the attaining of victory". Many Labour supporters will see nothing wrong in this — after all, what is the party in business for? And isn't a Labour government different from, more humane than, a Tory one? Well, what is the actual effect of this unprincipled scramble for votes? If the means are to be justified by the ends, what do the ends mean to us? History records that the differences between Labour governments and Tory ones were negligible to the point of being almost indistinguishable. It all amounted to an inability to accept that any party which sets out to run capitalism cannot but disappoint those who regarded it as an organisation based on political principles. Playing for votes from workers who do not accept the need to end capitalism and replace it with socialism means that an election-winning party has to run the capitalist system, whatever promises they have made on the road to power. This means that they must do a great many things which, in line with what they have claimed to be their principles, they should not do. It would be more accurate to say that capitalism runs its leaders rather than the other way around. And it is all justified in the name of reality, while those who point out the uselessness of it are derided as dreamers, subversives and worse. This results in the continuation of the society which is essentially based on the interests of the minority who own the means of life — on the unequal, exploitative relationship between the owning class and those who need to be employed by them in order to live. This is the root of mass poverty and all that it means in terms of bad housing, sickness. repression and so on. Politicians make speeches which not only ignore these facts but often set out deliberately to obscure them. There is nothing of reality in this; it is all deception and distortion. But things do not have to be like this; we do not have to live in a society where political parties compete for support from the uninformed, the apathetic, the confused, the cynical. Facing reality would be a great step forward for the people of the world, which would mean we were about to see some important changes.

The Right’s pious sentiment about the sanctity of human life has a hollow ring when each and every day brings fresh evidence of the lack of respect for human life. And moralistic cant about “rights the unborn'' will do nothing to change the material circumstances that cause women to seek abortions. Only in a society in which human needs are paramount — the needs of women to control their own fertility, the needs of parents to have creative work besides looking after their children, the needs of children to grow up in a secure, loving environment free from want and deprivation. the needs of the handicapped to be respected and useful members of the community — is it possible to imagine a situation where all babies are wanted and abortion redundant.

Capitalism's problems are not an aberration

It is therefore our task as the Socialist Party to help build that genuine working-class party to provide the opportunity to unite working people who have been bamboozled into supporting capitalism, and shown that their interests lie with the socialism. The Socialist Party challenges the capitalist system and proposes to remove it, as if it were a cancerous growth on human society. Socialism means a society of peace and plenty, instead of a society of war and hunger. Only the working class, which has nothing to gain and everything to lose under capitalism, can create a socialist world. Meanwhile, the working class is under attack. The lords of Big Business, throughout the world, are eternally seeking ways and means to undermine and destroy the workers’ own organisations, the trade unions. They want to convert the workers into helpless serfs, unable to defend their hard- won rights and living standards. Capitalist politicians are devising new blows at organised labour. The labour movement can survive only by militant struggle against the offensive of the bosses and the boss politicians. To defend itself with its united power in every field where it is attacked, labour must break for all time with the capitalist political parties. There are no “friends of labour” in the capitalist parties. Labour’s only true friend is its own muscle. Great battles are breaking out between labour and capital on every front of the class struggle. The workers must build their own socialist party. Capitalism offers only food-banks. 

 We believe that the present system, of capitalism, is not part of an eternal “natural order” of things, not a consequence of “human nature”. It is a recent arrival in man’s history. The problems we face – unemployment, poverty, slump, inflation, are not some “illness” of capitalism, an aberration but are an essential part of how it works. All these evils are the direct result of the private ownership of wealth, and the consequent exploitation by a few of the mass of the population, the workers who produce all wealth – and whose reward is a tiny pittance. This disproportion is increasing as more and more wealth is concentrated into the group of fewer capitalists and fewer corporations. This tiny minority of the population holds complete control of the economy and political power, and effectively controls all the machinery of the state, the armed forces, the police, judiciary and upper rank of the Civil Service. The economic and political power of the capitalist class has its counterpart in the domination and control of the production of ideas, through which it maintains the acquiescence of workers in the repressive machinery of the state.

What do we mean by socialism? Not the phony socialism of the Labour Party and its attempts to organise the working class to make capitalism work. Nor is it the “socialism” of the former USSR which uses pseudo-socialist phrases but where in fact one huge capitalist monopoly, the state, exploits the mass of Soviet workers and peasants on behalf of a small ruling elite of Party and State bosses. The Socialist Party is fighting for a social democracy in which the producers of wealth, the working class will own the factories, the land, the hospitals, the schools, etc. and will run them themselves according to the will of the majority in a the class-free society in which classes and therefore the state have finally disappeared. It cannot be brought to workers from outside, but grows through our own struggles to survive. How we build our future depends on us workers on historical experiences and traditions. Workers are not isolated and are part of the struggles for human progress in a world struggle. So the experiences and struggles of the world’s workers form part of our traditions, giving us invaluable, indeed indispensable lessons on the conduct of our struggle. In the industrialised countries such as Britain, the consequence of the recurring economic crises is placed squarely on the shoulders of the working class, with the soothing palliative balm of reformism to dampen the workers resistance. The ruling class seeks every means to mislead and confuse the forces of revolution. Their aim is to weaken, divide, and defeat the revolution, desperate  to hold their decaying system together and find a resolution to the crises that plagues them. Failing to destroy the workers’ movement, every section of the capitalist tries to use it.

We aim at destroying the present capitalist system to its very foundation. We intend to destroy the machinery of capitalism such as various institutions, organisations, and all other accessories to the capitalist system. In order to create a true standard of life appropriate to a man or woman, we intend to realise a society that is without classes, a society whose members can all secure their food, clothes and dwelling. There is but one aim for us—the overthrow of world capitalism. For the majority of working people there is no other escape, no real salvation except through socialist revolution. From the beginnings of capitalism, the drive for profits and accumulation have set the capitalists not only against the working class but at each other.

Churchill - the Mass Murderer

Although a Green Party MSP, our blog has to agree with him and indeed the Socialist Standard drew attention to the Bengal Famine at the time. Nor are we surprised that a Conservative Party member should endeavour to defend the indefensible.

The socialist aim is revolution

The Socialist Party opposes capitalism, period. The Socialist Party proceeds upon the assumption that society is at present divided into two classes, whose economic interests are antagonistic. Workers cannot look to the benevolent action of left-wing political parties, for help in attaining labour’s objective, the emancipation of the workers from wage slavery. Neither can they look to them for the knowledge and ideas which are the necessary aids to a clear understanding of the present position, and of the means of ending it. The Socialist Party aims at supplying this need for workers to organise independently in the political and industrial spheres. No social movement can afford to neglect its education and that the mischievous results of the false ideas spread by the class enemies of the workers can only be remedied by the spread of socialist knowledge. The Socialist Party takes the stand of the working class worldwide with only one object - the complete overthrow of the capitalist class, the triumph of socialism over capitalism. The aim of the Socialist Party will be the realisation of a communist, cooperative commonwealth - a class-free society.

 However, it is a fact widely recognised that no mass socialist party exists. There is no party capable of forming the proletariat into a class politically independent of the bourgeoisie. There is no party capable of organising the working class in the overthrow of capitalist political power. But the history of modern society shows that such a party is an absolute necessity for the overthrow of the ruling class. The organisational problem presents itself as the need to expand the membership until it has grown to the point at which it is an effective and influential party. The Socialist Party views as a major reason for this failure to build a mass socialist party has been the inability of our fellow-workers to make a complete break with capitalist ideology; their failure to break away from the outlook of the capitalist class. Under normal, that is to say, non-revolutionary conditions, the ruling class maintains its power by its control over men and women’s thinking. If a socialist party is to be able to represent the class interests of the working class then the party must have absolute unity and clarity of purpose.

Marxism is of importance to all working people because, if the policies advocated and practiced by those entrusted with its application are incorrect, it follows that the economic and political interests of the working people will not be defended. On the contrary, the pursuit of incorrect policies can only lead inevitably to the subordination of the economic and political interests of the working people to the interests of the dominant ruling class. Marxism holds that the agency in transforming society from capitalism to socialism is that class which is itself a product of capitalism, the working class i.e., wage workers who earn their livelihood through the sale of their labour power and have no other means of existence. Marxism offers a “guide to action” for the working class to follow in the struggle to achieve political power and to build socialism. Marxism maintains that the interests of the working class (the proletariat) and the interests of the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) are irreconcilable and that therefore, the interests of the working class cannot be served through collaboration or alliance with the capitalists but in opposition to them. From these conflicting interests of the two basic classes, bourgeoisie and proletariat, capitalists and workers, arises an antagonism, a struggle, between the two classes: the class struggle. Marxism recognises that the class struggle is the motive force of history, as the means by which society moves forward and achieves higher forms of civilisation. To give direction and guidance to this struggle, which is essentially a political struggle, the working class must of necessity develop its own Marxist political party, apart from and independent of all other political parties. Socialism will be won and built by the proletariat.

The establishment of a socialist, planned economy, based on the needs of the people, will mean the end to the chaos of capitalist production with its lack of planning, repeated crises, unemployment, inflation and criminal waste of resources and material. The vast creative potential of the millions of working people will be unleashed with their direct participation in the control and direction of production and distribution. Commodity production, that is, production for sale or exchange on the market, will not exist. The system of wage labour will be abolished and the guiding principle of labour will be “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” The means of production will be held communally and private property will be eliminated. With the abolition of classes and class distinctions, all social and political inequality arising from them will disappear. The conflicts of interest between workers and farmers, town and country, manual and intellectual labour will disappear. As classes will not exist, the state will not be necessary as an instrument of class rule and will gradually have withered away. The aim of the Socialist Party is the liberation of mankind through the establishment of a class-free, state-free society, embracing the whole globe. Socialism is not an “improved”, “more just” version of the system of wage labour, but a wholly new mode of production What has to be broken through are the social relations intrinsic to capital, for it is the immanent laws of capital as a social relation that makes capitalism a self-sustaining mode of production.

The road is long and tortuous, but the future is bright for the people of the world.

The Purpose of the Socialist Party

Everywhere people are waking up and fighting against the oppression and exploitation which is a daily fact of their lives. The lies of the ruling class about “prosperity” in this country are being further exposed every day. There is prosperity alright – but it is for a handful of rich capitalists – the conditions of the working people are getting worse and worse yet profits continue to rise. The situation in health care, housing and welfare services is rapidly deteriorating. The source of all these conditions and injustices in the predatory system of capitalism. This system of capitalism is set up with one thing in mind – to make the most profits possible for the handful of people who own Big Business, the global banks and corporations. It is the economic system under which we, our parents and grandparents before us, have done all the work. We mine the mines, build the buildings, manufacture all the products: and then get just enough to live on. On the other hand, the small capitalist class accrues great fortunes off of our labour. The Socialist Party stands for the complete overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment by the working class of a socialist system. Once it is no longer possible to make a profit from the sweat and toil of working people the general misery and problems caused by capitalism can be quickly resolved.

The aim of the Socialist Party is to replace world capitalist economy by a world socialism. Socialist society will abolish the class division of society, the abolition of anarchy in production, and abolish all forms of exploitation and oppression of man by man. Society will no longer consist of antagonistic classes in conflict with each other, but will be a unified cooperative commonwealth of labour. For the first time in its history mankind will take its fate into its own hands. Instead of destroying innumerable human lives and incalculable wealth in struggles between classes and nations, mankind will devote all its energy to the development and progress of humanity. After abolishing private ownership of the means of production and converting these means into social property, the world socialism will replace the world capitalist market, competitive and blind processes of social production, by consciously organised and planned production for the purpose of satisfying social needs. With the abolition of competition and anarchy in production, devastating crises and still more devastating wars will disappear. Instead of colossal waste of productive forces and spasmodic development of society there will be a planned utilisation of all material resources and a pain-free economic expansion to eliminate deprivation and poverty. The abolition of private property and the disappearance of classes will end exploitation. Work will cease to be toiling for the benefit of a class enemy. Want and inequality, the misery of being a wage-slave, and a wretched standard of life generally will disappear; the hierarchy created in the division of labour system will be abolished together with the antagonism between mental and manual labour; and the last vestige of the social inequality of the sexes will be removed. At the same time, the organs of class domination, and the State in the first place, will disappear also. The State, being the embodiment of class domination, will die out in so far as classes die out, and with it all measures of coercion will expire. This new culture of a humanity that is united for the first time in history, and has abolished all national boundaries. Unlike the alienation of capitalist culture, socialism will be based upon clear and transparent human relationships. Hence, it will bury forever all mysticism, religion, prejudice and superstition. As socialist we are distinguished from other working men and women only by this: At all times we point out the aim of the class struggle – socialist revolution - and we strive achieve this aim.

There is only one revolutionary class in the world capable of a successful socialist revolution. That class is the working class. In order to accomplish a socialist revolution, our class must have a political party so to capture the political power to carry through the revolution. The socialist party must be of class-conscious men and women of the working class who seek socialism and socialism alone.  The capitalist class is highly organised – they have the government, the courts and the army to protect their interests. The experience of the working class movement here and elsewhere confirms that it is impossible to make and consolidate a successful revolution without control of the State machine. The Socialist Party is a political party, which means that its concern is the struggle of the working class as a whole for State power. Whereas the primary concern of the trade unions is the economic struggle for better conditions; whereas the primary concern of the many reform organisation is the fight for amelioration and palliatives, the Socialist Party concerns itself with unifying them and giving them direction towards the overthrow of the capitalist system.

The Socialist Party participates in the election campaigns as a separate and distinct political party. It solicits votes to have its representatives in the legislative bodies. But its election campaigns and its purpose to be within parliament are fundamentally different from other parties. The Socialist Party not here to help the capitalists govern over the masses. We do not spread the false notion that there can be cooperation between the exploited and their exploiters. On the contrary, we go to the legislatures to prove to the workers that such cooperation must not be because it is good only for the bosses. In other words, we go to the legislatures — and we conduct our election campaigns — in the spirit of the class struggle. We use the platform of the legislatures, from which our voice can be heard better than the voice of private citizens, to advocate and promote socialism. For sure, we would help defend fellow-workers and press their masters to offer the maximum of concessions. At the same time, we’d endeavour to force the law-makers to pass legislation that would bring relief to the workers, not by pretty speeches, not by pleading with the law-makers who are servants of the ruling class, but by urging great movements of the masses which would make those gentlemen sit up and take notice. In other words, the Socialist Party does not beg for votes in order to reform the State and thereby to make it more effective for the capitalists. The Socialist Party practice revolutionary parliamentarism, by which is meant strengthening the working class and weakening its enemies. We go to the law-making institutions, not to tinker them up for the benefit of the capitalists, but put a monkey wrench in their State machinery, preventing them from working smoothly on behalf of the masters. We expose the agents of the capitalists before the people, to show what these so-called representatives of the people and what all these so-called democratic institutions actually are. We will use Parliament to abolish Parliament.

There are several parties around that call themselves “communist” or “socialist”. These parties all have one thing in common – they all dress themselves up with high-sounding revolutionary language, but underneath they are defenders of capitalism. The Socialist Party make it their purpose to communicate with our fellow-workers explaining to them the meaning of the class struggle so that they can recognises the truth of that explanation from their own experience. Understanding the nature of the class struggle, is the first step to actual participation in the socialist movement. Our critics say the workers are difficult to mobilise and that there is no hope of workers putting up a stiff resistance. We say, but let the worker recognise his or her class interests, and they will fight their lives, for freedom, for the liberation of all oppressed.

The SPGB Case

The Socialist Party case can be put without belligerence, arrogance, condescension or abuse. We are not Marx idolators—we have never been adulators. We have never postulated Marxian Papal infallibility—or produced a special "interpretation” of Marxism. It is perhaps for this reason that we have not forgotten Marx’s contributions to working-class thought. The Socialist Party is most certainly a "materialist" party in the sense that we argue that to understand society fully we must look first at the ways in which people are organised to meet their material needs, how the goods and services that are necessary for life are produced. In capitalist society that production takes place only for profit and people are divided into two classes — the capitalist class which owns the means of producing and distributing goods and services, and the working class which owns nothing except their ability to work. These two classes have opposing interests which cannot be reconciled within the capitalist system. The effects of this class division — and the conflict which it entails — are both material, in the sense that workers never receive the full benefit of their labour, and non-material in the sense that capitalism also engenders insecurity, conflict and division. We recognise that people have what some refer to as "inner needs" — to live in harmony and cooperation with each other — but would argue that the material conditions created by capitalism frustrate the meeting of those needs. Socialism, by contrast, will ensure not only that people's needs for a decent standard of material life are met but will also create a society in which people can live in peace with each other. 

Socialism implies, in the economic field, ownership of the means of production by society as a whole. Under capitalism, the capitalists own the means of production. Workers are forced to sell their labour power and the capitalist exploits and oppresses them. The self-seeking, individualist outlook bred by capitalism will have been replaced by a social outlook, a sense of responsibility to society. Even within capitalist society there is what is known as “solidarity” among the workers – the sense of a common interest. This is not an idea which someone has thought of and put into the heads of workers. It is an idea which arises out of the material conditions of working-class life, the fact that they get their living in the same way, working alongside each other. The archetypical grasping individualist with no sense of collective responsibility is the capitalist, all struggling against competitors to survive. Of course, the ideas of the dominant class – the rivalry instead of solidarity – tends to spread among the workers. But the fundamental basis for the outlook of any class (as distinct from individuals) is the material conditions of life, the way it gets its living. Hence it follows that the outlook of people can be changed by changing their material conditions, the way in which they get their living. In a world socialist system the advances that mankind could make defies the imagination. With all economic life run by a world plan and co-ordinating the plans, with scientific discoveries and technical inventions shared globally, humanity would indeed take giant step forward. Towards what? We have no doubt of the transformation of modern civilisation into socialism, yet we cannot foretell definitely what form the social life of the future will take, any more than a man living at the beginning of capitalism a few hundred years ago could foresee the development of that period in the capitalism of to-day. The Socialist Party never attempts to foretell, because the conditions are too unknown for any forecast. It is necessarily hidden from us.  But it is possible to say for sure that with the establishment of socialism throughout the world, class divisions and class struggles will come to an end. There will be no new division into classes, chiefly because in a socialist society there is nothing to give cause for it to rise.

We are told we must live austerely, work harder and forego claims for higher wages and shorter hours. Capitalists are out for the same thing, making as much profit as possible out of the exploitation of the workers, and they can always find some plausible propaganda to help on their aim. Workers should know, by bitter experience, that their wages at all times are based on the cost of living, i.e., the lowest amount necessary to produce, maintain and reproduce the power to labour and that, subject to some fluctuation of supply and demand, they get no more than that. The cause of workers' problems is capitalism itself and not until workers understand this and organise together to abolish capitalism and establish socialism, can these problems be solved.

 Socialism must be a worldwide social system because a state-free, money-free, class-free set-up could not exist, as a separate enclave, amid a capitalist world of nations, wars, class division, commodity production and so on. It follows that socialism must be established at pretty well the same time throughout the world but this does not imply that workers develop socialist consciousness at exactly the same rate everywhere. Inevitably, there is some unevenness but in terms of social movement this is so slight as to be insignificant.

Ideas mirror material conditions. At present workers all over the world support capitalism and this support takes just about the same form wherever we look. The same false ideas help to keep capitalism in being all around the world. The development of socialist ideas faces many problems and political dictatorship is one of them. An absence of democracy reflects a low state of development of workers' consciousness; its presence is one of the fruits of a flourishing consciousness. That is the direction in which society is moving, as workers' ideas react to capitalism's contradictions. In the struggle for reforms it is the effects that are tackled and not their causes.

The Worker’s Weekend (1972)

From the April 1972 issue of the Socialist Standard

From Monday to Friday the weekend is the time most of us look forward to. This is the time for living it up or taking it easy, and so well is this recognised that numerous books and songs have been written and films made which deal with this theme. Indeed “the weekend” has become one of the most important social institutions in modern society. Life without Saturday night and Sunday morning would be unthinkable for most people and yet the weekend is only one more institution which, like any other, is evolutionary in character and must eventually disappear.

Just as the legal and political institutions of a society must correspond to the needs of that society (more accurately, of its dominant class) then so must the institution of leisure. The weekend can only have any real meaning in capitalism: it didn’t exist in feudalism and certainly won’t exist in Socialism.

In feudalism production was largely agricultural so time off work was partly governed by the seasons of the year. Even so, the Church made sure that many holidays (holy days) occurred in winter when work in the fields was often impossible anyway. And the idea of today’s summer break would have been ridiculous in medieval times as summer is when work is most needed in agriculture. Modern industrial society requires its work to be carried on throughout the year as the market knows no seasons and it has the artificial means (factories, mills, etc.) to do this. Indeed, lost working time in capitalism is usually caused by purely social factors — slumps leading to redundancy are an obvious example.

The Church, as the most powerful social and political institution in feudalism, decreed when and how many holy days should be observed. In medieval England and, right into the 17th century, the Catholic countries of Europe there were over a hundred holy days a year on which no work could be done and Church courts inflicted fasts and penances on those who broke this law. Further opportunities for leisure were provided by the many Fairs at which the known world displayed its wares. Eileen Power describes in Medieval People how Bodo, a Frankish peasant in the time of Charlemagne, and his family looked forward to these Fairs although their real purpose was to provide essential trading outlets in an age of poor communications. Obviously they have little relevance to modern society and have been replaced by the airborne travelling salesman, the tele­phone, and the manufacturer’s prospectus.

Medieval holidays took place irrespective of the day of the week they fell on. The Church was powerful enough to see to that. And they didn’t follow the mechanical two consecutive days-out-of-every-seven pattern like today. Rather they occurred in conjunction with important social, religious, and trading events like feast days and Fairs. In capitalism holidays have to coincide with the demands of industry — whereas May Day traditionally fell on May 1, today it has been relegated to the first Sunday in May. In other words, times for living it up in feudalism happened when there was an excuse for it. They were times for dancing and drinking, sport and lechery, with the clerics wailing that more sin was committed on holy days than on any other. We can confidently say that medieval leisure (or recreation) was geared to the productive forces and social relationships of feudal society.

Meanwhile, as the merchant class grew in strength and power it could see that the medieval system of holidays was incompatible with its need for an ideology fostering the regular working habits required by the new manufacturing system. The cry that England’s allegedly weak competitive trading position was due to the “misspending of our time in idleness and pleasure” occasioned by holidays and absenteeism is not the pro-­duct of the mid-20th century but of the early 17th.

With the triumph of capitalism over feudalism and the consequent further weakening of the Church’s power, the holy days were steadily eliminated until by the 1830s they had almost vanished. Holidays for much of the new-born working class meant, apart from Sundays, only Christmas Day. The same trend affected office workers too. The Bank of England closed for 47 holidays in 1761, 40 in 1825, 18 in 1830, and 4 in 1834. In Italy, where the Church is still powerful, the remaining Church holidays are coming under fresh attack and legislation is being prepared to rearrange these for the convenience of industry.

The long term effect of such harshness was that many workers used Sunday to drown their sorrows in and the resulting over-indulgence in alcohol produced widespread absenteeism. The shrewder of the employers saw the way to combat this and even rejuvenate the workers by providing more recognised holidays. The 60 hour week in the 1860-70’s produced the Saturday half holiday and by 1878 the term “weekend” was in use. Next came secular holidays unconnected with religious festivals and with dates specially picked to suit industry. In the 1890’s came summer holidays when whole industries closed down for a week with many workers spending the time away from home. The weekend which we now take for granted -Saturday and Sunday off-was not widespread until after world war two (this writer, employed in engineering, didn’t get it until 1948) and was due to the improved bargaining position of the workers caused by full employment.

Leisure as we know it today is the product of a modern industrialism which compels a division of labour within the factory and at the same time gathers all the work of the plant into a unified production process. Similarly, whole industries with their many plants and diverse component units become an integrated network. All these industries are linked together on a global scale so that all the workers directly or indirectly engaged come under this single dominating influence to which they must co-ordinate their use of time. This is why we have the weekend and why we all take our holidays together-to fit in with the requirements of those who as a class monopolise industry – the capitalist class.

Obviously, the way we spend our leisure has changed with the passing of centuries. In feudal times recreation was associated with participating in physical activity such as sport, dancing, etc. Today it means paying to watch others do this, going to the pub, or, more likely, watching TV. But there is an important similarity between the two ages in that both were societies in which men’s labour was controlled by a ruling class, so they usually hated their work. Up to the present day work and recreation have been strictly segregated and considered to be mutually exclusive.

But must this always be so? After all, there are some people, even in capitalism, who enjoy and even live for their work. This is especially so when they have some control over what they do and when the work is useful and stimulating. This will certainly be the case in Socialism, a society of production for use with everyone owning and controlling the means of production and distribution in common. People will be able to indulge in work that is engaged in from choice because of the enjoyment and satisfaction which it brings and is not subject to the compulsion imposed by the wages system. What people today call work may well be regarded as leisure or recreation in the future. So even our very concept of leisure changes along with changes in the economic basis of society. Certainly no regimentation of leisure such as today’s weekend represents will be tolerated in a free society like Socialism.

If the reader looks around him today he can see that this is not so far fetched as it may seem. Already there is an evolution away from the weekend idea. The increase of rotating shift-work has made many workers dissatisfied with fixed leisure time by giving them a taste of something different. Also, the growth of “Flexi-time” where workers may report for and depart from work within certain limits is an indication of their desiring and achieving more control over their own time. These developments should mean that workers hearing the socialist case aren’t required to mentally bridge such a wide gulf between the practices of capitalism and of Socialism. Our task as propagandists is made easier by developments within capitalism which erode fixed ideas about the world.

Vic Vanni