Nationalism: A Step Backward, Not Forward

The “nation” and nationalism” are very deceptive notions. The “nation” to the nationalist parties designates everyone without exception: firemen, hospital workers, politicians, police, judges, industrialists, housewives and unemployed as citizens. But once the nationalists prevail, at the first important conflict we see the “national” police clubbing the “national” workers by order of the “national” state whose legality is maintained at all costs by the “national” judges: the “national” housewives and their children go without basic necessities, the “national” industrialists, maintain their profit level and the “national” financiers do great business.

Nations and the concept of nationhood are not eternal phenomena that have always existed: their appearance on the stage of history is the result of particular and concretely identifiable factors, occurring at specific historical periods in specific historical contexts. The creation of Scotland was no different. Feudal states were united by virtue of who ruled them, regardless of “national” considerations. The power was vested in the king, not in the nation and in Scotland there were bitter bloody struggles about who ruled, the clan chieftains or the king in Edinburgh. In today's world the struggle is now about mobilizing of the working class against the capitalist class, and the problem of socialist revolution. Rather than overthrow of capitalism and the building of socialism nationalists throw their lot in with the bosses.

The essential character of nationalist movements is that it is negative and opportunistic. It feeds on the justified dissatisfaction of the workers but only to divert their revolutionary potential up backwaters. It dare not strike at the roots of the wage-system. In a office or factory, there is always an owner (or shareholders) who lives off the work of others: these are the ones who really hold the power! The foremen and superintendents are only their watchdogs; they apply the rules the capitalist owners dictate; they “direct” the workers in such a way as to insure as much profit as possible, and when the industry is facing difficulties, they are charged with the laying-off, or they do the “pushing” to raise production; they also try to create division among the workers as they fight against their union or try to buy off their representatives. That is but one aspect of the capitalists’ power. As masters of production and of the economy, they control the state and the mass media. All the big newspapers, radio and television defend the outlook of those who invest in them, and they try to turn the people away from the true problems. If a party does not want to abolish capitalist exploitation, it can only serve capitalism – its role is that of the foreman in the plant. All the things that are tied to the state, the army, the laws, the injunctions, the taxation systems, are according to the needs of the capitalist class, not according to the will of the parties.

No one is going to hand workers socialism on a silver platter least of all the nationalists pretending to be revolutionaries. They want to rally the working class behind the nationalist cause. But nationalism weakens the workers. Shall we fight only to have Scottish bosses instead of English ones? Shall we unite with these small local-based exploiters in order to defend the country against the bad English? That is pure folly and very dangerous. Nationalism is a vain attempt to rally the working class behind the cause of a section of the ruling class who are seeking a better place in the sun. Nationalism does not oppose capitalism. Furthermore it is used to divide the workers among themselves so they can ignore their real enemy. In order to overthrow capitalism the workers need to unite – their main interests lie in such unity. Scottish separatism would divide the workers of Britain. We must oppose nationalism. There are no shortcuts to the socialist revolution, and those who follow the nationalist path retard the revolutionary movement. Through our work awe are showing working people that the only way to end oppression and exploitation once and for all is to unite in the fight for socialism. Our fellow-workers should unite for the goal of workers all over the world – for socialism!

Has the ruling class been weakened by the establishment of the Holyrood Parliament? Have we workers moved ahead in our struggle against the rotten boss system and for socialism as a result? NOT A BIT! Workers are still in the same fix. There has never a real gain for the working class. While workers have been fighting year after year, and needing better organization and class unity more than ever, the nationalist left-wingers has spent its time marching up and down streets, waving their Saltires. It’s up to us to organize our forces for a fight to the finish against the bosses. Nobody’s going to do it for us. The Left talks a lot about workers. It says that it wants to “liberate” the workers. But are they presenting the case for socialism? In reality the nationalists tells workers: “Don’t organize with your class brothers and sisters around the country and let yourself be led by the same people that screw you. Stay separate and isolated from workers in the rest of Britain who have the same enemies, defend the national culture of the bosses with your lives.” All of us have the same iron heel pressing down on our necks: the bosses’ state. The capitalist system crushes us. The bosses’ class is the root of all the problems in our society, and workers are always first to pay the price. To get rid of it, we need to unite in a single, fighting organization. Scottish separatists are workers’ enemies. With workers fighting together we can win.

What we said in 2014

The Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of Great Britain on the 2nd August adopted the following as a statement on the Scottish Breakaway Referendum on 18 September:

“Most of us don’t own a single square inch of Scotland.

It doesn’t belong to us: we just live here and work for the people who do own it. In or out of the Union, that won’t change.

In Scotland, society is run in the interests of those who own the wealth. They argue among each other over billions of barrels of oil, GDP rates, profits and exports, because where the borders lie matters to them. Every border is an opportunity to wring cash out of other property owners. Scotland will remain dependent upon their whims and interests whatever the outcome of the referendum.

They’ll try to sway us one way or another with crumbs (or the promises of crumbs) but we’ll only get what they feel they can spare to protect their privilege and wealth. We will remain dependent upon their investments making a profit for them before we can get our needs and interests seen to.

The only way to stop this dependency would be for us to take ownership and control of the wealth of the world into our own hands. We could, together, use the wealth of the world to meet our mutual needs and grant the true independence of being able to control our work and our lives in free and voluntary association of equals.

Though the outcome of this referendum is irrelevant, it is an opportunity for us to tell our fellow workers that this is what we want. We don’t have to suffer in silence, we can go to the ballot stations and write “neither yes nor no but world socialism” across the voting paper. Then, join The Socialist Party to fight for an independent world.”

The nationalist smokescreen

To advance toward socialism, the working class must develop its consciousness of being a class with common interests radically opposed to those of the capitalist class. It must also understand that nationalism serve the interests of the capitalists, not the interests of the workers. To hang on to the shirt-tails of nationalists and drag workers along behind the Left Nationalist have once again come up with classic reformist ideas that oppose real political education, education and the propagation of socialist ideas. It is a strategy that capitulates totally before the task of education is carried out. A newly empowered Scottish capitalist class would certainly have no interest in raising workers’ wages, nor improving working conditions. On the contrary, they would call on their workers to tighten their belts even more in the name of the new nation. The Scottish workers would have, for all intents and purposes, won the right to self-determination but at the cost of strengthening the Scottish employers and putting off the socialist revolution far into the future. Our enemy is the same as that of the British working class as a whole: the capitalists. Independence, instead of uniting the working class against the bosses, divides them from the rest of the working class. It delays the socialist revolution by advocating unity with the Scottish employing class.


Scottish independence pushed by the Left is shown up for what it really is, a mirage and an illusion intended to attract Scottish workers to tie them to the interests of the native ruling class. Looked at concretely, one by one, the so-called advantages that workers would gain from separation go up in smoke. And the disadvantages are great: holding back the achievement of the working class’s basic aim, the capture of political power from the current ruling class. The working class would be sacrificing its struggle for socialism, which is the only way to do away with exploitation, in return for a few crumbs obtained by a change of constitution. The present debate over the constitutional status will result in no substantial solutions to the pressing problems of the daily life of the working people. The chief promoters of nationalism have no intention of changing the relationship of class forces. They will act to protect the interests of Big Business on which they ultimately rest, and they must move against the struggles of the exploited class. Separatists will not offer a challenge to the power of the corporations. A sovereign Scottish government will be unable to develop policies genuinely independent of the capitalist class. The working class are fated to be shoved aside. There are no grounds to believe that the working class, by adopting independence, would advance its interests in any way, in terms either of its class consciousness or of its ultimate objective of building socialism. The Left Nationalists are totally incapable and unwilling to provide such a revolutionary socialist alternative, for pursuing its policy of peaceful collaboration with the SNP, it has in fact given up the perspective of struggle for the socialist transformation. Their tactics are foredoomed to failure.


What progressive ends would be achieved by the secession of the Scots from the Union? The answer is obviously none. The Scottish people have everything to gain and nothing to lose by rejecting the line of nationalism. We must refuse to become the cannon fodder for nationalists. The ravings of the Left Nationalists contribute little but division and confusion among workers. They ally with the bosses yet don the garb of socialism in order to appear radical. For sure, many Scots are fed up with present-day conditions. But a good portion, though, are geared towards the forward march of labour. They see there is no other choice, that the best possible future for them is to ally themselves with other members of the working class in order to carry on a common struggle with them. Only the working class is capable of overthrowing the capitalist system and only a solid working-class base can accomplish the social revolution.


Whatever twists and turns lie down the road in the fight for socialism, one thing is certain: the success of that struggle depends on achieving the greatest possible unity of the working class, it is utterly ridiculous to argue that the working class ought to divide itself into two different countries in order to accomplish this unity. It is completely absurd to justify this with the false argument, disproven many times, that the battle for socialism would be easier if it were led by a more nationally “pure” and homogeneous working class. Working class unity is a must right now if effective resistance is to be mounted to the crisis measures imposed by the capitalists. Unity is necessary to stand up against all the attacks on our democratic rights. Unity is the key in putting an end to the discrimination suffered by the oppressed nations. The working class faces a powerful and aggressive enemy which is solidly united despite the real contradictions within its ranks. The people’s forces are not going to win by dividing themselves. Those gentlemen who dress up as socialists in order to push nationalism in the working class are the objective allies of the capitalist class. The left nationalists find themselves in the camp of those promoting division of the working class.


Workers in Scotland have a difficult task ahead of them. It is to unite to resist the attacks of the employers with greater and greater strength and eventually to oust them from political power. The problems of workers will not be solved in the framework of any form of the nation-state. The fate of Scottish workers is irrevocably bound up with the fate of the rest of the British, European and World workers. Socialism is the order of the day. Workers all across the world can be united against their common enemy, against the bosses’ class and their state We can end their rotten system and build a new system for workers – socialism. A divided international working class, split and shackled by nationalism can never build its strength to challenge the ruling class world-wide, and crush the entire capitalist system of exploitation, racism and war, once and for all. Independence, for Scottish workers simply spells increased exploitation. Separation will weaken the struggle of the entire British working class for socialism by dividing its ranks. Supporting Scottish independence in the name of socialism is a monumental hoax. It flows from the same kind of logic that leads others to preach nationalisation as the cure for all our ills.

The Nationalist Charade

TARTAN TROTS

Can Scottish separatism be part of a strategy for socialism? Can a sovereign Scotland be a step forward in this struggle?

Left nationalists, those radical patriots demanding Scottish sovereignty, believe that it is necessary to achieve independence from England first, and then socialism. This kind of argument channels the efforts of progressives into support for the SNP, an openly pro-capitalist party. Socialism is put off until “later”. We have learned by bitter experience that the struggle for socialism is never to be started right away. Later...later...those nationalists on the left keep telling us. These reformists hide behind a socialist mask. The “radical” image of the independence and socialism line is nothing but a charade, putting the interests of the nation ahead of the interests of the working class. They end up supporting the SNP's independence schemes, allying directly with the Scottish elite, faithfully serving its interests.

The reality is that Scottish independence will not change conditions for the better the struggle for socialism. Such a change would in fact be nothing but a re-division of power between various groups of capitalists. The two states that would result would be just as capitalist as today’s United Kingdom. All that would be put in question is the division of power between sections of the ruling elite. But the power structure of the capitalists over the workers would be unchanged. Perhaps separatism might harm a section of Scottish business, but the capitalist system itself would not be hurt by it.

Once the capitalist class in Scotland achieved an independent state, it would be no more welcoming to a working class revolution than was the ruling class of Britain as a whole. It would be ready to suppress any workers' struggle. Today, despite a very vocal nationalist left-wing, few people still believe that separatism is a step forward in the struggle for socialism but rather as an opportunity for extracting perhaps a few more beneficial reforms. An independent Scotland would be dominated by an emboldened national bourgeoisie that would demand social harmony in the name of national interest. All opposition to exploitation will be branded as betraying the nation. In an independent Scotland the SNP would try to integrate the unions into the state apparatus. If that strategy failed, the SNP would show its true face by repressing workers’ struggles.

Independence is not in the objective interests of our fellow-workers. The Scottish working-class movement cannot stand alone in its confrontation with the employing owning class that dominate the country from Lands End to Lerwick. Who will benefit from the introduction of less unity among English, Welsh and Scottish workers? The very class we are trying to fight. The separation of Scottish workers would weaken the entire British working class. Its forces would be divided and diminished, and in facing the class enemy, its ranks disorganised. It will not be able to react to the employers' attacks with a unified fightback, and it’s exactly that class unity, rising above national barriers, which strikes the capitalists with fear.

The task of workers is to attack the root of the problem not tinker with the constitutional status. Workers must reject all compromises, all proposals of alliances with their masters for the sake of the unity of the nation. It is not the task of the Scotland's working class to unite the nation around any kind of battle for independence whatsoever. The struggle must be waged against the entire British and global bourgeoisie. It must be waged against those who have suppressed us for decade after decade. The Scottish workers will continue to carry out this task by rooting out the basic cause of national oppression – capitalism. To do so, workers must unite with the only class whose interests lie unreservedly in eliminating capitalism – the workers of all lands. It is capitalism that gives birth to national divisions and the oppression of one nation by another. By eliminating capitalism, workers create the conditions for the unity of nations. If the working class divides its forces, this can seriously retard its progress. But if it remains unified, it can triumph. This unity can only be forged in the struggle against national chauvinism and nationalism which only serve the interests of the ruling class. The separation of Scotland from the UK will not weaken the ruling class as some of the Left Nationalists claim. On the contrary, Scottish sovereignty would weaken the working class by dividing it and by binding Scots even closer to their bosses.

CLAYMORE SOCIALISTS

What to resist

 The most basic right of the people in the new society, which it is impossible for them to exercise under capitalism, is the right to be the masters of society, in every sphere, and to transform it in their interests. The task of the Socialist Party is overthrowing capitalism and ending the exploitation of man by man. It recognises that there is a class struggle. But more than this, the Socialist Party understand that the capitalist class and the working class have no common interests. The survival of the capitalist class depends on its ability to drive the working class into deeper and deeper misery. Socialists understand that the role of the working class and their unions is to fight the capitalist class to the end, for political power, for an end to wage slavery. that there is a class struggle. But more than this, they realise that the capitalist class and the working class have no common interests. The survival of the capitalist class depends on its ability to drive the working class into deeper and deeper misery. The role of the working class is to fight the capitalist class to the end, for political power, for an end to wage slavery. The goal is overthrowing capitalism as a system. The fight is to end the system of wage slavery.

Surplus value refers to the following: In production the workers create all value but much, if not most, of that value is appropriated by the capitalist. That is, the owner of a capitalist enterprise pays each worker a wage (as little as possible) equal to only a small part of the value the worker creates. For instance, the value a worker produces in the first two hours of the work-day may equal whatever wage he or she may receive; the value created in the remainder of the work-day goes to the capitalist. That is what Marx called surplus value. From surplus value capitalists take their own profits and make payments to other groups of capitalists: interest on loans to banks (the banker’s profits); rent to landlords; payments for raw materials, and so on. Thus, most of the surplus value created by the worker becomes profit to all the capitalists involved.

What unites workers as a class is their relationship to the means of production. Workers produce all value. Bosses appropriate that value and pay the workers as little as workers let them get away with. All workers, no matter what their colour, gender, “race,” ethnicity, religious beliefs or capitalist-created nationality, are exploited by the profit system. This is our unifying characteristic. Anything that negates this class concept, that puts workers in alliance with “their bosses” against another set of workers and bosses, weakens the struggle to combat and overthrow the entire ruling capitalist class. Capitalism cannot be reformed.

For three centuries the capitalist system has destroyed the lives of billions of workers. Among its many evils it has waged unceasing wars for profit; caused hunger and disease, mercilessly exploited the workers in its factories, used racism to encourage prejudice. Ever since black slaves were transported from Africa right through to their use by the capitalists as a pool of low-wage labour, racism has become the foundation stone of the capitalist system. It is used to divide the working class and weaken the struggle against the bosses. It devalues human life by claiming that one group of workers is inferior and another is superior. Nationalism divides the working class. Workers must unite across all capitalist-created borders and not defend its “own” bosses against workers in other capitalist countries. There is no such thing as “progressive nationalism.” “National liberation” movements merely exchange one set of bosses (the colonial masters) for another set (local bosses) and retain the profit system.

Organise and Mobilise the Working Class

The capitalist system threatens the destruction of civilisation through manifestations like climate change and of course nuclear war remains an ominous scenario. All the interests of the capitalist class are tied up with and based upon preserving their ownership and control of the means of production. Their whole power over society is based upon this ownership. It enables them to exploit and oppress the majority of the population. It results in growing social inequality, economic scarcity and insecurity. The maintenance of capitalist property is the basic principle of every capitalist government.

Capitalism is the social form of the relationship between capitalists and workers. It is the private ownership of the means of production, denied to the vast majority, which enables the capitalist to expropriate a portion of the output which the workers produce In the form of profit. All production comes from the effort of workers. Since profits represent a certain portion of production it follows that all profits come from the efforts of workers. Machines which aid laboUr in producing goods and services are the result of past labour; in reality machines are nothing more than dead labour and it is physically and economically impossible to exploit dead labour. Workers need a certain quantity of what they produce In order to be able to work at all. They must eat, sleep and clothe themselves. They must also have sufficient quantities of goods and services to raise a family so that workers will be provided for the next generation. The amount of labor necessary to produce the goods required to maintain the worker and his family is what Marx called necessary labor. This amount is determined historically by the level of technology and the history of the class struggle in each capitalist country. However, because the means of production–the machines, mines, etc. – are owned by the capitalists and not the workers, the businessmen are in a position to demand a certain portion of the working day to produce goods and services for the capitalist. This portion of the working day represents profits and is what Marx called surplus labour. Profits enable the capitalists to invest and, therefore, control more workers as investment connotes more ownership. Thus, more and more people find themselves as workers under the control of the capital-owning class. This is a fundamental law of capitalist accumulation. It is obvious that the working class does not have the same material interests as do the capitalists. The former wants higher wages, better working and living conditions, etc. The latter want higher profits. But higher wages mean that the worker will spend a greater portion of the working day producing goods for his own use. Everything else equal (the working day remains the same length, speed-up is resisted, etc.), this means that workers will spend less time producing profits for the businessman; surplus labor and profits will fall. Now, how does the worker go about getting a higher wage? Does he ask nicely? Maybe, but this does not work. Because the class interests are contradictory and antagonistic, the workers must organize and fight for a higher standard of living, and in doing so they must fight the whole state apparatus. This fact, historically observed, is a product of capitalism, and it is capitalism that necessitates militant action on the part of the working class. The worker is, by the nature of the capitalist-worker relationship, militant. 

The capitalists do not rule by force alone. It is impossible for a minority to coerce a majority for any length of time by brute strength, for the real strength lies with the majority, the working class. All minority ruling classes depend primarily on fraud–conscious, deliberate lies–to maintain their rule. This fraud, which is basically an illusion, is perpetrated by the government, the education system, the churches, the media – every capitalist institution that exists. All these institutions are under the control of the businessmen, and, as these institutions pervade the entire fabric of society, we find that fraud is all pervasive. This fraud takes many forms, but the function of all fraud is to undercut resistance and militancy to capitalist rule, to reduce the awareness and knowledge of the working class. Generally, we find fraud either building up support for capitalism (“what is good for business is good for the country”, etc.) or slandering socialist ideas (“it's human nature to be greedy and lazy”.) Periodically fraud breaks down. Wars, recessions, environment crises, etc., all serve to show the true features of a capitalist society. Class conflict become clearer.

The decent into the capitalist abyss can be avoided only by replacing capitalism with the planned economy of socialism on a world scale. Capitalist crises have driven one fact home: capitalism is an outworn system that must be replaced with a new social system. To the evils of capitalism, the Socialist Party offers social progress and human welfare and advocates a system of society in the interests of all humanity. The aim of the Socialist Party is to assure society a high, continuous level of production which will permit the advancement of all, free of convulsive economic and financial crises Its goal is to assure abundance to all so that the nightmare of insecurity is dispelled and to provide everyone freedom from physical and intellectual enslavement of any kind. Are not these the things that all the people long for? Capitalist class rule has demonstrated to the hilt that it cannot, by its very nature, achieve this aim. Yet its achievement is not only necessary, but, as will be shown, it is quite possible. Now the question is for our fellow-workers what can and should they do to make this aim a living reality? Too many on the Left rarely utter a word about the necessity of the abolition of the capitalist system, and the establishment of socialism, confusingly presenting nationalisation or cooperatives as a type of “socialism” with the idea of not overthrowing capitalism, but merely the patching up of this system. The Left are complicity silent concerning the burning question of the era: capitalism or socialism. The best description that can be given this self-proclaimed vanguard of the working class is left-liberal reformists as it rests solely upon the struggle for immediate demands, and does not even place before the workers the need of a new society.

The Socialist Party declares itself for an altogether different task, convincing fellow-workers of the necessity of replacing capitalism by socialism, challenging fellow-workers still imbued with faith in capitalism, with the need for a new social system. The Socialist Party's purpose is to promote socialist ideas, i.e., consciousness of the necessity of replacing capitalism by a collectively-owned and operated economy. Only the working class is capable of overthrowing capitalism and establishing a socialist world. There is no other social force but the working class anywhere in the world capable of overthrowing international capitalism and establishing a social order founded on universal co-operation and solidarity. Here we are talking about the working class in the classic definition of the term, all those wage earners economically obliged to sell their labour power in order to obtain their means of consumption, since they lack access to the means of production and do not own capital). There are many that contend that workers are docile to the point of being reactionary; that they are not militant. If this is the case there is no point in building a revolutionary party because the working class is the only class capable of overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism. Confusion arises because the “new” social movements such as the environmental movement which are organisationally and often ideologically, separated from the organised workers' movement. In fact, it is often the labour movements' fault since it is slow or simply unwilling to take up the objectives these movements struggle for. Hence we have fragmented and diverging movements. Single-issue movements often mobilise big numbers. But at the same time they are diverted into reformist dead-ends.

How to fix things. Let every struggle be a school of socialism

The capitalists rob you and all but starves you and there is only one way you can get out of their strangle-hold. That is by making the world a socialist one. The importance of a systematic fight can hardly be overestimated. It is not worth while to try to reform capitalism even if it were possible. Capitalism climate crisis is getting worse day by day. If they stand together the workers can bring peace and happiness to every home. The Socialist Party is giving the solution to capitalism many crises. It consists in eliminating capitalism itself. Socialism is the abolition of capitalism and is the only solution that human beings can give to the current crises. The development of the productive forces on a global scale has made the world overripe for socialism. Only a socialist planned world economy can deliver civilisation from the threat of extinction, and assure a world society of enduring peace, of boundless plenty, the unlimited expansion of culture and the achievement of full freedom for all. Without socialism, capitalism will continue to waste enormous resources, to hold the earth's population in abject poverty, to maintain social and racial inequality, and to support dictatorial regimes. To complete this grim perspective of hunger, insecurity, inequality and oppressive rule, capitalism offers the permanent threat of environmental destruction.

Capitalism succeeded in winning temporary stability after the Second World War. However, this temporary stabilisation of capitalism has disappeared and now we face austerity and the sharpening of competition in the world market with the necessity to attack the workers' standard of living, job conditions, and employment opportunities in order to strengthen competitive efficiency. These point to increasingly fierce class battles which could be raised from the economic to the political level under favourable conditions, arouse the labour movement to a new upsurge, challenging capitalism. 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 mankind’s history. The problems we face are not some “illness” of capitalism, they 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. The capitalist minority of the population holds complete control of the economy and political power, and effectively controls all the machinery of the state. The working class, beset by unemployment, lower standards of living, and repression, with growing awareness of purposes constantly broadening and deepening emerge as a class conscious of itself and waging war upon capitalism. For if the revolutionary workers do not act, if the basic economic drive of capitalism – production and realisation of surplus value, the accumulation of capital – is left to work itself out unchecked, then as Marx described if there is no “revolutionary reconstitution of society” in favour of the working classes, then the “common ruin of the contending classes”

What do we mean by socialism? Not the phoney socialism of the Labour Party with its history of betrayal, and its attempts 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 state monopoly, exploited the mass of Soviet workers on behalf of a small ruling elite of Party and State bosses. We are fighting for a working class democracy in which the producers of wealth, the working class will own the factories, the land, the hospitals, the schools, the courts etc. and will run them themselves according to the will of the majority, in which the working class will exercise dictatorship over the former capitalists in order to abolish capitalism’s forces. The unity of mankind is an age-old dream. This is our aim, a class-free society in which classes and therefore the state have finally disappeared. the Wage-Slave Abolitionists of to-day are fighting to abolish capitalism.

Socialist principles rests upon the following propositions:

1. Capitalist ownership of the facilities of production is the principal obstacle to the development of the means for achieving economic security, social solidarity and human happiness.
2. The working class is the only social force which, by virtue of its economic position and functions, is vitally interested and consistently impelled to transcend capitalism.
3. Capitalist power and property can be abolished only by carrying the mass struggle on a world scale.
4. The road to a harmonious and class-free society has to pass through the gate of the world socialist revolution in order to eliminate the root causes of conflict between one part of mankind and another.

What Now?

There is a prevailing assumption that the media is not to be relied on; that it is full of fake news and distortions. That assumption is largely a correct one and socialists have often exposed the veracity of the capitalist media. If there is any movement that is and must be based on objective truth it is the world socialist movement. No one should be able to question the facts which form the foundations of the theory and practice of that movement. To be a socialist means to be so scrupulous about factual matters that no listener or reader would assume to raise any doubt about them. The Socialist Party has earned for accuracy which is spotless. Nothing more dangerous to our movement can be imagined than the absurd thought that we should not report the exact truth. Any movement that is based on principles that cannot stand the test of critical examination is bound to rely on deception. The Socialist Party must be honest if some mistake do creep in it should be be immediately acknowledged and corrected. Only in such a way can the Socialist Party gain the confidence of the working class.

Socialism was born out of a criticism of capitalist conditions and capitalist theories. The emancipation of the working class from capitalism and from their degradation is the paramount problem of society. The only road to freedom for the workers and to equality is through their common struggle for the abolition of capitalism. The owning and employing class use every trick known to politics to dominate the state, from bribery and intimidation to fraudulent control of elections. Civil liberties nor human rights mean nothing if they stand in their way.

The Socialist Party maintain that our society is divided into classes based on groups of people standing in the same relationship to the means of production. Secondly, it holds that the interests of these classes are antagonistic and irreconcilable and that a constant struggle goes on between them over the division of the wealth that. society produces. Thirdly, the Socialist Party understands that the ability of the present ruling class, the capitalists, to maintain their power is due to their using their economic strength to control the government and use it as “an instrument of oppression” against the rest of society. We say that the ability of the present ruling class, the capitalists, to maintain their power is due to their using their political and economic strength to control the government and use it as “an instrument of oppression” against the rest of society.

To summarise, we live in a class society, that the dynamic force of that society is the class struggle, that the capitalist class maintains its position by control of the government, and that labour can only free itself by wrestling political power from capital for the purpose of building a class-free society. We accept that the possessing class is the ruling class by virtue of its control of the State. The government protects the capitalist class by protecting the source of its economic strength private property. It uses its control of government to decree what is called the law. It uses its control of government to enforce the law. The law is the will of the ruling class and its interests. Democracy literally means “rule of the people”. The master class maintains its privileged position because it controls the “rule by the people” by ensuring that the majority of people support the present system. Therefore the capitalist class controls the government only as long as the majority of the voters permit them to. Socialism cannot be introduced without public opinion supporting the socialist ideal. One thing seems evident. If we cannot get people to vote for our aim, there is little hope of getting them to take to the streets, much less to take up arms on behalf of the socialist cause.

The Socialist Party differentiates itself from the reformists in their conception of the state and the road to power. Gradualists argue that we can change society introducing one good law after another; and one fine day the workers will wake up pleasantly surprised to find themselves in the midst of a socialist world. The Socialist Party rejects the idea that socialism can be introduced by the constitutional amendments and the enactments of legislation and regulation. We say the State is an instrument to serve and protect the interests of the capitalist class and it is pure utopianism to expect that the working class can use that instrument for the ushering in of a socialist world. Socialists must be constantly teaching the workers that is not capitalist democracy and not the capitalist state which will bring us socialism.

The politics of the Socialist Party is utterly different in KIND from all other politics. Its aim is not to “improve conditions” or gain reforms or stop corruption or accomplish any other end within the framework of existing society; nor does it aim to win a parliamentary majority in “the government.” Its aim, the expression of the interests of the revolutionary class, is quite precisely to overthrow existing social relations, to abolish the existing state, and to engage in the task of establishing a new society. Non-revolutionary political parties, contesting for votes and office, represent different sections of the ruling class struggling for the major share of profits and privilege They are different groups seeking the lucrative control of the governmental bureaucracy, offering different theories of how best to maintain the existing order and keep for it the support or at least the acquiescence of the working class, with attempts to secure this by that reform or this concession for this for a particular section of the population. ALL varieties of non-revolutionary politics PRESUPPOSE the continuance of the existing order in its fundamental structure: that is to say in capitalist society. Non-revolutionary politics presupposes capitalist property relations, the exploitation of working people by the propertied minority, the continuance of their class domination and the maintenance of the capitalist state.

The Socialist Party breaks with the deceptions of conventional politics and opposes all reformist delusions, to pose directly the central issue: the class struggle for workers’ power and for socialism.

The Movement of the Dispossessed and Propertyless

The world we live and struggle in confronts us with an immense set of paradoxes. Conditions exist which should result in very favourable ground for socialist activity. Yet a real mass socialist movement does not exist. The absence of a vibrant socialist movement today is an indisputable (and depressing) fact. This is hardly a profound observation. It has been noted by many others. Dozens of explanations abound. Some argue that the problem is theoretical and doctrinaire in character while many blame sectarianism. In the meantime, socialists remain marginalised and ineffective. The absence of a thriving socialist party in have been driven many activists to delude themselves into pursuing a strategy that envisions capturing the Labour Party or the Democratic Party and transforming it into a socialistic party. Those who advocate such a strategy are hard-pressed to provide evidence of those parties receptivity to any socialist agenda. Such a strategy is an exercise in futility.

There is anger stirring among discontented people, particularly as their living standards and working conditions implode. Yet at the same time, there is widespread despair. The media spreads the notion that history has indeed ended, and capitalism is the only alternative. It has led to a society that is, by and large, depoliticised, apathetic and passive, often unaware, misinformed, or downright uninterested in many aspects of social life beyond their narrow personal existence. People are absorbed in attaining the fruits of the “consumer society.”

The lack of general agreement and understanding on what socialism means and when there is the question then becomes what needs to be done to achieve it and there is no clear sense of how to go about doing that. The day-to-day struggle continues, whether it be in centred on the environment civil disobedience, work and the unions , anti-sexism, anti-racism organisations. At the same time, a socialist party must look beyond the immediate situation and be willing to outline a vision of a future society yet not present some sort of messianic vision of socialism.

The issues must return to the basic tenets of socialism on how goods are produce and distributed, who owns the means of production or how work itself is organised and administered, while overcoming scarcity and meeting people’s material needs for food, clothing, shelter, etc. It must also encompass questions on the very way we spend our lives in a never ending and deadly process of expanding production and consumption, the mindless consumerism and the ever-expanding creation of “needs” that is foisted upon us by the ubiquitous advertising apparatus. Besides being ecologically unsustainable, it transforms people themselves into little more than another expendable commodity. We must not only transform the “relations of production,” but build towards a model of socialism based not on ever-expanding production and consumption, a socialism that is not only democratic, non-exploitative, egalitarian, and internationalist but one that establishes a new ecological relationship between human needs and the environment.

The struggle for socialism in this country and worldwide is a formidable task, to say the least. Moreover, there are no guarantees of success. Nevertheless, we must keep the ideal alive and struggle to make it a reality. Socialists need to propose a way forward to avoid the path of barbarism.

The Socialist Party is a genuine workers’ voice, speaking out against the very system which exploits all of us. We proclaim the goal is not to reform capitalism, but to eliminate it.

The Socialist Road Beckons

Socialism means a world without classes, without the exploitation master of wage-slave, without a production system operating for the purpose of producing profits for a few.

 By eliminating private ownership of the means of producing the things of life socialism could end poverty, unemployment and war. The Socialist Party exposes the evils of capitalist society, its murderous exploitation of the workers, its utter hypocrisy, and the impoverishment of the masses and the enrichment of a small class of capitalists. Hired intellectuals of big business, professors and economists of every variety try to explain why capitalism is such a wonderful society and socialism an unattainable utopia. As the capitalist world system heads towards a terrible climate crisis the socialist goal of a new society. The Socialist Party aim for the overthrow of capitalism, and the building up of the socialist co-operative commonwealth.

Present society is capitalist where the world is divided up into two opposing camps, the camp of a small handful of capitalists and the camp of the majority—the workers. The working class toil day and night, nevertheless they remain poor. The capitalists need not work, nevertheless they are rich. This is not because workers are unintelligent and the capitalists are geniuses, but because the capitalists appropriate the fruits of the labour of their employees, because the capitalists exploit the labour-power of their workers. The capitalist system is based on commodity production: here everything assumes the form of a commodity, everywhere the principle of buying and selling prevails. Here you can buy not only articles of consumption, not only food products, but also the labour power of men, their brains and their muscles and often their consciences. The capitalists know all this and purchase the labour power of workers, they hire them. This means that the capitalists become the owners of the labour power they buy. Workers, however, lose their right to the labour power which they have sold. That is to say, what is produced by that labour power no longer belongs to them, it belongs only to the capitalists and goes into their pockets. The labour power which you have sold may produce in the course of a day goods to the value of 100 pounds, but that is not your business, those goods do not belong to you, it is the business only of the capitalists, and the goods belong to them—all that you are due to receive is your daily wage which, perhaps, may be sufficient to satisfy your essential needs if, of course, you live frugally. Briefly, to sum up the capitalists buy the labour power of the proletarians, they hire the proletarians, and this is precisely why the capitalists appropriate the fruits of the labour of the proletarians, this is precisely why the capitalists exploit the proletarians and not vice versa.

The capitalist system is based on the private ownership of the instruments and means of production. Because the factories, mills, the land and minerals, the forests, the transport and communications, machines and other means of technology is the private property of a small handful of capitalists. Because the proletarians lack all this, it is why the capitalists can employ the proprtyless and the dispossessed to keep the factories and mills running—if they did not do that all their means of production would yield no profit. That is why the working people sell their labour power to the capitalists—if they did not, they would suffer deprivation and misery. Such is the basis of present-day capitalist society. Future society will be built on an entirely different foundations. The future will be socialist where there will be no classes, neither master or slave and, consequently, there will be no exploitation. In such a society people engaged collectively in the tasks of providing for the community. This means also that, with the abolition of exploitative commodity production, buying and selling will disappear and, there will be no more buyers and sellers of labour power and the end of wage-labour. There will be only free producers. It will be accompanied by the complete abolition of the private ownership of the instruments and means of production and the creation of common ownership of the wealth and resources of society. The main purpose of production in socialism will be to satisfy the needs of society and not to produce goods for sale in order to increase the profits of the capitalists. There will be no place for commodity production, struggle for profits, etc. Production will be socialistically organised and take into account the needs of society and will produce as much as society needs. There will be no room whether for socially wasteful production, competition, economic crises, or unemployment. Where there are no classes, where there are neither rich nor poor, there is no need for a state, there is no need either for political power, which oppresses the poor and protects the rich. Consequently, in socialist society there will be no need for the existence of political power.

If everybody receives according to his needs, we assume that the level of the productive forces of socialist society will be adequate for this. We presuppose an adequate development of productive forces and socialist consciousness among men and women, their socialist enlightenment. At the present time the development of productive forces is hindered by the existence of capitalist property relations, but if we bear in mind that this capitalist property will not exist in future society, it is self-evident that the productive forces will increase tenfold. Nor must it be forgotten that in future society the hundreds of socially unnecessary jobs, and also the unemployed, will work constructively and augment the ranks of the working people; and this will greatly stimulate the development of the productive forces. As regards human-nature's "savage" sentiments and opinions, these are not as eternal as some people imagine; there was a time, under primitive communism, when mankind did not recognise private property; there came a time, the time of individualistic production, when private property dominated the hearts and minds of humanity; a new time is coming, the time of socialist production—will it be surprising if the hearts and minds of men and women become imbued with socialist strivings.

Such is the picture of future socialist society

May Day...May Day

“Labour creates all wealth, All wealth belongs to labour”

Working people need to learn and understand that truth. 

The capitalists need us, we do not need them.

The rich will continue to get richer and we will continue to march on May Day until we decide that enough is enough. 

Capitalism is killing us and it is killing the world.

There is enough to go around for all and provide everybody with a decent life.

Abolish the Wage System!