As
more people involve themselves in political questions and look for
real causes and solutions, much more will be expected and needed from
the Socialist Party. Socialism places its hope in the ability of
people to reach high levels of political consciousness and to
substitute its rule for the authority of a propertied class. Few
topics are being more widely discussed these days than the rebuilding
of the socialist movement. All sorts of people are talking to each
other who previously would have found themselves in the same room.
Left-wing scholars of widely divergent views have shared platforms
with a whole new library of books, each author working to achieve a
fresh understanding of contemporary capitalism which are turning into
debates periodicals which call themselves socialist. Many thousands
of radicals are trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. The
Socialist Party holds to the conviction of the soundness of
principles and trust in our fellow-workers class. Pessimism is not
permissible in the Socialist Party, although we do admit to
impatience. The
Socialist Party knows that social evolution will make the working
class revolutionary. Our arguments are too powerful to be withstood;
our reasoning is too strong to be denied. Socialism can only be
brought in by active men and women. It is not passive agreement that
is wanted, but organised workers. It is possible to carry on our
propaganda without funds, but without workers never. The
working class must proceed to its emancipation as
a class.
Individual acts and individual effort can never throw off the
capitalist oppressor. . Every step must be taken as a class; every
battle must be fought on class lines; every activity, no matter
whether on the industrial field or in the political arena, must be
carried through as part of the class plan of action. What does this
mean? What can it mean but organisation —organisation on the
industrial field and organisation in the political arena. The unity
of aim which is essential. Without principles there can be no sound
organisation.
Ideas
do not stand still. For example, we have seen important changes in
attitude towards sexuality, marriage, gender and the family. These
changes—which have happened worldwide—are the process of the
working class feeling their way towards the conclusion that a
fundamental social change is the only way to harmonise relationships
within society.
In
other words, there is every reason to think that the socialist
revolution will be, to all intents and purposes, simultaneous
throughout the world. For a time it may gather greater momentum in
one country than in another, but this will quickly adjust itself. As
socialism becomes a more possible reality is there will be a rush toward
it.
We
are asked to believe that the working class intelligence is not
capable of solving the simple problem of distributing that wealth
among the people who produce it. We say it is a
lie; the solution is ridiculously easy. We have simply to sweep away
those who stand between us and all that is good under the sun. We
have to take away from them all the sources of wealth and all the
means of producing wealth, and to use them for the satisfaction of
our own needs.
The
Socialist Party has no illusions. We recognise that the fight will be
long and hard. The industrial barons and the lords of capital and
their political pawns have made it clear they will use every form of
force in their desperation to hold onto their stolen billions.
Socialism has been attacked and incriminated at all times, with every
kind of wickedness. But with socialism, solidarity will be the basis
of society. The reformists say that capitalism isn’t what it used
to be. Marx was no doubt right in his time, they say... but that was
well over a century ago. But can these people tell us what exactly
has changed in terms of the exploitation of the working class? Has
capitalism changed its spots? There is still the exploitative
capitalist system.
Socialists
seek a better world founded on common ownership, equality and
democracy, where the means to meet all mankind’s material needs is
raised to the greatest possible height. Capitalism has resulted in a
worldwide rise in social inequality, poverty, disease and threats to
the environment. What socialism is all about is the conquest of human
freedom for the greatest possible number to decide their own fate.
To
fight against capitalism in which human beings are despised,
alienated, exploited, oppressed or denied basic human dignity, to
dedicated your life to defend the exploited, the oppressed, the
downtrodden, the despised.
There
is no better way to be a good human being in this world than to
dedicate your life to this cause.
Socialism
can prove itself a superior system as it brings about a far better
livelihood for the masses of people than capitalism. Capitalism makes
true democracy unachievable for the majority. Behind the facade of
formal democratic institutions, the real power is exercised by and
for the capitalist class. The capitalists, through their powerful
lobbies and campaign funding, dominate the political process,
insuring that candidates favourable to their interests are elected. An
elaborate powerful civil and military bureaucracy, which is
materially and ideologically tied to the capitalist class, forms the
core of the state. This bureaucracy remains wedded to the capitalist
class. In its infancy, the capitalist class championed democracy in
its fight to displace feudalism. But now, it is democracy’s
implacable enemy. While capitalism engenders democratic illusions, it
makes their realisation impossible. While the working class
recognises that no amount of democracy can abolish class oppression,
it also recognises that the greater the democracy, the more direct,
the more open and the broader the class struggle. And the more the
working class has the freedom to organise and struggle, the more it
will see that its oppression stems from capitalism.
