In
the past few hundred years, capitalism has become the dominant form
of production and of division of society into classes, i.e. the
dominant mode of production. Its distinguishing characteristic is to
have simplified class antagonisms by increasingly reducing them to
the one opposing the proletariat (or working class) to the
bourgeoisie, to capitalism.
The
key to the economic and political power of the bourgeoisie is the
private ownership of the means of production and exchange (land,
buildings, factories, machines, stores, transportation, etc.) and the
exploitation of the labour-power of the working class. The
bourgeoisie is a class whose reason for existence is the accumulation
of capital, i.e. the continual growth of its economic power; a
capitalist who does not grow is, as a general rule, a capitalist
condemned to disappear. On the other hand, the capitalist has nothing
if he cannot find in society a large number of people who have no
other means of subsistence but the sale of their labour-power in
exchange for a wage equivalent to the strict minimum for survival.
The secret of capitalist exploitation lies precisely in the fact that
what the capitalist buys from the worker is not his work but rather
his labour-power. If the capitalist had to pay for the work
furnished, he would not be able to make the profit he does. Let’s
look at an example to illustrate this.
Suppose
that a worker produces 10 pairs of shoes a week which sell for
$25.00, thus making a total value of $250.00 per week on the market.
This worker receives a weekly wage of $100.00. Where does the value
of the shoes come from? The raw materials – the leather, thread,
and glue – along with the other means of production such as
electricity, the machines, etc. alone account for $75.00 to which is
added the value added by the worker’s labour, i.e. $250.00 less
$75.00 or $175.00. This sum represents the amount that the worker
added by his work to the value of the materials that he was given at
the beginning. If the capitalist paid the worker according to the
value of his labour, he would have to give him $175.00. However, this
is not what happens because the wages paid to the worker do not
correspond to the value of the work he furnishes; rather, they
correspond, on the average, to what it costs the worker to reproduce
this labour-power or, in other words, to recuperate his energies and
ensure his subsistence given the cost of living and the living
conditions at a given time.
There
lies the essence of capitalist exploitation: the worker gives a
certain value of work to the capitalist but his wages do not
correspond to this value but to only a fraction of it. The value of
the non-paid work is called the surplus-value; the capitalist
appropriates this non-paid fraction which constitutes the source of
his profit, the source of capital. Here lies the key to the
exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie, the key to the
enrichment of the bourgeoisie on the backs of workers.
The
history of humanity shows that the exploiting classes are eventually
overthrown by those whom they oppress. Capitalism is no exception. It
also is condemned as the slave society and feudalism before it.
Capitalism is undermined by its own contradictions. This means that,
with the development of capitalism, the working class whose historic
mission is to dig the grave of capitalism, develops and is
strengthened. This also means that capitalism can no longer ensure
humanity’s progress; on the contrary, it slows down this progress.
It has thus become a reactionary mode of production. Capitalism's
fundamental law is the search for individual profit, has reached the
point where the development of the productive forces is incompatible
with the search for profit. Corporations prevent the utilisation of a
large number of technical and scientific innovations which although
they would benefit the majority of people, would not be good for
profits. Land speculation and the law of profit have had disastrous
effects on agriculture which goes from the under-utilisation of
arable land to the massive destruction of agricultural products. The
quality of goods diminishes constantly. While the productive
potential is enormous, capitalism slows down its development.
Contrary
to the other revolutionary classes of humanity’s history, the
historic mission of the proletariat is not to substitute one
exploiting class for another but rather to rid humanity of all
exploitation. When the bourgeoisie drove
out the feudal nobles and kings, it did so, of course, in the name of
all the people; but, in fact, it only replaced the old oppressors
with new ones. It couldn’t have been otherwise because the
bourgeoisie was itself a class whose existence was based on the
private ownership of the means of production and the exploitation of
the labour of others. Thus it only substituted a new form of class
exploitation for an old one.
What
characterises the working class, on the other hand, is that it does
not own the means of production and that it is the object of
exploitation. As a class, it has no other future but the total
elimination of exploitation of Man by Man. This is why we can say
that the movement for the emancipation of workers has to lead to the
liberation of all of humanity.
In
attacking the foundation of the capitalist system – the private
ownership of the means of production and wage labour – the
proletariat undertakes at the same time the elimination of classes
themselves. In effect, to eliminate the private ownership of the
means of production is to destroy the material basis on which all
exploiting classes are founded. Consequently, it is also to eliminate
classes themselves. This is why we say that the aim of the
proletariat’s struggle is the class-free society, a community in
which no person exploits the labour of another. After
the proletariat, there are no classes to serve as the object of
exploitation. To eliminate the exploitation of the proletariat is to
eliminate all exploitation. The liberating task of the proletariat
also comes from the fact that in order to carry it out fully, it has
to attack the conditions which, historically, have made class
exploitation possible.
Among
these, most important are the State, the division between city and
countryside, and the division between manual and intellectual work.
The very existence of the State is an expression of the fact that
society is divided into classes and that it is necessary to fix the
relations between the classes. This is why the State monopolised
violence by depriving the exploited and oppressed classes of the
weapons necessary for their liberation. This is why the State seals
in law the rules of the ownership system. Thus,
to say that the struggle of the working class leads to a class-free
society is to say that it leads to a state-free society.
The
first act, the decisive act on the road leading to the total
emancipation of workers, is the socialist revolution.
By
the socialist revolution, the proletariat suppresses the private
ownership of the means of production. It thus suppresses the material
basis which allows the exploitation of labour by capital. By the
socialist revolution, the proletariat puts in the hands of society
the necessary means for the subsistence and development of its
members. While under capitalism, production is done solely in order
to make profits for those who own the factories, the railroads, the
big chainstores, etc., in socialist society, production is planned
according to the needs of all workers.
Thus,
under socialism, factories won’t shut down because “their
lordships, the investors” don’t think they’re making enough
money from them. Neither will we see the economy of a country
collapse because “their lordships, the investors” don’t have
enough “confidence” in the social climate. Under socialism, it is
the workers who dictate the rules of the game and their fundamental
rule is the material and cultural well-being of the vast majority of
the people. No more will working class houses be demolished to build
luxury towers for a tiny minority of the population. And no more of
capitalist anarchy which provokes crises of overproduction in some
sectors while the essential needs of the labouring masses are not
satisfied. All
this is eliminated under socialism, because the production is
planned. Production will no longer depend upon the wishes of a
handful of capitalists whose only goal is maximum profits, but on the
collective will of all of the workers. While the capitalist is
interested in the product of labour only insofar that it makes him a
personnal profit, the workers have, above all, a collective interest
in that the product be the best possible and that it be adapted to
the needs of the labouring masses. Under socialism, the private
accumulation of capital, the profit system itself, will not be the
motor of the economy.
Socialism
means and must mean the elimination of the exploitation of one person
by another in any form. The active and
direct participation of the labouring masses in all affairs of
society is an indispensable condition for successful socialist
construction.
Whether it be in a factory, a hospital, an office, in a
village, town, or region, be it a question of material production or
of culture,the workers must exercise their power everywhere. It is
they who must determine what is to be done in school, the length of
schooling, its relations to social labour, etc. The
task of revolutionaries consists precisely in carrying out the work
of preparing the camp of revolution. No matter how decadent and
rotten bourgeois power may be, it will not crumble by itself. The
Socialist Party educates the working class on the only demand that
can really lead to its emancipation: the abolition of the private
ownership of the means of production, the abolition of the
exploitation of Man by Man, and the construction of a socialist
society. It is the fundamental task of the socialist revolution.
