Socialism – Our Best Hope

To-day and over the next coming week or so, environment activists will try to draw the world's attention to the climate crisis. The Socialist Party has always made its position clear. 

We stand for an end to capitalism and the formation of a socialist economy democratically controlled by working people. We know that the road ahead will have many twists and turns, but we also know that our fellow-workers have a long history of fighting against exploitation and oppression, and for justice and revolution. Class is everything, and without clarity about it we do not know who we are or what we are doing. The Socialist Party is a revolutionary organisation which seeks a complete transformation of society, and the creation of a socialist system. This will mean the working class overthrowing capitalism, abolishing the State, getting rid of economic exploitation and political oppression. We are not leaders but we do strive to base our organisation on the principles that will be the basis of the future society: mutual aid and solidarity.

Capitalists seek to maximise profits and reduce the cost of labour. Capitalists are about acquisition and exploitation. This is the heart of capitalism. It is not about freedom and democracy. Those businesses which are not able to increase profits and decrease labour costs, through lay-offs, cutting wages, destroying unions, off-shoring, out-sourcing or automation are replaced. Maximising profit means turning the oceans into dead zones, filling the atmosphere with carbon emissions and methane that render the climate unfit for humans, pumping toxic chemicals and waste into the soil, water, air and food supply, buying off elected officials and judges to serve the exclusive interests of capital and privatising social services such as health care, transportation, education and public utilities, to gouge the public with high monopolised prices. Reducing the cost of labour means forcing workers to remain unorganised and abolishing work, health and safety regulations, it means re-locating industry overseas where foreign workers toil like 19th-century serfs, it means suppressing wages at home to force an impoverished population into debt. That is the price of business. Capitalism will loot and pillage, it will exploit and oppress. Across the world politicians spew hatred and bigotry. Capitalism has never worked for the majority of humanity.

The personal ethics of the employer is irrelevant. The capitalist class will go to any length to disguise capitalism’s true nature. An example being Business Roundtable’s Principles of Corporate Governance, signed by 181 major CEOs, a lesson in doublespeak. Capitalism will misinform and manipulate the people through its control of the media. It demonises and muzzles its critics. It funds academics and intellectuals to tirelessly propagate the ideology of capitalism. It finances think tanks to spread the belief that transferring wealth upward into the hands of the ruling class is beneficial to society. Capitalism wages endless wars in its quest for profit. It creates a mafia economy and a mafia government. The Business Roundtable is equivalent of Al Capone insisting that his mob runs society. The capitalists are determined to protect their wealth with a PR image of a gentle, kinder, humane capitalism. Yet capitalism translates into squeezing workers on wages, on working conditions and on health coverage, and on pensions. 

We face multiple crises that are reaching their breaking points. Not only has this resulted in an immense wealth divide and widespread poverty, homelessness and lack of education for many people, we now are up against the threat of catastrophic climate change. Carbon emissions continue to rise, the polar ice caps continue to melt, crop yields continue to decline, the world’s forests continue to burn, coastal cities continue to sink under rising seas and droughts continue to wipe out fertile farmlands. The capitalist media sell us the false hope that all will be right in the end. But it won’t. Capitalism will not be able to adapt.

There are encouraging signs of the growing realisation that capitalism is running rough-shod over working men and women and a growing understanding that there’s an urgent need to come together in the name of preservation and resistance. It is now time to halt capitalism's global gangsterism.

The Poor Die Young

Research carried out by Prof Morag Treanor, of Heriot-Watt University, for the charity Aberlour, found that people from the most deprived parts of Scotland are three times more likely to die before they are 25 than those from the least deprived.

Prof Treanor said the results showed the "massive inequality" between rich and poor in Scotland. It also showed young men and boys were far more likely to die before 25 than young women and girls.

Prof Treanor compared the death rates in the most deprived 20% of Scottish areas with the least deprived. She found a rate of 0.21 deaths per 1,000 people among under 25s in the poorest areas compared with a rate of 0.07 in the richest.

Prof Treanor said one major reason for the higher incidence of early deaths was poverty and its impact across the whole of a child's life.

She said this was linked to housing, neighbourhoods, health inequalities, nutrition, outdoor space, education and access to activities as well as the stresses poverty caused families.

Prof Treanor said: "The results of the research really couldn't paint a clearer message and underlines the massive inequality between rich and poor in this country."

Figures released by the National Records of Scotland in August showed that a boy born last year in one of the 10% most deprived areas of Scotland would have a life expectancy 13 years shorter than a boy from the most affluent area. It said a boy born in the poorer areas can expect to spend almost a third of his life (29.2%) in poor health.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-49740395

Advocating a Socialist Solution

As socialists we see the need to raise awareness, through our role of educating fellow-workers. If we, socialists, don't share what we know who will? How many class-conscious workers are out there who can explain socialism in a way that the average person can understand and connect it to it? It's not enough to only report on all the problems of capitalism and share what we know but now we must also raise the alarm, and protect civilisation from collapse. We make a call for action. As people, wealthy individuals don't intend to hurt the poor and the most vulnerable, yet their existence as the capitalist class depends upon them doing just exactly that.

Climate change threatens to pass the point of no return yet governments will not accept the responsibility that would require regulation, control and taxes. Corporations are unable to effectively respond to global warming which jeopardises the planet and human life. The Socialist Party stands for a sustainable future that respects the environment. Some others say there is a strong case to be made that capitalism will survive because of its ability to adapt to new situations, with new technologies. The Socialist Party however declares that capitalism is the greatest threat to the planet’s well-being, and the greatest barrier to attempts to save it. We advocate a society of abundance where there is the complete satisfaction of all conceivable material needs. We aspire to a future where we not only feed everyone on the planet, but also provide a satisfying and nutritious diet. Sure, luxuries such as caviar may not be universally available but the menu will be stimulating and varied. The socialist focus is with the free and all-round development of human capacities, not with the growth of material production and consumption for its own sake. Our vision of socialism and a sustainable environment are not in conflict.

The solution to global warming requires the reorganisation of society. We are not faced with any technological problems but political barriers and re-directing a real onslaught on the economic structures of capitalism and away from the cul-de-sac of focusing on individual life-style behaviour. This system of capitalism is close to running humanity into the ground. While radicalising a whole section of youth who are coming to conclusions that the system can’t stop global warming yet on the other hand, many of the same people will look to the free market to find a solution the ruling class will accept, and they hope the great and good in the world's government will listen to reason.

Climate change costs lives across the globe and causes species extinction on a scale hitherto unknown. The most severe effects will be inflicted on the poorest people in the poorest of nations. Climate change plays an important role in the distribution of malaria, dengue, tick-borne diseases, cholera and other diseases; the effects are unequally distributed, and are particularly severe in countries with already high disease burdens, such as sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Capitalism is driven by ‘short termism’ in its hunger for profits. Investment decisions are made on the basis on what will make a return in the quickest time. Such a system cannot deal with the scale of the climate crisis or make rational planned decisions about what to produce. The Socialist Party holds a vision of a new economy, democratically structured to answer to people’s needs instead of the profit imperative. If you like that idea, then welcome to the movement for socialism. The Socialist Party is well aware of the system’s rapacious nature.

The road to a rational politics is not an easy one. Solutions will not come from the capitalist parties. The challenge for socialists is to help build understanding of the implications of capitalism. Many of the barriers that prevent people from having a clear view of the climate crisis have been deliberately constructed. We should build another society that has already been discovered, a class-free society is more than possible—it is necessary.

To join the Socialist Party, you don't need to be an expert on Marx or his economic and philosophic theories, just a basic understanding of what socialism actually means. Today, our main political activity is taking the form of speaking out. Everyone is needed and everyone is welcome. It is up to us all, to step up and act. The best time to reject and overthrow capitalism was over a hundred years and fifty ago when socialists first denounced the system. The next best time is today.

Socialism For A Healthy Planet

The day of the Global Strike for the Climate will soon be upon us on Friday the 20th September and many will be asking, just where does the Socialist Party stand on this issue. Our presence will not be prominent and our voice is not going to heard by many but we do hold a message for those school students and young folk who seek a better future for themselves.

The future of the human species - if there is to be a future - must be socialist. Capitalism is not the system through which we will provide a sustainable future. To support capitalism is to sign onto a ecocide pact. Capitalism is a wealth-concentrating system that allows a small number of people to dominate not only economic, but also political decision-making. Because people believe there is no alternative to capitalism, the docility of the people has contributed greatly to keeping intact this rapacious and voracious society. It keeps on existing. The idea of a zero growth, sustainable society is not new and in recent years has been put forward by many in the environment movement. But while desirable it is contradicted by a fatal flaw. The ecologist camp still stand for the continuation of the market system. This must mean the continuation of the capitalist system which is the cause of the climate crisis.

Many environmentalists advocate a society based on cooperation and production for use, a sustainable society where production is in harmony with the environment and affairs are run in a decentralised and democratic manner. They argue that only in such a system can ecological problems such as global warming be solved. However, it is clear that this sustainable society is not socialism, for the continuance of exchange economy with its the market is assumed, together with private ownership. Their ultimate aim is an economy, based on smaller-scale enterprises, with a greatly-reduced dependence on the world market. Yet, they remain firmly wedded to a form of capitalism, holding a belief that capitalism can be reformed so as to be compatible with achieving an environmentally sustainable society.

If the environmental crisis is to be solved, this capitalist system must go. What is required is political action - political action aimed at replacing this system by a new and different one. There can be no justification, on any grounds whatsoever, for wanting to retain an exploitative system which robs workers of the products of their labour, which puts privileged class interests and profit before the needs of the community, which robs the soil of its fertility, plunders nature of its resources and destroys the natural systems on which all our lives depend.

Climate change in particular has radicalising potential, as more and more people are beginning to question the prevailing economic system’s detrimental effect on the environment. But mainstream environmental groups aren’t offering a coherent critique of capitalism’s ecological consequences or doing the work of presenting alternatives. Capitalism has inflicted incalculable harm on the inhabitants of the earth. Tragically, the future could be even worse for a simple reason: capitalism’s destructive power, driven by its inner logic to expand, is doing irreversible harm to our ecosystems. Almost daily we hear of species extinction, global warming, resource depletion, deforestation, desertification, and on and on to the point where we are nearly accustomed to this gathering catastrophe. Our planet cannot indefinitely absorb the impact of profit-driven, growth-without-limits capitalism. Unless we radically change our methods of production and pattern of consumption, we will reach the point where the harmful effects to the environment will become irreversible. Even the most modest measures of environmental reform are resisted by sections of the capitalist class. This makes the establishment of a socialist society all the more imperative.

One way or another, the coming years will be decisive for the fate of human civilisation. Unless greenhouse gases are swiftly and drastically curbed the result will be environmental catastrophe on an almost unimaginable scale, threatening the survival of all life on the planet. The reality of climate change is already manifesting itself in an increasing number of extreme weather events, such as heat-waves, droughts, floods and typhoons. Melting ice sheets are resulting in rising sea levels and increased flooding of low-lying areas. Some islands will soon be totally submerged, turning their inhabitants into climate refugees. The solutions to our climate emergency are known and simple: rapidly phase out the use of fossil fuels, make the switch to renewables and halt deforestation. But significant economic interests at the heart of the capitalist system have big investments in coal, oil and gas. Protecting these interests, governments refuse to take more than token measures to halt climate change. The goal of the big corporations is to secure the greatest possible profits for their super-rich owners — regardless of the consequences to the planet and its people.

Imagine an alternative, a society where each individual has the means to live a life of dignity and fulfilment, without exception; where discrimination and prejudice are wiped out; where all members of society are guaranteed a decent life, the means to contribute to society; and where the environment is protected and rehabilitated. This is socialism — a truly humane, a truly ecological society. With socialism our work would engage our skills and bring personal satisfaction. Leisure time would be expanded and fulfilling. Our skies, oceans, lakes, rivers and streams will be pollution free. Our neighbourhoods would become green spaces for rest and recreation. Communal institutions, like cafeterias will serve up healthy and delicious food and offer a menu of cultural events.

We can create a new politics

The class struggle and class warfare continue under all circumstances in capitalist society and it breaks out in different forms on many fronts. Radicalisation is a condition of changing attitudes, shifting beliefs, rejecting previously accepted values. It is a subjective response to social crises. Working-class radicalisation is fueled by unemployment, technological changes in industry, the uncertainty of job security, low wages, government cutbacks in welfare and social services , lack of educational opportunities in short, the challenging of authority and the desire for a complete change to something better seek ways to bring change about. These are the expressions of a radicalising of the working class. 

The callousness of the needs of capital accumulation and the subservience of governments to it cries out for us to replace this system and socialism is the answer. The basic question for the socialist revolution is that of capturing of state power. Unless this question is understood, there can be no conscious participation, not to speak of guidance of the revolution. Experience has shown that without anger and indignation, without burning enthusiasm, without an urgent desire to change the world, it is not possible to construct socialism. Revolution and socialism come about as a necessary and regular part of the social development of humanity. We are talking about a change that will involve the vast majority of fellow-workers consciously acting to change the entire society and all the relationships in it, from the way people relate to each other, to the way people relate to their jobs.

The Socialist Party aims to get a majority of the people to accept its ideas. Do we advocate violence? No. We want a peaceful transformation. Socialism can be introduced through parliamentary means. The existence of political democracy offers a chance to achieve socialism in a peaceful manner. 

The Socialist Party has one great principal and that is to tell the truth to the people. The working class must overcome a number of basic weaknesses. Most importantly, it must overcome the racial and nationalist divisions which, for centuries, have prevented the development of a unified working class movement. Yet despite their seeming strength, the capitalists are not as strong as the people who will eventually abolish the system of capitalism, and build in its place a socialist society. 

The Socialist Party is an organisation of revolutionaries. That means that we feel that all the problems people experience in the context of our present society — war, poverty, pollution, economic crisis — flow from a cause, the nature of this profit-oriented society. We see that there are no real solutions to these problems until the entire society is changed. We're out to change the whole system. We see that all the problems of Britain are intimately tied to the problems throughout the whole world. If you are serious about changing the system, about changing the world, it is necessary to confront the system where you find it. 

To be effective you have to build an organisation capable of doing that. That is one of the important reasons why a number of us decided to join the Socialist Party. It offers the opportunity for socialists to coordinate their struggles across the country and around the world. What is necessary in order to bring all these struggles together into one common fight that can overthrow capitalism is some sort of organisation that has an understanding of why the struggles are being fought in the way they are.

Capitalism is chaotic and antisocial, intensifying the process of extracting surplus value from the labour of the working class, curtailing the development of productive forces, extending racism and nationalism, promoting sexism, wreaking untold destruction on the environment and debasing people through the furthering of a culture of decadence and alienation. The working class is the only revolutionary class in society. It is the producer of surplus value (capitalism’s profits) and of all classes under capitalism, it stands in the most direct contradiction to the ruling class. Mobilised into ever more developed forms of socialised production by the capitalist system, the working class forges its underlying unity precisely in the great factories, on the assembly lines, in the mines, in the workshops and offices where it has been brought by the capitalists in their pursuit of profit. 

Only the working class can overthrow capitalism and reorganise society for the benefit of all oppressed classes and sectors. Class struggle is the motor force of history.

Who We Are

People need to survive and so we all need air, food, water, etc. It is human nature to eat when you are hungry, to drink when you are thirsty, and to sleep when you are tired. Nothing can alter this.

We also have sexual and emotional needs. To live happy lives we seek out physical contact, affection and love. All these features of human nature will be met in socialism and be much better than they are now under capitalism.

Our present social system is poorly equipped to grant happiness.

Too often we must do somebody harm in order to do a good deed for another, and vice versa.

Socialism does not require us all to become altruists, putting the interests of others above our own. In fact socialism doesn’t require people to be any more altruistic than they are today. The coming of socialism will not require great changes in the way we behave, essentially only the accentuation of some of the behaviours which people exhibit today (friendliness, helpfulness, co-operation) at the expense of others which capitalism encourages.

We will still be concerned primarily with ourselves, with satisfying our needs, our need to be well considered by others as well as our material and sexual needs. No doubt too, we will want to “possess” personal belongings such as our clothes and other things of personal use, and to feel secure in our physical occupation of the house or flat we live in, but this will be just that – our home and not a financial asset.

The socialist solution to the problem is by making the conditions and circumstances of our daily life humane by re-organising the entire network of economic and social relationships so that the problem itself disappears, so that no-one ever has to choose between the demands of the “conscience” and the dictates of “reason”.

We don’t need to change human nature; it is only human behaviour that needs to change. While our genes can’t be ignored, they only intervene in our behaviours in an indirect way, by programming the development of our brains. Therefore, to understand the complexities of our behaviour, it is to our brains, not directly to our genes, that we have to look. When we do this we find that our brains allow us, as a species, to adopt –  a great variety of different behaviours depending on the natural, economic and social environments we have found ourselves in.

“A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings.” Jimmy Reid

Socialists For the Planet

Enthusiasm is an excellent and valuable thing when rightly applied, but when it is wasted in fruitless directions it only leads to disheartenment and apathy. It is partly on this account that we are sometimes critical of demonstrations and protests. It is not with any desire to deride the genuine enthusiasm of participants. We hope one day they will be aimed at ending the system that exploits them, for then, they will understand the real cause of the many problems we face and the only way to end them. It is tragic to see during such demonstrations the number of sincere, eager young people being deluded by the false hope of government legislation and regulation when it comes to solutions.

The permanent and effective solution to climate change is to be found in a new society. We think the only way is for the vast majority of us who are excluded from control of their own society to organise consciously and collectively to remove the tools of political power from the hands of the exploiting class so we can go about running society in our own interests, not those of a tiny few. The way out of the environment crisis is simple and obvious. The majority, acting in an organised and orderly fashion, must assume possession of the means of life in the name of society as a whole. Society must take them over from the few whose private ownership stands in the way of the general welfare. That is where we want to get.

Global warming the very name show us the task that we are faced with. Think globally. If global warming is to be solved, then world structures must be created to deal with them. We must act globally. 

The resources of the Earth must stop being the property of multinational corporations, national states and rich individuals and become instead the common heritage of all humanity. Within the framework of a world socialism, a society without frontiers, appropriate institutions can be set up at world, regional and local levels to tackle the problems that are caused, not by globalisation as such, but by the fact that globalisation is taking place under a system where the uncontrollable economic imperative is to make profits and accumulate more and more capital, regardless of the effect on people or the environment.

For or Against the System?

The object of a Socialist Party is socialism. To that end the education and organisation of our fellow-workers and their persuasion to socialist principles is essential. We cannot have socialism without socialists. Therefore, the first duty of the Socialist Party is propaganda, in order to make socialists. In doing this the Socialist Party also champions every movement of the working class towards improving its condition such as through their trade unions even under present circumstances. When our men and women go to Parliament they want to go with a direct socialist mandate, and if they cannot go with that they will stay outside. It is of no matter to us that this personality or that individual should be elected. It is of importance however, that a socialist should be elected and a seat won for socialism. It is the case not the face, as we often say. From our standpoint, therefore, it is better for a socialist to fight and be beaten as a socialist than to fight and win under any other manifesto or election promise. However successful we may be at the polls we must necessarily be in a small minority for some time to come in Parliament. While that is the case our most important work is to be done, not in the House of Commons but in the constituencies and country at large. The value of our presence in Parliament would be agitational than legislative. We shall not regard ourselves as statesmen and politicians , elected to take part in the government of a country that is not ours. Rather than advocating legislative palliatives, Parliament will become our forum for agitation, appealing to people outside it, a platform for publicising the socialist case and, when necessary, helping to defend and protect working class interests. We will not ally with non-socialists, opposed to our aim.

When the Socialist Party speaks of the “inevitability” of socialism, it is only in the sense that capitalism creates all the conditions which make the advance to socialism possible; and secondly, in the sense, that the advance to socialism is a necessity for the further progress of society itself – even more, the only way in which to preserve society. We speak of the historical necessity of socialism, since without it human society cannot continue to develop. If society is to continue to develop, socialism will inevitably come. We are no shepherds bringing our sheep to the promised land. We are no Moses delivering our people to the land of milk and honey. 

Our goal is for mankind to take that step necessary for that “association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” Our choice is not one just merely between between capitalism and socialism but between socialism and barbarism. It may be fashionable for liberals and progressives to talk of a new capitalism, a compassionate capitalism, a regulated capitalism, different from our predatory capitalism, but no new version of old capitalism will exempt it from the merciless laws of capital accumulation, market expansion and insatiable drive for profits. Such idealised hypothetical models of a “better” capitalism need not be treated seriously. The foundations of capitalism remain the same despite various cosmetic and superstructure changes capitalism has undergone but without profound effects upon the foundations themselves.

Working people are presented with two doors one of them opens into socialism and the other into the a catastrophic apocalypse. Regardless of nationality, race, colour and political and religious creeds, the working class has always been inspired by one idea—the overthrow of capitalist society, built on slavery, exploitation and violence. In this struggle of labour against capital, the working class can win only by mustering all their forces against the common enemy, the capitalist class. So long as the capitalist system continues there is the merciless struggle for supremacy between the conflicting vested interests of competing groups of exploiters will, as in the past, eventually evoke a new crisis, plunging the workers of the world into another disastrous war. There is but one power that can save mankind from being plunged into another universal catastrophe. There is but one power which can defend the workers of all countries against political and economic oppression and tyranny. There is but one power which can bring freedom, welfare, happiness and peace to the working class and to humanity. That power is the working class if well organised and determined to fight all who would oppose and prevent its complete emancipation. 

Be Afraid...Be Very Afraid

Scientists have typically feared being labelled as alarmist or of being accused of campaigning if they express personal views on the issue. They’re alarmed that global warming of just over 1C so far has already created a new normal in which historic temperature records will inevitably be broken more often. Few of the scientists contacted by the BBC had faith that governments would do what was needed to rescue the climate in time. 

The UK's ex-chief scientist, Prof Sir David King says he's been scared by the number of extreme events, and he called for the UK to advance its climate targets by 10 years.

The physicist Prof Jo Haigh from Imperial College London said: “David King is right to be scared – I’m scared too." 

The polar scientist Andrew Shepherd from Leeds said: "I would not use the term (scary) in general, but it is certainly surprising to see record (or near record) losses of ice. The year 2019 has been a bad year for Earth's ice."

Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, said, “I have a sense of the numbing inevitability of it all. It's like seeing a locomotive coming at you for 40 years - you could see it coming and were waving the warning flags but were powerless to stop it.” 

Prof John Church from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia told the BBC "Some things appear to be happening faster than projected. This may be partially related to the interaction of climate change and natural variability as well as the uncertainty in our understanding and projections. In my own area of sea level change, things are happening near the upper end of the projections. What is scary is our lack of appropriate response. Our continued lack of action is committing the world to major and essentially irreversible change.”

Petteri Taalas, who is secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said he criticised radical green campaigners for forecasting the end of the world. Dr Taalas agrees polar ice is melting faster than expected, but he’s concerned that public fear could lead to paralysis – and also to mental health problems amongst the young. 

Dennis Hartmann from the University of Washington in Seattle told the BBC: “I do not use the ‘scary’ word. I prefer to talk about moving on to an economy in harmony with the natural world, but still providing a better life to humans. This is entirely possible. It is disheartening to me personally that we are moving faster in the opposite direction in most of the world. Much of what we are doing in increasing atmospheric CO2, extinction of species and destruction of ecosystems is nearly irreversible. So maybe it is time to be frightened.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49689018

The time has come for a new beginning

The most fundamental of all human activities is material production. If we did not produce, we could not live - politics, law, religion, philosophy, literature, recreation would all be impossible if we didn't have food to eat and shelter over our heads. For this reason the method of organising production has long been the most contentious of all problems faced by society.

 Society is characterised by the division of people into classes according to their role in the production and distribution of social wealth. The capitalist class and the working class are the two basis classes. The capitalist class owns the means of production and holds state power. They are the our main enemy in the fight for socialism. Through their ownership and control of the means of production they control the economic life and live off the profits they squeeze from the working class. Through the Conservative and Labour parties the capitalist class uses the government for its own ends. The working class is composed of all wage-earners - mental and manual, urban and rural - whether in basic industry, manufacturing, service, farm, sales, domestic, clerical, public or other jobs. The working class is composed of skilled and unskilled, employed and unemployed. Through well-organised struggle and education workers will realise that their interests lie in the overthrow of capitalist private property and the establishment of socialism. 

To make revolution and put an end to capitalism, the working class must have a clear strategic plan. Against the capitalist minority stands the vast majority of the rest of the population. The conditions of life for 98% of the people cannot fundamentally improve without the overthrow of the ruling class of capitalists. The working class is daily thrown into conflict with the capitalist class. Because of its social position, it is the revolutionary class. In building up its strength, in welding an alliance of all working people and in taking power, the fundamental method of struggle that the working class must use is mass political organisation.Whatever the tactics adopted at any particular time, whether it be strike action, demonstrations, delegations, petitions or the election of members of parliament, the working class must rely on its vast numbers and its ability to organise. Although the capitalists rule, they do not do so through open violence and terror. Working people in the UK enjoy a wide range of democratic rights - we can vote in regular elections, we can organise in trade unions and political parties, we can set up pressure groups, publish newspapers and leaflets, go on strike, hold meetings and demonstrations, and travel freely around the country. If we get arrested for anything, we are not held in detention without trial and we have the right to legal defence. These rights are vital for the working class to defence and promote its interests. Without the rights to form trade unions and to strike we would be at the absolute mercy of every whim of the employers. But these rights have not always existed. Nor were they generously granted by the employing class. They have been fought for with great effort and sacrifice by many generations of working people in a struggle that goes back to Peterloo and Chartism.

 Despite the importance of the democratic rights that we have won over the years, the working class can never achieve complete political freedom under capitalism. In this society only the capitalists have the money, time, knowledge and influence to use capitalist democracy to the full. We can publish newspapers, but the best technology is controlled by the capitalists and funded by business advertising. We can say what we like, but the rich can buy time on TV and radio, and the journalists listen to them because they are powerful. We can form unions, but the government can legislate against them at any time. We can buy all the property we want, except that capitalist have far more wealth than us. We can vote for a change of government, except that all the major political parties support capitalism. In all these ways, the formal equality that exists for all citizens is undermined and restricted by the power of capital. 

Until the working class gains control of the means of production, democracy can never be more than a partial achievement. From media to the education system, the state spreads an ideology of respect for private property, individualism and the law, that the rich are entitled to their wealth and that the government should be left to govern.

No matter which party is in power, the state apparatus - parliament, government departments, the courts, prisons, police and armed forces - protects capitalist private property and administers the capitalist economy. The government serves the interests of the ruling capitalist class. The state dampens down class struggle by diverting it.

The Socialist Party are internationalists. We are carrying out socialist agitation to make our contribution to the struggle of the world workers.

Gandhi Comes to Scotland

Scotland's first statue of Indian civil rights campaigner Mahatma Gandhi has been unveiled at Ayr Town Hall to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth. It was gifted to South Ayrshire by the Indian government's council for cultural relations.

South Ayrshire Provost Helen Moonie said: "We are proud of many similarities between South Ayrshire and India and a special link between Mahatma Gandhi and Robert Burns. Both fought against social injustice and used their unique gifts to carve out their place in world history."

Winston Churchill said of Gandhi Churchill on Gandhi

“Ought to be lain bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi, and then trampled on by an enormous elephant with the new Viceroy seated on its back. Gandhi-ism and everything it stands for will have to be grappled with and crushed.”

During the 1943 Bengal famine when the Secretary of State for India’s telegram requesting food stock to relieve the famine, Churchill replied:

“If food is scarce, why isn’t Gandhi dead yet?” Up to 3 million people starved to death.

Gandhi was not a socialist, preferring to believe that he could use moral force to achieve a more equitable society where capitalists would become trustees over the labourer and a levelling of incomes. 

However, a few pertinent quotations that are worth posting.

"According to me, the economic constitution of India and for that matter of that of th world, should be such that no-one under it should suffer from want of food and clothing. In otherwords everybody should be able to get sufficient work to enable him to make the two ends meet. And this ideal can be universally realised only if the means of production of the elementary necessaries of life remain in the control of the masses. These should be freely available to all as God's air and water are or ought to be; they should not be made a vehicle of traffic for the exploitation of others. Their monopolisation by any country, nation or group of persons would be unjust. The neglect of this simple principle is the cause of the destitution that we witness today not only in this unhappy land but in other parts of the world too." 

Elsewhere, Gandhi says:-

"The real implication of equal distribution is thateach man shall have the wherewithal to supply all his natural wants and no more. For example , if a man has a weak digestion and requires only a quarter of a pound of flour for his bread and another needs a pound, both should be in a position to satisfytyheir wants. To bring this ideal into being the entire social order has got to be re-constructed."

And again he said:-

" The elephant needs a thousand times more food than the ant , but that is no indication of inequality. So the real meaning of economic equality was: "To each according to his need" .

That was the definition of Marx.

Also he is said:-

“There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”

“All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family.