Forward to the Socialist Revolution

The capitalists have intellectuals and academics who sing their praises. Countless books, movies, and TV series depict the benefits of capitalism. The describe a dulled class consciousness among the workers themselves. According to the anti-socialists, no matter what happens, the workers will never become a force ready, willing, and able to transform society. So much are they are a part of the “consumer society” that they have no reason to turn against it. Such a prognosis rests upon the idea that the present characteristics, attitudes, and relations of working people are essentially unalterable. The capitalist rulers today have an arrogant faith in the longevity of their system. They firmly believe that the empire of the almighty dollar, the euro, the pound and yuan is assured of perpetual dominion. These devout believers in the perpetuity of  capitalism fail to take into consideration the impact of growing economic inequality, and the pressing consequences of climate change.

 Scarcely anyone but socialists nowadays hold hope in the anti-capitalist strivings and sentiments of the working people or believe that they will in time participate in a mighty movement for socialist objectives. For retaining such beliefs and being guided by them, socialists are looked upon as political fossils, relics of a bygone era, dogmatists who cling to outworn views.

 The Socialist Party has substantial reasons for their adamant resistance on this point. Our convictions are not an affirmation of religious-like faith but derived from a materialist conception of history which motors the forces of world history, a reasoned analysis of the trends of our time, and an understanding of the mainsprings and the necessities of capitalist development. Marxism has clarified many perplexing problems in philosophy, sociology, history, economics, and politics. 

The Socialist Party does not succumb to sentiments of pessimism. The prospects of the  working class are not so hopeless  as the critics make out. The skeptics who suppose unlimited confidence in the longevity of capitalism rule out the possibility that the workers will become aware of the increasing perils of capitalism and that decades of inertia will end. 

Socialism teaches that the revolution against capitalism and the socialist reconstruction of the old world can be accomplished only through conscious, collective action by the workers themselves. In constructing the new society a political organisation capable of handling such colossal tasks cannot arise spontaneously or haphazardly; it has to be continuously, consistently and consciously built. It is still correct to say that one does not become a socialist or get knowledge of the laws governing the development of social structures just by being a worker in capitalist industry and engaging in various economic struggles. You become a socialist by means of studies and readings after work through which you understand what it is to be a worker, why we have a capitalist society, why and how this society is going to be replaced by a socialist society, why and how the class society is going to give way to the class-free socialist society.

 The Socialist Party declares that it's most important task just now is to arouse socialist consciousness within the working class

Capitalism is in a death struggle to survive. As a profit economy, i.e., a world economy circumscribed by private ownership of the means of production organized in national states, where the production and reproduction of constant capital intensifies an already existent insoluble contradiction inherent in the very nature of bourgeois production, there remains, at least in the eyes of each national bourgeoisie, one hope: world domination for itself. Capitalism means permanent war and war means the total mobilization of society. Socialism and freedom are truly ahead. We will fulfil the dream of Bronterre O'Brien, the Chartist leader, who coined the phrase ‘social democracy’ by which he meant democratic participation as distinct from mere voting rights.

Capitalism “growing into” Socialism is theory often appears in pseudo-socialist garb and is, in fact, a distortion and a repudiation of Marxism.

Socialists envision a new society without the ravages of capitalism, and the working class are destined to destroy the system of exploitation. The capitalist class, ever dwindling in numbers, now stands in opposition to the vast majority of the people the mass of wage workers. It is an irreconcilable antagonism. Today there is not a single occupation that may not serve as a source of profit for it is the essence of wage labour that the worker sells not the value created by his own effort, but the ability to create the value for someone else. And he sells it at cost price – the cost of its maintenance and reproduction. But the daily cost of labour and the daily output of labouring power are two very different things. Ownership of the means of production empowers the employer to extract from the workers unpaid-for labour time. There are no exceptions. All workers are exploited. Wage labour, like any commodity is saleable only in so far as it satisfies a social need – the demands of capital. Transport workers, for example, are required because even Ford’s products are incapable of finding their own way to market. Clerks, telephonists, technicians, administrative staff in general, are employed because capitalism cannot do without them. As soon as they become dispensable, they become unemployed. The more varied the relationship of the individual worker to the collective product, the more remote a part he or she may seem to play’ nevertheless all their contributions are required for the final product, all are directly involved, all, being socially necessary, are productive. 

Capitalism is not particular what it turns out in the way of merchandise, computers, aircraft, motors, fuel ships or candyfloss...the common denominator is profit. Of course, there are many workers who seem unproductive because their product is apparently never brought to market. But this is not a question of job content and is true of manual and non-manual alike. Besides, we should understand this issue in terms of the requirements of capital in its general aspect, of the class of employers rather than the needs of a particular employer and a particular capital. All workers are employed solely on the basis that, directly or indirectly, they increase the productivity power of capital as a whole. Doctors and teachers are good examples: their ’products’ are educated and healthy workers, capable of providing bigger and better profits. Workers, be they ’white’ or ’blue’ collar, because they are workers and cannot survive except by selling their labouring power. we learn the most important lesson of all: that the struggle to live with capitalism is the struggle of the perpetually oppressed.

The task that lies before the Socialist Party is to build the confidence, the understanding, and the political clarity of our fellow-workers that will enable them to take on and defeat not only an individual employer, but the entire class of employers. It will require courage, patience and perseverance.

Fireside Reflections (1943)

 

From the May 1943 issue of the Socialist Standard

I drew my chair to the fire and settled down to a quiet perusal of the evening paper, the Glasgow Evening Times (January 2nd 1943). As I read, certain noises impinged upon my ears, "Bang, rat-tat-tat. Boom." Then suddenly, "I've got you." “You're dead," a small body slithered to the floor. It started all over again. "You're a German," “I'm an Aussie." Their baby sister was brought into it. "You're an Italian." Taking cover behind the chairs (pardon, rocks), the battle was quickly in full swing again.

What is this in the paper about Roosevelt on Peace Planning? Nothing about the cause of war. For example, “Men had come to see that the maintenance and safeguarding of peace was the most vital single necessity in the lives of each and all of us. All planning for the future was dependant obviously on peace." There was more that had little informative value, and it finished with : "All kinds of planning for the future—economic, social and so on— was not an awful lot of use if there was going to be another war in 10 or 15 years."

Roosevelt expects this system to continue, and if necessary to protect the peace with armed force. Socialists are in no doubt in their answer—repeatedly they have pointed out that if a sane system of society is to be established, the cause of war must be understood by workers. Time after time in the Socialist Standard has the root cause of wars —the private property institution—been exposed, and so long as that system continues, so long may wars be expected, and when the next one comes along, the children in this one are learning to fight the next.

"Hands up." The Italian was captured, and baby sister had to stick them up.

I turned the page, and was presented with the problem of "Britain's Dwindling Population." Some questions appeared in the article, such as: ''Why are people no longer having so many children? Is it desirable to concentrate on quality or quantity of population? Can we arrest the decline? " Some conclusions appeared as well.

"Experience seems to show, however, that you cannot bribe people into having children."

"Richard and Kathleen Titmuss, in their remarkable study of the falling birth-rate, emphasise that family allowances have in no country resulted in higher fertility." The fall in the birth-rate of the people (over 2,000,000 of them) who have incomes over £250 per annum is greater than the fall in the rest of the population who have incomes of £250 per annum and less. Again the problem is flirted with—the expectation that in this present system the problem can be solved. Is it not obvious that intelligent workers can see happening to their children's lives what has happened to them in their lives? What monetary inducement can be offered to wage-slaves, who have suffered the consequences of wage-slavery, to introduce new lives to a similar situation? We workers have witnessed the trials, the horrors, the ceaseless struggles to lessen our burdens. Workers tramped the streets looking for work. Marched on London to demonstrate the misery of our lot. Suffered the means test. Ceased work to forcibly present to our masters our grievances. Were regimented into the Army, Navy, and Air Force, into factories, to fight, bleed, toil and sweat for a cessation of hostilities that will eventually be the prelude of more strivings and strainings, horrors and wars. Unless workers democratically and freely discuss and face the problems that confront them, and again make every effort to unite, not to fight the master class, but to abolish the capitalist system—" What was that? ” "Bang," "Boom," the rush of little feet. " Rat-tat-tat-tat." A small body fell again to the floor. "You're dead.” The play may in time turn to reality.

We Socialists claim justly and logically that we have the solution to the workers' problems, and we invite every worker, irrespective of race or colour, to our meetings to discuss their problems, and we hope that every worker will resolve to eliminate his difficulties through Socialist understanding.

Titbits From The I.L.P. Stewpot (1943)

From the May 1943 issue of the Socialist Standard

The I.L.P. of 1943 is bang in trouble, although present-day defenders of the I.L.P. take no responsibility for the trickery and treachery imposed on the working class by the I.L.P. in its "march to power"; they must realise that if the I.L.P. is made up of the same stuff as in previous years, then their dope just won't go down as easy. 1943 has a working class much different, politically, from that of 1929. Scotland has had a generous helping of I.L.P. leadership; in 1929, of the 37 labour representatives elected in Scotland, 36 were members of the I.L.P. The following telegram was sent to Ramsay Mac’:

  "Scottish I.L.P. congratulate you on your leadership in the magnificent success for Labour and Socialism at the polls" (Glasgow Herald, June 3rd, 1929). 

36 members of the I.L.P. in Parliament, representing thousands of Scottish workers, naturally gave the I.L.P. ideas, so they made this historic statement:

  "We stand as the ruling class in Scotland, and if we have not got complete control of Great Britain, we are going to have the opportunity of ruling Great Britain. It is not fitting that the ruling, class should go in rags." (Glasgow Herald, June 3rd, 1929.) 

Despite the fact that the I.L.P. stood as the ruling class in Scotland, no difference was noticed in the hellish conditions of the working-class in Scotland.

Glasgow, a hotbed of I.L.P.ism, to this day retains its rat-infested slums, and has the highest infantile death rate of any town in Great Britain. Yes! many of the workers that voted for the I.L.P. still live and remember.

But let's forget the past; these men were villains. Live for the future; let's have a Socialist Britain now! so say the present defenders of I.L.P.ism. Is the 1943 I.L.P. any different?—To the Socialist, the present-day programme of the I.L.P. in no way differs from the Keir Hardie days. It is the same reformism that was embraced by Ramsay MacDonald, Philip Snowden, Sir Oswald Mosley, and others. To-day it suits the Catholic M.P, for Shettleston, Mr. McGovern, and his opposite number, Mr. Maxton.

Should one find it inconvenient to be an I.L.P. M.P., then one can change over to the Labour Party, as did George Buchanan, M.P. for Gorbals.

The present policy of the I.L.P. is, as before, vote-catching; it parades its anti-war policy as socialistic; the P.P.U. or the N.C.L. might as well make a similar claim—they have as much justification as the l.L.P. to do so. The S.P.G.B. warned the I.L.P. and other organisations that they would have to face, sooner or later, a politically intelligent working class, a working class that by bitter experience have reached a measure of political understanding that will not tolerate the impudent nostrums and insults previously thrust on their fellow men by unscrupulous leaders using such labels as I.L.P., L.P., and C.P. There is a growing tendency amongst the modern working class to examine the political and economic structure of capitalist society, when enough of these workers get the fundamentals of political economy, then the reformists will surely become the doomed battalion.

The rank and file of the I.L.P. are not concerned with the Socialist case from a scientific point of view; they indulge in hero-worship and a lazy mental outlook, both political and religious. This can be proven by the present trouble inside the ''Socialism in Britain now” movement, on the .religious question and also their policy.

Page 4 of the New Leader, January 16th, 1943, is devoted to an article by John McGovern, M.P., headed "This is the Year of Our Opportunity.” He says: "Let us purge our minds of doubts, our bodies of laziness, and our hearts of cowardice, and let us face the tasks of 1943.”

Before McGovern asks anyone to do anything, he should clear up some of the mess that at present is prevalent inside the I.L.P. A controversy, "Catholics and Socialism,” has been going on in the pages of the New Leader. F. A. Ridley has upset the apple cart again by his slashing attacks on the Catholic Church; this is resented by the Catholic element inside the I.L.P. and endorsed by the non-Catholic element. Let us examine three contributions from the New Leader, January 16th, 1943, on this question.

Harry Carr, Manchester, writes attacking Ridley. He says: "Amongst the mildest of Ridley's recent assertions from his fortnightly pulpit was that 'Christianity to-day had little enough to do with Christ.' He now says categorically that no Catholic can be a loyal Socialist.

"If the l.L.P. as a body supports him in this, then these of us who value freedom of conscience will know what to do. I hope I have made myself clear.”

Mr. Carr has certainly made himself clear.

R. Gray, Motherwell, also makes himself clear. He defends Ridley. He says : "May I quote a passage from the Encyclical letter 'Quadragesimo Anno' on the Pope's opinion on Socialism? Whether Socialism be considered as a doctrine, or a historical, fact, or as a movement, if it really remains Socialism, it cannot be brought into harmony with the dogmas of the Catholic Church, even if it has yielded to truth and justice in the points we have mentioned, the reason being that it conceives human society in a way utterly alien to Christian truth.' Pope Pius XI. then states: 'No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true Socialist.' ”

Mr. Fenner Brockway, Editor of the New Leader, gives the l.L.P. position on this question. He says: "So far as the l.L.P. is concerned, it must, of course, retain the liberty to criticise any institution whose policy is detrimental to the achievement of Socialism, but it applies no religious test to membership to the party, believing this to be a matter for the individual.” (New Leader, January 16th, 1943).

To the writer, Brockway means that you can be a Catholic and a Socialist at the same time. Ridley will agree with B. Gray of Motherwell that you cannot.

McGovern will agree with Brockway and the Pope at the same time.

Harry Carr of Manchester is in a helluva mess, but so is the I.L.P.

We of the S.P.G.B. have no religious axe to grind with any Church or the I.L.P.; a plague on both their houses.

Scientific Socialists have no room for religious or political nonsense. Our position is if you are a true Christian you are not a Socialist; further, if you support the 1943 policy of the I.L.P., you are a defender of capitalism.

Ridley creates further trouble for the I.L.P.—he states in Left, January, 1943:

  "What is the future role of the I.L.P.? At present, it is the only party in this country with even an ostensibly revolutionary character and policy; As such it has the entire field to itself. It has, literally, no competitors.
   "If the I.L.P. can become a revolutionary party in fact as in name, if it can forget the reformist past and concentrate on the revolutionary future, it has an unique opportunity both to lead the British masses forward to their inevitable show-down with the imperialists who rule them . . . "

Ridley knows the reformist character of the I.L.P. Whether or not 1943 produces a revolutionary I.L.P. remains to be seen. The present constitution of the I.L.P. convicts it as a reformist party, still advocating leadership, believing in great men, etc. Therefore, there is more trouble ahead for the I.L.P. and other reformist organisations.

The political intelligence of the working class is rising, hence the difficulty of the Independent Labour Party to survive. The Socialist Party of Great Britain is to-day reaping the benefit for its clear cut policy and strict adherence to Socialist principles along the lines laid down by Marx and Engels.

Gadfly.

Make Socialists

The Socialist Party's function is to educate the people by criticising all attempts at so-called reforms, whose aim is not the realisation of socialism, but the hindering of it; and by encouraging the working class towards Revolution.

 The theory of surplus value is the cornerstone of Marx’s economic theory. People’s labour power becomes a commodity. The wage-worker sells labour power to the owner of the land, factories and instruments of labour. The worker uses one part of the labour day to cover living expenses (wages), while the other part of the day the worker toils without remuneration, creating surplus value for the capitalist. This is the source of profit, the source of the wealth of the capitalist class. Capital, created by the labour of the worker, presses on the worker by creating an army of unemployed. While increasing the dependence of the workers on capital, the capitalist system at the same time creates the great power of united labour.

New ideas of reorganising society based on the new means of production have to be put forth to challenge capitalism. Whether we work or not, the people still must live. The coming social revolution must place the robots in the hands of the new class of poor people. Robotics and other forms of electronic production will be the foundation for a whole new world. Abundance, created by robotics and people working for the common good rather than the profit of the few, will forever end poverty, exploitation, oppression and war, a vision of a world of love and justice. This is an era of revolutionary change. For the first time in history, humankind can produce such abundance that society can be free from hunger, homelessness and backbreaking labour. The only thing standing in the way is this system of exploitation and injustice.

The struggle today for homes, education, health care, freedom from state terror is the beginning of a revolution for a better world, economically and culturally.



The Socialist Party takes as its mission the political awakening of working people. We invite all who see that there’s a problem and are ready to do something about it to join with us. We will help liberate the thinking of the  people and unleash their energy. We will win them to the cause for which they are already fighting. We will educate people about the economic changes that’s disrupting society. Every day, the new technology throws thousands– labourers and managers alike– out of their jobs. Their labour is worthless to a system that values only what it can exploit. If they cannot work, they cannot eat.



We will engage our fellow-workers with a vision of a world of plenty.  Radical changes in the way a society produces its wealth call for radical changes in how that society is organised. New technology provides better products with less and less labour. Society now has the capacity to devote the energies and talents of its people to satisfying the material, intellectual, emotional and cultural needs of all.



The capitalist class cannot convince  people to believe in their system while they are destroying their hopes and dreams. Their answer is to disarm the victims of capitalism by turning them against one another. We will instead inspire people with an alternative, a society organised for the benefit of all, a society built on cooperation  which puts the environment cultural and the well-being of its people above the profits and property of a handful of billionaires. When the class which has no place in the capitalist system takes control of all productive property and transforms it into common property, it can reorganise society so that the abundance is distributed according to need. We will empower the people with the understanding of their role in striving for this new society and with the confidence that it’s possible to win. The struggle of those who have no stake in this system carries the energy to overturn it. We take this message out to politicise and organise the Revolution.


For the first time in history, we have the technological ability to put into effect the principle ’from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.’ After agitating for years on the effects of massive unemployment, misery and poverty on the one hand, there is an abundance of commodities of all kinds. These things will, for the first time in history, unite our movement against poverty and misery with its great cause: the fight to create a society of abundance, free from want. It will be a monumental achievement to see people from all generations and genders, from all nationalities and ethnicity but from one race – the human race – come together. It is up to us to realise that we do have a new vision to offer, that society is waiting for someone to present an answer and understanding for a solution to the conflicts they are up against.

The Socialist Party's Election Statement

“Profit or Needs, not Leave or Remain, is the real issue

This election, we’re told, is about Brexit. Whether ‘we’ will be richer or poorer, freer or more subservient if we stay in or leave the European Union, with or without a deal.

But does anyone seriously expect that Leaving or Remaining will end child poverty? Homelessness and food banks? Collapsing health and social services? Unemployment – or the mass insecurity of zero-hour-contracts? War and forced migration? The destruction of the Earth’s wildlife and natural resources? The threat of disastrous climate change?

The Brexit ‘debate’ simply obscures the real issue: a failed economic system where nothing is produced unless a profit can be made from it. Where human needs are everywhere subject to the inhuman demands of market forces. And this system will continue to rule our lives whether our new leaders are based in Brussels or London, Belfast or Edinburgh.

The Socialist Party stands for putting an end to this profit system. For replacing it with a society based on the common ownership and democratic control of the world’s natural and industrial resources.

We live in a world of potential plenty, where we could meet our needs by freely cooperating on the basis of ‘from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.’ There is no need for anyone anywhere in the world to go without what they need to live a happy, healthy and fulfilled life. What prevents this is the ownership of resources today by a privileged few and production for sale with the aim of making a profit.

The parties committed to running the market system – and that includes the Labour Party and the Greens – are making empty promises. A vote for them is a wasted vote as this system operates on the basis that making profits must always come before meeting needs, whatever those in government might want or have promised.

You can show that you reject the profit-driven market system, and want a classless society of equal men and women geared to directly satisfying people’s needs, by casting a write-in vote for “WORLD SOCIALISM” on your ballot paper.”

United Glasgow

United Glasgow was founded in 2011 under the motto "Unity in the community", and it was set up for refugees and asylum seekers with the intention of providing free access to football equipment, pitches and all the support they needed to assimilate into Glaswegian life. 

The football club boasts three competitive teams and four community drop-in sessions each week that help support more than 200 players of all genders, sexual orientations, religions, ethnicities, socio-economic positions and immigration statuses.  The club are determined to foster an environment in which the players forget about their backgrounds, so don't ask about their pasts or even hold much in the way of personal details. Anything they do hold and submit can be monitored by the Home Office, with one of the coaches once being visited by the authorities after listing one player as living at his own home address. It isn't just refugees and asylum seekers that join United Glasgow. The club also helps promote and defend the rights of ethnic minorities and the LGBT community within Scotland.

It isn't just refugees and asylum seekers that join United Glasgow. The club also helps promote and defend the rights of ethnic minorities and the LGBT community within Scotland.

United Glasgow's message of inclusivity and acceptance has garnered a steady increase in popularity and support. Paul Georgie, who helps run the Sunday men's team, agrees that the club offer a respite from the divisive politics that people are bombarded with every day.

Unlike your typical Sunday league team, they have social media channels that reach almost 9,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter each week, popular merchandise such as a t-shirt parodying Buckfast wine's bottle label with the slogan "antifascists" and regularly host club nights and fundraisers that attract hundreds of supporters. 

"It's strange and funny," adds Kurdish asylum seeker Mohamed Ahmed, who joined five years ago. "There are over 15 different countries and languages. You feel like everything is different, not just you. Sometimes you can try speaking your own language and nobody understands it. Then someone says something else and you learn something from another language. It's really nice."

Despite its popularity, United Glasgow is still dogged by the same financial issues as most amateur football clubs in Scotland - equipment and venue costs. As things stand, 70-80% of the club's revenue is spent on booking pitches and providing boots, shin guards and strips for players that cannot afford them on their own.

"Money is always a problem," says Ruiradh MacFarlane, United Glasgow's football coordinator. "I have experience in other countries across Europe that are far more subsidised. That's currently not here within Scotland and I think the grassroots game could do with a cascade of money to it to help projects such as our own to accelerate and to continue doing the great work." The club has received funding from initiatives, such as Sported or the Big Lottery Fund's Young Start Fund, but that backing is limited.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49872481

Why Vote for your Masters?

The Socialist Party is out for the common ownership and democratic control of the means of life, by, and in the interest of, the whole people. This is to be brought about by the education of the workers in socialist ideas and that workers will organise with us to capture the political machinery, and so be in a position to control the armed forces, and thus be able to dictate terms to the capitalist class. When we explain this, our critics tell us we are  dreamers, that such a proposal is too far-fetched, or too far off. They tell us that a more “reasonable” way, and one getting “better” results, is to lay aside such an goal and instead go for “something now,” and so gradually build up up towards socialism. It is quite futile to waste time on such reforms and the parties which sponsor them. Organising for straight revolutionary socialism alone is worth while for the working class, and to this end we ask you to join us.



The ownership and control of the means of production would rest in the hands of innumerable groups of workers, each of which would be a social minority in competition with others, and each making decisions in accordance with its individual economic interests. Propositions regarding the improvement of local working conditions, or of broader social improvements would be considered in the same limited way as they are today — “Is it economic?”



The Socialist Party holds the view that with the natural resources, the labour-power and knowledge available to mankind in the world, human beings are capable of democratically organising production without anyone being exploited. In a socialist world there will surely be no “jobs” as such, no employment as exists under capitalism, when one occupation may capture and slowly strangle the individuality and personality of a worker and his family. In socialism time now spent “working” will be spent to the benefit of us all, doing things constructive to the maintenance and improvement of society as the majority sees it.



Capitalist budgets spends lavishly on  the means of destruction because it is a social system which must operate through competition and conflict; co-operation and harmony are foreign to its nature. The basis of this society—the class ownership of the means of production and distribution — ensures that wealth is produced as commodities, as objects and services intended for sale on the market as opposed to the satisfaction of human needs. Cheap production is important to the capitalist class because it can make their goods more competitive in the markets; thus they must always be concerned to find and exploit the most abundant fields of raw materials. Access to hungry markets is also vital to their interests for it is there that they can most easily sell their products, with a better chance of getting the highest price. These are aspects of that continuing competitive struggle which is responsible for the world's armed forces and the weapons with which they fight, which are now capable of reducing millions of us to ashes.



If governments existed to protect human welfare, their priorities would be very different; they would devote a lot less resources to coercion and destruction and a lot more to humane constructiveness.



There is no solution to this terrifying situation as long as the basis of capitalism is unchanged. But to change this basis would be to abolish the system and when we have done that there is only one society which can replace it. Socialism will be founded on the world-wide, communal ownership of the means of life. Its wealth will not be produced for sale, for the profit of a minority, but for the consumption and the benefit of the entire people of the world. Competition will be replaced by co-operation. There will be a full participation in all society's activities. especially its productive work, and free access by all to its wealth. On that basis there can be no cause for conflict: common ownership and free access will bring a world of human harmony. And all of this will be organised and operated at the democratically formed will of the people. 

Socialism is the only way to abolish the problems which at present plague the world and which hamper human progress. It is the only political objective worth the workers' attention. Beside the certainty of the security and abundance of socialism, the false promises of capitalist leaders are as rancid crumbs. When it comes to climate change and the international summits, politicians cannot negotiate away the realities of capitalism. The world awaits its appropriation by the working class.

Class Struggle for Socialism

Class struggle has always existed since there were classes to struggle. For over 200 years there has been a battle between the working class and the capitalist class. It has ebbed and flowed according to the strength, understanding and contradiction between these two classes. The interests of the classes, and there are only two – those who sell their labour power and those who exploit the labour of others – are so opposed as to make struggle inevitable. The working class never ceasing, never surrendering but never ever prevailing. The truth is that the revolutionary aims of socialism have been distorted to deliberately bend the worker's mind, direct it to reformism and to subservience. Capitalism has always managed to avoid the decisive class conflict in which not just its means to regulate its system is challenged but the system itself. HYet they have failed, for the class war intensifies. The classes cannot be reconciled. Today this is more and more clear, the conflict cannot be concealed, hence revolution is still on the agenda. All over the world the struggle continues in many forms at all stages. The world of workers is rising and fighting back.

All political parties in Britain other than the Socialist Party have it in common that they are for the preservation of capitalism in some form or other. From the Right conservatives to the Leftist reformists the common aim is to live with the system and make it work. The only exception is the one party whose aim is the  overthrow of capitalist class power and the building of socialism. That is us, the Socialist Party of Great Britain.

The case has been made by reformists that the working class become a partner of capitalism be rewarded with wage increases and various welfare benefits such as free health care and education, subsidised council housing and transport.  The working class was therefore content to live in peace with its own capitalist class. The Socialist Party repudiates this idea totally. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever, can such a peace declared in the class war. The working class lives in perpetual conflict with the employers. No employer has ever conceded “crumbs” to workers out of benevolence; any improvement in social services has been extorted from him by the mass strength and tactical ingenuity of the workers. If absolute poverty is less in Britain than elsewhere in the world, the exploitation is no less, for what the workers produce is stolen by the capitalists. The truth is that the more highly industrialised a country is, the more productive is its labour power and the greater is the value produced by its working class. Scarcely a worker in Britain who is more than one-wage-packet away from extreme destitution.

Trade Unions will not end capitalism. They are organs of mass resistance but they are not revolutionary organs and never were. The most backward aspect of trade unionism is shown by their support the Labour Party. To end capitalism or to live with it is the point of departure we have with trade unionism. We alone do not see economic struggles as ends in themselves. Our revolutionary goal shapes our policy. Woe to us if we become so “practical” as to forget this for one moment. All our work must lead toward the socialist revolution. The revolutionary principles to which we are committed will keep us on the right road. We stand up and fight for the true interests of the working class as a whole, at every turn. We would not be worthy of the proud name our party bears if we evaded such a fight on any pretext. Ours is the only party standing for the solution of the social problems by means of the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism. All of the interests of the working class, immediately and ultimately, are indissolubly bound up with the social revolution. Our party is a party of revolutionary struggle against capitalism. We are not reformists, liberals nor progressives, but revolutionists. The test of our work will the development of class consciousness in the ranks of the workers.

On 12th of December show your contempt for capitalism by spoiling your ballot paper by writing across it "World Socialism."

The Pestilence of Patriotism

"It is better to be a traitor to your country than a traitor to your class!"

So the Nicola Sturgeon is rallying her followers at another pro-independence parade today. On this march the word patriotism will be upon everyone’s lips and there will be much waving of the Saltire and the royalist Lion Rampant. The Socialist Party can agree with the Indian writer, Arundhati Roy that “Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.” 

Patriotism requires allegiance to the flag, which means obedience and readiness to kill another father, mother, brother, sister. Scots claim to be a peace-loving people, opposed to violence and hate bloodshed yet Scots regiments policed the British Empire with brutality and swelled the Scottish hearts with pride. To-day we too often see the spectacle of the working classes uniting to applaud the crimes of their exploiters. Such is the logic of patriotism. The message of “My country right or wrong” will be seen for the abomination that it is. When we deny the patriotic lie, we clear the path for when all separate nationalities are united into a universal one family, where “Man to Man, the world o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that.”

The toxic poison of nationalism must on all occasions be heavily perfumed such words as liberty, freedom and self-determination. Socialists judges ideas not on the basis of ideals and wishes, nor of distant far-off goals, but on the specific answers to specific questions on concrete issues. So long as nation-state exists, people will hold a certain preference for the particular nationality into which they have been born, a bond of a common language, of a common national culture customs and traditions. But does it constitute a virtue to be so especially proud of, even justifying any and every action, of one’s nation? All socialists are internationalists. The belief that class solidarity and patriotism can be combined is erroneous.

If Scotland be our motherland then it is a cruel stepmother who we detest. Working class internationalism springs from the recognition that the working people of all lands have a common interest in creating a world in which the exploitation of man by man no longer exists. Scotland is not "our" country. The title and land deeds belong to our masters. Why should people strive for its independence? There are only two countries in the world: that of the privileged and that of the dispossessed. It is a fact known since the time of the ancient Greeks when Plato observed "Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another."

Our compatriots are not the Scottish capitalists. Our compatriots are our fellow-workers of the whole world, who wage everywhere the same battle as ourselves for the establishment of a better society.

Socialism has ended all national sentiments. Patriotism assumes that our planet is divided into little regions, each one surrounded by a wall and an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born inside these walls consider themselves better than those living outside. Such a belief poison the minds of the children and if need be the sacrifice of children in wars. The Socialist Party finds nothing reasonable to inspire any of our fellow-workers in the thought that they are slaves of one governmental system run by their masters rather than another and a rival one. Hence our adoption of the slogan “Proletarians of all lands unite.”

We all know what nationalism means today. A gang of thieves by fraud to acquire the office of government and gain the the seat power. There are those left-nationalists who tell us that socialism is international in principle, but not necessarily anti-national. But they forget to say that internationalism socialism must inevitably counteract the importance of the nation-state, and weaken the sentiment of patriotism. The cause of the working class is lost if they allow ourselves to be caught again in the net of nationalism. The left-nationalists try to persuade us that the resurrection of a nation of by-gone times is of primary importance rather than the unity of humanity. Nationalism is objectionable since it means the placing of one’s own country, its interests and well-being, above those of the rest of humanity, invariably at the expense of the welfare and interests of other peoples. Dedication to the socialist ideal rather than devotion to a patch of particular soil on which one happens to have been born is what motivates the members of the Socialist Party

If only the Socialist Party could persuade just one among all those demonstrating for national sovereignty for Scotland to see how you are being hoodwinked and duped by nationalist lies, and instead to join us in the World Socialist Movement to hasten the day when the working class of the world will finally abandon the national flags of their masters, and range themselves under the red banner of international socialism and solidarity, our efforts will not have been in vain. Let us do away with nationalism, patriotism and national chauvinism altogether and substitute in its place the “ internationalism” of the class-conscious worker. It is not a question of fighting for the political independence of one nation, but for a new society for all lands – for the Socialist Commonwealth.

“Ubi bene, ibi patria,” (Where it goes well with me, there is my country.)

The movement never dies

Socialism is an economic doctrine but it is an economic doctrine inseparably bound up with ideals concerning humanity.  The liberty aimed at by socialism is freedom of development for the individual as for society. This freedom is impossible under a regime of private property in the means of production. Marx never doubted that the emancipation of the workers must be the work of the workers themselves, and before him William Lovett and others in the London Working Men's Association (1836) firmly held that the workers could and must trust in themselves, not in leaders. Nevertheless, the other view has persisted, though with some changes of form. Almost alone among the parties the Socialist Party has consistently combatted those views. Are we right in doing so? Can the majority of the workers understand our case when it is presented to them? Is our slow progress due to some innate incapacity or—as we have always contended—is it due to capitalist propaganda and to the fact that our means of spreading socialist knowledge are restricted by our small resources and can only grow gradually? Are those people right who contend that the workers never will understand and that unless socialism can be achieved without working class understanding, it will never be achieved at all? Against all of the advocates of clever leaders using stupid masses stands the S.P.G.B. At the formation of the Party it was frankly recognised that knowledge is necessary and that the workers as a whole lacked knowledge—but not the capacity to understand and learn. Therefore the S.P.G.B. accepted that progress must lie slow, there could be no short cuts. In the Socialist Standard for February 1905 appeared the following typical declaration:

“The ignorance of the workers in the past has enabled the capitalists to possess themselves of the political machine. The workers all unwittingly have made the rod that is now applied to their backs. But what working class ignorance has done, working class enlightenment can undo. . . It is absolutely necessary that the workers shall see every step of the way clearly before they take it. Which may mean a slow advance, but it will certainly mean a sure advance." We in the Socialist Party know of no reason why other workers should not come to understand what we have come to understand. Some may develop more slowly than others, but logical understanding and action are not beyond the capacity of the majority. What we are up against is not an innate incapacity to understand, but the massive and tireless machinery of capitalist propaganda, including all the red herrings. No capitalist propaganda can for ever prevent the workers from becoming passionately interested in the failure of the capitalist system and the need to find a way out by their own efforts.

Reformism is a strategy; broadly speaking, it is the perspective that capitalist society can be transformed gradually, through a series of reforms, to meet people’s real needs.

Revolutionary Marxists, on the other hand, deny that reforms alone can eliminate the injustices of our society. Those injustices stem from the fundamental character of capitalism—so the system as a whole must be changed. In particular, working people must abolish capitalism’s repressive apparatus—the state, police, armed forces and bureaucracy—replacing them with democratic structures which are truly reflective of the needs and desires of the vast majority. The Socialist Party has carried on an unrelenting struggle against reformism in working class politics, attempting to break the working and its allies from reformist Illusions. To you, workers of the world, we address ourselves. AGITATE in the workshop, in the field, in the factory, until you arouse your co-workers to hatred of the slavery of which we are all the victims. EDUCATE, that the people may no longer be deluded by illusory hopes of prosperity under any system of society of which capitalists or landlords form an integral part. ORGANISE conscious of your historic mission as a class, you may seize the reins of political power whenever possible and, by intelligent application of the working-class ballot, clear the field of action for the revolutionary forces of the future.

Revolutionary socialism must be international. One harmonious system throughout the whole World. Everywhere society is in chaos and ferment. Climate crises and refugees from war are shaking up the thinking of millions. Nationalism is being revealed as capitalist snares to increasing numbers of workers, who are groping for a solution to their problems. Socialism is our only hope.

The dream of human liberation doesn’t die And the longer we go on without reaching that dream, the more determined we  become to achieve it.

Socialist Standard No. 1383 November 2019

November-2019-PDF Version

• Editorial: Towards a general election
  
• Pathfinders: Socialism – there’s an app for that
  
• Brexit and Democracy: The Value of Your Vote
  
• Cooking the Books I: Divided Business Elite
  
• Wood for the Trees: Through a Glass Darkly
  
• Material World: Hong Kong
  
• Climate Versus Capital: The Juggernaught of Profit
  
• Nuclear Threat: Resetting the Doomsday Clock
  
• St. Monday: Ye Old holiday
  
• The Barrier: Ex XR Member Gets Real
  
• 1989 and All That: The Fall of the Russian Empire
  
• Cooking the Books II: Lenders and Borrowers
  
• Knife Crime : Violence and Youth
  
• Proper Gander
  
• Where are we now?
  
• Reviews
  
• 50 Years Ago: The Red capitalist class
  
• Obituary: Norman Deutz
  
• Meetings
  
• Rear View
  
• Free Lunch