Support the Socialist Party because it supports you

The Socialist Party supports fellow-workers striking for higher wages and improved working conditions. As workers ourselves we know that under capitalism we get nothing save through organisation and struggle. The social conditions of capitalism, where a tiny minority own the means of life, inevitably give rise to a struggle over the division of wealth. The class struggle will last as long as capitalism because the interests of workers and owners are irreconcilable. Strikes are an expression of this class struggle though it is fair to say that few workers fully understand this. They do not recognise that there is an irreconcilable conflict between workers and owners everywhere. They do not recognise that workers have no country and that patriotism is a delusion and a snare. They do not recognise that the wages system shows up the dependence of the workers on the owners for a living.

Even if workers prevail the Socialist Party points out that this is not enough. All the cards are stacked against workers under capitalism. Being propertyless they depend on the owners for a living. On top of this there is a further disadvantage. The government represents the interests of the owning class. Any government has at its disposal a vast arsenal of political weapons to oppose any economic action by workers. Workers must come to realise the importance of political power and that they must control it before they can free themselves from wage-slavery. When workers do realise this then they will see the need for an independent workers’ party opposed to all other parties to carry the class struggle from the economic to the political field; a party whose sole aim is to win political power to end capitalism and set up socialism. The Socialist Party is such a party in this country.

Workers of all colours are united by a common economic interest under capitalism, to stand together against the ruling class. Beyond that all workers should cooperate to get rid of capitalism, with its privileges and its denials and with the prejudices which help to divide the working class into so called races, nations and so on. There is no permanent way of dealing with the effects of a class divided society other than getting rid of it. Socialists cannot but draw attention and participate the class struggle until such time as capitalism is defeated Then, and only then, will the term become "archaic” as classes themselves will cease to exist.

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. With our organised strength, we will liberate the thinking of our fellow-workers  and unleash their energy. We will win them to the cause for which they are already fighting. We will excite the  people with a vision of a world of plenty. New technology such as Artificial Intelligence, robotics and automation provides better, cheaper and more 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. 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.’ For the first time in history, we can 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 momentous event to see people from all generations, from all ethnicities and from one race– the human race– come together.  We have to get together to see a real, democratic social process in action. It is up to us as revolutionaries to realise that we do have a new vision to offer, and that society is waiting for someone to give them an understanding and a solution to the conflicts they are up against.

We will educate the people about the economic revolution. Every day, the new technology throws thousands– labourers and managers alike– out of their jobs. Their labour is superfluous to a system that values only what it can exploit. If they cannot work, they cannot eat. Radical changes in the way a society produces its wealth call for radical changes in how that society is organised. The capitalist class cannot convince the people to believe in their system while that is destroying their hopes and dreams. They attempt to disarm the victims of capitalism by turning them against one another. We will inspire our people with the alternative: a society organised for the benefit of all. A society built on cooperation puts the physical, environmental, cultural and well-being of its people above the profits and property of a handful of billionaires. Working people will take control of all productive property and transforms it into commonly owned property, it can reorganise society so that the abundance is distributed according to need. We will endeavour to empower people with the understanding of their role in striving for this new society and imbue it with the confidence that it’s possible to win. We call on you to join us in this cause.

Our Class Enemy

What is socialism? Socialism is not the rule of bureaucrats over the people. It is not the shaping of the desires and aspirations of the individual to conform to some preconceived notion of what is in the interests of the whole, etc. Far from being proponents of some all-engulfing state-control, Marx and Engels saw the state, as class antagonisms dissipated, beginning to wither away — being transformed as an instrument to preserve democracy into an administrative tool. While in present day  the underlying purpose, of production is the amassing of profits for capital; in the new, free society its sole purpose will be to meet the needs of humankind. In the place of the present anarchy, waste and inefficiency, production will be planned. This planning, contrary to the type now commonly envisaged by advisors of capital, requires the common ownership of the economy. 

Marx and Engels never thought that a socialist society could be built on the foundations of a backward underdeveloped economy. They saw socialism as the next stage of social evolution, a higher stage than capitalism with the developed means of production capable of supplying every human need. The democratic processes necessary to mobilise the vast majority of the population to such a titanic task will separate out the opportunists and frauds. Just one example may suffice. In 1919 the people of Winnipeg, in order to carry forward their general strike, forged a body which sensitively represented every layer of the population — except the employers. While the General Strike Committee co-existed with the City Council, it completely supplanted it. Its representatives, elected largely along occupational lines, subject to immediate recall, serving without pay and in almost constant session, ran the city for 41 days. This committee had the main general characteristics of the workers councils.

Not only will the revolution itself be profoundly democratic, but with its victory will come almost instantaneous benefits for all. Thanks to the tremendous productive capacity we have created across this land, we will be quickly able to satisfy all the basic needs of everyone. There will be no real shortages that would require some kind of policeman to supervise who gets what, and no bureaucrats with the possibility of providing special favours that would allow them to gather up connections that would frustrate the democratic process. One of the first acts of the popular councils would be to place the factories and communities into the hands of the working-people. Local, regional and world-wide planning boards would be set up. The aid of highly skilled technicians would immediately be enlisted. For the first time they would know that their specialized knowledge would be applied entirely for the benefit of mankind. We would see our wealth as part of mankind’s common heritage with its unparalleled natural resources and productivity, would be producing with no other thought than for the well-being of mankind.

The future of the working class in Britain is unavoidably bound up with the development of the world as a whole. Only if we conduct our struggle against capitalism on the basis of being just one contingent of the international working class will we achieve ultimate victory over our oppressors. The working class has no interest in making peace with its own rulers. we have every interest in stepping up and intensifying the class war to overthrow this oppressive and exploitative capitalist system. Taking the road of tightening our belts to help our masters through the crisis of their rotten system simply perpetuates a class-divided and oppressive society.  The difference between the value of what workers produce and what they receive in wages constitutes the profits of the capitalist employer. Massive exploitation of the working class is an integral part of the capitalist economic system and will persist for as long as does capitalism. Not only do capitalist exploit workers but the system operates in such a way that capitalists constantly have to try to exploit workers even more. Different capitalists producing the same kind of commodity are competing with one another in the market to sell their products. Failure to sell the commodities produced by his firm means bankruptcy and ruin for a capitalist and the main way of ensuring steady sales is to offer given commodities on the market at a price below that charged by other capitalists. If a capitalist is to reduce his prices without reducing his profits then one way is to increase the hours of work of his employees without paying them any more wages. Where many workers are organised in trade unions, it is not easy for capitalists to force workers to accept such an increase in the degree to which they are exploited. Another ploy is to speed up the rate of work, increase its intensity, and thus reduce the cost per item by forcing the workforce to produce more commodities in the same time as before. When this does happen but in a given type of production there is usually a very definite limit to which the pace of work can be increased and anyway workers are likely to resist such a move. It is important to realise that capitalists are not always looking for ways to increase the degree of exploitation of workers because they, the capitalists, are inherently greedy but that they do this because of the way in which the capitalist economy operates leaves them with no choice if they are to stay in business. Similarly, if workers are not to be worked to death and totally impoverished then they have no choice except to take a common stand together against capitalist employers so as to resist employers’ attempts to exploit them even more. This is done by forming trade unions to defend wage levels and working conditions. In Britain a greater proportion of workers are in trade unions than in any of the other advanced capitalist countries. Even trade unions have a very limited capacity to defend the living standards and working conditions of the working class. While trade unions are a necessary means of defence of the working class against the capitalist class it is also the case that they pose no fundamental challenge to the whole capitalist system. Trade unions do not challenge the right of capitalists to exploit workers but only the degree to which this takes place.

The whole of capitalist society is organised around the capitalist economy. The modern family is structured to produce and discipline the workforce, labour power. The state passes laws and maintains the police and armed forces So as to keep the working class in line. Education and the mass media are powerful means of spreading the ideas and outlook of the capitalist class, bourgeois ideology, among the working class so as to get them to accept the capitalist system. Religions promise the good life in this world for those who knuckle under to oppression and exploitation in this one, and so on. Capitalist society in its totality is structured so as to preserve the exploitative relationship between the capitalist class and the working class which lies at its heart.

Capitalists try to gain an advantage over each other is by introducing new and more efficient means of production, technological innovation. The capitalist employer in a given field of production may be able to reduce his costs of production by introducing new production processes which enable output per worker to rise and thus cost per unit to fall. This allows the employer to sell his commodities at a price lower than that of his competitors while at the same time increasing his rate of profit on the capital he has invested. This advantage does not last long because the other employers will also quickly adopt the new production processes so as to be able to compete and stay in business. As the new production processes become introduced throughout an industry the proportion of total capital which is spent on raw materials, machinery, etc. rises while the proportion spent on employing labour power, on paying wages, falls.

The enemy of the working class is the capitalist class. The capitalists dominate the economic, political and cultural life. The capitalists have the interest in perpetuating the rule of capital. Experience has shown that while they find it necessary at times to make certain minor concessions to the working class and are willing to enter into alliances and accommodations with various groups outside their ranks, that even so the capitalists will never tolerate any fundamental challenge to their interests and rule. While there are differences within this class on what is the best way of controlling the working class so as to perpetuate the rule of capital they stand united in their determination to uphold its reign. Any challenge to their rule is met with whatever measures are necessary to defeat it. These people are the real rulers and the working class will never be free until they overthrow the capitalist class.

Homeless in Scotland

A child has been made homeless every 37 minutes in Scotland over the past year, according to the charity Shelter.

Its research found 14,043 children were made homeless in 2018-19 in Scotland.

During that year, 8,304 families with dependant children were made homeless, the equivalent of 23 a day.

Shelter's Generation Homeless report also found 6,795 children were in temporary accommodation as of March 31 this year, meaning one in every 160 children in Scotland was without a home.

It said the number in temporary accommodation has risen from 4,155 in the same period in 2014, a jump of 64%.

Shelter Scotland deputy director Alison Watson, said: "Children being homeless in 21st century Scotland is a badge of shame in itself but a 64% increase over the last four years up to 6,795 being homeless is completely unacceptable.

"It's time that promises were made and kept to the children of Scotland - that we will do everything possible to prevent homelessness and build enough social homes to make sure every child has a home not just for Christmas, but permanently."

The UK figures show a total of 66,836 children became homeless in the last year, one every eight minutes, with 39,548 families being forced to leave their homes. A further 134,429 children were in temporary accommodation on March 31, a 51% jump from the same time in 2014.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/child-scotland-made-homeless-every-21011290

Going Beyond Capitalism

Capitalism cannot work in the interests of the working class, nor can it be controlled. Economic problems are an inevitable result of capitalist society. Not only can capitalism not be controlled to eliminate its ever-increasing range of problems; it is also totally chaotic in its detailed operations. 

Capitalism is outlived. It has submitted us to recurrent crises, each one worse than the previous one. Labour, being the biggest single organised force, and without a stake in the profit system, has the potentiality of organising its own political party to take over the complete administration of industry. Not all of labour is yet conscious of its historic mission. Abolition of the Wage System? Yes, the Socialist Party is for it. We believe the “divine right of management,” acquired, not through Providence but through the unholy exploitation of the people, should belong to those who do the work of society. Let the organised working people manage industry, eliminate private profit, plan production to suit the needs of the people – for peace, prosperity and plenty for all. If automation is to be introduced for the benefit of the working class and not to introduce more suffering for the workers, it will be necessary to operate industry democratically, with the control of industry by the people themselves. The socialist movement must offer the people a clear alternative to capitalism, must offer genuine socialism. 

This is the only way in which workers can guarantee the development of society.

If you have no right to work you have no right to life because you can only live by work. And if you live in a system that deprives you of the right to work, that system denies you the right to live. Workers have no "right" to their jobs; they are employed only on the prospect that their labour will yield profit to the capitalists. In a class divided society conflict is inevitable but in this the strike should be a weapon of last resort, not the plaything of a leader. Strikes should proceed on a democratic decision and ideally should be brief as well as concentrated. It is vital to separate the struggles on the industrial field, which are about the division of wealth under capitalism, from that on the political field, which is concerned with the revolution to dispossess the capitalists of their monopoly of the means of life. It is on the political field, and not the industrial, that the working class is able to contest with the state, to control it for their own emancipation.

Don't blame the “wicked capitalists" for throwing people out of work. Most of them have never been near the factories, shipyards, mines, mills and offices where their unearned income is produced.

Workers — from managers to sweepers — are paid to run these places completely — including giving you the sack. Anyway most capitalists have their investments spread over a number of companies — for safety. Their stockbrokers may transfer their investments from one stock to another frequently, into whatever is most profitable at the moment.

So, if you are thrown out of work, you can’t really blame the capitalist — he is probably in the Bahamas, harming nobody — blame the order book and the stock market — the whole economic anarchy of capitalism. There are no hard feelings — no feelings at all, in fact. Capitalism just ignores people.

For the workers to ignore these lessons is futile and dangerous. History is a guide for future action and that of the coal strike points unwaveringly to the urgent need for a new social system.

 The Socialist Party would never claim that the establishment of a society based on common ownership and production for use will see an end to all of the world's problems. There will still be events over which we cannot possibly have any control — such as earthquakes. But even so, deaths from such natural disasters will be minimised in socialism in a way that they cannot be now.

Most of the deaths take place because buildings collapsed with their inhabitants trapped inside. But why did these buildings collapse? The simple and obvious answer is cost. It is more expensive to build houses, offices, hospitals and schools which can withstand earthquakes. In socialism, nobody's life will ever again be sacrificed on the altar of profitability. 

Socialism will be a system of society with one aim, the satisfaction of human needs in all their various forms. In Socialism, where the market society has been swept away. Your commitment to socialism is required to put an end to the crazy Alice in Wonderland world of today. So, how about it?

A Better World

At all times and in all places, the World Socialist Movement has waged war against every political, social and economic disability of men and woman and proclaimed the gospel of emancipation. Society has been divided into two warring classes. The capitalist owns industry but he has nothing to do with its operation. By virtue of such ownership he has the economic power to appropriate to himself the wealth it produces. This accounts for the fact that the capitalist becomes rich.

But how about the working class? In the first place they have to compete with each other for the privilege of toiling for the capitalist. No work, no food, and after a while, no credit, and all this in the shadow of the abundance these very workers have created. The capitalist has become a profit-taking parasite. Industry is now co-operative and therefore self-operative. The capitalists hire supervisors, managers and foremen to operate their plants and produce wealth. The capitalists are absolutely unnecessary; they have no part in the process of production — not the slightest. It is the worker’ duty to so organise economically and politically as to put an end to this system; to take possession of the machinery of production and operate it, not to create billionaires and multimillionaires, but to produce wealth in plenty for all people. It makes no difference what you do on the economic field to better your condition, so long as the means of production are privately owned, so long as they are operated for the private profit of the capitalist, the working class will be exploited, they will be in enforced idleness, they will be reduced to want, some of them turned into to vagabonds and criminals, and this condition will prevail in spite of anything that organised labour can do to the contrary. The most important thing is to recognise is the class struggle. Now, what is class-consciousness? It is simply a recognition of the fact on the part of the working people that their interest is identical with the interest of every other working person. Class-consciousness points out the necessity for working-class action, economic and political.   

What is it that keeps the working class in subjection? What is it that is responsible for their exploitation and for all of the ills they suffer? Just one thing — it can be stated in a single word. It is ignorance. The working class have not yet learned how to unite and act together. There are relatively but few capitalists, but the capitalists and their retainers have contrived during all these years to keep the working class divided, and as long as the working class is divided it will be helpless. It is only when the working class learn —  and they are learning daily and by very bitter experience — to unite and to act together, especially on election day, that there is any hope for emancipation. As individuals you are helpless, but united you represent an irresistible power.    

Reformists declare they will give both labour and capital a fair square deal, and the Socialist Party say that is impossible. No-one can be for labour without being against capital. No-one can be for capital without being against labour.  Here is the capitalist; here are the workers. Here is the capitalist who owns the mines; here are the miners who work in the mines. There is a difference between them over a division of the product. Each wants all that can be get . Here we have the class struggle. Now, is it possible to be for the capitalist without being against the worker. Are their interest not diametrically opposite?  If you increase the share of the capitalist don't you decrease the share of the workers? Can you increase both the workers' and the capitalist's share at the same time? There is just so much produced, and in the present system it has to be divided between the capitalists and the workers, and both sides are fighting for all they can get, and this is the historic class struggle. We have now no revolutionary organisation of the workers along the lines of this class struggle and that is the demand of this time. The capitalists are combined against you. They are reducing wages. They have control of the courts. They are doing everything they can to destroy your power. You have got to follow their example. You have got to unify your forces. You have got to stand together shoulder to shoulder on the economic and political fields and then you will make substantial progress toward emancipation. No one will attempt to dispute the fact that our interests as workers are identical. If our interests are identical, then we ought to unite. If our interests are identical, it follows that we ought to belong to the same party as well as to the same economic organisation. What is politics? It is simply the reflex of economics. What is a party? It is the expression politically of certain material class interests.

  What is a political party? It is the expression politically of certain material class interests. You belong to that party that you believe will promote your material welfare. Is not that a fact? Now, if you are in a party that opposes your interests it is because you don’t have intelligence enough to understand your interests. That is where the capitalists have the better of you. As a rule, they are shrewd. They understand their material interests and how to protect them. You find the capitalists as a rule belonging only to pro-capitalist parties. They don’t join a socialist party and they don't vote socialist. They know enough to know that socialism is opposed to their economic interests. There will be no change as long as you continue to support the prevailing capitalist system, based upon the private ownership with which working people work and without which they are doomed to slavery and starvation. It doesn't make any difference which pro-capitalist parties wins, you lose! Is there any doubt  that we are in the midst of a class struggle? This whole system is based upon the private ownership and the wage slavery. You may, at times, temporarily better your condition within certain limitations, but you will still remain wage slaves, and why wage slaves? For just one reason and no other — you have got to work. To work,  you have got to beg for work from the man who owns the factories and he will determine the conditions under which you shall work. If he owns your job he is your master. You are in no sense free. You are subject to his will. He decides whether you shall work or not. Therefore, he decides whether you shall live or die. And in that humiliating position any one who tries to persuade you that you are a free is guilty of insulting your intelligence. You will never be free, you will never stand erect in your own self-reliance until you can freely work without the consent of any master. The capitalist receives the lion’s share of what you produce for which he does nothing, while you get a small fraction to feed, clothe and shelter yourself, and reproduce yourself in the form of labour-power. That is all you get out of it and all you ever will get in the capitalist system. You live in capitalism, and you have nothing but your labour-power, and you don't know whether you are going to find a buyer or not. But even if you do find a master, if you have a job, can you boast of being independent?  No-one can rightly claim to be an individual unless free. Can you be satisfied and happy being a wage-slave?

Socialist Standard No. 1384 December 2019

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• Editorial: What Elections Mean
  
• Pathfinders: Getting Out Of The Fast Lane
  
• China: Points for Reflection
  
• Cooking the Books I: Fantasy politics (and economics)
  
• Wood for the Trees: The stable doors of instability
  
• Material World: The Enclosure of the Sea
  
• Lexiteers: Left meets Right
  
• Manifestos: The Socialist Alternative
  
• Neo-Liberalism: Old Religion Repackaged
  
• Democracy: Another Word for Plutocracy
  
• Liberal Democrats: Power Hungry Opportunists
  
• Cooking the Books II: A capitalist own goal
  
• Rojava: The End of the Kurdish Dream
  
• Proper Gander: ‘You’ve Had It, Ain’t Ya?’
  
• Reviews
  
• 50 Years Ago: Hippies: An abortion of Socialist Understanding
  
• Meetings
  
• Rear View
  
• Free Lunch
  

William Wallace

William Wallace is one of Scotland's most famous historical figures. Many more around the world grew acquainted with Wallace when Hollywood and Mel Gibson portrayed him in the movie BraveHeart. However, we know that stories get distorted just through the passage of time. Wallace cames from minor gentry in the West of Scotland. The name Wallace, or Walensis, derives from the Welsh-speaking people of Strathclyde. We have no exact date for Wallace's birth. William Wallace emerges from obscurity and rises up in the spring of 1297, kills the English sheriff of Lanark, then leads an effective and oft-hitting operation against English strongholds.


Edward I had already annexed Ireland and Wales and now took an opportunity of  a political vacuum to meddle in Scotland's affairs in the guise of legal mediator and appointed the weak John Balliol as king, made impossible demands of him, and then settled the issue by military conquest. It was in November 1292, that Balliol was declared King of Scotland, against the Bruce claim. Edward's pressure on him is relentless, forcing acts of homage on several occasions, and to revoke the Treaty of Brigham, which recognised Scottish independence. . When Edward haughtily orders Balliol into military service in France, the Scots instead ratify a treaty with Edward's enemy, Philip IV, and war is inevitable. Edward was free to roam through Scotland as if it was his own fiefdom. This he did, taking control of castles and humiliating King John as he went, resulting in the forced abdication of Balliol in Angus in July 1296.  The stripping of the royal emblems earned Balliol the insulting name "Toom Tabard" (Empty Tabard).  He was sent to the Tower of London and thereafter spent the rest of his life in relatively comfortable exile. Edward's dominance over Scotland was total. He made over 2,000 freeholders swear allegiance to him, in a document which became known as the Ragman's Roll. It was  William Wallace's aim to restore Balliol to the throne of Scotland.


Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, and was Guardian of Scotland, serving until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk. After Falkirk, Wallace resigned as Guardian and was sent on a diplomatic mission to France and Rome. He did not return until after the Scottish surrender in 1302. In 1305, Wallace was eventually captured in Robroyston near Glasgow by John de Menteith, a Scottish knight. Menteith was no English lackey, and in 1320 he put his seal to the Declaration of Arbroath. Wallace was taken to London to be handed over to King Edward. After a cynical mock show-trial at Westminster Hall in London, where he responded to the treason charge by declaring "I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject." Wrapped in an ox hide to prevent him being ripped apart, thereby shortening the torture, he was dragged by horses four miles through London to Smithfield. There he was hanged, as a murderer and thief, but cut down while still alive. Then he was mutilated, disembowelled, his heart, liver, lungs and entrails were cast upon a fire, and, finally, his head was chopped off. His carcase was then cut up into bits. His head was set on a pole on London Bridge, another part went to Newcastle, a district Wallace had destroyed in 1297–8, the rest went to Berwick, Perth and Stirling (or perhaps Aberdeen), as a warning to the Scots. Edward had destroyed the man, but had enhanced the myth.  Edward I of England wanted the destruction of Wallace's name and reputation as well as physical presence, but inadvertently created a hero and martyr. He entered the realm of folktale and legend.


Separating myth from historical truth is no easy matter. The waters are muddied when the historian only has access to scant Medieval resources. Around 1470s the epic poem, The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie, was written by Henry the Minstrel, also called Blind Harry; which became  possibly the most influential long poem ever written in Scots. And here we are most definitely in the realm of powerful and deliberate myth-making. Professor Cowan writes of "borrowings plunderings, plagerisms, inventions, and fancies", and points to two major events at least in the poem that never happened - Wallace's victory at Biggar, and English atrocities at the Barns of Ayr. One story says that he started by killing a bunch of English soldiers who tried confiscating the fish he'd caught in the River Irvine. Another says that he killed the son of an English governor who had been bullying his family, and yet a third states that he killed William Heselrig, Sherriff of Lanark, in revenge for the death of Marion Braidfute. This last version dates only from Blind Harry's story from around 1470, and is most likely pure fiction. In 1722 Blind Harry’s work was translated and adapted by another poet, William Hamilton of Gilbertfield, and became the most commonly owned book in Scotland next to the Bible.


Modern Scots today honour who they acclaim as a fighter for Scotland's sovereignty. What was the “Scotland” that Wallace believed in, defended, pledged himself to and died for? The idea of Wallace as early exponent of “democratic patriotism” ahistorically gives to a medieval man the mind and sensibilities of a later, modern age. Wallace was a violent man in a violent age; and anyone researching the gleeful cross-border forays of Wallace’s bands into Hexham Abbey or the priory at Lanercost in Northumberland, England’s far north, can register their devastating impact. Wallace never fought for an abstract “people” or even “nation”, but always in the name of a legitimate power of which he was but the temporary protector or “guardian”  -  John Balliol.