Where We Stand

The campaign of the Socialist Party is and will be wholly educational. To arouse the consciousness of the workers to their economic interests as a class, to develop their capacity for clear thinking, to achieve their solidarity industrially and politically is to invest the working class with the inherent power it possesses to abolish the wage system and free itself from every form of servitude, and this is the mighty mission of the socialist movement. We shall not compromise, nor shall we be deflected in the least by any consideration from the straight road to the cooperative commonwealth.

The Socialist Party is the only party that does not want a vote that is not intelligently cast. The popularity of a candidate is against him rather than for him in the Socialist Party. No vote is wanted on account of the personality of a candidate. It is the value of the socialist principle that is taught and emphasised, and if this is not understood and approved the vote is not wanted. Mere disgust with other parties is not accepted by socialists as sufficient reason to encourage the voting for the Socialist Party. Such votes are unreliable, deceptive and misleading. The men who cast them are apt to desert at the very time they are most needed. Any vote that is subject to the influence of personal considerations is so vacillating that it is of no use in the constructive work of a revolutionary political movement. Better a few united on the solid basis of principle, than ten times that number thrown together on the shifting sands of personality. In conventional political party circles, principle is subordinated to personality. “Who are the candidates?” is the all-absorbing question. The people, like helpless children, are forever looking for some “great man” to watch over and protect them.  In the Socialist Party principles are paramount; the candidates are the last and least consideration. The supreme question is, “What are the principles?”

 The Socialist Party is not on the look-out for some charismatic leader to follow to the fabled promised land, nor does it expect any so-called “great man” to sacrifice himself upon the altar of the country for their salvation. They have made up their minds to be their own leaders and to save themselves. They know that persons have deceived them and will again, so they put their trust in principles, knowing that these will not betray them.

The Socialist Party addresses itself to the working class, seeking to develop the knowledge of that class, while it appeals to the ballot for the realisation of its cooperative commonwealth.

The Socialist Party is the only party that is unequivocally committed to our fellow-workers economic interests, to the abolition of the wage-system and the freedom of the worker from exploitation and every other species of servitude.

The Socialist Party does not expect the support of the capitalist class, for it is opposed to their economic interests, and it would be foolish to expect them to abolish themselves.

One class now owns the tools while another class uses them. One class is small and rich and the other large and poor. One wants more profit and the other more wages. One consists of capitalists and the other of workers. These two classes are at war. Every day of truce is at the expense of labour. There can be no peace and good will between these two essentially antagonistic economic classes. This class conflict cannot be covered up or smoothed over. The workers are not all blind to the causes underlying this great struggle. They are beginning to see and to think, and many will begin to act.  The class struggle accounts for it all and the class-conscious worker takes his or her place on the right side of this struggle and works with all their might to bring brothers and sisters to the same side.

 The Socialist Party is the party of the workers, who are on the right side of this worldwide struggle.

The Socialist Party is the party of the present and of the immediate future. It believes that the competitive system has outlived its usefulness, that it has become an obstruction in the path of progress, that, like feudalism, from which it sprang, it must pass away to make room for its cooperative successor.  

The Socialist Party stands for the abolition of the wage system, for the economic freedom as well as the political power of the working class, knowing that without the latter the former is impossible.  
 
The Socialist Party stands for the common ownership of the means of wealth production and distribution and the operation of industry in the interest of all.

The Socialist Party stands for society of the people, by the people and for the people, that wealth may be produced for the use of all instead of for the profit of a few

 The Socialist Party stands for social harmony, in which every human being, in the full enjoyment of economic freedom, shall have full opportunity, in the best possible environment, to develop the best there is in him or her for their own good as well as the good of society at large.

The Socialist Party stands for a sustainable relationship with nature.

Upon this stand the Socialist Party makes its appeal to working people.

The Manifesto of the People

The Socialist Party is the political expression of the socialist movement, and the socialist movement is based upon the modern class struggle in which all workers of all countries, regardless of race, nationality, creed, or sex, are called upon to unite against the capitalist class, their common exploiter and oppressor. In this class struggle the economic equality of all workers is a foregone conclusion, and he or she who does not recognise and subscribe to it as one of the basic principles of the socialism is not a socialist. The Socialist Party would be false to its historic mission, violate the fundamental principles of socialism and repudiate its own teachings if, it sought to exclude any human being from political equality and economic freedom. Who take his or her place in the Socialist Party does so with the workers of all colours and from all countries, and all of them will unite in the fight to destroy the capitalist system tint now makes common slaves of us all. Anyone who seeks to arouse race prejudice among workers is not their friend. Anyone who advises the white wage-worker to look down upon the black wage-worker is the enemy of both. Socialism will give all people economic freedom and equal opportunity. Socialism will strike us free from our economic fetters.

The Socialist Party is agreed upon its object, that object being social and economic freedom, equality and liberty for all, through the common ownership and control of all the material means of production. Fellow-workers must agree upon this in order to become members of the Socialist Party, only those who believe in the object as defined he here can join.  Those who so adhere to this are socialists, and those who do not, are not socialists, no matter what they may say to the contrary. Our primary function is to organise a political party, independent and class-conscious, to capture the machinery of government. The function of industrial organisation lies with the trade unions. These two functions are not absolutely distinct and separate, they are co-ordinate, and to some extent interdependent. Yet they are not identical. The trade unions can help us, we can help them. The object of a Socialist Party is the realisation of socialism; and incidentally to assist in the organisation of the working-class for the amelioration of its conditions in existing society. The object of a trade union is to make the best of existing conditions; to make the best terms for its members within capitalist society, and, incidentally, to help on the emancipation of the working-class.

The platform of the Socialist Party declares in favour of the common ownership of all the means of production and distribution: namely, the land, mines, mills, factories, and productive machinery, for the purpose of operating industry in the interest of the whole people. This involves a complete transformation of the structure purpose of the State. The present government is based upon private property and is essentially coercive, the vital function being to protect the interests of the owning and ruling class, and to keep their victims in subjugation. When productive capital becomes common property, government will become purely administrative, and will cease to be repressive and oppressive. The owning class in the present, as in all past ages, is necessarily the ruling class, and all legislation is enacted and interpreted in the interest of the employing, owning class.

 Political equality under the present system is simply a myth. The wage-worker whose employment is controlled by his industrial master ,and who in that relation is at the mercy of his master since he depends upon his arbitrary will for the opportunity to labour and support his family, is not on terms of political equality with his master. Political equality is rooted in economic freedom, and only when the means of production shall have become the common property of all, as they have been produced by all, are used by all, and are necessary to all, only then will political equality prevail and all men and women enjoy equal rights and equal opportunities. In other words, a political liberty and an economic despotism are incompatible and in ceaseless conflict and both must become one or the other. Political democracy and industrial despotism will not abide together. One or the other must go before we can have peace. The Socialist Party proposes to establish industrial democracy, based upon cooperative industry. Production will be carried forward for use and not for profit. The human trafficking of in labour— men women, and children — their purchase and sale upon a weekly or monthly instalment plan, will cease.

 The Socialist Party is the only world socialist party. Socialists recognises no national boundary lines. The land in which he or she lives embraces the working class of the world. Every worker everywhere are sisters and brothers. Across the borders of all lands socialists clasp hands as comrades. We pledge ourselves to the principles of international socialism as embodied in the united thought and action of the socialists of all nations. In the industrial development already accomplished the interests of the world’s workers are separated by no national boundaries. The condition of the most exploited and oppressed workers, in the most remote places of the earth, inevitably tends to drag down all the workers of the world to the same level. The tendency of the competitive wage system is to make labour’s lowest condition the measure or rule of its universal condition. Industry and finance are no longer national but international in both organisation and results. The chief significance of national boundaries, and of the so-called patriotisms which the ruling class of each nation is seeking to revive, is the power which these give to capitalism to keep the workers of the world from uniting, and to throw them against each other in the struggles of contending capitalist interests for the control of the yet unexploited markets of the world, or the remaining sources of profit. The socialist movement, therefore, is a world movement. It knows of no conflicts of interests between the workers of one nation and the workers of another. It stands for the freedom of the workers of all lands; and, in so standing, it makes for the full freedom of all humanity.
 
 Socialists looks upon society as an organism of which all are integral parts to be adapted and coordinated upon a basis of harmonious cooperation, not for the greatest good of the greatest number, but for the greatest good of all. Socialists appeals to the ballot to express the untrammelled will of the people. Socialism is not “such stuff as dreams are made of,” but a social system that is to be, evolving. It is the next phase in the evolution of civilisation.

The Socialist Party's Summer School 2020: Technology

The Socialist Party’s 2020 Summer School on 7th- 9th August, looks at technological progress and its application in the past, present and future. This weekend of talks and discussion is an exciting opportunity to share and explore revolutionary ideas, in the relaxing setting of Fircroft College in Birmingham.

From the development of the first tools and the wheel through to the invention of the printing press, the steam engine, the microprocessor and beyond, technology has always shaped how we live. Scientific developments take place in the context of the social and economic conditions of the time. In capitalism, technological progress and how technology is used are driven by what is profitable and cost effective more than by what is really needed and wanted. This means that technology is often used in ways which go against our best interests, whether through environmental damage, the development of ever-more destructive weapons or the misuse of data gathered online and through social media. In a future socialist society based on common ownership and democratic organisation of industries and services, technology could really be used to benefit us, in harmony with the environment.

Full residential cost (including accommodation and meals Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) is £100, and the concessionary rate is £50. Day visitors are welcome, but please book in advance.

E-mail enquiries should be sent to spgbschool@yahoo.co.uk.

To book a place online, go to spgb.net/summer-school-2020 or send a cheque (payable to the Socialist Party of Great Britain) with your contact details to Summer School, The Socialist Party, 52 Clapham High Street, London, SW4 7UN.

We need more than protest to survive

Extinction Rebellion protested outside a Shell petrol station in Glasgow's Victoria Road with banners in a bid to ‘highlight the role of the fossil fuel industry in the climate emergency’. 

Jack Healy, a volunteer for the group at the protest, said: “We’re taking this action today because Shell and the rest of the fossil fuel industry are at the root of the climate crisis. They’ve been wilfully concealing the truth about the climate crisis for thirty years. I can’t understand how, even now, while Australia is burning, they keep extracting more and more climate-destroying oil and gas. They’re one of the biggest energy companies in the world and their greed is reducing our chance of keeping the Earth habitable.”

The Socialist Party has have to convince these earnest campaigners  that socialism is the only solution and they should first  lay aside their other objectives and concentrate on trying to capture the State. 

It is not always a case of a government not wanting to do anything. It’s that economic constraints (profit considerations)prevent them for doing much. Capitalist corporations from the different capitalist states are competing against each other to sell their goods on world markets. And states with sources of fossil fuels are interested in continuing to sell them. 

So, if one state were to unilaterally take the necessary measures, which will involve extra energy costs for their capitalists, this would make them less competitive on world markets. So they are only going to take action if other states are too. Hence the various climate change conferences. At these conferences each state is trying not to disadvantage itself and to prevent other states getting an advantage over them. So what emerges is the lowest common denominator.

This is why we can be certain that the IPCC recommended 45 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared with 2010 will not be reached so that, unless something else happens, the average global temperatures rise since pre-industrial times will not have been limited to 1.5 degrees by 2100.

Basically what XR are doing is appealing to politicians to put the longer-term overall general capitalist interest before short-term national capitalist interests, while what they should be doing is campaigning for “system change” to socialism as a world of common ownership and democratic control by and in the interest of the whole world’s population. The only framework in which the world can rationally tackle this problem is the common ownership and democratic control of the Earth’s natural and industrial resources.

Our Immediate Demands

The common ownership and control of industry and its democratic management in the interest of all the people — that is the demand of the Socialist Party. 

The elimination of rent, interest, and profit and the production of wealth to satisfy the wants of all the people — that is the demand of the Socialist Party.

Production for use in which all shall cooperate and work together in harmony as the basis of a new social system,  — that is the demand of the Socialist Party. 

The end of class struggles and class rule, of master and slave, of poverty and hunger, of cruelty and crime; the birth of freedom, the dawn of brotherhood, a new beginning for mankind — that is the demand of the Socialist Party.

The Earth for all the people — that is the demand of the Socialist Party.

That is socialism!

Socialism is the only hope of humanity!

Socialism will mean the end of the present capitalist competitive system and the introduction of the cooperative commonwealth. Is it not strange that a great many people instinctively shrink from the merest mention of it, and look upon those who advocate this perfectly sane society as the malicious enemies of society. Socialists do not propose to take away your personal property and possessions but rather end the ownership the means of wealth production by the capitalist class which enables the few to exploit vast majority. Equality is the vital principle of socialism. Its mission is to abolish class rule to guarantee economic freedom for every human being. Competition for profit would give way to cooperation for use.  The sordid spirit of commercial conquest will be dead. War and its ravages will pass into history.

 We hold a vision of a land without a master, a land without a slave. Work will no longer be servitude. Every one will gladly do his or her share of the world’s useful work. Every person can then honestly enjoy a share of the world’s blessings. Every machine will be a blessing to mankind because it will serve to reduce the number of hours required to toil. Labour will no longer be bought and sold in the markets of the world. We will not make things for sale, but will make things to use. We will fill the world with wealth and everyone can have all that he or she can rationally use. Rent, interest, and profit, three forces of exploitation, will disappear forever. Men and women will be economically free; life will no longer be a struggle for existence.

This brutal order of things must be overthrown. Humanity was not born to live in depravity and degeneracy. Full opportunity for full development of our individuality is the heritage of all and the inalienable right of all. Who denies it is a tyrant; who does not demand it is a coward; who is indifferent to it is a slave; who does not seek it is has no heart or soul. The abolition of the capitalist system does not merely mean the emancipation of the working class, but of all society.

The factories and mills and mines, transport and communications and all other means of production and distribution will be transferred to the people, industry will be operated cooperatively, and every human being will have free access to the collective wealth of society. This will mark the end of the capitalist system.

This is the goal of the Socialist Party and it is this that inspires its members. 

WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?

The banner to muster under is the socialist one

Tens of thousands of Scottish independence supporters are due to march through Glasgow in the first of a series of protests over the coming year. Glasgow City Council has estimated that about 100,000 people will take part.

The All Under One Banner (AUOB) march will leave Kelvingrove Park at 11:30 GMT and head to Glasgow Green. A mass rally that was due to be held afterwards has been cancelled after rain and high winds were forecast. 

It is the first of eight marches that the grassroots AUOB group plans to hold across Scotland over the coming year. Another AUOB march will be held in Glasgow in May, with similar events scheduled for Arbroath, Peebles, Elgin, Kirkcaldy, Stirling and Edinburgh.

When asked why the Socialist Party does not support Scottish independence, we point out that, at best, they will simply be exchanging one lot of masters for another. They may win or be allowed a little more freedom within the system but while it remains they must depend on the capitalists — state or private — for their subsistence. For workers, independence is merely a change of rulers. Nationalism is a ruse to lure workers into supporting the rights of the business class to make profits at their expense. We state unambiguously our opposition to the views of both Westminster and Holyrood.

“Independence" is a word used to stir up emotions. An "independent" Scotland will be no more independent than it is today. It will still have to conform to global economic pressures which govern how much food will be on the table of the average person. The current economic system doesn’t play favourites based upon national, ethnic, or cultural sovereignty. Capital investment and migration is based upon the likelihood of making better profits, not upon which of the largely irrelevant politicians form the government.

"Independence" will solve the problems that working people face every day. The working class will never be served by nationalism. If Scots, in the future, decide to separate, they should not expect it to improve their lives. Capitalist economics has a very forceful way of ensuring that the world remains class-divided, and that the working class is at the bottom of that division. The world's working class don’t need a change in politicians. we need an end to class division. 

Free Ourselves From Capitalism

Money makes money only because labour-power, bought and sold for money, creates a value greater than its own. It does this by transforming the raw materials, by means of the machinery provided, into articles of consumption; thus preserving their value and adding further value to them at the same time. The process does not end with the bare re-production of their wages by the workers. It goes on in order that they may produce profit. Hence, the struggle between the workers (who are not interested in the production of profit) and their masters (who are) arises from the conditions of production under Capitalism.

When the means of production have been converted into the common property of society they will have lost their capitalistic character. They will be used for the common good instead of being instruments of exploitation.

Capitalism has made possible an abundant production of the things we need, but its insatiable greed for profit has converted the producers into little more than beasts of burden, disease ridden and with twisted minds and bodies. It is rotten at the root and has soiled, the lives of people wherever it has raised its ugly head. But it has one merit. By bringing each section of the earth into a unified system, producing a wealth of articles for the world at large, it has prepared the ground for a new social system — Socialism— under which the means of production will be owned in common. The future is promising for the spread of socialist ideas. The restrictions that at present hamper propaganda will have to be lifted, whatever may be the desires or intentions of our social rulers, because a pot that is left on the fire indefinitely will inevitably burst. The new year which we hare just entered should witness considerable progress towards our socialist objective, and it behoves all who sympathise with our outlook to do what they can to “shorten and lessen the birth pangs" of the new social system.

Working people are the foundation of society. Our labour makes social life possible. Without our labour there would not be any social life. We are the producers of all values. All the wealth you see around you on this planet is the result of labour. Do you own the wealth which you produce? No, you do not. You have built up an aristocracy of wealth consisting of parasites of society, and you, the wealth-producers live under wage slavery, in poverty and misery. We are the fundamental power of society, and we don’t seem to know it. We imagine that we are free, while in fact we are enslaved. The man who owns the means of production, controls our life. We are dependent on our employer for a job, and for you the job means a chance at life. Consequently, the class of men who own the means of production own our very existence.

We have been asleep while the 1% have accumulated billions of dollars of wealth, which represents the stolen products of the working class. We elect the same political parties into power whose mission it is today to protect and advance the class interests of capitalism. The politicians flatter us right up to election day and after the election they despise us and our unions. Every true unionist must admit the justice and truth and necessity of socialism, and consequently also the necessity of the Socialist Party. It can no longer be a simple fight for a pay increase; it has become a question whether or not the workers shall take possession of all the wealth created by labour or whether this wealth shall remain the privileged monopoly of the class of social parasites who never do an honest day’s work.

 Be men and women who do their own thinking. Under the present system of society you are being robbed whether you receive higher or lower wages, because the wage system is based on legalised robbery. Fight for the freedom of your own class and join the working class party, which is the Socialist Party. Every person should remember that by voting for the parties of capitalism we help to perpetuate wage slavery, we strengthen the fetters of hard toil and misery. The political powers of capitalism are organised against you. It is for you to organise under the banner of socialism and the Socialist Party and fight the battles of your own emancipation.

Things always change

Labour Party sources have told the Guardian that Scottish Labour is considering backing a second independence referendum in a dramatic reversal of policy by the party leader, Richard Leonard. He told his shadow cabinet on Monday he wanted to hold a special conference in May to decide Scottish Labour’s position on a fresh independence referendum, where he would present proposals for Labour to back a federal UK. Leonard said he would consider asking for a pro-federal option to be included in a multi-option referendum on independence. “Labour would be more willing to consider supporting a second referendum if it was multi-option,” one source said.

Rosa Luxemburg grasped why Marx had supported particular wars and certain nationalisms, but she realised that the situation had since changed and urged opposition to all wars and to nationalism. The Socialist Party also argues that all wars should be opposed, and that nationalism has no progressive role left.

Nationalism is the ideology of the capitalist class. The identification of people with the nation and the national interest enables the bosses to present society as a struggle between nations in the interests of the people thus obscuring the real conflict in society between the working and capitalist classes.

The Socialist Party objective is overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism, in all lands. This will involve the abolition of national frontiers and the disappearance of racial and ethnic prejudices. The world will then be a place for all its inhabitants to live in and travel in, freely and without hindrance or prejudice. Any oppressed nationalities will be emancipated because all workers will be emancipated from capitalism.