No More Promises, Please

 

"It was truly a transformative, joyful moment. People were literally weeping with joy in the hallways, people from around the world embracing," said Rachel Cleetus, policy director for climate and energy at the US-based advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, who was in Paris at the time. "It was such a moment of recognition that countries can indeed rise above their narrow self-interest and work for the global common good." 

 However, Cleetus tells us, "Back in 2015 there was a lot of hope that this would be a real turning point, but we have certainly fallen short of sharply bending that global emissions curve. And meanwhile, we're watching climate impacts unfold around us in terrifying ways." 

Cleetus concludes, "Clearly, we have not lived up to the promise of Paris." 

Cleetus stressed that the international community still has a long way to go in supporting mitigation and adaptation efforts in those parts of the world struggling with the devastating effects of climate change.

"The reality is that these impacts are getting worse by the day, and the United States and other rich countries have refused to acknowledge the loss and damage that they are inflicting on the rest of the world," said Cleetus. "This remains one of the biggest pieces of injustice in the global negotiations that has not been appropriately dealt with yet."

The situation has only worsened in the past year with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the setbacks of political inaction and the ongoing pandemic, Cleetus said, "What we need to see in the lead-up to COP26 in Glasgow next year is a coalition of major emitting nations, including the US, the EU, China and others, willing to put very ambitious commitments on the table in terms of emission reductions, and willing to implement the policies back home. It's just that simple."

But what is even simpler to understand is that with an economic system where the priority of profits and capital accumulation are more important than people, despite lip-service legislation and cosmetic reforms, the basis on how society runs must be challenged and changed. 

In Glasgow, in 2021, at COP26, the local branches of the Socialist Party alongside members from other parts of the UK will be on the streets campaigning for a sustainable cooperative world commonwealth.

Socialism means Social Change

 

Everyone, the workers and their families, are thinking and worrying about what will happen in this period of uncertainty. Hand in hand with economic distress, capitalism also holds in prospect a political tyranny which it needs to secure itself from the angry indignation of a people determined not to be ground into poverty. Against the looming dark future of capitalism, the Socialist Party, offers the promise of socialism – a real solution to the social ills that beset mankind. We invite fellow-workers to join with us in the fight for a better world so we may live as human beings as we are entitled to live. Don’t waste your support on capitalist politician.

There is nothing automatic about socialism; there are no guarantees it will come. First and foremost it is necessary for working people to build a movement which dedicates itself to the socialist cause on a revolutionary and democratic basis. The very course of struggle opens new possibilities of victory. Every human being who desires to put an end to this society of poverty war and hunger, must find a place in the world socialist movement. That means simply this: revolution against the exploiting capitalist class. The future promise of socialism is a system to satisfy basic human needs.

The ideas, demands and movements of workers’ participation, workers’ control, self-management, direct workers’ rule, workers’ democracy, etc., have a long-standing tradition and are deeply rooted. These ideas imbue and permeate, in one way or another, the rise of world socialism. The Socialist Party will not be a party to deception. We tell the workers the truth and help organise the aim to end this horrible system and assist the introduction of a socialist system of society. We say reformism is not a moderate or a slow gradual way to socialism, but it isn’t. We are in in opposition to “condescending saviors.” The choice is quite simple. We in the Socialist Party are all agreed on the need for the Social Revolution, that is, the conquest of power by the working-class and the subsequent transformation of our capitalist into a socialist society. If we did not believe in it is possible, we would not be socialists. 

When all of society has been transformed, the social ills left over from capitalism have been eliminated, and the community of workers has been established, then socialism, a completely class-free society, will have been achieved, and humanity will enter a whole new epoch of evolution. There will no longer be the need for the state, since there will no longer be any class to suppress, and the state will be replaced with common administration by all of society. Socialism eliminates the anarchy of capitalism and its crises, by common ownership of the means of production and collective planning of the economy controlled by the working people, this removes the tremendous barriers to production that capitalist relations have erected. Unemployment will be ended, because socialism will be able to make full use of the labour of everyone in society, while at the same time developing and introducing new machinery and scientific methods to expand output. As technology replaces workers, workers will not be thrown into the streets, but transferred to other jobs–according to an overall plan–and the working day for all workers will be reduced. The nature of work itself will change completely, because the labor of the workers will no longer go to enrich capital to further enslave the working class, but to improve life today, while providing for the future, according to the conscious plan. Machines will no longer be weapons in the hands of the capitalists to grind down the working class, and workers will no longer be a mere extension of the machine, as they are under capitalism. Instead machines will become tools in the hands of the working class in its own struggle to revolutionise society. All this will unleash the stored-up knowledge of the working class, based on its direct experience in production, and inspire workers to make new breakthroughs in improving production. Work itself will become a joy and enrichment of the worker’s life, instead of a miserable means to sustain existence, as it is under capitalism. Socialism will mean all this, and much more. 

Changing Capitalism? Or is Capitalism Changing You?

 An event of a century ago may not be an up-to-the-minute sensational news flash, so please indulge me dear reader. 

Recently I read Jared Diamond’s, ''Upheaval'', which is about how the stooges of the capitalist class in several countries, dealing with the specific problems capitalism up-chucks on them in their respective neck of the woods. 

Diamond mentions how the Australian Labour Party, (which, incidentally touted itself the first working class party ever elected to power in 1905), dealt with immigration. They restricted it from very poor countries because they wanted to protect the high wages of Australian workers by preventing the immigration of cheap labour. 

Another example of a reformist party wanting to change capitalism and being changed by it.

S.P.C. Members.

It’s Capitalism That Causes Divisions.

The construction industry is noted for its racism, which was confirmed by a recent incident on a Toronto building site when a black worker found a noose in his work area. The guy, who wanted to remain anonymous, said, ''That noose has one purpose only and it’s for hanging people. It’s a powerful symbol in the history of lynching. One up from that would be a burning cross on somebody's lawn.''

 Ellis Don, the company that manages the site has offered a reward of $50,000 for any information leading to the arrest of the culprit.

This is alright as far as it goes, but it doesn't go nearly far enough, which would be the working class realizing their enemies are not amongst themselves, or for that matter, the capitalist class, but the capitalist system that causes divisions.

S.P.C. Members.

We see the promise of socialism

 

The Socialist Party aspires to a just society that cooperates with nature instead of destroying it. We are now being confronted with several scenarios of the imminent destruction of civilisation and even possibility of humanity on Earth. Hoping that governments or new political leaders will save us from this, is missing the point. It is not this politician or that administration that brought us to the brink of the abyss, but capitalism. Avoiding possible collapse, therefore, means transforming the economic structure of the planet, without doing so we will end up in a delusion. The truth is that capitalism is the most dangerous social system humankind has ever created. No previous form of society has come so close to such a potential for annihilation.

The fundamental principle of the global economic machine is the endless accumulation of capital. In other words, it’s about making the money grow in an eternal cycle of profit and reinvestment. This principle is embedded, among others, at the heart of the most powerful economic institutions in the world. These institutions have, in their legal constitution, only one goal: to increase the financial returns  of shareholders, and that at all costs — even at the risk of ending civilisation itself. The system that brought humankind to the brink of the abyss remains increasingly unstable and unpredictable.

This logic is the engine of the aggressive expansion and permanent growth that the system needs to exist. New markets and new sources of energy must be made accessible by all means and ever larger natural spaces are being exploited. According to this logic, any pause, any deceleration or moderation is equivalent to a crisis. Commodities, products ,be they cars or medicines, or guns, food or energy — are interchangeable means for this purpose. Once the demand for certain products is satisfied, new demands must be created. That is why it is essential to transform citizens into consumers, whose contribution to social life is reduced to buying things.

The capitalist system cannot exist without the modern state, which has developed in a co-evolutionary manner with capital. The International Monetary Fund has calculated that states subsidise fossil fuels to the tune of $5 trillion each year. That is, taxpayers finance the destruction of the planet to maintain the profits of the fossil fuel industry. The same goes for the automotive industry, aviation, big banks and industrial agriculture.

The business model is also based on the armaments industry. the spoils of the pillaging and the looting of weaker foreign countries has been the driving force behind the cataclysmic wars and colonial expansion.

Crises will continue to recur — financial crises, pandemics, failed states, ecological degradation — and each crisis will oblige members of society to engage with the issues and make choices. 

The Socialist Party does not hold the belief that it is inevitable, a ‘scientific’ certainty, that capitalism will  lead to the socialist revolution. Marx was not the sole originator, but there were traditions of socialism that preceded Marxism. Socialism will foster participatory democracy. Socialists insist that we can only learn what a socialist society will look and feel like by building it, and this failure to imagine has sometimes blinded us to the both the possibilities and problems that might arise.

Perhaps individual members of a socialist society may not feel or act lovingly toward others in many instances, but the culture will support a system that nurtures compassion and altruism. Socialism will limit the socially destructive aspects of competition and egoism. Socialism will not construct any bureaucracies rife with corruption. In capitalism, individuals may have the right to choose their own lifestyle options, but the choices are restricted by the ways commercialism influences and limits our desires, molds our identities, and produces only customers.

 The Socialist ideal obliterates all differences of race, creed, color, and nationality. It celebrates the brother and sisterhood of all workers everywhere. It crosses all national boundaries, it transcends all language barriers, it ignores all religious differences. It makes sharp and clear, around the world, the impassable chasm between all workers and all exploiters. 

The Socialist Party seeks to enlighten fellow-worker to the possibility of a new world, a class-free world, a peaceful world, a world without poverty or misery. It is the promise of socialism, the real family of mankind. There is but one race – the human race! Workers of all nationalities, immigrants, political refugees, exiles, from every foreign land; native born must seek a common, determined demand - socialism.

They laugh at us, the rulers. We are small voices, crying out in the wilderness, but are we dreamers when we say conditions can’t change human nature and ask what would the world be without the profit incentive?  Socialism –  world of peace and plenty, the cooperative commonwealth. No bosses, no landlords, no bankers, no ammunitions makers, no loan sharks, no uber/gig employment agencies; no child labour; no prostitution; no unfinished incomplete education; no more being broken by old age; no long hours; no low wages; no speed-up; no unemployment or under-employment; no rich, no profiteers, no capitalism. 

There is very great need to-day to clearly define what is socialism. The Socialist Party says we must dismantle the foundations of capitalist society and replace it with another economic system that do not serve profit but the common good. We must transform the basis of our civilisation and create the cooperative commonwealth. The road ahead may be rough but it is shorter than the road behind.

Freedom for all

 

The Socialist Party believes that most of the ills that afflict mankind stem from a bad social organisation called capitalism and that men and women could change it if they so wished and knew how. It would be ridiculous and contrary to our objectives to seek to impose freedom, love among men and the radical development of human faculties, by means of force. One must therefore rely on the free will of others, and all we can do is to provoke the development and the expression of the will of the people. 

The Socialist Party seeks the abolition of private property in land, in raw materials, and the instruments of labour, so that no one shall have the means of living by the exploitation of the labour of others, and that everybody, being assured of the means to produce and to live, shall be truly independent and in a position to unite freely among themselves.

The Socialist Party wishes the organisation of social life by means of free association and federations of producers and consumers, created and modified according to the wishes of their members, guided by science and experience, and free from any kind of imposition which does not spring from natural needs, to which everyone, convinced by a feeling of overriding necessity, voluntarily submits. The means of life, for development and well-being, will be guaranteed to all.

The Socialist Party wants the abolition of government and of every power which makes the law and imposes it on others: therefore abolition of monarchies, republics, parliaments, armies, police forces, and any institution whatsoever endowed with coercive powers.

Our ideal is a question of changing the way of life of society as a whole; of establishing among humanity relationships based on cooperation and solidarity; of achieving the full material, moral and intellectual development for all mankind—and this is not something that can be imposed by force, but must emerge through the enlightened consciences of each one of us and be achieved with the free consent of all. Our first task therefore must be to persuade people.

We must make people aware of the misfortunes they suffer and of the possibility of ending them. We must awaken sympathy in everybody for the misfortunes of others and see in those the common cause - capitalism.

The Socialist Party will demonstrate how possible and easy it could be to assure to everybody their material needs. It will show how it is possible to live happily in a world of people who are free and equal. We will point to the road that leads to peace and prosperity.

The Socialist Party will arouse the sentiment of rebellion in the minds of men and women against the avoidable and unjust evils from which we suffer in society today, and in getting them to understand how they are caused and how it depends on human will to rid ourselves of them; and when we will have created a lively and strong desire to transform society for the good of all, then those who are convinced, will by their own efforts as well as by the example of those already convinced, unite and want to as well as be able to act for their common ideals.

 What the Socialist Party wants is the complete end of the exploitation of man by man; we want men and women united as brothers and sisters by a conscious and desired solidarity, all cooperating voluntarily for the well-being of all; we want society to be constituted for the purpose of supplying everybody with the means for achieving the maximum well-being where the means of production should be at the disposal of everybody and that no one person, or any group should be in a position to oblige others to submit to their will or to exercise their influence other than through the power of reason and by example. Therefore: expropriation of the capitalists for the benefit of all; and abolition of government.

 

Better A Society Where There Were No Homeless.

 On Nov.5 the City of Toronto announced they will build a home for the homeless and elderly on George St. in the downtown area. It will comprise 622,000 sq. ft. and will cost $580 million. 

This multi-purpose facility will include a 378 bed long term care home for homeless, vulnerable and elderly people; a 130 bed all gender transitional living facility for the homeless who require more intensive health care and substance abuse support; a 100 bed emergency shelter for men who are newly experiencing homelessness; 21 affordable housing units with supports; and a community service hub for clients and the surrounding community. 

It sounds pretty good, but let’s not kid ourselves: the capitalist class and their political stooges don't like large numbers of homeless wandering around the downtown areas of big cities -- who knows what they might do.

 Better a society where there were no homeless.

S.P.C. Members.