To the Workers, the World

 

We are very much at the beginning, but one full of urgency and possibility, of one of the biggest opportunity for the world socialist movement in decades. We can’t successfully deal with the problems of today unless we clearly understand the main features of our goal. Our task is to replace the dictatorship of the capitalist with social democracy. Underneath its guise of neutrality and impartiality the state exists to defend the interests of the wealthy by repressing other classes. A future society will be will differ from capitalism in that no classes will exist, therefore, there will be no need for a state or coercive force. Economic production will be developed to a point where each can give and take freely. Racism, nationalism and sexism will disappear. The conflicts between manual and mental labour and between urban and rural life will be reconciled. Capitalism is a system of greed whereby 1/10 of 1% of the population controls all the wealth of society. This wealth can only come through the exploitation of the toil of the working people.

At present the whole globe is under the rule of capitalism.This rule is based upon private property and the production of commodities for the market. A small group is in possession of the means of producing these goods, and of the means of distributing them; this is the capitalist class. Their ownership assures this class economic domination over billions of working people, who possess no means of production, and who are forced to sell their labour power. The working class serves as a living source of profit to the capitalists exploiting its labour. The working class, economically oppressed is the slave of capital. The economic domination is secured by its political rule, and by its control of state organisation. There is not a single country in the world where Capital is not trampling the most elementary demands of the working class underfoot. . Everywhere the employers are attacking the disorganised and divided workers’ movement. The capitalist governments, the employers’ organisations, the capitalist media, all are being utilised in the fight against the working class. The offensive of capital has crossed the national frontiers and is being fought on an international scale.

 

The aim pursued by the World Socialist Moveent is the substitution of the capitalist order by a cooperative commonwealth as the sole means of escape for humanity, for it alone is able to remove the fundamental defects of the capitalist system. By means of abolishing the private ownership of the means of production, and the passing of these means into common property, the socialist society replaces the unregulated force of competition and the blind course of production by a rational organisation and an appropriate plan. The abolition of anarchy in production and of competition implies the simultaneous disappearance of poverty and war. The abolition of private property does away with the exploitation of one human being by other human beings. The work done is no longer done for others. Every difference between poverty and wealth disappears. At the same time class rule vanish also, above all – state power. State power, which is the embodiment of class rule, vanishes with the vanishing of the classes.

 

The Socialist Party is not leninist or trotskyists or maoists, but we are plain revolutionaries. We do not intend to lead the masses towards a class-free society because we are a constituted part of the working-class ourselves and adhere faithfully to the motto of the First International: The emancipation of the workers is an act of the workers themselves. If the masses wait for a revolutionary vanguard to lead them to the free society, they will neither be liberated. Our function as revolutionaries is to expose and debunk capitalist ideologies to open the door to the construction of a socialist society. There are various false theories, conspiratorial views, overt and concealed moral and political assumptions that have wide influence in society; the role of the socialist critic is to expose these as illusions or ideologies, and this is a permanent job which has to be carried on from generation to generation. The Socialist Party hold the hopeful belief that by education and rational persuasion men and women can decide on the formation of a free society. Our picture of a future free society would not even be intelligible to us if we were not already acquainted with examples of cooperative activities in our present society. Contrary to the utopian, the Socialist Party consider it is a matter of keeping alive what already exists, of keeping up resistance, urging on the struggle to emancipate ourselves from myths and illusions. Nearly all socialists agree that a free society can exist only through voluntary association, and that its ultimate success will depend upon the educational development of the workers who will supplant the wage system with a new social arrangement, based on solidarity and economic well-being for all. That is socialism, in theory and practice.

Changing the World

 Organise, agitate and educate for a better world

 

There is something wrong in our social and economic life, and ignore it as we may, its problems don’t disappear. The system which has thus been evolved is known as the capitalist system. That is to say, a comparatively few individuals own the capital, including land, factories, mines, transportation, and machinery of production, and by virtue of such private ownership control the destinies and the very lives of the toiling millions of our population Without this capital labour is helpless. The working-person is denied access to the land, and machinery of production, unless he will agree to the terms fixed by capitalists, and as they invest their capital solely to make profits, the wage allowed the worker is, as a general proposition, no larger than is required to maintain his or her subsistence. And even were the capitalist disposed to allow a liberal wage, he is in competition with other capitalists, and the wage of the worker tends irresistibly downward to the point of subsistence. The great body of wage workers, the active producers of wealth, are at its mercy. They are essentially slaves under this system. They are compelled to accept what is allowed them, and must work under such conditions as capital imposes or pay the penalty of idleness, starvation, and death. There is no possible escape from, economic servitude under this system.

 

We live in a world dominated by capitalism, a system which allows a small minority of capitalists to oppress and exploit the great majority of humankind. It is capitalism that brings about great inequalities in living standards with more poor people now in the world than ever before, starts murderous wars to steal the resources of other countries and causes the growing devastation of our natural environment. Either we get rid of this outmoded and decrepit system or it will devastate humanity.

 

We, the homeless, the benefit claimants, the employed, the precariously employed and the unemployed, – in a word, the dispossessed – must fight back if we are to survive. We are reaching out to all from all walks of life. We have no choice but to create a new society free of expoitation and want. In order to do so, we need an organisation that can educate and agitate. The prescription for the cure is nothing less than democratic control of production by the working people. The real power must be exercised through assemblies, committees, councils freely elected and with the right of recall of any delegates at all levels by the manual and intellectual workers of city and country.

 

Under capitalism, where everything enters the field of exchange and becomes the object of buying and selling, a person’s worth comes to be estimated, not by his or her really praiseworthy abilities or actions, but by their bank balance. A person is “worth” what he or she owns and a millionaire is “worth” incomparably more than a pauper, all genuine human values and standards are distorted and desecrated. The working class anthem, the Internationale, says: “We need no god-given saviours.”  

 

 The only viable way forward is to achieve socialism, a class-free and state-free worldwide society where people do not oppress and exploit each other and where we live in harmony with our environment. Socialism is a system of real, popular democracy that sets about the reconstruction of society.

 

To create world socialism it is necessary to overthrow the rule of capitalism. Although many recognise capitalism as no good only a few can see a way forward to a better type of society.

 

Societies without a state do not lack social regulation; life within them can be orderly. We keep each other ‘in line’ by various forms of social pressure. Socialists who wish to maintain the state are simply not socialists.

 

Within the World Socialist Movement there exists a widespread sincere belief in and commitment to equality and justice. There is absolutely no room for any discrimination, based on race,colour, ethnicity, caste, gender, or other such considerations. Top priority of a socialist society should be given to meeting the essential needs of all people, respecting the dignity of all people.

 

Socialist Progress

 

We live in a world rife with misery and oppression. We suffer from hunger, poverty, unemployment, racial and sexual discrimination, and many forms of repression, from the restriction of the most basic democratic rights like freedom of speech and association to hideous barbarism like state torture and genocide. The gulf between the rich and the poor is steadily widening. The various forms of exploitation endured by the working people are growing.

 However, we all aspire to a better life where the living conditions of all would be in keeping with society’s ability to use the wealth of nature. We yearn for a society where all injustice will be banished forever, a society in which the weak would no longer be oppressed by the strong, a society in which one class would no longer be exploited by another. The dreams of the past have become real possibilities for a future and this sort of society can only be achieved through proletarian revolution. Capitalist relations of exploitation are now the fundamental obstacle to further progress for mankind and a society of abundance, of justice and of freedom: world socialism.

Capitalists have only one raison d’etre – to accumulate more and more capital. They are therefore always looking for ways to increase the productivity of labour. This stimulates the development of science and technology and leads to an ever greater division of labour. It also results in very keen competition among capitalists themselves; many are reduced to bankruptcy, while a minority get richer and richer. The existence of modern society depends on the work of millions of individuals whose roles in production are increasingly interdependent. At the same time, a minority, the owners of capital, continues to control production. This contradiction between the social character of production and the private character of the appropriation of the fruits of production is the fundamental contradiction of capitalism. This fundamental contradiction is the source of the anarchy of production under capitalism. This explains the enormous waste of productive forces lost through drops in production and plant shutdowns, and the resulting social misery, notably unemployment. This also explains why, alongside this waste, millions of people lack the basic necessities and why even famine still strikes in various parts of the world. Capitalists seek to increase the productivity of workers. They impose speed-ups and compulsory overtime. They multiply their attacks on the democratic rights of working people and continually try to control their organisations and even to destroy them.

Capitalism has created the very conditions for its own destruction. The spread of capitalist production has resulted in the growth of the size, cohesion, and revolt of the working class. With the abolition of capitalist exploitation, working people have everything to gain and nothing to lose but its chains. Socialist revolution is the only way that the working people can ensure the abolition of all exploitation. The working class cannot free itself without freeing all of humanity at the same time, because the ultimate goal of its struggle is not to replace the power of one class with that of another but rather to abolish all classes. This is the only way to put an end to all the social divisions and inequalities that have characterised class societies thus far. A socialist society will permit a steady reduction in the human work needed to produce goods. Socialism is based on the free association of all individuals who work together to produce the goods necessary for their collective well-being. All will work according to their capacities and their needs will be fully satisfied. Thus, individuals will no longer be governed by the division of labour and all opposition between city and countryside and between manual and intellectual work will be eliminated.

Only socialism can fully realize the material and ideological conditions for a society of plenty. The expropriation of the capitalists and the socialisation of the means of production will lead directly to the abolition of society divided into classes with opposing interests. The abolition of classes will in turn lead to the withering away of the State, and ultimately to its extinction for the State is not, and can never be, anything other than the instrument of dictatorship of one class over others. The world is in the midst of change. The assembly lines no longer dominate our factories. The jobs we once knew are slowly disappearing. We are being replaced by robots, computers, and other new technologies in our workplaces. The capitalists are defending their profits and domination by being ever more ruthless in their policies towards the workers. The system can no longer feed and house us or provide us with jobs. At every opportunity we must go on the offensive and expose the capitalist system and uncloak our class enemy.

The way out

 

Socialism will conserve the natural resources of our planet which are now being ruthlessly wasted in the mad capitalist race for profits. Socialism will end waste, inherent in the unplanned, competitive capitalist system. Many socially unnecessary useless industries and occupations will disappear. Socialism will turn production to useful social purposes. War, with all its agonies will cease. Where there is no capitalist class to demand its profit before production and distribution take place the welfare of everybody becomes the primary concern of the community. The purpose of the Socialist Party is to conquer political power for the workers so to fundamentally improve the economic and social conditions of the producers. The needs of the people will be met. 

The abolition of the robbery of the workers by the capitalists in all its myriad forms; the liquidation of the capitalist economic crises, with its mass unemployment and general crippling of the productive forces; the development of an industrial efficiency and a volume of production now hardly dreamed of; the careful consumption of natural resources; the abolition of war— these revolutionary measures will provide the material basis for a well-being of the working people of field and factory now quite unknown in the world. Poverty with its terrible misery and suffering, will become a thing of the past. With the deadly limitations of the capitalist market removed, members of socialist society will engage in constructive and fruitful work to the benefit of all society. The socialist transformation will clear away the mess of exploitation, inefficiency and shortages, and will open the road for such an industrial development and general rise in material and cultural standards of the people as now seems only the stuff of dreams. Already the technologies are at hand for an enormous increase in the well-being of everybody. Such a prospect is not a matter of mere speculation. Socialism will bring a new era for humanity, the building of a new world. The overthrow of capitalism will bring about the immediate or eventual solution of many great social problems which have have plagued mankind for centuries, war, religious superstition, famine, pestilence, crime, substance abuse, racism and national chauvinism, the repression of woman, and every form of slavery and exploitation of one class by another.  Only a system of developed world socialism can fully uproot and destroy all these evils and banish these menaces from the affairs of humanity. Capitalism stands as the great barrier to social progress. The day is not so far distant when our children, immersed in this new life, will look back with horror upon capitalism and marvel how we tolerated it so long.

Socialism destroys the whole accompanying capitalist baggage of ignorance, strife and misery and frees humanity from the stultifying effects of the present competitive struggle for existence to open up before it new horizons of joys and tasks. The day is not so far distant when productive forces can provide plenty for all.

We are living in a crazy, disordered, unplanned system, whose functions lead to so many contradictions that mankind must find a solution to the problems or go under.  Socialists seek not a happy Utopia, which we OUGHT to establish but a future system which we MUST achieve is social evolution is to continue to progress. Capitalism is tremendously wasteful and destructive of mankind and the land. Under capitalism goods are not produced to be consumed, but for profit, and if a greater profit can be made by destroying the goods, the destruction takes place. As capitalism develops, larger and larger factories are built, thousands of workers co-operate in the production of a single article, yet the article does not belong to them but to the owner of the means of production. The workers are merely paid wages for the use of their labour power, wages which constantly grow less and less in proportion to output. We are ruled by  by the wild forces of the market which we cannot control and of which we can be only the victims. The fluctuations of supply and demand, “decides” and “plans” what is produced and where it is allocated to. Even in times of economic  “prosperity” the lives of workers are not happy ones.

The capitalists and their agents in the seats of government are blinded by their self interest, by the profits which they make as beneficiaries of the present system. The workers, on the other hand, having nothing to lose. We are free to see that the present society must evolve into a new one; we see that nothing can free society except the change in the mode of production from a capitalist one, of private ownership of the means of production, to a socialist one, where the ownership of production is socialised and classes are no more.

Who, then, can offer the way out? Certainly not the capitalist class, the beneficiaries of the present system. The capitalists want to keep the old relations of exploitation. The interest of the workers is diametrically opposed to the interest of the capitalists and exploiters of the workers who, controlling the government and the social educational agencies, strive to keep the workers down. 

 As the working class fights against its increasingly worsened position it comes to the realisation that the only way out is for labour to take what it has produced for itself. To take over the means of production, the mines, mills, factories, resources, utilities and run them for their own benefit. Then we will have production for use and not for profit. Then we will end both despotism in the factory and anarchy in the market. Then society will allocate its resources and labor power according to a social plan that will benefit all. The victory of the workers cannot be forever delayed. The old relations must be burst asunder. And if the capitalists, blinded by their interests, try to stop the wheels of progress they are ruthlessly pushed aside by the workers just as in the past they themselves pushed aside the feudal lords.

When we have accomplished world socialism we will have done away with disorder and humanity will have reached a rational system of society where mankind will no longer be choked by oppressors, where society will be a free one and mankind emancipated.

Peter Kropotkin and Aberdeen

  I have had the pleasure of visiting the Gordon College at Aberdeen...under the direction of Dr. Ogilvie.

While receiving substantial scientific education, the pupils are also trained in the workshops — but not for one special trade, as it unhappily too often is the case. They pass through the carpenters’ workshop, the casting in metals, and the engineering workshop; and in each of these they learn the foundations of each of the three trades, sufficiently well for supplying the school itself with a number of useful things. Besides, as far as I could ascertain from what I saw in the geographical and physical classes, as also in the chemical laboratory, the system of ‘through the hand to the brain,’ and vice-versa, is in full swing, and it is attended with the best success. The boys work with the physical instruments, and they study geography in the field, instruments in hands, as well as in the class-room. Some of their surveys filled with joy my geographer’s heart. It is evident that the Gordon College’s industrial department is not a mere copy of any foreign school; on the contrary, I should permit myself to suggest that if Aberdeen has made that excellent move towards combining science with handicraft, the move was a natural outcome of what has been practised long since, on a smaller scale, in the Aberdeen daily schools.

Peter Kropotkin. Brain Work and Manual Work (marxists.org)