Cooperative Commonwealth or Catastrophe

 

The hallmark of capitalism is that those who produce all the wealth—the working class—are exploited during the course of production by an owning class who pay them less than the value of what they produce. The profit which the employer obtains is the main objective of production. So, when workers ask for higher wages the employer must resist such claims in order to defend that profit. The inevitable antagonism between the worker—who needs wages in order to live—and the capitalist—who receives rent, interest and profit—manifests itself in a continuous class struggle. As long as there is class ownership of the means of living this class struggle cannot be eradicated, in spite of the pretence that workers and capitalists have a common interest. 

Capitalism has nothing to offer but insecurity, environmental disasters, poverty and war. Global warming and the environmental crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. The uncontrolled and unconstrained expansion of  capitalism and its waste of resources will result in global catastrophe. Short-term profit-seeking, the abuse of science under capitalism damages the environment. Technology and industry can be beneficial to society, but private property and the priorities of the ruling class creates problems. Our answer is to organise to overthrow those who threaten the planet. Only socialism remedy the climate crises. The answer is not reform, but revolution. Socialism is the solution. Only politically aware and consciously organised working people will be able to  wrest power from the the capitalist class. Socialism  reclaims the people’s property from the capitalists and will end the right for some to exploit other people’s labour. Production will be planned on the basis of what serves society, not what yields the most profit. The producers themselves, the workers, will decide what to produce and how – not “the market”. Today’s environmental problems spring from capitalism’s reckless pursuit of accumulation without regard for human welfare or nature’s limitations. The drive for profit leads to the neglect of everything that stands in the way of it. Ecological havoc is created from one end of the world to the other.

Necessary though the continuation and extension of trades union activity is under capitalism, the true interests of the workers lie instead in the political struggle to establish socialism. On the other hand, the vast majority of trade union members are not socialists. Consequently their political motivation does not go further than reformist activity, which they believe will improve their lot under capitalism. Some, particularly the more active, would claim that they are socialists and that their political activity will help to hasten the establishment of socialism. However the acid test is to examine their definition, or rather lack of definition, of socialism.

Capitalism pollutes almost every institution with which it comes into contact. Whether such institutions are absorbed from a previous social system or whether they grow from the foundations of the capitalist system itself, they are either moulded to suit the interests of the capitalist class or are deflected from their original purpose to meet the needs of capital. 

 It is necessary to call attention once again to the following facts:

· That the wealth of the world is produced by the labour of the working class of the world, who receive in return wages that are barely enough to provide a poor existence for themselves and their families;

· That the wealth so produced takes the form of commodities, which are sold on the markets of the world on behalf of the capitalist class, the owners of the means of production, for the sole purpose of providing a profit for that class in order to enable its members to live in luxury without the necessity of working;

· That this profit represents the difference between the value of what the worker produces and the value of what he gets, in the form of wages or salaries, to provide him and his family with means of subsistence;

· That the pursuit of this profit, the result of the exploitation of the workers, is the fundamental cause of all modern wars which are quarrels between sections of the master class over the division of the spoil arising out of the robbery of the working class.

Therefore, the workers of the world should unite across the false barriers of territory, race, nationality and creeds into one world-wide combination of their class for the purpose of putting an end to their exploitation by abolishing the present system of capitalist production; in its place they should establish a socialist system, in which the means of production will he owned in common by the whole of mankind and used for the sole purpose of fulfilling equally the needs of each member of society, thus removing the profit motive as a social incentive and replacing it by the socialist principle of “from each according to ability, to each according to needs.”

As the establishment of this socialist system of society is the only means to prevent wars we call upon the workers of all lands to join together to accomplish this end and we point out the need for haste if the world is to be saved from a devastation that might well involve all in a common ruin and put an end to humanity’s progress for hundreds of years to come.

We further affirm our determination, whatever the immediate future may bring, to continue our policy of opposition to war and our advocacy of socialism as the only solution to the problems that beset the working class, no matter on what part of the world’s surface sections of that class may be employed.

This is our message and it is the only message of hope in a world that appears to be on the verge of catastrophe.

Low Wage Workers Risk Becoming Homeless.

As home prices skyrocket on Penticton, British Columbia, its city council voted to shut down a homeless shelter, which would put its 42 residents on the street. B.C.’s minister of housing David Eby has vowed to override this decision. With more people working from home Penticton has become a popular place to live. 

Across Canada, the pandemic has led to a boom in housing sales as well as rising rents in small and medium sized cities as those with the ability to work from home are seeking more space and a quieter pace of life. 

This means that Canadian workers who are not making a high wage are at risk of becoming homeless.

S.P,C, Members.

It’s Essential Workers Of Low Income Who Get COVID.

Readers of our last month’s report may recall that we said Amazon workers in the Toronto area are afraid to take a sick day in case they get fired. So, it should surprise nobody to learn that over 900 Amazon workers have got COVID since the pandemic began. A survey conducted by the COVID-19 Science Advisory Table for

Ontario, reported that, ''In the areas of the largest concentrations of essential workers, these infections are increasing at more than double the rate of areas with the lowest number of front-line employees.''

 According to Carolina Jimenez, an organizer of the Decent Work and Health Network,'' it could not be any clearer who’s getting COVID. It’s essential workers of low income; the exact same people who don't have paid sick days.''

 Common-sense may dictate that they should have been the first to get the vaccine, but then we live under crapitalism it’s always the little guy who gets shafted.

S.P.C. Members.

Capitalism is the workers’ real enemy.

 Whining about the "poverty” of "debt-ridden” America or  Britain cuts no ice with the World Socialist Movement. The capitalists of of the world are not poor. Despite the pandemic they are still rich enough to allow their providers, the working-class, a higher standard of living and still have plenty left over for themselves. The swindle behind the "we-are-poor-now” story is known to every business CEO. The capitalist class as a whole form themselves into a limited company known as the State. Thus they can incur debts collectively whilst as individuals they remain the owners of vast wealth.

Politicians have used the natural desires of working people for a better life to win power for themselves and by their ghastly failure have destroyed the aspirations of millions who might have become the builders of world socialism. Instead, cynicism and frustration dominate the working class political scene. For this crime the parties responsible must eventually suffer. Already, all the signs point to further and more convulsive crises, political and economic. Only socialism can save the world from more devastating catastrophes.  

The position of the workers is unchanged. Denied access to the means of wealth production, except by the consent of the capitalist owners of those means of production, the workers suffer the misery arising from their enslaved condition. It is urgent that workers should not allow themselves to be ensnared in a trap that there seems no doubt will be spread by crafty rulers experienced in the art of converting mass emotion to their own uses. Capitalist ownership of the means of production is the real source of the workers’ poverty and misery. Capitalism, by whatever name it is called, is the workers’ real enemy.

Capitalism is not only the workers’ real enemy, but its periodical financial and industrial convulsions show how unstable it is and how incapable of running smoothly.  As socialists, we are bent on discovering by what means the position of our class may be advanced. Our class consists of all those people who, not being owners of property, must sell their mental and physical energies to those who are owners. This proposal must stand the general test—Is it or is it not one which is useful to the workers?

We are socialists, and do not ask you to seek salvation by reviving capitalist trade. We tell you there is only one solution to your problems. We say the alternative is SOCIALISM. This is the only remedy for present or future working-class ills, and one that can be applied as soon as the workers choose to apply it.

The common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth, by, and in the interest of, the whole community.

 That is socialism, and anything based differently is not socialism. Government control or nationalisation of industries under the existing system does not comply with the demand of socialists, nothing short of the complete overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of the co-operative commonwealth will suffice. Never before in the whole history of the human race was knowledge so accessible to the multitude. What is it binds us in our present position? Fear? We have nothing to fear, nothing to lose but our chains. We have the weapon with which to free ourselves from economic serfdom and intellectual repression in the Socialist Party.

Myths on race, of racial differences and superiorities, are  rife. In its usual everyday acceptance the term “race" is loosely used to equate with “nationality." There is a widespread belief that there are inherent and immutable differences between “races" (meaning nationalities), and that one’s own is vastly preferable to all others. Such beliefs are dangerously reactionary. They very conveniently serve to conceal, to justify, or to help intensify the exploitation of one section of the world by another. The theory of inherent differences of temperament or outlook between racial groups is entirely baseless. It springs not from fact but from national prejudice. Nationalism exists and thrives on the entirely false belief that non-existent differences are innate and unalterable. Class distinctions are stronger and more apparent than national or racial ones. There is an infinitely greater resemblance between two workers of different race, than between a worker and a capitalist of the same race.

Race myths springs from and foments social prejudice. They assist political domination, that is, economic exploitation; they assist capitalist sections by encouraging jingoism and war-mongering; above all, they are invaluable in obscuring the class issue. By setting up barriers of superstition and prejudice among them, it prevents the workers all over the world from realising their common cause. The world is divided into two opposing classes, buyers and sellers of labour power, whose interests cannot be reconciled under capitalism. But the race case makes it appear that there are numbers of “races" (corresponding with political divisions) whose characteristics and whose interests are fundamentally and inherently at variance. That is mere nonsense; but the capitalists would rather the workers' heads were filled with such nonsense than with sense about the class struggle and how to end it. This particular nonsense is a useful spur to patriotism when national sections of the capitalist class come into conflict, and want the workers to do the fighting for them.

There is only one way to end all this confusion of thought, this muddle of prejudices and it is to remove the ignorance on which the exploiters trade upon. Do not allow the real nature of present-day society to be shrouded by these veils of misconception and falsification. By clearing away such false beliefs, we lay bare the class issue which is the crux of the world problem. The workers must understand, plainly and unequivocally, that society to-day stands on a basis, not of nationality or of race, but of private ownership of the means of life; that it is organised not for “progress" or for "enlightenment," but simply and only for profit.

 The sooner the workers grasp these simple facts and their implications, the sooner will they sweep away the present organisation of society and all its superstitions, and bring into being a state of things organised to produce not for profit but only for use. Not until the means of production are collectively owned and controlled by the whole community can class distinctions vanish. Not until then will the idea of race be wholly freed from these false associations that are bound to cling to it in capitalist society, which depends for its very existence on the exploitation of man by man.

The future is ours to build or ours to ruin

 

A just society is one that makes available for all the means for the full development of the human person, a better, more dignified existence for the individual. Workers can toil away all their lives, but no matter how hard-working and they will never achieve a good outcome more than in the luckiest circumstances. Socialism is the unloading the heavy burden of wage-slavery, making production the common property of the whole society for a more just distribution of goods  to which we all have the same rights. Therefore, fellow-workers, join the World Socialist Movement. You have nothing to lose, but everything to win. Join together under the red flag of socialism.

The aim of the World Socialist Movement is the establishment  by democratic means of a cooperative commonwealth in which the supplying of human needs and enrichment of human life shall be the primary purpose of society. Socialism builds relationships based on mutual respect where everyone will have a sense of worth and belonging, and will be enabled to develop one’s capacities to the full. Capitalist social and economic conditions stunt human growth. In spite of great technological expansion, large sections of people do not benefit from the increased wealth produced. The wealth and economic power continue to be concentrated in the hands of the relatively few. Billions still live in want and insecurity condemned to a cheerless and joyless life, suffering ill-health and enduring a lack of dignity. This world is characterised by stark inequalities and by the domination of one group over another for the benefit of the few. The mad scramble for profit has wasted and despoiled our rich resources of soil, water, forest and minerals, devastating the planet. 

The climate crisis is accelerating much faster than most scientists anticipated. People tend to forget that the Paris Agreement target for limiting warming to 1.5–2.0C was supposed to be a starting point, not the end goal. Already significant climatic influences are already occurring now at about 1C warming. There is evidence that indicates 2050 to be an inadequate target for reaching net zero carbon emissions. Society risks large-scale, irreversible changes to the planet’s environment and our lives as part of it depends upon the choices and decisions we make, for the sake of all people in the future.

Industry and manufacturing can and should be run as to enable working people to use fully their talents and skills, to yield the maximum opportunities for individual development and the maximum of goods and services for the satisfaction of human needs. Unprecedented scientific and technological advances have brought us the potential for enriching the standard of life yet unless there is rational planning is applied to their, the evils of the past will be multiplied in the future. The technological changes will produce even greater concentrations of wealth and power and will cause widespread distress through unemployment.

 The challenge facing workers today is whether future development will continue to perpetuate the inequalities of history or whether it will be based on principles of social justice. A society motivated by the drive for private gain and special privilege is basically unjust. The WSM will not rest content until every person in all lands is able to enjoy equality and freedom, a sense of human dignity, and a meaningful life as a global citizen of a free and peaceful world. This is the cooperative commonwealth which the WSM invites people to build.  

Humanity is sleep-walking into calamity and socialists offer a wake-up call for our fellow-workers to stir from their slumber.