Capitalism IS the problem

The real enemy of the working class is, and always has been the capitalist class of every country and the system of wage-slavery it represents. Workers must grasp the real meaning of the facts presented to them, and find and apply the only remedy or once again pay the penalty for allowing a privileged class to direct the course of events. They must recognise that they are the producers and distributors of the wealth of the world, but an idle class lives on the results of their toil because the workers allow that class to retain the ownership and control of the means of wealth production although constitutional means are at their disposable to dispossess that class.

Poverty, hunger and war are not caused by human frailty, but by the greed of capitalists for profit. When the population of the earth owns in common the means of production the product of human labour will be distributed to each according to the needs of each. Then no one will make a profit out of another’s labour and the scramble for markets will disappear. This is socialism, and it is for this alone that socialists are struggling. When the workers have made up their minds to build a socialist society, and have set about doing so, the ills of capitalism will disappear.

 The world is divided into two classes—those who own, the capitalist class, and those who are property-less, the working-class. The capitalists live on income derived from ownership and the workers live on wages obtained by selling their energies. The income of the capitalists arises from the unpaid labour of the workers and exists in the form of rent, interest and profit. This income cannot be obtained until the goods produced by the workers are sold. Control of markets, sources of raw materials, spheres of influence and control of strategic military areas are among the factors essential in the competitive struggle between capitalist powers. The struggle is fierce and although disputes are settled sometimes by diplomatic means, ultimately the decision rests on the weight of the armed forces of the rival powers. Force is the final arbiter.

The Left scorn the idea of socialist propaganda and jeer at our insistence on the need for socialist understanding. They guide the healthy discontent of workers into political activities harmless to the capitalist system, but dangerous to the working-class. Workers need not accept the blind and stupid policies of the left-wing leaders; they can hammer out a policy independent of the capitalist parties. The strength of the capitalists rests on the political ignorance of the working class. Growing socialist knowledge amongst workers will rob the capitalists of their strength. When large numbers of workers understand that whether they are British, Chinese, American, European, they have a common interest in the abolition of capitalism, the capitalist diplomats will be unable to come to the defence of capitalist interests. Our immediate task is to make socialists and the conditions for propaganda have never been more favourable. Capitalism is still torn with suffering.

 Socialism has come to be associated with any activity of the government or municipality in an economic direction, irrespective of the nature of the activity. Hence any industrial or commercial enterprise undertaken by a governmental body is labelled socialism nowadays. The mere form is here confounded with the content. Mere State involvement does not mean socialism. The State is mainly an agent of the possessing class and any economic undertakings by governmental bodies largely run in the interests of that class.  Their aim is to show a profit, in the same way as ordinary capitalist enterprises. This profit goes to the possessing class in the form of relief of taxation, mainly paid by them, interest on loans, etc. In other words, the government economic activity is for-profit and not for use and their employees are little, if at all, better off than those of private employers.

 If we look around, we find many benevolent and useful institutions established by many or by the whole people in common. In one place associations are formed, for instance, the lifeboat institution, to rescue and save shipwrecked persons; at another place, the community erected a school or medical clinic. In life, everybody cares for oneself, but people also unite for advancing a common, social purpose. Experience teaches that they do admirably well; every one of us must admit that our own welfare is greatly advanced by such mutual cooperation. What would people be without community? We should be in a terrible situation if we didn’t work together for shared practice and lightened one’s load among many. We could mention here a thousand other common institutions will be sufficient. Now all these are nothing but socialism. For socialism is nothing but the principle of the common interests of society. Without socialism, there will be no fundamental changes. There will be and must be, worsening of all the old problems of capitalism and insecurity more threatening. Who declares oneself an enemy of socialism declares oneself an enemy of common interest, an enemy of society and mankind. Socialism has its origin and root in public welfare.

The future depends on what we do now

 

By definition, socialism is a society of free people. They cannot be compelled to do what they do not want to do, either by brute force or (as in capitalism) by threats to their livelihood. We have to assume that they will be sufficiently responsible and self-disciplined voluntarily to do whatever may be required to implement a democratically made decision, even if they disagree with that decision – unless, arguably, they have good reason to regard the decision as dangerously incompetent (if, say, a council has approved an unsafe design for a nuclear reactor). Otherwise, socialism will have to acquire effective means of compulsion, but then it will be socialism no longer. This is one reason why socialism has to be established by a majority of conscious socialists.

Recent left-wing writers on post-capitalist society, such as Richard Wolff advocate a ‘market socialism’ in which worker-owned firms still hire labour and compete with one another to sell commodities on the market. We argue that even if such a system were initially to differ in some ways from current forms of private or state capitalism it would inevitably degenerate into them. Our conception of socialism production is guided not by blind market processes but by decisions consciously and democratically made in the interests of the community as a whole. Exchange is replaced by distribution. The World Socialist Movement does not relegate this non-market system to the remote future of a ‘higher stage’ of the new society. It is to be established immediately upon the conquest of power by the working class.

Production in socialism will be for use not for profit and that its purpose will be to meet human needs. This the question of how to determine what human needs are.  Ours is a simple answer to this question. Individuals will decide for themselves what goods they need. They will have free access to distribution centres where all desired goods are available in abundance. The advance of automation and robotics has made it technically possible to generate such abundance with a minimum of human labour. Elimination of the waste inherent in the money system will also play its part. A socialist society may for various reasons make a democratic decision not to produce certain things even if quite a number of people want them. The WSM says needs for specific kinds of goods will be met only after they have been ‘socially validated’ – that is, after all the possible negative, as well as positive consequences of their production and consumption for people and for the environment, have been assessed through the democratic institutions and procedures of socialist society. The needs of the community are to be determined socially and not just by aggregating the expressed needs of individuals. Although we propose a society of abundance, we do add a caveat that possibly by the time that socialism is established the humanity will have to deal with severe climatic, environmental and social disruptions and priority will have to be given to the tasks of coping with and gradually overcoming these dislocations. Efforts will be required to halt and reverse global heating, care for environmental refugees, and improve the living conditions of the world’s slum dwellers. Therefore, an abundance may not be immediately fully realized. For instance, the choice of crops to grow will have to depend not primarily on what people prefer to eat but on how susceptible their cultivation is to drought, floods, and other extreme weather events.

Decision-making in socialism consists of two elements. The first is the proceedings of elected councils at various levels, supplemented by procedures of direct democracy such as referenda. The second is the ‘requests’ or ‘orders’ that circulate within the network of production and distribution for material inputs required to maintain stocks of consumer goods at levels sufficient to meet individual needs. It is necessary for the division of tasks between the two elements and their mode of interaction to be clear and effective. For example, the councils could concentrate on major decisions concerning the overall pattern of production facilities and supporting infrastructure. In order to prevent overloading of their agendas, fraught with the risk of neglect of their proper function, they must avoid entanglement in detailed decision making – although they might issue guidelines to assist those responsible for making detailed decisions. Routine operational issues are better handled by direct consultation between workgroups. Provided that requests are reliably fulfilled, their circulation should achieve the desired result automatically.

Teen Mums

 Scotland’s teenage pregnancy rate has reached a record low, dropping 60 per cent since 2007, figures reveal.

The number of women under 20 who became pregnant fell for the 12th year in a row to 3,814 in 2019, down from 9,362 in the recent peak of 2007.

Public Health Scotland said: “The teenage pregnancy rate in Scotland is at its lowest level since reporting began in 1994. 

 NHS Fife had the highest rate at 35 per 1,000 women.

While teenage pregnancy rates have fallen across all levels of deprivation over the last decade, “rates in the most deprived areas have fallen more rapidly”. But, despite this, the teen pregnancy rate was still more than four times higher in the most deprived parts of the country than it was in the least deprived, at 52.6 per 1,000 compared to 11.8 per 1,000.

For the first time, more than half of teenagers who conceived in 2019 opted not to continue with the pregnancy, as 50.3 per cent went for a termination.

Public Health Scotland noted: “Teenage women from the most deprived areas are more likely to deliver than to terminate their pregnancy. In contrast, those from the least deprived areas are more likely to terminate than to deliver.”

Socialist Decision–making

 

Within the growing movements against war, for social justice, and for an ecologically sustainable society there is an increasing sense of understanding that capitalism can only create a world of war, injustice and environmental destruction.  There is however widespread confusion and most lack a vision of what might replace today’s society.  The World Socialist Movement (WSM)proposes a vision in which socially validated needs form the basis of production and in which democratic bodies resolve conflicts over whether a need is socially validated or harmful. This contrasts with the market vision in which production continues on a commodity basis. 

Such a society provides a framework for coping with any emerging environmental crisis, as it does not require perpetual growth. It offers a different view of what kind of new world to aim for.

No one will need to, nor be able to, sell their labour-power. This is the minimum criterion for a society based on socially validated need, since selling one’s labour-power makes it (and its products) into commodities with exchange value. People will nonetheless work, not out of a need to get pay in order to live, but as part of their expected duty to others and, hopefully to an increasing extent, because we are able to re-design work so we will enjoy much of it. An enormous amount of our lives under capitalism is shaped by the need to save time so we can use it on long commutes to work, on long hours working, and on shopping for clothes and other things we need to get and hold a job. Instead,  we will want to value friendships wherever we work, and in our communities, and having time to think and contemplate our lives. This can give more of us time to enjoy ourselves.  We can reorganise our lives around producing for use rather than producing commodities to exchange, we can get away from a culture of competition and compulsive consumption and start to build a society and culture where we can care for each other and enjoy time talking and playing together.

The WSM proposes that we will establish systems of democratic and widely-participatory workplace councils and neighbourhood councils to make and carry out a wide range of local decisions, likely to involve direct democracy to a large degree. We will need to establish higher-level democratic decision-making bodies based more on delegates.

Production will not be buying and selling. To be clear, the process is neither exchange nor barter but rather a distribution, because those getting the products do not pay, trade or in other ways reimburse those distributing them.

The distribution of products and services will have to be based upon need. This means that if a community, person, or workplace needs steel, rice, a laptop or special tools, they have the right to ask for it from those who can provide it. It also means that those they ask will see themselves as having a duty to provide for this need if they really can do so and if they do not see fulfilling these needs as harmful.  If someone needs something, and it can be provided, it will be unless this will create an undue hardship for the producers or for others with more priority who might have to wait for the product, or if we think the product or need is in itself harmful. In such instances of disagreement, the issue will go to adjudicators for a democratically-based decision. Once in place and up and running, this system of free access and production for use should be able to provide everyone with the decent living standard 

We have always maintained that the spread of socialist ideas does not depend upon the existence of the WSM, but that they arise from the system under which we have to live. It is understandingly disappointing to ourselves that month after month, year after year, our fellow workers appear to be too satisfied with the capitalist system — or too apathetic — to want to put an end to it. They seem to look with an almost fatalistic resignation that they will still continue to live under capitalism and will have to suffer the worries and indignities of that system.  The WSM seeks to cultivate a  world-consciousness, for workers to realise their common position as inhabitants of the planet earth which the capitalists will continue to divide and rule.

It should go without saying, moreover, that there is absolutely no justification in the world today for the many hundreds of millions of hungry and homeless. It’s not only unnecessary, it’s a crime against humanity.  A planned economy would increase productive forces and would permit a swift switch from the capitalist economic system to the socialist mode of production and distribution according to the principle—from each according to ability and to each according to need.

An Alternative Vision

 The socialist revolution will be very much unlike previous revolutions, such as the change from feudalism to capitalism.

The socialist revolution will be crucially different in that ‘All previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority.’ (Communist Manifesto).

 The objective is common ownership of the means of life, with the consequent abolition of wage labour and free access to the necessities of life, making the use of money redundant.  In collaboration with fellow workers across the world, our aim is to abolish classes and build world socialism. Marxism’s basic starting point is that the working class is capable of overthrowing the capitalist system and establishing a socialist society.

The basic cause of capitalist ills is the right to private property, the right to exploit, the right to rob, the right to, the right to compete, and the right to start wars.  Instead of private property,  common ownership of the means of production so all may enjoy the fruit of their collective labour.

The present structure of society — capitalism — with its pretensions to democracy on the one hand, and its economic rivalries squabbling over the spoils are all based on the exploitation of the working class.

The unity of mankind is an age-old aspiration.  Overcoming the divisions and conflicts among peoples in this world is not Utopian.  Universal harmony cannot become real until there are no rich and no poor within any country and no rich nations draining the lifeblood from the poor ones. Society is not the product of human nature. Human nature, good, bad, or indifferent, is the product of society. The qualities of human beings are endlessly changeable. Society makes people what they are. If society shapes people, people, in turn, can reshape society through their collective efforts. People in the socialist future will be able to recreate anew one's personality thanks to the abolition of all forced labour. Only then, when all our time becomes free, to do with as we please and unstintingly cultivate our distinctively human qualities. We can only dimly surmise what human beings with such highly organised social consciousness and material powers will be like. They will produce wonders.

Socialism is an economic system based upon conscious planning of production by associated producers (nowhere does Marx say: by the state), made possible by the abolition of private property of the means of production. As soon as that private property is completely abolished, goods produced cease to be commodities. Value and exchange value disappear. Production becomes production for use, for the satisfaction of needs, determined by conscious choice of the mass of the associated producers themselves. A reduction of the working day, so that most of humanity can spend three to four hours a day in the production of goods or provision of services and another three to four hours a day in the work of social self-administration, is premised on material abundance and development of the productivity of labour.

The socialist vision of a future society based upon the abolition of material scarcity is objected to by some environmentalists that it would place an unsustainable strain on the resources of the planet and lead to an ecological disaster. The immediate abolition of the arms industry alone would free up tremendous resources for socially useful production (based upon renewable energy sources, environmentally safe technologies, etc.) that could provide an adequate standard of living for the bulk of the world’s population without thrusting new demands upon the finite capacities of the earth. Workers have a direct interest in developing production techniques and manufacturing processes that will not harm health or foul the air and water that all must breathe and drink.

No incentive will be needed anymore to induce people to work. ‘Labour’ will have transformed itself into meaningful many-fold activity, making possible all-around development of each individual’s human personality. The division of labour between manual and intellectual labour, the separation of town and countryside, will wither away. Humankind will be organised into a free federation of producers’ and consumers’ communes.

The Socialist Party is not out to create a bloody revolution. Its understanding of social science teaches it that in the long run, progress can only be attained by changing basic social relations, by a shift in ownership and control from the few to the many, an all-embracing form is socialisation when the whole of society is changed by the elimination of the private ownership of the entire means of production, socialism. The cooperative commonwealth functions without disorder or confusion.