SURVIVE with SOCIALISM or SUFFER with CAPITALISM

 

Once established, socialism will confer on the people a power far greater than could ever be ensured by such things as the United States Constitution and rights bestowed by the United Nations. Working people will determine what to produce and what not to produce. The Socialist Party holds that the very essence of socialism is inherent in the word itself -- a SOCIAL order that, freed from the economic class rule, serves the common interests of the people-as-a-whole. Socialism is that social system under which the necessaries of production [factories, technology, transport, land, etc.] are owned, controlled and administered by the people, for the people, and under which, accordingly, the cause of political and economic despotism having been abolished, class rule is at an end. That is socialism, nothing short of that.

 

 If society is to be lifted out of the capitalist morass it is now in, the lifting can be done only by a working-class informed of both the goal of socialism - a working-class enlightened upon the aim.  We must organise politically as a class to demand at the ballot that all the means of life become the whole property of society. We all know through experience that capitalism can't be planned and cannot endure the well-being of all members of society. Only socialism can do that by removing the capitalist ownership of the means of living [the industries and services] and by ensuring that the anarchy of production is removed by the abolition of profits and wages, prices and money. 

It is necessary for a socialist working class to gain political control, but only for the purpose of dispossessing the capitalist class and opening the way for the community as a whole to take over the means of production and distribution, and democratically use them for the good of all. The State, with its coercive machinery, will be dismantled as its function -- the custodian of private property -- will have disappeared. New social institutions of administration based on the new social conditions will be democratically formed.

 

Capitalism is careening toward eventual collapse. Socialists are in a race against time, trying to build a viable socialist movement before the catastrophes of capitalism brings about irreparable global destruction. Isn't it high time our fellow workers understood that instead of hacking at the branches of evil it had better strike at the root? Haven't decades of government band-aid reforms failed to cure or even contain the social ills we grew up with? Unemployment, poverty, pollution, racism, crime, war - who still believes that politicians have meaningful solutions for these scourges? There are no two ways about it.  The evidence is overwhelming that if society is to experience social well being instead of social catastrophe it must soon remove the root cause of the problems that afflict it.

The Socialist Party stands four-square on the solid, time tested ground that the primary and overriding cause of all the grave social problems that confront us today is not an imperfect "human nature" but economic class division. We hold that the root of the trouble is class ownership of the huge industrial complexes upon which all of us depend for our lives. Therefore let us not talk about palliatives but focus on class conflict and what can be done about it. As the wage system imperils society, society must abolish the wage system and its organ of oppression, the state. That is, the immense majority that comprises the modern wage working class must replace class possession and class government with social ownership and transform capitalist or state-run economies into cooperative commonwealths.

"Socialism" is a much-abused word; however, it is not hard to separate the true from the false. SOCIALism necessarily rejects kinship with whoever advances "government ownership," "state control" or "mixed economy". Genuine socialism completely dissociates itself from wage slavery. Socialism means industrial democracy. Socialism conveys a plan whereby any time it is so minded the working-class majority can take social possession of the socially operated industrial means of life and thus, at last, redeem mankind from the terrible outrages inflicted upon it by blind, ruthless, ruling class greed. Socialism is truly the one hope of humanity.

The Waste of Capitalism

 Scottish vegetable growers are having to throw away millions of cauliflower and broccoli heads due to a shortage of farmworkers and lorry drivers.

The East of Scotland Growers (ESG) group, a farmers' co-operative in Fife, has estimated that it has scrapped 3.5m heads of broccoli and 1.9m heads of cauliflower so far as a result of the crisis.

Managing director of ESG, Andrew Faichney, said that he was concerned that producers hadn’t seen the end of the problems already crippling the industry.

He said: “We should have started our freezing production last weekend, but, as yet, we haven’t frozen a single floret of broccoli. The delay in freezing is a result of a lack of lorries to haul frozen product out of freezer stores to retail depots.” He continued: “With a shortage of lorries, retailers are prioritising short shelf-life products - the net result being storage is now at capacity, and there is nowhere to store processed product.”

Not only are there issues finding heavy goods vehicle drivers to transport food to cold stores, but farmers are also struggling to find enough people to harvest the vegetables.

Faichney said that he was working with around 80 per cent of the required workforce on the farm, meaning staff were earning extra money for working overtime.

“The fear is that these workers will head home earlier than required due to reaching their financial target,” he said. “They are actually starting to disappear off farm already, where historically we have relied on workers finishing the fruit season and migrating over to field veg in the months of September and October.”

Scottish food and farming organisations sent a letter to the UK and Scottish governments this week calling for more action to tackle the labour crisis ahead of the crucial Christmas season. The letter said: “Both Brexit and the pandemic have accelerated existing pressures on labour availability..."

Richard Harrow, chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation, said: “Labour shortages throughout the food supply chain are creating a ‘perfect storm’ of increasing costs for our members. While the long-term solution is to train more UK nationals, we will only avoid further disruption to food supplies and inflationary cost increases by sorting out temporary visa measures.”

Millions of vegetables thrown away as labour shortages hit farmers | The Independent

Build A Sane World

 

For years, the Socialist Party has encouraged workers to take control of the economy and use the means of production to meet the needs of the people rather than to make profits. Socialists maintain that the capitalists' profits are a theft from the working class because the working class produces all social wealth. A class of parasites is not needed for production to be organised in an efficient manner. Production will operate far more efficiently, in the social interest, when the workers themselves are in full control of production and distribution.

A state-run economic system is not socialism! Karl Marx and Frederick Engels clearly distinguished between state ownership of the means of production and social ownership. They opposed the very existence of the state. State ownership means the continued existence of governmental power over and above the people themselves; it signifies continued class rule. Social ownership means that the people themselves, collectively and democratically, control the use of the means of production. Marx and Engels described socialism as a society run by "associations of free and equal producers."

 The former Soviet Union never was a socialist country. At no time did the USSR ever have place a system in which the people owned all the means of production and in which the decisions governing production and distribution were made by democratic associations encompassing all the workers. At no time did the workers dismantle the state, or abolish exploitation and the wages system. Furthermore,  the Socialist Party pointed out in 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution was not, and could not have been, a socialist revolution. Russia in 1917 had none of the material prerequisites for socialism. It was a backward, semi-feudal country, incapable of eliminating scarcity. It had very little industry and only a small minority of people belonged to the working class.

Socialism can only be established by a class conscious, organised majority of the working class. It can only be built by workers who understand the need to prevent any individual or group from gaining the power to control production or distribution. The structure of a socialist society would preclude a bureaucratic takeover. Control of society's economic resources would be in the collective hands of the working class. All persons elected to serve in the committees, councils and congresses running industry, and administering the economy as a whole, would be responsible only for performing designated administrative tasks. They would have no bureaucratic power to dictate production or distribution goals toward their own individual enrichment.

 We live in a social system and culture that teaches us that the way to survive, and "get ahead" materially, is to compete for positions of power, gain dominance over others, and, ultimately, become an owner of productive property and exploit others. Not surprisingly, many people come to greedily and competitively crave power and wealth above all else.

But such behaviour is not a fixture of human nature. People clearly have the capability of being cooperative as well as competitive, supportive and helpful as well as antagonistic, egalitarian as well as selfish. All of these qualities are part of "human nature." We can and do choose to employ one quality or the other, depending on how our material circumstances and interests affect us, and how we perceive our own self-interest. It is also part of our human nature to think, evaluate our circumstances and change our behaviour when we conclude that doing so is in our self-interest.

Accordingly, socialism is not contrary to human nature. For the vast majority of the people who belong to the working class today, it does no good to be greedy, competitive or power-hungry; capitalism rewards them with hardship. Sooner or later, a majority of workers can and will come to the realization that their own self-interest demands the creation of a new social system based on social ownership of the industries and cooperative production for the common good. Once a socialist society is established, the material and other rewards of that system will continue to reinforce cooperative behaviour and nullify selfishness, greed and the desire for power over others.

The idea that there would be no incentive for workers to be productive in a socialist society is a myth. In a genuinely socialist society, workers would have strong incentives to work conscientiously and improve the means and methods of production-incentives far stronger than those that exist under capitalism. The ethical and social incentive to be a productive and responsible member of society would be reinforced by the knowledge that one's efforts would truly be benefiting all society, and not merely an idle class of social parasites.

Socialism is grounded in material realities. It is grounded in the reality that it is now objectively and physically possible for society to meet the basic human needs and wants of all the people -- and more. It is grounded in the reality that capitalism stands as an obstacle to society realizing this potential to meet the needs and wants of all. It is grounded in the reality that society's sole useful producers -- the working class, which includes all who do productive work, mental or physical -- are increasingly being denied their material needs and wants under the present system. 

All that's missing is for workers to recognise their true interests as a class, understand the socialist goal, and begin organising as a class to establish it. Thus, socialism is realistic. The workers already collectively occupy the industries every day and operate them from top to bottom. The only thing they don't do is own them, control them, and control their product. 

Workers' Control

 

Socialism is a product of the mass movement, and can never divorce itself from practice. Socialism is not an idle dream. Socialism is the ideal and ideology of the exploited class. It can be misleading simply to advocate seeking happiness for all humanity, as humanity is not a whole, and it is divided into two antagonistic classes. We are materialists, We understand that the arrival of social revolution cannot be determined by our good intentions. Only a social revolution can allow us to build a really free and really egalitarian society. Today "freedom” and “equality" are part of the vocabulary of each and every one of us. However, the reality is that those words mean that the capitalists can loot the common wealth of our planet and are allowed to live in peace. The people who stand most vehemently against socialist ideas are those who understand them the least.

“Reformism” is the doctrine of those who, while saying they support a social transformation of society propose to arrive at this goal by a series of reforms realised within the framework of Parliament. Those political parties who say they are of the “vanguard” and proclaim themselves revolutionary are all more or less reformist. The more reformist they are, the less revolutionary they are, and, consequently, the less revolutionary they are, the more reformist they are. There is but one plank for the Socialist Party platform - the abolition of wage slavery. It is important to recognise reformism as traps and lures to divert our movement from its aim of emancipation. The Socialist Party is frequently accused of professing the doctrine of “all or nothing.” In this accusation there is some truth, but only some. 

The Socialist Party holds that involvement in daily struggles is not inherently reformistic. Indeed, such involvement, conducted in principled, class conscious, non-opportunistic fashion is an indispensible aspect of the class war. In practical terms, the worker can, by participating in workers' daily struggles, gain first hand knowledge and experience that will aid him or her in improving strategy and tactics thus bringing socialist perspectives to the attention of the workers involved. We will not declare themselves satisfied and won’t be so until we have forever ended capitalism and substituted for it, our principle: the well-being for each and for all. All our work is aimed at this goal:  economic and social liberation, the complete emancipation of the workers, the producing class.  We seek to free those who are exploited and enslaved by the capitalist system.

Cooperatives and employee-owned businesses resolve none of the basic problems facing workers under capitalism. All the basic relations of capitalist production, exploitation of wage labor, production for sale and profit, and the like remain in effect. It isworker capitalism, not worker management. No matter who owns it, it's going to have to be run like a conventional enterprise.

Even if an individual "worker-owned" company were to be run collectively and democratically by its workers, it would still function within the overall context of a capitalist economy. "Worker ownership" does not miraculously free a company from the anarchy of the marketplace, competition, and the effects of capitalism's recurrent economic crises. In order to compete in such a climate, "worker-owned" enterprises have little choice but to intensify exploitation just as much as their capitalist-owned competitors do. They must, modernise outmoded equipment and lay off workers made superfluous by automation, and pay the market rate for wages, and no higher.

It is understandable that at times such as these of insecurity some workers will be attracted to the idea of "worker-ownership." They are desperately seeking ways to assure a livelihood for themselves and their families. But the experience of cooperative schemes demonstrates that they do not attack the cause of workers' misery. In fact, to make such schemes "succeed" in a capitalist context, workers must make more sacrifices and intensify their own exploitation.

Yet, such schemes do demonstrate that production in no way depends on the superintence of the  capitalist class whose sole function is to drain off the social wealth produced by workers' labor. But, if the concept of worker ownership is to truly benefit workers, it must be effected on a society-wide basis. To do that, a socialist revolution is needed to abolish the entire system based on private ownership and control of the means of production by a parasitic capitalist class. The potential of worker ownership can be fully realised only by replacing an economic system based on exploitation, competition, the market and the profit motive with one based on social co-operation for the common good. What workers must gain is not nominal ownership of individual enterprises, but real control of the entire economy.

Socialism - its meaning and promise

 

Why haven't we had a socialist revolution? How much longer can capitalism last? How bad must conditions become before workers take action?  Capitalism long ago developed the material conditions prerequisite for socialism. It has created production on a scale sufficient to banish forever want and the fear of want. Yet there has been no revolution. Rather the working class has been divided by confusion, uncertainty and despair. If capitalism continues to exist, the likely result is an unthinkable end to human civilisation.

The social revolution is no predestined inevitable development depending not upon material conditions alone but also depends a clearness of vision. Because socialism is not an automatic affair, the working people class must play a crucial active role in the socialist revolution. Capitalism will not vanish. It will remain until it is overthrown. And capitalism can be overthrown only as of the result of class conscious mass struggle which is no easy matter.  Workers are bombarded daily with capitalist indoctrination in the media to obscure the capitalist roots of all our miseries. We are told that we need to make concessions to our exploiters, rather than fighting back. Even worse, many so-called “socialists” confuse workers by talking about the myths of "reforms", raising false hopes that workers can petition the political state to solve the problems of unemployment and poverty. Such notions can only help convince workers that they have a future under capitalism and that capitalism is, at this late date, somehow capable of being reformed. In truth, ending the effects of capitalism requires ending their cause -- the capitalist system.

There are fundamental differences between the "so-called socialist and communist parties" that have controlled the states of various countries, and the Socialist Party. It is that we uphold the Marxist conception of socialism, of a class-free society based on "associations of free and equal producers." The elite, "vanguard" party paved the way for bureaucratic state-capitalist regimes. The assortment of labour parties rejected the Marxist analyses in favour of reformism - leaving the capitalist class to firmly retain control of the means of production. Both conceptions of "socialism" place central emphasis on the role of the party and are predicated on maintaining the state; they reject the essence of socialism -- i.e., establishing common ownership, and democratic control of the means of production and distribution. 

We believe that the Socialist Party’s case offers the best -- indeed the only realistic -- chance to achieve socialism by non-violent and peaceful means. We believe it is the only way in which the working class can organise itself for socialism while simultaneously nullifying the ruling class's capacity to resist by means of armed force. Of course, we understand that the Socialist Party’s policy can only work under certain circumstances. It presupposes a certain measure of democracy that permits it to advocate its goal openly. The sad fact is that workers are still duped by the notion that capitalism can somehow solve the problems and miseries it creates and confronts them with. This misunderstanding is no accident. That misconception is nurtured deliberately by capitalism's politicians, and by mis-education and mis-information from the media, the schools, the universities, the churches and more -- all of which are dominated by pro-capitalist interests. Those interests and their political lackeys are primarily concerned with the preservation of their system -- the source of their wealth and their positions of privilege -- at the continued expense of the useful producers of the nation. They will not and do not hesitate to mouth any promise or resort to any action they think will serve their purpose, no matter how hypocritical or ruthless.

The Socialist Party’s task is to help workers come to recognise that there is an alternative to capitalism. For the sooner the working class understands that the misery imposed by capitalism need not be endured, the sooner will workers turn to socialism. Our fellow workers need to form a mass revolutionary party to challenge to defeat the political state for the purpose of dismantling it. Such a party is also needed to convince the working-class majority of the need for socialism and to recruit the forces for carrying out the revolution. It is the task of the World Socialist Movement to arouse the working class to its historic mission to abolish capitalism and replace it with socialism. It is true that the capitalist class appears all-powerful. It is winning the class struggle. That, however, is because the capitalists are united in their battle against the workers, despite differences regarding strategy and tactics. They have their goal clearly in mind -- the pursuit of ever-greater profits through the continued and ever-intensified exploitation of the workers.

The working class is weak because it is unorganised. It is unorganised because it lacks a fundamental understanding of the class nature of capitalism and its own class interest. The workers must at long last realise that the hope of their future rests in their hands. They must focus their concerns and political perspectives on themselves, on their collective interests as a class, on their latent economic and political power and its potential for changing society in a manner that will assure economic security and social welfare for all.

That change can be accomplished once the workers organise their political and economic power.

The Party for a New Society

 

The principle of the class struggle recognises that it is the class interests at the root from which social conflicts arise. The worker who does not understand the principle of the class struggle will fall into the arms of the capitalist politicians who promise to redress all wrongs. Enlightened, however, on the class struggle, the worker is aware that no 'reform' could possibly make things better and knows that the 'reformer' is the upholder of a system under which we are oppressed under capitalism means every individual's hand raised against all others; its motto is: 'One man's misfortune is another man's opportunity'. Under capitalism the life of all is impossible; for some to prosper, many more must suffer.

Capitalism creates so many problems it is hard to know which one to focus on. Occasionally, however, something comes along that seems to put everything else into perspective. We presently observe two events - the Covid Pandemic and the Climate Crisis. The Socialist Party cannot stop world capitalism from creating even more misery on a global scale than it already has. Only the working class can do that. What it can do, however, is hasten the day when workers will come to the knowledge that they must act to end capitalism and build socialism.

 The Socialist Party can do that provided as long as it receives the full support of all those who appreciate the urgency of the times and the need to spread the socialist message. Our purpose is to promote class consciousness among workers while advocating a complete revolutionary change from capitalism to socialism, to challenge the power of the ruling class, to capture the state machinery and to turn the reins of social administration over to the working people to economic democracy embracing all workers.

The chaos that exists in capitalism today makes it clear that the socialist revolution is past due. The working class is paying a heavy toll in human misery and suffering, which will become more intense unless our class organises its political and economic strength and uses it to establish the socialist alternative. As a Marxist organisation, the Socialist Party provides positive revolutionary direction to workers by promoting the growth of class consciousness. However, just as will not grow of its own accord, neither will we in the Socialist Party. That responsibility ultimately rests with those that our message has reached and it is the responsibility of all those who grasp the case for socialism to step forward and to enhance its ability to reach the working class.

Many of us comprehend that capitalism has outlived its usefulness and that it is time for humanity to move on to the next logical stage of social evolution. We want to create a sane and productive world. But how can we do so? We need a road map. The plan is based on workers acting with workers for workers. It is useless for us to wait for deliverance from the pains caused by capitalism. We will have to deliver ourselves via a non-violent combination of political and economic action, based on control by the entire working class instead of by a "vanguard" political leadership, a dictatorship by any name. The answer is that workers must form a political party of their own that specifically organises workers as a class. If we workers stopped cooperating with the political parties of capitalism and actively took part in controlling our world through our own political and industrial organisations, capitalism would soon wither and die. Only if the people as a whole take control of the economy can they maintain that control and use the forces of production to fill their needs. 

We don't have to turn our backs on politics or passively wait for a better day that will never come if we fail to organise to bring it about. We don't have to aimlessly wander around in search of direction. A plan already exists that is simple, flexible and designed to meet the needs and desires of workers. It is peaceful, workable and within the grasp of working people. We don't have to suffer in isolation. We can join together and we can change our world.

Common sense should tell workers that the cause of declining wages, spreading economic insecurity and unemployment has nothing to do with who forms the government of the day

Common sense should tell workers that politicians don't decide when factories will close down or how many workers to lay off.

Common sense should tell workers that in a capitalist economy those decisions are made by those who own the factories, mills, mines and other means of wealth production.

Common sense should tell workers that capitalists make those decisions in their own interests, not in the interests of the working class.

From these and other facts, the Socialist Party draws certain conclusions.

First: Increased productivity, declining wages, massive elimination of jobs, spreading economic insecurity and the congestion of wealth proves that the capitalist system of private ownership and profit production is based on the exploitation of the working class.

Second: As long as this foundation of society remains this trend will continue regardless of the claims and promises of politicians.

Third: That the only solution to such fundamental problems stemming from the very nature of the system under which we live must also be a fundamental one.

As long as the working class tolerates the private ownership and control of the economy, workers will be used and disposed of to suit the profit whims of the tiny capitalist class.

The People Have No Future Under Capitalism

Socialism means economic democracy. 

Instead of production for sale and the profit of a few, socialism means production to satisfy the human needs and wants of all. Socialism will allow for us to carry on production for use in the most modern production laboratories we can possibly create, utilising the safest and most productive methods. The more we collectively produce, the more we shall collectively enjoy. All of us will be useful producers, working but a fraction of the time we are forced to work today. But we shall not only be useful producers, but we shall also all share equitably in the wealth we produce, and our compensation will literally dwarf anything we can imagine today. In socialist society there will be neither involuntary unemployment nor poverty. The young will be educated not only to prepare them to participate in social production but also to enable them to expand their interests and develop their individual interests and talents.

The aged will be cared for, and not by any such demeaning methods as are used today. We shall provide all their material needs and create a social atmosphere in which they can live lives that are culturally and intellectually satisfying. It will not be charity, but their rightful share as former contributors to production. Under capitalism, improved methods and machinery of production kick workers out of jobs. Under socialism, such improvements will be blessings for the simple reason that they will increase the amount of wealth produced and make possible ever higher standards of living, while providing us with greater and greater leisure in which to enjoy them. 

With socialism, we shall produce everything we need and want in abundance under conditions best suited to our welfare, aiming for the highest quality. We shall constantly strive to improve our methods and equipment in order to reduce the hours of work. We shall provide ourselves with the best of everything: the finest educational facilities, the most modern and scientific health facilities and adequate and varied recreational facilities. We shall constantly seek to improve our socialist society. Purposeful research, expansion of the arts and culture, preservation and replacement of our natural resources, all will receive the most serious attention. It will be a society in which everyone will have the fullest opportunity to develop his or her individuality without sacrificing the blessings of cooperation.

Freed from the compulsions of competition and the profit motive that presently hurl capitalist nations into war, socialism will also be a society of peace. In short, socialist society will be a society of secure human beings, living in peace, in harmony and human brotherhood.

This all may sound too good to be true. Yet the world has the productive capacity to provide a high standard of living for all, to provide security and comfort for all, to create safe workplaces and clean industries, and to help other nations reach these same goals. The only thing keeping us from reaching these goals is that the workers don't own and control that productive capacity; it is owned and controlled by a few who use it solely to profit themselves. 

Socialism was born in response to the grave social problems generated by capitalism's uses of technology. Socialism grew out of the profound disruption of society capitalism caused. It was the pitiless and inhumane uses to which capitalism put the technology at its disposal to exploit human labor that made the socialist movement necessary.

 Socialism is not an idea that fell from the skies, but a natural response to the material conditions and social relations that took shape as the capitalist system of production developed.

At the same time, however, the socialist movement has always recognised the tremendous material possibilities technological advances offer for eliminating the poverty, misery and suffering it has engendered -- not of its own accord, but as a direct result of the capitalist system of private ownership of the productive forces created by human labour and ingenuity. The whole purpose of the socialist movement, therefore, is to solve the grave social problems resulting from the march of technology monopolised by a numerically insignificant capitalist class so that the magnificent possibilities modern advances in technology hold out may benefit all of humanity. Accordingly, the socialist movement also sees in so-called post-industrial technology the productive instrument for the attainment of its goal. Whatever good there is in modern methods of production, whatever their potential for making the world a better place, for eliminating arduous toil, hunger and poverty, that potential is wiped out by a single, dominating fact. The one fact that overwhelms and nullifies the promise of all progress is private ownership of the means of production and distribution. The goal of the WSM is to replace capitalism with the economic and social democracy of socialism.

 William Morris once wrote, "While theologians are disputing the existence of a hell elsewhere, we are on the way to realising it here…”

Organising to bring the industries under the ownership of all the people, to build a socialist society of peace, plenty and freedom, is the only real alternative workers have.