This World or None

 

The previous  COPs have failed to make any significant progress and were mere forums for empty rhetoric, intended to put over a public relations gloss on the reality that things are getting worse. Although it is accepted that the problems are global and that global consensus is required for action on a global scale what dooms them to failure is the fact that they take place in a world that is divided into rival capitalist nation-states which are in economic competition with each other. This makes agreement almost impossible and rules out effective action. A sane society would simply consider all the options available and then follow discussions and debate democratic decisions on the course of actions the world takes to do what was necessary to achieve the solutions. This rational procedure is impossible under capitalism because before we can work together we must first create a society in which we can all co-operate with one another.

The idea of a zero growth, a steady-state sustainable society is not new and has been proposed by many in the environmentalist movement. But their fatal flaw is that they stand for the continuation of the market system, instead of a society based on voluntary co-operation where all goods and services are produced directly for needs with free access.

The green activists aim to retain the market system in which goods are produced for sale at a profit. This must mean the continuation of the capitalist system which is the cause of the problems of climate change in the first place. Environment campaigners have never been able to answer the question which is how it can achieve zero growth whilst retaining a market system that includes an irresistible, built-in pressure to increase sales for profit and where if sales collapse, society tends to break down in recession, unemployment and financial crisis. The only way in which the aims of the green movement could be achieved is through socialism.

When we speak of a stable, sustainable society we do not mean a static society in which there is no development. On the contrary, when liberated from the profit motive of corporate research and the military machines of capitalist states, science will flourish and will serve the interests of all people. Nor do we suggest that new science will not result in new technology. The urgent need for care of the environment will be just one field where research and new technology would be given priority. However, we should also recognise that the abolition of all the economic constraints imposed by the market system on the use of labour will bring enormously increased powers of production. In socialism, it will be possible to produce vast amounts of goods. It is in the light of this fact that people in socialism would have to ask if it makes sense to go on and on producing whilst using up the planet's resources or whether there should be voluntary limits to consumption and an eventual scaling down of productive activity.

There is an assumption in our society that increased ownership and consumption of goods leads to increased happiness and should therefore be a central driver in our lives. But whilst we all need to live to a decent standard of comfort and enjoyment the values of our acquisitive society arise from insecurity and competition. We substitute personal ownership for better human relationships which would express our real needs as social individuals. Our happiness, or otherwise, arises from how we relate to people not from how we relate to material objects as owners.

So whilst we do not presume to lay down in advance what decisions will be made in socialism we can set out a possible way of achieving an eventual zero-growth society operating in a stable and ecologically benign way. This could be achieved in three main phases.

First, there would have to be emergency action to relieve the worst problems of food shortages, health care and housing which affect billions of people throughout the world.

Secondly, longer-term action to construct means of production and infrastructures such as transport systems for the supply of permanent housing and durable consumption goods. These could be designed in line with conservation principles, which means they would be made to last for a long time, using materials that where possible could be re-cycled and would require minimum maintenance.

Thirdly, with these objectives achieved there could be an eventual fall in production, and society could move into a stable mode. This would achieve a rhythm of daily production in line with daily needs with no significant growth. On this basis, the world community could reconcile two great needs, the need to live in material well being whilst looking after the planet which is our shared home in space.

Although capitalist society appears to place great importance on its material wealth, it sometimes has no hesitation in destroying it in vast quantities and in ways that have no thought for the loss of human life involved. For example, the 20th Century was one such story of continuous destruction. We can mention the misuse and waste of energy in armaments production, and where more energy has been used to fuel wars around the world. These have destroyed vast amounts of useful structures such as factories, roads, bridges, railways, vehicles, aircraft, and millions of tonnes of shipping.

Some applications of labour have to be constant, for example, in food production. With food, production and consumption are more or less simultaneous. But with housing, infrastructures and durable means of production, the products of one generation, with subsequent maintenance, can be used by many succeeding generations. In socialism, this could mean that the initial work required to solve the problems of capitalism would not have to go on and on. Given that the work was in accordance with conservation principles, that population levels become close to stable, and that communities were content to place voluntary limits to consumption, then there could be an eventual fall in production with all the benefits this would bring to care of the environment.

Seen solely from a technical point of view there are no doubt many ways in which the damage caused by pollution could be reduced with different uses of labour. But before any of these can become real options on which communities can freely make democratic decisions, labour itself must first be liberated. Labour must enjoy its own freedom outside the present enclosed system of commodity exchange in which it is confined to its function of profit-making and the accumulation of capital. Not even in the most optimistic dreams of defenders of the free market will the accumulation of capital ever be made to equal care of the environment.

In the meantime, the play-acting at COP 26 in Glasgow will present itself as farce, a genuine tragedy in which we must cease being a mere audience of on-lookers. How much more time-wasting and failure must we see before we accept that capitalist politicians are incompetent to deal with the problem. The real powers of action are with the great majority of people. This will be when we decide to create a society in which we will be free to co-operate and to use all our great reserves of energy and ingenuity for our needs. Without a doubt, this includes the urgent need to stop the despoliation of our planet.

Adapted from Pieter Lawrence, Breakdown at Hague

Breakdown at The Hague(3) (marxists.org)

Our enemy is capitalism

 The Socialist Party is for world socialism, which would eliminate the obsolete national boundaries into which the earth is divided. Only under a one-world administration can world peace and prosperity be achieved. In 1904 the Socialist Party came together for one reason: to politicise and organise a revolution against the capitalist system. We are an organisation that believes the working people can be educated and inspired to rise up to create a new system based on justice and economic prosperity for everyone. We see the need and the possibility to win the overwhelming majority of the population for the fight against capitalism and for socialism. Everything belongs to all!

Poverty continues to increase in the middle of abundance. The rich are getting richer, while the poor get poorer. This is the fundamental feature of capitalism. In a socialist society, the means of production will be to provide for the needs of the people. The capitalist profit-makers will have passed into history.

We demand that the land, the instruments of production (machines, factories, transport, etc.), and all the products of labour become the common property of the whole people; and, That all production be organised cooperatively, and be carried on under the direction of the commonwealth; as also the cooperative distribution of the products in accordance with the service rendered, and with the just needs of the individuals. And to realise our demands, we strive by all proper means to gain control of the political power. We say that the workers must enter into political actions against the capitalist state and achieve control of the state power and use this as a class in their interests and that this is the only road to the social revolution and the abolishing of the capitalist system. Our Party does not advocate the use of force by the workers today.

The whole world is chained to the capitalist system. This system of capitalism is set up with one thing in mind – to make the most profits possible for the handful of people who own the Big Businesses. It is the system under which we, and our parents and grandparents before us, have done all the work. We dug the mines, built the buildings, manufactured all the products: and then get just enough to live on – if we fight hard enough for it. On the other hand, the capitalist class made huge fortunes off of our labour.

The Socialist Party stands for the complete overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of a socialist system. Once it is no longer possible to make a profit from the general misery of people, our problems can be quickly solved. There are several parties around that call themselves “communist” or “socialist”. We have important disagreements with them. These parties all have one thing in common – they all dress themselves up with high-sounding revolutionary phrases, but underneath they are defenders of capitalism and attempt to sabotage the struggle of the working class. 

The capitalist mode of production shall be replaced by the socialist mode where the means of production, land and soil, quarries and mines, raw materials, tools, machines, transport, will be transferred to the common ownership of society. They shall no longer serve individuals as a means of living of the labour of others, no longer be the means of the economic enslavement of the propertyless. Thus the commodity production of independent private producers is changed into a planned social production by the people and for the people.

The Socialist Party aim is to abolish capitalism and reorganise society on a socialist basis. The goal of the Socialist Party is socialism, not reformed capitalism. Its tactics must be those that will bring about socialism. We want to live well. That is everything. Capitalism doesn't allow us to live well, because it forces us to support a regime of slavery, exploitation and of oppression. We know that the poor are the most of the world, most of each town and we know that we have to organise the world in each town, how it is our desire in order to live better the life. Then, that is what we want: organising the industrial life they want or they don't want the capitalists and rulers, in order to give us the well-being that we want and that we needed. Individually we can do nothing. The individual revolt and the personal hatred of one worker must be transformed into collective revolt, into class solidarity. Our point of view is that resistance must be systematized, and not those of acceptance and servility. In order for the resistance to be capable of defeating oppression, unity is necessary. All those who can be united must be united.

 

Socialist Freedom

 

The Socialist Party seeks to usher in freedom — freedom from the grind of poverty; freedom from government; freedom from big business; freedom from the slave-driving of workers by profiteers. Capitalism, the private ownership of the means of production, is responsible for the insecurity of subsistence, the poverty, misery, and degradation of the ever-growing majority of our people. Ignorance, with all concomitant evils, is perpetuated by this system, which makes human labour something to be bought in the open market, and places no real value on human life. People are wasted by this system, which makes “profit” the only object in business. Science and technology are diverted from their humane purposes and made instruments for the enslavement of men, women and children. We, therefore, call upon all to unite under the banner of socialism, so that we may conquer capitalism by making use of our political liberty so that we may put an end to the present barbarous struggle, by the abolition of capitalism and turn all the means of production, transportation, and distribution, into the common property and bring about the cooperative commonwealth for the present unplanned production, class war, and social disorder — a commonwealth which, although it will not make everyone equal physically or mentally, will give to every worker the free exercise and the full benefit of free access to the fruits of their collective labour.

The productive capacity of our world is not fully utilised. Its use is governed by the dictates of private economic power and by considerations of, private profit. Similarly, the scramble for profit has wasted and despoiled our rich resources of soil, water, forest and minerals. This lack of social planning results in a waste of our human as well as our natural resources. Our human resources are wasted through social and economic conditions which stunt human growth, through unemployment and through our failure to provide an adequate education. Our industry can and should be so operated as to enable our people to use fully their talents and skills. Such an economy will 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 to the threshold of a second industrial revolution. Opportunities for enriching the standard of life are greater than ever. However, unless the careful study is given to the many problems which will arise and unless there is intelligent planning to meet them, 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 and the displacement of populations. The challenge facing us today is whether future development will continue to perpetuate the inequalities of the past or whether it will be based on principles of social equity.

A society motivated by the drive for private gain and special privilege accompanied by widespread suffering and injustice is not social progress.  Socialism will be a society in which everyone will have a sense of worth and belonging. We believe that the Socialist Party must educate and agitate exclusively for the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of industrial democracy. The Socialist Party declares that its purpose is a social revolution. A social revolution means nothing more or less than the adoption of a system of production, distribution, and consumption which is based on common ownership in place of the present inconsistent and tic system of private ownership based on the brutal power of capital, which has passed its historical period. These inconsistencies in the economic system have been followed by the awful suffering and misery through which the world has lived.

We cannot define the method by which social change will occur. The methods of revolution are dependent largely upon the blindness or the clear-sightedness of its opponents in their attitude towards this necessary progress in history. But even now, during this stage, the Socialist Party does not confuse revolution and violence with one another. Violence and bloodshed do not make any movement revolutionary, and essentially they have nothing in common. We are aware of the fact that events are of a revolutionary nature more on the basis of their results than on their forms. Being a party that stands for the brotherhood of humanity, and directs its activities toward the attainment of general happiness and well being, the Socialist Party hopes that its victory will be accomplished by the systematic and peaceful organisation. But in its attempt to capture political power the working class cannot reject any weapon and the form of its revolution will finally depend upon prevailing conditions, and especially upon the opposition directed against it.

The Planet’s False Friends

 

The capitalist economy is in an endless search for profit, seeking to turn everything into a commodity to sell. Only in this way can capital accumulation continuously expand, effectively driven by the competition between businesses for ever-larger market share.

Capitalism cannot halt its march to destruction. Without a doubt, governments don't want to accuse the big polluters of the environment and prefer to present them with the friendly image of good corporate citizens. Capitalism’s drive to expand, private ownership of natural resources, production for profit rather than the common good, the inability to plan socially, and the alienation of humanity from nature – make it inherently ecologically destructive. Relentless cost-cutting and aggressive expansion in the market to improve profit margins is the core dogma of the religion of capitalism.

The environmental crisis is not a climate crisis but a crisis of the capitalist mode of production. Global warming is the failure of capitalist planning. The apparent insolubility of the climate crisis through conference treaties is a direct result of capitalist competition between corporations and countries. Ecological groups put their hopes in direct-action tactics as an alternative to lobbying. While deserving respect for their distrust of the State such direct action might appear militant but it is not sufficiently radical enough with its limited demands, failing to confront the ultimate source of the problem - capitalism - nor offer solutions to how to dissolve capitalism. Direct actions are intended to spread awareness of the problem, rather than confront its cause. Only in a socialist society can the ecological problems capitalism creates be solved.

By releasing us from the tyranny of private ownership of the means of production, socialism, ends this morbid tendency of cancerous growth. Socialism replaces capitalist profit with production for real human needs, resulting in a meaningful transformation of how we live and work and in ways that are fundamentally democratic and fully participatory. Despite some well-intentioned critique of capitalism that points to the insanity of unplanned, undemocratic production, the environmentalist movement has made little attempt to develop a rational, democratically controlled economy providing for the needs of the world’s population. 

The superficial cosmetic changes COP26 propose does nothing to alter the basic functioning of global capitalism. Reformist groups worldwide have been utterly incapable of offering an alternative to capitalism and disappointingly our socialist ideas have so far not resonated on a large scale. 

The climate crisis offers an opportunity for profound change. The inability of capitalism to manage the economy sustainably or in the general interest has never been clearer, nor has the relevance and necessity of socialism. People can now potentially envision a different kind of community beyond capitalism that is egalitarian and environmentally sustainable. The World Socialist Movement argue that there is no road to prosperity for all of the world without the overthrow of capitalism.

End Capitalism

 

The Socialist Party stands solely for socialism: a  system in which the people own and control the economy through the widest democracy. The Socialist Party strongly holds to the idea that no movement will ever do the workers any good unless it is democratically controlled by the workers themselves. A movement that will stay true to its working-class programme must be made up of people who will give freely of their time and energy because they fully understand and trust in what the movement stands for. We are really referring to the degree to which workers have come to understand that their interests are tied up with those of the working class as a whole, that no worker or group of workers can, in the long run, improve their position at the expense of the working class as a whole. The long-run effect of such efforts always plays into the hands of capital and to the detriment of all workers, including those who secured some short-run advantage. Such an understanding of the interests of the class as a whole we call class consciousness. The most class conscious workers are those who understand the goal of the working class in re-organising society upon a socialist basis.

How many are there who understand these things today? Isn’t it true that the Socialist Party consists of only a handful of people? How can such a small party get anywhere? We are firmly convinced that even such a small party, can not only get somewhere but will re-make the world.

Socialism is completely opposed to the exploitation of man by man which now divides humanity. The capitalist mode of production poses before humanity a choice: Socialism or Barbarism?

Capitalism is an outlived system whose life-blood is private profit, whether or not it is represented as a “welfare state” or not. It perpetuates poverty, unemployment, racism, war and environmental destruction. The only solution to these problems is the elimination of capitalism and its institutions, and the establishment of common ownership of the means of production, rational economic and social planning, and the abolition of all forms of national, racial, and sexual oppression. The so-called “communist” regimes – whether it was Stalin’s, Mao’s, or their heirs – are systems of totalitarian state-capitalism which have nothing in common with socialism. The so-called “Communist” Parties and left-wing movements which advocate these regimes are likewise no allies or friends of the aims and ideals for which the Socialist Party stand.  

Capitalism has developed as a world economic system. It is illusory to believe that the much higher development of the productive forces that socialism entails can be achieved within the framework of a single country. The division of the world into different states imposes a definite form on the revolutionary process. The proletariat must and can take power and begin to build socialism in the territories defined by different existing states. But the construction of socialism can be completed only on a world scale. The revolution can occur only through the active participation of the overwhelming majority of the population. Thus the Socialist Party rejects all insurrectionary and terrorist illusions. The goal of socialism is to create societies that offer full participation to each member and are environmentally sustainable. Human needs will be fulfilled through democratic common ownership of the means of producing social wealth.

Consumption patterns must change as part of learning a new relationship with planet Earth. This need not result in poverty for working people. What will be lost is the consumerist culture, needless waste and excessive resources spent on militarism. Only a mass, popular movement of resistance and change can end economic misery and reverse the destruction of the Earth’s ecosystem. To achieve a shift to an ecologically sustainable and socially just economic order, planning of the world economy through democratic institutions and mass participation from members of society is required. This cannot be achieved under capitalism. The ruling class resist any loosening of their control over the world’s natural and human resources, while their lust for profits continues to drive destructive projects.

Working people of the world share common interests in fighting against capitalist exploitation. Divisions among us along national or racial lines are fostered by the capitalists and serve their interests. Working people need to organise in politics independent of the capitalists and their political parties. Only independent political action and mass movements struggling for concrete goals can achieve lasting change. Socialism is an alternative model to that of the capitalist system. It is based on solidarity and not competition. A system in harmony with nature, rather than one that loots our natural resources. A system based on cultural diversity and not the crushing of culture and impositions of cultural values and lifestyles. Socialism is a system that seeks to restore the human condition of our societies and peoples, rather than reducing them to simple consumers or commodities.

EXPLOITATION–is taking from the poor and giving to the rich.
CAPITALISM–is the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.
SOCIALISM–is everybody sharing. A system based on human need, not human exploitation.

Time is Short

 

With capitalism falling ever deeper and deeper into crisis, we can see the burden being placed increasingly on the shoulders of the working class.  We can see government after government across the world enacting legislation with similar ends: to make the working class pay for the problems of capitalism. However,  we see much evidence popular resistance is rising. Mass movements are once against stirring. Under the present system nearly everybody loses. While some people get cheated worse than others, they all get short-changed in the end so that the corporations can make more money.

While power now rests in the hands of very few people, the real power in any country rests in the hands of all its people. It isn’t easy to unite. All the lives we’ve been told that we’re separate and different from everyone else. We’re taught to view other people with suspicion. For these reasons people who should be uniting keep opposing each other. The people who run society want it that way: they tell us that the only way we can be worth anything is to be better than someone else. In order to get us to accept the fact that they have power and we don’t, they encourage divisions among us to make us feel as if we weren’t deprived, as long as there is someone worse off. The media tell us to blame other workers for our problems.  In this way, the media never give us a true picture of society or of our lives. Instead of being a voice for the people, for the way we seek things, the media depict our lives in terms that benefit corporations.

The working people of the world will be guaranteed security, democracy, equality and peace only when our planet is run on an entirely different basis than it is now; only when a socialist system replaces the present capitalist one. The new socialist system would mean that working people would own the factories and farms and they would plan production and distribution for their own needs.

 Common among our fellow workers are a number of illusions preventing them from seeing the underlying cause of their problems and from looking toward a socialist solution. One of these illusions concerns the nature of the State; another concerns the idea of national interest. Many have allowed themselves to be fooled into believing that because they can choose between candidates selected by money-dominated political machines, they have a government ruling in the public interest. Because the people do not yet understand the class nature of state power they are unable to see through the lie that the government is above class interests. The first lesson to be learned is that state power, for all its pretensions, is ultimately the ruling arm of the capitalist class.

The second widespread illusion is the capitalist notion of “national interests,” which in reality is the interest of the capitalists and their servants, not the people. A country’s foreign policy is designed to protect the property, commerce and trade of Big Business. The government is an instrument of the exploiters which they use to uphold and strengthen their system of exploitation and oppression. The power of the government is openly used by the exploiting class to secure opportunities to protect its investments.

“The government of the people, for the people, and by the people,” no longer exists in this country. Today in the United States it is a government of, for, and by Wall Street and the financial and industrial system it represents. In the American Declaration of Independence, it was laid down as a principle that all men are endowed with certain inalienable rights and “that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These rights do not exist. The means of producing wealth have been concentrated in the hands of a small class that uses the power that ownership of the means of production and distribution gives it to exploit and oppress the wage-workers and farmers. The industries — the factories and mines, transport and communications, are under the ownership and control of a small group of great capitalists who use these instruments of production and distribution to exploit and oppress the millions of workers and farmers who are dependent upon their use to earn for themselves and their families the necessities of life. These capitalist exploiters of the working people use the government as an instrument to maintain and uphold their special privileges. The courts have been equally diligent in serving the interests of the financial and industrial rulers who control the government. It is in the struggle against the wage-workers and their labour unions that the government has shown most clearly that it is a government of exploiters, fighting the battles of the exploiting class against the oppressed and exploited workers.

The only answer is for working people to organise their political power independent of the capitalist parties and to wrest political power from the hands of the exploiters.