Unite for Socialism

 

To try and achieve socialism is consciously to struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and its state institutions of state designed to maintain the economic and political dominance of the few who own capital over the many who have only possess their own labour power. A vote for socialism has a significance beyond  elections. It indicates your hostility to a system of society where production is carried on for the profit of the few instead of for the benefit of the many. Support for socialism means that you are  against a system which utilises its tremendous productive capacity only for war and environmental destruction. By agreeing with the Socialist Party you have the satisfaction of protesting against a system based on exploitation, greed and racial and national hatreds. Only a socialist will deal with these problems, having the interests of the people at heart. Some people will say that to vote for a candidate representing the ideas of socialism means to throw away one’s vote. In actuality he who votes for any of the capitalist candidates is throwing the vote away, because this means preferring one corrupt political machine as against another.  Until the capitalist system is completely overthrown wage slavery must still continue.

 Socialist revolution is the most radical break with oppression and exploitation in history. Socialist society no longer proceeds in chaos, but according to the planned fulfillment of genuine human needs. Exploitation, oppression and degradation will not exist in socialist society. Commodity production, that is, production for sale or exchange on the market, will not exist. The system of wage labor will be abolished and the guiding principle of labor will be “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” The means of production will be held communally and private property will be eliminated.

Unite to end crises, depressions, mass unemployment and poverty in the world – A Socialist World.

Unite to end war – World Socialism.

Unite to end exploitation of man by man, to end the present system which compels the many to work to produce wealth for a few – A Socialist Society.

Unite to end the plundering of all natural resources of our planet by the system of  capitalism and government solely in its interests – A Socialist Economy

Unite to end all racial, national and religious discrimination and persecution – A Socialist One World

Unite to release for the  the productive forces of our world for the benefit of the overwhelming majority of our population, working people and their families - A Socialist Commonwealth

Unite to end the rule of the capitalist class and abolish the class struggle by abolishing capitalism, now able to survive only by mass deception, tyranny, terror and war – A Socialist Earth

Unite to liberate working people from the rule of capitalism; to guarantee the liberation of all mankind from the tyranny and repression – A Socialist Democracy

Unite to replace the system of  capitalism by which the millions of the majority are compelled to sell their only commodity, labour power, for the profit of a small minority – Free Access Socialism 

Unite for a class-free socialist society: “From each according to  ability; to each according toneeds!” - Socialism

With the abolition of classes and class distinctions, all social and political inequality arising from them will disappear. The conflicts of interest between workers and farmers, town and country, manual and intellectual labour will disappear. As classes will not exist, the state will not be necessary as an instrument of class rule and will gradually have withered away.

An introduction to the Socialist Party (video)

 

Socialism – the Alternative to Barbarism

 

Around the world, all the hopes of a better future and the promises of prosperity being just around the corner have come crashing down, one after the other. Poverty, misery, famine, disease, and war have become the daily realities.

The  aim of socialism is the transformation of private ownership and control of the means of production  into their social ownership and control by the community at large. The prvalent misconception  of the term socialism has come to be applied to any activity of the state or municipality in an economic direction. Hence any industrial or commercial enterprise nationalised by a government is labelled socialism nowadays. State ownership or control does not mean socialism. The state of to-day is mainly an agent of the possessing classes undertaking and running of a nation by governmental bodies  in the interests of these classes. Their aim in all cases is to show a profit, in the same way as ordinary capitalistic enterprises. This profit accrues to the possessing classes in the form of tax relief, mainly paid by them, interest on loans, etc. In other words these industrial and commercial enterprises  are run for profit and not for use and their employees are little, if at all, better off than those of private employers.  The idea that socialism means  the concentration of the means of production, etc., in the hands of any corporate entity that may be called a State, irrespective of what that State may be, is ill-informed. This notion  of production, etc., in the hands of a ministerial department would not be socialism in any sense.

Capitalism, no matter what outward appearance, is a never-ending class war: the war, namely, between the owners of the powers to produce wealth, including the land, on the one side, and the owners of the labour-power, who can only earn wages by enabling these owners to produce at a profit, on the other. 

The aim of socialism is namely a revolution in human affairs involving the change in matters economic, of individualistic or private property holding, into communal property,  a change from the government of people to the administration of things. With regard to socialism and communism, we may say that the words socialism and communism are  interchangeable, and mean economically the communisation of the means necessary to production,and distribution, and nothing else. Socialism means cooperative associations. The socialist systemis the  cooperative commonwealth, with production and distribution,  administered on communal lines, for the benefit of the entire population.

 The aim and tendency of a socialist society must be towards complete economic equality throughout the whole of that society with the greatest possible extension of liberty, individual and social, being a fundamental principle of socialism. As socialism implies, it is the most absolute toleration. No form of coercion, such as the impregnation of the  minds of  with dogma would be consistent with socialism.

Ask yourself this, suppose you do not join in the campaign for socialism, suppose you do not organise and work for socialst ideas, what will the society you live in look like? Will it improve? Or will it deterioriate? It is  important to understand what will happen to  society, if capitalism is not replaced by socialism.

The workers’ movement can survive only by class struggle against all the forces of the bosses and the boss politicians. The workers must build their own party. There are no “friends of labour” in the capitalist parties.

The Socialist Party challenges the capitalist system and proposes to remove it, (as if it were a malignant tumour on human society.) Socialism means a society of peace and plenty, instead of a society of war and hunger. Only the working class, which has nothing to gain and everything to lose under capitalism, can create world socialism.

 

Socialism Explained (video)

Why the Socialist Party Is Different

 

The world today is a place of stark and bewildering contradictions.  It cannot feed, home and provide decent healthcare for billions although there are ample resources to do exactly that. Capitalism, the social system under which we live, is responsible for the contradictions. A system of exploitation,  racism and war makes our lives a misery. Capitalism thrives on the private ownership of society’s wealth and production – production involving the interconnected efforts of millions of working people.

The rich have one basic goal in life: to make more and more profits, and they accomplish this by dominating the economics, and the politics of every country. Anything for profits. This is an irrational and unjust system. But life does not have to be this way. We can improve our lives and society. In its campaign for a new society, the Socialist Party seeks to attain its objectives by peaceful and orderly means. The Socialist Party proclaims anew its faith in economic and political democracy, but it unhesitatingly applies itself to the task of replacing the bogus democracy of capitalist parliamentarism with genuine social democracy. If capitalism can be superseded by a majority vote, the Socialist Party will rejoice. The aims of socialism are always in the interest of the working class. The working class has nothing in common with the employing class. 

The real business of socialism is to abolish a society that is based on the wage system. It proposes that the working class shall take over all industries, the mines, mills, factories, land, transport and communications. We can eliminate exploitation and capitalist injustice, by overturning the capitalist system. We can replace capitalism with a humane system – socialism, a system where wealth is genuinely controlled by society and for the benefit of society; where the common good, not profits, becomes the chief concern. Such an economic and political transformation will be radical, but a radical solution is what it will take to bury the many problems of capitalism. There is no other choice today but to win socialism which will qualitatively improve the lives of the working people. If the working people controlled the great resources of our society, we could improve all our lives. We could have satisfying and safe places of work. We could end industrial pollution and global warming, and guarantee a decent standard of living for all. We could live in a society that is not constantly at war. The Socialist Party is opposed to militarism, imperialism and war. Its purpose is to eradicate the perpetual economic warfare of capitalism the fruit of which is international, conflict. War cannot be tolerated by socialists or preparedness for war. 

The difference between the objects of the political and labour union struggles is that the Socialist Party holds to a great and far-reaching purpose; a purpose not immediately understood by everyone; a purpose which, in fact, is often misunderstood and therefore has to meet opposition, prejudice and hatred which can be overcome only through extended educational propaganda. The objective of the unions, on the other hand, is an immediate one, the securing of higher wages and shorter hours. This is instantly intelligible to everyone; does not demand deep convictions, but appeals rather to immediate interest. On this account, quite undeveloped workers must not be hindered from joining the unions because of their prejudice against a world-overturning force like Socialism. As soon as the unions attempt to take in the great mass of the workers they must be absolutely independent. Of course, a friendly relationship with the Socialist Party can still be maintained.

The Socialist Party reminds workers that they should only expect their total emancipation and any improvements in their lot from themselves, from their own efforts and initiative, and not from the miraculous intervention of a third party, their elected representatives, whoever they might be, whatever party they might belong to, and whatever principles they might hold. Socialism means the overthrow of the wage system. This is the real essence of socialism.

A Clear Definition of Socialism (video)

 

The Earth for All

We live in times of revolutionary change. World organisations have been swept into limbo. Dictators have appeared as heaven-sent “leaders” of war-like nations. Politicians, statesmen of long-standing, have performed miracles of agile acrobatics, with their principles somersaulting and their positions flipping.  The Socialist Party that keeps to plain facts, is hotly denounced by both Right and Left. Amid the reams of paper and gallons of ink, used in publishing defences of capitalism, the short, plain, straight statements appearing in the Socialist Standard stand out like a spotlight, casting an illuminating beam through a cloud of murky confusion. While each and every political party has retracted their ideas, the Socialist Party statement does not require alteration.

Growing inequality and mounting misery are causing increasing protests around the world.

Of all the wealth produced between 1995 and 2021 globally, the top 1 percent captured 38 percent, while the bottom 50 percent captured a shocking 2 percent. 

 In the years following the 2007/08 crash, the world’s richest 1 per cent increased their wealth until they owned more than the bottom half of the world’s entire population. The world’s billionaires saw their wealth increase by nearly 70 per cent during the pandemic. 

The top 10 percent of the richest people in the United States own almost 70 percent of the country’s total wealth. The top 1 percent control 31 percent of the wealth. The bottom 50 percent of the U.S. population hold 2 percent of all U.S. wealth. 

We can turn the millions of empty houses and offices which exist as purely speculative assets into homes. We can expand public transport to make mobility available to everyone. We can even set up cafeterias that offer food for everyone in every neighbourhood something that many countries, including Britain, have historically done in times of hardship.

We can establish tool libraries where we can take out tools like drills or lawn-mowers from the library instead of every one possessing their own

We can make energy democratically run, and truly sustainable. A 2020 research paper on energy sufficiency found that it is possible to provide a decent life to the entire global population at 40 percent of current energy use, despite population growth until 2050.

And we can end the practice of planned obsolescence that makes everything – break or fall out of fashion. 57 million tonnes of electronics were thrown away in 2021. If we only designed smartphones, TVs and other appliances to last twice as long as they currently do, we could reduce this by half right away, without reducing wellbeing (but probably reducing profits).

It is a waste of energy to attempt to reform or appeal to governments. We must organise to overturn the capitalist system.