Towards Socialist Clarity and Revolution

 We of the Socialist  Party call on all socialists to fight the political fight on the straight platform of revolutionary socialism. Reformism can be nothing but a capitalist programme. The socialist movement is the outline, of a definite and positive alternative to capitalism. It is clear to every socialist that socialism will not come into existence unless the majority of the people are willing to engage in the struggle for socialism and that means they have to understand what it is. If the people who vote for a Socialist Party candidate do not do so because he holds socialist principles but because of his or her advocacy of reforms, what earthly use can that be for achieving the socialist goal? Socialism must depend upon the consciousness of the working people and not upon their lack of knowledge. The idea that we should first be elected to office and then teach socialism is absurd and it should not even be discussed. It can be stated with the greatest of assurance that a socialist candidate who refrains from teaching socialism during the campaign will only forget all about socialism in office.  

The ruling class is never going to solve its problems through the capitalist system. Therefore, the objective conditions for revolution are going to rise up over and again. We don’t create these conditions. We have to understand our problems so that we can solve them. It’s no small job working to replace the powerful and entrenched capitalist system with our system of society, WORLD SOCIALISM. To do it, we must know how capitalism operates in all its complexities.

The capitalists have at their disposal the schools and universities, the media and many other means through which they justify their social system. We haven’t the resources they have or the facilities. But we have something far more powerful that they don’t possess. We have the unassailable principles of socialism with which to confute and confound them. We stand for an end to the anarchy of capitalism with its recessions, wars and famines. We stand for socialism that alone can guarantee enduring peace and plenty. It replaces the profit system. End the rule of the parasitical cliques of capitalists who run industry for greedy self-interest.

The Socialist Party is an organisation of convinced socialists who hold that socialism can come only through the conscious and determined action of the working-class movement in this and other countries. The working class in society holds a special position. It has no property. It is a propertyless class—dependent upon the class which owns property—the land, the factories, mines, communications, transport. But the land cannot give forth its fullness unless workers plough and sow and reap. The planet cannot deliver its mineral wealth unless workers dig it. Factories cannot work unless workers are employed to make them serve their purpose in the transformation of nature’s wealth into social wealth. It is this fact which compels the owners of the means of producing wealth to hire labour.  

Socialism is that form of society in which there is no such thing as a propertyless class, but in which the whole community collectively owns the means of production—the land, factories, and all the means whereby wealth is created and distributed to the community. The basic principles of a socialist society are diametrically opposite to those of the capitalist society in which we live. Socialism stands for social or community property. Capitalism stands for private property. Socialism is a society without classes. Capitalism is divided into classes—the class owning property and the propertyless working class.

We can easily understand, therefore, why the great majority of landlords, employers of labour, financiers and the like are opposed to socialism. Their very existence as the receivers of rent, interest and profit is at stake. They do not merely reject the theory of socialism, but actively and bitterly fight every movement which is in any way associated with the struggle for socialism.

TO ESTABLISH INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY – that is the aim of socialism. 

TO ESTABLISH SOCIAL DEMOCRACY - that is our aim.

Punishment Park (movie)

 

The answer is easy—end capitalism

 

Under capitalism human beings are expendable—profits and property is given priority. Working people are beginning to understand that the whole world is in turmoil and descending into barbarism. The power of the capitalist class depends upon how effective they are in convincing the working class that we have no power.  Without our consent capitalism cannot continue. They own the media that indoctrinates us with lies and myths. The capitalists will do anything and everything to camouflage the connection between capitalism and the enforced poverty of the masses through austerity measures. They convince us that we are powerless against them—not only to end their power over us—but to even aspire to build another world beyond capitalist exploitation.  Another type of society that ends poverty and injustice is attainable. The only way to stop the descent into chaos is for us to organise to end capitalism and build a socialist world. The only force that can take the employers’ despotic power from them and change the world for the better is a unified working class.

 

 This society can neither guarantee them a secure future nor even promise there will be a future. This society places a premium on wealth. People work out their lives for the enrichment of the small minority of profiteers who own the bulk of the economy and through their wealth control the entire society. Under capitalism, a small minority rules in fact if not in name, and profit is the be-all and end-all of economic life; human needs are secondary considerations.

 

Reforms are measures to alleviate the conditions of the masses but without eliminating the source of oppression, the capitalist system. Capitalism must continue on its profit-driven path. It cannot fulfil the needs of the majority of humanity—it never has. The vast majority of the Earth’s human population under capitalism has been impoverished for centuries. It is an economic system based upon the exploitation and oppression of working people. Capitalism has no other source of power other than the enslavement of the working class and the exploitation of our labour, which is how they maintain their power. It is the working class that has the power to change the world for the better because it is the working class that does all the work, building things we all need to live a fruitful and happy life with equality and justice for all. The Socialist Party seeks a world free of poverty, want and war. The capitalists are an obstacle to what is needed to build a healthy and prosperous future for all of us. Their sole concern is to increase their profits. That’s why the capitalist class as a whole can never be an ally of the working class. Individuals, of course, can come over to our side—and they do from time to time. But to be on our side, they must oppose capitalism and embrace socialism as the only way to rid the world of this vicious system.

 

Workers have much more in common with one another than our differences. We all want to live a decent life. We want to see a bright future for our children. We want good food, housing, education, and a clean environment that flourishes with life to safeguard the planet for all the species that share it with us.  This can only be done through revolution by the working class and the building of a new, socialist society. We must put aside our differences and embrace our commonality as our way out of the mess of capitalism has inflicted upon us.

Empathy (video)

 

For a New Socialist Society

 

“For our part, it is our task to drag the old world into the full light of day and to give positive shape to the new one. The more time history allows thinking mankind to reflect and suffering mankind to collect its strength the more perfect will be the fruit which the present now bears within its womb.” - Marx

 Capitalism promises the people not amelioration of conditions but austerity, oppression, wars and environmental destruction. Technological progress is now reaping vast profits for the industrial and financial oligarchy and condemning many of us to vulnerable jobs or unemployment. The people have been robbed and cheated for too long.  We suffer low wages and higher costs of living while the employers get richer. To create a new society, it is necessary that we reject the present economic and political system which we live under. More than this, we need to construct an entirely new system of values where the lust for money, power, and individual selfish gain are no longer the motivating factors. he new society must not only speak of democracy but must practice it in all its aspects. Our first task, therefore, is to join hands with us here to build a better world for our children and our children's children.

Each day real conditions grow worse. There is inflation. Threats of unemployment. Working conditions become more miserable. The insecurity of daily life becomes unbearable. The capitalist system won’t work, for the very root of capitalism is all wrong.  The working people themselves should own and operate the industries cooperatively, through owning and operating the government. This would end production for profit and the waste of competing corporations. There would be planned production for the first time, increasing the output of wealth so that there would be plenty for all. Socialism demands the conscious participation of millions of workers to end capitalism and replace it with social ownership. The kind of planned economy we envisage would, for the first time, make possible an end to wars between nations. Because the planned economy would include all countries. The aim of the working class would be to end capitalism and all forms of exploitation everywhere and to create a socialist world. Socialism is not just about fighting for reforms or demands. Reformism is not the same as revolution. We can’t make that distinction clear if we lend our support to capitalist politicians no matter what they call themselves. There is no such thing as a kinder and gentler capitalism. That is an oxymoron. Capitalism’s assault on the working class is not a matter of moral or immoral decisions being made by individual capitalists. It is an economic imperative that has a logic of its own that individual capitalists cannot control. For the economic system of capitalism to survive, it MUST increase profit by any means necessary including driving down our wages.

There is a war being waged against the entire working class by the capitalist class. In every country, in every corner of the world, workers are being force-fed austerity while the capitalists accumulate more wealth. The capitalist political system of “lesser evil” politics is designed to channel workers into a downward spiral of powerlessness by voting for the least-bad candidates among all the capitalist candidates. It is not a democratic system at all. Money drives all the campaigns and political parties and their candidates are representatives of the commanders of capital. They will say whatever they think will get them elected—whatever might get the most votes. But they are not held accountable whatsoever to their promises. Their job is to preserve the power of the capitalist class over the working class. Workers lose no matter which pro- or reform-capitalist candidate is elected to office.

Our environment is being systematically plundered for the natural resources capitalism needs to fuel its profits. Capitalism is destroying the planet. It cannot be reformed, reshaped or restructured—it must be abolished. This is no easy task. Working people are kept divided and live in constant fear of poverty, made to feel powerless. Through unity and solidarity across the world, we can overthrow capitalism. We need socialists who understand that capitalism must go and that workers must organize independently of the capitalists so that there can be no collaboration between the workers and the capitalists. The power of a united working class is the only way to create a world that can answer the needs of all of humanity and all life on the planet to establish a truly democratic socialist society without borders, exploitation and oppression. The  Socialist Party—with the support of the overwhelming majority—does have the power to end capitalism and replace it with a socialist system that puts people and the planet first.

We will sing one song (music)