We go after the system!

 

Times are changing. Old political parties are transforming. Working people are looking beyond capitalism. Confronted with the catastrophic destruction of the environment by the logic of the profit motive, many seek an alternative.  Capitalism creates a situation where large masses of the people are dissatisfied, embittered, emboldened by intolerable hardships. Capitalism itself prepares the conditions for its cataclysm. Capitalism has reduced mankind to chronic misery, poverty, insecurity, fear, carnage, insane luxury for the few, hunger and degradation for the many — a state that simply cannot continue if mankind is to progress. To save humanity, this putrid wound on its body must be removed. Defending their lives and their future they must inevitably come into conflict with the bosses. Defending their very lives they are driven to stand up against bosses. Fighting against the bosses they are defending not only their own class interests but the interests of mankind. Socialism has grown out of the disappointment of the workers with politics and parliament.

But their conception of socialism remains unclear.

Whenever the government nationalises an industry, whenever the state imposed its control over industry, many workers naively accept this as an abandonment of capitalism, as a symptom of the growing importance of socialism and the transformation of capitalism into socialism. Not so. What was being ended is not capitalism, per se, but so-called free-enterprise laissez faire capitalism. It is socialism nor an “installment” of socialism, but state capitalism.  Socialism is not state ownership or management of industry, but the opposite: Socialism abolishes the state and its parliamentary regime. Industry is not transformed into state organs, but function socially through new administrative norms of the organized producers. The development towards state-capitalism -- often propagated under the name socialism does not mean the liberation of the working class but greater servitude. Socialists rejects policy of state ownership, rejects the idea that state capitalism is a phase of socialism, and insists upon self- management through industrial democracy. It is the task of socialists to abolish private property in the means of production and to establish socialist production and distribution. In a class-free society there is nobody to suppress or repress. Men and women do not need the big stick of the State. They manage their affairs without the State. Mankind is free, forever. 

What the working people  strive for in its struggle, liberty and security, to be master of its own life, is only possible through control of the means of production. State capitalism is not control of the means of production by the workers, but control by the organs of the state.  Workers control of production means that the employees direct the enterprises and construct the higher and central organisations from below. Organised autonomy of the productive masses stands in sharp contrast to the organisation from above in state capitalism.  The slogan of "workers' control," does not mean to work in co-operation with employers and government ministers; it means class struggle, it means revolutionary action against state power. 

The diametrically opposed interests of capital and labour can never be reconciled. Socialism works in two directions: first, by undermining the existing institutions; secondly, by developing and educating the workers and cultivating their spirit of solidarity, to prepare them for a full, free life, when capitalism shall have been abolished. A free society can exist only through voluntary association and that will depend upon the development of the workers who will supplant the wage system with a new social arrangement, based on solidarity and economic well-being for all. 

The Capitalist Contradiction

 We are drowning in a sea of poverty, thousands of families are living in abject poverty, food banks, low pay, homelessness and much, much more The ruling class are beating us with a great long stick, many have got their heads down and are happy as it seems taking the beating being handed down to us. Things will not change if we change our socks and elect a government of the Starmer Labour Party. This seems to be the best time to explain that despite everything that’s happened, we can see that people are beginning to rise. Some are losing their lives in these struggles, never let us lose sight of that, violence is always as abhorrent and abominable as capitalism itself. All that matters to the capitalist and the boss is production for profit, if the profit begins to slide then more than likely the worker will end up taking the bullet, and many times in the back. Workers are nothing more than cannon fodder in reality, time, and time again, the ruling class are only too happy to send them to the slater house if it is expedient and convenient to do so, especially if they have no other uses and employ for them when their work is done or the industry begins to fall into decline; new methods of production, a cheaper alternative product and, workers are fired, We are told, because people are living longer, this, in turn, is putting a fiscal twist and strain on public finance, it’s costing an arm and a leg to keep our pensioners, in what should be a comfortable break after a lifetime of work; but, it should be cosy, snug, warm and pleasant, and after a lifetime of repetitive slavery for most. What the ruling class is really saying, and with a pointing finger at all working people, is you exist only to work, you are the firewood we burn, the fuel to profit.

The times have changed, the movement has changed, and it may be just, that we may have to do things differently too, that we adapt to these new times. Technological advancement should free people from toil, but first, we would have to establish a civilised society which capitalism is not.

Working peoples of all lands join us, to build the world on new foundations. A world in which the age-long dreams of poets will become a living reality. Liberate yourselves from the political rule of Wall Street and the City of London. Once these parasites are off our backs, war will be only a word in the history books. We shall then stand on the threshold of a new era of unlimited human progress. Our world has everything necessary to provide permanent security and prosperity for all. We have the raw materials, the industries, the most advanced technology, a skilled labour force, and a high cultural level. These can be put to work to provide a life of abundance for every man, woman and child on the planet. Today, the madmen who rule are preparing to use their power to plunge humanity into the barbarism of endless wars in their insane drive to enslave the world. Over every man, woman and child hangs the threat of war, with the grim prospect of destruction from nuclear missiles. These are the bitter fruits of capitalism. So long as capitalism endures war will ravage the world.

The employing class, aided and abetted at every turn by the government at Washington, has been conducting a furious offensive against the workers. Their object is to beat down living standards, and- make the workers pay for all their problems.

The Socialist Party is 100% opposed to the capitalist system. We call for the establishment of a socialist society. We invite you to join us in the struggle for a socialist society, in which at long last you will really find complete freedom from want and true freedom from fear.  Let us build a socialist society in which life on this earth will be a thing of beauty and a thing of joy. Unite with the Socialist  Party to rid ourselves of the plague of capitalism with its hunger, wars and recessions. Build a socialist party of peace, freedom and plenty.

Catastrophe Capitalism

 

Everywhere you look, people appear to be extremely obsessed with wealth and money. It has always been a problem getting our message across to others, that capitalism is not working, or better put that another way, has never worked in our interests ever, let me clarify that and make it less confused and more clearly comprehensible; it does not work in the interests of the majority in the world no matter what your background is or has been.

And because we have taught and allowed entire generations to think that becoming wealthy is one of the primary goals in life, it is creating a tremendous amount of envy, jealousy, frustration and anger among those that have not been able to become wealthy and done well in life, it could be that they don’t fully understand why; it could also mean that many start to turn on their own and find another way of chasing money to pay them bills, life is cruel and harsh for many under capitalism.     

 

In recent years, the level of bitterness and resentment that the rest of the nation has toward the very wealthy has risen to a new level.  It has now become more and completely apparent to many that the system is designed to funnel wealth to the very top of the food chain, and many of those at the bottom of the food chain are starting to become extremely upset about this.

People living in poverty pay around 10 per cent more than average for essential goods and services – a “poverty premium” which can push people on low incomes into crisis, a report has warned this week.

Low-income households are much more for their energy due to a lack of ability to take advantage of switching or finding cheaper tariffs. Budgets undeniably, are tight as millions of us are forced through austerity, some take an unprecedented cut in their standard of living, then struggling with low pay or having to take a pay cut just to keep a job, then there are the millions, the legions and multitudes reliant on the foodbank and the handout just to keep body and soul together and sustained physically and mentally strong, It’s definitely hard for many of us and has been for some considerable time now.

However, it’s good to know that for some the good times never ended and the champagne still flows and the party never came to an end. Most people have always known the trickle down effect is and always has been complete and utter bollocks. Bringing the problems of inequality to the attention of politicians who can't see past the next election or a future directorship is also pointless as they just don't care as long as they are part of the 1%.

 

 

Since the last financial crisis, almost all of the income gains have gone to the top one percent of all income earners, whilst on the other hand working families are feeling the pinch from flatlining wages which are completely out of line with the every spiraling costs of living.

None of us are perfect or as good as it is possible to be in the present system, we are after all the product of the environment we are born into and to some extent we may mimic that system in our own lives.

Capitalism has been changing the climate. The ‘climate crisis’ should now be spoken of as the climate catastrophe, because this is what it is for the majority of the people on earth. The droughts of prolonged periods of abnormally low rainfall, melting icecaps of once-permanent ice, tropical storms amongst the most powerful and destructive may become commonplace here in Britain, and of course the bizarre weather we have been experiencing is just the beginning.

The dominant economic system is the driving force of climate change.  It is based upon the exploitation of first coal and then oil, all of which contributes greenhouse gases to the environment, resulting in increasing global temperatures. The innermost logic of this economic system is the accumulation of capital.  Whatever serves profit thrives. Currently a large part of the capitalist machine is fueled by oil and coal. The vast majority of scientific investigation points directly to the burning of oil and coal as having already raised the temperature of the Earth, with the probability of raising it even by the end of this century. To do this would make life on earth unrecognisable, like something out of a science fiction movie. This may happen by the time today’s infants enter old age.

It seems that if the fundamental driving force of capitalism is the further accumulation of capital, it would make sense not to change the ecology so much that you severely reduce the number of producers and consumers, threaten food production, and endanger the future of humanity.  Without civilization, how can capitalism continue?  Right now, the most potent anti-civilisationforce on the planet is capitalism.

Capitalists confront us by driving the rate of destruction ever upward, while becoming increasingly irrational in seeking out the remaining oil, coal and gas supplies. The tar sands extraction process in Canada, ‘fracking’ to get at natural gas reserves (which is causing earthquakes), mountain-top removal in Appalachia, oil drilling off the coasts and efforts to do so in pristine parts of Alaska, all for a form of energy which is literally killing millions of people, is simple madness.

Perhaps members of the ruling class simply do not care about the future of civilisation, or what kind of future their children or grandchildren will have. Perhaps they think they will be dead before things get too bad. Perhaps today’s continued profit is more important than the future disintegration of society, and the end of civilisation as we know it. Perhaps they think they have enough money that the devastation that awaits will not really affect them. Or perhaps they just think they will adapt to a changing environment.

Regardless of the thinking of capitalists and the ruling class, and whatever debates they may be having about how to respond, we must confront the realities of the climate catastrophe and develop a movement to create a society that does not change the weather. It is really up to us, and what we do in the next decade. To not act is to allow millions of people, primarily poor people of color in impoverished nations, to suffer and die

The climate crisis offers damning evidence that capitalism is madness. The situation offers the opportunity for us to argue for the fundamental transformation of society as the only alternative to a barbarous future. Almost every aspect of modern life is contributing to the changing climate, from air transportation, to our reliance on cars, to how goods are produced and transported, how our food is grown, and how we light and heat our homes.  The common theme that runs through all these things, and what must be changed, is that they are all aspects of a capitalist economy and ideology.

You do have choices

 

Anxious about the state of the planet and worried what capitalism is doing to it? Want to do something about it? But don’t know what?

Capitalism has taken us as far as it can go, but there's a lot further we can go without it. It doesn't really matter whether you call it post-capitalism, world socialism, or post-scarcity anarchism, it is feasible and desirable. And given that some scientists are talking about a point of no-return for environmental destruction being reached, the word 'urgent' springs to mind.

You can't overthrow capitalism by street barricades. At best you can temporarily annoy it. Don't kid yourself that rioting is a real threat to capitalism. Modern states have massive coercive power, and they can withstand more resistance  than you can deliver. To be dangerous to capitalism,we have to win the war of ideas, across all the media, amongst our friends and co-workers, in our groups, in our own head. And we have to be united about what we want after capitalism, and united about how to get it. Otherwise, the grim truth is that we really won't succeed.

 

For a revolution to be any good, you have to be for something, besides being against capitalism. Some people are just against big capitalism (WTO, IMF, World Bank, multinationals, etc) as if somehow 'small' national capitalism is a completely different thing, and perfectly nice. It's not. They're the same. Let's have a definition: capitalism is production for sale on a market with a view to profit. Instead of that we could have: cooperative production for use and free distribution on the basis of need. This would involve: no markets, no money, no commodities, no private property, no rich class and poor class, no Third World and First World, no profit-led profligacy of any description, no ecological destruction, no famine, and no war.

Everywhere people are waking up and fighting against the oppression and exploitation which is a daily fact of their lives. The lies of the ruling class about “prosperity” are being further exposed every-day. There is prosperity alright – but it is for a handful of rich capitalists – the conditions of the working people are getting worse and worse. 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 banks and corporations. It is the system under which we, and our parents and grandparents before us, have done all the work. We mine the mines, build the buildings, manufacture all the products: and then get just enough to live on – if we fight hard enough for it! On the other hand the small capitalist class builds up huge fortunes off of our labour.

The Socialist Party stands for the complete overthrow of the world capitalist system. There is only one class capable of conducting the struggle for a successful socialist revolution. That class is the working class. The workers have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win!

All the resources for a world of abundance, without pollution, disease and squalor, exist at the present time in skill, technique and science. They are the same resources used to produce pollution and destruction.

Humanity is at a crossroads. Capitalism’s continued rule offers humanity nothing but more wars, more mass acts of terror and grinding exploitation and poverty.

The world’s working class, the one class with no essential interest in oppression or exploitation, has the potential to put an end to capitalist barbarism. If it rises up to overthrow the capitalists in revolutions the planet over, it can take hold of the productive power of the world economy to put an end to poverty and build a world of abundance for all. It can end the racism, chauvinism and sex and gender oppression that thrives on capitalism’s world of want and competition.

Only by building a global movement can the working class prepare itself for the titanic task of undoing the disasters the capitalists keep making - and building a new world in their place.

A new society is not created by steps toward socialism. There are no shortcuts. There are several parties and groups around today such as Counterfire or Left Unity to name but two from a long list (Heinz baked beans and 57 other varieties) that call themselves “communist” or “socialist”.  The Socialist Party has important disagreements with them. These parties and groupings all have one thing in common – they all dress themselves up with high-sounding revolutionary phrases, but underneath they are defenders of capitalism.

We Need Socialism

 

 Faced with a social system which creates problems faster than its politicians can make promises, responses range from the stupidly complacent to those whose self-righteous radicalism leaves no time for actually solving the problems they shout about. Would-be "leaders" the world over, rush to defend the indefensible. Political parties compete to run a system of organised poverty and obscene contradictions, which has built weapons to destroy humanity while millions starve. Most political debate is as irrational as the system of class division and profit which, in one form or another, it seeks to defend. It is therefore very refreshing indeed when a glimmer of social sanity shows itself through this dense fog of doublethink.  The Socialist Party is made up of men and women who have kept alive the vision of socialism as a society of personal freedom, communal solidarity, production for use and free access to goods.

Socialism is possibly the most abused, misused, and misunderstood term in the English language. So to explain our understanding of what it means visualise a completely different economic, world-wide system of society. Within this system, all the means of production and distribution that exist on the face of the earth will be owned and democratically controlled by the whole of society. Each person will stand in exactly the same economic relationship with the instruments for producing and distributing wealth. There will be no class owning and there will be no non-owning class—it will be a classless society. Goods and services will be produced and distributed solely for use and not for profit. People will contribute according to their individual abilities, taking from society according to their needs. This means literally free access to whatever they require. Visualise then a system in which there will be no means of exchange, no money, no barter. A system wherein there will be no capitalist class paying wages, with no employers or employees. Such a system cannot operate in one country, as no one country is economically self-sufficient; nor can it be inaugurated until the vast majority understand its economic and social implications.

In a society wherein the vast majority are non-owners of wealth production and distribution and a minority are the owners, a conflict of interest must exist. We acknowledge the absolute necessity of trade unions under capitalism, and we support the active participation of workers within the trade union movement in their attempts to safeguard and improve, their wage levels and working conditions. At the same time, we also fully realise the limitations of trade unions. We are the sole advocates of the highest expression of the class struggle on the political field—the demand for the abolition of class society, together with the class struggle, through the establishment of socialism.

The key to capitalism's closely guarded secret —the appropriation of surplus value by the capitalist class— is that most workers spend a lifetime blissfully unaware of the fact that as a class they are being legally robbed when they produce values equal to their pay cheques, but then continue producing excess values for the bosses.

 The four key features of socialism are:

Production will be for use and not for sale on the market.

Distribution will be according to need and not by means of buying and selling.

Labour will be voluntary and not imposed on workers by means of a coercive wages system.

A human community will exist and social divisions based on class, nationality, sex or race will have disappeared.

The Socialist Party is for those who have seen through the nonsense of the profit system and who clearly stand for the abolition of capitalism in any of its forms, whether private or state-controlled and its replacement by a system of production for use, with human needs being met through free access to all goods and services. The Socialist Party explains its ideas in a historical context which makes them all the more powerful and urgent. Moreover, it is demonstrated that capitalism really does "produce its own gravediggers", as various groups at different times and places have independently reached (and continue independently to reach) the same conclusion - that since the problems of the working-class majority cannot possibly be solved through the reform of the capitalist system, therefore it must be replaced.

The means of production must either function as capital throughout the world (in which case wage labour and capitalism persist internationally) or they must be commonly owned and democratically controlled at a global level (in which case they would be used to produce wealth for free, worldwide distribution). The changeover from world capitalism to world socialism will have to take the form of a short, sharp rupture (a revolution), rather than a gradual extended process of cumulative transformation.

Defeat nationalism

 

We live in an age of possible social revolution – the rise of world socialism and the overthrow of world capitalism. There is no middle way between the capitalist system and socialism.

Nationalism is an outlook that preaches to the people of a nation or national group that regardless of class they have more in common with one another than they do with the people of other nations. Nationalism helps bind the working class to the bourgeoisie of its nation.  World socialism unites the working people of the world against their masters. That is why capitalists promote nationalism and oppose socialist internationalism. Working people’s destiny must not be tied to the capitalists, nor to the aspiring national bourgeoisie of an oppressed nation. The working class must have its own ideology and rid itself of the ideology of its class enemy. To the extent that the working class holds nationalist ideas, it is allowing its destiny to be determined by its rulers. Marxists do not differentiate between oppressed and oppressor nations in order to proclaim that the nationalism of the oppressor is reactionary while that of the oppressed is progressive. Marxists do not fan the flames of nationalism that further divisions within the working class.

A national ruling class fosters the national liberation struggle for its own narrow class interests. It raises its banner of nationalism – “Palestine for the Palestinians,” for example. The nationalist banner appears to have anti-imperialist content. It enlists the working class in the national liberation struggle. It even directs fire at the imperialists. But the key question is: What are its class aims? The ruling class aims not at destroying capitalism, but at getting a bigger slice of the exploitation pie. Nationalism serves the bourgeoisie in the sense that they are seeking a market for their goods, and their national market is always primary as capitalism develops. And nationalism serves to help the bourgeoisie secure its national market. That is why it always ends up selling out to the imperialists or substituting one imperialist for another. The working class has no interest in choosing one imperialist for another; nor do workers seek to have their own bourgeoisie exploit them. They cannot put aside the socialist aims of the revolution for the sake of unity with the national bourgeoisie.  Nationalists will betray the people at every turn.

Marxists are internationalists. And even if they are Marxists of an oppressed nationality, they seek to join with workers of other nationalities in smashing their oppression and all oppression and exploitation even with workers of the oppressor country. National oppression cannot be ended until the elimination of class exploitation and their own national oppression is just one particular aspect of the outrages of capitalism. It is nationalism that divides the workers so that the workers of one nationality are struggling against the workers of another nationality for a few illusory crumbs the rulers throw out exactly for that purpose! It is nationalism that can pit groups of workers against each other with the most hideous rage, while their mutual oppressors skip off with both their purses for a little fun in the sun.  Any nationalism ultimately implies that those people are better than all others. Zionism should teach us at this moment more forcibly than anything else, how even the most “justifiable” nationalism, taken to its logical conclusion, can end up justifying the oppression of the Palestinians.

Tolstoy explained, “Nationalism is the site of execution. What it practices is the art of killing; what it discusses is the ways of killing. It has nothing to do with the real life of the masses.”

 It is the essence of “nationalism.”

Except for cold-blooded psychopaths and sadistic politicians, all human beings hate war. The origin of war is often found in the “love for one’s nation.” As nationalism” emerged, whose cause and purpose were all about selfishness and greed, for example, when one state wants to expand its territory, it will sacrifice its people to invade other nations. If it wins, only the rulers can enjoy the fruit of success. If it is defeated, working people suffer. Does it benefit the masses?

 The interests of the capitalist and the worker are irreconcilable, just as the international interests of the working class are irreconcilable with defence of the national interests of its country. ‘The workingmen have no country’ means:

(a) his/her economic position is not national but international;

(b) his/her class enemy is international;

(c) the conditions of his/her emancipation also;

(d) the international unity of the workers is more important than the national.

Against nationalism, socialists have always countered with the slogan: the enemy is here at home. Workers should oppose their own rulers who oppressed other nations. Class war is our battlecry, and the international solidarity of labour is our goal. We protest against every form of nationalism. The fight for Marxism is a fight against nationalism of any kind whatsoever.