Socialism Means Plenty for All

 “You are suffering from a dire disease, called money. The only known cure is a revolution.” – Peter Sellers (in the film The Millionairess)

The lives of the workers are made up of worry, anxiety, insecurity, and hardships. There is the monotonous drudgery of uninteresting work, the constant penny-pinching to make ends meet, and the continual necessity to learn to do without things.  As long as the wages system continues, part of the wealth which the workers create will be kept back from them. The things necessary for the production of wealth must be made the common property of the workers, and it must be controlled by them.

The capitalist media, that is, the mouth-piece of the ruling class and their flunkies—denounce strikers as “greedy,” “selfish” and frequently ”thuggish”. Trade unions exist to fight against the exploitation of those who toil by hand and brain. They struggle to improve the working and living conditions of working people and strengthen working-class organisation. The Socialist Party exists to further political understanding of the need of ending capitalism and establishing socialism.

The working class has always been compelled to earn its own living and to support capitalists and landlords who did not. It is the workers who represent the decisive force in our society. The capitalists, however, fail to recognise this elementary fact. They still hope to preserve the traditional position of class privilege. They think their class system is eternal. The struggle of workers is part of the world struggle of all workers against all forms of capitalist exploitation and oppression. What is labour solidarity if not the unity of the working class against the common enemy? It is the kind of unity that can only be built from below. It cannot be imposed ’from above’. When workers refuse to be divided they will be moving forward to the total overthrow of the whole system of social exploitation.

The challenge facing workers is essentially a simple one. It consists in recognising that existing ruling classes have hindered the development of a truly social production and distribution and to acknowledge the need to do away  with production and distribution for profit and to benefit the privileged elites in society who own and control the means of production. Workers require to learn that Production has to be shifted so that it can provide for the real needs of the people; it has to become a production for use. When this knowledge is acquired then the workers have to act upon them to realise their requirements and desires. Not a lot of philosophy, sociology, economics and political science are needed to understand those simple things and to act upon it. There is enough intelligence in the world to co-ordinate social production and distribution without the help or interference of leaders and vanguard parties.

Too often workers attempt to distinguish between “good” and “bad” political leaders, ignoring the fact that the difference between the two is mainly that one flatters us into the hope that we trust he can do something for us in office, while, the other, more harsh and adamant, makes no claim to either interest or sympathy with the working class. There exists the Labour Party, which is often considered a working-class party. The majority of its supporters are drawn from the workers, but its supporters have never understood the make-up of capitalist society. The Labour Party thought that all that was necessary was to get into power and administer the State. This party has been elected to power several times and no noticeable improvement has taken place in the condition of the workers. It has administered society very economically and efficiently in the interest of the class for whom government exists, serving the needs of the capitalist class, and by continuing to administer society in the interests of the owning class. The fact that workers should use its power and might to represent their employers' interests and not its own was certainly a triumph for the ruling class and its reformists.

Socialists, elected to any capitalist Parliament, will call attention to the fact that they do not intend to conform in any way with the present constitution of society; and that their only object in getting into the political machine is to clog up the works and stop the smooth running machinery on every possible occasion. The enter Parliament as rebels, not reformers.

Workers cannot emancipate themselves without making an end to all oppression and exploitation. So the class-conscious socialist, whenever he or she obtains power, becomes the advocate of all. Organised class-conscious workers must feel themselves as the champions of the rest. We cannot emancipate ourselves within the wage system. We require the abolition of the existing order of property and production. Out of the class-war grows a high social aim, a lofty end, where workers manage affairs in the interest of the whole community. As revolutionary socialists, the political fight is a fight for principles. Our fight concerns the whole social life and how we fight is dependent upon our goal.

The Socialist Party represents the future. We represent the conception of socialism of the future. We stand for the end of impoverishment and seek a World in which the exploitation of man by man shall cease when the evolution of human society to new and higher forms shall become possible to all mankind, when abundance and peace shall be enjoyed by all. It is the capitalist system which produces misery for all. We urge no pessimism. The future is ours. Production is social. All people, whoever they are or whatever they do, are equally important.

How a New World Would Look



The world is plagued by elites who tell us to tighten our belts while they go on with their lavish lifestyles. Capitalism is the ideology of the 1%. What's ours? To defeat the 1%, we need an alternative vision. For generations, we have been taught that "there is no alternative." For the first time in a long time, the word "socialism" is on the lips of millions. Our lives, our homes, our work-places, our communities; our neighbourhood, our town, our city, our land, our waters, our soil and our air;  our food, water, shelter and energy. Connect the dots, put the pieces of the puzzle together -- that's how revolutions get started. Connecting issues and social movements and organisations to each other have the potential to build a powerful movement of movements that is stronger than any of its individual parts. This means educating ourselves and in our groups about these issues and their causes and their interconnection – the capitalist system. We don't need moral calls for personal life-style change. We need calls for economic and political justice. Nor is it a call for taxing the rich and reform of the tax structure. As Engels puts it, concisely, in The Housing Question: “‘Taxes’! A matter that interests the bourgeoisie very much but the worker only very little. What the worker pays in taxes goes in the long run into the cost of production of labour power and must therefore be compensated for by the capitalist”. Workers will go on allowing themselves to be kidded into supporting one party or other of their exploiters — until they get the message that the enemy is not taxes but the wages system itself.

What we're saying is, enough is enough. We don't need calls for repairing the system; instead, we need to create a new system. This whole capitalist system must go. Exploitation and alienation go hand in hand in class societies, having reached new peaks under capitalism. To unravel the real nature of exploitation in capitalism is, therefore, an important part of the struggle against it. We have to reclaim the radical imagination, infuse it with the spirit of independent politics and radical democracy. That is what Marxism is all about. The World Socialist Movement isn't against voting. What we oppose is people throwing their votes away on candidates of a party that opposes their interests. Eugene V. Debs, often said, 'it's better to vote for something you want and not get it than to vote for something you don't want and get that.' The WSM believe elections offer the hope of social change, but also insist it isn't enough. We also need to spend time building grassroots movements for change.

Imagine an economy without bosses. It’s not a utopian vision but an achievable aspiration. The Socialist Party have been producing article after article committed to a vision of a new society and advocating the struggle for a new free society for more than a hundred years. These are not minor achievements. Our hope of a future is the goal of socialism, of transcending capitalism, even though many hold the view that for humankind, there is no viable alternative to global capitalism. The Socialist Party questions whether this is the furthest point humanity can seek to reach. Socialists can have no illusions about the speed with which we may be able to achieve the fulfilment of our aims. Today, humanity finds itself at a turning point in historical progress and a new age is being ushered in. Mankind is now faced with building a free and peaceful new world. In order to build this new world, it is necessary to abolish all the old politics and economy.  We live in a world dominated by the capitalist system which allows a small minority of employers and investors to exploit the great majority.  It is capitalism that brings about great inequalities in living standards. Either we get rid of this outdated system or it will destroy humanity.  Urgent action is necessary. The only way forward is to achieve socialism, a classless and stateless society on a world scale where people do not oppress and exploit each other and where we live in harmony with our natural environment.  To create such a world it is necessary to overthrow the rule of capitalism and this can be done only through revolution.  The working class establish socialism, a system of real, popular democracy that sets about the reconstruction of society. People understand that capitalism is no good but few can see a way forward to a better type of society. It is essential to generate interest and knowledge in socialist ideas. When workers express their solidarity with the struggles of their fellow-workers all over the world, when they pledge themselves to the fight for the end of the exploitation of man by man political commentators scoff at such sentiments and aspirations.

Humanity seems to be in the grip of some invisible, malevolent force. We devote a huge part of our energy and ingenuity to lying and cheating, to hurting or killing each other.  Scientific and technological resources are devoted to fabricating the means to kill, torture and maim other human beings. Across the world, the drive to expand industry and agriculture has included the destruction of natural eco-systems. The last vestiges of communal life are replaced by the impersonal market. People have no control over their own lives and social life is fragmented and atomised. Society is now viewed as a web of corruption and inhumanity. Human beings are bereft of the power to determine their own futures. More and more, believe there is no way out.

A socialist future would guarantee the rational use of human creativity and resources. There is no longer any need for a class society. There could be a better society that is not utopian precisely because it is possible – it can be brought about. Every election the Conservative Party will make all sorts of promises and the Labour Party will make all sorts of promises. Will they keep their promises? Of course, they will not. The working class, since its coming into being from among the working people, has struggled against the capitalist class for near on three centuries. After trying all types of struggle (such as Luddites, Chartists) the working class learnt that it could solve its problems only through the capture of political power. 

For the Queen on her birthday

 Lines on Oliver Cromwell in Ramsay Churchyard, Huntingdonshire,1848

“The old Plantagenets brought us chains; 

the Tudors frowns and Scars, 

The Stuarts brought us lives of shame; 

the Hanoverians wars; 

But his brave man, with his strong arm, 

brought freedom to our Lives 

-The best of Princes England had, 

was the Farmer of St. Ives” 

 A 'Jubilee Version of “God Save the Queen”' from the 1880s runs:

Lord help our precious Queen,
Noble, but rather mean,
Lord help the Queen.
Keep Queen VicTORYous,
From work laborious 
Let snobs uproarious,
Slaver the Queen.

Time is running out

The world is never out of crises. It is fairly well agreed, I think, that no generation has faced such a dangerous situation as ours. Responsible scientists warn insistently that there will be lasting environmental damage to the human race which can mean the extinction of all the higher forms of life. No generation has ever been given an opportunity as fraught with responsibility as ours.

The answer is a social revolution. The theory and practice of reformists is to modify capitalism, of a gradual “growing into” Socialism by means of legislative palliatives and ameliorations. Capitalism cannot reform itself; it cannot be reformed. Humanity can be saved from its excesses only by a socialist revolution. Socialists insist that the parliamentary capitalist state can never be the basis for the introduction of socialism.

The term “socialism” embraces a multitude of evils in the eyes of the proponents of the capitalist system. The first argument against socialism was the assumption that capitalism had always existed and would naturally always continue to exist because it corresponded with “human nature.” Hard facts upset this naive assumption. Capitalism was shown to be but a newcomer among economic systems; it is less than five hundred years old. Moreover, the decline of other systems after their rise indicated a similar fate for capitalism. Associated with that standard argument was socialism represented a beautiful ideal but lacked a basis in reality; socialists were, therefore, nothing but Utopians. The working class, created by capitalism itself, was shown to have a decisive economic interest in the development of socialism, and since socialism signifies a higher level of economy and culture, leading to a classless society, the working-class movement in this direction represents the interests of society as a whole. In addition, the worldwide industrial system established by capitalism provides a sufficient base for the enormous increase in productivity required to realize socialism. The growth of socialist sentiment is inevitable, for the development of capitalism itself impels it. The technological expansion of industry on the scale now required and now possible is qualitatively beyond the capacity of capitalist property relations. Popular consciousness, no matter how resistant, cannot fail to catch up with this fact. The constant renewal of the class struggle on a worldwide scale is the single most encouraging sign of the readiness of people to struggle for socialism. As Marx long ago pointed out, the classless society of the future will be the inevitable outcome of the class struggle, intensified and carried to its logical conclusion. No piecemeal reforms or partial solutions can bring an end to this state of things. We must resist the efforts of the apologists of the capitalists to sow illusions about “reforming” capitalism, and, instead, build our movement with the perspective of overthrowing it.

Marx’s “association of free and equal producers,” determines its own production and distribution, is thinkable only as a system of self-determination at the point of production, and the absence of any other authority than the collective will of the producers themselves. It means the end of the State or any state-based system of exploitation. It must be a planned production, without the intervention of exchange relations and the vicissitudes of the market system. History has shown that real change in the interests of the majority can only be achieved by challenging the very core of capitalist exploitation – in the workplace. Parliament is an institution of capitalism. It makes the laws which ensure the exploitation of the majority by the rich minority. Decisive at times, it is wrong to be mesmerised by parliament or parliamentary parties. It can be used in that as a component of a bigger, broader peoples’ action. Our vision is far beyond simply elections and far beyond putting political leaders into office. Instead of exposing the bosses, politicians have put the blame for the crisis on foreign-born workers, women, and minorities—anything that serves to divide the people and hide the real nature of the problem.

It is a sign of the times that more and more people are talking about socialism yet it is surprising how little discussion there is today among socialists about socialism. Many describe themselves “socialist” but more often than not the label is meaningless. Many who claim to adhere to socialist ideas believe we ought to concern ourselves exclusively with the ‘practical’, ‘day-to-day issues’ of the class struggle, leaving a future revolution to take care of itself. So if we are socialists, what are we actually striving for?

It should be clear that a socialist campaign means a campaign with the fundamental purpose to teach the necessity of the destruction of the capitalist system and the substitution by a socialist society. To try to get people to vote for our candidates merely because we promise them some immediate reforms is to enter into competition with all the other political parties on their own ground and there is no earthly reason why the workers should prefer whatever our brand of reforms would be to those of the others. Within the limits of what is possible under capitalist conditions we can offer no more and no better reforms than can any other party and the workers would be entirely correct if, on the basis of an appeal for reforms, they would turn their backs to us and vote for the more “practical” parties with a higher chance of achieving them. To distinguish ourselves fundamentally from all reformist groups by carrying on a campaign for socialism and only socialism is not only theoretically correct also common sense. We acknowledge that when we do conduct a campaign on socialist lines our vote will not be a huge one but also it has to be recognised that if we don’t conduct such a campaign there is no use having one at all. Why advocate a platform of immediate demands and at the same time stress the necessity for socialism unless it is only a bait for getting votes.

The worst in socialism will be better than the best in capitalism

Our mission is to inform, to inspire and to agitate for change for the common good. The mission of the Socialist Party is so to organize the creation of wealth so that can be so abundantly produced as to free mankind from want and the fear of want, from the  necessity of a life of drudgery and toil. The World is ready for socialism. The Socialist Party is the political expression of what is known as “the class struggle.” This does not mean, however, that the workers will wrest control of government from the capitalist class simply for the purpose of continuing the class struggle on a new different level, as has been the case in all previous political revolutions when one class has superseded another in the control of the government. It does not mean that the workers and capitalists will merely change places as many people believe. It means the inauguration of an entirely new social system of production and distribution, in which the exploitation of man by man will have no place. It instead of profit being the ruling motivation for industry, as at present, all production and distribution will be for use. As a consequence, the class struggle and economic class antagonisms as we now know them will entirely disappear. Society can get along without the capitalist, he has been rendered a useless functionary. It is not the mission of the Socialist Party to speculate concerning the manner in which the workers will conduct their affairs when they have come into possession the factories, offices and farms for there exists a myriad of ways and methods people can organize themselves in a democratic co-operative manner to provide for all.

In capitalist society, a worker is not, in fact, a person at all; as a wage-worker, he or she is simply merchandise, a commodity to be bought in the open market the same as any other form of good. The very terminology of the capitalist system proves that you are a person in any sense of that term. Look at that name of the department in your own place of work – “human resources”. That is your status.

Our obligation is to make clear the problems of the working people. In clarifying these important social problems we will adhere to the staunch principles of the World Socialist Movement. Briefly stated: we demand human dignity and justice. To achieve this goal, we strive by all peaceful to influence our society; we wish to make our voice heard and we will shout until we are heard. Only the working people themselves can improve their miserable conditions. This is not the time for the empty conceits of vainglorious demagogues, but the occasion for well-grounded Marxists to seize the opportunities to rouse our class to victory. Socialism’s principal mission today is to group the workers of all countries into a living revolutionary force; to make it, through a powerful worldwide organisation which has only one conception of its tasks and interests, and only one universal tactic appropriate to political action in peace and war alike, the decisive factor in political life: so that it may fulfil its historic mission. There is no socialism without international working class solidarity, and there is no socialism without class struggle. The activity of workers of all countries as a class, in peace time as in war-time, must be geared to the fight against capitalism as its supreme goal. 

Parliamentary and trade union action, like every activity of the workers’ movement, must be subordinated to this aim, so that the workers in each country is opposed in the sharpest fashion to its national ruling class. The immediate mission of socialists is the mental liberation of our fellow workers from the tutelage of our rulers, which expresses itself through the influence of nationalist ideology so we must agitate and denounce the empty words of nationalism as an instrument of domination. To achieve our social ideal is a work of education and organization. The working class must be aroused. They must be made to hear the call of solidarity. Educate our fellow workers. Spread the socialist message with newspapers, the pamphlets, and leaflets, Go on the internet and social media. Turn on the stream so powerful that the workers who will not be only be lifted by it but will be swept away with enthusiasm. Join us in fanning the flames of the socialist revolution. This organisation has a world-wide mission; it makes its appeal directly to the working class. The Socialist Party declares that the workers must make themselves the masters of society. You are an individual with a thinking brain, and if you do not use it in your own interests you are guilty of betraying yourself. We are the only people essential to society and without us society would perish. We produce the wealth and we create civilization. Why should we be dependent upon the capitalist? Every cog in every wheel that revolves everywhere has been made by the working class and is kept in operation by the working class. If the working class use their intelligence, not to turn out millionaires, but to produce for ourselves, we would possess wealth in abundance for all to share in. 

People Power

Conditions of class strife and recurring social crises are the daily experiences around the globe. Every vote cast for the Socialist Party is for world peace and economic security for the human family. Neither the stability of economic relations nor the improvement of social conditions can be secured without the workers dispossessing the capitalist class. The working class is the only social force to which humanity can turn to end the chaos of capitalism. We are our own liberators. There is a battle of ideas now in progress for socialism, peoples’ power, the ‘self-emancipation of the working class’ as Marx put it.

“We can reclaim Labour” is the message being put out by the left-wing supporters of Jeremy Corbyn but what can be expected from a new Labour government? Not socialism, that’s for sure. The Corbyn programme is left reformist in its aims and methods: it does not involve the expropriation of the capitalist class. The Labour Party has always served the needs of the capitalist system. The rhetoric would be different from the Tories; the substance would be the same. Common sense confirms this. The evidence is plain to see, not just in Labour’s past record but in the actions taken by left-wing governments elsewhere in the past few years. It is clear from the record that the election of a Labour government in no way guarantees benefits for the working class, let alone advance towards socialism. Labourites could be described as believers in utopian capitalism, a profit system without inherent contradictions. It never has existed – it never will. The working class may have won benefits such as the NHS set up in the years after 1945 But Labour has been just as willing to cut back that welfare provision, when the needs of British capitalism demands it. A Labour government is dependent on the willingness, or unwillingness, of the capitalist class to make concessions. Capitalism is no mutual benefit society, however, and the record shows that concessions have to be fought for and they are conceded when the employers fear the strength and militancy of the working class. The key to working-class progress lies in the power and activity of the working class itself. The only real solution for the working class is the socialist revolution.

The only kind of politics that is going to work is a do-it-yourself politics aimed at abolishing the profit-system. Democracy means participating in the running of affairs, not following leaders. Real democracy is not possible under capitalism where a minority own and control the means of production and are therefore more equal than the rest of us and where the mechanisms of the profit system work to frustrate what people vote for from being carried out. The only way everybody can participate and have a genuinely equal say in how things are run is in a classless society based on common ownership. This is still our position and the message we would put over.

We look forward to a society where buying and selling have no place, to a truly social world where each contributes such work as they are able and all may take freely from the store of wealth created. Socialist society is not a dream, but something for which the development of capitalism has prepared production. Remove the vast unproductive apparatus and you can see what a flood of labour power and resources would be available for useful production in a socialist society. Socialist freedom means the ability to accommodate all the many and varied styles of living, different production systems, plus the many special and overall concerns that grab people in their interactions with the social and physical environment.

In the social and economic crises that engulf the planet, there is only one solution. That solution is the mass struggle of the World’s workers. The direction of that struggle to establish the rule of the working class, that is of the vast majority. In socialism, all means of production will be common property. There will be no classes and no class struggle. The consequences of class-divided society – racism, nationalism male chauvinism, will all have disappeared. There will be no wars, no armies, and no need for weapons of war, which will become historical curiosities. There will be no distinction between mental and manual work. Socialism will be a life of material and cultural abundance. Contradictions between people will remain, but these will not be antagonistic and will be resolved by mutual cooperation.

The future society

Socialists recognise that in a society divided into antagonistic classes, founded on exploitation and ruled by capital. Socialism is the struggle of the working class for freedom. Freedom from hunger and poverty, freedom from war, from endless drudgery and toil, from exploitation, from racial and sexual oppressions. These are the freedoms workers seek. These can be made a reality only by the working class having the freedom to run society. Socialist production is to have the aim of securing for everyone a dignified life, plentiful food and providing other cultural means of existence.

Socialists are accused of believing in the workers’ state, of everything being owned by the government. The opposite is the case. We are opponents of any state. The state by its very nature is an instrument of class domination – a means by which one class to hold down another. States cannot be other than institutions of force. The state is an instrument for maintaining the exploitation of the many by the few. The socialist proposition is that of the withering away of the state. Ours is not the anarchist view that the state can be dispensed with immediately but will be used as a necessary adapted weapon for the total defeat of the capitalist class and a tool for the achievement of material abundance in which goods are distributed according to need.  In these circumstances, the state will have lost its essential functions. The working class must above all else strive to get the entire political power of the state into its own hands. Political power, however, is for us socialists only a means. For the end which we must use this power is the fundamental transformation of the entire economic relations. There will be no oppressor class to defend and no oppressed class to hold down. Nor with world socialism will there be national interests to assert or foreign interests to combat. What about crime some will ask. In a socialist society crime will, to all intents and purposes, disappear, not because under socialism everyone will become ‘good’ or morally perfect, but because the motives and opportunity for crime will be removed. There can be no pecuniary gain to be had. What about crimes of anger and passion? The frustration, the rage, will exist in much lower intensity and a non-competitive socialist society which cares equally for all its members will undoubtedly reduce them greatly. The alienation that causes much of anti-social behaviour will also grow less common.  In the socialist society, the state having withered away will be the final completion of humanity’s leap from the realm of necessity into the realm of freedom – which is the essence of socialism.

In socialist society workers are free and equal human beings who work for their own well-being and benefit. That means by themselves, working on their own initiative. One cannot realise socialism with lazy, frivolous, egoistic, thoughtless and indifferent human beings.  A socialist society needs people full of passion and enthusiasm full of empathy and sympathy for their fellow human beings. Since all work for each other's benefit, all are interested in producing articles of the best possible quality with the least effort and in the shortest possible time in order to save labour time and gain time for the production of new articles to satisfy higher needs. This common interest induces all to bend their thoughts to improving, simplifying and accelerating the labour process. The ambition to explore new technologies, to invent and to discover is stimulated. Everyone who is concerned with practical affairs knows how suspicious the worker is today of these technological improvements, of every new machine or process that is to be introduced. As a rule, he or she is right for it is not the employee who enjoys the advantage they offer, but his employer; we cannot help but fear that the new machines, the improvements being introduced, will throw us out into the street as superfluous. Instead of welcoming inventions we can only curse them. And how many production improvements on the assembly line or shop-floor are discovered by workers who keep silent about them for they fear lest they should derive harm, not benefit. Such are the natural consequences of the conflict of interests. In socialist society the antagonism is eliminated. Productivity will grow enormously. How much time will be saved by having production on a rational basis. The principle "cheap and shoddy", which is and must be the principle underlying a large part of the production for profit, cutting quality for quantity,  because most consumers can afford only inexpensive goods that soon wear out, is abolished. The vagaries of fashion, which only promote waste, will stop because men and women will seek their self-esteem in other ways to conspicuous consumption.  Socialism will introduce a greater stability in society's habits, ending the scramble from one fashion to the other, and the chase from one style to the other. Capital does not involve itself in the affairs of mankind unless there is a profit to be made. Humanity is not quoted on the stock exchange. A socialist society will know no other consideration but the welfare of its members. What is useful to them and protects them will be made and what harms them will no longer be produced.

People will be free to choose an ‘occupation’ or ‘career’ and to change it at will. Just as constant repetition makes the choicest dish bland, so does the treadmill of a repetitive occupation day in day out render the mind dull and slack. Within every person, there are latent abilities and inclinations which only need to be awakened to develop. Socialist society will offer full opportunities for the satisfaction of the need for variety and diversity. At present, there are extraordinarily few people who have the opportunity to vary their occupation. Only occasionally do we find some favoured by circumstances who were able to escape the monotony of everyday drudgery, whether physical or mental.

 In the future socialist society "commodities" will not be "bought" and "sold", but products, the necessaries of life, will be to consume, and have no other purpose, such as exchange. In socialism, the capacity to consume is not limited by the individual's ability to buy, as it is in capitalism, but by the collective capacity to produce. If the instruments of production and the work force are available every need can be satisfied. The social capacity to consume is limited only by the consumers' saturation point. There being no "commodities" in the future society, neither will there be any money. Socialism produces only articles for the satisfaction of needs, use value, not exchange value. Money disappears, no longer the universal equivalent and the measure of value for all other commodities. 

Removing the halo of capitalism

Nowhere in Marx’s writings is there to be found a detailed account of the new social system which was to follow capitalism. Marx wrote no “Utopia”. But from the general movement of past societies, Marx was able to outline the features of the new society and the way in which it would develop. Marx saw socialism as ownership of the means of production by society as a whole. Marx understood socialism when the means of production were owned by the people and therefore there is no longer any exploitation of man by man. In a socialist society, where production is not for profit but for use, a plan of production is possible. Where profit is the motive force, there can be only anarchy in production. In such a world socialist system the further advance that humanity could make defies the imagination. With all economic life connected by a world plan coordinating the plans of each region and district, with scientific discoveries and technical inventions shared out, with the information exchanged, mankind would indeed take giant’s strides forward.

Children learn to use their hands as well as their brains. Everyone becomes an “intellectual,” while intellectuals no longer separate themselves off from physical work. They will be people with an all-round development, an all-round training, people who will be able to do everything. The self-seeking, individualist outlook bred by capitalism will have been replaced by a really social outlook, a sense of responsibility to society. Even within capitalist society there is what is known as “solidarity” among the workers – the sense of a common interest, a common responsibility. This is not an idea which someone has thought of and put into the heads of workers: it is an idea which arises out of the material conditions of working-class life, the fact that they get their living in the same way, working alongside each other. The typical grasping individualist, on the other hand, the man with no sense of social or collective responsibility, is the capitalist surrounded by competitors, all struggling to survive by killing each other. Women are no longer looked on as inferior or unable to play their part in every sphere of the life of society. There is no racism in a socialist society; no one is treated as superior or inferior because of his or her colour or nationality. Democracy is not limited to voting for a representative in parliament every four or five years. In every factory, in every block of flats, in every aspect of life, men and women are shaping their own lives and the destiny of their country. More and more people are drawn into some sphere of public life, given responsibility for helping themselves and others. This is a much fuller, more real democracy than exists anywhere else. The difference between the town and the countryside is broken down.

Of course, the ideas of the dominant class tend to spread among the workers, especially among those who are picked out by the employers for special advancement of any kind. But the fundamental basis for the outlook of any class (as distinct from individuals) is the material conditions of life, the way it gets its living. Hence, it follows that the outlook of people can be changed by changing their material conditions. People no longer need to be convinced that the social principle is right. It is not a question of an abstract moral duty having to establish itself over the instinctive desires of “human nature;” human nature itself is transformed by practice, by custom. Nevertheless, socialists have capably demonstrated how socialism could end poverty, unemployment and war by eliminating private ownership of the means of producing the things of life, national and international competition, and the struggle for existence by the overwhelming majority of the population in all countries. They have exposed of the evils of capitalist society, its murderous exploitation of the workers, its utter hypocrisy in human relations, and the most evident feature of its class character: the impoverishment of the masses and the enrichment of a small class of capitalists. Paid apologists for Big Business, those academic  professors, economists and intellectuals of every variety, have “explained” why capitalism is a wonderful society and socialism a mere utopia. Hired journalists and media commentators argue that capitalism was actually paving the way to the kind of life the socialists wanted, just and equal. Many proclaimed a new capitalism, no mass unemployment, workers owning automobiles and their own homes. But the bubble burst and the whole rotten system, built on unsound foundations tumbled down. It was quickly revealed that the promise of prosperity was a fraud; that the capitalist became ever more enriched but that the working class, for all its employment, came out of it worse off than ever.

Stuff your Patriotism

Socrates proclaimed: “I am not Athenian; I am a citizen of the world.” The Cyrenaic philosopher Theodore the Atheist, repeated the line: “The world is my fatherland.”

The Socialist Party is constantly being challenged to define their position in regards to nationalism and explain exactly what they think of patriotism. The sentiment of the Socialist Party is an international solidarity based on the principle class unity and not upon race or territory. In ancient times, patriotism applied to a defined circumscribed area and population – the city; in mediaeval time similarly to the township. Outside this, the only sentiment analogous to patriotism was loyalty to the territorial lord. All other sentiments of this nature are vague and blurred. Patriotism proper; the devotion to the modern State, is a product of capitalism hardly traceable before the sixteenth century, and the latest expression, imperialism, is simply a product of the Industrial Revolution in search of markets.

Patriotism groups men and women according to their land of origin, as decided by the vicissitudes of history; within every country, thanks to the patriotic link, rich and poor unite against the foreigner. Socialism, in contrast, groups all people, poor against rich, class against class, without taking into account the differences of race and language, and over and above the frontiers determined by the fortunes and misfortunes of history.

The Socialist Party are anti-patriots but let it be clearly understood that that love of one’s native village or familiarity with a town is not the type of patriotism to be condemned. What we denounce is jingoism and nationalism, that are not a natural sentiment, but prejudices very firmly implanted into the heads of people. We, who hate the existing nation states, retain a soft little spot for where we were born and raised. Neither have we ever maintained that there are not, throughout the existing nations, some noticeable differences of character and temperament such as have been caused by history and culture. Countries have had their raison d'être at a time and the best proof of it is that they were born and that they have endured; we even think that their existence, at certain periods and in certain circumstances, may even have contributed to the general improvement of our species. True patriotism seeks the welfare of each in the happiness of all. One time in the past the term patriot meant to be opposed to the governing class of your country in the interests of the people of your country. Patriotism consisted in opposing the powers that were against the interests of the people. Patriotism has now lost that meaning in small communities where once the cohesive principle of all for each and each for all had significance. When workers are primarily concerned with the direction of their own affairs, managing their own work-place and running their own communities and neighbourhoods, independent for practical purposes, distant territorial claims for allegiance will not easily find a “patriotic” echo

Nothing can be more dangerous if patriotism becomes the established religion of your country. No word in the language has been more abused since the beginning of the war than “Patriotism.” Every imaginable outrage may be perpetrated if one acts as a patriot. It is a magic word to cover any multitude of sins. Patriotism, as generally understood, is objectionable since it means placing one’s own country, its interests, and well-being, above and before those of the rest of humanity. Patriotism is not the noble virtue it is represented to be, but the vilest vice to disgrace humanity. Those who wants to see his or her country great and strong invariably wants to see it accomplished at the expense of the welfare and interests of other countries. “Patriotism,” is the word that seeks to lure and hook the empty-headed and the unthinking among the working class, a class which has no personal or material interest in the infamies perpetrated by its ruling class in the name of the nation. To-day, we too often see the spectacle of members of the working class applauding the crimes of their exploiters. How is this? Because the ruling class and its servile media are able to make use of slavish patriotism for their own purpose. It is the duty of the socialist party of every country to combat patriotism at home at every turn of the day. The politicians and preachers of capitalism are the real betrayers of the people.

To love your country, and be willing to sacrifice and battle for it, that is patriotism we are told in school and by the press and TV. While to be unable to provide for yourself and your loved ones with food, clothing and shelter, that is poverty. A man afflicted with poverty owns no part of any country, and patriotism does mean loving a country owned by others. Yet some poor individual who is starving in a country owned by another is exhorted to offer loyalty to that country, whether it changes his or her miserable status or not. Capitalism attacks and destroys all the finer qualities of the human heart; it ruthlessly sweeps away old traditions and customs which stands in the way of progress, and it exploits and corrupts those things once held sacred. A people’s culture and history is shredded. Too often it is the patriotism of the plunderer and the pilferer, the patriotism of the property-owner, the profiteer and the plutocrat that prevails.

In today’s centralised capitalist nation-states there exists a whole breed of loathsome patriots sponsored by unscrupulous capitalists and attended by all the base and sordid human villainy.  Patriotism is cultivated in the fertile soil of parochial prejudice. It is better to be a traitor to your country than a traitor to your class. The cause of the working class is lost if they allow themselves to be caught in the spider’s web of patriotism with all its vicious and virulent sentiment formed at the will of the ruling class. We all know what patriotism means these days, rejoicing in the self-proclaimed superiority of your own nationality. One’s beloved country is to be supported right or wrong. Love it or leave it. Even if a  country is committing a crime, the patriot wishes to see that crime succeed. This is patriotism. To the reasonable, unprejudiced person calling people patriots is a polite way of saying that they are gullible idiots or duped fools. There is hardly a politician who aspires for votes who won’t declare his love and loyalty for his country. The perpetuation of the rivalry between various nationalities serves the selfish interests of the profit-makers of those countries, and by no means of the peoples. The distinction between “legitimate” and “illegitimate” nationalism is in practice impossible of definition. The Socialist Party repudiates patriotism and nationalism. It matters very little to us that our anti-patriotic declarations may cause us to lose votes. If socialism wants to progress and to take firm root in the hearts of the people, it must not be a party of only just a part of the people. If we hurt the nationalist and patriotic feelings of voters - so be it. The old society is dying; a new one struggles to be born, and it is not our fault if the latter cannot emerge from the former’s womb except by a painful delivery.

The Socialist Party contend that no class-conscious worker can support his or her own capitalist state to the detriment or disadvantage of other workers. If there is one doctrine fundamental to socialism it is that of the class struggle supersedes any national struggle, the class struggle replaces any struggle for national or racial superiority. In its fight against the employer class, the Socialist Party, fully aware of its aim of social reconstruction, there are only one people – the world’s working class. We raise above the concept of patriotism, the solution of the class struggle and the triumph of the workers, so for us the highest patriotism is the dedication of our lives and abilities to the service of our fellow workers. The Socialist Party hopes to persuade you to see how the working class are being hoodwinked and duped in this country and elsewhere by patriotic lies, and to hasten the day when the workers of the world will finally abandon the national flags of their masters, and bring themselves under the red banner of international socialism and human brotherhood.  It cannot be too strongly emphasised that it is the worldwide, as opposed to a national administration of production and distribution, which is one the pillars of socialist principles.

If patriotism means the love of one’s country, and love of the country means nothing if it does not mean love of the people. True patriotism expresses itself in honest efforts to enhance the happiness and welfare of the population, to help them in their struggles for more food, better homes, higher education, larger freedom, brighter, happier lives. Life, liberty, and happiness for all human beings, is the great goal of the World Socialist Movement. To do away with patriotism altogether is to substitute in its place the internationalism of the class-conscious worker. Our patriotism is for a new society and the end of all nations – for the World Socialist Cooperative Commonwealth.

The low road and the high road

"Ye'll tak' the low road and I'll tak the high road

And I'll be at Socialism afore ye"

The working class built this world, the farms and factories and all this wealth with its muscles and its minds. It will be with that brawn and brains we will break the chains of servitude and create another  new world.

There are two roads we can follow.

One is the low road, and we often hear said about our political position: “Well, that’s too hard to deal with and let’s just deal with the easy problems, just with the day-to-day issue. Let’s just talk to the workers about things they can agree with us and understand, not about revolution, socialism and communism because that turns them off.” Others will add, “This system’s too big, it’s too big what we’re going up against, I got enough problems in my factory, in my community. I got enough problems, so don’t talk to me about that socialist stuff.”

The high road calls upon us to talk about these things that people don’t want to hear or feel unclear upon. The things that say are too complicated and they don’t understand. It is about demanding they take a really hard look at what’s happening in the world and comprehend what is going on. It is not about keeping stuff to ourselves but going to our fellow workers to arm them with that understanding, so that when the time comes we all can make the revolution, together.  It is only by showing how capitalism runs against the interests of working people, of how capitalism must be fought by the working class and once people are equipped with an understanding of capitalism as the enemy – then we can advance along the road to socialism.

The boss class will always try to tell us we’re wrong to fight because if their profits go down we the workers will suffer. They’re wrong – our only choice is to fight harder. We’ll build our own, our new, brighter future. A future where we, the workers, will run the factories and offices, produce for our needs and not for the profits of the bosses. Only by completely getting rid of this system of wage slavery and its law of profits and the system in which the capitalists own and control everything, including us and our labour can we move towards socialism.

We cannot advance along the road to socialism by one step forward, two step back. Although we must fight for concessions to keep from being shoved down, we must realise that the capitalists are forced to give us concessions only because we force them to, as we did to win the eight-hour day and other benefits. They give us these concessions with an eye-dropper they’re taking them back by bulldozer load. This is the history of our struggle: after all, didn’t we fight for the eight-hour day, for the right to strike, for workers’ rights and isn’t it true that we’re fighting for these things all over again? There’s no way by one step at a time can we win. It’s only by getting rid of the whole source of these problems, the system of capitalism, that we can build a new society run by and for the people. If stay on the high road in the face of the continuing attacks because of the crisis, in the face of  wars around the world , we the working class will be able to make revolution. The future is the crucial issue. We cannot abandon our goal for some promise of more scraps (crap) from the bosses banqueting table. 

The red herring of left nationalism

Nationalism is completely arbitrary and illogical and is the cause of much evil. Although socialists’ sympathies are with the oppressed, they relate not to emerging nationalism but to the particular plight of twice-oppressed people who face both a native and foreign ruling class. Nationalist aspirations are dressed up, in part, as “socialist” aspirations, as they include the illusory hope of impoverished populations that they can improve their conditions through national independence. Yet national independence has not emancipated the working class. It will not do so. It is a red herring that takes time and resources away from the more worthy and pressing matter of establishing socialism.

Surely, it must be evidently clear to all decent people that the greatest evil afflicting this planet is Capitalism. Surely, people must recognise this senseless economic system is the root cause of almost all injustice, suffering and premature death. But to blinker people to the blatantly obvious the capitalist class makes use of many tools. One of its most efficient is nationalism. Many, even supposedly socialists, don’t realise just how dangerous nationalist thought can be. Nationalism is a crucial crutch for keeping capitalism standing upright. Nationalism in its countless forms permeates all societies and individuals.  So powerful is the lure of nationalism that even socialists such as James Connolly have been preoccupied by it to the detriment of the class struggle. The very act of undermining nationalism will in itself severely weaken the capitalist class and will result in a heightened consciousness of the world’s workers.  We have to remove the blinkers of nationalism to look upon a new vista and see the prospect of a new world, not a new nation.

Why are socialists and radicals exactly asking for and expecting from their call for independence for Scotland? Is it really a sovereign Scottish workers’ state? If England and Wales became the same at the same time why would the Scots want to be different? If on the other hand, Scotland became “socialist” in isolation how long could it withstand the inevitable assaults from the capitalist states surrounding it?

But, of course, the realistic and pragmatic Leftist does not envisage a genuine socialist Scotland being achieved. Capitalism will prevail and predominate. So the question is now, are Scottish capitalists somehow more attractive and amenable than British ones.  Would they exploit Scottish workers less than UK employers? Now as economic competitors for jobs and livelihoods, would Scottish workers be content to see the English working class exploited perhaps worse than before, as bosses play divide and rule between the nations? Will class brothers and sisters turn their backs upon one another? Nationalist division further weakens the chances of solidarity between all workers.

There may well be a human impulse to join in groups and to favour one’s own group above all others if many anthropologists and sociologists are correct. Socialists can accept such findings. Bias towards our own group or tribe can be manifest itself in the rivalry between football fans.  In its most extreme form such affinity becomes passionate hatred against other racial groups, religions and nationalities. But such prejudice is not a necessary aspect of human society.  Rather, they can be deliberately inflamed by capitalist politicians, businessmen, religious leaders and anyone for whom such divisions are beneficial.  Our instinct can be exploited and magnified. However, similarly, our intelligence can resist and thwart our instincts and this is what makes us human. We can, in general, overcome our instincts.(for example, our greatest instinct is to have children, yet people today have learned to overcome that instinct and use family planning to delay having children, for economic reasons.) We can put off pleasure and gratification when our rational thoughts advise it. 

Imagine town councils waging violent wars for land and resources; sending young people to fight to the death to control landfill sites and greenbelt land.  If this thought is absurd then why is it so accepted that two countries will fight over living space and material resources? Around the world many thousands are dying violent deaths at the hands of armies, militias, police, mercenaries, terrorists and simply gangster war-lords. The arms manufacturers, in the meantime, make ever more increasing fortunes. Every war in modern history has been fought with the benefit of the ruling class solely in mind.

Although today's global ruling class have been internationalised and already live in world without borders for the rest of us, we are to be very much restricted by borders.  Nationhood and patriotism are to be fanned in our hearts as strongly as ever. The only threat to the status quo is an equally internationalised working class. When the working class of all countries recognise that their fortunes are all inextricably linked, and when they act on that recognition, then we enter the end-times of capitalism.

Patriotism with its flags and anthems, parades along streets and posturing on playing-field, keeps workers apart and weakened by exaggerating differences and not embracing diversity. Each nation believes it is the most deserving and dare a foreign worker set foot upon native soil they are immediately suspect and almost instantly hated, for they are seen as a threat to “us”. All rational thought evaporates, and like children fearing the bogeyman in the shadows, we run around crying out, ”Stop… Stop. Send them away…”  No matter if experts say immigrants are good for the economy and create prosperity.  Each immigrant who arrives is viewed as a danger. The indigenous native-born worker cannot be reassured over immigration with facts, figures or rational argument.  The only cure is from experience.

Overcoming nationalism is intrinsically linked to the development of socialism.  What is needed is to create a worldwide outlook amongst all the world's working class.  This is why it is wrong for socialists to back independence movements for the sake of it.  Imagine a nation oppressed by another power, perhaps Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation. Their struggle for independence may move us emotionally but we must resist the notion that independence is the most compelling goal for the people of that country.  A good socialist will not tell an oppressed people "you should fight for independence".  A good socialist will say "you are not independent, comrade, and you should not be.  You are dependent on the working class of the world and they are dependent on you.  We all depend on each other." There is no difference between a group of workers oppressed by a foreign power or corporation and those oppressed by domestic rulers.  The tactics and the message must remain the same, otherwise, our arguments become blurred. There is only one way we can defeat exploitation and there is one way we can make the defeat of capitalism a possibility. Labour organisations can become global and transform into the One Big Union.  They must make the workers of their own country fully aware of the struggles of workers in neighbouring countries and beyond.  Only international industrial action orchestrated by a global union network can possibly defeat the exploitation of the globalised corporations and banks. When unions bargain for wages and conditions on a national level the bosses now have the option of relocating production to another country where workers are being exploited harder. Unions already fully know that when dealing with a nationwide industry, national bargaining is the best chance for success.  The bosses attempt to fragment union power with regional or local bargaining.  Fatally, this basic knowledge is not applied on an international scale. British unions campaign to stop jobs moving abroad, which seems to send the message that Indians or Filipinos, for example, don't deserve jobs as much as we do.  Whether or not British workers actually think this matters less than the fact that workers of different nations are frequently at odds with one another, fighting over the scraps of global employment. The only solution is for the union movement to forge physical links with foreign unions and educate its members as to why this is a necessity.

People must know that all local issues have global causes and global solutions. It is why the Socialist Party calls for world socialism.

adapted from here

Hard times for us mean good times for the rich

“The history of all hitherto existing society (that is, all written history) is the history of class struggles. “Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.” – Communist Manifesto.

The class struggle is the product of class-divided society. It exists no less today than in the class societies of history. By means of political action the oppressed classes of the past strove to gain their emancipation. The form that this action took was dictated by the conditions then existing. By means of political action – and by no other means – can the workers gain their emancipation.

Society rests on an economic basis. The manner in which wealth is produced and distributed determines the form of existing society. The development of the productive forces calls periodically upon mankind to adapt society to the changed economic conditions. Modern industry ushered capitalism into existence. It now demands that capitalism pass out of the picture, to be replaced by a new form of society, one that will conform to the needs of the developing means of production, and, therefore, to the essential needs of mankind. It is the duty – the imperative mission – of the working class to undertake this task.

Capitalism has outlived its usefulness. Within its confines can be found no solution for the wretchedness and insecurity endured by the workers. Not more than momentary relief has ever resulted from the generations of effort to improve their conditions of life. Even their trade unions – their most potent weapon in these activities – have been forced to remain for the most part on the defensive, struggling not so much to improve their conditions as to prevent these conditions from becoming worse. Socialism offers the only way out. The failure of the workers to recognize this fact – no matter what else they may do – can result only in the preservation of things as they are, with the prospect of darker days ahead.

In the main the world’s workers have in the past given their support to parties openly representing capitalist society. The principal agencies for spreading education and information have, throughout the period of capitalism’s existence, been under the control of the capitalist class and have been used for the purpose of fostering and preserving the illusion that there is no practicable alternative to capitalism. Incessant, insidious propaganda is levelled at the workers from the cradle to the grave, designed to cloud their minds in their own interests and protect the dominant position of the capitalist class. They are taught that their interests are tied up with the interests of their masters and that only in the solution of the latter’s problems can the solution of their own problems be found. It is no wonder, therefore, that for generations they have been only too willing to give their support to one or another of the various capitalist parties. Capitalist parties represent, first of all, capitalism. They may differ as to the manner in which the affairs of capitalism ought to be conducted. They may differ as to the sections of the capitalist class whose interests ought to be the most favored. But they are united in their opposition to those who would end capitalism. They are united even in opposing any effort to provide the workers with a greater share of the wealth which they produce.

Humanity needs a socialist world!

Many and varied have been the interpretations that have been placed upon socialism. Stalinism and Hitlerism have both been described as socialism. At different times and in different places socialism has been announced yet we all know these were phantoms, will o’ the wisps, figments of the imagination.

The political parties which form the World Socialist Movement are merely the nucleus of the great working class movement which must finally rise to bring about socialism. The workers cannot depend upon others to do the job for them. It is a job that requires conscious and deliberate effort on their part. It is a job which they must do themselves. Labour and Leftist parties have frequently come forward with lengthy lists of reforms or elaborate plans for nationalisation’ proclaiming these as socialism. Workers must guard against such nonsense if they are not to be fooled by political highbinders, social quacks, or people who have themselves been fooled. For this reason among others the socialists stress the necessity for socialist education. The workers must understand socialism before they can serve usefully in the struggle for its attainment. Social reform is not socialism. Neither is government ownership. Socialism has not yet been established in any country. It exists today only as an independent working class movement striving against the opposition of capitalist and labor parties alike, its energies directed without deviation towards a single goal. There are no short cuts to socialism. It can be reached only through the conscious political organisation of the working class. But with that organization accomplished, no obstacle can stand in the road. Socialism may be had for the taking. Take it.

The workers must ultimately turn to socialism as the only means of finding release from the problems of capitalism. Even though it were possible (which it is not) for the present system to provide considerably improved conditions for the workers, that would still be no justification in the eyes of an informed persons for its continued existence. It has solved the problem of wealth production, but it has failed to solve the problem of distribution. It divides the toil of the workers between production and a myriad of unnecessary activities related to distribution. It is wasteful and destructive of men and materials. Its conflicts over markets, trade routes and sources of raw materials breed wars that grow ever more terrible in their dimensions. It is a haven of luxury and idleness for a useless parasite class. It is a fetter on further social progress.

Socialism solves the problem of distribution. Its introduction will mean the conversion of all the means of production and distribution from private or class property into the common property of all the members of society. Goods will no longer be produced for sale; they will be produced for use. The guiding principle behind the operations of industry will be the requirements of mankind, not the prospects of profit. Production under socialism will be pre-determined, and distribution effected with neither advertising nor sales staff, thus reducing wasted materials to the minimum and making possible the transfer of great numbers of workers to desired occupations.  The ending of exchange relationships will bring at the same time the ending of an exchange medium. There being neither sale nor profit associated with the production and distribution of goods, neither will there be money in any of its forms. Currency, credit and banking, whether private or “socialised”, will pass out of existence.

The advent of common property means the abolition of private or class property, which in turn means the abolition of class society together with the class struggle. The antagonistic classes of today will become merged in a people with common interests, and the former capitalists will have the opportunity of becoming useful members of society. This will not only remove the greatest of the burdens resting today on the backs of the workers, it will also further augment the available labor supply, by the inclusion of the capitalists and their former personal attendants, thus contributing to the general reduction in working time needed to produce society’s requirements.  Since unemployment means not only idleness but also severance from the means of subsistence, such a condition could not exist under socialism. That there will be plenty of leisure time, however, is beyond question. It will be the conscious aim of society to constantly reduce the obligations of its members to production, thereby providing ever-increasing leisure time in which to enjoy the proceeds of their labour.

Wars constitute another wretched feature of capitalist society that will come to an end under socialism. Since they arise from the struggle of the capitalists over markets, etc., and since these struggles will no longer play a part in the affairs of society, they will remain only as a ghastly memory from a horrible past.  Socialism will not solve all the problems of human society. But it will solve all the basic economic difficulties that are a constant source of torture to so many of its members. The solution of a single one of these difficulties would warrant its introduction. The solution of them all renders it imperative.

Capitalism can be reformed. It can be reformed in many ways. But it cannot be reformed in such a manner as to effect an essential improvement in the working class conditions of life. It cannot be reformed in such a manner as to raise the workers from the poverty level. Reforms, insofar as they have had any effect, have been effective simply by preventing the workers from sinking too far below the poverty level, their function being to do no more than preserve the workers as able-bodied means of production.  It is not in the nature of capitalist society to provide better conditions for its slave class. The efficient operation of capitalist industry requires not only a capable working class, it requires a working class always at the beck and call of the master class. Only by keeping the workers bordering on necessity at all times can this condition be assured. The whiplash of poverty is far more effective than any coercive force could be in keeping them tied to the machine and subservient to their masters. Those who would administer the affairs of capitalism are limited in their endeavors by the requirements of capitalism, and even though they would bend every energy to lighten the burdens of the workers, the system itself inevitably reduces the results to disheartening proportions.

Practically all of the reform legislation on the statute books of the capitalist world has been placed there by capitalist parties. The capitalists have never been noted for their generosity towards the workers, but they are practical gentlemen and they have long known that the smooth and economical operation of their system requires periodic additions to the mountains of reforms. Reforms to them are like a vile tasting tonic that must be taken from time to time for the protection of their health and well-being. Workers who live under poor sanitary conditions are ready victims of ailments which often develop into communicable diseases; and diseases do not respect the superior and necessary persons of capitalists. Moreover, workers afflicted by ailments spend time at home that could better be spent in the factory turning out surplus values for the factory owner. They must be protected against these conditions. They must also be protected against malnutrition, accidents, etc., in order that their efficiency as cogs in the wealth producing machine may not be impaired. They must even be provided for when they are unemployed, for the repressive measures of bygone days are no longer sufficient to deal with the vastly increased number of workers thrown periodically into the scrapheap by modern industry. It is now more economical to provide them with necessities than to maintain a coercive force great enough to prevent them from helping themselves. Besides, as in times of war or other periods of trade expansion, their services may be required again.

Hence the measures dealing with sanitation and housing, sickness and accidents, health and unemployment! Hence the reforms piled upon reforms, reaching to the heavens! Hence the gradual conversion of the workers into destitute wards of the state!

There is a further reason for the acceptance of reform measures by the parties of the capitalist class. The workers form the immense majority of the members of society. They are the ones who suffer most from the evils of capitalism. They are only too conscious of the existence, if not the cause, of these evils, and they are ever ready to lend their support to whoever will promise redress. No party can govern without the consent of the workers. The capitalists, in consequence, must be ever ready with the required promises, if they are to protect their exclusive right to govern. Reforms that are not desirable to them can frequently be sidetracked afterwards, together with flattering appeals to the workers for loyalty, understanding and co-operation. Where they cannot be sidetracked, these reforms can always be watered down and presented with fanfares and glowing self-praise. It is an easy game to play, and while it does not give the workers very much, neither does it cost the capitalists very much, and it frequently assures for them a period of contentedness on the part of their slaves.

Politicians are not miracle-makers

The parties and politicians you vote for all stand for capitalism. Those elected are in office now because of your mandate; you elected them to preside over your own poverty and exploitation. Political leaders are incapable of waving an economic wand to conjure away our problems. No one seriously believes anymore that politicians are capable of improving matters. Our interests as workers have not been served in the past and, unless we are prepared to reconsider our whole approach to politics, have no prospect of being served in the future. We would suggest that you consider taking control of your own lives. Instead of electing politicians and parties to run your own exploitation, you can organise your own future. We, the working class, can mandate our own representatives to go into the seats of government, local, national and international, and abolish the entire system of private and/or State ownership of the means of living which gives the accumulation of profits priority over our needs. We call on all workers to join us to establish a society based on serving our needs instead of the profit needs of the minority class which dominates our lives today. We can create a world in which poverty, famine, slums, unemployment and international conflict could not exist. Such a system we call socialism: a moneyless, classless world in which we all share in the ownership of wealth; a world in which we co-operate voluntarily to produce all the things we need and where we will have free and equal access to satisfy our requirements.  Sounds utopian? Not as utopian as expecting our working-class lives to have changed for the better by the time the next election comes around.

Your birthright, like that of workers anywhere in capitalist society, from New York to Moscow, from London to Peking, is that of a wage slave, the right to try and sell your mental or physical ability to produce wealth to any employer who thinks he can get a return on investment. Your "right" to submit to the poverty of employment or the dire poverty of unemployment. Your "right" is the freedom to do what you are told, whatever the colour of the rag that floats at the top of the flagpole.

Our current economic system, capitalism, is based on private ownership of the means of producing and distributing wealth produced by the workers i.e. the land, resources, the factories and machinery, the transportation systems etc. Goods are produced with a view to making a profit that comes from the extra value that the worker puts into the products over and above his wage. That is, after working for part of the day to create enough value to pay his wage, the worker then continues to work to create the value that becomes profit. Capitalist production is commodity based, meaning that goods are produced only with a view to making profits. If that profit doesn’t materialise or is less than expected, production ceases, no matter what the need is. Food, in many parts of Africa, is a prime example of this system in action. No profit, no production, can’t pay, can’t have, is the logo of commodity production. Capital accumulation must take place for the system to work. Investors expect to take away more than they put into an enterprise. Capital then is value in perpetual search of additional value, and it this continual search for augmentation that drives, or derails, the capitalist mode of production. It must be, of course, predicated on continual expansion, ever greater destruction of the earth to extract resources, ever greater factories, machines, and production systems, ever greater markets to absorb the extra products. Capital’s search for greater value means that the managers of the investment funds and the corporations involved in every aspect of production are charged with finding opportunities for producing the greatest value. In this, they are in a life and death struggle with their competitors. Lose the struggle and your capital investment dries up and you are taken over or, worse, you go bankrupt.

Given this analysis of our economic system, it is not surprising that qualities such as ethics, loyalty, or morality are tossed aside when it comes to the economic survival of a business.

In the short term, there is very little that can be done to reverse the situation. As noted above, when the prospect of profitability returns, capital will be invested again and the recovery will begin. Union activity through pressure on employers, collective bargaining, demonstrations etc. are always available to mitigate the worst aspects of the system, but are even less effective during a recession, as current negotiated concessions of wages and benefits attest. In the longer term, we must examine the system that creates so much wealth but delivers so little to the general population and yet so much to the few owners. It is a change in this ownership that The Socialist Party proposes. Presently, capital dominates our life. It tells us that we must get a job to survive, then tells us when and how we do it, what the conditions of work will be, and even whether we will work at all. We propose that a new system of producing and distributing wealth is needed, one where the ownership of the world’s resources, and the means to turn them into useful goods, is owned by all, in common, and operated democratically, in the interests of all. That would mean all mankind would get a proper diet, housing, clean water, education, healthcare, and the need for continual wars over who owns the resources (the major cause of all wars) is ended.

Be Wary Of The Crap

The Toronto Star of March 19 had the headline, "Be Wary of Unmuzzled Scientists, Liberals Told." The new Liberal government appears set to take off the shackles imposed on the scientific community but the previous government in the interests of hiding the truth about climate change, for one thing. Now senior civil servants are giving this warning to the new government. 

 The thing is, in science, anything that is not true, or controversial, or everything, for that matter, is held under wide scrutiny to prove what has been claimed. No scientist gets away with bafflegab for long before losing credibility. Much wiser to be wary of the crap that capitalism puts out in its own defence. 

John Ayers.