THE REVOLUTIONARY ALTERNATIVE TO THE LEFT

Most people think that the Left is the movement of the working class for socialism. Nothing could be further from the truth. It does seem to be about supporting the struggle of the workers, but when you look more closely into it one of the main features of the Left is supporting liberal capitalist parties such as the Labour Party or the Democrats in America.  The Left will also routinely advocate support for certain weaker, e.g. "third world” countries - meaning the governments of nation states, against stronger ones i.e. Western Powers. This is described as anti-imperialism as though the victory of the weaker country would do more than slightly alter the ranking of states within the world imperialist pecking order. Imperialism is a historical stage of capitalism and opposing it, as opposed to opposing capitalism itself via working class revolution, is meaningless. Then there is a common form of "radical" nationalism consisting of supporting so-called "national liberation movements", such as the PLO and the IRA, both who now exercise state power on behalf of their antagonist. Often it is argued, even if one disapproves of nationalism, that nevertheless nations have a right to self-determination, and one must support this right. An example of double-talk. The working class should not talk about its rights but about its class interest. Talking about a right to national "self-determination" (as though a geographical grouping of antagonistic classes can be a "self") is like saying that workers have a right" to be slaves if they want to. Siding with the working class against all capitalist factions necessitates opposing all forms of nationalism whatsoever. Last but not least, is the advocacy of the leadership of "revolutionary left" over the working class This division between a mass of followers and an elite of leaders mirrors the divide in mainstream capitalism (and indeed all forms of class society) between rulers and ruled, and serves well the project of constructing state capitalism, after the future revolution.

None of this means that socialists expect that all workers will come simultaneously towards revolutionary ideas, because to begin with only a minority will be revolutionaries, but their task is to argue their case with the rest of their fellow workers as equals. What the Left do, however, is to perpetuate the sheep-like mentality workers learn under capitalism and harness it to their aim to be in charge after the “revolution”. We say that if anyone is in charge, if the working class does not lead itself and consciously build a new society, then it will fare no better than in Russia and China and all the rest did. We believe that all left-wing groups, whether Stalinist or Trotskyist (or Maoist or whatever they call themselves) are merely radical capitalist organisations who, if they ever came to power, would erect new state-capitalist dictatorships in the name of the very working class they would then proceed to crush. This is not a matter of the subjective intentions of their members, whose sincerity we are not questioning here, but the objective result of their policies.

All the confusion created by the Left cannot hide forever the fact that since the time capitalism began there has been a real movement for a new and genuinely human way of life, for a society in which the full and free development of every individual forms the ruling principle. This movement has emerged again and again. Each time it has been crushed, but only to re-emerge, perhaps years or decades later. In place of capitalist society with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each individual is the condition for the free development of all. Production for profit will be replaced by production for pleasure. When the ruling classes are fully overthrown we will be free to take on the re-organisation of everything. We can then gather in public assemblies and at work-place meetings to discuss our real needs and desires. No more will people be compelled to be competitive with each other. All of us will be a co-owner of the entirety of the world's wealth and means of production, as well as sharing in the entire natural environment.

Planning and decision making will not be a separate or specialised occupation. It will be an integrated part of production and of life for everyone. For the day-to-day matters of running, for instance, a given factory, decisions will be made at assemblies of all those involved. But nobody's activities need be restricted to a given "job" or locality. There will no longer be a "work day." Nor a separate "leisure" time.

The Malthusian view of the world says that it cannot support each individual with adequate food, shelter etc. as its population grows and grows. This idea is still quite prevalent but socialists keep pointing out because of improved technology, the planet can indeed support a growing world population. Many environmentalists would like to envisage a predominantly rural society, having rightly identified urbanisation with shanty-towns and slums under capitalism and so desire a closer connection with nature. But does city life preclude this, and do we actually want a predominantly rural environment. It is certainly desirable to have less of a division between towns and country in technological and productive terms. We probably should have small factories and workshops in villages and already many seek increased city farming. Concentrations of people can imply cultural and lifestyle diversity and homes can possess architectural variety.

The Socialist Party stands for the creation of a world without states, classes, money and wages, where production will be undertaken for need not profit but to directly satisfy all human needs. Some people describe this as "utopian". In one sense this is true: such a society does not exist anywhere, and never has. But we reject this "utopian" label if it implies that our goal has no connection with present-day reality. Some organisations engage in the class struggle in order to recruit members to their party, with the aim of eventually becoming strong enough to seize power. We oppose such groups. We do not set ourselves up as generals, directing the rest of the working class into battle. A genuine and successful revolution can only be carried out by vast masses of working people consciously organising and leading themselves. Besides, in the unlikely event that such groups did succeed in seizing power, the likely outcome would be in a so-called "worker's state" (with them in power), in which we would find ourselves working for "socialist" bosses, being paid "socialist" wages, and so on. If they share our future goal at all - and in most cases, they don't - it is only as a distant mirage which continually recedes in the face of endless "transitional periods".

Let us be clear about this: the only way capitalism can be dismantled is for the working class to immediately abolish money and the market, and distribute goods according to need (albeit with scarce goods being rationed for a time if necessary). Those who argue that this cannot be done immediately are in fact arguing for retaining the very core of capitalist social relations - if that is done the revolution is as good as dead. We believe that, despite the obstacles put in its way by both Right and Left, the working class has the power to destroy capitalism for real, and create a society without classes, without the state, national boundaries, oppression or inequality. A society not based on money or other forms of exchange, but on collective ownership of, and free access to, all society's goods on the part of the whole of humanity. This society, which we call Communism or Socialism or Anarchism interchangeably, will be the first truly free society ever to exist. Our task in the Socialist Party is not to be leaders but to be part of the process of creation of a revolutionary working class movement that will put an end to our world's long history of oppression and exploitation, and begin the long history of the free, world human community to come.

As for the Left, they can take their "transitional demands," "cadre leadership" and "revolutionary self-sacrifice” -- and shove it up their respective rear-ends. There will be no commodity exchange and  no State and no religious mullahs or rabbis to decide our activities for us; no "national interest." 

To whom does the future belong?

We are not prophets and we must restrict ourselves to tracing, in only the broadest brush-strokes, the picture of a future socialist society. The Socialist Party is committed to inspiring a vision of an alternative way of living where all the world's resources are owned in common and democratically controlled by communities on an ecologically sustainable and socially harmonious basis. We believe such a society will no longer require money, markets, or states, and can only be established democratically from the bottom up without the intervention of politicians or leaders. We are a principled movement for radical change seeking a society of cooperation and solidarity. The members of the Socialist Party share a vision of the future society as a worldwide, class-free, state-free and market-free cooperative commonwealth, based on the common ownership and democratic control of productive resources in the interests of the whole community, with production directly for use. The Socialist Party seeks to establish a free society, which will render impossible the growth of a privileged class and the exploitation of man by man. The SPGB therefore, advocates common ownership of the land, industry and all means of production and distribution on the basis of voluntary co-operation. In such a society, the wage system, finance, and money shall be abolished and goods produced and distributed not for profit, but according to human needs. The State in all its forms, embodying the ruling class, is the enemy of the workers and cannot exist in a free, classless society.

Socialism is the movement of the working class towards a new society. Society at the moment is run in the interests by a powerful elite that controls the means of producing and distributing wealth. That production has become an end in itself. Without constantly seeking to expand, capital faces ruin. To avoid that ruin, capital seeks to produce more commodities all the time. The influence of the commodity spreads into more and more areas of our lives. Every aspect of our life, every minute of our day and night is fair game to capital. Everything we do is becoming subject to the commodity. In our everyday life,we passively watch this domination.

Socialism means the end to buying and selling. It means and end to working for employers. It means and end to the nations, states, and corporations that perpetuate and protect commodity production. It means production for use and distribution according to need. It will be a society based on the free association of the people who live in it. It will bring the end of racism, sexism, homophobia, environmental destruction and greed.

Reforms of capitalism have been going on as long as the system has been in existence. Some of the most significant of these have been the extension of the voting franchise, the introduction of the so-called "welfare state", nationalisation, and de-nationalisation, increased regulation by the state and de-regulation. While the material living conditions at least, of the populations of developed countries, have improved since the 19th and early 20th centuries, inequality in the U.K., for example, is now greater than it was 50 years ago, according to a recent government survey. Stress in the workplace and in many other aspects of society has certainly not decreased, rather the reverse. Such trends can be observed on a global scale. Additionally, rampant poverty in underdeveloped countries is as widespread as it ever was. Wars and environmental degradation continue. All of this clearly confirms the correctness of the socialist assertion that the present system CANNOT be reformed in the interests of the majority of people and of the environment, in any significant way. What we need is a complete alternative. Genuine world socialism, with common ownership, its production for human need and real democratic control is very much that alternative. The most important of capitalism's reforms have usually NOT achieved what they are supposed to have achieved and even when some very limited success has been gained, these so-called "gains" have often been either very limited, temporary or partially reversed. The "Welfare State" is an obvious example of this.

Paul Lafargue in his 1883 critique of the capitalist work ethic - 'The Right to be Lazy' realised that an alternative to the drudgery and grind of wage slavery had become a real possibility. Under a system common ownership and democratic control, people would be free to choose how they worked and how they consumed; instead of toiling to enrich the wealth of a tiny minority. In 1998 Ken Knabb put it this way:

'If a household gets a washing machine, you never hear the family members who used to do the laundry by hand complain that this “puts them out of work.”

But strangely enough, if a similar development occurs on a broader social scale it is seen as a serious problem — “unemployment” — which can only be solved by inventing more jobs for people to do.

Proposals to spread the work around by implementing a slightly shorter workweek seem at first sight to address the matter more rationally. But the absurdity of 90% of existing jobs is never mentioned. In a sane society, the elimination of all these absurd jobs (not only those that produce or market ridiculous and unnecessary commodities, but the far larger number directly or indirectly involved in promoting and protecting the whole commodity system) would reduce necessary tasks to such a trivial level (probably less than 10 hours per week) that they could easily be taken care of voluntarily and cooperatively, eliminating the need for the whole apparatus of economic incentives and state enforcement.'

A socialist society is characterised by the formula:

 “To each according to needs, from each according to abilities.”

The Socialist Party – A Voice for Change

All questions shall be answered. All confusion shall be eradicated.

Socialists are working for a different and better world. Are YOU fed up?

• Fed up with the failures of this dreary system

• Fed up with leaders and the false promises of career politicians

• Fed up with poor hospitals, poor schools, poor housing and a polluted environment

• Fed up with having to live on a wage that hardly pays the endless bills

• Fed up with serving the profit system and seeing poverty amidst luxury

What happens individually and locally depends mainly on what happens in the country and in the world. That is why socialists are working for a different world. But it can't happen unless you join us. The job of making a better world must be the work of all of us.

The world we want is a one where we all work together. We can do this. Co-operation is in our own interests and this is how a socialist community would be organised – through democracy and through working with each other.

To co-operate we need democratic control not only in our own area but by people everywhere. This means that all places of industry and manufacture, all the land, transport, the shops and means of distribution, should be owned in common by the whole community. With common ownership, we would not produce goods for profit. The profit system exploits us. Without it, we could easily produce enough quality things for everyone. We could all enjoy free access to what we need without the barriers of buying and selling.

Politicians blame our problems on the lack of money, but this is not true. Money doesn't build hospitals, schools, houses or a healthy environment. The things that make a good community can only be created by the work of the people. We have an abundance of skills and energy. If we were free from having to work for the profits of employers we would be able to work for the needs of everyone.

The profit system dominates our lives. It plagues us with bills. The rent and mortgage payments, council tax demands, the food, gas, electricity, phone bills. Money is used to screw us for the profits of business. If we don't pay, we don't get the goods or the service. Without the capitalist system, a socialist community would easily provide for all of its members.

The challenge now is to build a world-wide movement whose job will be to break with the failures of the past. It won't be for power or money or careers. It will work for the things that matter to people everywhere – peace, material security and the enjoyment of life through cooperation. This is the challenge that could link all people in a common cause without distinction of nationality, race or culture.

We in the Socialist Party reject the view that things will always stay the same. We can change the world. Nothing could stop a majority of socialists building a new society run for the benefit of everyone. We all have the ability to work together in each other's interests. All it takes is the right ideas and a willingness to make it happen.

Our call for your vote is to show support for the ideas of socialism. We make it clear we are not seeking to 'represent' anyone nor promising to do anything for anybody. We are not would-be leaders, just names, a legal requirement for standing in an election, for people to put an X against if they want a class-free, state-free, money-free world of common ownership and democratic control. At most, in the unlikely event of us being elected, we'd just be the mandated delegates, the messengers, of those who elected us, who would be convinced of the need to replace capitalism with socialism and would have instructed us to speak up for this. An SPGB candidate for election is a member who has accepted our Party rule that "Candidates elected to a Political office shall be pledged to act on the instructions of their Branches locally, and by the Executive Committee nationally".

The SPGB of today are not the socialist "party" that founding members once envisaged it becoming, i.e. the mass of the working class organised politically for socialism. At the moment, the SPGB are not much more than a propaganda society or educational club and can't be anything else (and nor should we try to be, on principle). Possibly, we might be the embryo of the future mass "socialist party" but there's no guarantee that we will be (and it’s more likely we may just be a contributing element). But it is such a mass party that will take political control via the ballot box, and since it will in effect be the majority organised democratically and politically for socialism, thus it will the majority, not the party as such as something separate from that majority, that carries out the socialist transformation of society. But who cares? As long as such a mass socialist party eventually emerges.

Without having any delusions of grandeur, we try to organise ourselves today in our small party in the same way we think that a mass socialist party should organise itself: without leaders and with major decisions being made democratically by a referendum of the whole membership ratifying decisions made by conferences of mandated delegates or by elected committees.

At some stage, for whatever reason, socialist consciousness will reach a 'critical mass', or in other words when militancy becomes the norm, at which point it will just snowball and carry people along with it. It may come about without people even giving it the label of socialist.

We have had the internal debate within the SPGB of the Big Bang theory put forward by some members. They argue that a growing socialist movement would have an economic impact on the operation of capitalism before the overthrow of the capitalist class and the formal establishment of socialism. Socialists would use their influence politically encouraging the growth of the non-monetary, voluntary sector of the economy and should be instrumental in developing support networks for cooperatives. The capturing of political power would merely be a mopping-up exercise, designed to dispense with the remaining capitalist areas of the economy. It was fully acknowledged during the ensuing discussions that the growth of the socialist movement would have profound and perhaps unpredictable impacts. The SPGB does not hold that the growth of the socialist movement will leave capitalism completely unchanged until a cataclysmic revolution occurs. But we cannot now predict in any meaningful way the various ways in which capitalism will change as socialist ideas spread, so we do not think it is possible or advisable to incorporate some version of these changes into our political position.

Not many in the SPGB will find fault with the assumption that all aspects of our daily life, from neighbourhood to work, will be re-organised democratically and acquiring control over the State is complementary to that. It has always been the Socialist Party position to be organised on the economic front as well as the political front so to ensure the smooth change-over of production and distribution from capitalism to socialism. Our case is that political organisation must precede the economic, since, apart from the essential need for the conquest of the powers of government, it is on the political field that the widest and most comprehensive propaganda can be deliberately maintained. It is here that the workers can be organised on the basis of socialist thought and action, not on sectional interests as in the situation of trade unions.

If some of our critics are correct in surmising that even with an upsurge of class-consciousness  only those who supported reforms would be elected then can we equally assume that sectionalism would plague the industrial front , that struggle would be based on self-interest since what you seem to be implying is that workers are not capable of surmounting the intellectual challenge of differentiating between reformist parties presenting palliatives for the continuance of capitalism and revolutionary socialist parties taking advantage of concrete situations to obtain beneficial reforms. Let’s not forget that the Impossiblist tradition does have some parliamentary experience from the past. The Socialist Party of Canada did get elected to state legislatures. When people want something and where elections exist they will organise to contest elections as well.

As recounted in Desmond Greaves's biography of James Connolly about what happened when Connolly left the De Leonist SLP of America (which was committed to using the ballot box) to join the IWW (which wasn't) he said:
“He was asked if he approved of its repudiating the principle of political action. He laughed, 'It will be impossible to prevent the workers taking it”

Connolly also said:

"I am inclined to ask all and sundry amongst our comrades if there is any necessity for this presumption of antagonism between the industrialist and the political advocate of socialism. I cannot see any. I believe that such supposed necessity only exists in the minds of the mere theorists or doctrinaires. The practical fighter in the work-a-day world makes no such distinction. He fights, and he votes; he votes and he fights. He may not always, he does not always, vote right; nor yet does he always fight when and as he should. But I do not see that his failure to vote right is to be construed into a reason for advising him not to vote at all; nor yet why a failure to strike properly should be used as a gibe at the strike weapon, and a reason for advising him to place his whole reliance upon votes." 

RETHINKING SOCIALISM

The Socialist Party does not claim that we know the road to socialism in all its completeness. We do say, however, to know the direction this road takes and have set our political compass accordingly. The Socialist Party has managed to keep its gaze upon the destination - a free, socialist future. Our confidence has been strengthened by the fact that it has remained true to its course and to the interests of the workingmen and women at a time when it counts – during times of war when others claiming the mantle of socialist lost sight of the goal. We did not back-track from our principles, we did not vacillate, we did not retreat an inch. And that is how we shall continue. We stand out from our fellow-workers only in our socialist convictions to fight for socialism night and day, on all occasions and in all places. Our determination to wage class war for a new age, for a society free of war and oppression, of exploitation and inequality, for world socialism, assures us the right to call ourselves the Socialist Party.

Great threats hang over mankind, but at the same time, the chances for revolution are becoming clearer and nearer. Decisive battles to assure humanity of its future, to abolish war and misery, are approaching. It is up to all of us to transform the enormous economic forces of capitalism into prodigious prosperity for all people. Fellow-workers need to organise under the banner of the world socialist revolution to prepare for victory. We must rediscover the essentials of socialist ideas and restore them to its rightful place at the head of political activities. In the old days, socialists put promotion of Marxist ideas at the head of their activities and we need a revival of this socialist practice and form study circles to discuss world events and Marxism. The dawn of socialism, created by the people, for the people, is rising on mankind’s horizon.

The fight for socialism is a hard fight, and many will desert it. They retreat to a belief in the indestructibility of the capitalist world order, concluding that the revolutionary struggle for socialism is not worthwhile and condemning their fellow men and women as inadequate and incapable of achieving socialism. They see only the power of the present-day and bow down before it. Yet to save humanity from the chaos breaking out all over the world workers must know the road to the socialist future and take it resolutely. Marxism is for the workers’ movement what a map is for an explorer – a great treasure. Those disillusioned individuals who spread their demoralisation are aimlessly lost but keep offering short-cuts with bogus solutions. They dissipate our attention in all directions, approving and applauding whatever is the flavour of the day on the political menu.

The Socialist Party seeks to organise the workers, into one PARTY OF LABOUR to take the political power of the State out of the hands of the privileged few and place in into the hands of those who will use it to establish common ownership. Such is our aim: such is Socialism. Our method is the political organisation at the Ballot Box. The Socialist Party will assist in giving force, clearness and effectiveness to the working class movement and pledges itself to pursue, unfalteringly and undeviatingly, our objective – common ownership of the means of producing and distributing all wealth. 

Socialist Education

"The International shall be the human race."

The message of socialism is it promises to destroy the political, social and economic disadvantages imposed upon mankind. Socialism has gotten a bad name. Labourites defined their socialism only in terms of nationalisation. In Russia, a society calling itself socialist was a monstrous tyranny, where the workers were exploited every bit as cruelly as anywhere else. The liberating element of socialism was dismissed as utopian.  Many of our friends and colleagues remain aloof from the Socialist Party because the goal seems so far off and unattainable. For us in the Socialist Party, socialism is not some workers’ paradise in a distant and unimaginable future. We cannot forecast the date of the revolution. There are so many questions which it is quite futile to try to answer in advance by producing a detailed blueprint. There is, for example, no point in attempting to draw up any such plans. The reality of socialism will differ from any possible projection of it. But some of the seeds of the new society have been already sown and the struggle against the old one has already begun. The class struggle cannot be abolished or postponed under capitalism. When people take up the struggle for socialism, they need to know what they are fighting for, at least in general terms.

 Socialists have no illusions about the speed with which they may be able to achieve significant progress in the fulfilment of our aims. But it is reasonable to assume that there is a constituency which can be won over to socialist cause and that this constituency will grow as capitalism shows itself increasingly incapable of coping with the unfolding crises which it produces. Socialists will use the existing constitutional process, by means of a combination of electoral and extra-parliamentary activism. Socialists will not concern themselves with getting this or that policy passed but with changing the apparatus of the state. The capitalists always defend their class interests. If workers do not fight as a class, the capitalists will always triumph.

The diagnosis of a disease does not cure the disease. The mere voicing of complaints changes nothing. Democracy and solidarity, freedom and equality must be the fundamentals of socialist education. We teach the co-operative commonwealth, in which there shall be neither master nor servant, neither rich nor poor.

The Socialist Party, part of the World Socialist Movement, invites you to join its fight for working-class emancipation and socialist freedom. World socialism is the recognition of the reality of the modern world. It proceeds from the fact that the economy of modern society is a world-unit requiring international cooperation and division of labour for the further development of the productive forces. The class struggle arising from the class division between workers and exploiters within the countries requires class unity of the workers on a global scale. From its very beginning, socialism has called for the collaboration of the workers in the different countries in order that each might contribute their strength to world cooperative action. The Communist Manifesto called for common efforts of the workers in all countries for the common goal of workers' emancipation. 

“To escape its wretched lot,” wrote Bakunin “the populace has three ways, two imaginary and one real. The two first are drink and the church, the third is the social revolution.” And the social revolution, we never weary of declaring, is at hand. 

Just as the petty states, principalities and duchies divided Europe under feudalism has given way to centralized national states such as Germany and Italy in order to create a broader arena for the development of the productive forces, so, in the same way, the artificially divided national states have to give way to the federation of states as we see with the European Union trading bloc. In the future course of development, this must lead eventually to a world federation operating as a one world economy without class and nationalistic divisions. Socialists are the champions of this idea of internationalism, renouncing the ideas of nationalism. Forsaking popularity, the Socialist Party has always stood against patriotism, xenophobia, and national chauvinism and can show an unsullied record opposing all wars. Our fellow-workers have to live in the class-ridden system with its state power, and their wills are restricted by the limitations imposed but nevertheless, within their own organisations they can build a community of democracy – The Socialist Party, honestly striving towards equality and liberty. We do not rely upon the politics of parliamentary legislation. We do not trust our economic security to the good intentions of the possessing class. We have our own political weapons that we control. The working class must achieve its own salvation. It must develop its own social intelligence. Our aim is simply the education of the workers in the interests of the workers. This movement on behalf of independent working-class education is world-wide. Our aim is making fellow-workers completely conscious of what they want and evoking in them the thought that corresponds to their impulses. If once the thoughts of the labouring masses have mounted to the level of their impulses, then will their will be soon determined and their power irresistible. Socialist education will be the midwife of the social revolution. Our ways and means are: to arouse the interest, concentrate the intelligence, stimulate the will. Without these three precepts, nothing can be done. With them, all difficulties will vanish.

Make capitalism a memory

“I’m not arguing there are no decent people in the Tory Party...But they’re like bits of sweetcorn in a turd; technically they’ve kept their integrity but they’re still embedded in shit."  - Ian Banks, The Quarry

Our type of revolution is a democratic one, using capitalism's Achilles heel of democracy to remove ownership and control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth, as commodities for a market for the profit of the few, 1-5% of the global population, from a parasitic minority class and making ownership and control, common for all of us wealth producers 95-99%, by producing for use with free access and wages and prices abolished. Real socialism in other words.

Most people have not heard of this, so you can't know want they want. Socialism is a post-capitalist society so it will seem alien at first. Just as capitalism must have seemed strange in feudal times. But nothing will stop an idea which time has come. The task of creating the socialist, post-capitalist, production for use, free access, a commonly owned world is that of the working class itself. There is no short cut to this. A post-capitalist revolution does not have to be violent when it is the conscious act of the immense majority. Most revolutions have been minority led ones.

Capitalism itself cannot be reformed or tamed to work in the majority interest? Capitalism can only exist upon the backs of an army of wage- slaves. It is impossible to create a fairer society and retain capitalism and the wages system. If you are born poor you will most likely die poor. Poverty is both absolute and relative.

Socialism-communism (they mean the same thing) is a post-capitalist, production-for-use, money-free, price-free, society without elites and with free access to the collective produce. Government ceases to be over the people a part of class society and becomes the people’s democratic administration over resources as part of a classless, elite free society run by us all. Nothing to do with state ownership or corporate or private ownership. Nothing to do with central control either. It utilises the technological advances of capitalism to produce for use to satisfy all human needs, using self-feeding loopback informational tools for stock measurements and control with direct inputs, at local, regional and global levels to allow calculation-in-kind, as opposed to the economic monetary calculation of capitalism, only necessary to satisfy profit taking. If you want a real democracy you will need to abolish the wages system, get rid of capitalism and usher in administering structures using recallable delegates where necessary.

We absolutely reject vanguardism. We get from capitalism to socialism by making the case for socialism and not selling them a reformist duck. The same old muddled Labourite, reformist claptrap masquerades as socialism, while retaining wage slavery for the many, and riches arising out of the exploitation of the many to produce a surplus for the few. There is no such thing and never will be such a thing as a communist state. The state management of the capitalist economy is state capitalism. The nation state is a capitalist entity. Workers have no country. Socialism has never existed to fail. You are simply restating capitalist propaganda about post-feudal attempts to kick start capitalism in the absence of a large enough capitalist class the state stepped into the breach. Effectively those examples of Leninism were state capitalist developments. The previous Labour governments were in the interests of the working class and you have a blind spot in this regards, through your misplaced loyalty to friendly sounding, pro-working class sentiments, which belie the actual actions of Labour, as a pro-business political party.

The old Soviet Union had damn all to do with socialism and was a state capitalist society.

Did it have waged slavery? Yes.

Did it have capital? Yes.

Did it have elites? Yes.

Did it have delegatory democracy? No.

Did the workers own and control the means of producing and distributing wealth? No

Socialism will be a society where wealth is owned in common by us all, in conditions of democracy with a superabundance of the necessities of life arising out of production for use rather than the production of commodities for sale to satisfy a market. All wealth comes from the workers. Workers run capitalism from top to bottom. The capitalist class are superfluous to modern production. Capitalists don’t invest to give anthing back to society. This is a conceited ideologically reinforced by-product. They invest to accumulate and will quite happily disinvest and make redundant their waged-slaves if profit is not forthcoming. The investments may not even be made by them these days, but by other highly paid worker managers on their behalf. The needs of capital to make a profit to accumulate ever more capital puts a brake on production to satisfy needs, as production is turned off when profits cannot be realised. Capital is just dead labour, it is useless unless used to exploit workers for their surplus value. It can’t build bridges, make widgets or man lifeboats. It is even useless as shit paper. It will feature in a museum of antiquity in the future where children will wonder at how stupid we all were, producing all of the wealth in society but being rationed out our access to it, with these useless pieces of paper and coins.

It is time workers realise that workers have no country and a world to win. They have more in common with workers worldwide, than with any home grown or global capitalist. Get off your knees and get rid of capitalism.

Wee Matt

Socialism is the Family

Many campaigners are busy engaging in personal study, trying to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to political action. Sometimes this takes organised forms when they join one of the hundreds of “socialistic” groups operating throughout the country. They may be working people in the same factory or office, dealing with the class struggle. Or they may be residents of the same neighborhood, discussing community events. For most people, they share ideas and beliefs without being members of any party. Very often they are the ex-supporters of the Trotskyist groups and of the Labour Party folk who have abandoned their former organisational ties preferring an informal and more malleable method of uniting. It is increasingly apparent that the era of the leadership of those “socialist” parties is over. Any attempt to maintain such a leadership runs counter to the real interest of socialist advance. Radicals are now coming face to face with their most promising opportunity which inevitably involves a re-appraisal of what socialism is. A great part of the answer will lie in asking the right questions and already we are finding surprising answers. We have witnessed the rise of leader-free social movements – or should they be seen as movements where all are leaders? There has been the growth of much deeper and wider extension of democratic consciousness by the participants of protest campaigns. There is a current within radicalism to make democracy work. There is little prospect or need today for a monolithic, mass political party formation which assumes the responsibility of leading everything, and in which the most people cannot really function. But on the debit side of things in a urbanised industrial society where people do not possess control, and which has no greater ideal than money-making and profit-taking, feeds the urge to escape the alienation by romantic retuen to the idyllic imaginary past of the mom and pop convenience store and artisans in their handicraft workshops and friendly farmers in their fields. It is an indictment of capitalism when its victims retreat into fantasies of what was and not the reality of what could be. Socialism will re-charge its vitality when whatever new party of the workers must someday arise out of the labour movement. No one can rush the crystallization of such a class expression out of the existing ferment. But the time is approaching when a realistic possibility in this direction will bring results.

“From each according to ability, to each according to need.” As long as the socialist movement unequivocally stands for that principle, and directs all its policies toward its realisation, it will be revolutionary, the living voice of the social revolution. Socialism demands that every social condition, every art and every power of science which now contribute to the healthfulness and happiness for the privileged few shall be democratised and made common to all. Human character depends on nature to a very much small degree, and upon the environment to a very much larger degree. To-day the production and the exchange of wealth are functions carried on with an anti-social object, namely, the profit of a class of non-producers. That is the fundamental wrong of capitalism. That is the source of its poverty, its inefficiency, and its inequality. Capitalism must be abolished, because it is anti-social, and denies millions of an adequate opportunity to develop their skills, talents, and powers.

 Those who make the bread of the world cannot eat the bread their hands have made. No one is poor because there is not enough for all. No child suffers hunger because there is a dearth of food. No child wears rags or goes without shoes because good clothes and shoes cannot be made in sufficient quantity to supply all. When the hungry cry out loudest, the supermarket shelves groan with their weight of food and the warehouse are filled to overflowing. There exists a near-inexhaustible reserve of productive capacity available to supply every human need. Machinery and labour and raw materials are plentiful. On the one side we have abundant natural resources and wonderful powers of production; on the other side are have a great unsatisfied need which could be easily satisfied. But capitalism does not direct our productive capacity to the social good but for private gain. If our economic activities were inspired by a social purpose, no human want would remain unsatisfied so long as there were unexhausted productive powers and opportunities. All our resources and our skills would be combined to meet the needs of every human being. If we found ourselves incapable of producing plenty for all, we should, if we were truly social, see to it that all shared in the scarcity. On the other hand, finding ourselves capable of producing infinitely more than we need, we should, if we mere truly social, see to it that all shared the advantages of our triumph as producers. We should aim to make life better, richer, happier and more beautiful for all. We should see that the result of our progress was more beauty in the homes of all and larger leisure for all to enjoy the beauty. Inspired by the ideal of social well-being, we should see that no human being performed in pain a task which might have been performed in joy; that nothing ugly was produced which might have been made beautiful; that nothing was made which was unworthy of our best power; that our work was the worthiest, and performed under the worthiest conditions, of which we were capable.

So long as the prevailing capitalist system lasts this social ideal will remain unattainable. For capitalism is essentially anti-social. Its entire structure rests upon the production of things primarily for sale to the end that a ruling class may profit, instead of upon the social principle of production for use, for social gain, for the common good and joy of all. The only reason why men who are capable of building beautiful homes – as is shown by the palaces they build for the rich – build ugly, prison-like, gloomy tenements for themselves and their wives and children to dwell in is the fact that their labor is governed, not by the desire to attain supreme usefulness, but by the desire for profit. The only reason for the adulteration of food and drink is profit and it is profit which explains the wanton destruction of the food for which men, women, and children pine for, and for lack of which they starve and die. Only in a society which produces primarily for profit and class advantage could such a condition ever exist. Socialism brings a world redeemed from the curse of production for profit.  Production for use instead of profit, for the common good instead of for the gain of a few at the cost of the many, can only be made possible through the social ownership of the resources of nature and the means of production. And so everywhere the socialist movement is striving to bring about the common ownership and democratic control and collective management of all those means of production owned and controlled by individuals, or by groups of individuals.  Collective ownership of the means of production, with democratic management, is the central demand in socialists everywhere.

This does not mean personal possessions are commandeered. On the contrary, it is quite certain that common ownership of the great social agencies of production would result in making individual and family private property far more general than it is now. Millions of people have practically no private property at all to-day. They do not own the homes in which they live. They do not own the things they produce. They do not own enough to provide the necessities of a decent existence. When sickness, accident, or other misfortune, compels them to be idle for a few weeks they are reduced to dependence upon charity as the only alternative to starvation. Even in the most prosperous times millions of people are so divorced from property of all kinds that they never have enough good food to eat, enough good clothes to wear, or decent homes in which to live. Capitalism has never provided all people with private property. Socialism, on the other hand, would make it possible for every human being to have and own all the private property which that human being could use to advantage and without imposing any disadvantage upon another human being. Collective ownership and collective control of the means of production would not give the ownership of the tools of labour to the individual worker. That was once possible, in the days when production was of necessity carried on by hand labour. It is not possible with machine production, which is only carried on by the organised division of labour of masses of workers. But collective ownership would make it impossible for the idle few to exploit the industrious many. It would make it possible for the workers themselves to exercise an effective control over the products of their labour and their distribution. It would make certain a fuller enjoyment by the producers of the wealth they produce.

 Home and family is only a microcosm of socialism where there is equal care for the collective interest of the family as a whole and for the individual interest of each member. The comfort and advantage of each individual member of the family depend on sharing things in the home and maintaining them as the common property of all family members. No one can exercise a right to the sole ownership and control of these things without injuring another of the family. On the other hand, there are many things which must be regarded as belonging to individual members, if harmony is to prevail. If there is something essential to the welfare and happiness of all the family, which would give  someone a power to rule the rest and to deny them comfort, the happiness of the family is only assured by making those things shared by all. But things which the individual needs to own and control for the attainment of personal happiness and well-being, the ownership and exclusive use of which does not subject other members of the family to any deprivation or discomfort, belongs to that individual, and the harmony of the family depend on the ability of each individual in it to secure all such things necessary to the satisfaction of his or her wants. Socialism is an attempt to realise for the larger community that rational and fair responsibility which is exemplified by the family at its best on a smaller scale.

Reforms Have Little Temporary And No Permanent Value

ARC Productions, a movie and TV animation company, abruptly closed its doors on August 1, locking out its 500 employees, who became unemployed and the company won't have to repay a $23 million dollar government grant it got through a splashy photo taken with Elton John in 2009.

ARC, which was one of the largest animation studios, cited a "cash crunch", that caused its principal lender to seek a court-appointed receiver to take possession. The staff is owed their wages under the 2009 agreement and was to create 200 jobs over five years.

The loan was part of a business assistance funding program that began in 2004. Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, flagged $1.45 billion, with 80% awarded in a secret process, by invitation, only to certain companies. This raises questions about why they were chosen.

Opinions were sharply divided at Queen's Park, resulting in a couple of gems. P.C, M.P.P. Monte McNaughton, said the company's failure is why he's been pressing the government, for six months, to release a comprehensive list of their handouts to corporations and details on how many jobs were created. To quote:

 "The government needs to come clean, so, all taxpayers (meaning capitalists) can see whether they're getting value for money." He also called it 'crony capitalism' (is there another kind?), with no transparent guidelines, targets, or measurement of results."

Of course, Economic Development Minister, Brad Duguid, was swift to defend the government with this goodie:

 "You can't hold a company responsible to operate forever because they're operating in the real world." 

One wonders what Brad-baby would call the real world. The Business Assistance Fund is just another reform and in the real world, reforms have been shown to have little temporary and no permanent value. The only difference is, the one Mr. Duguid is defending, has no temporary value either, as the unemployment figures clearly attest. 

John Ayers.

The Need for Socialism

For the thinking worker, the only way forward is to build the world movement for socialism. We live today in a world dominated by capital. Capitalism as a ruling system is far from being eternal. In Britain and Europe capitalist economic relations (those between the class of capitalist employers and the class of wage workers) grew up within feudalism and became dominant with the English Revolution of 1640 and the French Revolution of 1789.  Capitalism is a system of commodity production (that is, the production of goods for sale and not for direct use by the producer) which is distinguished by the fact that labour power itself becomes a commodity. The major means of production and exchange which make up the capital of society are owned privately by a small minority, the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie), while the great majority of the population consists of proletarians or semi-proletarians. Because of their economic position, this majority can only exist by permanently or periodically selling their labour power to the capitalists and thus creating through their work the incomes of the upper classes. Thus, fundamentally, capitalism is a system of exploitation of the working class (the proletariat) by the capitalist class. The development of exchange throughout history has led in the modern world to close ties being established between all the nations on earth. The emergence of capitalism as a social system greatly accelerated this process. It also brought forth two powerful, antagonistic classes, the decisive classes of the system: capitalists and workers. Its worldwide character meant that the struggle of the proletariat for its emancipation from class exploitation and oppression also became, and has remained, worldwide. Technological progress brings about a greater productivity of labour and increased social wealth, it cannot get rid of the evils of capitalism or solve the problems of the working class. Rather, it intensifies them. Only socialism, which results from the class struggle of workers against capitalists, can solve them. By replacing private ownership of the means of production by common ownership, by transforming the anarchy of production which is a feature of capitalism into planned production, organised for the well-being of all of society, the socialist revolution will end the division of society into classes and emancipate all of humanity from all forms of exploitation of one section of society by another.

Today, there is much ado over the leadership of the Labour Party by Jeremy Corbyn. None of the current arguments around the question of party democracy or policy is projected in terms of the social relationships within socialism but, rather, advance arguments about a more efficient management of capitalism. There is almost a total absence of any class analysis or any criticism of the state as an instrument of class rule. Nowhere do the left or right of the Labour Party indicate how the fundamental problems and contradictions within the capitalist mode of production can be resolved; nowhere do they discuss the dispossession of the capitalist class.  Perhaps it is of significance is the definition of the enemies of the working class used by the left of the Labour party (and the Trotskyist hanger-ons) generally consists of the City, the IMF/World Bank and the multinationals”, all of which are part of finance capital. Industrial capital is not only largely excluded, but is, indeed, seen as the lifeblood of the nation. The nature of industry, production for profit, and the relations within production are not criticised. The problem is characterised as one of decline within manufacturing industry, not capitalism. The Left are “socialists” without any socialism. If the Labour Party holds out no solution, what are the alternatives?

When the Socialist Party say that we are revolutionary we are not talking about a small group running up the red flag at the barricades. We are talking about a change that will involve the vast majority of fellow-workers consciously acting to change the entire society and all the relationships in it, from the way people relate to each other, to the way people relate to their job. We're out to change the whole system. What is necessary in order to bring all the separate struggles together into one common fight to overthrow capitalism. Socialists need to be realistic about their prospects and recognise our failings.  Nevertheless, we have to view the bigger picture. The capitalist system brings workers together, men and women, black and white, young and old,  in large workplaces in order to exploit us, capitalism ultimately gives us the collective strength to overthrow it. Everything rests upon the future struggles of the working class. The future of socialism depends on the creation of a powerful mass socialist party. We in the Socialist Party believe that we have made a start at building such a party. We have no illusions of grandeur but our mere presence within the working class movement give socialist ideas a chance. We understand the daunting scale of the task compared to by our present size, influence, and resources. We don’t regard ourselves as the vanguard. We know that only the working class can transform society. We don’t seek to put ourselves at the head and in place of that class. We seek only to make workers conscious of their interests and of their power and to direct that power at the capitalist system.

If you agree with us, join us. 

Support socialism for survival

“The monopoly of land drives him (the worker) from the farm into the factory, and the monopoly of machinery drives him from the factory into the street, and thus crucified between the two thieves of land and capital, the Christ of Labour hangs in silent agony.” Ernest Jones, Chartist leader

The supporters of socialism are few in number. This indifference of workers to socialist ideas is hardly surprising. We have all been brought up in a capitalist society where it is taken for granted that everyone is selfish, where people are continually told that our ‘betters’ should be the only  ones only a privileged to make the key decisions in society. We are brainwashed into accepting many capitalist ideas. As Marx put it, ‘The ruling ideas are the ideas of the ruling class,’ and vast numbers of workers accept them.

Whether they like it or not, whether they even know it or not, workers begin doing things that contradict all the capitalist ideas they have previously accepted. They begin to act in solidarity with one another, as a class, in opposition to the capitalist class. The ideas of socialism that were once rejected now begin to fit in with what they are doing. Some at least of the workers begin to take up those ideas socialist ideas seriously – providing those ideas are accessible. Their conflict with capitalist ideas obliges them to question these ideas. When they find that other workers are doing the same thing, they begin to make more and more connections with the idea of socialism. Once knowledge begins to be acquired, it can snowball at amazing speed. The basic premise of the Socialist Party is that the development of capitalism itself drives workers into revolt against the system and a transformation of working class consciousness takes place. Socialism can only come about when the working class itself takes political control to permit the economic control of the means of producing wealth to transform society

Increasing profit and shareholder dividends is the bottom line of capitalism. And it doesn’t matter how much devastation ensues or how unsustainable their business model is. The problems associated with the capitalist system cannot be dealt with on a single-issue basis. It’s not just about engaging in endless debates. Despite all the promises of the past and all the pledges for the future, hundreds of millions still go to bed with empty bellies hungry, hundreds of millions continue to die or are inflicted from unnecessary diseases and illnesses, hundreds of millions endure sweated labour if they can find employment, and hundreds of millions suffer from war and conflict. The problem is capitalism. The core cause of all the problems is capitalism.

Work is the source of all wealth and culture, and the entire returns thereof should accrue to those who do the work. In the present society, the tools of production are the monopoly of the capitalists. That the working class is kept dependent on these is the ultimate cause of misery and all forms of oppression. The goal of the Socialist Party is, therefore, to abolish the existing mode of production (the “wage system” or “price system”) and convert private property into the common property of society. The abolition of the wage system is our organisation’s expressed goal, to which we must cling with fanatical conviction. The struggle for the liberation of the working is not a fight for new class privileges and prerogatives but for the abolition of class rule. The class struggle is the ceaseless struggle which goes on from day to day in every country and between the same combatants – the master class and the working class. Society is like a huge market where the capitalist brings money, and the worker his only commodity – labour power. The worker sells his labour power in exchange for wages which is the commodity that will bring him the subsistence of life. The system is capitalism, and those who control it are capitalists.

The history of the working class has been a history of unremitting struggle against exploitation and oppression by the capitalist class. Under the rule of the present capitalists, there can be no freedom for the workers – only freedom to be exploited as wage slaves. Today, the people of the world live under the dictatorship of the tiny capitalist class. The ruling class propagates many ideas about “democracy” and “freedom,” but in reality, the only freedom which exists is their freedom to oppress and exploit people around the world for profits.  Working people, get rid of your slavish idolatry. You set up such men as Bill Gates, Richard Branson as your idols. While you are worshipping your idols, their pals are forging ever stronger your chains.

Socialist organisation means getting together with a common understanding and a common end in view and working systematically for the attainment of that end. For the workers to organize effectively, they must have a correct understanding of their position in society and of the conditions under which they live and work. If they fail to understand these things, they will either not organize at all or will organize in an ineffective manner. The effectiveness of their organization depends on the correctness of their understanding. The better they understand conditions the more effectively they will organise. There can be no organisation without action, and it must be systematic, not haphazard action. Systematic action means each member doing what one is best fitted to do, in the best way he or she knows how, and in co-operation with every other member. It means each one doing his or her part, and all co-operating in the production of the whole. When a person understands the conditions in this class war as they really are, he or she is ready to join the Socialist Party.

The reward for our struggle will be a new and free happy system. Complete job control means possession of the source of all wealth and social power. When the workers control industry, they will own the earth. A system in which there are no more classes, no more wage workers and no more parasites, a system which will not be led by the privileged but carefully guarded by society’s useful producers, administrated by capable men and women.  Let our slogan be, the common ownership of the means of life, your weapons the industrial and political organisation of the wage slaves to conquer our own emancipation.

For the thinking worker, the only way forward is to build the world movement for socialism. We live today in a world dominated by capital. Capitalism as a ruling system is far from being eternal. In Britain and Europe capitalist economic relations (those between the class of capitalist employers and the class of wage workers) grew up within feudalism and became dominant with the English Revolution of 1640 and the French Revolution of 1789.  Capitalism is a system of commodity production (that is, the production of goods for sale and not for direct use by the producer) which is distinguished by the fact that labour power itself becomes a commodity. The major means of production and exchange which make up the capital of society are owned privately by a small minority, the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie), while the great majority of the population consists of proletarians or semi-proletarians. Because of their economic position, this majority can only exist by permanently or periodically selling their labour power to the capitalists and thus creating through their work the incomes of the upper classes. Thus, fundamentally, capitalism is a system of exploitation of the working class (the proletariat) by the capitalist class. The development of exchange throughout history has led in the modern world to close ties being established between all the nations on earth. The emergence of capitalism as a social system greatly accelerated this process. It also brought forth two powerful, antagonistic classes, the decisive classes of the system: capitalists and workers. Its worldwide character meant that the struggle of the proletariat for its emancipation from class exploitation and oppression also became, and has remained, worldwide. Technological progress brings about a greater productivity of labour and increased social wealth, it cannot get rid of the evils of capitalism or solve the problems of the working class. Rather, it intensifies them. Only socialism, which results from the class struggle of workers against capitalists, can solve them. By replacing private ownership of the means of production by common ownership, by transforming the anarchy of production which is a feature of capitalism into planned production, organised for the well-being of all of society, the socialist revolution will end the division of society into classes and emancipate all of humanity from all forms of exploitation of one section of society by another.

Farewell to Capitalism

We are living in a period in the history of mankind in which the course of history is taking a decisive turn towards world socialism or face unimaginable tragedies. The class struggle is the central, underlying feature of economic, political, ideological, and social life. At times, this struggle, which is the real substance of our everyday, ordinary existence, inevitably erupts in great events and crises which become pivotal punctuation marks of our history. Before us lies unlimited possibilities. Go to your brothers and sisters at your work or in your neighbourhood and talk to them openly that socialism will be a classless system, where goods are produced for use. not for sale, and because there will be no buying or selling so there will be no need for money, banks, insurance companies, salesmen, ticket collectors, check-out cashiers, stock brokers and all the rest of the cumbersome junk and paraphernalia which involves people in soul destroying, non-productive, non-creative activity so necessary in capitalist society. Socialism will mean that the problems of world poverty, hunger, disease, can be tackled and overcome in a coordinated way, that people will move freely over the face of the globe and that the roots of racism will be destroyed. Socialism will mean harnessing of all the world’s resources for the benefit of united humanity. Bring them to our meetings. Get them to join our movement. The Socialist Party is calling on all who want to see this system of minority rule of capitalists ended once and for all to join us. For the words of Karl Marx still hold good: “The emancipation of the proletariat must be the work of the working class.” The working class must constitute itself as an independent political force in order to advance its interests. This will be made a reality.

Socialism cannot be built in one country. Capitalism is a world system, and it can be thoroughly destroyed only on a world scale. The Socialist Party is internationalist because it considers nationalism and patriotism reactionary.  It is internationalist because it considers that national frontiers have become obstacles to further economic and social progress and a direct contributing source to conflicts and wars. It is internationalist because it understands that the classless socialist society cannot be established within the framework of one country alone. The workers of one country can begin perhaps the preparatory tasks. They can lay the foundations of socialism. But socialism cannot be established. If capitalism has developed a world market and become the dominant world order, socialism cannot conceivably be restricted to one country, no matter how big it is. Socialism is world socialism, or it is not socialism at all. Just as a socialist economy could not exist side by side with a capitalist economy in one country, so a socialist nation could not exist side by side with capitalist nations in one world, one or the other would have to win in the end. That is why the Socialist Party endeavors to promote the worldwide organisation, unity, and solidarity of the working class and created the World Socialist Movement, more an aspiration than reality at the present time.

 Overthrowing the whole of capitalism seems such a daunting task so is it possible? It is impossible to give any guarantees but, nevertheless, socialists are confident that it can be done. The global nature of the capitalist economy makes its conditions of exploitation and the recurring crises international too. The political impact of a socialist revolution will send shock waves that will circle the world. The very existence of an example of real workers’ power and workers’ democracy will challenge our rulers. The revolution will give inspiration to workers’ movements everywhere and the many divisions and splits in the workers’ movement will be healed, because there will be concrete proof of the actual correct strategy and tactics necessary to achieve victory. The working class taking power into its own hands make the case for socialism infinitely easier to argue. All of this will be greatly aided by modern communications, the internet, and social media. As the revolution unfolds the reality cannot be censored from our television screens.

Capitalism, by its method of production, has brought isolated workers together and constituted them as a class in society. Capitalism has made the workers a class in themselves. That is, the workers are a distinct class in society, whether they recognise this fact or not. Historical development calls upon this class to reorganise society completely and establish socialism. To do this, the workers must become a class for themselves. They must acquire a clear understanding of their real position under capitalism, of the nature of capitalist society as a whole, and of their mission in history. They must act consciously for their class interests. They must become conscious of the fact that these class interests lead to a socialist society. When this takes place, the workers are a class for themselves, a class with socialist consciousness.

How are the workers to acquire this consciousness – this clear, thoroughgoing understanding of capitalist society, their position in it, and the need to replace this society with socialism? The thinking of the workers is based on the ideas of the capitalist class, acquired directly from the capitalist press, schools, churches and the like. What the workers still lack is a fundamental and thorough understanding of their real position in society and of their historic mission to establish socialism. This lack of a socialist consciousness reduces the effectiveness of their organization, of their struggle, and prevents them from accomplishing their mission in society. To imbue the workers with this class consciousness, or socialist consciousness is the role Socialist Party has taken up. Its members are no cleverer, no more superior than any other worker but we have already come to understand the nature of capitalism and the historical task of the working class. Our aim is to develop the same understanding among our fellow-workers by persuasion and education, so that they no longer fight blindly but with the clarity of who their class enemy is, of what the working class itself really is and of what it can and must do in society. The Socialist Party, therefore, have no interests separate from the interests of the working class as a whole. We try to educate fellow-workers the full meaning of the class war to show how even the local struggles, against one capitalist, are really class struggles against capitalism by  pointing out the political meaning of the economic struggle. The Socialist Party endeavours to teach how the workers must organise as a class to take political power, and use it to inaugurate socialism. The purpose of our party is to improve the position of the working class, to strengthen it, to clarify it and supply it with the most effective weapons in the struggle – knowledge.

The Socialist Party is the only political organisation which solely advocates socialism. There are several parties which proclaim to share the same goal and we can sympathise with those ask: “How can I tell which party is right?” Or, “Why don’t you all unite because if you cannot agree among yourselves, how do you expect others to agree with you?” To judge different parties, check their words and their deeds. See if what they do in practice corresponds to what they say in words. Read carefully the claims made for each party and the description given of what it can do, and judge from experience which one really serves the purpose best. Examine the different parties, what they are for and what they are against. The Socialist Party possesses a long history and rich tradition. It is proud of the fact that its principles are founded on the teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, as well as other such as William Morris. The Socialist Party differs from the other parties in its conception of the road to socialism. The democratic structure of the Socialist Party corresponds to its political principles and its aim. A party that aims for an open free society must be constructed accordingly. Socialism cannot be achieved without class consciousness. Class consciousness means an understanding working class, a self-confident and self-reliant working class.  A party leader or bureaucracy cannot substitute for the self-reliance of the working class and they are an obstacle to it. It seeks to preserve its special privileges by curbing and stifling the workers and preventing them from acting independently with their organised strength. Socialism means peace and freedom for the entire world. The Socialist Party, therefore, has never ever given support to capitalism’s wars and has opposed them at all times.

Things Ain't Getting Better.

On August 5th, Statistics Canada released its monthly unemployment report which won't cause anyone to say "Let's party.'

Ontario lost 36,000 jobs in July over all of Canada. 71,000 full-time jobs were lost. The unemployment figure rose 0.1% point, to 6.9%. It was the fourth straight month of more jobs lost than gained.

Young workers with obviously most of their working lives ahead of them, were the hardest hit. There was a reduction of 28,000 jobs in Canada during July for the 24 year old age group. All of these were part-time jobs. The youth unemployment rate stands at 13.3%, nearly twice the national average. There were 66,000 fewer jobs for that age group this July than last year. A decrease of 2.7%.

Public sector jobs fell by 42,000, which is similar to last year, but, as always, the apologists for capitalism, or, to call a spade a spade, 'sooth-sayers' won't give up. An economist at CIBC said, "Federal fiscal stimulus and the regular see-saw in the L.F.S.'s data, would suggest that this particular category is headed for a rebound ahead."

They can say what they want, but, things ain't getting better.

 John Ayers.

THE ROAD AHEAD – SOCIALISM

We have no illusions. We know our task seems insurmountable, at times. All around us are the signs of a world in crisis, leaving the men and women of the Socialist Party feeling unable to do anything about it. Resources that should be used to feed the hungry are squandered on ever more costly weapons and destructive wars. We will do our best. All is not lost. There is no mystery about the development of socialist ideas. They will arise from what exists – from battles against capitalism. Each new wave can and will continue and elaborate upon what preceded them. If their thought and action are in accord with the needs and aspirations of the working class, they will be honoured by playing a useful role in transforming society. The class struggle itself is a form of war, social war, and class power decides the issue. As our class emerges to consciousness it throws off the domination of the ideas of the ruling class.  For most of its existence, socialism has been confined to a small minority in the working-class movement. But at times of great upheaval, when the mass of workers are thrown into a confrontation with the system, socialists can win mass support from fellow-workers who seek a way out of a world of poverty, unemployment, and destruction.

Parliamentary activity is an expression of the proletarian struggle, it is a form of expression of class power. Politics is the field in which all issues of the class struggle are in action. It is not a single issue, but the totality of issues arising out of the antagonisms of capitalist society that workers must struggle against. It is not through ownership of industry alone that the capitalist maintains his rule but also by his control of the State machine. The parliamentary struggle, waged in a revolutionary spirit, challenges capitalist supremacy. It is not through securing better wages and better working conditions that the working class conquers social power, but by vanquishing capitalism in all the issues that maintain its ascendancy. Parliamentary action centers attention on all these issues and it realises the futility, however, of solving these issues through reforms and palliative legislation. By concentrating on all issues that are vital to capitalism, revolutionary socialist parliamentarianism emphasises and intensifies the antagonism between workers and capitalists and awakens the consciousness of the working class. Both industrial and political action develops class consciousness. Socialists in Parliament, accordingly, will use it as an empty means of protest or a futile means of “democratizing” the state and “growing into” socialism, but recognising its limitations and usefulness will transform into class power to appropriate and dispossess the owning class.

 Outside Parliament, the mass action and general struggle against capitalism will present sharp, definite expression of the revolt of the workers. Mass action is the class itself in action, dispensing with leaders and intellectuals and, instead, acting on its own initiative. The process of revolution consists in the dissipation of the class power of the ruling class as against a strengthening of the class power of working people. It consists of undermining the basis of the power and legitimacy of the capitalist state, a process that requires extra-parliamentary activity through mass action. Capitalism trembles when it faces the impact of one strike of a vital basic industry. Capitalism will more than tremble when it meets the force of a general mass action involving a general strike of many industries against the whole capitalist regime. It demonstrate to both the workers and the bosses the power released by the energy of a conscious working class majority. Either it compels the capitalists to rely upon the brutal physical force of the military and legalised terrorism. Or accept their defeat and succumb to the inevitable. The socialist revolution is a test of power in which the proletariat requires a flexible method of action, a method of action that will not only concentrate all its available forces but which will develop its initiative and consciousness, allowing it to seize and use any particular means of struggle in accord with a prevailing situation and necessary under the conditions.

There is no alternative for our fellow-workers: Class war becomes social revolution. The old relations of capitalist production are torn asunder. 

Submit to wage slavery or fight it

To build a socialist movement we need to clearly state what it is. There is great confusion in the world today over this question. Our aim is to try to clear some of this up.

 The range of single-issue campaigns around which people are active is wide in diversity. Many have a critique that is not revolutionary or socialist. Nevertheless, they are not easily absorbed within the usual bounds of reformist politics either. The aim of the Socialist Party is the overthrow of the capitalist class. Every political party defends the interest of one class or another in society. On all questions, in every battle, our Party defends the interests of the working class and works to prepare its victory over the capitalists. A handful of capitalists control our planet and make vast profits off the labour of the working people and the natural resources of the land. All the major means of production - the factories, forests, farms, fisheries and mines are in the hands of a few capitalists. Capitalism is a system of exploitation. A handful of parasites lives off the sweat and toil of the workers. The capitalists get rich from the fruit of our labour. At the end of the week or month, a worker collects their pay. The capitalist claim this is a fair exchange. But it is highway robbery. In reality, workers get paid for only a small part of what they produce. The rest, the surplus value, goes straight into the hands of the capitalists. The bosses get rich, not because they have "taken risks" or "worked harder," as they would have us believe. The more they keep wages down and get fewer workers to do more work, the more they can steal from us and the greater their profits. If the bosses think they can make more profit somewhere else, they just close their factories and throw the workers out on the street.

 Capitalism has no regard for its senior citizens; once it has squeezed the working life out of the workers they are tossed away. Capitalist society also callously mistreats disabled people because everything is geared to the drive for profits. For working people, the future is less and less certain. Wages fall or remain stagnant while working conditions deteriorate. People live miserable conditions so a select clique of very wealthy individuals can live in luxury. The idea that everyone can get rich under this system is a lie invented by the rich themselves. Under capitalism, the only way to get rich is to trample on someone else. There is only room for a few capitalists - at any time the great majority must work and be robbed. This exploitative and oppressive system, where profit is master, has choked our entire society with economic crises, political repression and social decay. The drive for profits holds millions hostage to hunger and want; it has poisoned the very air that we breathe and water that we drink; it spawns cynicism and violence, drugs, crime and social devastation. The problems of capitalism - exploitation, anarchy of production, speculation and crisis, and the whole system of injustice - arise from the self-interest of the tiny group of capitalists. The essential feature of capitalism, that very thing which makes the system one of exploitation and robbery of the mass of wage workers by the ruling class of capitalists, namely the private ownership of the means of production and exchange, this remained untouched. This is why workers have only one choice: either submit to this wage slavery or fight it.

Socialism will be a better society, one which will present unprecedented possibilities for the improvement of common peoples' lives. Because working people will control the great wealth they produce, they will be fundamentally able to determine their own futures. The end of exploitation of one person by another will be a resounding liberating and transforming force. Socialism does not mean government control. Today we often hear of government control of the railways or post office as "creeping socialism" but that is state-capitalism.  Socialism is when the means of production - the large factories, mines, forests, big farms, offices, transport systems, media, communications, retail-shopping chains will be taken into common ownership. The economy will be planned to serve human needs rather than simply profit and luxury consumption by the rich. This will release the productive capacity of the economy from the limitations of profit maximisation. A great expansion in useful production and the wealth of society will become useful. Rational planning will replace anarchy. Coordination and planning of the broad outlines of production by public elected agencies will aim at building an economy that will be stable, benefit the people and steadily advance. Redirecting the productive capacity to human needs will require a variety of economic methods and experiments. There could be a combination of central planning and local coordination. Various policies might be used with changing conditions. But no matter what means are chosen, a socialist economy must uphold the basic principles of social ownership, production for the people's needs, and the elimination of exploitation. Factories and other productive facilities will be automated to eliminate back-breaking labour and ecological damage. Productivity gains will be used to shorten the working day and improve living standards, rather than create unemployment. Construction of housing, schools, medical, cultural and sporting facilities for working people will be a priority. With socialism, goods and services will be distributed on the basis of from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs. No longer will landlords and speculators live off the labour of others. Every person will get the opportunity to contribute to society as much as they are able.  Transforming the main productive enterprises from private to social ownership will allow workers to manage democratically their own work places through workers' councils and elected administrators, in place of the myriad of supervisors and consultants today. In this way, workers will be able to make their work places safe and efficient places that can serve their own interests as well as society,