Giving/receiving not buying/selling.

The Socialist Party proposes to end private and State ownership of the means of production and distribution and instead create a social system which will satisfy the economic needs of the community and where those means of production and distribution are owned and controlled by the whole of the people. There were no class divisions. When all those things necessary for the well-being of the community no longer belong to any individuals but are owned are owned collectively by the whole people, none are possessors and none have any advantage over others. All are in the same situation, all have the same interest. Society loses its class nature with the abolition of private property and being class-free, there can be no class interests.

Alongside this abolition of class inequality, the wage-labour system will also come to an end — that is to say, men and women will cease to work for wages. To-day, people work for wages because they do not get an opportunity of working directly for themselves. All the instruments of labour, all the raw materials, all means by which alone men and women can gain their livelihood, are in the hands and under the control of the few hence all others have no opportunity of gaining a livelihood except by placing themselves at the disposal of the owning class. In today's capitalist world we sell our labour-power to employers, whose object in buying it could be is to make a profit out of it, that is, to pay less for it than the amount we can produce. Therefore, once the private ownership of the means of living is abolished, men and women will cease to sell their labour-power for wages. But the means of production and distribution have developed so much that it has made it impossible for them to be owned by the individuals who operate them and even beyond the stage where they could be owned and controlled by the actual groups operating them. The vast and complex system of industry can only be efficiently owned and controlled as a whole and by the whole community.

Socialism does not require that people should put the interest of others before their own (altruism) but merely that they should recognise that it is in their own best interest to co-operate with others to further the common interest. To establish socialism people do not have to stop being selfish and become saints; they merely have to remove, by conscious political action, the barrier which coercive, class society represents to the free exercise of their nature as co-operative, social animals.  Socialism will be a society based on giving/receiving rather than buying/selling.

Scientists and technicians like the rest of us they are constrained by the system we live in. They are not directed by the wishes, needs and aims of society as a whole but have to follow the logic of their master, the market. Everything becomes possible when the tools are in the right hands, the hands of the producers. It becomes a matter of organisation to bring in the new society. There is plenty of work to be done to achieve the satisfaction of everyone's basic needs but is deliberately left undone as the profit motive dictates. It takes a fundamental shift in emphasis away from the dictates of a small minority to the wishes and needs of the overwhelming majority.

This requires that majority populations worldwide capture the state apparatus politically in order to restructure social decision-making and administration.  Depriving the capitalist class of the state and its functionaries are the first objective. Once the decision is made, then it becomes a matter of organisation. Suffice it to say there will have been a period of planning and co-ordination by mass organisations in work places, in neighbourhoods, in educational establishments, in organisations with international links and in civic organisations, which will culminate in the collective and proactive decision of the people to take control over the direction of their lives immediately and for the future. A totally democratic system, from the broadest possible base, representing the widest possible views will be bottom-up, proactive, participatory democracy at all levels: local, regional and world with delegates elected to carry forward the message and speak for the whole community.  With ever-increasing numbers involved, discussion and debate will determine the direction of the variety of paths to be taken. It just seems common sense to place the role of social, political, environmental and whatever other decisions firmly with the people. Why complicate what could be a perfectly simple arrangement with meaningless and pointless monetary budgets. The inputs required for allocating resources need only be manpower and materials. Why suffer a price system that only confuses and complicates every issue. Buying and selling and the exchange economy will be redundant as we shall willingly share in the work with our hands and head.

'Practical Socialism - Its Principles and Methods'. (Part 2)

 We live in a time when change brings more disillusion than hope. To shift socialist ideas from the fringes of politics to centre stage we must be able to present it as a positive and practical alternative to the present capitalist system.  We live in a world of change which includes the world of ideas. This means that the differences between socialist ideas and popular politics are neither static nor fixed in time. Sadly, not all developments have been progressive and sometimes moves backwards such as the resurgence of militant religion and nationalism. This need not be the whole story.  Regardless of how divided the world may seem to-day, all people share common needs which can only be served, ultimately by cooperation. These needs arise from our human make-up, are expressed in the best ways to live, and are inescapable. They rise above national divisions or differences of race, culture and language. Throughout the world, all people share a common need to live in peace and material security and to be at friendly ease with their communities and with other peoples in other countries. Beneath all the conflict and the divisive politics that prevent people of all countries from coming together as a united humanity, there is the small voice which is always present which may lack systematic thought yet expresses a yearning for a better world. So when The Socialist Party proposes a world of cooperation organised solely for needs, in which all citizens will stand in equal relation with each other, this does echo the universal interests of all people. Socialist ideas may seem, on the present face of things, to be estranged from popular politics, they are in harmony with the real hopes of all people.   It is when socialist ideas become the conscious political expression of these hopes that socialism will become an irresistible force for change.

The Socialist Party does not hold a monopoly on social concern but share the hopes and intentions of thousands in many organisations. Despite the fact that many thousands of people in such organisations as OXFAM are battling against worsening problems with their efforts bringing little success, the indignation they feel and their willingness to act as a signpost towards a better world. The Socialist Party would draw their attention to the need to alter the present economic and political framework which is so destructive to their efforts.  We would urge upon charities and humanitarian NGOs that action to solve such problems, ie world hunger, must include social and political action to bring about a society where individuals and communities will be able to act more effectively. The action to solve problems and the work of creating the conditions in which they can be solved, cannot be separated; these go together.

  A global socialist movement that is growing would not be "demanding", from a position of weakness, for governments take policies to deal with this or that problem. There would, of course, be demonstrations but only to demonstrate, from a position of gathering strength, a democratic movement with developing plans for a new society; projects that could be activated when the capture of political control has been accomplished. This would confirm the beginnings of socialist organisation within the heart of capitalism. The challenge of building a new world society is a daunting task and involves great change and a re-organisation of the way we live. When we speak of a "new world society", we should add the caveat that the use of the word "new" should be qualified because there would be nothing in socialist society that would be outside age-old human experience. In this sense very little would be new.

Socialism will depend on voluntary cooperation and there would be nothing new about this. Cooperation is a vital part of any society, even capitalism. It was through social cooperation that humanity emerged as modern mankind. Countless generations of early people could only survive in groups based on cooperation and in doing so we became a social, thinking, tool making species with increased powers of providing the means of life. In looking forward to a society organised through cooperation we do not imagine anything new, on the contrary, we recall age old relationships which have always been in harmony with our basic human make up. It is for this reason that every person is capable of cooperating with others to the benefit of all. Cooperation is not simply a moral choice, it is a relationship that enhances our lives and is in every person's material interest. In setting out the practical ways in which society could be organised through cooperation we are proposing that cooperation be brought back to the activity that matters most, that is, in the entire organisation of our lives. The need for cooperation is also a response to the growing contradictions that arise from the pace of technical development which the market system can never freely use for the benefit of people; the economic forces that drive technology forward prevent us from using it to solve problems. At our present stage of advanced technology we have a potential for abundance which is in contrast with the economics of scarcity on which the market system depends. As this gap between possible production and actual production widens, the capitalist system becomes more anachronistic, a straight jacket on our powers of action and historically redundant. The campaign for practical socialism will find growing support from these deepening failures of the capitalist system.

Now is a time for looking at the past, learning from its mistakes and for carrying the hopes of past activists forward in a more effective, sound way. The fact that the capitalist system is stronger and more extensive than ever is disappointing by it should also give fresh impetus to the work for socialism. We now have the advantage of global development in all spheres of life, enabling us to propose practical ways it could be organised. This has the prospect of creating a body of political ideas, based on socialist principles, presented in every-day language of description rather than being asserted as great abstract concepts of the the Socialist Party aims of common ownership, democratic control and production solely for use. Practical socialism translates them into what they could mean in the every day lives of people. This not only makes the meaning of socialism more readily understood, it projects life-styles with which people can identify, it gives individuals a view of their greater possibilities, seeing themselves not just in the role of wage-slave, but as constructive people in cooperation in a society organised solely for the well-being of all citizens.

The values of a socialist society centre upon freedom. Common ownership will mean the freedom to place production and resources at the disposal of the whole community; democratic control will mean freedom for every person to relate to others on equal terms when making social decisions; production solely for use will mean the freedom to use production directly for needs. Above all, its social relations will empower every person with the freedom to control their own lives, to decide on what skills to have and what part to play in the community's programmes of action. This is what is meant by self-determined individuality.

Socialism has to be clearly defined and systematically argued as a distinct political choice, it rises above the traditional political differences that have existed between radical, conservative and liberal views. The various creeds that divide people into separate parties can be seen as motivated by aims which have many things in common. To argue and organise for a world in which each person would be responsible for their own lives and by working in cooperation, for the lives of other citizens; a world where this is made possible by the use of all resources, solely and directly for the interests of communities, is not an objective that should runs counter to the basic hopes of anyone. Whilst a work on politics cannot avoid the use of political labels it is all too often the case that labels act as a barrier to communication. Look beyond unavoidable labels to simply consider its proposals, and its supportive arguments. A better world need not wait on future events. Even as individuals, one way of participating in a better world is to work for it. The more people that work for it the better the world shall be.

Adapted from the late Pieter Lawrence's work, 'Practical Socialism - Its Principles and Methods'.  

One Gigantic Fraud

A federally funded study, conducted by researchers at the university of Guelph, Ontario, and commissioned by the Canadian Food Inspection agency, early in August, found that 20% of sausages sold, across Canada contained meats that weren't on the label.

Some of the supposedly pure pork sausages contained horse meat. Of 20 chicken sausages, four also contained Turkey and one also had beef. Five of the 15 Turkey sausages had no turkey at all and were entirely chicken.

Though edible the advertising was false, which indicated a breakdown in food processing, or intentional fraud. One can hardly wonder that fraud exists under capitalism. The whole damn system itself is a gigantic fraud. 

Steve and John

Teachers pay drop

Scotland’s teachers have seen salaries drop by six per cent in a decade while their counterparts in many other countries received pay rises, an international study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has confirmed.

Teachers’ salaries in both Scotland and England fell in real terms between 2005-2015.

Trotskyism; Stalinism; What's the Difference? (1973)

From the October 1973 issue of the Socialist Standard

Trotskyists frequently bemoan the outcome of the power-struggle between Stalin and Trotsky. While the former became undisputed dictator of the Soviet Union, the latter was exiled and was eventually assassinated in August 1940. It is claimed that the many atrocities committed by the Stalin régime were a departure from Bolshevism and that if Trotsky had held power, then the course of events would have been different. What Trotskyists label the “degeneration” of the Russian Revolution is blamed on Stalin.

George Novak, in his introduction to Trotsky’s pamphlet Stalinism and Bolshevism, makes the claim that Lenin’s Bolshevik party represented the working class “in its striving for equality, democracy and Socialism” while Stalin’s regime merely represented a bureaucracy which seized power after Lenin’s death. Now this is the standard Trotskyist position; Stalinism is somehow alien to Bolshevism. Socialists reject this view. Far from Stalin undoing the “good” work of Lenin and Trotsky, he merely continued the anti-working class policies of those two dictators. If Trotsky rather than Stalin had succeeded Lenin, the history of the Soviet Union, in the years that followed, would not have been substantially different. To say that Trotsky’s actions, while he held power, left a lot to be desired would be an under-statement.

Trotsky, in exile, seldom refrained from denouncing Stalin’s dictatorship. However, he was being inconsistent in his concern for lack of democracy. In his Where is Britain Going?, written in 1925, he defended Lenin’s dictatorship on the grounds that a strong leader was essential after the 1917 Revolution. Trotsky was no democrat. Provided it was the “correct” type, he favoured dictatorship. (“Correct” is a favourite word in Bolshevik circles). Stalin’s dictatorship, in Trotsky’s view, did not come into this category. Undoubtedly this was mere sour grapes.

In his Terrorism and Communism he replied to critics of the Bolshevik substitution of Soviet rule by party dictatorship by claiming that the Bolsheviks represented the interests of the working class. Whether or not the workers agreed was, of course, irrelevant. Lenin refused to accept the results of the 1917 elections to the Constituent Assembly because the Bolsheviks polled a minority of the votes.

Trotsky fully supported Lenin on this issue. It was claimed that the voters changed their minds almost immediately the election was over. After all, the vanguard always knows best.

“Those who do not work shall not eat” was a slogan used by the Stalin regime. However, even this appears somewhat mild when compared with what Trotsky said in 1921 — “It is essential to form punitive contingents and to put all those who shirk work into concentration camps.” (Quoted by D. and G. Cohn-Bendit in Obsolete Communism, The Left-Wing Alternative — which itself fails to present an alternative). Present day Trotskyists would undoubtedly be horrified if, as has been suggested in some quarters recently, conscription was re-introduced. We can envisage the countless demonstrations against the move. Trotskyist journals such as Workers’ Press would denounce it as a step towards fascism and inform its readership that in order to deal with the crisis revolutionary leadership would be essential for the working class. What, we wonder, do they think of their hero’s view that the young Bolshevik government should have had the “call-up” in operation to direct workers to where the State needed them? Cohn-Bendit quotes Trotsky as saying "The workers must not be allowed to roam all over Russia. They must be sent where they are needed, called up and directed like soldiers. Labour must be directed most intensely during the transition of capitalism to socialism.”

“Hands off the Unions” is a favourite slogan of the Trotskyists. But in Leon Trotsky’s “workers’ ” state trade unions were necessary, not to protect working class interests, but on the contrary, “To organise the working class for the ends of production, to educate and discipline the workers” and “teach them to place the interests of production above their own needs and demands”. (Also quoted by Cohn-Bendit). Forced labour; the working class organized like a military unit; trade unions shackled to the state; and all this from a Socialist! Who needs enemies?

When reading Trotskyist accounts of the 1956 Hungarian uprising and of the 1968 Czechoslovakian events, we are informed that the Russian-led suppression, in both cases, was the work of the wicked Stalinists. But in 1921 Leon Trotsky was active in the suppression of a revolt against Bolshevik rule by workers at Kronstadt. In their programme the Kronstadt rebels demanded such elementary rights as freedom of speech for workers; right of assembly; liberation of political prisoners; new elections to the soviets. Trotsky, with other leading Bolsheviks, vehemently denounced the revolt. Groundless accusations that the uprising was a royalist plot, and that English and French imperialism were involved were levelled at the mutineers. Extreme dissatisfaction with the Bolshevik dictatorship — that was what the revolt was about. Needless to say to the self-appointed guardians of working-class interests this was intolerable. Clearly the Bolshevik regime was no dictatorship of the Proletariat. (Engels, in his introduction to Marx’s Civil War in France spoke of the democratic Paris Commune as an example of the dictatorship of the Proletariat).

Trotskyism and Stalinism are both branches off the same tree — Bolshevism. To the Bolsheviks the working class is too stupid to understand the Socialist case. Their view is that only an intellectual élite, a vanguard party of professional revolutionaries can lead the workers to Socialism. Compare Lenin’s view in What is to be Done? that “on its own the working class cannot go beyond the level of trade union consciousness”, with Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto — "The proletarian movement is the self-conscious independent movement of the immense majority.” (Emphasis added). Socialism is only possible when the majority of the working class understand and desire it. This is the Marxian view. As Karl Kautsky put it in The Dictatorship of the Proletariat — “The will to Socialism is the first condition for its accomplishment.” (Prominent Trotskyist Ernest Mandel reluctantly admits, in his Leninist Theory of Organisation, that Marx “totally rejected the idea of a vanguard organisation”).

When the working class reaches political maturity the theories of Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and all other Bolsheviks will be thrown where they belong — on the political scrap-heap. All leadership will be shunned as being unnecessary and irrelevant.

Bob Battersby

Bathgate

'Practical Socialism - Its Principles and Methods'. (Part 1)

The Socialist Party is a thorn in the side of the left-wing and our mere existence means that the Left are required to meet the arguments of traditional Marxism. Part of its task is to liberate the idea of socialism from the immense accumulation of ideological baggage that has become its burden. By stripping this away the Socialist Party reveals the core simplicity and practicality of socialism. It has been said that the capitalist system digs its own grave; it does not! The only way it will be consigned to history is when a majority of people take political action to end it. What the capitalist system does do, and has no choice about it, is develop a material basis for what could be a new socialist society. These developments are in the global fields of production, distribution, administration, and communications. They bring with them the possibility of a different world system with a good life for all people in conditions of peace, cooperation and well being.  The Socialist Party analysis of social problems and their causes clarifies what is happening in the world of economics and politics from the point of view of working people, searches out the causes of problems and is a pointer to solutions. Without this socialist criticism, clear understanding would be lost, leaving only a veil of mystification which conceals the real interests and motives of dominant power groups.

Those who take a 'gradualist' view believe that a new society can only be introduced piecemeal through policies of reform. For this, the all-important issue is to capture political control to form a government. It is assumed that such a government would be not just in political control but also economic control. Then, through legislation on such problems as housing, health care and education and pensions, living standards for working people would be raised. Such a government, working in close collaboration with the trade unions, would be able to raise the level of wages for all working people. At the same time, through the nationalisation of industry, and through corporation tax, inheritance tax, and death duties, the owning class of capitalists would be removed from all sectors of production and taxed out of existence. This we can describe as the reformist road to socialism and has been adopted by the progressives and liberals of the left-wing and has filled manifesto after manifesto with lists of demands.

The Socialist Party takes a different view which argues that the condition for the establishment of socialism was not simply the capture of political power. To be successful, political control had to be supported by a majority of people who fully understood the meaning of socialism together with what would be involved in the change from capitalism to socialism. It was held that unless this majority of socialists was achieved, capitalism would continue. Their campaigning is directed at raising socialist consciousness through meetings, leaflets, pamphlets and a socialist journal. It argued that the best way to defend worker's interests within capitalism was to build up a strong, principled socialist movement. Members of the Socialist Party have based their criticism of the reformist route not primarily on political theory but on economic theory. This was a crucial difference between what came to be the reformist policy and the revolutionary policy. The reformists began with a political objective which was the capture of political power. The SPGB began with an economic analysis of the capitalist system which set out the limitations of political action within capitalism and therefore the need for a revolutionary change. They understood that no government, however well intentioned, or given to revolutionary aspiration, could direct the course of capitalist economic development simply by the application of political hopes. They argued that the mechanics of the market system are driven by economic laws which are inherent in the system and which are not susceptible to ideological direction or government control. It was accepted that politics could make a marginal difference but ultimately, economic factors would be decisive in setting a framework of constraints on what governments and therefore society can do. In this view, production is both regulated and limited by what can be distributed as commodities for sale at a profit in the markets. The idea that class ownership and the profit system could be subjected to gradual abolished through reform change was an illusion.  It meant that socialism could not be introduced gradually by reform but only as a result of conscious political action by a majority of socialists.

It is inherent in the capitalist system that it generates discontent and protest but it has also been unfortunate that the long history of protest has been empty of political action that could end the system. Inevitably, the causes of problems are left intact and lead on to a further rounds of protest. This reduces protest to political theatre.  Because it is impossible for the capitalist system to serve the interests of the whole community it constantly throws up issues that demand action by those who are socially concerned. The great danger in being diverted from campaigning for socialism and swamped by campaigns to "Ban the Bomb", "Stop the War", "Cancel the Debt," or whatever. This becomes not just a diversion but an end in itself. Inevitably, it becomes a campaign for an "improved" version of humane capitalism. Though the scripts may vary and the actors may change the message is the same, "we demand that governments do this, that or the other!"  It is in this process of campaigning for a re-branded or a reformed form of capitalism that the work for socialism tends to become lost. Those who in the past felt that action should be limited to making capitalism a better system, have contributed, albeit unwittingly, to the present state of things. A sane society cannot be postponed without accepting the consequences of the postponement. The spectacle of thousands, demanding that governments act on their behalf is a most reassuring signal to those in power that their positions of control are secure. Repeated demonstrations do little more than confirming the continuity of the system. It is in this sense that most, protest is a permanent feature of the status quo. The point should be to change society not to appeal to the doubtful better nature of its power structures.  The Socialist Party analysis is not only a criticism of the capitalist system, it also a criticism of the political activities of most working people.  However, no matter how true the analysis and how correct the proposed political action required for their solution and the building of a better world, the ideas of the Socialist Party, nevertheless, failed to influence the every-day thinking of our fellow-workers, mostly ignored although it is the party that shines the light of hope in a world heading towards disaster.

Adapted from the late Pieter Lawrence,  'Practical Socialism - Its Principles and Methods

The System Overrules The Good Intentions

Some politicians are well meaning and, as I was once a member of a pro-capitalist party, I can speak from experience. One such person is Al Gore, who, though no longer in office, carries some weight. Watching him interviewed promoting his new movie, "An inconvenient sequel: Truth to Power." One definitely feels he is really concerned about the effects of global warming. Gore makes various suggestions how this can be eliminated and to an extent, it can be slowed down within capitalism, but never stopped.

Gore is oblivious to the fact that the government making decisions concerning global warming are responding to the needs of capitalism in the countries they represent. Does anyone seriously think Trump gives a damn about the effects of it, and he isn't the only one? 

We in the SPC do not sneer at the well-known paradigm of good intentions, which could be a very fine thing if one translates those intentions into working for a society where global warming won't exist. 

John Ayers

Scottish arms traders

28 firms from Scotland are due to attend an arms fair in London dubbed a “festival of violence” – including a US arms giant with a factory in Fife that’s been linked to alleged war crimes in Yemen.

The Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair will take place at the Excel Centre in East London between 12-15 September, with around 34,000 attendees expected. It is one of the largest arms fairs in the world, a bi-annual event that brings more than 1,500 exhibitors together with military delegations from around the world. It includes governments with dire human rights records. DSEI facilitates arms sales ranging from rifles to tanks, and from fighter jets to battleships. Some 56 countries have been invited, including regimes accused of gross human rights abuses. Among them are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.

Companies based in Scotland due to attend the event include Raytheon, which makes laser guided systems for smart bombs used in Yemen and Chemring, a company based in Ardeer accused of selling weapons to Gulf State countries who use them to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations. Major arms firms with facilities in Scotland also due to attend DSEI include BAE Systems, Leonardo, Thales and Lockheed Martin. Other smaller companies due to take part include Jack Ellis Body Protection, from Kirriemuir, MacTaggart Scott and Digital Barriers, a firm selling surveillance technology.

Campaign Against Arms Trade said the guest list for DSEI includes a range of “despots, dictatorships and human rights abusers” from regimes that have committed “terrible abuses” against their citizens. “Yet UK civil servants and government ministers will be rolling out the red carpet for them. If Theresa May and her colleagues care for human rights and democracy then it’s time to shut down DSEI,” the campaign’s Andrew Smith argued.

Everything Dandy? Well We Have Our Doubts

In "Women and the Vote," by Jad Adams, Oxford University Press, 2014, the author analyses women's struggle for the vote all over the world. The one common trend, which permeates the book, is the main reason they got the vote was that they proved their loyalty to their country; really meaning the local capitalist class. Pretty sickening isn't it? 

We in the S.P.C stand for a society where nobody has to campaign for equality as it will be a given.

Too many people view politicians as stupid, corrupt or both. Though in the SPC, we realise some are, we don't dwell on it too much, as it would be tantamount to saying, "if they weren't a bunch of jerks, everything under capitalism would be peachy-dandy."

 Well, we have our doubts about that.

Our Social Revolution

 Political revolution to describe a change in the class which controls the State, social revolution to mean a change in the basis of society and socialist revolution to describe the particular change of society from capitalism to socialism. We cannot deny that the word revolution has often been used to mean “violent overthrow” and in fact most of the political and social revolutions of the past have been violent. We deny, however, that there is any necessary connexion between revolution and violence. This is an important point, and one we have always made ourselves. In our view the distinction between revolution and reform is not between violent overthrow (insurrection) and peaceful change (using elections and Parliament), but between those who want to replace capitalism by Socialism and those who seek merely to re-form capitalism in one way or another. We claim to be revolutionaries because we stand for a fundamental and rapid change in the basis of society following the capture of political power by the working class, even though we hold that the working class can capture political power peacefully through elections and Parliament. On the other hand, there are many who believe in the violent capture of political power but who would use it merely to re-form capitalism (generally into State capitalism). We deny they are revolutionaries, irrespective of their commitment to insurrectionary tactics.

 The change we desperately need now is a change in the structure of society itself. A change which will give us freedom from their domination and exploitation. So that we shall have control of the technology and science we develop. Control of the production and distribution we need to live on. Control of change itself. Only we can make this sort of change. We are in the immense majority all over the world. We produce and manage everything already. The capitalist class and their power structure contribute nothing. But they consume over half the wealth we produce. This sort of change cannot be gradual.

The e people who own all the industries in the country are few in number—about 10 per cent of the population— and for that reason is very rich. It’s not strictly true that members of this privileged class must have necessarily worked to own all they do. A great deal of their wealth is inherited. But in any case, let’s ask us how these fortunes are made in the first place. After all, they’re so huge it seems unlikely that they are made simply by living a frugal life. These fortunes are made out of you and me. n any industry, the workers produce more in terms of wealth than they receive as wages—because they are not paid for what they produce, but just enough for them to live at a certain standard of living. This is then used up and then back we go to work again the following week. In other words, it’s because wages, on an average, only provide us with enough to keep alive and healthy—plus enough to reproduce sufficient offspring to carry on the job of piling up more wealth than we ever see—that we have to perpetuate the agony in the way described. And it is the difference between this amount and the amount actually produced by workers which accounts for the profits of the owners. So we also perpetuate our compulsory generosity at the same time. The present system, and the way it is run. depends entirely on the effort of people like us, who have to work. We run the whole show from, lop to bottom. For that reason, if all of us united together, it would be in our power to set up a system where there would not be the rat-race that exists at present. We suggest that we set up a system where we all co-operate to make necessary work as pleasant as possible and our conditions of life the best possible, too. This, in turn, we suggest, can be done by establishing a society where all wealth is owned in common.

 The Socialist Party can’t do a thing on its own. What is needed is a majority of people like us to do something. Members of the Socialist Party realise that their interests are identical with the interests of 90 per cent of people in society; and that all of us can only achieve an appreciable improvement in our position by political action. This doesn’t mean going into Parliament and forming a government. Rather it means going into Parliament to end the need for a Parliament at all!  It is from Parliament, you see, that the system of private ownership is ultimately run. The government of the day deals with affairs which affect the owners of industry as a class rather than as individuals. Hence all the time spent on finance, influence and control over whole industries, and so on. All this will go when private ownership goes. This is a task for which the Socialist Party can be used. It doesn’t run for office, as all the other political parties do. It exists as a vehicle which the population can use for ending property society, if it decides to, by sending the party’s delegates to Parliament for that purpose. This is the reason, and the only reason, the Socialist Party contests elections. We always lose, but that doesn’t mean to say we’re wasting our time. We expect to lose elections until enough people have accepted the arguments for the radical change I’ve been talking about. And by contesting elections we help to propagate these ideas. So at this stage we are mainly a propaganda organisation.

There can only be a radical change in the way we conduct our lives if there is a corresponding radical change in society. This must be done ultimately by a majority of the population bringing about the kind of change we've indicated. The task may seem almost hopeless. But there is a slim chance, and the only organisation which gives voice to these ideas is the Socialist Party.

Violence Sells The Product

In, Lemmings don't Leap, by Edwin Moore, Chambers, 2006, the author demolishes popular myths, one of which is the Wild West, which wasn't very wild. Sure there were shoot outs on Main Street but not to the extent we've been told.

In Dodge City's worse year for killing, only 5 were shot, Tombstone also had 5, and Deadwood 4.

Quiet a difference from movies that show the dead littering the street, but, and this is a sad reflection on capitalism – its violence that sells product. 

John Ayers.

Spread The Light Of Socialism

'I'm not the angry racist they see': Alt-Righter became viral face of hate in Virginia — and now regrets it – rawstory.com

Right! All the Nazi officers said they regretted their past actions during the trials. If you ask me, if a person can commit such grave atrocity towards their fellow humans, even once, regret does not absolve them of their crime. Yet the issue is not with individual acts, but the deep current of racist build up in today's society's veins. Until we clear it, it will keep poisoning new minds.

And that is why we are here in SPC. Trying hard to spread the light of socialism as an inclusive and sustainable future for all human kind. 

John Ayers

No War Between Nations, No Peace Between Classes!

Capitalism has us heading towards catastrophe. Today, future prospects certainly appear dire on many fronts. The Socialist Party argues that the idea of the global socialist revolution must become stronger than the idea of the nation, that the nation-state must be dismembered, if the working class wishes to be victorious. Between capitalism and the social revolution there can be no compromise of any sort, only class struggle until resolution. It must be clearly decided what is understood as socialism and what is not. 

Marx and Engels took a pragmatic view of nationalism. Hungarian and Polish nationalism in 1848 was good because these potential new nations would form a bulwark against Tsarist despotism, but on the other hand, Czech and Croat nationalism was bad as it would facilitate Russian reactionaryism. Marx and Engels supported many of the nationalist struggles of their day because they viewed capitalism as a historic advance over feudalism.  They understood that capitalism could develop the productive capacities of human society to levels unimaginable under feudalism. They understood further that capitalism brought into existence a class of producers--the proletariat, the modern working class--that for the fir›t time in history was truly collective. This class thereby embodied the potential for democratic self-rule. In the eyes of Marx and Engels, every victory for capitalism over feudalism propelled humanity further toward the goal of freedom from material want and political subjugation.

Later socialist such as Luxemburg, on the other hand, believed that the right of nations’ to self-determination had become pure utopianism and national independence was no longer something worthy to strive for. Times had changed and history had moved on from the situation Marx and Engels faced. The truth of what Marx and Engels had written that " The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got." had been proven. Workers own no country, so why should we care which section of the class of thieves owns which national portion of the world? Workers have the world to win, not nations to fight for. National liberation revolutions were not proletarian movements that led to socialism of any kind.  We cannot separate abolishing capitalism from abolishing nation-states, which is not accomplished by national-liberation revolutions or socialism-in-one-country. We aim for the worldwide cooperative commonwealth, where all of the world’s people are able to fully flourish as individuals. National sovereignty is something socialists don’t actually want because our aim is not national independence but planetary cooperation.

Every Socialist recognises the complete futility of individual or mob violence as a working-class weapon, in face of the overwhelming power of the State. The fact that the “propaganda of the deed,” so dear to the anarchists or direct-action advocates, has always played into the hands of reaction is a commonplace. The labour movement in all lands passes through despairing stages of such activity, and it is only as its futility becomes thoroughly realised, and the true nature of the problem which faces the worker is understood, that the worship of mere disorder or violence is outgrown. Its very hopelessness shows it to be a gesture of despair. It is the expression of economic and political weakness, disorganisation, and ignorant passion.

 This is not to say that the question of force has not an important part to play in the struggle for socialism; for when the need and time arrive the workers cannot hesitate to use force against force. It does mean, however, that the force to be used must be the organised might of the whole working class, rooted in economic needs, and based on knowledge rather than on blind hate, and used because essential to complete the task of emancipation. In essence, though, the success of a revolution depends, not upon mere force, but upon economic necessity. The role of force is secondary to this. And it is only because the economic necessities of the capitalist system pave the way for the working class advance to power, that Socialists are enabled to use legality in their educational and organising work; it is only because they are the expression of economic needs and forces that the workers have the opportunity of advancing from strength to strength until their power is sufficient to finally wrest from their masters the major force of the State.

Marx and Engels say in the Communist Manifesto:

“The First Step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of a ruling class, to win the battle of democracy. The Proletariat will use its political supremacy, to wrest, by degrees, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralise all instruments of production in the hands of the Slate, i.e., of the proletariat organised as a ruling class; and to increase the total of productive forces as rapidly as possible.”

The measures necessary when the workers have won their class battle can, indeed, only be definitely decided upon when that moment arrives. The only possible program for a Socialist party is Socialism; and its only “immediate aim” is the straight fight for the conquest of the State in order to begin the transformation of capitalist society into Socialism. As the founders of scientific Socialism state in the Manifesto itself, their “immediate aim" is the “formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat.” Any party, indeed, whose immediate aim is less than this, is, by that same token, not a Socialist party.

The point of socialist activity is their effect on consciousness by highlighting the forces of capitalism responsible for damage and death to the exploited and the oppressed, and to show people that there are still creative and daring ways to resist the powers-that-be despite repression. The world despite all the tragedies remains rich with possibilities and holds a sense that we can and must do better. It necessitates the overthrow of the ruling class as being in the interests of the vast majority of humanity, and that goal becomes increasingly imaginable. We put the interests and aspirations of the vast majority, in the forefront and need a massive social revolution. We must reach to the root of things. We require to study, learn, organize and talk the language of radical change. Knowing that things are unjust or terrible is never quite enough. Socialism's motivating ideal is the liberation of all humanity from all forms of alienation.  We always need a vision and a palpable sense of the world we're fighting for.  A socialist vision is essential for sustained motivation, at both the individual and the organisational levels. The Socialist Party wants to embrace a better world.  We point to the world we want to live in and invite solidarity to build unity. Let's begin by linking arms and raising up clenched fists.

And they call it charity...

At least 400 children are thought to be buried are believed to be buried in a mass grave in a section of St Mary's Cemetery in Lanark, Lanarkshire, southern Scotland, according to an investigation by BBC News.

The children were all residents of a care home run by Catholic nuns, The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

Frank Docherty and Jim Kane discovered an overgrown, unmarked section of St Mary's Cemetery during their efforts to reveal physical abuse which they said many former residents had suffered.

The death records indicate that most of the children died of natural causes, from diseases common at the time such as TB, pneumonia and pleurisy. Analysis of the records show that a third of those who died were aged five or under. Very few of those who died, 24 in total, were aged over 15, and most of the deaths occurred between 1870 and 1930.

Socialist Courier are minded of the fact that these same nuns are proponents of the right to life - no contraception or abortion - yet have a total disregard for the dignity of death. Dead children discarded in an unmarked grave. 

Lives Don't Matter As Much.

The recent movie, "Dunkirk" certainly qualifies to be included in the obscene and heard department. Its directing is taut, the acting is good, but nevertheless, it is sickening to see boys being murdered for attempting to further the interests of capitalism. Sickening also to read the comments of the reviewer in the Toronto Star July 29 "…best treatment of a dive bomber attack circa, 1940 that I have ever seen."

Well, whoopee-de-doo, let's all go on a 3-week bender to celebrate. The most telling comment is when an army officer asks a naval one, why the navy won't come and help evacuate 340,000 soldiers stranded on the beach and receives an honest reply. "They" need the ships to fight other battles.

The translation being, "the capitalist class don't give a crap about the lives of thousands of people." As it was, private individuals using pleasure craft got them off.

John Ayers.