War against war

One of the greatest aims of the socialist movement is the elimination of war. It has become almost commonplace to realise that modern war threatens not merely suffering and death to vast millions, but the actual destruction of human civilisation, returning mankind back into the stone-age. It is the socialist movement alone that has a solution to offer. The first step in the struggle against war is a clear understanding of the nature and causes of war. A mere horror at the dreadfulness of war – which is shared by the great majority of men – is useless, and worse than useless.

The Socialist Party points out that so long as capitalism endures, wars will come, that war under capitalism is not an “accident” or an “exceptional event” but an integral part of the very mechanism of capitalism. War is just as much a part of capitalism as are economic crises. You cannot have capitalism without having periodic crises, and you cannot have capitalism without periodically having wars. The causes which bring about wars, the inescapable need for every advanced capitalist nation to attempt to expand its markets, gain cheaper sources of raw materials, find new outlets beyond the internal market for capital investment, can none of them be eliminated without eliminating capitalism itself. The driving force of the capitalist mode of production is the necessity for the continual accumulation and expansion of capital. This necessity is inescapable. Capitalists must constantly attempt to expand capital, in order to maintain profits. Every capitalist government, including the UK and U.S. Governments are therefore committed to war as an instrument of foreign policy by the very fact that they are capitalist. To ask them to renounce war is like asking a someone to give up oxygen. Modern war is neither accidental nor due to the evil of human nature nor decreed by the Gods. War is of the very essence of capitalism, as much a part of capitalism as wage labour. To speak of capitalism without war is like speaking of a human being without lungs. The fate of the one is inextricably hound to the fate of the other.

It follows then that the struggle against war is simply an aspect of the struggle against capitalism and for socialism. The inner conflicts of capitalism lead and must lead to war. War is not the cause of the troubles of society. The opposite is true. War is a symptom and result of the irreconcilable troubles and conflicts of the present form of society, that is to say, of capitalism. The only way to fight against war is to fight against the causes of war. Since the causes of war are part of the inner nature of capitalism, it follows that the only way to fight against war is to fight against capitalism. It therefore follows that the only possible struggle against war is the struggle for the socialist revolution. The Socialist Party is absolutely clear on this point. No one can uphold capitalism and fight against war, because capitalism means war.

This is the truth of the matter. If capitalism necessarily brings about war, you obviously cannot get rid of war without getting rid of capitalism. To divorce the struggle against war from the struggle against capitalism is in reality to give up the struggle against war, so far as any possible effectiveness is concerned. Many people claim to be working for peace; but at the same time they do work against capitalism. To these persons we must say: You are fooling yourselves. Which do you really want – peace or capitalism? You cannot have both. If you are unwilling to end capitalism, then your striving for peace is futile which helps no one but the war-makers.
 the overthrow of capitalism itself is the only conceivable means for stopping war. Socialism, and it alone, will end war because socialism and it alone will eliminate the causes of war. The socialist revolution, when the question is finally and fully understood, is the only anti-war policy.
 

An accident or incident can perhaps cause war if all the other conditions for war are present. But there is no such thing as an “accidental war”. The only way to end the possibility of such madness as fascism and war is to destroy the system which inevitably leads to these horrors. The Socialists Party has always claimed that at the bottom of all modern war there is an economic cause. Economic causes are the root of wars. But today with nationalism as the cloak behind which the economic causes work and it is easier than ever to obscure this fact. Nationalism is the cover for the diplomatic intrigues and machinations of politicians and capitalists.

The socialist revolution can and will eliminate war because, by overthrowing capitalist economy and supplanting capitalism with socialism, it will remove the causes of war. With socialism there will no longer exist the basic contradictions that lead to war. Artificial economic barriers based on national boundaries will be removed. The expansion of the means of production, under the owner-ship and control of society as a whole, will proceed in accordance with a rational plan adjusted to the needs of the members of society. Thus, with socialism war will disappear because the causes of war will be done away with. Since the victory of socialism, and this alone, will defeat war, every step on the path to socialism is a blow at war. In the struggle against war, properly understood. The Socialist Party does take a merely negative pacifist position of being against “war in general”. We are actively for the victory of the working class in the class war, since only through such victory can war in general be done away with. The only true struggle against war requires at every stage the utmost clarity. Working people of every land must understand who their enemy is. They must understand that the enemy is not the people of Russia, or China, or Iran, or of any other nation against whom the government may wage war, but that the real enemy of every country is the enemy at home – the capitalist class and its government of “the home land”. Workers must understand that any war which “their” country undertakes will be a war to serve the interests of capital, no matter what noble talk about “democracy” or “peace” or “self-defence” or “collective security” is used to justify it. And therefore workers must oppose to the utmost any and every conception of patriotism, nationalism, or support of the government for the conduct of any war.

For the enjoyment of all, Not the enrichment of a few

On the battlefields of the class war, the Socialist Party is an exemplar of fraternity, combativeness, incorruptibility and uncompromising hatred of exploitation and injustice. What passes as socialism has dwindled into a group of non-influential sects, abandoning whatever original socialist principles they held. Socialism disappeared as a serious political force.

Among the more significant traits of the world's workers' movements has been the persistence of its unexpected developments that often confounded its critics, confused its friends, and baffle its own leadership. Momentary lulls in the class struggle obscure the emergence of new features. Even in the most placid and passive periods, the struggle does not completely vanish.

False theories produce failed results. For example, many so-called socialists preached the idea that the way to achieve socialism was by a gradual transformation of the capitalist governments and industry, bit by bit. When they had the opportunity after being elected, they declined to take control of industry and place it under the control of the workers. Instead they strengthened capitalism when it was weak, so that they could, according to their illusion, gradually transform capitalism into socialism. They became physicians to capitalism instead of its undertakers. In one unanimous voice, labour union officials proclaim undying devotion to the capitalist social system. But in their capitalism, mills are made of marble and machines of gold. It is the steady uninterrupted rise of living standards; it is the perpetual growth of union power; it is ever-expanding democracy; more security, more rights for the common man and woman. They demand so much of capitalism that it irks the capitalist class. Some politicians, businessmen, or economists gingerly suggest that perhaps in some unknown future we must adjust to economic down-swing or that the possibilities for progress are somewhat limited. Labour leaders denounce such pessimists for lack of confidence in the American way of life. They support capitalism because they expect so much from it but they understand this much: what they get will ultimately depend upon how hard they are ready to fight in strikes and in politics. The labour leader, full of faith and optimism in capitalism will travel willingly alongside the reformist parties on the road to a fictitious future. Working people have been deliberately disarmed and emasculated in order to keep them perpetually cowed and at the mercy of their masters. The Labour Party must be judged not by the pretentions of its spokesmen but by its actual and effective contribution to the well being of the people. While pretending to be protectors of our welfare, they have betrayed workers' trust and have sacrificed the happiness of millions to bloat the pockets of a few capitalists

The ideal of world socialism that inspired and aroused so many was corrupted into the theory of “socialism in one country” which resulted in the defeats of the workers of the world. Socialism is more a more advanced economy than capitalism. It must develop and extend the international division of labour already achieved under capitalism, thereby giving greater well-being to the people of the entire globe. With socialism, we will not go backward into a self-contained, national economy, as “socialism in one country” proposes, but to even greater internationalism. Workers must reject the concept of “socialism in one country” put in its place the original idea of world socialism.

The ruling class has always spread the idea that they are indispensable. The more redundant they have become, the more insistently they try to preach this illusion upon workers’ minds: “How lucky you are to have us on your backs to direct you. You couldn’t get along without us.” In reality, the employing class live on the toil and produce of their workers and couldn’t exist without them but to maintain and uphold their exploitation, the bosses are forced to twist the real state of affairs into its opposite. The capitalists, in order to justify their existence, declare that they alone are competent to rule the state and control industry. They maintain that workers are wage-slaves by nature and therefore cannot assume commanding positions in political matters and economic life, without overturning the foundations of civilisation. The opposite is true. The capitalist class possesses its present power, property rights, and privileges as a result of long outgrown historical conditions. This class of parasites no longer performs any essential functions in modern society, any more than the appendix performs any useful function in the human body. Society does not depend today upon the exploiting class but upon the working people they oppress. If these workers put down their tools, then production stops. But if every share owner were to die or be dispossessed tomorrow, the workers in the factories would continue to turn out products. The worker who now operates a lathe can direct a machine shop tomorrow and an entire industry the day after. This has been done under capitalism by a few individual workers who ascend higher in the social ranks, break away from their original class, and,, become managers and executives themselves. What is done by isolated individuals under capitalism can and will be done collectively by organised workers inside socialism, who will own, organise and operate industry by means of democratic councils. They will then produce not for the enrichment of a few but for the enjoyment of all.

The capitalist rulers try in every way to keep the workers down and to lessen their self-confidence. They want to prevent the workers from understanding their own organised power and from developing their capacities as a class to rule and reorganise the world. The feudal kings and nobles once regarded the rising merchants as contemptuously as that bosses now treats the workers. Kings and queens and their loyal court asserted that the Divine and hereditary right of managing state affairs and deciding great economic questions belonged to them alone. The merchants and manufacturers were supposed to be fit for nothing but store-keeping and servility. That did not prevent the representatives of capitalism from demanding and winning supreme economic and political power. Likewise the plantation-owning Southern slave-holders thought themselves superior to the Northern industrialists and financiers . These very capitalists crushed the slaveholders in the Civil War.

Let the organised workers take power and they will learn the art of governing and technique of economic administration no less easily then the capitalists. And they will make social advances that the capitalists never dreamed of.

The happiness of humanity is not in the past, but in the future.

What is socialism? Socialism offers the sole solution, to the major problems which dominate all others, meaning the question of poverty and the question of exploited labour. The Socialist Party holds that the exploitation of labour, with all of its consequences will not disappear until the day the means of production –– land, machinery, and all that serves production –– will be transformed from privately-owned property into commonly-owned property.

Our fellow-workers must understand just how deeply socialism is in their interest and cannot stand aloof to a party which tells them, we bring the cure to the abuses that you suffer in society. It is of the utmost importance for a worker to know socialist principles and its methods of struggle. Any worker who genuinely investigates our teachings will be quickly convinced that they need to become a socialist, not only because they will find the satisfaction of their class interests, but also because socialism explains how social evolution itself pushes humanity towards socialism.

Why does the Socialist Party hold that only with the socialisation of the means of production can we find the solutions to workers' problems? If we study the society in which we live , we will learn that what becomes ever more constant, ever more universal, and which repeats itself . We speak of the contradiction of the continual struggle that exists between the two principal factors of any kind of economic progress: labour itself, on the one hand, and what is called capital in the economic game. Therefore, on one side we have labour disarmed and alone, represented by the working class, and on the other side all-powerful capital, under the control of the capitalist class.

Many environmentalist call for de-growth, a return to a more idyllic rural condition. They seek handicraft production where skilled artisans are at the same time workers and owners, and the only labour they exploit is their own, in cooperatives and small workshops. They perceive that the great corporations have put an end this former harmony where workers directly owned the means of production. Mighty capital dominated the individual craftsman and the small workshop and put an end to them, except in some exclusive niche corner of the market. Many saw the evils that the machinery of technology has brought and would have us destroy them. They forget what abundance they brought to the productivity of human labour, ignoring the betterment of life has been mechanisation of production. Returning to the old forms, to the old style of domesticated cottage industry of the past, would mean the giving up all the scientific and technical progress which has provided immense benefits to millions and millions.

All for All

What was once small activist actions are spreading into an ever-growing global environmentalist movement that the mainstream media and ruling-class establishment can no longer ignore. We find it inspiring that so many people have turned out for Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion's protests.  The Socialist Party has sympathy with their objectives. We understand their analysis of capitalism as a system that can only put profit before people and planet. However, no matter how well-intentioned, the goal of those who reject capitalism should be to break the consensus that supports capitalism and organise politically – democratically – to a replace private ownership with common ownership. It’s the profit system that is the problem. It brings pressure to bear on economic decision-makers to opt for the cheapest methods of production on pain of being driven out of business altogether. If consideration of what is in the general human interest is to prevail, then the profit system must go. It must be replaced by a production-for-use system—which can only exist on the basis of the common ownership and democratic control of productive resources by the whole community. In a genuinely socialist system The tyranny of the market and competitiveness will have gone and we’ll be free to employ the most appropriate methods of production and transport.

It remains a short-coming of the environmental movement that it still possesses no real vision of a future society to replace capitalism. A thoroughgoing change to a world without classes, nations, governments or profit is needed. Sadly, the green eco-warriors despite their sincerity and effectiveness of much of their critique of capitalism, have yet to find the genuine alternative. Nevertheless, they have raised the question if people are just to stand passively by, looking on, while the world around them descends into dystopian disasters, as something inevitable beyond their control. Instead, they stand up and act together for climate justice.

The shortest distance between capitalism and an alternative society is a straight line.  Let’s campaign for the abolition of capitalism and not misdirect our energies in trying to humanise capitalism, which can only – as you recognise – put profit before people. That’s why socialism is so important. Yes, it is, as we are often told, a ‘nice idea’. But when it takes hold of people's imagination, it could become much more than that and blossom in a world beyond capitalism, a world fit for humanity. The present discontent over climate change unrest could be the first signs a positive movement in the broader class struggle. The liberation of humankind must be the work of the people themselves and must be majoritarian and democratic. No elite can substitute. To succeed the socialist revolution must be essentially non-violent and democratic involving the vast majority of the population. To attempt a social revolution without such majority support almost inevitably results either in a counter-revolutionary regime or in a revolutionary dictatorship which destroys the goals for which the revolution was undertaken.

The Socialist Party does not get involved in conventional politics or seek to form the government. We cannot agree that we should engage in the day-to-day struggle as well as agitate and organise for Socialism. To do so runs the great risk of becoming yet another conventional political party since engaging in the day-to-day struggle of people under capitalism necessarily involves advocating reforms. A reform programme would attract people who want a palliative rather than a cure. In a democratic party as we are, such people would come to dominate it and turn it into an instrument for trying to get reforms rather than for carrying out the social revolution. The best way to avoid this danger is for the Socialist Party, while not opposing sound reforms and always being on the side of the oppressed against the oppressors, is not to advocate them.

The Future Is Up To Us

ALL FOR ONE - ONE FOR ALL

The Socialist Party is not a reform party, but a revolutionary party. It does not propose to modify the competitive system, but abolish it. An examination of its history shows that it stands unequivocally for the common ownership and control of all the means of wealth production and distribution — in a word, socialism. We propose to put an end to exploitation entirely by abolishing the capitalist system and transferring the means of production from private hands to the control of society itself and having them operated in the interest of all. To carry this out the first step necessary is political organisation, and this step has been taken by the Socialist Party.

The party will stand squarely upon the principles of revolutionary socialism. There will be not so much as a hint of compromise or concession. It is a fundamental principle that socialism cannot be achieved as a result of a series of reforms within the framework of the capitalist State. REVOLUTION NOT REFORM. The capitalist system cannot be patched up or reformed. The Socialist Party is necessarily an international party all linked together in the indissoluble bonds of solidarity. It is as worldwide as the domain of capitalism. The reins of political power is its goal. It refuses to be flattered, bribed, or otherwise deflected from the course mapped out by Marx and Engels. The Socialist Party has no interest in any of the so-called issues over which capitalist politicians fight sham battles. We care nothing about the trade wars and imposing tariffs on commercial rivals. We stand first, last, and always for the common ownership of all the means of production and distribution, and will press forward unceasingly until our class secure them, thereby liberating humanity itself. People want to be their own masters, to determine their own fate.

Capitalism has nothing to offer but poverty, uncertainty, unemployment, destruction from either global warming or global war. The uncontrolled exploitation and waste of resources typifies capitalism, the cause of these calamities. Short-sighted search for profit destroys the world’s environment at an accelerating speed. Science and technology can be beneficial to society, but private property and the priorities of the ruling class elite create great problems. Our answer is that the working class must organise to overthrow those who threaten the existence of the people and of the world. Capitalism knows no national boundaries and the ecological threat encompasses all the world’s countries and peoples.

Only a planned socialist economy has strength to remedy a future climate catastrophe.

Socialism is the power of the working class. This class reclaims the people’s property from the capitalists. There will be an end to the right for some to exploit other people’s labour and to claim possession of what society has produced. A planned economy secures social and sensible use of the resources. Production will be planned on the basis of what serves society, not what yields the most profit. The producers themselves, the workers, will decide what to produce and how – not “the market”. Whether socialism triumphs depends on the consciousness of the working class. The Socialist Party will overcome prejudices, differences of opinion and tactical differences which stem from coming from different traditions, and we will build solid ideological unity through common action and common studies. Only in this way can we build a genuine unity, by working together and exchanging views with the aim of bring our unity to a continuously higher level. The task of the Socialist Party is to make the working class conscious of its mission.

It is, nevertheless, a great mistake to suppose that socialism involves the suppression of all individuality and the elimination of all differences of opinion. Most socialists are persons of strong will, who have been first impelled to socialism by a recognition of the impossibility of the development of full individuality except through socialism; and differences of opinion, especially on questions of tactics and policy, are bound to arise, and are essential in a party such as ours. Such differences of opinion, too, among people who are in earnest are bound to excite considerable personal feeling, as this or that point of view comes to be identified with a particular individual. Really, however, vital issue of principle is whether the party stands for revolution or mere reform. A class-free society is the immediate goal for the Socialist Party and when classes and the State have ceased to exist, people can attain full and unlimited freedom, in accord with the principle “From each according to ability, to each according to needs.”

The world socialist movement is to be a movement of revolt against the existing social order for the emancipation of the working class and the abolition of capitalism. It scorns all alliances with political organisations of our class enemies. It has not for its object such amelioration's and palliatives of capitalism to make the capitalist system tolerable, nor participate in any possible way in the functioning and administering the Government in a capitalist State. The object of a Socialist Party is socialism. To that end the education and organisation of our fellow workers and their persuasion to socialist principles is essential. We cannot have socialism without socialists. Therefore, the first duty of the Socialist Party is propaganda, in order to make socialists. In doing this a Socialist Party should also champion every movement of the working class towards improving its condition – even in present circumstances – or in defence of its interests; so that the Socialist Party constitute rallying point of the whole working-class movement.

No socialist will deny that it is a help to the workers' movement to win a Parliamentary seat for socialism; but it is an impediment rather than a help if the seat is won by a sacrifice of principle or by any sort of compromise which curtails the freedom of action of the socialist elected. When our men and women go to Parliament they go with a direct socialist mandate, and if they cannot go with that then they had better stay outside. It is of importance however, that a socialist should be elected and a seat won for socialism. From this standpoint, therefore, it is better for a socialist to fight and be beaten as a socialist than to fight and win under any other flag. 

Truth is on the march.

If there is any one thing that impelled us to join the socialist movement, it is a hatred of the violence that exists in society – not only the physical violence but the violence which condemns children to starvation or semi-starvation because of the poverty of the parents, the violence which condemns children to go to work long before they have received an adequate education. Everywhere in society there is violence of one sort or another, culminating in the dreadful violence which sacrifices millions of human beings upon the altar of war. It is this violence which we hate that drives us into a movement which has as its ideal the creation of a world free from violence, where human beings will cooperate in the ‘production of goods to satisfy their needs, where peace and security will prevail.

The Socialist Party is internationalist because we really take seriously the doctrine that all men and women are created equal. That they must have an equal opportunity, and that they are equally good or bad; that there is no difference between German and English and American and Chinese and Whites or Blacks; that whatever differences crop up, upon maturity, are the result of their environment, and not of their birth. So the doctrine that all people are created equal is full of meaning to us. We live by it. We have no prejudices, and we detest all forms of racial, religious and national prejudice. All of us are obviously born without any prejudices whatever. Have you ever seen a child of one or two or three years of age who knew anything about racial or religious hatreds? We have never seen one, and we know you have never seen one. But as the child becomes an adult, as he or she absorbs the poisons that exist in modern society, he or she becomes prejudiced. Every important judgement that a human being makes is determined by the ideas and by the prejudices acquired in early youth – in school, in church, at home.

If you are interested in finding out the general outlines of what we consider to be a socialist society, you can do so by reading our Declaration of Principles.

The fundamental feature of a socialist society will be that all the means of production – transportation, the mines, the factories – will be owned by the people and the goods that will be produced will be produced for use. Under the present system, which we call capitalist, the means of production are owned by private persons or corporations and although some owners may be very good and charitable gentlemen, they operate their industries not because people need the goods that they produce but because they want to make a profit.

In socialism the people will decide how many pairs of shoes, how many garments, how many hats, how much coal, how many houses will be needed to satisfy the needs of the people and these things will be produced. The productive wealth of society – not goods for consumption such as a coat, or a shirt, or a radio or an automobile – but the productive wealth of society – machinery, factories, mines – will be owned in common by the people and goods will be produced for the use of the people.

There will be no classes under socialism – that is, there will be no class that owns the wealth and no class that is exploited. Today a worker only has his labour power and he sells that to someone who owns machinery and he gets a wage in return and the man who owns the machinery makes a profit out of the labour power. This is what socialists term exploitation of labour. Individuals inside socialism will, of course, have different capabilities. But no one will be permitted to own any productive wealth and thus exploit labour.

Socialism, which some also designate as communism, the productive forces of society will be so greatly developed and the education of the people will be such as to enable society to follow the principle: From each according to ability; to each according to need. If anyone of you raises the objection that human nature makes that impossible. With socialism people will be educated not to think of profit but of service to society. Great scientists even now do not work in their laboratories because they expect to make millions of dollars; they work because they are interested in science. We want a socialist society where all the productive wealth is owned in common and there is no exploitation. We want a social revolution; that is undeniable. By that we mean that our aim is to transfer the economic and political power from the class we call capitalists to the workers . When that happens, a social revolution will have occurred. A social revolution may or may not be accompanied by violence. No one knows exactly how it will occur in the future.

Marxists are of the opinion that society operates on the basis of certain laws.

The phrase, “overthrow” of the government, raises in most minds a terrible picture of the use of weapons and violence. But you can see that to abolish or destroy or overthrow a government can mean and usually does mean, replacing certain individuals, organised in a certain way, basing themselves on certain concepts, replacing them with other individuals, organised in a different way. and basing themselves on different concepts.

Marxists are of the opinion that society operates on the basis of certain laws. Economic determinism is not the theory of socialism, but it does give an idea that socialists consider the economic factor the determining factor in the development of society. The primary concern of human beings has always been to feed, clothe and shelter themselves. As human beings lived together, certain necessities drove them to invent certain machines and with the invention of these machines production could increase and with the increase in production changes occurred in the economic and social system. Struggles arose between groups and the victors made slaves out of the vanquished. A system of slavery arose and the forces of production continued to develop. More machines were invented; the forces of production increased; society developed further and ever further and class struggles arose; slaves revolted against masters; the social system based on slavery could no longer function effectively and that social system was displaced by a new system. What is known as feudalism came into existence. He who owned the land had the right to exploit the man who worked on the land and this man who worked on the land was called a serf. In comparison with the chattel slave, he was a free man but nevertheless he could not leave the land.

New markets came into being; new machinery was invented; the forces of production grew and with it a new and powerful class came into being – the merchant class of the middle ages – and it is this merchant class that constituted the beginning of the modern capitalist class. We call that class the “bourgeoisie” and this class began a struggle against the feudal nobility and finally conquered and became the dominant class in society.

Thus you see that, in our opinion, a class struggle has existed since time immemorial. The chattel slaves struggled against the masters, the plebeians struggled against the patricians, the serf against the feudal nobility; and today we have the fundamental struggle between the capitalists who own the: wealth and the wage workers who create the wealth. And is this struggle a result of man’s will or desire? No, it is a struggle that is due fundamentally to the development of economic forces. A social system is born, develops, decays and is displaced by a new social system – all this by virtue of laws that operate independently of the will of human beings.

A new social system gives birth to new ideas, to new moral concepts. Under the feudal system in the Middle Ages, for instance, the church prohibited the lending of money on interest. To lend money on interest was considered usury. But with the development of the merchant class and the capitalist system, the lending of money became an absolute necessity and obviously people would not lend money unless they could make a profit out of it. The rule of the church against usury was abolished and interest up to a certain point was sanctified.

Mankind’s ideas, mankind’s morals, mankind’s philosophies are determined fundamentally by the economic structure of society and not vice versa. The history of humanity is determined not by its will nor by its consciousness nor by what it thinks is right or wrong but by inexorable economic forces operating on the basis of certain laws. Society cannot be changed by the mere desire of a small group to change it. It must, in the first instance, be ripe for a change and in the second instance the masses of people must understand the necessity for a change.

We have now reached that point in the development of society where mankind must take control of social forces and determine the operation of those social forces. Up to now, mankind has been subjected to social forces that it did not understand and could not cope with. What mankind must do now is to become master of its own destiny. If mankind does not do so, then , barbarism, the destruction of all civilisation and culture ensue. Look at our social system and you can see for yourselves how this struggle operates. The tenant farmer struggles against the landlord, the worker against employer, and workers against Wall Street. Why is our society subjected to these struggles? Because each social group wants a larger share of the income that society produces. Of all the struggles existing in modern society, the one between the industrial wage worker and those who own the industries is the bitterest and most virulent. It is the fundamental struggle of our epoch. The struggle between the worker on the one hand, anxious to get a higher wage, and the employer on the other hand, anxious to make more profit, is a struggle that will go on regardless of the desire or the intention of any person. There are some employers who are willing to give higher wages but they are prevented by the law of competition under capitalism. By and large the employers are anxious to make more and more profits and, because of that, the class struggle must necessarily continue.

Throughout history there have been men who dreamed of changing society. They saw the poverty, the oppression, the persecution and hatred that prevailed in the world and concluded that the only way by which these evils could be abolished was to have men and women accept the right kind of beliefs. to change people, you must change the social system. It is impossible to have a society where love between men and men prevails, unless you have a society where the struggle for economic existence is done away with. Under the present social system, mean, petty and violent struggles prevail in all classes. Way up on top there are struggles for colonies and spheres of influence; then there are struggles in the form of bitter competition between business men; there are struggles between the small business men and the chain stores; there are struggles between workers. Everywhere in society struggle prevails. There are some people who claim that the human being is essentially bad and no attempt to change his nature can succeed. But when one considers that in spite of the meanness and violence that prevails in society, there are millions of decent human beings, one must come to the conclusion that the human being is essentially good. Before people can develop to a point where the relationship between one human being and another will be on a decent basis, society will have to be altered.

How will this change from capitalism to socialism come about? Does the Socialist Party advocate the idea that people should take up arms in insurrection and destroy the government and thereby bring a change in the social system? The Socialist Party accepts two fundamental principles: one, the necessity of convincing the majority of the people of the ideas of socialism, and two, the necessity of capturing the machinery of government so we can begin building the socialist society. If we want a majority of the people, as we do, to accept our ideas, then we must be in favour of a peaceful “destruction” of the government. Does peaceful destruction sound paradoxical? Not if you understand it correctly in the sense that it means the removal of certain persons ruling on the basis of certain principles, and replacing them by other persons obligating themselves to rule upon different principles. We want to take over the means of production peacefully. 

The Socialist Party's task is to inform fellow-workers of our ideas. We cannot possibly be conspirators, because we want to educate the majority of the people to accept our ideas. The Socialist Party's task is to convince fellow-workers that our ideas and our solution to the problems of mankind are correct and that it is impossible to use force against the majority. We can only use the power of persuasion and no other power. We attempt to educate the working class to act independently on the political field and also to exhaust all possibilities of a peaceful change. If there is any one thing that will prevent the capitalists from using violence, it will be the strong organisations of the working class. The greater the strength of the working class organisations, the less violence will there be. To accuse the Socialist Party of wanting and advocating violence is to accuse it of something that is abhorrent to its very nature.

SOCIALISM CAN HEAL THE PLANET

Extinction Rebellion have come to Scotland when the North Bridge in Edinburgh was blocked by protesters. Numerous arrests were made by police.

Activist Dr Anna Fisk, a lecturer in theology and religious studies at the University of Glasgow, said: “We're doing this because business as usual is killing us all. We’re in a climate crisis and we want governments to take action as if it’s an emergency. We’ll be causing this disruption today and will continue to do so until they take the action needed.”

Socialism in its critique of the environmental movement directs criticism towards the economic structure of society – capitalism - and its profit-seeking, competition, endless growth, exploitation of humans and nature. Socialists need to act as catalysts who brings environmentalists closer to a socialist solution. If we fail, there may still be a future but the impacts of climate change will be devastating full of conflict and violence. It is difficult to overstate the detrimental consequences of climate change. The situation continues to become ever more extreme, violent and unpredictable. And it would be naïve to expect that the enlightened self-interest of capitalists will automatically protect the planet. 

Socialists must learn to fuse our social and economic goals with climate politics and climate justice. New ideas will be debated and developed. And a world rebuilt. The youth of the world are now showing they’re weary of government inaction, the platitudes, promises and lip service paid to the climate crisis. It is time to re-shape society. 

The climate movements are increasingly learning that we require fundamental change, goals and objectives that will seriously challenge the business-as-usual approach. If any hope exists to create a stable world of the future, it is based upon ending capitalist greed, corruption and aggression.

 The solution is to strive to transition to a sustainable steady-state socialist economy. 

We’re about the future.

Swindling Is In Its Very Nature.

The SNC-Lavalin scandal is world news and we do not at this time know how events will play out. What we do know is corruption and the bribery it engenders are part of the everyday functioning of capitalism all over the world -- in fact capitalism cannot function without it. We also know the expulsion of both Jody Wilson Raybould and Jane Philpot from the Liberal caucus are undemocratic and hypocritical. 

At the time of writing the company is doing all it can to avoid a criminal trial, though its efforts will probably be fruitless. 

Proprietary skytrains (that no where else uses...), monopoly P3 highways (guaranteed profits underwritten by the public...), and Bribes for Cheats: that’s the Lavalin life! It’s just another stupid sordid mess that capitalism by its very swindling nature is.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John & 
contributing members of the SPC

Demagogues or Democrats

The Socialist Party goal is the realisation of socialism; a new system of society without classes or exploitation. Unless we in the Socialist Party carry on mass propaganda and education among fellow-workers, principles based upon clear, keen, socialist analysis of social, economic and political conditions and events, the demagogues will prevail. Demagogy means the adaptation of proposals and propaganda to the prejudices of the audience to which it is hoped to appeal, without regard to the truth or correctness or feasibility of the given policy. Demagogy is the exploitation of ignorance, in direct contrast to principled politics, which, always tells the truth both about what is at present, what will probably be, and about what it proposes as solution. Principled politics instead of exploiting ignorance, combats it; instead of pandering to prejudice, roots it out.

The revolutionary politics of the Socialist Party is utterly different in type from all other politics. Its aim is not to improve conditions by gaining reforms or stop corruption and careerism nor does it aim to win a parliamentary majority to hold office and be the government.

Our aim, the expression of the interests of the working class, is to overthrow existing social relations, to abolish the existing state, establish a new society. In contrast, non-revolutionary political parties, contest one another for votes and office, represent different sections of the ruling class struggling for the major share of profits and privilege, with different groups seeking the lucrative control of the governmental bureaucracy, different theories of how best to maintain the existing order, seeking support with attempts to secure this or that reform or concession for this or that section of the population. All varieties of non-revolutionary political parties presuppose the continuance of the existing order in its fundamental structure of capitalist society. Non-revolutionary politics presupposes capitalist property relations, the exploitation of the masses by the propertied minority, the class domination of the bourgeoisie, the maintenance of the state. Reformers advocate an “enlightened” capitalism, ameliorating exploitation with fine phrases about human rights and public service. In this way, they aim to drug the people with heavy-scented promises, to oil the wheels of capitalism.

Capitalism offers the masses the prospect only and necessarily of continued and increasing poverty, hunger, unemployment, war, insecurity, political tyranny and environmental harm. This prospect can be altered only by revolutionary change, only by the overthrow of capitalism and of the power of the ruling class. The central political issue of our time for workers is socialism. Every other question is of altogether minor importance, since its answer can be found only in the solution of the central issue. In a very real sense, this is the case. It must be remembered that the class struggle of the workers is not confined to the UK. It is an international struggle. The struggle in the UK cannot be separated from the international struggle.

The chief function of the capitalist media is to deceive the masses as to the real and central issue which confronts them. So long as the masses believe that their significant political choices lies WITHIN the capitalist order, capitalism itself, no matter what internal shifts take place, is not threatened. Every device serves: two or more avowed capitalist parties staging “life-and-death contests” for “the fate of the nation”; when their rivalry is all but a sham to be seen through, a lesser evil to divert dissatisfaction into safe channels within the limitations of the capitalist state. The Socialist Party must, however, break through the deceptions of capitalist politics and must push aside all secondary and reformist distinctions, and instead pose directly the central issue: the class struggle for workers’ power and for socialism. This campaign is not to be measured in votes or offices won, but in the extent and the depth to which they have succeeded in bringing the central issue before the consciousness of working people. The main issue for the working class, the only issue that is for it of profound and genuine moment, is the CLASS issue: what class holds power? Now, more clearly than ever before, it must be the Socialist Party against the field, – for power and for socialism.

 From the day of its foundation the Socialist Party has struggled consistently to use every opportunity provided by the parliamentary system in Britain to voice the demand for a socialist society.

Abolishing Capitalism Would Be A Good Start.

There has been a positive reaction to global warming from the Indigenous people in British Columbia who have had enough of flash floods killing the fish which they need to survive. In 2018 floods wiped out the nets in rivers which were there to catch the spawning salmon and they lost about 10,000 fish. 

Art Antoine is a guardian watchman with Bonaparte First Nation and was quite vocal, ''Damn right the fish are our lives and after the Moose population we in the wildfires, we're at the front line of climate change''. 

One of the largest guardian teams is that of the Coastal First Nations of B.C. that has combined their training and resources with the aim of protecting the environment and improving community well being.

 It would be excellent if the rest of humanity were to be inspired by the B.C. tribes and do something about the environment and the best way to start would be by abolishing capitalism.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC

We Are Trained, Not Educated.

 

The Ontario government is planning to cut 3,475 teaching jobs over the next for years which they claim will save $851 million. 1,558 teaching jobs will be gone by the fall, so they ain't exactly dragging their feet on this. Reaction was fast and furious on the part of the students. 

On April 4 100,000 students from about 700 elementary and secondary schools in Toronto, London, Hamilton and Ottawa walked out of class and participated in the student led action dubbed #StudentsSayNo. 

Premier Doug Ford said the unions were behind it which is nonsense. He wants more students in classes which they claim won’t be so effective in learning and online courses. 

It’s just another fine mess capitalism has caused. Students will suffer, teachers will be unemployed and a cash strapped government may save a few bucks, big deal. 

What has not been said is that, however one may sympathise with the students, they are not being educated regardless of what Ford and his cronies may or may not do because education does not exist under capitalism, but training for a job, which isn't the same thing, does. 

Let’s have done with all the above nonsense and have a society where education will exist.

For socialism, 
Steve, Mehmet, John & contributing members of the SPC