The Insanity of Capitalism

There are many signs of a drift into an uncertain society of dysfunction, full of decay of social, economic and political institutions. socialism is incalculably more necessary in today’s world because the only alternative under capitalism is barbarism for the entire population of our planet. While capitalism has provided the skilled workers and the technology, i.e., the machines, factories and techniques which are necessary for a socialist reorganisation of society, it long ago ceased to provide for the simple wants and needs of the plain people. Working people want peace, instead of bloodshed and destruction. We want security and jobs, instead of insecurity and joblessness. We want decent homes for our families and good schools for our children. We want comfort and prosperity, instead of slums, child labour, low wages, unemployment and starvation. We want democracy and freedom instead of totalitarianism, bureaucracy and racial and religious conflict. But in our world, with its elaborate industries, complex machines and abundant natural resources, capitalism is unable to provide us with these elementary wants. It is unable to avoid periodic world wars. It is unable to give working people freedom but dooms them to serfdom and poverty. Under this system of capitalism a handful of plutocrats and oligarchs control the wealth and power of the world. They own industry, banking, mining, transportation. They own our jobs. They own governments because they finance the political parties which put their servants into office. They send men and women to war to protect their vested interests. They have the power of life and death over all of us. We cannot begin to estimate the waste of humanity living in latter-day barbarism.  They starve or they pillage. They are wracked by disease. hat is why we say socialism was a necessity. That is why we say socialism is a necessity.

The insanity of this system of capitalism is that it creates inequality, poverty and unemployment and all the crises of society because it produces too much! Not, to be sure, in relation to human needs, but in relation to the market. While the monopoly capitalists are united against the workers and their political and economic organisations, they are in competition against each other and against their capitalist counterparts abroad. They all try to outproduce and outsell each other on the market because the mainspring of capitalist production is profit, not human needs. This fact alone indicts capitalism as the great obstacle to human progress. The more advanced become the technology of our society, the more wealth becomes polarised at one end, and poverty at the other. We see the phenomenon of poverty in the midst of plenty. On a world scale capitalism has reduced the standard of living and decreased the freedom of mankind. It has produced privation across most of the world. It will continue to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer. It will continue to divert more and more production into armaments production, to protect the wealth by the few. Capitalism produces more and more environmental destruction. Socialism only becomes more vitally and urgently necessary as we observe how capitalism may destroy the whole of civilisation through it s complicity with the climate crises.

Workers desperately need a political movement of our own. A movement which puts our interests first because it is a movement by, for and of us. Since the system we live under, capitalism, is based on our exploitation, such a movement needs to be explicitly anti-capitalist. It needs to aim for the overthrow of the capitalist system and its replacement by a new truly socialist society, based on organising production to meet the human needs of all rather than private profit for a super-rich few. One part of building such a movement is running in elections, to challenge the parties which defend and manage exploitation and oppression and to get our ideas out to the widest possible audience. We need international workers’ solidarity. That’s the only way we’ll be able to stand up to international capitalism.

We are entering into a new era in which irrational profit-oriented production will have to be replaced, and in which the development of human productive power desperately needs to be liberated from alienated labor in order to satisfy a variety of human needs. Unless there are basic changes in existing social institutions, we will be confronted with dangerous, ominous consequences for the human prospect. Such a demand for a revolutionary change in the nature and purpose of human work and human communities requires a profound transformation of social institutions. It requires the democratisation and humanisation of all aspects of social life. The most important commitments of the Socialist Party is the overcoming of capitalism, of social transformation of economy, of worker’s participatory democracy. The Socialist Party is recommending a world society as an alternative. It is proposing the socialist solution to capitalist insecurity and barbarism.

XR in Aberdeen

Extinction Rebellion protesters have blocked the entrances to Shell's Aberdeen headquarters. Extinction Rebellion also had its purple boat at the site. Activists arrived at the Altens base at about 06:30 and plan to remain at the site all day "to hold Shell to account". The group said the protest was part of its two-week long campaign targeting the fossil fuel industry. The protesters plan to walk through Aberdeen city centre, starting at the railway station at 13:00, then going via Union St and the harbour. 

A statement from Extinction Rebellion Scotland said: "As Australia burns and Indonesia is flooded, with tens of thousands made homeless, the purple boat bears the words, "The Future You Fear Is Already Here", a reminder that catastrophic climate change is already under way across the planet, driven by Shell and the rest of the fossil fuel industry. Last week, as bushfires caused by climate change choked Australia, Shell celebrated the discovery of a huge new gas field off the coast of Western Australia."

The statement added that it was disrupting business as usual for Shell as it was "one of the top 10 carbon emitters in the world, and is projected to increase their output of oil and gas by 35% over the next 10 years".

One of the protesters, Michael, a 57-year-old management consultant, said: "Governments and corporations like Shell all agree that my children are facing a catastrophic climate and ecological collapse yet are doing next to nothing to prevent this. I'm here today because as a parent I am ultimately responsible for the safety of my children whether today, tomorrow or in 30 years time."

The Socialist Party has a great deal to say about the causes of climate change and it exposes the irreformable nature of capitalism.  What is to be done about climate change? The Socialist Party see the pressing need for a democratic,  transformation of society, and clear thinking about how this is to happen. It requires the linking of all the different resistances to one universal project of class emancipation so we can begin to build a socialist political struggle. Socialist politics is indispensable to any real struggle against the environmental crisis in how directly the crisis is related to the system of capitalist production. For many people, “capitalism” may be something eternal and of course, we’re not supposed to question capitalism, and this is why it’s off the table at every UN Climate Change Conference despite its direct effects on the environment, due to its inescapable drive towards growth. 

 Capitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately owned. The owning employing class appropriate the surplus product created by the workers. This appropriation leads to the accumulation of more capital, the amassing of wealth, further investment, and thus the expansion of capitalism. Commodities are produced for the purpose of generating profit and promoting accumulation. Within the capitalist system, individuals pursue their self interests against competition and impersonal forces of the market. We must recognise the fact that global capitalism is driving the climate crisis. Capital is relentless. Any attempts to solve the environmental crisis head-on, without addressing the systemic structural causes, will ultimately fail.  To halt climate change means defeating the capitalist class and its political representatives. It will require a mass movement to capture political power and to take hold of the means of production out of the hands of the capitalists. We are talking about a socialist revolution.

The Socialist Party - The Freedom Party

We are in the midst of a worldwide industrial, political, and social revolution. The capitalist system, with its extreme wealth upon the one hand, its abject and widespread poverty on the other; and its political corruption, its industrial slavery, and its social demoralisation has about run its course and is being challenged by a growing number of working people.  Regardless of all that we hear of liberty, we are not yet truly free. Through the ages the many have been the slaves of the few. Little has changed. Many of us are living in poverty and dying in despair.

The worker must sell his or her labour-power to the capitalist class, which owns and controls the machinery and technology. And how is this controlled? By the law of supply and demand. Labour-power is in the market for sale. The capitalist buys labour-power. He buys as cheaply as possible, and between employer and employee there is an economic and political struggle, and strikes and lockouts, injunctions and bloodshed. The media and the politicians seek to obscure this class struggle. The politician wish to keep you in darkness.

The Socialist Party points out that this class rule must be abolished and human freedom shall be established, freedom for all humanity. The Socialist Party tells you not to trust in political leaders and their mouth-pieces in the media, but insists that you open your eyes so that you may see, that you may understand and it candidly tells the harsh truth on how you lack knowledge and and class consciousness. You produce by your labour all the wealth . You have little or nothing to show for it. You build all the mansions and palaces and live in slums and shanty towns. You vote for this or that government, but you are oppressed and suppressed by them. You produce everything and have practically nothing, while the ruling class produces nothing and has everything. If you understood  you would produce wealth, not for your masters, but for yourselves. Political liberty without economic freedom is a myth. Political liberty is rooted in economic freedom. The man who controls and owns the means that sustains life, owns and controls you. You are his slave and in no sense free. They divide you at the ballot box upon alleged issues, issues in which you have not the slightest interest. Politicians claim that they can serve both the bosses and the workers. This is impossible. Politicians who serve one class serves that class at the expense of the other class. There is not the slightest difference between the parties so far as the working class is concerned. They both stand for the capitalist system, for the private ownership of the means of wealth production and the operation of industry in the interest of the capitalist class. They are  committed to the perpetuation of wage-slavery, and whether one or the other wins, you lose.

 The Socialist Party is the party of the working class. Its platform consists of but a single plank. It declares against the capitalist system, against wage-slavery, and in favour of a socialist society. It proposes organising the working class into a party representing the economic interests of the working class.  We are overwhelmingly in the majority, and when we are politically organised as a class and become conscious of our power as a class, we will conquer political power and take hold of the machinery of the state. We will take possession of the industries, put the working class in possession and control of production and distribution, and then capitalism fall, never to rise again.  We have raw materials in overwhelming abundance, the most wonderful technology the world has ever known, and millions of eager workers ready to apply their skills and talents to transform the raw materials into finished products.

In the capitalist competitive society working people are pitted against one another in every sphere of activity, and the struggle has become so sharp, so fierce, so brutal, that it develops and appeals to all that is cold and cruel and dehumanising to a person. The pressing issue is, how shall we eat, how shall we find a home to call our own, how can we educate our children and find healthcare for our sick and elderly. Everywhere there is the spectre of want, the possibility of failure. We do not know what is to become of ourselves. It is said that these things are inherent in and inseparable in our society. We repudiate the charge as a libel upon the human race, as a slander upon civilisation.

 In the capitalist system we are pitted against each other. Our economic interests are in conflict. We make war upon each other. We do not develop those qualities that dignify humanity. We do develop tooth and fang and claw; cunning at the expense of conscience. No-one understands this better than the businessman. No one mistrusts the businessman more than another businessman. It is his rule to treat every man as a rogue until he proves himself otherwise, and never to give him a chance to prove otherwise, for that might be his own undoing. He may wear a nice suit and talk eloquently but he is in no true sense a civilised human being. He is obsessed on how to make larger dividends, how to secure greater profit. The more he gets the greedier he grows. He gets rich in the worldly sense;  but spiritually he remains a pauper hence a need to sponsor the arts, to perform charitable deeds, to disguise his mercenary nature.

The Socialist Party knows that men and women are locked in an economic condition in which they are compelled to fight others for scraps. We do not propose a mere change of party as a solution — we propose a change of system. We are not reformers — we are revolutionaries. We appeal to our fellow-worker to organise a party that represents their economic interest. Our vision of socialism has in which there is no master and no slave. We wait until our socialist minority becomes the majority.  If you respect human life as greater value than profit, we ask you to join our party.

 New technology, automation and robotics and Artificial Intelligence will serve us. At the touch of button, mankind will produce abundance for all.  Work will be joy with everybody gladly doing ones own share of the world’s useful work. Everyone will have leisure and can cultivate the mind. Men and women will rise from the rule of capitalism, from the realm of necessity, to the heights of freedom.

The prisons will become vacant. We ask you to join us in the march from capitalism into socialism, from slavery to freedom, from barbarism to socialism.

A bit of Glasgow Branch history

January 1948

Comrade Prince Vallar, of Glasgow Branch, died December 1st. Many Socialists all over the country knew Vallar’s sincere comradeship and unflagging devotion to the cause of the working-class. While he did not join the party until 1938 he was for many years before a practical and moral bulwark to the small handful of enthusiasts who kept socialist principles alive in Glasgow against frightening odds. He played a great part in the formation of the Glasgow branch in 1922 with his generosity and unfailing optimism. He sought no reward and was unassuming in his party work

 He later had the keen pleasure of seeing his two sons and daughter-in-law become members of the large, virile branch which Glasgow is today. His wife and family have suffered an irreparable loss and the party has lost a staunch member. The working-class owe Vallar a debt, and we would ask that payment should take the form of ever-increasing struggle for the emancipation of the working-class.

February 1948

Glasgow Branch are keeping well in action in 1948. They are strong with the determination to make the very best use of their resources this year in socialist propaganda among the teeming wage-slave population of Glasgow. 

The branch had a very successful mass meeting on Sunday, January 11th, in the Central Halls to commemorate the centenary of the “Communist Manifesto.” Three speakers addressed the audience who were packed tightly in a hall with a seating capacity of 160. Members gave solid support as stewards, literature sellers, etc. 

A branch social committee is now busy arranging a theatre evening or smoking concert for members and friends as soon as accommodation can be reserved. 

Correspondence is being maintained with the Workers’ Socialist Party of U.S.A. at Boston and with comrades in Dublin and Belfast.

 Branch meetings are held on Wednesday evenings at 7.30 p.m. at the branch headquarters, 43, Maryhill Road, Glasgow, N.W., and the Sunday evening programme of lectures at the Central Halls, Bath Street, continues. These commence at 7 p.m.

The February programme is as follows: 
1st February, “The real crisis,” F. Duncan; 
8th February, “Socialism and Morality,” J. Thorburn; 
15th February, “The affairs of our masters,” J. McFarlane; 
22nd February, “ The workers’ party,” T. Mulheron; and 
29th February, “Dictators and Socialism,” J. Prout. 

There is, of course, no charge for admission to these lectures, and plenty of time is reserved for questions and discussion from members of the audience.

April 1948

Glasgow Branch has suffered severely lately owing to the death of members. John Adrian died in February suddenly under very tragic circumstances. He had been making plans for his usual visit to the Annual Conference, an event which he always looked forward to. John joined the party in 1936 and became a very valuable member. He was not a public propagandist, but a very serious student with a thorough grounding in socialist theory. He organised classes on economics and was a source of inspiration to all members. He had all the essential attributes of the revolutionary worker. Fifteen members attended his funeral at which a party member gave a fitting address. 

The branch has also lost R. D. Robertson who died in February after a long illness. He was a young member who joined us in 1942. He was an earnest and unassuming lad with a keen and intelligent interest in the work of the party.

The branch have been temporarily inconvenienced as a result of being served a notice to quit their excellent shop premises by May 28th—or to buy them at £700 (an impossible sum). This has faced Glasgow comrades with the difficult task of seeking new premises in the city by that date. The shop with its spacious window for displaying pamphlets, and announcing meetings, proved itself a most useful asset during its several years of branch occupancy.

Indoor meetings are continuing, but with the present mild weather and longer light evenings a start on outdoor propaganda is being made this month; probable venues are Queens Park Gate and Brunswick Street. 

Again a challenge to the C.P. to debate has been issued, this time through their Penilee branch, who await their central committee’s, sanction. It is expected, however, that the C.P.’s usual political cowardice about debating with S.P.G.B. representatives will add but another refusal to efforts to get them on the public platform.

 Recently the branch organiser travelled 50 miles on invitation to Kelty, to address a meeting composed mainly of miners. The S.P. case was well received.

July 1948 issue of the Socialist Standard

Glasgow Branch continue their outdoor propaganda with moderate success. Glasgow lacks a really well-established outdoor "Speakers’ Corner” and the branch is trying out one or two new stations. They have some promising young speakers coming along but could do with more. 

They had a public debate with the Trotskyists at the end of May on the subject “Is Parliament the road to socialism?" The hall was packed and many had to be turned away. The Trotskyist repeated the usual stale distortions of Marxism and incitements to mass action. The debate is being repeated at Hamilton with a view to stimulating interest there.

 A special branch meeting is being held to discuss future activities on the electoral field and all friends in Scotland are appealed to for assistance and are asked to get in touch with the branch.