LABOUR IS ENTITLED TO ALL IT PRODUCES

As the SNP and their nationalist allies once more take to the streets to demand independence, this time in Inverness where SNP Westminster MP, Ian Blackford, claimed a mandate for a second referendum, those of us in the Socialist Party cast scorn upon Scottish separatists and their misguided belief that a constitutional reform towards a sovereign parliament in Edinburgh is the panacea for the social ills of our fellow-workers.

It is said that our socialist ideas are impractical. That is true. From the standpoint of capitalism, the prospect of a new society is always going to be impractical. Our ideas, our principles and our objective are certainly menacing to the defenders of the status quo.

 The world socialist movement is certainly imbued with definite and lofty goals. The oppressive conditions under which the vast majority of wage workers must live is forcing the members of that class to seek for some alternative.

 Labour produces all wealth. Capitalism is based on the robbery of the workers. Those who own industries but do not work in them, pay wages to the workers and keep profits to themselves. But both, profit and wages, are only the product of labour. Wages are part of the total product paid to labour. Profit, generally the biggest part, capitalists appropriate to themselves and call it their “legal share.” Socialists know nothing of “legal share” nor of “reasonable profits,” as all wealth, however little, is theft.

“Fair day's work and fair day's wages” imply a question of right and wrong. How-ever, this is a class society composed and divided in robbers and robbed and each class has its own notion of right and wrong, fair and unfair. The wage system implies the existence of two economic classes. Under it the workers suffer, it means no end of strife, therefore from the standpoint of the workers today’s society is wrong and it is only right to get together as a class and abolish the wage system, and in its place erect the co-operative commonwealth.

Let the reformists talk of the motto of “a fair day's wage for a fair day's work.” We workers will march with heads erect, our hearts beating, resolved with our aim fixed on the new societyand the rallying cry - “abolition of wage-slavery.” Such are “dangerous” ideas to capitalists. The Socialist Party propagates these very views, it has and will continue to meet with the opposition of the employing class. It is to be expected. Such proves the correctness of our principles. Employers well understand that once the workers begin to seriously organise as a class, with class hopes and ideals, and look out for themselves as a class, with interests distinct and opposed to all other classes, that once the spirit of solidarity takes firm hold in the hearts and minds of the workers, the capitalist parasites will be gone. That danger and fear is an ever recurring night-mare to them. They would if reduced to extremes, be willing to make any concession always with the feeling that they can successfully juggle matters so as to keep in the saddle. Therefore is accounted their readiness to look with favour to movements that do not aim at changing the economic relations between wage workers and capitalists. Concession and compromise has been the one great weapon of the capitalists. It is the means whereby they seduce the revolutionary spirit of the workers.

This struggle is political and it must be fought out accordingly, and this can only be done when labour has a political party of its own to express its interests, declare its aims, and develop its power to fight its battles and achieve victory. A political party today must stand for labour and the freedom of labour, or it must stand for capital and the exploitation of labour. It cannot possibly stand for both any more than it could for both freedom and slavery. We want to see the workers of the world demand a party of their own, free from exploiting masters — a party with a backbone and the courage to stand up without apology and proclaim itself a socialist party. It must bear no false label, carry no false banner, nor seek support under any false pretence whatsoever. It must stand avowedly for the workers — for the working people who produce and who are useful and necessary to the world.

 The Socialist Party stands fearless and unflinchingly for the working class upon the basis of the class struggle and wage the war against capitalism for the liberation of the working class from its age-old bondage. 

A Momentous Year--Momentously Bad.

2019 was a momentous year - momentously bad; not that we can expect much under capitalism. 

Climate disaster continued unabated with uncontrolled fires, particularly Australia, droughts and floods. There was an increase in racist incidents which included the rise, again, of anti-Semitism, and in China the genocide the government carried out against the Uyghur Muslim minority. We saw Brexit, need I comment? and Trump, need I comment? We saw the gradual erosion of the power of unions; three million children starved to death; the biggest strike ever in India, of about 200 million. Also riots there protesting discrimination against Muslims. Riots in Hong Kong against totalitarianism. Continuing wars in Afghanistan and Syria and the Boeing crashes.

 As bad as all this is, there were still some positive events. The capitalist class in North America didn't do so badly. At the time of writing the all the major U.S. indexes have hit record highs. Nasdaq is leading the way with a yearly gain of 32.8 per cent. The S&P 500 is ahead 27.3 per cent. The Dow is up 21 per cent. Here in Canada the S&P/TSX Composite is up 21 per cent. 

So a minority is doing well. 

Let’s have done with that and work for a society where all will do well.

for socialism 
SPC Members

Dumping Pollution. A Capitalist Cock Up

On December 20, Nova Scotia Premier, Stephen McNeil, said that on January 31 the Northern Pulp Mill near Pictou Landing First Nation would have to shut down. This was in response to the company dumping pollution in the lagoons near Pictou Landing since 1967. 

The company had been warned for five years to clean up their act, but to no avail. The First Nations are delighted; Chief Andrea Paul said, ''I am grateful he has put an end to the pollution and provided an opportunity for us to heal.'' 

This is just another crazy, complex, capitalist cock-up in which, inevitably, someone has to lose and they are the 300 mill workers and the 2,400 forestry workers who will lose their jobs.

for socialism 
SPC Members.

Reforms Retain Capitalism. Lets Have Done With Capitalism.

Michael Coteau, the member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Don Valley East, is advocating making public transit free to ride. His argument is that it would reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, he said, many who drive their cars to work do so because of the high cost of transit fares, such as $3.25 in Toronto. 

Mr. Coteau isn't the first to propose this in Canada. Prior to the October election the NDP said they would institute it if elected. Last year Toronto mayoral candidate, Saron Gebrellassi, said she would campaign for it. 

If free transit fares were legislated, it's probable the capitalist class would use it as an excuse to keep wages down.

 It would however, be just another reform, like free education and free health care and many years of experience have clearly shown that reforms just don't cut it, because they leave the fundamentals of capitalism intact and from these flow all the social evils the upholders of capitalism are so unsuccessfully grappling with. 

So let’s have done with reforms and lets have done with capitalism too.

for socialism 
SPC Members.

Under water in 30 years time?

Socialism - The revolt of the dispossessed

We are socialists who want the Socialist Party to participate in a fight for the principles of socialism. There are misconceptions about socialism. These do not surprise the socialist, because they are to be expected. Socialism does not say what it will do or what you shall do, but only that the people, the workers and producers, shall be master of themselves and do with industry and the proceeds of their toil what they may think best. 

Socialism is merely an extension of the ideal of democracy into the economic field. At present, industry is ruled by the owners of the means of production and distribution, who have literally the power of life and death over working people who are made helpless before the system. 

Socialism proposes to put industry in control of the people so that they may no longer be dependants on others for a job, so that they may be freed from the tribute of profit, and so that they may manage industry in their own way, as seems best to them and their communities.

 We do not exactly know not what the people will do when they control the means by which they make their living, but we believe they will use them in their own interest and with a reasonable degree of planning and thought. We can speculate that they can make it possible to banish want from the face of the Earth. They can make it possible for every family to have a home and will be free from insecurity for themselves and their children. They can make it possible for every child to have a good education, to be able to see the world. They can make it possible for every woman to be free economically, so that she may get along whether she marries or not. 

These are part of the ideals that the socialist cherishes. They are not mere visions, but are things that may be wrought into concrete form, whenever men and women shall have free access to goods and services. They have been impossible of attainment in the past, only because the earth and its fullness was held from the people by either political or industrial masters. 

 We have been so busy seeking to make a living that we have not been able to make a life. If socialism meant the solution of the bread-and-butter problem alone then it would be the most wonderful idea ever given to earth. If it meant the solution of the bread-and-butter problem only, it would surpass all other movements the world has seen, because it would mean an end of the slums and the sweatshops, of child labour.

But it will mean very much more than this. When the bread-and-butter problem is resolved and all men and women and children, the world around, are made secure from dread of war and fear of want, then the mind and heart will be free to develop as they never were before. We shall have a literature and an art such as never before conceived. We shall have beautiful homes. We shall have wonderful thoughts and sentiments never before imagined. Think the best of capitalism and it will be the worse of socialism which can only be possible when men and women are really free from the masters class.

Burns Night

It's coming yet, for a' that, that man to man the world o'er, shall brithers be for a' that."

The Socialist Party is the People’s Party

In the name of the workers the Socialist Party condemns the capitalist system.
In the name of freedom it condemns wage-slavery.
In the name of modern technology it condemns poverty and famine.
In the name of peace it condemns war.
In the name of civilisation it condemns the murder of the young, the old, the vulnerable.
In the name of reason it condemns superstition.
In the name of the future it arraigns the past.
In the name of humanity it demands social justice for every man, woman and child.

The Socialist party knows neither colour, creed, sex, nor race. It knows no outsiders among the oppressed and down-trodden. It is first and last the party of the workers, regardless of their nationality, proclaiming their interests and voicing their aspirations. It matters not where our fellow wage-slaves seek to break their chains or lighten the burden they carry upon their backs, the Socialist Party is pledged to encourage and support them to the full extent of its power. It matters not to what union they belong, or if they even belong to any union, the Socialist Party is with them through good and bad, in trial and defeat, until at last victory is achieved. In all the battles of the class war waged by the workers against their capitalist oppressors the Socialist Party has pledged to render them all the assistance in its power. These are the battles of the workers in the war of the classes and the battles of the workers, wherever and however fought, are always and everywhere the battles of the Socialist Party.

In the unceasing struggle of the workers with their exploiters, working people see this planet being turned into the private estates of a plutocracy as brutal and defiant as any privileged class that ever ruled; they see technology and misery going hand in hand: they see millions poverty-stricken all about them while a few are in luxury;  they see parasites in palaces and honest toilers in hovels: they see the politics of the ruling corporations dripping with corruption; they see vice and crime eating away at society like a cancer, and mental illness and disease sapping the mental and physical powers of the body social. We must cry out in protest, THIS IS ENOUGH! THERE MUST BE A CHANGE!

The message of socialism falls today upon eager ears and receptive minds. Prejudices are melting away. The Socialist Party is the only political party that proposes a change of system. Now is the time for the workers to develop and assert their political as well as their economic power, to demonstrate their unity and solidarity. The Socialist Party is the only party of the people, the only party opposed to the rule of the plutocracy, the only truly democratic party in the world. It is the only party that is pledged to cast off the chains of economic and political servitude. There is no hope under the present system. A worker who votes for the Republican or Democratic candidate, or the Labour or Tory party does worse than throw his of her vote away. He or she is a deserter and own worst enemy. The Socialist Party points out to our fellow-workers why their situation is hopeless under capitalism, how they are robbed and exploited, and why they are bound to make common cause against the  employing class. The education, organisation and co-operation of the workers, the entire body of them, is the conscious aim and the self-imposed task of the Socialist Party. Persistently, unceasingly and enthusiastically this great work is being accomplished. It is the working class coming into consciousness of itself, and no power on earth can prevail against it in the hour of its complete awakening. The handwriting is upon the wall. Preparing the way for the peaceable reception of the new order, is the World Socialist Movement, arousing the workers and educating them to take possession of their world, based upon the social ownership of the means of life and the production of wealth for the use of all instead of the private profit of the few.

The Socialist Party stands in this and every other campaign, for peace to prevail and for plenty for all in the land, to end the brute struggle for existence where the millions of exploited poor will be rescued from the clutches of poverty and famine. The social conscience and the social spirit will prevail. Society will have a new birth, and humanity a new destiny. There will be work for all, leisure for all, and the joys of life for all. Competition there will be, not in the struggle for existence, but to excel in good work and in social service. Every child will then have an equal chance to grow up in health and vigour of body and mind and an equal chance to rise to its full stature and achieve success in life.

These are the ideals of the Socialist Party and to these ideals it has dedicated itself to. The members of the Socialist Party are the party and their collective decision is the law. The Socialist Party is organised and ruled from the bottom up. There is no boss and there never can be unless the party deserts its principles and ceases to be a Socialist Party. The party is supported by a dues-paying membership. It is the only political party that is so supported. Each member has not only an equal voice but is urged to take an active part in all the party councils. Each local meeting place is an educational centre. The party relies wholly upon the power of education, knowledge, and mutual understanding. It buys no votes with false promises. For years working people have been deceived, misled and betrayed, and they are now hungry for the socialist message of emancipation.