These are the hopes and dreams of socialism

Your vote does not merely help elect the candidate of your choice. It registers the things you are interested in, the things you want. It registers the way in which you expect to get these things. What are the things that you want? Everywhere society is in chaos and ferment. Hunger, poverty, environment crises and war are shaking up the thinking of millions, impelling them on the road of struggle against the system which oppresses them. Working people are groping for a solution to the problem of existence. Socialism is our only hope. Socialism is the science of human society.

We want peace, instead of bloodshed and violence and destruction. We want security, instead of insecurity. We want to be sure that we will be able to raise our families in decent homes and good schools. We want comfort and prosperity, instead of low living standards, slums, child and sweated labour, unemployment and hunger. We want democracy and freedom, not racial and religious and national conflict. These are the simple things which we all long for. But we don’t have them. We do not have security, prosperity or peace.

 We live in a modern civilisation where we have huge industries all over the world. We have the raw materials and the natural resources. We have all the necessary talent in trained and skilled workers. It is the social system that stands in the way, the system of capitalism. Under that system, a handful of capitalist control all the wealth and power . This handful owns industry, banking, mining, transportation. It owns our jobs. Whoever owns all these things, controls our lives. That is what capitalism offers you. We can have security, peace and freedom, if we establish socialism. We want to take over the industries built by us – by us and nobody else. We want to take over the wealth produced by us – by us and nobody else. We want to, and we can, run industry to produce for peace, not for war. To produce for us, for the needs and comforts of the people, and not for the swollen profits of the capitalists. Without capitalist profit, we can put an end to poverty and wars. We can provide plenty for all.

The capitalist class is not concerned with the security and prosperity of the workers. They are concerned with one thing and one thing only: their profits, bigger profits and still bigger profits. Bosses want to cut down the living standards of the workers. It is the road to security and prosperity for them. The lower the wages, the higher the profits. The weaker the unions, the stronger the employers. All of them understand this. That’s why they all react the same way to the simple demands of the workers.

The Socialist Party champions social change as the basic solution of the problems and conflicts of society today. As socialists we set ourselves to achieve plenty for all, peace, brotherhood, security, freedom. The Socialist Party is the party of socialism. All reforms that stop short of overthrowing the capitalist system become co-opted by that system and turned to its advantage (but not necessarily to the advantage of any particular capitalists). If the system isn’t overthrown it continues to function. Those are the things we all want. They are the things socialism stands for. They are the things that we, the Socialist Party, stand for.

A revolution is coming. It is coming from the changes in production brought about by replacing workers with robots. It is coming despite the capitalists who use them to increase his profits. The Socialist Party does not create the social revolution. We recognise and embrace it. The role of the Socialist Party is to try and set it into motion, to give it direction to enthuse it, to unleash it. Our task is to convince. This cannot be done without passing on a vision of a different and better world. We visualise a world where robotics, automation and artificial intelligence make possible the material conditions and the leisure time to complete the transition to full and happy human beings.

What do we want out of life?

The Socialist Party is not satisfied with destroying the poisonous fruit but seeks to kill the deepest roots of capitalism. Its corrupt fruit betrays the foul and unclean nature and condemns it to death. The disease, poverty, insanity, and crime rampant in every land under the sway of capitalism rise up and cry out against it. To reach the workers that are still in the dark about the nature of capitalism and to open their eyes, that is the task of the Socialist Party and to this we must give ourselves. We believe that working people will not be free until we are able to determine our own destiny. If a person does not have knowledge of oneself and one’s position in society and the world, then he or she has little chance to relate to anything else.

Of the millions of people only a very small number can dream of acquiring or retaining fabulous wealth or having magnificent homes with a large retinue of servants, fleets of expensive limousines and a yacht or two. The vast majority of the population is made up of workers (and their families) in the factories and mines, railroads and offices; small farmers, tenant farmers, and farm labourers; professional people such as teachers, doctors, dentists, engineers, musicians. Among us there are many differences in standard of living, in taste, in outlook. But we have many things in common. In one way or another, all of us work for a living, most of us for an employer; and we are very much alike in what we want to get out of life. Except for the tiny minority which has great wealth at its command, the first thing that all the common people want is a decent standard of living. No man wants to live merely in order to work. A person works because he or she wants to live. Before  satisfying any other interest, a person wants decent food to eat, decent clothing to wear, and a decent home. Abundance is possible. This ambition is realisable for, every man, woman and child on the planet. With our tremendous industrial capacity, our modern machinery, our skilled and highly efficient labour force, our more than adequate resources and raw materials this modest dream could be realized for everybody – provided society were organised rationally. But there is no prosperity for the people. What is the reason for the failure the potential of this society, and its stark reality? Why is there such an agonizing gap between what is and what could be? The answer cannot be found in cynical condemnations of “human nature” or apologies about the “its just the way things are.” Instead it is capitalism, the social system under which we live, that is responsible for the contradiction. It is the system of exploitation which strangles our lives. Capitalism thrives on the private control of society’s wealth and production – production involving the interconnected efforts of millions of working people. The super-rich have one basic goal in life: to make more and more profits, and they accomplish this by dominating the economics, politics, and cultural life of the country. The capitalist class will throw workers out into the streets to starve, promote racism, and build a military arsenal that can destroy the world several times over – anything for profits. This is an irrational and unjust system. But life does not have to be this way.

How many of us enjoy a really decent standard of living? Very few. How many of us feel secure in the standard of living we do have? Even fewer. People want security. People want a decent standard of living. People want decent homes for our families, and safe, clean neighbourhood. People want peace throughout the world. People want, most of all, freedom. They want to know that their children too will enjoy a future and the good things of life. We know what we want. What we want is right and natural. What is wrong is that we do not have these things. Why shouldn’t there be the continuous production and the continuously rising prosperity that would completely guarantee economic security for all? We want a comfortable life but instead we are falling into debt at an appalling rate, just to “make ends meet.” Working families have little or no savings for an emergency, much less “luxuries” but just to keep their heads above water, at a time of peak employment, and peak profits for the owners. The first thing to do is to find out what it is that stands in the way of our desires, why it is that we haven’t gotten what we want up to now. Then we will decide what we must do.

We can improve our lives and society, and we can eliminate exploitation and capitalist injustice, by overturning the capitalist system. We can replace capitalism with a rational and humane system – socialism. Socialism is a social system where social wealth is genuinely controlled by society and for the benefit of society; where the common good, not profits, becomes the chief concern; where the everyday working people become the rightful masters of society. Such an economic and political transformation will be radical, but a radical solution is what it will take to bury the miseries of capitalism. The socialist revolution has become a historical necessity and possibility. There is no other choice today but for the working people to organise to struggle and win socialism. Socialism will replace capitalism, just as capitalism replaced feudalism. Socialism, by fundamentally changing the social system will will qualitatively improve the lives of the working and oppressed people.

Today’s tasks must prepare for tomorrow's work

The Socialist Party envision a day when the capitalist class will not be in charge of our lives. Its members share a common political agenda and seek to act collectively. Socialist revolution does not happen spontaneously–nor does the capitalist order collapse on its own. Upsurges of class struggle and periods of social crisis may lead to improved conditions for working people and their allies. But these gains are not automatic or permanent, and do not necessarily bring socialist revolution closer. Revolution must be made by working people, but their numbers and enthusiasm are not enough. Organisation and education are needed. A socialist vision and aspiration is needed to merge particular struggles into a single movement, and different issues into a common revolutionary outlook.

We are also not interested in having any group take power in any society in order to oppress anyone else. We are against dictatorship in any form. We are for a society where human needs are more important than profit; where working people have the right to a job, housing, health care, education; where society has democratic structures for the people to control their communities and workplaces. Since we are for the majority, we are by definition for the working class, as the working class is the majority of the population. We need to build an organisation which stands for the interests of the majority, can capture the diversity and creativity of the people, respects the interests of all those who are part of the struggle. The empowerment of working should be upheld and respected, a mass movement in which working people are able to participate fully in the struggles and issues that affect their lives from education to electoral representation, from unionisation to job safety to contribute in different ways to our common goal of fundamental social change. We hope to capture the hopes and dreams of the people, regard to their needs and their desire for a better life. We seek to inspire our fellow-workers “fighting spirit.” This is an important foundation for us to build upon.

The establishment of socialism would banish forever hunger, unemployment, poverty and wars. Exploitation is precisely what we seek to abolish and create a true free society. It is also necessary to put forward a vision of the socialist future as a definite, concrete goal worth fighting for. There is no automatic socialist future, no guaranteed progress and no “final crisis” of capitalism leading by itself to the socialist utopia: the choice between socialism and barbarism is still open, and its outcome depends on each one of us. Mankind has the opportunity of eliminating all relations of oppression and exploitation by the total abolition, of all forced labour of production.

Capitalist ownership of the facilities of production is the principal obstacle to the development of the means for achieving economic security, social solidarity and human happiness. The road to a harmonious and class-free society has to pass through the door of the world socialist revolution in order to eliminate the root causes of conflict between one part of mankind and another.

If socialism becomes the predominant political power in the country, then peace, democracy, prosperity and security are assured. It could and would organise the economic and political life of the country not in the interests of the monopolists, the profiteers, the time-server bureaucrats, but in its own simple interests of all the people, who want to oppress nobody, to exploit nobody, to war on no other people. It would organise production not for the profit of a handful of capitalists but for the use and enjoyment of all. It would build homes, instead of bombs to destroy homes; provide for the health and life of all, instead of armies for the destruction of life. It would set a living example of well-being and democracy that no tyranny on earth could withstand the uprising of its own slaves who would be immediately inspired to follow the example. For this, the working class needs nothing but the consciousness of its task in society and of its irresistible power to perform this task. Up to now, however, the working class, and especially the organised labour movement, has been content to leave its own fate in the hands of the parties of capitalism. The workers’ movement waits humbly with cap in hand while the capitalist politicians it elected to office laugh in its face. Workers require their own political power! It cannot express it without having its own political party. The Socialist Party has no other interests except that of the working class itself. The workers’ movement is our movement. We are its uncompromising champion. We seek nothing more than to be part and parcel of tomorrow’s political movement for socialism.

The Socialist Party gives coherent voice to the socialist case for  world peace, international brotherhood and global emancipation of labour and has to expressed its unfaltering socialist opposition to all wars. We are convinced that stirring days lie ahead. We are convinced that the working class will start making mighty strides along the road of independent political action towards socialism under the red flag. We are and we remain socialists – independent socialists. We are independent of capitalism, of all capitalist governments, of all capitalist politics. The fight for socialism is the fight for democracy. To all those who refuse to surrender themselves in helplessness and hopelessness to the barbarism of capitalism, to tyranny, to the unspeakable horrors of war the Socialist Party is your organisation. To all those who have confidence in the working-class movement and in its socialist future, and therefore confidence in the noble future of mankind and the  assurance a socialist future for humanity the Socialist Party extends its welcoming hand of comradeship.

A Better World For All

Mankind is moving towards a showdown with all the forces of the old order. The patching up and piecemeal remedies of the reformers do little good. By replacing private ownership of the means of production by common ownership, by transforming the anarchy of production which is a feature of capitalism into planned l production organised for the well-being of all of society, the  socialist revolution will end the division of society into classes and emancipate all of humanity from all forms of exploitation of one section of society by another. The attitude of the Socialist Party is clear and definite. It claims that the wealth of society is created by the workers. It claims that the workers, through their industrial and administrative councils, must own and control all the processes of wealth production. We carry this struggle on to the political field in order to challenge the power which the present ruling class wields through its domination of the State which it wins at the ballot box. By its victory at the ballot box, and its consequent political domination, the capitalists are able to enslave Labour by creating State departments which control industrial conditions. These State departments are in the hands of unsympathetic bureaucrats who are appointed by our masters. 

We are convinced that the present political State, with most of its attendant institutions, must be swept away. The political State is not and cannot be a true democracy. It is elected because the wealthiest section of society can suppress all facts through its power over the media. By its money the capitalists can buy control of the mass media and these create fake election issues. The electorate is not asked to vote upon facts but only upon such topics as the media, representing capital, puts before the workers.

We cannot leave political control in the hands of the ruling class. We have seen what power the conquest of the State gives to capital in its struggle with labour. It is through its political strength that the capitalists can deprive us of every shred of civil liberty the loss of which makes the peaceful agitation for the revolution impossible. The maintenance of civil liberty is part of the political struggle of revolutionary labour. And in the measure that the industrial movement becomes more powerful so in the same measure capital will resort to the use of the armed forces and other violent methods of suppression. The control of these forces flow directly from capital’s control of the State which it secures at the ballot box. This destructive function is the revolutionary role of political action. But this destructive political function is necessary in order that the industrial constructive element in the revolution may not be thwarted. the political issue confronting the working class is the preservation of civil liberties and the destruction of the political State. All other questions, such as the League of Nations, social reconstruction, free trade, or tariff reform—these things which are agitating the minds of Tory, Liberal, and Labour parties—are merely traps to catch the unwary workers and to persuade them to vote to preserve capitalism.

The Labour Party has no message for the working class whereby the workers may destroy capitalism and construct socialism. The Socialist Party alone puts forward such a position.

The more the wage-workers threaten to revolt, the more does the capitalist class seek to hold them down. For, it is in the factories, in the mills and workshops, where all wealth is created. It is there where profits and wages are produced. It is there, on the industrial field, that labour and capital struggle to increase their respective shares of the social product. Each class wishes to get as much of the wealth produced as it can. Consequently there is a struggle between wages and profits. The more labour gets the less there is for capital. The more capital gets the less there is for labour. This clash of interests provokes the class struggle. Each side desires to get as much power as possible in order to overcome its class opponent. Thus, the control of the government, which includes the power over the armed forces, civil, and legal powers of the nation, is one way by means of which the capitalist class is able to hold the workers in subjection. That is the reason why the capitalist class strains its every source in order to control the powers of State. Thus, the class struggle in the factory and on the industrial field must also be fought out at the ballot box. Within the next few days the political aspect of the class struggle will be waged at the ballot box. What is the issue? It is whether capital or labour is going to control the destinies of humanity.

The immediate aim of the Socialist Party is to organise the social revolution of the working class. A revolution that overthrows the entire exploitative capitalist relations and puts an end to all exploitation and oppression. We seek the immediate establishment of a socialist society; a society without classes, without private ownership of the means of production, without wage labour and without a State; a free human society in which all share in the social wealth and collectively decide the society's direction and future.

Socialism is possible this very day. We would see the wealth of the World as part of mankind’s common heritage. Thanks to the tremendous productive capacity we have created, we will be quickly able to satisfy all the basic needs of everyone. The essence of communist revolution is abolition of private ownership of the means of production and their conversion into common ownership of the whole society. Socialist revolution puts an end to the class division of society and abolishes the wage-labour system. Thus, market, exchange of commodities, and money disappear. Production for profit is replaced by production to meet people's needs and to bring about greater prosperity for all. Work, which in capitalist society for the overwhelming majority is an involuntary, mechanical and strenuous activity to earn a living, gives way to voluntary, creative and conscious activity to enrich human life. Everyone, by virtue of being a human being and being born into human society will be equally entitled to all of life's resources and the products of collective effort. From everyone according to their ability, to everyone according to their need — this is a basic principle of socialist society. There will be no real shortages that would require some kind of policeman to supervise who gets what. The socialist revolution is not a revolution out of desperation or poverty but one relying on the consciousness and material readiness of the working people.

We will empower people with the understanding of their role in striving for this new society and with the confidence that it’s possible to win. We are an organisation of revolutionaries. The task of the Socialist Party is always agitation and propaganda. It is the vision of a World free forever from want, from race and national hatred, from sexual oppression and from human exploitation. The vision is one of peace and social harmony. It expresses the changes being brought about and the possibilities being created by the new technology. We no longer have to work long hours or wait for the meagre welfare payment just to eke out a miserable existence for our families. The new technology makes a world of material abundance and cultural development for all possible. Only when control of our World is in the hands of the working people can we transform our vision of the future into reality. We are an organisation dedicated and united to that cause. To teach the idea of revolution, our classroom has to become the street, the factories, the schools – wherever there’s injustice, oppression and tyranny. They are few; we are many.

The Socialist Party is a revolutionary political organisation and therefore believes in revolutionary political action. It urges the workers to use their ballots to capture political power—not to play at politicians but to use their votes to uproot the political State and to hand to the people  the constructive task of building up the administrative councils of the Socialist Cooperative Commonwealth. 

To think that Parliament can be used as the means of permanently improving the conditions of Labour, by passing a series of acts, is to believe in parliamentarianism. The Socialist Party is not a parliamentary party. It believes in entering Parliament only as a means of sweeping away all antiquated institutions which stand in the way of industrial democracy owning and controlling the means of production.