The movement for a workers’ party

This system of capitalism is set up with one thing in mind – to make the most profits possible for the handful of people who own the big banks and corporations. It is the system under which we, and our parents and grandparents before us, have done all the work. We mined the mines, built the buildings, manufactured all the products: and then receive just enough to live on – if we struggle hard enough for it! On the other hand the small capitalist class builds up huge fortunes off of our labour and do no work themselves, except running all around the world spending the money that we made for them.

The Socialist Party stands for the complete overthrow of the capitalist system, and the establishment of a socialist system. Once it is no longer possible to make a profit from racism, sexism, from bad housing and from the general misery of people, these problems can be quickly solved.

There is only one revolutionary class, only one class capable of leading the struggle for a successful socialist revolution. That class is the working class.

“The workers have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win!”- Marx and Engels.

In order to accomplish the socialist revolution, our class must have a political party. Such a party cannot be formed until men and women want it and join it. The road is long and tortuous, but the future is bright for the people of the world. There are several parties around that call themselves “communist” or “socialist”. These parties all have one thing in common – they all dress themselves up with high-sounding revolutionary Marxist phrases, but underneath they are defenders of capitalism.

 Marxism, “the science of the working class movement,” is of importance to all working people. Marxism cannot be regarded as a system of abstract theories unrelated to real life but as a developed science verified and enriched by the acid test of experience. The economic, philosophical and political theories on which Marxism based and the tactics which have been developed and tested in practice have as their ultimate aim, the realization of the abolition of all forms of exploitation of man, by man, of all forms of oppression and injustice, through the achievement, of a socialist society. 

Marxism holds that the leading force in transforming society from capitalism to socialism is that class which is itself a product of capitalism, the working class or, as Marx more precisely defined it, the proletariat, i.e., wage workers who earn their livelihood through the sale of their labour power and have no other means of existence. By working people is meant all who work for a livelihood and do not exploit the labour of others; a category which includes a large section of the farming population and of the “middle class”.

 Marxism, then, constitutes a “guide to action” for the working class to follow in the struggle to achieve political power and to build socialism. Marxism maintains that the interests of the working class (the proletariat) and the interests of the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) are irreconcilable and that therefore, the interests of the working class can not be served through collaboration or alliance with the capitalists but in opposition to them. From these conflicting interests of the two basic classes, bourgeoisie and proletariat, capitalists and workers, arises an antagonism, a struggle, between the two classes: the class struggle. The class struggle is not an invention of the Marxists but something which has manifested its existence in all countries of the world without exception.

 What Marxism does do is recognise the class struggle as the motive force of history, as the means by which society moves forward and achieves higher forms of civilisation. Consequently, the strategy and tactics of Marxism are also the strategy and tactics of the class struggle of the working class. To give direction and guidance to this struggle, which is essentially a political struggle, the working class must of necessity develop its own Marxist political party, apart from and independent of all other political parties. Marxism is the doctrine of the class struggle.

Another Example of What They Say and What They Do.

On January 20 at the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, Greenpeace accused the Royal Bank of Canada and 23 other major banks of being hypocrites. 

RBC participated in December in the massive Initial Public Offering ($26 billion US) of Aramco, the Saudi Arabian oil company, which is predicted to produce the equivalent of 27 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide - more than any other company on Earth. 

RBC CEO, David McKay, recently wrote the following note of cheer to his investors: ''Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our age and the financial system needs to be leading efforts to support clean economic growth and the transition to the low-carbon economy.''

for Socialism – 
SPC members & GAC

















e

"What They Say" and What they Do is Another thing

Iqra Khalid, federal MP for Mississauga-Erin Mills mailed her constituents a calendar which included a list of the promises her government had made. 

They were - To give families an extra $1,500 a year by cutting taxes to the middle class and lowering cell phone bills by 25%. 
To help Canadians lower their energy bills, make their homes more energy efficient and give them the tools to prepare for climate related disasters. 
To make sure every Canadian has access to a family doctor, mental health services, affordable prescription drugs and national pharmacare.
 To increase Old Age Security by 10% once a senior turns 75 and boost the Canada Pension Plan survivors benefit by 25%.
 They will help Canadians buy their first home through the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, which provides up to 10% off the purchase price. 
They will cut taxes in half for companies who develop technologies or manufacture products that have zero emissions.
 They will make it easier for Canadians to start and grow their own businesses, including cutting the small business tax rate from 11% to 9%.
 They will plant 2 billion trees, using the power of nature to help fight climate change and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. 
They will help 250,000 more public school kids get a spot in before and after school programs and nearly double federal spending on child care. 
They will continue to work to eliminate all long-term drinking water advisories on reserves by 2021. 
They will increase the Canada Child Benefit by 15% for kids under the age of one, make maternity and parental benefits tax free and bring in a 15 week leave for adoptive parents. 
They will implement a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour, starting this year and rising with inflation.

 Some of that sounds, to say the least, far fetched and even if they did keep some promises it would only be to make life more bearable under capitalism because that's all reforms can do.

However, it will still be interesting to see how many of wild promises they keep.

for Socialism – 
SPC members & GAC

"To the Stars"

The happiness of the humanity is not in the past, but in the future. The Socialist Party holds that the exploitation of labour, with all of its dire consequences will not disappear until the day the means of production –– land, machinery, and in general all that serves production –– will be transformed from private property into common property.

 Our fellow-workers are capable of understanding how socialism is in their interest. Our fellow-workers cannot remain apathetic in the face of those who explains to them that they bring the cure to the abuses that you suffer in society. Thus, it is of absolute necessity for a worker who cares about his or her fate and the fate of others to know socialist doctrine and its methods of struggle. And, any worker who closely investigates our ideas will be quickly convinced that they need to become a socialist, not only because in these teachings they will find the satisfaction of their class interests, but also because socialism is the final word to real social progress. Socialism is the sole solution.

Why do socialists hold that only with the socialization of the means of production can we find the solution to the social question? 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. Primitive communist society did not know a single antagonism between the means of labour and labour itself, because both were under the control of all of society.

A socialist society is a free association of completely free men and women, with no separation between ‘private and common interest’ existed: a society where ‘everyone could give himself a complete education in whatever domain he [or she] fancied’. A man [or woman] would be given ‘the possibility to do this today and that tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, to go fishing in the afternoon, to do cattle breeding in the evening, to criticise after dinner’, whatever they choose. If we want to believe that we shall see this happen still in our life-time, then we must act at once.

Our aim is not the division but the unity of our fellow-workers. There are many people who have not given up and reject all the lies told to them. Solidarity has always been our strongest weapon. Others, though, are tired out by the cynicism of present day politics. Let us fight for every single thing, in the struggle that is going on at all levels, everywhere, in families, in our places of work, everywhere. We think working people should demand nothing less than control of the society. They should take the industries out of the hands of the capitalist class and reorganise society on a rational basis so as to put an end once and for all to the dreadful mess into which we have all been hurled by capitalism. 

Our fellow-workers are fighting for too little. We cannot fight for too much, because if we had everything it would only be our due. The working class must take the destiny of our world into its hands – and it must do so if modern civilisation is to survive – we can all proceed to organise society and our lives in it in such a. manner as to wipe out all social inequality and antagonism and bring into existence the new socialist world. Such a world would be worth fighting for.

The Socialist Party campaigns for socialism

It is perfectly certain that the economic forms of society are fully ripe for the transformation to complete common ownership and control. What, then, is it that stands in the way? Nothing but the want of education and organisation on the part of the people themselves. 

The Socialist Party’s work, therefore, is still that of agitation, education and organisation. This is the reason why the Socialist Party is the only organised party which alone look with hope and even exultation to the future, because we alone base our confidence because we can see reconstruction on a sure basis inevitably arising out of the rottenness around us, because we alone declare no compromise. Revolution not reform is the object of organised democratic socialism. It is for us then, as revolutionary socialists, to appeal to our fellows in all lands to work for the interests of themselves and of others, in order to bring about social revolution which can alone give freedom and happiness to mankind.

It has been the aim of civilised mankind to gain freedom from want and from arduous toil. Malnutrition and hunger threatens people around the world until the production and distribution of food is taken out of the hands of the capitalists and politicians. The burning question of food for the people is now clearly defined: Will the people eat or will the food corporations be allowed to accumulate profits as usual? The bosses of the food industry will not produce food except for profit. The food industries must be under the control of the people themselves.

The object of the Socialist Party is to secure economic freedom for the whole community,  that all men and all women shall have equal opportunities of sharing in wealth production and consumption untrammelled by any restriction

The Socialist Party’s programme is nothing less than the socialist reconstruction of society and the abolition of the wages system. This is no programme for some distant future. When it comes to socialism, we are told “It’s a fine idea, but it’ll never work,” “It’s against human nature.” “There always have been rich and poor and there always will be,” Be a realist. Don’t waste your life on a Utopian dream that can never be realised. If you want to get ahead in this world, you’ve got to be practical and look out for Number One.”

Yet the socialist movement is capably demonstrating how socialism could end poverty, unemployment and war by eliminating private ownership of the means of producing the things of life, national and international competition, and the struggle for existence by the overwhelming majority of the population in this and all other countries. The Socialist Party campaigns for socialism with, exposing the evils of capitalist society, its murderous exploitation of the workers, its utter hypocrisy in human relations, and the most evident feature of its class character: the impoverishment of the masses and the enrichment of a small class of capitalists. The struggle is not confined to one people but covers the whole of civilisation. 

The clearly avowed object of the Socialist Party is to hasten the change already begun, of transferring from private ownership to common ownership, all the agencies of wealth production and distribution, to control these agencies on a co-operative basis in the interests of all alike, and to aim constantly at securing for all citizens the highest standard of mental culture, industrial efficiency and social well-being. Without knowledge of the right sort the workers cannot properly discern the subtleties of political charlatans who are ever alert to turn aside the movement from the straight path that leads to common ownership of the means of production.

The future of the world is to be co-operative, and not competitive. As socialists we have no quarrel with the workers of any nation on earth. There is ample room for all in the world, it is only the conduct of industry for profit-making on behalf of the plutocracy that makes it appear each nation must fight every other nation. Stop this, and begin to produce for use and there is room for all and work for all. 

The Socialist Party always declare in favour of the solidarity of the interests of the workers of every country. Socialists urge international peace and universal goodwill among all peoples. More and more are realising and learning that the irrepressible conflict of today is not between the workers of one nation and the workers of another nation, but it is a conflict between the capitalists and the workers of all nations, and so above every appeal to national pride, above every appeal to religious prejudice, above every appeal to race hatred, sounds high and clear the clarion call of the socialist movement. Workers of all countries, unite. You have the whole world to win and nothing but your chains to lose.

 The Socialist Party is the enemy of all wars, and pledges that neither the sound of the trumpet nor the roar of the cannon, neither victory nor defeat will swerve us from our common purpose, the union of the children of toil of all countries. That is the spirit of the working class movement. That is the spirit which above all others is making for human brotherhood and universal peace.

The banner under which we muster is the worldwide red banner of socialism, not the flag of bloody insurrection. Future fights must not be between the workers of one country and the workers of another, that is madness. The fight we are called upon to engage in is as a part of the world’s workers battling against the workers’ exploitation in every country alike.

Scotland's Poverty

Scotland currently has 19% of households living in poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said.

That is just over one million people.

More than three in five people in poverty are in a working family and in-work poverty has risen from 10% of workers 20 years ago to 13% now.

In Scotland, 19% of the lowest income households have problem debt - the highest across the UK. Among the richest fifth in Scotland, the figure is just 1%.