Changing the World

In a society based upon common ownership wealth would be produced solely for use. All members of society would be occupied in producing things to satisfy their needs. This is possible with the present industrial machinery. All that is required is that the workers realise this and take steps to bring it about.

Apologists for capitalism maintain that even if the wealth the workers produce was divided equally among all members of the population, the increase in the average worker's income would be insignificant. But this isn't the socialist's argument. A socialist recognises the potential productive capacity of mankind with modern machinery and realises how production is misused in present society. A socialist takes into consideration the waste that goes on under capitalism. In a system based on private ownership where goods are produced for sale a vast number of workers are engaged in all the multiple tasks which arise from the sale of commodities and the realisation of the profits contained in them. The waste of productive effort in the cheap shoddy goods the majority of the community must buy.

To-day a minority of the population, the capitalist class, own the means and instruments for producing wealth. It necessarily follows that the vast majority of the population, the working class, must sell their labour power to this minority. In return they receive barely enough to keep them at the customary standard of living. If they were to receive more than was sufficient to keep them they would attempt to free themselves from that economic enslavement. The working class then must produce wealth for the capitalist class and receive in return just sufficient to bring them back to the factory to produce more wealth for their masters. The tremendous productive capacity of man's labour power applied to modern industrial equipment together with the working class receiving only the necessities of life results in the great difference in income that exists between most members of capitalist class and most workers.

The growth of air, soil and water pollution, the destruction of forests, the greenhouse effect, all are setting up a catastrophic scenario where the very survival of humanity is at stake. Environmentalists are mistaken if they think they can ignore capitalism. The logic of the capitalist market and short-sighted profit is doomed to fail as it is is inherently antithetical to ecological rationality.

We can start projecting a vision beyond capitalism, imagining a reality much like our own, but without the corrosive and toxic effects of capitalism. The conditions around this world have deteriorated so much, going back decades. People are desperate to figure out why things are breaking down and how we can build a new world. The concept of socialism is the production of use values, of goods necessary to satisfy human needs. The purpose of technical progress for Marx is not the endless production of goods, but the cutting of working hours and the lengthening of free time. Socialism is not state control of the economy. It involves planning, but not the central planning of an command economy from above. Socialism aims at winning a decent life for ordinary people. Socialism involves bringing production under democratic control. The emancipation of humanity has to be total and global. The overthrow of capitalism, of private property, commodity production, and wage labour, is a necessary precondition for human emancipation and the birth of a really class-free society, which roots out all forms of social inequality.

Socialism is merely a possibility, nothing more. There is no automatic socialist future, no guaranteed progress and no “final crisis of capitalism” leading by itself to the proletarian utopia: the choice between socialism and barbarism is still open, and its outcome depends on each one of us. But socialism happens to be the only possible alternative to a collapse of human civilisation if not even the disappearance of humanity. An association of intelligent individuals has the social and economic power to take the fate of society out of the hands of Big Business and to reshape that society on the basis of world-wide massive solidarity and co-operation between the producers. We call upon our fellow-workers to devote all one’s power and energy to helping the working people to fulfil that potential.

There is no middle road.

"You are dreamers!" How often have we in the Socialist Party heard this. Yet what is the reality that our fellow-workers face?

The economic and social system prevailing in the world is known as capitalism. Capitalism is an economic term.  It is applied by political economists and sociologists to the economic system of our civilisation, by means of which men achieve economic independence and have the privilege of living idly upon the labour of others, who produce a surplus value above that which they receive for their own sustenance. Capitalism refers to the system. A capitalist is one who profits by the system. The dominating features of capitalism are the private ownership of capital, the production of goods for profit and the division of society into two classes, namely, the capitalist class and the working class. The land, factories and  all the means of producing the nation’s wealth are owned by the capitalist class. The people own nothing except their muscles and brains, that is, their power to work.

The worker has nothing to sell but his or her labour power. We sell our capacity to work to an employer for so many hours a day for a certain price, that is, wages. Since one cannot separate labour power from one’s body it comes to this, that a worker actually sells oneself like a slave. Socialists call our fellow-workers, “Wage slaves”. Wages are determined by what it costs to keep one person and  family. How many do you know who can save out of their wages? They may be able to put something by in a goodyear, but when bad years come savings are gone. It is a fact that on the average a working man is not more than two weeks removed from penury. 

The capitalist will only employ people if he can make profit out of it. Just calculate the value of the goods you turned out in a day when you were in the factory, and what you receive back for your work. The difference between the two is the employer’s profit. Profit is the result of the unpaid labour of the worker. In capitalist England, the workers are continually robbed of the results of their labour. The capitalist will compel the worker to work as hard and as long as he can, for as little money as possible. What does capitalism offer workers? A life of toil on a bare subsistence. Always the dread fear of the sack. Capitalism can offer its workers nothing but wage slavery. If capitalism remains in existence, the worker will still remain subjugated to the capitalist. There will still be riches and leisure for the few, toil, and poverty for the rest of us.

The crises of capitalism on a world scale gave rise to a growing radicalisation among some sections of the population.

Our aim is a commonwealth without State, without Government, without classes, in which the workers shall administer the means of production and distribution for the common benefit of all. Socialism is primarily an economic transformation, brought about by the class struggle between the working class and the capitalist class, and it will change the character of all who come under the influence of the new conditions. The transformation of civilisation into the co-operative commonwealth, involving the greatest change known at least to modern history. Our object is the abolition of wage slavery; severance with all capitalist, reform parties; abolition of class rule; the establishment of world socialism, the brotherhood of man.

The most common objection to electing candidates to capitalist legislatures is that, no matter how good revolutionists they are, they will invariably be corrupted by their environment and will betray the workers. This belief is born of long experience. Socialists elected to Parliament have as their function to make propaganda; to ceaselessly expose the real nature of the capitalist State, to obstruct the operations of capitalist government and show their class character, to explain the futility of all capitalist reform measures. The new society is not to be built.. as we thought, within shell of the capitalist system. We cannot wait for that. 

THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION IS HERE. Together we shall form a worldwide Co-operative Commonwealth. When we speak of the socialist commonwealth, we think of that great global confederation of free peoples united in one common bond. We look forward to a world when there is no longer a master, no longer a slave and  the abolition of wage slavery and establishment of the cooperative commonwealth.

Simple Truths

JOIN THE ARMY. Not an army to fight capitalist quarrels over trade routes and markets, but the army of revolutionary workers organised in the Socialist Party to fight in the class war , with the object of capturing political power, in order to abolish capitalism and establish socialism. 

Capitalism can do nothing for you. There is one remedy only for the evils and discomforts you are up against, and that is the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of socialism. Study your place in society. Learn that the present system is based upon the private ownership of the means and instruments of wealth production and distribution ; that there are two classes in society, the possessing class and the working class—YOUR class. Discover that because you are denied access to the means of life you are a commodity, bought and sold just like tomatoes and tripe. Then you will know that the only salvation for you will be the establishment of a system of society in which the whole people commonly own and control their means of wealth production and distribution.

Like sheep you have followed and follow "leaders." You voted for any old freak who would do his best to perpetuate capitalism. You voted for the capitalists' profits. You have returned your masters to Parliament. You given them the right to exploit you, your wife and children. You VOTED for capitalism. You SUPPORT capitaliam. You WANT capitalism. You GOT capitalism.

Why don't you  use your brain power in the right manner? You will soon would realise the uselessness of following leaders who work hand-in-hand with the very class you ought to fight to the bitter end.

The Socialist Party is open to all desirous of obtaining a thorough knowledge of the cause of their suffering and of the means whereby we shall rid the world of a system which causes such suffering.

Socialists have been calling out at the top of their voices cautioning, warning, and alerting our fellow-workers against the blind  destructive nature of the capitalist system, that everything is interconnected and we cannot afford to live in ignorance and apathy. Capitalism has burdened the planet with our garbage and waste. It does not care for the less fortunate and the vulnerable. It divided our societies into rich and poor, the haves and have-nots. The serious threats that the world faces today are linked to capitalism and its economic inequality.

Today a world trying to cope with this pandemic finds itself up a blind alley again. Despite their platitudes the ruling elites are not yet ready to leave their lust for profit aside. heir only duty is to maximise the gains of the stockholders.

Socialist society, based on the common ownership of the means of production and distribution, a new economic system ending all social oppression by dissolving the hostile classes into a community of free and equal producers striving not for sectional interests, but for the common good. This cooperative commonwealth, liberates the individual from all economic exploitation and political and social oppression, would provide real liberty and for the full and harmonious development of the personality, giving full scope for the growth of the creative faculties of the mind. Rather than capitalism's constant conflict of coercive human and ecological relationships socialism will be associations of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a commonly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprises.

Socialism is the birthright of all.

The working class are divorced from the essentials for producing wealth: they own neither the land nor the means and instruments by which the natural resources are, by their class alone, utilised and transformed into wealth. The expenditure of their labour-power creates all economic wealth, but that wealth is appropriated by their exploiters, the capitalist class, who own the means of life. Out of the total value alone produced by our class, we receive but a small portion—wages—to keep us in bare subsistence to enable us to "carry on" from day to day.

The sole function of the worker is to create wealth in order to produce a surplus-value, i.e., a value which is unpaid for, for their masters. Slaves thus, to the class that own all the means of producing wealth and appropriate all the products, they exist to serve the interests of the exploiting class only. Commodities being produced only for profit, a market must be found for them. They are sold in the long run at their value, and realise profit for their sellers. But embodied in a commodity is far more value created by the labour expended in its production than has been received by the workers for producing it. Practically every single commodity in the world, in fact, contains unpaid labour. And they are all produced by wage-slaves. Through the fleecing wages-system the greater part of the value of all commodities represents the robbery of their producers through capitalist exploitation.

Their labour-power is bought solely for that purpose !

They have to toil far longer than is necessary to create the wealth they require to maintain themselves; and the surplus labour-time produces a surplus-value for the exploiting class.

At present the latter are the masters of the world: they own and control humanity's means of life. Their class interests are upheld in every sphere—industrial, social, political. Press, pulpit, and platform reflect their will and make secure their dominance.

And above all they have and wield the political power. Through that alone the military and police obey their will, and laws are shaped to protect their interests.

Is, then, the position of the workers hopeless? Emphatically no ! They will inevitably be freed from the chains binding them—but the workers alone can and will make them snap. The development of the capitalist system engenders an ever-increasing strife through the innate opposition of interests, proletarian and capitalistic. The workers are driven by the economic forces ringing them round to increased class-consciousness.

What irony that the world is owned and controlled by the capitalists, and a shackled proletariat run the whole concern for them !

Only the workers can free it from the bonds of a pernicious system. "Wage-workers of the World, Unite! " says Marx. The solidarity of the workers, keenly conscious of their class interests and aims, and educated to see their goal and the way to it, will, with organisation, prepare them for capitalism's overthrow.

Crisis after crisis will occur, ever intensifying, as the present system increases in complexity and becomes unworkable. The more the workers feel the economic pinch the more will .they be ready for our propaganda. And socialist propaganda will have its effect. The wage-slaves' chains will chafe unbearably.

Then will come the Social Revolution!— brought about as the result of capitalism's inability to solve the problems it has created. In the Socialist Commonwealth, where the products of all labour will be the common wealth, the work of a wife and mother will be as highly valued as the work of a welder or a bricklayer. The making of a strong and beautiful citizen will be as important as the making of a strong and beautiful ship.

 

Having captured political power, the workers will control it and its adjuncts, overthrowing the present regime and establishing in its place the Socialist Commonwealth.

They have nought but their chains to lose ! They have EVERYTHING to gain by a Socialist system of society. No other class but their own will emancipate them from wage-slavery. No other means but the seizing of the political power, the capture of the machinery of government through the ballot, will enable them to effect their purpose—it's the key!

The economic resources of the world, then, will be organised for the use and benefit of the community as a whole, by the only class that counts—the workers.

Production for profit will be superseded by production for social use. Exploitation will be extinguished, class ownership of the means of life having been displaced by social ownership in a society in which the class barriers are swept away.

The wondrous means of large-scale production—prolific beyond even our wildest dreams as soon as the stifling hand of capitalism is removed from it—will enable society to create a superabundance of wealth with a minimum of effort—sufficient for all without toil, so that none need look askance at what another eats or enjoys, no hand may be niggard toward its neighbour, and no back warped and bent with drudgery.

As all who are able will have to contribute their share to the work of producing the social wealth, and there will be no parasitic idlers of any kind to maintain, it follows that the daily social effort will furnish abundance for ALL with an unimagined facility.

Thus man's life will not be as now, one long drudgery of wealth-production to enrich the coffers of an idle and thievish class—but it will be life indeed !—full and free as only the conquest of the forces of nature, and equality in the enjoyment of the economic fruits and advantages of that conquest, can afford.

Also all the evils inseparable from capitalism—its inevitable products, in fact, will disappear. Unemployment, overwork, want, prostitution, and all the preventable evils will cease to exist along with capitalism itself.

Mankind, liberated from wage-slavery, will at last be free ! Society then will be one in which oppression, class-rule, and all the anomalies of the present order will have disappeared. The impetus this will give (through the reorganisation by a revolutionary class on a sane economic basis and the consequent liberation of that class) to the devotion of society to things of real worth will be tremendous. The fullest opportunity to gain and keep health of mind and body ; the development of each individual citizen's finest abilities and innate qualities will be accorded every facility; and culture and all that makes life worth living from youth to old age will, under socialism alone be the birthright of all.

Isn't such a world worth winning ? Compared with the sordid system of the present day the gain for the workers is indeed immeasurable.

The toilers have even now the means at hand for realising socialism, for they have the preponderance of the votes. All that is lacking is an understanding of their class slavery and how socialism will free them from it.

Think it over, fellow workers. Consider its meaning to you and your class. Socialism is inevitable but the sooner you are ready for it the sooner you will be able to establish it.

It rests with you, the workers of the world, to liberate yourselves from your slavery, and rid the world of a blighting system of capitalist exploitation.

Workers must understand that this system of private ownership in the means of wealth production and distribution is the cause of their poverty and misery, that they are poor because they are robbed as a result of being compelled to sell their labour power to the class that own. They must learn, further, that the interests of the working class, and of the non-working, employing, and owning class are opposed ; that the struggle which the workers carry on with the masters for better conditions, fewer hours of employment, etc, arises from the propertied and propertyless condition of the two classes, and the attempt of those classes to live out of the wealth produced by the working class, each class struggling to obtain as big a share as possible.

The masters take advantage of all the means at their disposal to compel the workers to, not only increase the total wealth production, but to accept and be content with, the smallest possible part of the total that will suffice to keep the workers alive and able, or fit, to continue wealth production. The workers must learn a lesson from the masters and build up an organisation for themselves ; and as only a change from the system of private, to the common ownership of the means of life, can alter the poverty conditions of the workers (that should be the object of the workers' party and that only) they should control their organisation and its members and seek to capture the governmental forces to aid them in their struggle against the capitalist class. In so doing they take away the power that the capitalists have and add power unto themselves.