‘No justice, no peace’,

Thousands of protesters have turned out to anti-racism demonstrations in Glasgow and Edinburgh . Large numbers gathered on Glasgow Green and Holyrood Park. A socially-distanced poster protest has been taking place across Aberdeen at Duthie Park and Victoria Park, fixing posters and placards to railings throughout the day. People in Inverness tied messages and artwork to Ness Bridge in the city centre in support of Black Lives Matter.

The Black Lives Matter protest started at Glasgow Green at midday after it was moved from George Square to allow easier physical distancing. The largest event was held in Glasgow Green, with chants of ‘No justice, no peace’ and attendees dropping to one knee in a show of solidarity. Numerous people in Glasgow Green held placards demanding justice for Sheku Bayoh and held a minute’s silence in his memory. Kadi Johnson, Mr Bayoh’s sister, drew parallels between his death and that of Mr Floyd. In a powerful video message released ahead of the protests, she said:

 “George Floyd died at the hands of the police, who are supposed to be our protectors - same like my brother, Sheku Bayoh. “George Floyd died of asphyxia, which is depriving the body of oxygen to travel to the brain and the rest of the body - same like my brother, Sheku Bayoh. 

“George Floyd cried out, ‘Get off me, I can’t breathe’ - same like by brother, Sheku Bayoh.”

She added: “For how long are we going to suffer like this? For how long? Black lives do matter.” 

The Evil of Capitalism

Armament manufacture and wars, unemployment and poverty are only features of capitalism. They should not be isolated, and efforts concentrated on their abolition, because that is impossible while the system lasts.

The Socialist Party does not pick out one or two disagreeable things which exist, and concentrate all his energies in "demanding " of those who are responsible for their existence that they shall forthwith abolish them, for that would be foolish. While the Labour Party is organising to "demand" changes within the capitalist system, the Socialist Party is organising to overthrow the system. There's the difference.

The abolition of poverty can only be accomplished when the workers understand that the material conditions for producing wealth as water flows from a tap are here; they will then march on direct to the goal, the possession of the political machine, and in the name of society convert the land, factories and tools from private into common property.

Millions of people all over the world are dying of starvation while food is used as fuel, millions of workers forced to starve in idleness because the land and tools required by them to produce the necessaries of life for themselves are owned by a small class who will only allow them to be used when profits come to them as a result. In a word, unspeakable poverty in the presence of means and methods that could satisfy every need, could flood the world with a cornucopia of abundance. There is no doubt whatever that all the people at present living could, by their own labour, satisfy all their wants, if it were not for the fact that the ruling class own the land and machinery of production and will not permit them to be used for that purpose, but only to obtain surplus value for themselves. Even if it were true, however, that population would increase beyond the means of subsistence inside socialism, that would be no excuse for prolonging capitalism with its wage-slavery, hunger, conflicts and many other evils. Capitalism is so obviously a system of robbery—robbery of the wealth producers by an idle class—that nothing could justify its continuance once it became generally understood that all these evils were due to the system and would cease to exist under a sane system where profits were no longer the only incentive to production.It requires very little knowledge of modern technology, to see that unemployment, poverty and war are the results of a system of production and distribution based on the class ownership of the means of life, and production for profits; and that a system based on common ownership of the means of life with associated production for use, would not only abolish these evils but would entirely eliminate the competitive struggle for existence, or supremacy, as we know it under capitalism.

Every system of the past is recognised by its class struggle ; feudal barons and serfs, slave owners and slaves, etc. ; to-day it is capitalists and wage-slaves. As all ruling-classes in the past have had to give way to the class below, who struggled against them, and as the working-class today is engaging ever more keenly in the struggle against the capitalist class, there is little doubt that the latter will share the same fate and that capitalism will give way to a new system more in harmony with the interests of the working-class.

The basis of society having then undergone the revolutionary change, that freedom which poets sing of will be possible; no man, woman or child will be patronised, for each man and woman capable of work will take his or her part in the social labours required by society's needs, and the fruits of those labours being owned by the whole of society must needs be distributed in conformity with that basis. When the working class understand the principles of Socialism they will take the necessary action to abolish capitalism with its attendant evils of poverty and canting humbug, removing once and for all the obstacle which stands in the way of equality liberty and fraternity. The evils of capitalism are quite plain to every man and woman who possesses average common sense. It needs no great scientific knowledge to see that these evils are due to the system; nor does it require super men with giant intellects to tell the workers that they can achieve socialism by first understanding it and then organising as a class to gain political control.

There is nothing in socialist principles or objects beyond the comprehension of the average worker; but what there is must be understood by them before they can become organised to establish it.

Glasgow Honours

Anti-racism campaigners have placed alternative names underneath Glasgow slave trade street signs. 

Buchanan Street was renamed George Floyd Street in honour of the 46-year-old's killed by police in Minneapolis on May 25, which sparked worldwide protests.

Cochrane Street was changed to Sheku Bayoh Street in honour of the 32-year-old who died in 2015 after being restrained by police in Kirkcaldy.

Glassford Street was renamed Fred Hampton Street.
Wilson Street became Rosa Parks Street
Ingram Street was subbed Harriet Tubman Street.

Take The Knee

People across the UK have been ‘taking the knee’ - a stance first adopted by American Football star Colin Kaepernick - in the streets and on their doorsteps in tribute to the dad.

The largest Scottish event is set to take place in Glasgow’s George Square tomorrow on Sunday - with more than 3,000 people expressing an interest via social media in attending.

Police Scotland officers have been permitted to ‘take the knee’ in solidarity with protesters at Black Lives Matter rallies this weekend.

The Ascent of Mankind

The establishment of socialism will mean the ascent of humanity from the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom. The fact is that with socialism, social forces will be under mankind’s control to an extent never previously reached, and further, that this would be the inevitable result of the development of society, as the dissolution of capitalist society is mainly a question of time, plus the action and interaction of social forces in their entirety. The socialist philosophy of life is born by the knowledge that capitalism can never be made to function in the interest of those who produce the means of living, or even of making the essential needs of social life its primary concern. 

Society to-day may have an orderly appearance, but the chaotic character of its foundations produces effects that are constantly felt. One might take it for granted that the needs of society as a whole would be the first concern, but ,this is not so in class society. Were it really so, the trash that passes under the name of human requirements would never be placed at our disposal. At the very basis of this social system, in the course of the production and distribution of its wealth, there exists, despite the social form which production takes, a considerable degree of anarchy. It is not for its usefulness that production takes place but for the capacity to bring profit to the capitalists. No profit, or prospect of profit, then no production is permissible. Businesses in capitalist society cannot be run without profit. As workers, we know our exploitation is the source from which profit is derived, and hence is inseparable from capital’s existence.

What, then, of the future of human society? Are we to relapse into a state akin to barbarism, which some fear? or is society to move forward along the path marked out for it by the laws of social development? 

The Socialist Party declares for the latter course, not merely on the ground of the wish being father to the thought, but because, as indicated above, history shows that when any given form of society reaches a stage where further development is hampered, those whose interest it is to take the step for advancement, invariably do so; even though the immediate consequences of the act may serve as a deterrent. It is demonstrably clear that capitalism has outgrown its usefulness to humanity, and stands as a barrier to social advancement. How this increasingly affects certain sections of the capitalist class itself, causing them to cry out for world organisation, the cancellation of debts, and the thousand and one other nostrums now proposed for the rehabilitation of capitalism, is no concern of ours or the working class in general.

 Our only concern is the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of socialism. Our fellow-workers are denied the possibility of enjoying the fruits of their labour, as they are hampered in sharing the real benefits bequeathed to society by all past history. It is they whom social laws have selected to bring the next stage in the development of society.

There is one difference between the ancient and modern slaves. To-day the slaves has a political status. They vote their masters into power who in their turn are compelled to solicit workers’ votes, to obtain the mandate and sanction to govern, because the workers are in a majority over the masters. This being the case, it is easy to see that once the workers realise that capitalist candidates are seeking power for their own ends, and that questions of taxation are purely capitalist questions; they can themselves organise and exercise their voting power purely in working-class interests as opposed to all sections and parties of the capitalist class.

This is the first step towards the emancipation of the working class and the establishment of a system of society where the means of wealth production will be owned in common and democratically controlled by the whole of the people. By educated, conscious and organised action the workers of the world will thus break up the last, most efficient, and brutal form of slavery that has ever flourished, and replace it with a system where production will be arranged according to the needs of all. Where no class will rule because classes will cease to exist, and where the producers of wealth will neither be chattels bought and sold nor the owners of labour-power which they must sell in order to live, but free men and women associating and organising to satisfy their needs with the least possible expenditure of effort, that they may have leisure for the enjoyment of a fuller life. 

Sheku Bayoh - "I Can't Breathe"

Sheku Bayoh died in Kirkcaldy in 2015 after he was restrained by up to nine police officers using CS spray, pepper spray and batons. Medical evidence suggested he died of positional asphyxia - meaning he was unable to breath. Sheku died after being restrained by officers responding to a report of a man behaving erratically and carrying a knife. He was unarmed when police arrived. Sheku was under the influence of the drugs MDMA and Flakka, explaining his uncharacteristic behaviour. He was found to have suffered 25 separate injuries. Five years on, not one police officer has been prosecuted.

Collette Bell, his partner, said, “George Floyd was kneeled upon until he took his last breath. So was Sheku, only more weight and more officers kneeled upon him. George Floyd stated, ‘I can’t breathe’. So did Sheku.” She added: “It was police brutality and racism and it happened in Scotland." 

Collette is the mother of Sheku’s son Isaac, who was three months old when his father died. She said: “I don’t think racism will ever go away and I fear for Isaac.”

Sheku experienced racism “most days” in Scotland. Colette explained, “He would often come home and say he felt people stared at him as if he was an alien. He said people would see him and get out his way as if they feared him, yet Sheku was a gentle man.”

Sheku’s sister Kadi Johnston said we must remember black lives matter not only in the US but in the UK and Scotland.

She said: “Enough is enough. For how long are we going to suffer like this? Why do we have to be killed by the ones who are supposed to protect us. How long do we have to cry for our brothers, our partners, our loved ones? For how long do mothers have to cry for their sons? Change has to happen now. Our lives matter too.”

Aamer Anwar, the lawyer for the Bayoh family, said, “The reality for the Bayohs and Collette is that five days of protest in the US has delivered more than five years of waiting for the Scottish criminal justice system to act."

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/tragic-sheku-bayohs-partner-draws-22135189

The Nationalist Delusion

There is no practical effective internationalism except that which springs strong and self-reliant from the workers' community of interest, sweeping across national frontiers like a cleansing wind blowing away bestial hatreds and fears. The future of the human race demands the destruction of the national barriers which divide the peoples of the world. Not the defence of national independence but the destruction of capitalism must be the watchword of those who would build for the future of the human race and at the same time help to stem the fear of war in which capitalism threatens to engulf civilisation.

The doctrine that each group of workers should rally round their own ruling class in defence of the "national interest" only plays into the hands of the war-mongers in every country.

The brutal history of capitalism has often involved invasions from abroad as part of the process of its local development. Cromwell's occupation of Ireland, with all its savagery, was an early instance. In Marx's day, when capitalism was still young and insufficiently widespread in its establishment, it might have been valid to argue (and he did) that its further extension was a progressive necessity. Indeed at the time of the Crimean War Marx regarded the possibility of a Tsarist victory as such a retarding factor in historical development that he felt able to look favourably upon the opposing Anglo-French and Ottoman Turkish forces. By the twentieth century the world dominance of the capitalist system was no longer in the balance even if to this day large areas of the under-developed world have yet to undergo their own thoroughgoing changeover to commodity production and wage- slavery.

This means that the world-wide establishment of socialism no longer hinges upon the yet further spread of the iron heel of capital. But the state-capitalist bureaucrats of Peking have not let this inhibit them where the extension of their control over Tibet has been concerned. It is true that as the harbingers of industrial society the Chinese colonial administration in Lhassa represent modernising trends as did British and French imperialism in their day. But in recognising this and in our repugnance for the superstitious, women-oppressive and backward-looking old orders we must not ignore the harshness of imposed foreign ways and language by the latest conquerers.

 So whilst the notion of “national independence" is rightly shown as being, from the working-class point of view, merely a change of rulers imagine how any of us would feel if the purchase of a postage-stamp, the reading of a "news" paper or our kids' schooling required the use of Chinese!

Our rejection of nationalist delusions ought never to show insensitivity to the valid concerns of oppressed people. Moreover. it strengthens the appeal of socialism to show that in contrast to the imposed uniformity and centralisation of commodity production we aim for a way of life which, of its nature, fosters cultural freedom and diversity. Workers internationalism is not a utopia. The technology and digital revolution can help in realising the goals of workers internationalism guaranteeing peace and prosperity. The forward march of workers based on internationalism is the only way to realise the great goal of global citizenship.  

Edinburgh in Solidary with US Protests

Dozens of protesters have taken a knee for George Floyd during a socially-distant peaceful action in Edinburgh. 50-60 people gathered at 18:00 in Parliament Square outside St Giles' Cathedral. They observed distancing measures and wore masks.

Sabby Dhalu, Stand Up To Racism co-convenor, said: "We are outraged that yet another black person has been killed at the hands of the police in the US and instead of calling for justice for George Floyd, Donald Trump chooses to inflame racism by threatening military action on protesters. The events unfolding in the US are a product of hundreds of years of racism and oppression of black communities, which has led to countless lives lost."

Another rally is being planned on Sunday by another group, Edinburgh in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter. From 13:00 protesters will meet opposite the US Consulate before going into nearby Holyrood Park. 

THE COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH OF THE FUTURE

It would appear to the casual observer that the capitalist system is rushing to its doom and as the system is torn asunder by its conflicts, a new social order is developing for a speedy and complete change. Can the day of change be hastened? Without a doubt. Every socialist who spreads the case for socialism helps the propaganda and encourages others to vote the socialist ticket, is doing his or her share to speed the day of the new commonwealth. It is impossible to contemplate the horrors of capitalism and remain neutral or passive unless, one be brain-dead to every sentiment of humanity. The word “politics” is to many members of society is a red flag to a bull. Politics, to them, means simply politicians trying to catch votes to elect them to some comfortable office, where they can comfortably forget all about the workers. This is using the word “politics” in too narrow a sense. Non-socialists believe that they can gradually gain political power by using the political machinery of the capitalist State to win reforms. This leads to politicians preaching all sorts of palliatives and ameliorations of the capitalist system, and draws political adventurers of all kinds, who make deals and compromises with the capitalist class. The real source of capitalist power lies in the control of the capitalist State for the purpose of protecting and extending thier ownership and control of production and distribution and it cannot therefore be used to destroy it.

Socialism will the ownership by working people in common of the instruments of production and that means a co-operative system of production and the extinction of the exploitation of the workers. The abolition of the present system of production means ending production for sale and instead substituting it with production for use, the social or co-operative production for the satisfaction of the wants of a commonwealth. Such co-operative production for use is nothing less than socialist production. Production for sale can be overcome only by such a system. Socialist production is the only system of production possible when production for sale has become redundant. The system of socialist production which has become necessary, owing to the impending bankruptcy of our present system of production for sale. Capitalism is making desperate efforts to repair its shattered world, however, the workers must reconstruct society in their own interests. To save the old system of exploitation the capitalists must strengthen the chains of wage slavery. Capitalists present a solid front against the workers. The evangelicals tells the worker to be contented; the media curses workers for being too militant. 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.

The Socialist Party knows the only way to solve the problems of to-day is to change the system of society. In order to abolish capitalism the workers must first wrest the State power out of the hands of the capitalist class. The capitalist State is built to serve capitalism, and that is all it can do, no matter who is running it. It does not matter whether you have a Labour, Lib-Dem, Conservative, or Nationalist government, they are all doing the same job.

When the majority understand these things they will organise to introduce a new system of society, based on common ownership and democratic control of the means and methods of production and distribution by, and in, the interests of the whole community, irrespective of race, sex, or colour. Goods will be made for use and not for sale. There will be no trade, no barter, no buying, no selling. For everything will be the common property of all. The private property of the capitalist class, in order to become the SOCIAL property of the workers, cannot be turned over to individuals or groups of individuals. It must become the property of ALL IN COMMON and must be administered for the benefit of all.