The SPGB - The People’s Party

 The economic basis of society is changing more rapidly today than ever before in human history. This is an age of social evolution.

So much has been said and written of socialism by those who have no proper understanding of it and who have resorted to a wilful misrepresentation of its ideas, that it is not at all strange that a great number of people reject it and look upon those who advocate socialism as enemies. The evolution of the social organisation is a fact in nature. In the ceaseless process one state of society follows another in the sequence of succession. Socialism means the overthrow of capitalism, the abolition of wage-slavery, and the creation of the cooperative commonwealth. It means a social revolution which shall give to every worker economic freedom. The working class is the foundation of society. You are the producers of all value. All the wealth you see around you is the result of labour. Yet, do you own the wealth which you produce? No, you do not. You are the wealth-producers, but you live under wage slavery, in poverty and misery.

 You are the fundamental power of society, and you don’t know it. You imagine that you are free, while in fact you are enslaved. The man who owns the tools of of your livelihood, the means of production, controls you. The class which owns the means of production, owns your very life. You elect the same political parties into power whose policies are to protect and advance the class interests of capitalism.. The politicians flatter you before the day of the election; after the election they forget you. Whenever and wherever organized labour is engaged in struggle against the powers of capitalism you will find both the same parties on the capitalist side, fighting against the working class. By voting for the parties of capitalism you help to perpetuate wage slavery, you  strengthen the chains of misery. The political parties of capitalism are organised against you. It is for you to organise under the banner of socialism and the Socialist Party and fight the battles of your own emancipation

Think for yourselves. Be men and women who do their own thinking. Under the present system of society you are being robbed whether you receive higher or lower wages, because the wage system is based on legalised robbery. The millions of toilers slave and starve for the idle few who accumulate the stolen products of labour and lead a life of luxury. We want you to fight for the freedom of your own class and join the working class party, which is the Socialist Party.

The aim of the Socialist Party is for of the common ownership of all the means of production and distribution: namely, the land, mines, mills, factories, and productive machinery, for the purpose of operating industry in the interest of the whole people. Present society is based upon private property and is essentially coercive, with the function of the government being to protect the interests of the owning and ruling class, and to keep their victims in subjugation. When production becomes common property, government will be purely administrative, and will cease to be unjust and oppressive. The owning class in the present, as in all past ages, is necessarily the ruling class, and all legislation is enacted and interpreted in the interest of said class. Equality under the present system is simply a myth. The wage-worker whose employment is controlled by his industrial master ,and who in that relation is at the mercy of the master since we depend upon his arbitrary will for the opportunity to labour and support the family, is not on terms of political equality with the master. Political equality is rooted in economic freedom, and only when the means of production shall have become the common property of all, as they have been produced by all, are used by all, and are necessary to all, only then will political equality prevail and all men and women enjoy equal rights and equal opportunities. The Socialist Party proposes to establish industrial democracy, based upon cooperative industry. It should be understood that the party proposes to increase and not diminish the production of wealth. Rent, interest, and profit, three forms of exploitation, will be totally eliminated. Production will be carried forward for use and not for profit. The human trafficking — men women, and children — their purchase and sale upon a weekly or monthly instalment plan, will cease. The workday will be reduced in proportion to the progress of technology.

The Socialist Party is the only world political party in the world. Its fundamental principles are the same in all lands. The Socialist Party recognises no frontiers or borders. The nation in which we live embraces the working class of the world. Every worker everywhere is our brother and sister. Across the borders of all lands socialists clasp hands as comrades. The nationalism and patriotism which the ruling class of each nation is promotes, is the power which these give to capitalism to keep the workers of the world from uniting, and to throw them against each other in the struggles of contending capitalist interests for the control of the yet unexploited markets of the world, or the remaining sources of profit. The socialist movement, therefore, is a world movement. It knows of no conflicts of interests between the workers of one nation and the workers of another. It stands for the freedom of the workers of all nations; and, in so standing, it makes for the full freedom of all humanity.

The Socialist Party is the only party that stands for economic justice, and this is impossible in a system based upon exploitation. Political democracy and industrial despotism cannot co-exist. Socialism means that all those things upon which the people in common depend shall by the people in common be owned and administered. It means that the tools of employment shall belong to their creators and users; that all production shall be for the direct use of the producers; that the making of goods for profit shall come to an end; that we shall all be workers together; and that all opportunities shall be open and equal to all people.

The cause of the Socialist Party is and will be wholly educational. To arouse the consciousness of the workers to their economic interests as a class, to develop their capacity for clear thinking, to achieve their solidarity industrially and politically is to invest the working class with the inherent power it possesses to abolish the wage system and free itself from every form of servitude, and this is the mighty mission of the World Socialist Movement. We shall not compromise, nor shall we be diverted from the straight road to the cooperative commonwealth.

The Socialist Party is the only party that does not want a vote that is not intelligently cast. The popularity of a candidate is against him rather than for him in the Socialist Party. No vote is wanted on account of the personality of a candidate. It is the value of the socialist principle that is taught and emphasised, and if this is not understood and approved the vote is not wanted. Mere disgust with other candidates or their parties is not accepted by socialists as sufficient reason to encourage the voting of the Socialist Party. Such votes are unreliable, deceptive and misleading which are apt to desert at the very time they are most needed Any vote that is subject to the influence of personal considerations is so vacillating that it is of no use in the constructive work of a revolutionary political movement. Better united on the solid basis of principle, than thrown together on the shifting sands of personality. It is the case, not the face. Too many people are forever looking for some “great leader” to watch over and protect them. The Socialist Party makes principles paramount; the candidates are the last and least consideration. The supreme question is, “What are the principles?” and any interest in the delegates is about can he or she advance those principles.

The Socialist Party appeals to for fellow-workers for the realisation of its cooperative commonwealth. The Socialist Party is the party of the workers, who are on the right side of this worldwide struggle. The Socialist Party is the party of the present and of the immediate future. The Socialist Party stands for the abolition of the wage system, for the economic freedom as well as the political equality of the working class, knowing that without the former the latter is impossible. The Socialist Party stands for the common ownership of the means of wealth production and distribution and the operation of industry in the interest of all. The Socialist Party stands for industry of the people, by the people and for the people, that wealth may be produced for the use of all instead of for the profit of a few. The Socialist Party stands for a social order, in which every human being, in the full enjoyment of economic freedom, shall have full opportunity, in the best possible environment, to develop their best. 

For Economic Freedom

 

The Socialist Party is the only party that is or can be truly representative of the interests of the working class, the only class essential to society. The present form of government, based solely upon private property in the means of production, is wholly coercive. The only vital function of the present government is to keep the exploited class in subjection by their exploiters. In socialism, political power, “not for the purpose of governing men,” in the words of Engels but “to administer things.” 

Parliaments, legislatures, and municipal councils as a rule legislate wholly in the interest of the ruling capitalist class. The owning class is necessarily the ruling class. It dictates reforms and it construes in its own vested interest. Marx was right in declaring the economic basis of society determines the character of all social institutions and in proportion only as this basis changes, the institutions are modified For instance, chattel slavery was legal and respectable as long as it was an economic necessity and no longer. When in the march of the industrial revolution, accelerated so swiftly by the development and application of modern machinery, slavery was overthrown, it became immoral, unjust, and disreputable. In other words it was moral as long as it paid; it became immoral only when it ceased, because of changed economic conditions, to be profitable to the capitalist class.

Today we have capitalist masters and working slaves, who, although called sovereign citizens, are exploited of the fruit of their labour as completely under the present system as were their slavish predecessors in the dark centuries of the past. The Socialist Party says the wage system, like the feudal system from which it sprang, will pass away. The capitalist economic system can only be abolished in two ways, namely, by securing control of government or by violent revolution. No sane person prefers violent to peaceful measures, and hence socialists rely upon the efficacy of a united class-conscious ballot to accomplish their end. The Socialist Party is necessarily a revolutionary party in the sense its basic demand is the common ownership of the means of production and distribution and the operation of all industry in the interest of all the people. This will mean an economic democracy, the basis of the real social democracy yet to be. Economic freedom can result only from common ownership, and upon this vital principle the Socialist Party differs fundamentally from every other party. Between private ownership and common ownership there can be no compromise. One produces for profit, the other for use. One produces millionaire and beggars, the other people of social and economic equality. One gives us palaces and hovels, the other will abolish class rule, ending  class distinction, and securing peace and prosperity for society, and make of this earth for the first time a world of harmony.

The Socialist Party seeks to establish world socialism in which all men and all women, regardless of race, nationality, or creed, may enjoy equal freedom. To accomplish this we are not making war upon individuals, but upon a social and industrial system. In this system class rules class and while the system lasts, and this, is not a race or a gender question, but always a class question. The Socialist Party is the only political party in the world today whose declared purpose it is to abolish class rule and establish a society whose fundamental principle is freedom of all. The capitalist system has run its course. Socialism would establish cooperation instead of competition. Socialism believes in all for all, not all for a few.

Under the capitalist system men must fight each other for survival, under that condition mankind cannot love one another. Our economic conditions must always determine our conduct toward each other. Under the present system someone can’t walk up to you on the street and rob or kill you, but that person can rob and exploit you by more subtle indirect means. Socialism finds no fault with the individual but rather with the system. The earth is or should be an equal heritage for all that inhabit it. A person ought not to be dependent on any other for work and a livelihood. Political liberty is of no great benefit without economic freedom, and so the workers of the world are organising themselves for the overthrow of capitalism. With socialism we will produce to use, not to sell.

Don't Raise Your Hopes.

 On Nov.30, federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled next years budget. The media made a load of hoopla over the fact that it was the first time the budget speech had been made by a woman, oblivious to the fact that whoever attempts to administrate a screwy system like capitalism, whether it be male, female, black, white catholic, protestant, jew or gentile, it’s strictly a case of B.F.D. 

The highlights of her speech were the spending of $13 billion on COVID-19 vaccine plans. $1 billion for setting up national standards for long term care homes and helping provinces meet those standards. People working from home with modest expenses can claim up to $400 on their 2020 taxes. Some families will receive a temporary boost of up to $1,200 for every child under 6 years of age. GST/HST will be dropped on face masks and face shields. Ottawa will eliminate interest on federal portions of Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans for 2021-22. Freeland also said Canada's deficit will balloon up to a record $381 billion, the biggest since W.W.2. 

Freeland, Trudeau and the rest of their crowd may mean well, but it takes a lot more than good intentions to solve the problems capitalism throws up at us, especially when so much money has been borrowed. 

Time will tell how this will work out, but for the members of Canada's working class, the best advice is to not raise your hopes too high.

S.P.C. Members.

Poor in Scotland Worse Again

Scots in the poorest areas are most likely to be severely ill with and die from Covid-19 than those in wealthier areas, a study has suggested.

Researchers looked at all of Scotland's critical care units and found patients from the most disadvantaged areas also had a higher chance of ICU admission. It found that units in these areas were also more likely to be over capacity.

Researchers found that of the 735 patients with Covid admitted to ICU, about a quarter were from the most deprived quintile compared with 13% from the least deprived quintile. After 30 days, death rates were "significantly higher", researchers said, in patients from the most deprived places in Scotland, after accounting for other factors such as age and sex.

Covid in Scotland: Poverty linked to higher risk of death from virus - BBC News

The Earth Must Belong To All

 

Our object is the economic freedom of the producing class. This will mean the end of the present capitalist competitive system and the introduction of its successor, the cooperative commonwealth. We campaign for the end of the private ownership of the means of production The capitalist class owns the machinery of production, they don’t use it. The wage-working class use it, but they don’t own it. The capitalist class demands that they reap the profits. The greater the wage, the smaller the profit; the smaller the wage, the greater the profit. The capitalist system, with its extreme wealth upon the one hand, its abject and widespread poverty on the other; and its political corruption, is industrial slavery. In the present system capitalists must buy labour-power as cheaply as possible. Whipped into subservience by their poverty they are forced into the industrial servitude. They stand at the machine and feed it; they become cogs in the revolving wheels. The capitalists’ prosperity is built upon broken lives.

The Socialist Party not interested in the idea of violence. We are not insurrectionists. We are realists.  We have never advocated the use of violence. Our movement is worldwide because it is born of and follows the development of the capitalist system, which in its operation is confined to no country, but by its agencies of production, exchange, communication, and transportation, has leapt all national frontiers and made the world as a whole the arena of its activities. All the peoples of the planet must be drawn into relations of cooperation, to be the economic and social basis of human harmony. We produce by our toil all the wealth of the world. We have little or nothing to show for it. We build all the palaces and live in slums and shacks. We produce everything and possess practically nothing. Someone who controls and owns the means that sustain our lives, owns and controls us. We are his slave and in no sense free. So long as the workers are divided, economically and politically, they will remain in subjection, exploited of what they produce and treated with contempt by the parasites who live off our sweat.

The government oppress and suppress us. The political parties stand for the capitalist system, for the private ownership of the means of wealth production and the operation of industry in the interest of the capitalist class. They are committed to the perpetuation of wage-slavery, and whether one or the other wins, you always lose. It ought not to be difficult for  working people to decide which of these parties act in our interests. Unfortunately a great many workers do not know. Many are opposed to socialism. You still think there is still opportunities for upward mobility under capitalism and you fear that the socialists will take what little you have and divide it among the shiftless and thriftless. It will be the capitalists who will lay you off, push you into debt, who will bankrupt you, drive you into destitution. You will be stripped of whatever meagre wealth you own.

The Socialist Party is the only party that does not want a vote unless the person who casts that vote has the intelligence to know what he or she is voting for. The Socialist Party is the party of the whole working class — men and women.. The Socialist Party proposes that all shall be economically free. The Socialist Party is the party of the workers, organised to express in political terms their determination to break their fetters and rise to the dignity of free men and women. Fellow-workers must unite and develop their political power to conquer and abolish the capitalist political state and clear the way for industrial and social democracy.

We live in the most favoured times in all history. We have resources in  abundance, the most productive technology the world has ever known, and  eager and educated workers ready and willing to apply their knowledge and skills. The  unity of the workers must first be effected before there can be any progress toward emancipation.

 In the competitive capitalist system we are pitted against each other. We make war upon each other. We know that our fellow-workers are in an economic condition in which they are compelled to fight other fellow-workers. The Socialist Party is concerned with the environment. We do not propose a mere change of party — we propose a change of system. We are not reformers — we are revolutionists.  We do not support any other party, and we would never compromise political principle for electoral gain. We are looking forward to that time when there is no master and no slave. Capitalism is war. With socialism comes peace. Technology will be our servant. At the touch of a button, flick of a switch, automation will produce in abundance for all. What work men and women will engage in will be joy. Every one will have leisure.

The Socialist Party's Resolution for 2021

The Socialist Party aim is socialism where all oppression and exploitation of men and women, where all class-differences  vanish.  

Our party strives with peaceful means for the interests of the working people. Our campaign is a campaign of education for socialism. We must show why every other party is wrong and cannot solve the problems of the working class. We must distinguish ourselves from those parties that claim to represent the interests of the working class as well as those parties that are openly against the idea of socialism. 

Our party is a party of revolution. All our work must lead towards revolution. The revolutionary principles to which we are committed put upon us responsibilities and duties which cannot be shifted or evaded if we are to live up to our conception of a socialist party.  We have to stand up for the true interests of the working class as a whole. Our party is a party of revolutionary struggle against capitalism and all its works. We are not left-wing progressives, but revolutionists. 

We were determined that a definite working class outlook should permeate every aspect of the class struggle. We openly admitted that all education is of necessity biased, especially that which deals with social, economic, and political problems. Ours is biased in favour of our fellow-workers. We make no pretensions to that hypocritical impartiality which more often than not conceals a fear to express a firm opinion and a strong view.

Capitalism, a system of class exploitation and production for profit.  Only those who have a program for ending the class war in the name of the working people, for constructing a new world order – only they can guarantee peace and prosperity.  Until the community as a whole has been weaned from the ideas that are crystallised into the institutional behaviour that supports the private ownership of the means of production and the incentive to private profit, not merely the working-class will continue to be where it now is but society at large will be in danger of dissolution. Socialism is possible but not inevitable. 

The Socialist Party scorns to hide its aims. Under capitalist society it exists to fight against the exploitation of those who toil by hand and brain, and to lead the struggle to improve the working and living conditions of the toiling masses, to strengthen the working-class organisation and political understanding of the need of ending capitalism and establishing socialism. We have no consciousness of impotence, no consciousness of smallness, for we belong to the single greatest political force in the world, the working class. We represent the future. We represent the conception of socialism of the future. We stand for the end of impoverishment and seek to win the earth from the fear of hunger. We seek a world in which the exploitation of man by man shall cease, when the evolution of human society to new and higher forms shall become possible to all mankind, when socialism and peace shall be enjoyed by all.

Capitalism produces misery. It is the capitalist system which produces the disasters. We hate its exploiters, its parasites

 Our tasks are of global significance. That is why we are counting on world collaboration. We began our work with modest means and forces but with an unshakable faith in the future. We are never more optimistic, never more certain, never more determined to achieve the goal of socialism than we are on this day as the year 2020 draws to an end.

Against all obstacles and in spite of all difficulties, we shall carry on our work into the new year.

Capitalism's Crazy Contradictions.

 On Nov.26, ABC aired The Wonderful World of Disney; A Magical Holiday Celebration. 

This was a look at highlights from past years of performances from the Disney Parks in California and Florida. The idea behind all the hoopla was to remind every viewer of the happiness the Disney Company has brought into people’s lives. 

The very same day the Disney Company let go 32,000 employees.

S.P.C. Members.

Solve This Problem Within Capitalism? Some Joke!

An article in the Toronto Star of Nov.21 focused on how criminal elements, (the illegal as opposed to the legal ones), have been able to profit from the effects of the pandemic. To quote, ''Crime tends to be a first mover, sussing out new opportunities when a crisis like COVID-19 arises.''

 The mob in Canada haven't been slow in this respect, whether it be drugs, loan sharking, fraud and human trafficking. Sexual exploitation, including webcam sex trafficking, has shot up during the pandemic, feeding off poverty, isolation and desperation. Though it’s harder to cross borders now, nevertheless most human trafficking in Canada is domestic. 

Lock-down measures have contributed to a surge in online child exploitation in Canada through webcams. 

The Star's ''experts'' leave us with this pearl of wisdom: ''Much more robust efforts need to be taken to prevent this criminal conduct which can cause long term trauma for the victims'' – meaning, we can solve this problem within capitalism - What a joke!

S.P.C. Members.

Socialism - The Solidarity Economy

 

Humanity appears to be incapable of living together in peace and harmony. Wars and criminal violence plague the planet. So some argue that human beings are inherently brutal, but there are others who say that we are conditioned into violence by the way we are raised, nurtured and the type of conditions and surroundings we are exposed to. People vary and we are all unique individuals – different yet the same – within each and every human being the potential for tremendous good exists (routinely demonstrated in times of need), as does the propensity towards great cruelty. The environment in which we all live,  the values and beliefs, these influence us and determine which behaviour traits dominate.

Capitalist conditioning is far the most damaging, as it divides and creates a false and distorted view of others fostering competition and nationalism , creating barriers between us, fuelling rivalries, facilitating conflicts. It is a socially unjust society.  Everyone is seen as a commodity to be bought and sold. It’s time for humanity to reject all that divides us and to unite to build a socialist cooperative commonwealth.

§ Everyone is socially equal with no classes.

§ There is an abundance of goods which are freely circulated.

§ Political rule is not dictatorial.

§ All competition has ended.

§ There are no exchange nor markets.

§ People are working together, collectively and creatively.

§ The state has withered away.

Capitalists accuse working people of generally being stupid and selfish and it is only the few, risk-taking entrepreneur capitalists who show ingenuity. But capitalists pay no heed to the fact that workers will engage in all manner of leisure activities such as sport and practice their hobbies. Capitalists also ignore the fact that in cases when workers have control of what, how and when they produce – as in worker self-management or worker cooperative experiments – they have higher rates of motivation leading to more productivity than they do when employed by a capitalist.

If it were true that people had unlimited individual wants and needs and the market only exists to satisfy them all there would be no need for mass advertising to create artificial desires. Many actual wants are neglected if the profit on them is too low. Planned obsolescence makes sure that purchases don’t last  long. Products are manufactured to be throw-away and irreparable.

The wealth of capitalists does not trickle-down to the workers. Living standards appear to be better than in the past, higher levels of home-ownership, more consumer goods. But now it takes more than one bread-winner in the home to pay all the bills. Working hours are now longer, with overtime a necessity for many. The amount and burden of debt has increased to keep up with the cost of living. Capitalism has kept people in relative poverty. Capitalism works only for a small minority. The vast majority of people have not benefited from capitalism.

 Capitalists use competition for jobs to divide-and-conquer, pitting white against black, native-born against newcomers, using racism and immigration to suppress wages. Unemployment is a necessary part of the capitalist system. An unemployed army of workers is necessary to keep workers from working together and joining unions to raise wages and better their working conditions. Many workers are in poverty, not because they “choose” to stay home, watch TV and drink beer. The “choice” of workers is between working at various kinds of low wage job or starving.

Capitalism is a global system that is far more powerful than any individual nation-state. Capitalism constantly needs new markets and exploits weaker countries for cheap land, natural resources and labour. Nation-states are interdependent. Many of these colonised nations are in debt and beholden to the IMF and World Bank for loans. These banks do not want colonized countries to develop. They were given loans for the support of the tourist industry, growing of cash crops rather than for subsistence or taking care to develop industries that were most efficient in developing the natural resources of their own country.